Year: 1870




IT Is stated in recent report of the
Prison Association, that Of fourteen thou
sand FIVE hundred and riine,y-six prison
ers confined in the penitentiaries of thirty
States, In 1867, seventy seven per, cent,
or over ten thousand of the number, had
lnevef lUafned y trade. This fact may, in
some measure, be vefified by inquiry at
the employment and aid associations,
Ivbere only a very email percentage OF
those who apply for positions are skilled
lin any trade Of business. An advertise
| ment for skilled labor Will call out but
few responses, while one for light, un-
skilled smployments will call hundreds of
fieedy applicants for situations. The
point wifi the rising generation
Is to avoid manual labor. The aver.
sion to manual labor has been, in
great measure, brought about by the false
ideas ON edGcatiop that pervade all classes
of society. 1t is SUPPOSED by these ms
taken people that "school learning will
somehow furnish their sons and daugh.
ters a sure passport to success" which
is always Understood by them to mean
getting living without work Such of
them as can muster means to do so, send
their children to the best schools, furnish
| "
painting, and the other accomplishments,
not forgetting to give them the benefit of
foreign polish when it is possible. They
thus go over an amazing area ofeducational
territory, and bare list ofthe studies they
have "gone through" would appal the Ad-
mirable Crichton himself 1t might be
supposed that these young ladies and gen.
tlemen would be qualified to earn an
honest penny, in case of necessity, by
some one or all OF these varied attain
ments; but unfortunately, such is not com
monty the fact. We say leave out of the
consideration the common branches of
teducation, such as arithmetic, grammar,
and geography, which are the elementary
branches of a general education; but of
the "higher branches" of an English or
| linguistic education, how many of these
sons and daughters of ambitious parents
learn enough to enable them to earn
dinner in case the paternal funds fail to
come to handg They have made no one
of them special study, and have studied
them all superhciauy. And one may
| Judge of how they study them by watch.
ing them as they go trudging and painting
to school, under the weight Of the small
library, which seems to be necessary for
days study in that temple of knowledge
the public school, In due time, they
graduate" with great ecldt, and are CON
sidered ready for the battle of life. 1t is
all right with them so long as the "gov-
ernor," the "old man," or whatever they
may call him, can "shell out the rocks"
"down with the stamps" or, in old
fashioned language, furnish them the
upon their own resources they drift
Nrhi nd
certainty, that they are " babes
in the wood" in the important matter Of
providing for themselves Some of these
incompetents, after years of failure and
want, DRIFT int, employment. But the
great mass of them are the young men
who are standing on our street corners,
or wandering about looking for situa'
ton where they can do genteel work.
and anything is considered genteel if it
does not involve what they term manual
labor" Peddling little patented articles
that are indispensable in every family"
clerking in any capacity, an agency,
though it be only patent rattrap-all
these are genteel, and young American
| graduate of public school or OF COM
mercial " college," will call to see the pro-
| prietor of the patent rat-trap two hun
dred and fifty times before he will even
think of learning a useful trade. 1t is
customary with some persons to blame
these helpless young men very severely !;
but they are not so much to blame as are
their parents and their teachers. Their
fathers and mothers probably toiled many
weary years to gain competence, which
was most likely gained only by the labor
Of their hands. - What more natural than
to express the wish with honest, though
/ aNo haH
daughters might escape so hard q lot :
What wonder that their children have
grown up with a thorough contempt for
work. When the children went to
school, their teachers impressed upon
them the importance of education for
"elevating" them, which they always un-
derstoOd to mean, avoiding the laborious
tolls of their parents lives. We could
point to q certain class of institutions
which have, in these false teachings, done
incalculable injury to the cause OF honest
industry. Before the evil can be reDe-
died, a different class of ideas must pre-
vail in families and in schools. 1t must
come to be understood that parents do
only part of their duty to their children
until they see to it that they are masters
of good trades, in all the niceties of theory
and practice When this view of parental
duty comes to prevail, the click of skilled,
productive industry will be more respected
than the countless make-shift expedients
for living which now disgrace SO many
able bodied, but helpless young men. We
would discourage multiplicity of studies,
and insist upon the most perfect mastery
of few judiciOusly chosen branches OF
knowledge. 1t sbcdld be impressed upon
the minds of the pupils that thorough
ness in one or two departments of learn
ing is of more value than a smattering
knowledge of many. And last, though
not least, that good trade, well mastered
is the crswning glory of an education
OhicdqO Repubicdl.