Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1854-11-29
vol. 55.-N0. IS.
LABoR AND KNowLEpal..

1
! have not time to dwell now on the See
end reason BY which / suggested that labor
should to persuaded to seek knowledge,
though it would deserve fuller handling.
/ lou ind that reason Is the tendency OF cul-
ture and learning to refine the work-day life,
aild adera il % disengage il from the con-
facts Of matter, and elevate 1t to the sphere
% ideas and abstraction and spirituality to
/ withdraw, as De. johnson has said, ssto With
draw us from the power Of our senses 10
make the past, the distant or the future pre-
dominate over the present and thus to adj
vance US IN the dignity o. thinking beiugss.
Surely We need not add self-infiictel curse
e that which punished the fall. 10 earn
our bread By the sweat Of our brow Is or
daiaed TO US certainly but not, therefore.
to forget in whose Image We were made, nor
to suites all beams of the original brightness
to 90 out Who has doomed US, 81 any Of
us to . labor so exclusive and austere, that
only halt, the lower half of our nature can
survive it The unrest OF avarice or am
bition, or vanity may do III but nonecessity
af our being. AMI no appnint..ent Of i.o aa-
thor. Shall we, Of our own selection, abuse
ourselves DO you feel that the mere task
Of daily labor ever employ the whole man?
Have you no. a conscious nature, other and
beside shat which slls the earth drives the
plano squares the stone-~ereates the fabric
of aria nature intellectual, spiritual moral
-~capacious Of scicuce--capacious Of much
beyond the sphere Of sense, with largo dis
conrse Of reason looking before aud after,
and taking hold on that within the veil H.
What forbids that this nature shall have its
daily bread also day by day What forbids
that il have time to nouriah its sympathy
with all kindred human blood, by studying
the grand facts ofuniyersa. history; to learn
TO look beyond the chaotic AJAX aud reAux of
mere appearances, which are The outside Of
the world around it, into their scientific ro-
laiiena and essential quality to soar from
effects to causes, and through causes to tho
First; to begin to recognise and TO love,
here and new, in waning moon or stars of
evening, or song Of solemn bird, or fall Of
water, or 'self-bora carol of iniaucy,' or
transcendent landscape, Or glorious selt-sac-
rfce = 70 begin to recognise and love in
these, that beauty here, which shall be its
dwelling place and its vesture in the life to
come to acensteel itself to discern in all
vicissitudes Of things the changed ana fall
ing leaf; tie golden harvest, he angry sigh
of NoFenbers Wind the storm Of stlow,the
chambers of the South, aud the unresting
rornd Of seasons---to discern not merely tho
sublime circle Of eternal change, but the un-
failing law---fowing from the infinite mind
and the ssvaried God" filing and moving,
and in all things yet personal and apart r.
What forbids il 70 cultivate and confirm,
1.-THE glorious habit BY which senscis made
Subseryient still to moral purpose,
Auxiliar to divine,
What forbids that il grow,
Accustomed to desires that feed
On fruitage gathered from the Tree Of life
] do net say that every man, cscn in G
condition Of competence, can exenplify this
nobler culture and this rarer knowledge.---
But ] win say that the exacions Of labor do
not hinder ii. Recall familiar, though
splendid and remarkable instance or two -
Burns reaped as much and as well as the
dullcr companion by his side, and meantime
was conceving an immortal song Of Scotland,
and Hugh Miller was just as painstaking as
a stone-mason and as good workman as if
he had not 50 hpsbanded his spare half hours
and moments so rs TO become, whilc an APP
prentice and journeyman, profound geoio-
gist, and master of clear and charming
English style. But how much more a man
was the poet, and the geologist how far
fuller the consciousness Of being how much
longer the daily draft Of that admiration,
hope and love, which are The life and the
voice of souls. Rufus Caoa'e' Daptprs
address