Herald Of The Times

Mechanics.—We have for a considerable time been aware of the real importance of our practical mechanics, to the other classes of the community. We have seen that the merit of their services was not duly appreciated—that they were denied their just bearing in society, and excluded from privileges which were emphatically their own. This, and more than this we have seen and regretted.— The mechanic himself has felt that he was struggling against obloquy and prejudice, and in too many instances he has abandoned his habits of industry, scorning to follow an employment which exposed him to ridicule and contempt, however honorable in itself, and lucrative it might have been, and embarked in enterprises which were ill calculated for his situation. But the eyes of the community are at length open—the real worth of the mechanic is beginning to be acknowledged, and he now can look up among his fellow men, proudly and independently. He can now pursue his calling, with the animating consciousness of meriting and obtaining the esteem and confidence of his neighbors; and with industry, temperance and frugality, he is certain of rising in the world—of obtaining an influence and an honest name— unborrowed from ancestral honors or hereditary wealth.
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