Edwardsville Spectator

MISCELLANEOUS.

MECHANICS.

In the history of distinguished men of all ages there will be found a larger number of the lives of those, who emanated from the humble situation of mechanics, than from any other of the existing professions. To these geniuses the senate, the pulpit and the bar, are indebted for some of their proudest and highest ornaments; nor is literature entirely exempt from obligations to the mechanical community. The sweet songs of Bloomfield, and the elegant essays and criticism of Gifford are, of themselves, sufficient to establish the truth of the latter assertion, without seeking for further proofs. Philosophy acknowledges one of its most enterprizing scholars in the mechanical talents of a Franklin, and to a self-taught and self-lettered printer may be ascribed the honor of wresting from lightning and the thunderbolt their mighty and appalling terrors. Mechanics are frequently, the children of poverty; their early days are often days of sorrow and toil, and their hopes and prospects are, not unfrequently, cloudy and gloomy by reason of the want of education and instruction in the sciences of the age. When arrived at manhood, sensible of their defects, they commence an arduous and assiduous course of study, determined to emerge from the pit of obscurity where the fates have placed them, and to hold a rank equal to their merits in the circles of their countrymen. It is to this and their misfortunes, that we are indebted for so many men of distinction and eminence. It is a pleasing reflection that in this age, exertions are making, by the establishment of literary and scientific institutions to assist them in the furtherance of their pursuits, and it is confidently expected that the day is not far off, when, through the assistance of these institutions and associations, the world will hail an increased number of eminent men from the profession of Mechanism, who will not sully the names of their ancestors.

Prov. Gaz.