Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-02-05
THE BOYS PROFESSION.
Let Him Follow the Natural Rent of
His Mind and He will Succeed.
Pittsburg Dispatch

Parents often make grave mistakes
by choosing professions for their sons
without reference to their fitness. A
man wha has risen from poverty or
the lower levels of business life TO
comparative wealth, does not care to
have his sons pass through all that he
has experienced 1t is not necessary
that they should. Let them profit by
his hard earned knowledge. Some
men do not seem to know how to
make this Knowledge available fer
their sons Instead of cndowIng them
with 2 knowledge of how to make
money and how TO use it to the best
advantage, they give them all they
want of its Boys instinctively know
how to spend money.
Some of the most noted Spendthrifts
and total wrecks are the sons of men
who made their fortunes b. hard
work and the closest economy.
Through a desire to see their sons
enjoy the fruits OF their labor they
made gentlemen of them instead of
business men.
A boy with decided taste or apt
ness for any calling is easily disposed
Of. 1t is the one with no special
genius who is hard to fix. Such 3
one is usually a good allround schol-
ar, can make a SLED, tinker a sewing
machine, play the piano, make pas
sable drawing, dance well, write
fair essay-in short, do almost any
thing tolerably well.
Now. what is to be doRe with such
chap' He does not play the fiddle
we'll enough to make a good living
6ddling; his sketches are not strong
enough to guarantee success as an
artist; his pen is scarcel; trenchant
enough to Justify making an editor
Of HIM; his skill as tinker does not
indicate any special mechanical gent
Us in short, TIE surface indications
are in manner useless, none Of them
being strong enough to warrant an
investment? What is to be done with
him2
If he has no money and has to
make his way in the world, perhaps
the best thing is TO pay strict atten
ton to his habits and his morals and
let him go Being forced to earn his
own breaa, he viii very soon lind a
niche in which he is comparatively
comfortable.
However, if he is so situated that he
does not have TO work for living it is
not probable that he will do much
skirmishing, but wait conteutedly for
something to turn up. He knows the
dinner bell will ring and the tailor be
/ paid all the same, whether he works
/ or not. IF there is no way by which
he can be dumped out into the world
and made to feel that his existence de
ponds upon his own efforts, the next
best thing, probably, is to assist him
! ia choosing q trade or profession
and then put him at it in earnest,
/ keep him down to it until he shows
signs of positively liking or disliking
it, and let him be governed accord
ingly.
The country is full Of doctors, law
yers, and preachers, who are such be-
cause 1t was not known what else to
make Of them, and sorry lot they
are.
It is clear waste of raw material to
try to make a lawyer o0t of a born
mechanic, doctor out of a natural
artist, or a business man out of the
stuff intended for dancing master.
While it may not be clear waste to
make either out of a mixed stick, the
chances are the result will never be
considered a great success.
Welcomed habits and good NOR
ais constitute the best start jack of
all trades can have. With these
there is but little danger of his going
to the bad even if he does not make n
great hit in life. Without these he is
Just as liable to go down the hill as
up. to sink as TO swim.
The worst mistake, made by parents
are when they pay no attention TO the
surface indications, and set their sons
up in profession because they want to
see them there. Some do this when
they are morally certain the place is
not suited to them. Failure in such
cases is Inevitable
A NOCTURNAL VISION.