The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-08-13 00:00:00

CHEERFULNESS IN IVOIIKING

HOURS.

MIRKED differencos are observable in the
traits of disposition and moods of mind
exhibited by men and women when prose -ut-
ing their ordinary avocations. Cheerfalue-s
characterises some, while others display a
morose spirit as if they were always too con-
scious of being under the influence of the
primal curse. This moroseness may spring
from a variety of causes. It may originate
in tendencies to idleness, in growing dislike
to the particular calling which offers the
only means of livelihood, in technical diffi-
culties connected with the work in hand, in
the worry arising from a plethora of business,
in the stri-;t enforcement of rigid workshop
or office regulations, or in the sense of mono-
tony produced by performing the same
routine of work for a set number of hours
day after day. Apart from accidental causes
or sarrounding circumstances, the natural
disposition, be it happy or morose, also asserts
itself in the periods of work as well as in the
periods of leisure. In his masterly New
England romance, called "The House with
Seven Gables," Nathaniel Hawthorne has
strikingly portrayed in to of his characters
the contrasted gloom and brightness which
different natures, governed by totally distinct
sentiments and sensibilities, may throw upon
the commonest occupation of every day life.
ri psi Pvnche )n, an elderly mti • • gentle-
woman, who is the innate of the quaint
amestral house, finds it absolutely necessary,
when the pinch of poverty becomes extreme,
to convert one of the rooms fronting the
street into a little shop ; but it terribly galls
her family pride to have to do anything for
a livelihood, and the unhappiness depicted
on her wrinkled face, which defective eye-
sight deepens into a scowl, has a
scaring effect upon the customers
who drop in at intervals to make
small purchases. The scaring influence is
fortunately neutralised, however, by the
timely arrival of her sprightly young country
cousin. Phcebe Pyncheon, who takes delight
in serving in the shop, and who quite charms
customers by her cheerful face, her pleasant
manners, her winning ways, and kindly words
When Hepzibah first opened the shop a
garrulous old man, named trenner, who had
long known the family, gave her these words
of advice : "Put on a bright face for your
customers, and smile pleasantly as you hand
them what they ask for. A. stale article, if
you dip it iu a good, warm, sunny smile,
will go off hotter than a fresh one that
you've scowled upon" But the words were
lost upon the occupant of the seven gabled
house, as silo could not get over her sense of
humiliation at the mere idea of a Pyncheon
having to work and earn her breal. Her
notions of family pride rendered it impos-
sible for Ilepzibah to feel cheerful, even
when she was taking steps that would make
her independent of charity, and pride
resembling hers has too often proved an in-
superable bar t.) the realisation of happiness
in circumAances of a somewhat similar kind.
.Cheerfulness implies willingness, and in that
azreeable frame of mind the conditions are
favourable for work, whatever its nature,
being efficiently and expt'ditiously performed.
If employers, more generally than at present
recognised the fact just stated, experience in
considerateness would soon teach them that
it tended to their own aAvantage. There
are many ways in which they can do much
to promote the comfort, and thereby the
cheerfu!ness, of men and women in their
employment. They can do so by providing
well-lighted, well-vtmtilated workshops,
offices, and w trehonses, by avoiding minute
and harrassing regulations, by taking care
that managers and overseers combine kind-
liness and fairness with strictness, and by
making the workers feel that they are not
regarded as mere machines. Through the
action of their Trades Unions, menworkera
mlnagei to settle the fair wage question for
themselves, but women-workers are less
happily situated in this respect, and -the
small pay they commonly receive for long
hours of toil ninst inevitably have a depress-
ing influence on their spirits. It sometimes
happens that in the workshops connected
with dressmaking establishments, silence is
enjoyed, or attempted to be enjoyed, and it
is easy to understand that a tyrannical rule
of the kind does not promote the cheerful-
ness which is conducive to alacrity in getting
work out of hand. Some occupations, owing
to the nature of their surroundings, are better
adapted than others for creating and main-
taining cheerfulness. The exhilarating
influence of outdoor work in certain of its
phases is vocally reflected in "the plough:
boy's whistle, and the milkmaid's song,
which mingle harmoniously with the tuneful
voices of earth and air ; but it must be ad-
mitted that the modern changes in field im
plements, and the common use of machinery
on the larger class of farms, have consider-
ably curtailed the oportunities for "sun-
burnt-mirth "enjoyed in bye-gone times.
Harvestjoy was more exuberant in the days
of reaping hooks, which flashed in the sun-
shine on upland slopes like swords in the
battle, than there is the possibility of it being
in the utilitarian days of rattling reaping-
machines. Happily, the advent of iron-clad
fleets and steel cruisers has not put out of
fashion the old musical and cheery "Yo,
heave, ho! "of seamen when hauling up the
anchor, and rowers still sing in full chorus
familiar songs of the sea while lustily plying
their oars and dashing through the sparkling
waves. The common use of machinery has
affected manifestations of cheerfulness dur-
ing working hours in doors as well as out
doors; and factory operatives, with a con-
stant Babel of drowning, whirling, grinding,
and grating sounds in their ears, cannot be
expected to sing as industrious housewives
• and their daughters did at their spinning-
wheels in the days of yore.