Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1854-10-25

than tho tT1bute OF praise amt admlratlOn, Inv
products of their labor, by friends and fellow coun-
/ trymcn-artd the premiums awarded for the same
These premiums and diplomas trophies OF victo-
ry, in the pursuits of peace, which arc not to
be estimated by dollars and cents, for money cannot
buy them but titlepapers of usefulness and worth,
! in their day and generation which their owners
should preserve and transmit heir-looms to their
! children. -..- -..
these associations, is the social revolution to be efec-
ted by the high position to which labor is to be ee-
waited by investing it in the public mind with that
dignity to which it is justly entitled So stubborn
is the prejudice of habit, hard is it to eace the
associations of past history that for centuries man
ual labor has been identified with degradation and
| vulgarity. In the military governments that were
established, from the very necessities of the times,
the ruins of the Roman Empire, and cut of which
originated the feudal system, the great
occupation of Christendom. Out of the Church,
mind was directed to its successful pursuit, either
for conquest or defence. 1t was the only passport
to honor and power, the only road to respectabllty
For several centuries, what now known as the
learned professions" occupied an humble position
in the social scale. Law, medicine and divinity were
the targets at which literary humor and baronal
merrinen vented their ibes and sarcasms The cech,
the attorney and the priest associated with con-
ceit, cunning. penuriousness, and the qualification
of sensual appetites in we'll stored larders and well
filled cellars. Merchandise regarded as the call
ing of the ignoble and avaricious. And although,
in process of time, these pursuits rose in dignity
and Importance when violence yielded to law when
was regarded as more useful than destroying it;
when the dissemination of purer faith extorted the
tribute of respect for its teachers when the acqus
ition of wealth placed the means of luxury and
Joyment within the reach of its possessors-stiH,
mere manual labor, honest unpretendng labor, has
continued to languish in obscurity-the by-word of
the fashionable and the dle-the of the purse
proud and pretentious. But in this respect, a
era Is beginning to dawn upon the world The last
quarter of century has done to revolutionize
public sentiment on this subject, than the eighteen
centuries preceding, since the commencement of the
christian era The diffusion of intelligence the OPP
erations OF commerce. and the uti!itarian tendency
of the age, are beginning to teach mankind that la
Dor Is the source OF all wealth and prosperity, the
means OF individual comfort and luxury the basis of
national strength and greatness. When reflect
that the object ofour association is to enlarge the
field of operation for labor to secure to labor the
rewards of its TOLL to stimulate It to still greater
eruons, and to enable it to accomplish the greatest
results by economiSing its powers it is evident that
the effect must be to dignity honor and elevate labor.
1t is the iaborer especially, that invite and wei
come to our Brotherhood. In country,
above all Others labor be destined soonest to
reacn It's proper position. Our institutions recog
niZe no distinctions in industrial pursuits. The
road to honor, to wealth and power open to all
alike. The trainers of our institutions true to
the teachings OF q past history Not only the sold
iers who fought our revolutionary battles, but many
OF their heroic leaders, laboring men, artZans,
and mechanics. Washington was land surveyor,
Greene a blacksmith, Wayne was aboring
iaTHicI WAS Il Our govern
ment then in its organic structure has done for Ia
Dor all it could. 1t is for voluntary association,
then to elevate labor in the social scale | am pam
dering to no spirit of political socialism when say
that have long thought society needed radical
reformation in regard to the estimate placed on labor
Why should the laborng man be excluded from the
saloons of fashion, the hoSpitabe board of the veal
thy, the companonshiP of the great mean mere
lv because he is a laborinG man? Why Is it that
the young man who returns home from College with
a education secured by the economical savings of
an Industrious father thinks it beneath his dignity
to assist that father in the routine of his domestic
occupations? or, the young lady, whose accomplish
ments have been paid for by the seif-denial of an
indu!gent mother, thinks it reproach to aid that
mother in the discharge of the duties ola diligent
housewife? 1t is because public opinion is all wrong
in assoc;atng labor with degradation. Why this?
Labor is the first great law Of nature Nature her
self is great workshop where change, renovation
and development are constantly going on InsPir
alton tells us that the great Author OF all things
crested from his labors' on the seventh day. The
Redrcmer of the world known "thc car7en-
ters son, and it is thought by most biblical critics.
that he worked at the same trade, until he entered
on his great ministerial mission. The great apostle
of the Gentiles tent maker and al the Wis
dom received at the feet of Gamael did not make
him ashamed Of his calling. And yet strange to
say how many are there who profess the religion
of the Saviour and his apostles, who think it dcgra
ding to associate, around the altar, with arti-
and laborers, whose very hands may have
reared the temple.n which they worship? How lit
luxury and of ease rett that after all 1t is to the
mechanic the artisan, the iaborer, that they in
debted for the means of their enjoyment-and on
the poor pi;tance of wages received and the pangs
of penury and want endured by those to whose toll,
ingenuity and skill they indebted, for the sump-
tuous Vands with which they regale their appettes,
or the costly habiments in which they deck their
persons The purse-proud coXcomb who treads on
downy carpets, does not reflect that they are the
product of the loom of the humble weaver, fashion
ed into beauty and sotness by his Industrious hand
whilst his children are crying around him for bread.
The gay and heartcss female votary of fashion, who
identifies labor with vugarity does not reflect that the
costly gossamcr tracery of laces and needlc-work,
in which she faunts through the purlieus of dssip-
alton, were wrought in some lonely garnet by fin
gers attcnuated with want, in hurried moments di-
vdcd betwixt the exactions of a cruel task master
and the attentions upon dying parent bed of
straw This is sketch of fancy it is stubborn fact.
wish not to be misunderstood 1t is not to be
expected desired, that intellect shall fraternize
with ignorance, virtue with vice natural in
congruty forbids snch association. Public opinion
needs reformation in this respect But the re-
formation which is needed, and which, led to
hope, is silently working its way, is this-that the
pursuits of honest labor shall no longer be bar to
the highest social position; and stimulus thus be
given to the laboring man for the cultivation of his
intellect and development, for the common good, of
mental resources that might otherwise remain dor
mant and by holding out to him the rewards of
virtue, the paths of vice and dissipation may be
Stunned. These annual festivals of agricultural and
imperceptible moral influence in this respect. For
ho,,, :G...1