Richmond Indiana palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1837-1839, 1838-10-06
THE NOBILITY OF LABOR.
BY THE REV. oRyILLR DEWEY.


THE REV. oRvILLE DEWEY.
/ So ma terIai do | deem this policy-the tru
: nobility of labor,I mean, that | would dwell o,
1t a moment longer, and in a larger view WI,
Then. IN the great scale OF things labor ordain
ed tor US! Easily, had it pleased the Grea
OrdaIner, might IT have been dispensed with
he world itself might have been a might,
machinery for production Of all that man wants
The motion OF the globe uponits axis might have
been going forward without mans aid, house:
might have risen like exhalation.
with sound
| Oi dulcet symphonies and soice. sweet,
Built like ,empe,'
gorgeous furniture might have been placed IN
them, and soft couches and luxurious banquets
spread. by hands unseen; and man clothed with
with fabrics of natures weaving, rather than
lmperla: purple, might have been sent to dsport
himself IN those Elvsi1n palaces Fair scene =
imagine you are saying; Fortunate for us had
It been the scene ordained for human life.' But
where, then, tell me, had been human energy,
perseverance. patience, virtue, hercism?
Cut off with one blow from the world land man
KIND had sunk to Il crowd of AsiatIc voluPtuares.
No, 1t had not been fortunate. Better that the
earth be given to man dark mass, where
upon to labor. Better that rude and unsighty
materials be provide in the ore-bed and In the
forest for HIM to fashion 10 splendor and beauty
Better, say, not because of that splendor and
beauty, but because the act creating them is bet
ter than the things themselves? because exerton
is nober than en- oyment; because the laborer is
greater and more worthy of honor than the
idlcr.
l call upon those whom address to stand up
for nobility of labor. 1t is Heavens great ordi
nance for human improvement. Let not that
great ordinance be broken down.
What do say? 1t is broken down; and it
has been broken duvn-for ages. Let il then be
built up again; here, if any were,on these shores
of a new world-ofa 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 too generally do it because they
must.
Many submit to 1t as, some sort, u degrading
necessity; and they desire nothing much
earth escape from it, They fulfil the great
law of labor in the letter, but break it by spirit.
10 some field of labor, mental manual, every
dler should hasten a chosen field Of improve
nent.
But he is not impclIed to do under the
eachngs Of our imperfect civilization. On the
he sits down, folds his hands, and bless
IS himself in idIeness. This way of thinking is
he heritage of the absurd and unjust feudal sys-
EN-, under which surfs labored, and gentlemen
pent their lives fighting and teasting.---
is time that this opprobrium of toll were done
way. Il
Ashamed to toll art thou? Ashamed of thy
ingy workshop and dusty labor-fied; of thy h ard
ands. SCARED with service more honorable than
iar, OF thy sotled and weather stained garments,
n which mother nature has embroidered; mist 1
In and rain, mist, fire and steam her own her c
die honors? Ashamed of those tokens and titles O
nd envious of the Haunting robes of imbecil e
leness and vanity? 1t is treason to nature, it il
mpiety to Heaven; il is breaking Heavens h
eat ordinance. Toll, repeat, toll. either of the 9
am, OF the hearr, OF the hand, the only true
anhood, the only true nobility! Il