Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-02-20

not, that ends the matter. AS a |
rule, in England, young men are
educated afterwards. Thus the
army officer is as highly educated
in general as the attorney. In
this country the education Of a
young man, after leaving high
schools, is directed in certain chan
nels. The lawyer takes one chan
mel, the doctor another, and so on
through. 1t is an every day thing
to find lawyers who are sadly de-
fcient in the classics, and doctors
of skill who make no pretensions to
being posted outside OF their own
medical works.
The English gentleman IS refined,
intelligent and thoroughly educat-
ed. This is the result Of training
and teaching from boyhOOd up
The American gentleman may be
refined, courteous, aud intelligen t
by nature, but a thorough educa-
| ton does not always 60 with them.
The son of an English mech anic
stands no show when matched
against the son of an American.-
When he goes to his trade his
wages are much less, and his term
Of apprenticeship two or three
years longer. In the matter OF
common school education the
American mechanic gives bis boy
every chance, while the English
man does not and cannot, because
the school systems are not the
same. In this country our ma
chinists, tinsmiths, carpenters,
painters, and so on are, as rule,
fairly educated, and keep them
selves thoroughly posted on all
current matters the world over.
a great share of the political oili-
GERS in this country, from member
of the Legislature down, are filled
by men from the ranks Of the me-
chanics. In England the me.
chauic must work for less money,
live much more poorly, and aspire
to neither social position nor po-
litical honOrs.
Between the sons Of English and
American day laborcrs the re is no
comparison. The first can give his
boy no education whatever, and he
| lisa beast Of burden from the day
he is able to pull weeds in the
garden TO the day Of his death.
Seventeen out Of every twenty of
our day labOrcrs-and this includes
teamsiers, draymen, PAYERS, dig
gers, street cleaners and street en-
ployees of gas and water companies
and mortar mixers and hOd-carrlers
school their sons from until II
years of age, and sometimes two or
three years longer. The son of an
English labOrer seldom rises above
the position. In this country, and
at this day, it is rare thing to
find laborers son following in
the footsteps of his father. He
can do better, and he does do
better.
1t may further be safely asserted
that there is no comparison be-
tween the English farm laborer and
the American. The Englishman
is unlettered and unlearned, mlser-
ably paid and fed and lodged, and
his ideas of the world are wonder
| fully few and crude. The Amer
lean farm laborer can, nine times
out of ten, read, write, cast up ac-
counts, discuss politics, descant on
history and give the general news
of the world as learned through tue
papers. He is well paid, we'll
treated, and his intelligence and
personal bearing can place him in
the society Of those able to en-
ploy his services.
To every class of English boys
below the sons of gentlemen and
tradesmen, America offers superior
advantages in schools, wages,
trades, and social standing, and
this fact brings hundreds OF them
across the ocean every year. Many
times they como alone, landing in
strange country with but little
money and not one single friend,
but they make their way to success
in a very short time. One of the
things one never sees in this Re
public, is an English boy out Of
work and money.
AS to the difference between
city and country boys it lies, en-.
tircIy in the training. The farmer
son may have tho most intelligence
as child, but natural intelligence
must be trained and cultivated or
| it becomes low cunning instead of
wisdom. The country boy has a
district school, run in almost any
fashion, while the city boy has
graded schools conducted on the
wisest system. SO long as he is
kept in the country the farmers
boy has no show at oil compared
to his friend in town in the matter
of education.
We look to a mans personal
department before We test his