The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-06-12
What Shall MY Vocation Bee
A TALK WITH THE BOYS.
Touufru Genflemeu.

Well, boys, no doubt this subject has
crossed your minds before you read the
title of this article. 1t is very impor-
tant subject, and one that claims your
most serious attention. The selection
of a vocation should not be made in
haste. If you 60 to store to buy a
pair of boots or pocket knife, you will
examine the articles offered for sale very
carefully, to see if they are good, and
worth the price asked for them. 1t is
right that you should do this. 1t is
right that you should want value re-
ceived for your money Should you
be mistaken, however, and buy an in
ferior article, you will, if you are pru-
dent boy, make the best of your bar
gain, and try to profit by your expert
ence, and endeavor to do better the
next time you go to make purchase;
you will be more careful in your inspec-
tion of the article you contemplate buy.
ing. This is all right. You should ex-
ercise your best judgment, even in the
smallest affairs. Cultivate a careful
habit in all things and while you seek
to get the worth of your money in what
ever you buy, at the same time, be care
full you do not try to get more than
that. Always be willing to pay the
storekeeper full value for what you buy
from him.
In case you should err in your judg-
ment, and make bad trade, you will,
of course, be the loser to greater or
less extent, owing to the amount in
volved.
But there is another choice that each
of you will soon be called upon to make,
of far more importance than the selec-
ton of pocket knife, hat or suit of
clothes. You must choose a vocation
whereby to earn living and be USE
full member of society. This, boy, is
one Of the most serious questions you
will ever have to settle, and one that
demands your most earnest considera-
ton. If, in buying pocket knife, or
a pair of boots, you make bad choice,
tic loss involved is not great; it only
amounts to few dimes at most, and in
the end may even be a positive benefit
by the experience you gain thereby.
1t is different to the choice of a life
time occupation, though. An error in
that, is apt to be followed by the most
disastrous consequences. In fact, you
cannot afford to make mistake in this
all important matter.
'What occupation would you advise
us to follow?' l think l hear the boys
ask.
Ali my young friends, it is not for
me to select an occupation for you. No
single reply would answer your question,
any more than any one medicine would
cure all diseases. Each of you must
answer that momentous question for
yourself. We older ones can do little
more than give you few words ofgen-
eral advice. Even your parents are
likely to make egregious mistakes in
choosing vocations for their sons. Be-
ing naturally ambitious for their chill
dren's prominence in society, they often
choose one of the learned professions
for boy who has no aptitude whatever
for a professional career. His fond
father and dotlng mother imagine there
is far greater honor and distinction in
the letters M. d. or the appellation
Attorney at Law at the end of their
sons name, than to have him spoken of
simply as John Jones, the farmer, or
Sam Scott, the carpenter
Let me tell you what think about
it. There is just as much honor in one
appellation as another. John Jones,
the farmer deserves just as much credit
and respect as 'Proi. Martin Montague
the learned astronomer or geologist or
linguist, provided he, Mr.. Jones, is as
good farmer as Mr.. Montague is
geologist, botanist, linguist or whatever
branch of science he may be Professor
of. The honor of a pursuit lies much
more in the man than in the pursuit it.
self:
"Honor and fame from no condition rise;
Act well your part; there all the honor lies"
There is certainly no man who de-
serves more honor than your intelligent,
sympathetic friend, the doctor;' but
do you imagine that those two capital
letters, M. d. at the end of his name,
give him freedom from toll and anxiety?
If you do, you are greatly mistaken.
They are rather the symbols of toll
some life. There is, perhaps, no man
in the community who leads more la
borious life than he, and few who are
so poorly paid. Many a time, while
the farmer, the carpenter, and other
men in the ordinary walks of life, are
sweetly sleeping in their warm beds, the
midnight messenger is vigorously ring
ing the door-bell of the physician S resi-
dence, rudely awakening him from much
needed slumber, to call him to the bed
side of some sufferer. No matter how
dark or cold or dreary it may be, the
man of medicine must go; through
snow, through sleet, through drenching
rain, he must hasten to the relief of
pain.
Yes some of you say, this is all
true. The doctor does plenty of hard
work, but he gets handsome fees for
these night visits Perhaps! 1t is often
the case he gets nothing more 'hand-
some or tangible than the gratitude of
his patient; sometimes, also, not even
that! Of all men, he probably does
more charitable work than any; and
yet, in some States, he is required to
pay an annual occupation tax of fifteen
dollars or more. In case his patient
dies, as in the nature of things must
frequently occur, he is often unjustly
censured by the friends and relatives OF
the deceased, as though he possessed