Southern telegraph. (Rodney, Miss.) 1834-1838, 1838-10-31
THE NOBILITY OF LABOR.
By tine RRv. oRvILLE DEWEY.


true nobility Of labor, mean that would
dwell on il papent longer, and ina larger
view. Why, thob, in tho great scale Of
things is labor ordained for us? Easily, had
It so pleased the Great Ordainer, might IL
have been dispensed with. The world it
self might have been a mighty machinery
for production Of all man wants.
The motion Of the globe upon its axis
might have been going forward without mans
aid, houses might have risen like an exha-
latlon,
"With the sonnd
OF duIcet symphonies and voices sweet,
Built like templei"
gorgeous furniture might have been placed
in them,' and soft couches and luxurious ban
quets spread, by hands unseen; and man
clothed with fabrics Of natures weaving,
rather than imperial purple, might have been
sent TO disport himself in those Elysian pala-
ces. "Fair scener' | imagine you are
saving; fortunate for US had it been the
scene ordained for human lifem But where,
then, tell me, had been human energy, per-
severance, patience, virtue, heEolsmf
Cut off one blow from the world; and
mankind had sunk to crowd Of Asiatic vo-
luptuaries. No, it had not been fortunate.
Better that The earth be given to man as a
dark mass, whereupon to labor. Better that
rude and unsightly materials be provided in
the ore-bed and in the forest for him TO fash
ion to spIeudor and beauty. Better, l say,
not because Of that splendor and beauty,
bu. because the oct creating them is better
than tie things themselvesi because exer-
ton is nobler than enjoyment; because the
laborer is greater and more worthy of honor
than the idleT.
| call upon those whom l address to stand
up for the nobility Of labor. 1t is Heavens
great ordinance for human improvement
Lot not that great ordinance be broken
down.
What do say3 II is broken down; and
it has been broken down--for ages. Let it
then be built up again; here, ifany where,
on these shores Of a new world-Of new
civilization. But how, may be asked, is
it broken DOWN. Do not men toll, it may be
said? They do indeed toll, but they toe
generally do it because they must
Many submit to it as, in some Sort de-
grading necessity; and they desire nothing
so II UGH on earth as escape from 1t. They
fulfil the great law of labor in the letter, bu'
break ii by spirit. To some field Of labor
mental or manual, every idler should hasten
as chosen field of improvement.
| But so he is not impelled to do under the
teachings Of our imperfect civilization. Or
the contrary, he sits down, folds his hands
and blesses himself in idlene5s. This way
of thinking is the heritage Of the absurd an'
unjust feudal system, under which surfs la
bored, and gentlemen spent their lives II
fighting and feasting. 1t is time that Thu
opprobrium Of toll were done away.
Ashamed to toll art thou2 Ashamed o.
Thy dingy workshop and dusty labor-teld
of thy hard hands, SCARED with service more
honorable than that Of war, Of thy soiled and
weather stained garments, on which mother
nature has embroidered, mist, sun and rain,
mist, fire and steam, her own heraldIc hon
orss Ashamed of those tokens and titles,
and enyious Of the Haunting robes ofimbecile
idles and vanity. 1t is treason to nature, II
is impiety to Heaven, it is breaking Heav.
ems great ordinance. Toll, repeat, toll
either of the brain, Of the heart, or of the
hand, Is the only true manhood, the only true
nobility!