Year: 1869

The present generation of our young
men seem to have a strong aversion to
every kind of trade, business, calling
or occupation that requires manual
labor, and an equally strong tendency
towards some sO-called 'genteel'' en-
plOyment or profession. The result is
seen in the superabundance of elegant
penmen, bOOkkeepers and clerks of
every kind who can get no employ
ment, and are wasting their lives in
the vain pursuit of what is not to be
had and terrible OverstOck Of law
yers without practice, and doctors
without patients. The passion ON the
part of the boys and young men to be
clerks, Office attendants, messengers,
anything, SO that it is not work Of the
kind that will make them mechanics.
Or tradesmen, is a deplorable sight to
to those who have full opportunities
to see the distressing effects of it in
the struggle for such emplOyments by
those unfOrtunates who have put it out
of their power to do anything else by
neglecting to learn some permanent
trade or business in which trained skill
can always be turned to acCOufItg The
applications for clerkships and similar


positions in large establishments are


numerous beyond anything that wo'd


be thought of by those who have no
chance to witness it. Parents and rel
atives, as well as the boys and E0ung
men themselves, seemed to be afflicted
with the same infatuati6n. To all


such we say, that the most unwise adj


vice you can give to your boy is to en-
courage him to be q clerk or book
keeper. At the best, it is not we'll


paid occupation. Very frequently it


is among the very poorest. This is the


case when the clerk is fortunate en-


Ough to be employed; but if he shO'd
be out of place, then comes the weary


search, the fearful struggle with the
| thousands of OtliGfs looking for places,


the never ending disappOintments, the
hope deferred that makes the heart
sick, the strife with poverty, the hu-
miliatiOns that take all the manhood
out of the poor souls, the priyatiOns


and sufferings of those who depend
upon his earning, and who have no


resource when he is earning nothing.
No father, no mother, no relative


should wish to see their boy or kindred


wasting their young lives in striving
after the genteel positions that bring
such trials and privatiOns upon them
in after life.


How do these deplOrabIy false no.


tions as to choice of occupation get into


the heads of boys? Why do they or
their parents consider it more "gen-
teep' or desirable to run erTands, sweep


out offices, make fires, copy letters,
etc, than to make hats or shoes, or lay
bricks, or WELD the saw or jack-plane,
or handle the mechanics file, or the


blacksmith's hammer? We have
heard that some Of them get these


notions at school. If this be true, it is


a sad perversiOn of the means of edu-


catiOif provided for our youth, which


are intended to make them useful


members of society, and not useless


drags and drOhes. Should it be so


that the present generation of boys


get it into their heads that, because


they have more school learning and


book accomplishment than their faith


ers had, they must look down Upon


the trades that require skill and hand
icraft, and whose productions make
up the vast mass of the wealth of
every country, then it is time for the


controllers and the directors to have
the interior walls of urschOOl houses
covered with maXims and notices


warning them against the fatal error.
Philadelphia Ledger.