Connecticut western news., 1884-08-27
TALKS WITH THE BOYS. THE BENEFICIAL REsULTsOF LEARN
 ING TRADE, And at the Same Time such Trade ns Yon
 Have n Taste for.
[M. Quad, in Detroit Free Press.l

IM. Quad, in Detroit Free Press.l
 The father who says to his son: "Here, Will, 1 I've decided to make a harness maker of you," and who insists on the boy adopting that trade, is an idiot. He may compel the boy to learn it, but he will, nineteen times out of twenty, make workman who can't earn his own bread and clothes. The average boy has an instinctive leaning toward the trade he is fitted for, and he should be left reasonably free in the matter. --
 It used to be quite the thing for some old bald-head to pick up baby and tell its mother in all seriousness that the size of the head, set of the eyes, night of the forehead, or width between the eyes was a plain indication that he would be- come a great judge, poet, inventor or mathematician. There are plenty of in- stances where such stuff has taken root and resulted in parents forcing sons into trades or professions utterly unsuited to their physical constitution or mental caliber. It is quite natural for father or mother to desire son to make the selection of a good trade or profession, but this desire should not become an order or even request. Said black smith the other day as he flung down his hammer.
 ''If my father had been a asensible man I shouldn't have been here. I had a natural taste for drawing and engrav- ing, and I have no doubt I would have made good one. Nothing would do but must become a blacksmith, and here am, supporting a family on SI1 per week. 1 hate the work; have no interest in what do, but Eve got to pound away and hear myself called a botch because I'm too old to go at any other trade"
 I found lawyer the other day in a shabby third-story room, furnished with an old desk, two old chairs and spit toon. His clothes looked worn, and his face had anything but contented look.
 "Oh, I thought it might be client, !" he said as I entered.
 "Sorry it wasn't. You don't seem to be rushed with business"
 Rushed Why, haven't had $5 fee in three weeks p
 "Too far up?"
 Perhaps, but believe the real req son is that I hate the profession. I was cut out for something else. As boy was crazy to learn the printers trade. I got chance and worked for three months, but at the end of that time my widowed mother prevailed upon me to study for the law. I managed to gradu- ate, passed an examination, and the re- suit is that I can't marry becauseI can t half support myself"
 Farmers make great mistake in de- ciding that their sons must follow the same pursuit. It is very convenient for them to come to this decision. It saves the expense of educating boy, and by keeping him at home it saves paying a hired man. They claim the services of son until he is 21 years of age, and if he then desires to start out with trade he is handicapped by his age. He must either go farming or become Iaborer. 1tseems not to occur to the close-fsted old farmer that while he may save from $6 to $12 per month by hanging to his boy on the farm, the boy, if given fair chance, could take up some trade or profession which would pay S10 to s1.
 What about the boy who does not take up with trade or profession
 Look around you and the question is speedily answered. He must cast his hook into any sort of pond and take such fish as may be caught. He is a sort of tramp. He may work in a brick-yard to-day and in the harvest field to-mor- row. He does the drudgery and gets the pay of the drudge. His wages are so small that he finds it impossible to lay up dollar, and fortnight of idle ness will see him dead broke. The other evening met man dragging himself wearily along and carrying pick on his shoulder.
 'Tired, John ?'
 "More so than any horse in Detroit. ''
 "What do you work at ?"
 I'm a digger. Sometimes I work for the gas companies, but oftener for plumbers"
 Good wages2"
 ''So good that my family never has enough to eat, let alone buying decent clothes. If it wasn't for the wife anG children I'd wish for that street car tc run over me-"
 "Why didn't you learn trade ?"
 Because nobody had interest enough to reason and argue with me. I nigh have had good trade and earned goot wages, but here am, working harde, for $S or $9 week than any man doe to earn SIS"
 And now, my boy, if men tell yo, that the trades are crowded, and that s, many carpenters and blacksmiths ant painters and shoemakers and othe trades keep wages down, pay no atten tion to such talk. Look over the tabl at the head of this artice again. Notic that little ''to" in there between what common and skillful workman receives Take the trade which you seem fitte, for. Begin with determination to lear 1t thoroughly. and to beeome fbe hes workman in the shop. Don't be satisfie to skin along from one week to anothe without being discharged, but mak your services so valuable by being sue thorough workman that your employe cannot afford to let you go.
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