Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-10-16
what to do with Him.
A TRADE on Profession |.


/ A TRADE OR PROFESSION.
/ When Tom reaches the age al
which it is necessary for him to do
something towards his future in
| life, and TO start out into the world
for better or worse, as the sequel
may show, both father and mo-
Their are at their wits end to de-
eide what he shall do. Perhaps
he worthy progeniior of the male
side, of the mnOeent cause of all
this commotion has, by dint Of
hard work, accumulated snug
| little fortune. Perhaps he is up
in the world and does not want
his son to begin where he begun.
He has no notion that Tom shall
sweep out offices, dust shelves, or
| perform the thousand-and.one USE
] ful, though decidedly humble, du-
tits that he himself did forty
years ago. Times have changed.
Oh, no! paterfamilas, the times
are very much like the old times;
it is you that have dropped the
humility aud the sentiments of
yeur Younger days, and you see
| the world around you with diff
erent spectacles, that is all. So
the good wife and mother is con-
suited as to what shall We do with
him" The pride of her heart is
above mechanical pursuits; they
are vulgar. They dirty ones fin
gers SO. tear clothes and soil linen
and are not respectable. Good
woman!
"When Adam delved and Eve span,
Where was then your gentleman 2"
A mechanic not respectable ?
He is a hundred times more need
ful to the world at large than all
the so-called professions put to-
gether. 1t would bother you some
if after a hard days work making
money, you had to come home to
roast like q chicken, because no
body could build q house to cover
you, or put up a bedstead on
which to rest your weary head. 1t
would depreeiate your bank ac-
count considerably il somebody
did not build ships or lay railroads
or raise grain for your benefit.
Besides all this, dear friends,
would you like to see all your
family clad, If clad at all. after the
manner of Eden, or even like
Esquimaux, because there were
no weavers to make silks, no
trades-pe0ple to sell them, or no
mantua-makers TO fashion them.
Badinage aside. The profess ons
are overcrOwded. There are more
lawyers than clients, barely ten
patients 10 every doctor, and as TO
clergymen, there are too many
half-supported churches already.
What the country needs Is educa-
led mechanics, skillful work men
who do not feel above their cloth,
and who can bring into action the
inventive genius thai render all
things easy. 1t wants producers,
not consumers. 1t wants men to
engineer railroads, construct loco
motives, cultivate the millions OF
unused acres that lie between the
Atlantic and the Sierra Navada.--
1t wants men to build ships. and
men to guiae them. 1t wants
ard fis.ed. energetic, go-ahead
tradesmen to give impetus to COM
merce, and less delicate handed
professional men, less curbstone
Dro Sers, less dO-no-gOods who on
ly eat up the food better men need.
We admit, says the Brooklyn
Union, that there is no task requi-
ring more Judgment than that of
deciding what shall wo do with
him? 1t Is no easy thing to note
the bent Of the mind of him we
want much to benefit, because on
our decision may rest the welfare
or ruinatiOn OF his life. But Ii
your son shows an inclination for
trade or mechanism donOt let pride
or the flimsy pretext of respecta-
bility stand In the way. The msn
who performs his duty according
10 the light that IL in him does as
much i'm his way az the greatest
intellectual giant that the world
looks on with awe and admiration
Act well your part, there all the
honor lies.'