1. EDUCATION.--An old Spartan King was asked by an anxious father
what he should teach his son. The king replied: "Teach him those
things which he will practice when he becomes a man." This is the
correct principle of education. A father should study the abilities
and capacities of his children, and encourage them to follow the
inclinations of their talents. A boy who has a mind for mechanics, or
mathematics, or agriculture, cannot be made a doctor. Money spent on
his medical education is money misspent.
I have shown above that only about one in every two hundred colored
persons are engaged in the law, medicine, clergy, and other
professional and literary pursuits. I do not pretend to question the
Negro's ability to attain the acme in these vocations. I concede it
and verily believe it. But I am dealing in cold facts, not speculation
nor sentimentality. Again, I do not doubt that with the growth of
population, the increase in learning and property among the Negroes,
there will be a corresponding increase, yes, larger increase in the
number engaged in the professions, and in the trades and personal
service--as merchants, clerks, etc., etc. As shown above, only five
in every two hundred of the whole population engaged in occupations,
in the United States and Territories, are in the six professions
mentioned. Of the Negro race, only about ½ of one per cent., or one in
every two hundred, are so engaged.
The bread winners, or working population, are only 39½ per cent. of the
whole population of the country, and are distributed as follows:
Agriculture 7,670,493
Professional and personal service 4,074,238
Trade and transportation 1,810,256
Manufacturing, mechanical and mining industries 3,837,112
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17,392,099
It is easily seen that nearly one-half of our working population must
be educated for agriculture; not quite one fourth for professional and
personal service; about one-eighth for trade and transportation, and
a few more than one-fourth for manufacturing, mechanical and mining
pursuits. There are certain fundamental principles common to all
education. After these are inculcated, the aim should be to develop the
individual for his life work, or prepare him for that occupation which
is to bring him bread.
Leaving the subject of early training, I now pass to the consideration
of the importance of the intelligence of the laboring man. This is
necessary for the protection of himself, his employer and the peace of
society. It is much easier to understand and get along with educated
men than ignorant ones. The laboring man should set aside a few cents
to be invested in papers, books, &c., which give him information in
relation to his work, his duties, and tend morally to benefit him. He
should spend a few hours every week in trying to inform himself on
various things. He should be a thinking man, and his food for thought
should be of the most wholesome character, or he will cease to be a
useful member of society and become a destructive element. There are
certain little things in medicine, physics, chemistry, agriculture, law
and other branches which he should know, and his knowledge would save
him much pain and many dollars. I commend the following article, taken
from a paper called _Builder and Woodworker_:
"If the ordinary, every-day workman, engaged at his bench in the
pursuit of his vocation, were aware of the enormous number of natural
laws by which his every action is controlled, he would be surprised
at their existence and desirous of learning about them. This desire
would be natural and most praiseworthy, yet the fear of study stems
to prevent those who would like to gain this knowledge from simply
reading, as one would a story, the interesting things described in
books on physics--facts far more valuable than fiction, and so clearly
demonstrated that a mere tyro can understand and experiment from
description, thus proving how much can be learned even from a rapid
perusal.
"Why should a woodworking mechanic study the science? The reasons why
he should do so are numerous and important, and in explaining some
of them we shall endeavor, as far as possible, to show its practical
application and the part it plays in his individual efforts, though, at
the same time, it must not be forgotten that all the movements on this
earth of ours depend on and are controlled, according to the principles
of natural philosophy.
"Let us consider for a moment its bearing on a man standing at a bench
in the act of pushing forward a jack plane. What first of all retains
his body on the floor on which he stands? The force of gravitation,
which as described retains the earth particles together, and all bodies
animate or inanimate on its surface, by drawing them to its center,
this influence being exercised on the building in which he labors,
retaining its constituents in their positions. It also acts on his
person to such an extent that were he devoid of the power of movement,
he would be as immovably fixed as the inanimate wood he stands upon.
This force, likewise, keeps his stuff on his bench and the plane on his
work, and prevents the flying off at a tangent which would occur with
all terrestrial bodies were the attraction to cease for a moment. How
simple is the fact when demonstrated!
"Avoiding the consideration of the different attractions, we will
glance at the mechanical means he goes through in planing. Standing
with his two feet together, would it be possible for him to lift a
shaving? It would not, because the resisting force generated by the
friction of the wedge-shaped iron in entering the woody fibers would
be so great that this body, being unable to resist it, would be pushed
outside the perpendicular line of gravity, and fall. To overcome this
resistance he increases his base, and lowering the center of gravity of
the body, leans forward and throws his weight on his left leg, with his
right forming, as it were, a brace.
"Now he can exert his powers effectually, for having overcome unvarying
natural forces by the use of natural laws.
