Year: 1872

lar; another criticised the colors, and
said that it was better than other imita-
tions, but she had not quite hit that natu-
raj, indescribable peculiarity which dis
tinguishes the natural apples from mere
limitations; almost every one had some
fault to find. After the apple had passed
round and came in her hands again, she
ate it, without saying anything. Her
friends had been criticizing a real apple,
but never afterward criticised her imita-
tions of fruit.


Choosing an Occupation for Young


Man.


If boy is constantly whiting sticks,
fond parents say that he has marked
constructive ability" or If he can whistle
one or two notes of an air correctly, che
will be great musician:" or if he can
draw with reasonable accuracy, 'that
child is born artist" If these presumed
or assumed evidences of genius are acted
upon, and those in authority seize arbi-
trarily upon the young man and force
him into trade or art, on the ground of
their being better able to judge than he is
for himself, the possibility, nay, the
probability, is that he will turn out a
Harold Skimpole, of whose class the
world has far too many already. He
sketches a little; tinkers a little with
tools; drums little on a piano; and in
time falls into line with the rank and file
of the noble army of incompetents and
revilers of fate. He may protest with all
his strength in his earlier years that he is
not fitted for the occupation chosen for
him; he may demand to be transferred
into some other calling that his soul
hungers after; it is all in vain if some
one in authority, be the same parent or
guardian, says: "Your profession has
been chosen for you and you must follow
it; your elders have had more experience
than you and can tell better, by reason of
it, what you need;" and so the young man
is condemned for life. He goes moping
all his days and refuses to be comforted,
simply because his heart is not in what
he is doing. He is out of his element;
he disturbs the machinery of the world;
he is as bad as broken wheel on train
everything with which he is connected
goes halting and humping and jumping
because of him. If he does not reach
the highest place in his profession, his
elders, with astonishing inconsistency,
upbraid him and say that he has no am
bition, no energy, no desire to succeed
when the simple fact is that he has no
qualification 10 command success.


"How can / know about a thing dunno
nothing about?" exclaimed an exasper-
ated and badgered witness in the box.
''How can 1 have inspiration to preach
when l am always thinking about ma.
chinery; CT paint, when / am always
wishing to preach, when divine truths
fire my heart to 60 forth and turn men
from the error of their ways?" A man
out of his place says these things at heart
if not in actual words, and his whole life
is embittered by the blindness of his
elders who would not see, but claimed
the right, because they had the power, to
squeeze human heart into the corner
they thought it should fill. For it is
crushing the heart out of the man to
make the boy travel in a circuit he is un-
fit for. All his energies and ambition
reach forward to one goal; all his nature
is bent upon that one thing, and because
you cannot see as he sees, oh parent or
guardianl because you are not him and
do not love it as he loves it, you destroy
his future power. 1t is serious response
bility to assume; to direct the calling in
life young man shall follow, an action
only to be taken upon great deliberation.
Whatever he undertakes he must stick to.
In the early years of his life, when the
world expects but little of him, he must
study or work hard to be qualified
for the later ones, when it exacts a great
deal. He cannot be always young; he
cannot have two youths; he must give
his young life, his bright hopes, his aspi,
rations to the work in hand. What if his
heart is far from it, and he is longing
with all his strength for that other calling
which you have put out of his reach ?
NJ MIGHT q pvpI frn inf No xr-nrlA
when he is of age, as some foreign parents
do, and select a wife for him. With
equal consistency you might say: 81 have
had more experience in the world than
you; you can live happier with this wo-
man than one of your own choosing,
yet this is an action you would shrink
from committing. Is not mans profes-
sion the same in degree as his wife? Does
he not live by it as with her? Are not
all his hopes centered upon it, his happi-
ness bound up in it? Is not the content
ment which springs from congenial oc-
cupation in some respect the same as con-
nubial affection? 1t certainly is; for un-
less a man love the work to which he ap-
plies himself his labor is of no force, of
little worth. He is half hearted, simply
because he lacks the inspiration which
enthusiasm lends to every occupation,
even the humblest. The shoemaker who
likes to make shoes makes better ones
than the convict enforced TO do so, and
the same is true of every work under the
sun.


Let every young man choose his own
occupation in life. In any event, let him
choose it. Ifhe has no particular bias or
bent, let him find something to do all the
same. A parent or guardian may say:
my son, it appears TO me that your
walk in life lies this way" and point out
the advantages likely to accrue or that
can be absolutely given him if he adopts
the suggestion, but this is all that
should be done. If he revolts, or objects
and says 81 cannot" do not retort with
"you shall, or you are no son of mine.
You will. live to repent it. You will
wear sack-cloth and ashes for it. Humble
yourself a little before you overthrow
him. A boy has a right TO his choice.
He has an inalienable natural right-yea,
a constitutional one-to "life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness" Words mean
something, and the choice of an occupa-
tion embraces all of these. How can you
force boy into workshop TO learn trade
when he has no aptness whatever for it,
except that he has been seen to make
boats, OR kites, things that child natur-
ally amuses himself by? You cannot;
you have no right. Consider the matter
somewhat. If he is tractable, affection
ate, and docile boy, so much the verse;
you use his natural affection as a vehicle
to work your will with him, not seeing
that in after life he will become a listless,
moody, inefficient laborer in the vineyard
because you have trained him to a stake,
or spread him on a wall. instead of ellow-
ing him to grow free and unfettered as he
should. Consider this matter in some
other light than your own inclinations.
He will doubtless live many years after
You are gone. How shall he best perpet-
uate your name and family? By follow
ing his own natural inclinations, or by
trying to force his nature to run on
track too wide or too narrow gauge for
him? Think over it !-ScieRtife Amsr-
leaH.