CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION FOR A YOUNG MAN. (Scientific American.)

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 126, 25 February 1873, Page 2

CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION FOR A YOUNG MAN. (Scientific American.)

Ir a boy is constantly whtitling sticks, fond parcn'ssay that he has " markod comtructivc ability ;"or if ho can whistle one 01 two notes of an mr correctly, "ho will be a gro.it musician ;" or if- hd can draw w ltli reasonable accuracy, " that child is a born artist." If those presumed or aasuiued evidence are acted upon-, anJ thoso in authority seize aibitranly upon the yolrti;,' man and force him into a trade or art, on the ground' cftheir being better able to judge than he l- for hrnnolf, the possibility, my, the probab lity is tint he will tifrn out a Harold Skiinpole, ot whose class the woild ha* if (ov ma iv nl.-eady. lio sketches a htllo ; tinkers n, little with tools ; drums a little on a piano ; and m tnno falls into lme with the rank and tilo of -the noble army of incompetents and revilcrs of fate. ll* may protest with all lus strength in- his earlier years ho u not fitted for the occupation chosoirfor him ; he may demand to be transferred into some other calling that lus soul hunger* after ; it is all in va n if Borne one in authority, bo the sa:no parent or guardian, sa\ s- " Your profession has been cho.en for you and you must follow it; \our elders have had more experience' than jou, and can tell better, by reason of it, what you need ;" and so the young man is condemned for life, lie goes moping all his'dars and refuses to be omfoi'tpd.yunply b'ecaivco hiThoirt is lut in what lit is doing. He is out. o£ his clement , he disturbs the machinery of 'the world; he is as bal as a broken wheel on a train ; everything with which hv'n connected goes halting- and bu-flpmg anl jumping bec.ui'C of him If he does tut reach the highest place m his profrB-.io,i, his elders, with astonishing inconsistency, upbraid him and say that he has no ambition, -no energy, m desire to succeed ; when the simple fact is that he ha> no qiraltlication to co.nmand success. " How can I knovfalJ&ucH thing" I duwio nothing a'lout ? excl' limed .in exasperated and badgered witness in the bjr. "How can I have nupiration to preach when I am always thinking about machinery ; or paint when I am always wHhmgtopreachlw'ieu divine truths fire my heart to go*rorth and turn men from the errors of their ways '- A man out of lm place says these things at hcr.rt if nrt« in actual words, and his whole life is embittered by the blntdness of his elders who would not see, but claimed the right, because they had powr, to sqUeozo a hun-a* heart into the corner they thought it should fill.' For it is crushing the heart out of man to ir.*.,ko ihe boy travel in a circuit he is unfitted for. All energies and" ambition recch forward t<3' one goal ; aU"hi<) intt-.iv h bent upon that one thing, and becau,e .>ou cannot see us he sees, clr parent or-guanlidn ! because 50a arc not him and do not love it as he loves it. you destroy his future power. It is a serious responsibility to asmme: to direct the calling in if J a young man shall follow, an action to bo taken onlr upon great deliberation. Wh itever lit* un lertakes he must stick to. In the early years of liis li f e, when the world expects but little of him, he must etudv or work hard to be qualified for the later ones, when it ovacta a great deal. He cannot be always young ; he cann>t have two youths; ho must give his youug lifojiis bright hopes, his asp iVailoiiV to tho work m hmiu. ' What if his heart is far from it and ho is longing with all his strength f>r that other cilling which you have put ouf-of his reach ? You might as well go out into the world when he is of age, as somo'f jreign parents do, and select a. w lfe for him. With 6q>inl consistency you* might c* well aay : " I havo had more experience ir. the world than you ; you can live happier with this woman than one of your own choosing," yet this is an action you would shrink from committing. Is not a man's profession the same in degree m his wife? Does he not live bv it as with her* Arc not all liis hopes centred upon it, his happiness bound up 111 it.- 1 Is not the CJiitentment which springs from a congenial occupation in some respect the same a* colimbial aTeetion 9 It certainly i-> ; for unless n man love the w'orfe to whiah he applies himself his labour is of no force, of little worth. He is half-hearted, n idpU because he lacks tie iis )iration wliich;. r nthiwasm lends toe cry occupation, even the humblest. The shoemaker who likes to make shoftf iroke. better oies than the convict enforced to do so, and the same is true of every work under the sun. ~ Lite or/ young man I'lioosc hi* own ojcupjtion in life. In unv event let him choo'p it. If- he has no particular bias or bent, let h m find som -t'ling to do, all the s tine. A parent or cuardian may say : " My son, it appears to me that your walk in life lie's this way," and point out the a Wantages hlcelv to eocrue or- that can be absolutely given him if he alop'ts the suggestion. 'but this is all thct» should bo done. If he reT 'It <", or objects and says " I cannot," do not retort with "you shall, or \ou are no son of mine" You will live to repent it. You" \\ ill wear sackcloth and ashes for it. Humble your-e f a little before you overthrow him A bor ; has a rig tto his clioic. He ha* an inalienable [natural right— yea, a constitutional one— to " life, liberty, and the pursuit' of happiness." Words mean something, and the CllO CO Of'an occupation embrace* all of these How can you force a boy into a workshop to learn a trado' when he has no aptness for it, except tint he has been seen to make boat 1 ?, or kites, things that a child naturally amuses himself by? You ! cannot, you havo no 1 it;ht. Consider the matter 60inewhat. If he ia-it tractable, affectioiicte, and docile b:>y, so much the I worse; you use his natural affection as a vehicle to work your will with him not scein» that in after life he will *>ecouie a listless, moo Iv, inefficient labourer in the vmevard, became you have trained him to a stake, or sprcatf him on a wall, instead of allowing him to grow free and unfettered as her should. Consider this matter in somo other hghfc than your own inclinations He will doubtless, live many years after ;\cii ar<> gone How shall ho best perpetuate your name and family? By following his own' natural inclination, or by tryng to foivo his naturo to run on a track? too wide or too narrow guage for him ? Think over it '