The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-06-12

bring him in contact with contagious
diseases, to which others may not be ex-

posed.
Yet, Notwithstanding the toll, incon-
venience and vexation of medical
practitioners life, we find that profess
sion crowded. In some towns of not
more than five or six thousand popula-
ton, we often find fifteen or twenty
doctors. Asin all other pursuits, though,
there is room at the top of the profes-
sional ladder. If you feel that your Pc
culiar bent of mind leads you to be a
doctor, and if your parents have the
means to give you medical education,
there is no good reason for your not en-
tering the healing profession. Before
deciding to do so, however, be sure that
you are mentally and physically qualified
for its arduous duties; for, to be sue
cessful physician, you must have 'mens
Sana TN c0rbore sana'-a sound mind in
sound body.
4 want to be lawyer, and with the
lawyers stand,' l hear some ambitious
youth sing out.
well, Idon't,' another boy retorts,
'for all lawyers are liars
You both had better 60 little slow
ly, my young friends. There are two
sides to this question. Did not your
indulgent father, or your doting, ambi-
tious mother, first suggest the legal pro-
fession to you? Or, did the desire to
become lawyer originate from hearing
the eloquent pleading of some legal lu-
minary of your acquaintance, as he feel
ingly portrayed the innocence of his
client before criminal tribunal? 1t
matters not, though, how or where you
imbibed the desire to be lawyer; l
will not condemn your ambition, for it
is very worthy aspiration, if prompted
by the right motives. If yours is an
over average intellect, and one especial
ly given to logical Investigations of the
cause of things in general, and to the
study of human character and motives,
and if you have the means necessary to
liberal education, perhaps you may
succeed in that profession. There ale
many difficulties to be encountered,
however, and vast deal of hard mental
labor to be performed, and perhaps try
ing privations to be suffered, before you
can expect to earn even meagre liveli-
hood in this vocation. There are vol
umes of legal lore to be absorbed, keen
criticisms to be faced, and a world of
opposition and competition to be COM
batted and overcome.
The ranks of the legal profession are
even more crowded than those of the
medical; yet there is room at the top,
plenty of it, though few, very few, ever
reach that desirable altitude. l know
scores of young men who would have
made capital farmers, stock-raisers or
artisans, whom an ambitious tguns fatu-
us led to bury their real talents, in the
fond belief that they possessed rare
qualifications for legal career. In
deed, the large majority of the young
men | have known to enter the legal
profession, have never risen higher than
mere pettifoggers, who do little else
than collect small claims and plead un
important cases before the mayor or
justice of the peace. In the courts of
these judicial functionaries, they froth
and foam with forid school-boy elo-
quence in a manner that reminds me of
country debating society.
AS to the retort of my young friend,
that 'all lawyers are liars l will simply
say that he is mistaken. This is an oft
repeated, yet unjust, aspiration. There
are just as honorable, truthful and high
minded men in the legal ranks as can
be found anywhere. 1t is not uncom-
mon for lawyers to confer great and
gratuitous benefits upon the cause of
justice by voluntarily giving their time
and talents to the defence of the inno-
cent or the prosecution of the guilty.
True, many of them often resort to un-
fair means in order to gain their points,
and the ends of justice are frequently
defeated by the unscrupulous chicanery
of attorneys; yet, it is not fair to con-
demn the entire profession on account
of the bad practices of some of its MEM
bers. There are quacks in the medical
profession, and we even find rogues at
tired in ministerial robes; yet we do
not say all doctors are humbugs, nor all
preachers hypocrites. Neither are 'all
lawyers liars
So, boys, I would say, in general
way that unless you are sure you possess
undoubted qualifications for successful
professional career, and have ample
means at command to insure liberal ed
ucational advantages, and also a support
until you are under full sail in your own
professional barque, you had better
choose some other calling.
Generally speaking, boywill succeed
best in that pursuit for which he has the
greatest natural inclination, whether it
be that of doctor, lawyer, editor, farmer,
or one of the mechanical trades. Yet,
in this age of general advancement and
keen competition, man of his calling,
be it professional, agricultural or me-
chanical, in order to succeed must there
fore be sure he has a firmly rooted,
decided talent for whatever he chooses,
before making his decision.
If you have a positive hankering for
mechanical tools, and evince fair de-
gree of skill in handling them, the
chances are that you would make sue
cessful carpenter, blacksmith, tinsmith,
or other artisan. If your tastes incline
that way, you can best decide for your
self whether you prefer working in
wood, iron, tin, copper, brass or leather.
Generally speaking, skillful artisan of
any kind, of sober, industrious habits,
stands better chance for steady and
paying employment than the average
professional man. He also stands a
much better chance ofadvancementt than
men in some of the so called more gen.
teel vocations. Take bookkeeper for
example; he masters his art of keeping
accounts, and most worthy occupation
it is, yet after he has learned it, there
is no more progress to be made. He is
good accountant, and nothing more.