X. The Laborer's Education and Home.
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 |
| ————— | |
| 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.