"His arms, as he moves them forward or draws them back again, are
nothing more than a splendid system of compound levers, and the tool
employed is on a cubical prism, with an angular opening into which a
wedge of steel is inserted and fastened, with its point projecting
below the sole or lower face. This wedge is forced forward by lateral
pressure, and entering the wood gives out a shaving or strip equal in
proportion to the projection.
"How many of us are there who know that the edges of our plane iron and
chisels, saw teeth, in fine our principal tools, are modifications of a
simple wedge, and fewer still who know its power or how to increase its
utility in practice.
"To us who handle it daily, the screw, or as it is in reality a
revolving wedge, is a mystery and an unknown thing, though we are
familiar with its usefulness; yet, while in the act of propelling a
screw with a screw-driver, a multitude of forces and machines are
employed, which are grand in their simplicity and worthy of study.
"That which teaches why a plumb bob hangs quiescent at the extremity
of a string, and why a level is determined by the centering of an
alcoholic bubble in a tube, and other valuable mechanical facts, should
not be passed over by him whose philosophy is to devote his life
to improving the means by which the comfort and happiness of human
nature are gained. Independent even of this essential reason, it is
imperative that we make ourselves acquainted with the component parts
and properties of materials, in order to train the mind into a line of
thought tending to invention and the bringing forth of valuable ideas,
which only those familiar with this science can essay."
HOME.--Home is the little harbor into which we anchor our vessels after
a day's battle with the elements on the ocean of life; it is a port
of supply into which we steer our bark to prepare for running a few
more knots amid pirates and breakers; it is the haven where our dear
ones should be secure from the storms of adversity, and where peace,
virtue and happiness reign. Of all places, home should be the dearest
to us. There the faithful wife, the partner of our joy and sorrow,
our sunshine and storm, our prosperity and adversity, and our merry
children greet us as we return weary and worn with the toils of the
day and heart-sore of the jeers and slights of men. In that home let
the Word of God be the supreme law. In that home let all be united
for truth and virtue; and the winds may blow, the rains fall, and the
floods descend, but it will stand unharmed. A few substantial articles
of furniture, a few small pictures on the wall, a floor neat and clean,
the rays of the king of day streaming in cheer through a glass window
or two, a yard clean and in order, a flower or a shrub, the fence and
front of the little cottage with a coat of new paint, costing only
about one dollar because it was spread on by the son or the father at
extra time, and you have a home to be envied by a king, whether you own
it, or rent it.
Keep in mind that the school room and pulpit combined cannot elevate
people above their homes. As their homes are, they will be. As long
as father and mother, son and daughter sleep in the same room, often
occupying the same bed, we cannot make much progress in virtue. The
off-spring is born with corrupt mentality. Make partitions if they must
be constructed of old newspapers. By all means give privacy to your
daughters, if you wish them to be virtuous and modest.
Lift the curtain, and let me show you the home of an individual who has
lost the comeliness of manhood--let me show you the hovel this brute
disgraces. Look! It is eight o'clock in the evening. The wife in her
old torn and soiled dress, is still faithfully engaged at the wash-tub.
An old broken lamp, smoking and sputtering, gives a pale and ghastly
light. The chunks of wood in the fire place are shoved together, and
four or five half clad, half starved little children are quarrelling
and wallowing in the sand, whence the bricks long since have been
taken. There is not a whole knife, or fork, or spoon, or plate, or
dish, or cup, or glass--not an article of furniture which is not
scarred and broken. At nine, that faithful wife, who is wearing out her
life with that miserable brute, has suspended her work, made the last
bit of meal into a hoe cake and divided it among those wretched little
creatures, and packed them away among some filthy and torn quilts on a
dirty straw mattress. She then returns to finish her labors. At eleven,
the thing called a man and husband and father enters. He is just from
the dram shop or the house of prostitution, where he has spent his
week's earnings with others of that ilk. He has no "Good evening," no
kind word for that faithful wife. He growls "Nothing here to eat?"
As that poor, weak, abused woman tremblingly stammers out an excuse,
with fiendish look and clenched fist he rushes upon her! Down let the
curtain drop! For angels and gods could not now look upon what follows
without tears of sympathy and anger intermingled! That man may be a
church member! He is certainly a member of some benevolent or labor
society, and may stand high in its councils. Is he a fit associate for
a true man? Should he not be hurled from your midst as an unworthy
companion? Here is work for the laboring man, and all men! Let us
elevate our home life, and make our wives and children happier.
The Germans are noted for their attractive homes. By comforts, sports,
songs, music, books, etc., they throw a charm into their homes which
inspires, cheers and elevates all who come within their influences. May
every laboring man in America build for himself such a home, whether he
lives in the city cottage or in the country cabin.