The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1875-07-09
a NEED IN EDUCATION.

There is a branch in education 0
the utmost importance which is omit
ted from the course of instruction il
every institution, from the poores
! district school to the most distin
guished seats Of learning in the land
1t is a branch Of The deepest interes
to all trades, professions and employ
monts, especially for the poor anc
ignorant 1t may be denominateC
the art Of keeping cmploycd-of man
aging so as to bring down idle days
to the least practicable number. For
it is the idle days that do the harm
that eat up savings, keep men poor
aud open the door to vice and crime
Within the past two years thousands
have spent many weary and bitter
days in heart. breaking and democrat
izing idleness, simply for lack of in
struction in this art. Hundreds OF
men in the city of New York to-day,
who have been all their lives book
keepers, and are thrown out Of bust
ness by the dullness of trade, are &C
lively searching for book keeping
places. Ii is for the present impos
sible that they should all find such
employment yet when they are ad
yised to undertake some other work
they arc in despair. Some years
since a skilled workman applied to a
business man in this city to find him
work The gentleman asked, "What
can YOU do ~ The man said, II am
the best hand at my trade in this
country; every one in the trade ad
units it. ought to have work, but
can get none, and my family are
in danger Of starying" The demand
for labor in his trade had suddeuly
fallen off, and the house where he
had worked had been obliged to dis
charge him, as their operations were
stopped. The gentleman said, "Why
do you not 90 INTO some other bust
ness ~ ooh" he replied, 81 can't
do Anything else" There was the
trouble. He understood no other
work, had never been taught to force
the possibility of being obliged to
change employment, and had not
been instructed how to prepare
against such need. lie neither knew
how to perform other labor nor how
to go about getting it if he could do
it.
The invention of improved ma
chinery, it is asserted, has thrown
out of employment many thousands
of people every year. What does
this prove2 Not that machinery is
a bad thing, but that these people are
not properly taught DID those vino
assume the duty of nstructing, teach
that the progress Of the arts is likely
at any time 10 supersede present
modes of industry, that wo'kmen
must, therefore, he always on the
watch for information which will en-
able them to make the change when
the need for i comes, that they must
keep themselves informed as to the
prospects, ever ready to learn new
employmonts, and striving to ascer-
tain what opportunities exist for get
ting other work and how to use such
opportunities did instructors give
such teaching as this, workmen
would be in far less danger of idle
ness, starvation, and decentralization.
A few years ago young man in New
York, bred to the bar, resolved for
reasons satisfactory to himself to
change his profession to much more
difficult. His friends viewed his ac>
ton with alarm ; his parents ex-
pressed appre hension but he per.
severed till his peculiar capacity for
his new business was generally and
ioyfulIy admitted. A short time
since, speaking of the subject a: bis
home, he said Father, the best
thing you ever did for me was to i'm
press deeply on my mind that the
difficult part Of business was to di-
rect my thoughts to the importance
of knowing how to get it.'-[N. Y.
Mercantile Journal.