Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-02-11

"n The ocra4i'n Of the change Of a State
or National Administration. Men will
leave quiet and remuuerative employ
ments, and subject themselves to mean
humlllations, simply to get their names
INTO Newspaper, and to achieve n little
official Importance and social distinction.
Tins desire for distinction seems to run
through the whole social body, rs kink
Of moral scrofula, developing itself in
various ways, according to circumstances
and peculiarities Of constitution. The
consequence IL that politics have become
the pursuit of small men, and We no long
er have an opportunity to put the best
men INTO office The scramble ion places
among fools is SO great and successful,
that men OF dignity and modesty retire
from the field in disgust. Everybody
wants to ''be something" and in order
to he something, everybody must leave
his proper place in the world. and assume
Il position which God never intended hc
should fill. Look in upon a State legis-
latuse once. and You Will find sufficient
illTsiration Of my meaning Not one
xlan in five of the whole number possess
es the first qualification for making the
laws of aState, and hall Of them have never
read the constitution of the country. J
mean no contempt for the good, honest
men Of whom our State legislatures are
principally composed, but ! wish simply
to say that there is nothing in their quail
lily Of mind, habits of thought, intellect
ual power, OF style of pursuits that fits
them for the great functions of leglsla-
ton. They are there, a set Of ''nobcd
les. through the avenues of professional
life anl so professional life is full OF
''nobndiss. Tho pulpit is crowded with
goldfish ''nObOdIes men who have no
power-no unction-no mission. They
strain their brains to write common places,
ana wear themselves out repeating the
rant of their sect and the cant OF their
schools The lar is cursed with mo
beiies" as much as the pulpit The law
ysrs are few the pettifoggers are many.
The bar, more than any other medium, is
that through which tho ambitious youth
of the country seeks to attain political
eminence. Thousands go into the study
Of law, not SO much for the sake of the
profession, as fot the sake of the advan-
taGcs ii is supposed to give them for polit-
zeal prcferment. An ambitious boy who
has taken IT into his head to he some
body" always studies law a; and as soon
as he il admitted to the bar" he is ready
to begin his political srheming. Multi
tudes OF lawyers are disgrace to their
| profession, md curse to their county.
They lack the brains necessary t. make
them respectable, and the morals requis-
lite for cool naighborhood. They live on
quarrels, and breed them thai they may
live. They have spoiled themselves for
| private life around them. As for the
medical profession, | tremble To think
| how many enter it because they have
neither pity enough for preaching. MOI
brains enough to practice law. When l
think of the great army of little men that
| il yearly commissioned to 90 forth into
the world with Il case Of sharp knives in
ono hand, and magazine of drugs in the
other, | heave a Sigh for the human race.
| Especially is all this lamontahle when We
remember that it involves the spolling OF
thousands of good farmers and mechan-
| les, TO make poor professional men, while
those who would make good professional
men are obliged to attend the ample du-
ties of life. and submit to preaching that
neither feeds nor stimulates them, and
medicine that Ellis or fails to cure them.
There must be something radically
wrong in our educational system, when
youth are generally untitled for the eta
ton which they are to occupy. or are
forced into professions for which they
have no natural fitness. The truth Is
that the stuff talked to boys and girls
alike. about aiming high, and the as
suranccs glven them, Unfortunately,
that they can be anything that they
choose to become, are essential nuisan-
ces.
What We greatly need In this country
Is the incubation of sober views oflife
Boys and girls are bred to discomfort.
Everybody is after high place, end near
ly everybody fails to get one and, fail
ing. loses heart, temper and content The
multitudes dress beyond their means, and
live beyond their necessities, to keep up
a show OF being what they are not.
Farmers daughters do not love to become
farmers wives. and even their fathers
and mothers stimulate their ambition to
exchange their station for one which
stands higher in the woelds estimation
Humble employmsnts are held in con
tempt, and humble powers are everywhere
making high smployments contemplate.
Our children need to be educated to fill,
i'll Christian humility, the subordinate
Offices Of life which they must fill. and
taught to respect humble callings, and to
beautify and Slerifv them by lives of con
tented and glad industry. When public
schools accomplish an end 50 desirable as
this, they will fulfill their mission, and
they will not before. | seriously doubt
whether one school III hundred, public
or private, eomprehends its duty in this
particular. They fail to inculcate the
idea TINT the majority of the offices of
life are humble, that the powers OF the
majority of the youth which they contain
have relation to those offices. that no man
is respectable when he is out of his place,
and that half of the unhappinsss of the
world grows out of the fact, that, from
distorted views of life, men are in places
where they do not belong Let us have
this thing altogether reformed