[HOW SHALL I MAKE A LIVING?]
"What business shall I follow?" is the question every young man and boy asks himself; "how shall I make a living?" and the best answer is, "By learning some useful trade." Nearly all the good men who have succeeded in life have begun in this way. Benjamin Franklin went to Philadelphia from Boston. He was a printer by trade, very skillful and industrious. But when he reached Philadelphia, tired, feverish, and weak, he had only a few pence to spend. He bought three pennies' worth of rolls at a baker's, and as he could not eat them all, carried a part under his arm. As he passed a house in Market Street he saw a young lady on the stoop, who was afterward his wife. He soon found employment at a printer's, and attracted the notice of the neighbors by working late at night when others were asleep. "That young man," they said, "is sure to succeed." He drew business from his rivals, and made money. He studied, and became a fine writer; he never ceased to work. He drew the lightning from the skies with a kite, and he aided in forming our republic. He lived to a great age, in good health, useful to his fellow-men, prosperous, and happy, because he had learned a trade.
George Washington was poor in his youth. He went to a country school, and then learned to be a surveyor. As a boy he was always ready to work, and passed his youth in the wild woods of Virginia measuring land. When he became a man he defended his country and made it free. He was always fond of farming, and passed his later years in that pursuit. The habits of labor and accuracy he had formed in his youth made him what he was. Had he never learned to be a surveyor, he would probably never have been of use to his fellow-men.
Another of these useful Americans was Robert Fulton. Almost every one travels on steamboats or crosses the ferries; but how few remember who it was that first made the steamboat a common thing. Robert Fulton was its real inventor. He became a mechanic when he was a boy, and was never tired of visiting workshops. Afterward he learned to draw and paint, but all his life he was still a mechanic, inventing useful machines. He improved canals, and made boats that moved under water. At last, in 1807, he built the first steamboat that was successful. One night the people on the banks of the Hudson were startled by the sudden appearance of a fiery monster, whose panting breath sounded along the shore. It seemed to breathe out great clouds of fire and smoke. It shook the smooth surface of the water, and sailed against wind and tide. It was evidently a demon. The sailors on board the sloops of Esopus fled from it as it came along: nothing like it had ever been seen before. But it was only the Clermont, Fulton's first steamboat, that had begun its trips between Albany and New York. The first voyage was made in about a day and a half; the sloops sometimes spent a week or two in getting to Hudson.
The advantage of a trade is that it exercises the body and makes the mind active. It produces a sound mind in a sound body. Franklin was fond of swimming, and would sometimes float for a long time in the Delaware. He found that he wanted change after setting type. The machine-shop, the engineer's room, or the carpenter's and mason's occupation, probably give sufficient exercise, but even this should be varied. One of the best employments for young men is farming. They may go out to the great West and settle on the rich lands that are offered them by the government, and help to feed the Europeans, or they may take a small farm of a few acres near a city and raise vegetables and fruits. They should first learn how to farm by beginning early to work for some intelligent farmer. There is no occupation pleasanter than this if well understood, and none that produces a more certain profit. Manufactures of different kinds also offer a sure employment for the young and strong, and stores and counting-houses are everywhere open.
Among the famous inventors are Arkwright, Watt, and Whitney, all of whom were brought up in workshops. Arkwright invented a machine for spinning cotton; he was a poor workman, laboring at his trade, and at first all his efforts to complete his invention failed. He was very poor, but he was never discouraged, and at last his spinning-jenny was used in every factory in England, and made his fortune. Watt, a young engineer, worked upon the steam-engine until he made it a useful and wonderful machine. From a poor boy he became a member of the once famous firm of Boulton & Watt. Whitney, born in Connecticut, invented the cotton-gin after long labors; it brought American cotton into use at once, and made the nation and Whitney rich together. These are only a few of the remarkable men who have risen to great usefulness in trade. Among the noted citizens of New York nearly every one has been trained in a workshop. Astor, Vanderbilt, Stewart were skillful workmen in their different occupations; Peter Cooper was a careful mechanic. It is easy to see how much better off every young man or boy would be if he had a regular trade.
But he should never forget that at the same time he should get as much knowledge as he can. Knowledge teaches men to be gentle, honest, pure, and bold, and, well used, it leads them to the surest success in life. The boy that learns most is sure to be the most valuable to his employers. It was because he studied mechanics so carefully, as a boy, that Fulton invented the steamboat; because he learned, in his youth, to write well and think, that Franklin became useful to every one. Every boy and young man should spend two or three hours each day in study. He should love history, poetry, and perhaps music, and in his conduct avoid everything that is gross and vile. In this way he is certain to lead a happy, prosperous life, useful to all around him. He will make a good son and father, brother, friend, and citizen.