Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-07-25

SONIiNOED fhOM LAST WEEK.
In choosing business, the money
to be made in it and the position
it will give one, are things worth
considering. But do not look at the
great prizes and forget the risks in
every business. The great fortunes
of our time have all been made in
some form of merchadise, tranSporta-
ton or manufactures, or as we Amer
leans would say. in business. But the
great losses have also all been in
CURED there. Young men look at the
wealth of an Astor, a Stewart or a
Vanderbilt, and choose business,
forgetting that where one grows
wealthy in business thousands gain
only a competence, and other thousands
are ruined. For an educated man the
professions are most inviting, and
offer smaller prizes but fewer risks !;
but the professions are uncertain as
the popular favor upon which the
success of professional man depends.
On the other hand, manual labor,
when it is unskilled labor, is certain
to be very Scantlly paid for in either
money or honor. In this country I'M
skilled manual labor, mere handwork
without any head-Work, is paid better
world, and the laborer has far more
honor accorded him; but even in this
paradise of the poor man, an unskilled
laborer has hard time to get along.
That work which is most certain of
fair reward is neither head-Work in
business or profession on the one
hand, nor mere hand-Work on the
other; but skilled labor on the farm or
in mechanical trade
The most independent life in the
world, and the one freest from anxiety
for the future, is that of farmer or
skilled mechanic. The Hebrews for
merly required all their students to
learn a trade as well as their profess
ion. We know how Rabbi Paul found
a use for his trade, and some of You
have read how the Jew. SpinoZa, sup
ported himself by trade while he
was studying out new philosophy.
And doubtless, many another Hebrew
lawyer or scribe found trade a good
thing to fall back on. 1t would not
be bad idea nowadays for young men
who enter business or a profession to
throw out an anchor to Windward by
learning some good trade first.
But of one thing let us be sure, the
worst trade we can take up is the
trade of a loafer. Whether we loaf
in fine clothes and play gentleman, OF
in ragged clothes on the street cor
nerS, loafing is about the poorest
business We can do. 1t robs the world
of the work we ought to do for it; it
robS ourselves of energy, ability and
hope, and it breaks Gods law of labor.
The principle of what [ have said is
Just as true for women as for men:
the application will differ only as the
circumstances of the sexes differ. The
best thing for every woman is to be
happily married; but whether married
or unmarried, every woman should
have her work in life, just as much
us every man should have his. Mar
ried women i'll ordinary cases will
find their work at home; and us every
young woman must count it among
the probabilities that she will some
day be married, that is reason enough
to lead every young woman to learn
the trade OF llouSe-kGcper. This is an
Indispensable accomplishments; any
thing else, except good morals, can
better be neglected 10y Il woman than
housekeeping. After that, any other
business which woman learns to
do is of value to her, and may be
of very great value Ii widow is
left with small children, or Young
girl is left an orphan, ability as
teacher, milliner or dressmaker, or
some other honorable business will
stand her in good stead. Or if there
is not enough to do at home, a young
woman had far better be engaged in
earning her own living than in read
ing novels, and gosSipping and going
to parties. Honest work is Just as
wholesome for woman as a man. All
honor to the ninety thousand young
women in the United States who are
engaged in the honest business of
teaching; and shame on the false pride
that SneerS at them because of their
honest industry.
l have spoken of the work in life
which each of us should have. The
needful preparation for our work
constitutes practical education.
Anything beyond that may have its
value i'll other ways: and often the
value of such extra education is very
great; but as far us a preparation for
our work in life is concerned, it has
An unSkilled labOrer needs no ed
ucation for his work; and skilled
laborer very little school education
beyond reading, writing and arith-
metic. The education of his hand and
eye for his work he will not get at
school, but in the workshop and on
the farm. Nor does BUSINESS man
need for his work any more school
learning than reading, writing, arith-
metic and bookkeeping. With the
professional man the case is differ
ent. His brains are his tools; and to
sharpen them by mental training in
school IS necessary ldt5 of the
preparation for his work. But even
here if we seek Il purely practical
education, we should shorten very
much our college courses and length
en- CORRESPONDENCE the professional
courses. The fact is, that much as
people talk about a practical educa-
ton, no one really wants it. When
you ask US to leave out Greek and
Latin from our college courses and
put more natural sciences in their
places, as so many people do now
adays, you are not asking us to put
a practical education in place of one
of culture, but only to substitute one
kind of culture for another kind.
The natural sciences are of no more
practical value to most people than
the languages are; and the higher
mathematics are of less practical value
than either. Even of the studies in
our common schools at least one half
have no direct practical value. What
ever people theorize, in actual practice
they want good deal of education
that is not of the nature of training
for their work in life; and this springs
from right instinct for culture, as
we shall see.
We can then, once for all, dismiss
from our minds the notion that we
need no education except that which
has direct practical value in our
work. We need a direct practical
training for our work in life; but we
need some thing higher and better.
and this leads us to our second point.
The great question OF life for each
one of us is not what we shall do,
but what we shall be; not how we
can make the most for ourselves, but
how we can make the most of our
selves. 1t is a good thing to be
good lawyer, or good carpenter, or
a good farmer, or good house
keeper; but it is a better thing to
be true man or woman. Skill in
work has its needful place in this life;
but culture and character give us rank
in the world to come as well as in
this world, i'll the world of mind and
soul as well as in the world of mat
ter and force.
Elnnofinr is