The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1875-08-05
Stick to Your Business.


Stick to Your Business.
One OF the greatest drawbacks to Amcrica:s
Independence, advancement and importance is
the want Of determination on the part Of young
men to prosecute one particular business, IN
stead OF trying to obtain a smatteriny of half
dozen different trades or professions. Even in the
depressed condition of the country at pres
ent the demand for skilled laboris greater than
the supply, while the whole face of the land is
covered with horde OF tramps and Migrants
all protesting to be journeymen, and in reality
having scarcely knowledge Of the rudinicnts
OF their business. A boy enters the workshop
and after having the smut smeared over his
face few times arrives at the conclusion that
he is first-class journeyman and if his employ
er coesn't exactly suit him he becomes dissat-
isied, leaves, and most probably seeks en-
ployment in sphere entirely different from
that in which he started. Certainly If he finds
an.opportunty of getting few more cents by
standing behind a counter, although the future
promises nothing better if he stays lifetime
he will consider himself fortunate, and there
remain until something easier falls in his way,
or he is thrown QUITO wander around,a pest to
friends, society and the community; whereas
If he had stuck to the work bench iii the first
place, if misfortune had overtaken him, he
would have been possessor of a wealth that the
Wall street bulls and bears would have been
powerless to decrease OF deprive him of. There
are certain laws, to be sure, governing trades
V1,ySn tJ,ol tit, l.,
master Of his business, but they are entirely
inadequate and as often evaded as enforced.
1t is well known that in the Old country the
youths are bound out to serve an apprentice
ship of five, seven, ten and twelve years and
when the apprenticeship has expired they are
sent forth mechanics, indeed, and fully compe-
tent to discharge any and all of the duties con-
nected with their trade; and what is more, they
generally stick to their business for life, or at
least until they have earned their leisure and
| can afford to take it. But how different is the
case in this country. AS we have said, boys with
little experience and less brains engage in a
business just about long enough to learn the
name of the tools and then appear full-fedged
mechanics, or go rushing off after some glitter
ing .Jack-o-lantcrn,, which promises more i'm
mediate returns, but which more frequently
proves ashes in their grasp.
|. Nor is this restlessness and want OF proper
| selidity confined to the young alone. Men OF
| years and ripe experience are constantly chan
ging their vacations and engaging in enterpri-
SEES with which they have no familiarity, but
have been attracted thereto by the glare Of the
success OF others, who perhaps have devoted a
lifetime to the requirement of that thorough
comprehension Of all the details of their busi-
ness, which can alone secure prosperous issue
and an ultimate triumph. A very striking IL
lustration Of this fact is found in the recent
failure of the great banking house of Duncan,
Sherman & Co., Of New York. This firm had
weathered the breakers for twenty years; had
held It's head even above the great tidal wave
of '73; had thriven ard enriched itself whilst
its neighbors all around had goQe down to rise
no more, and was regarded at home and abroad
as one of the most substantial and reliable es-
adjustments on the globe, and now we find it
ruined, simply from wild speculation in cot
toE-a branch of business entirely new to it.
selves to banking, theirynames would doubtless
have stood at the head of the financial cata-
logue to-day but blind desire to reap where
they had not sown allured them from the Won
ted path and an assignment of their effects is
the result.
You may look around on every side, in this
community and elsewhere, and you will find
that the men best known and appreciated are
those who have set out i'll life with :he fixed
determination to make themselves absolute
masters Of their business, and pressing on
thro' sunshine and shadow, have achieved that
success Which must eventually crown the efforts
of those who meet with bold, untlaunted front
the sombre incidents of life and whose steady
hand and stalwart arm are the nations prop
in the hour of need. Kakc the solid, substan-
tial men of any State Or community and their
lives furnish record OF earnest endeavor,
persistent effort and steadfast purpose 70 act
well their parts in whatever field they have
been called to labor. Those are the men who
have put their hand to the pillow and looked not
back, but pressing onward and upward have
accomplished a work which must benefit ali
conditions OF men, and add to the sum of a
nations wealth and prosperity. There are
some who have jumped from one business to
another and made fortunes by the change. but
the instances are rare, and he who expects to
make life success, must first determine to
deserve it.