Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1866-03-15
The Dignity of Labor.

gant lnQOlence Wnlcn wealth. c0nSplre0 10
eliminate, the mechanic arts languished and
suffered social degradation. The planter
held dominion, and all other men contrib.
uted to make his position most enViable and
most powerful. His sons were taught the
accomplishments of ancient Persians, when
Persia survived in Cyrus, and, as inhsritors
of patriarchal acres, gave themselves little
concern about the avocations which are pur-
sued by the SOUS of toll. The vioissitudes
of life rarely shocked them by rude assaults
and revolutions of sphere. They managed
to live and die lords of the land, aud, liz.
ing however stiutedly, they were seldom
forced into what they deemed menial laoor.
All this immunity has passed away in q
great degree, whether happy or not, We do
not pretend to say, but the fact remains,
and upon this fact We propose to descaut.
The planters SONS, shoulder to shoulder in
the ranks of war with the sons of mechan-
les, learned to know and appreciate each
other, and, with the generous impulses of
youth, the social barrier has been immess-
urably weakened by the light of battle
which shoue in the eyes of either, and the
midnight bivouac in which they shared their
canteen or havcrsack. The arbitrament of
war being against us, old systems having
been uprooted and destroyed, and desola-
ton being wide spread, it has come to pass
that thousands of delicate hands seek unu.
sual labor, and thousands of scholars are
glad to earn pittauce from some Gradgrind
that pro6ted while they bled. Gloriously
have these devoted men succumbed to in
epitable destiny and shown themselves wor.
thy of their proud estate of yore. Pro-
foundly do we honor and reverence this 10.
dustrious nobility of spirit, just as profound
ly as we abhor and despise those other men
who prefer the insect life of loafers to the
hard ordeal of work. 1t ia not the trade, if
it be creditable, that humiliates the man ;
it is the man that makes the trade detesta-
BILE or honorable. Labor is no curse. 1t
is, theologically speaking, the heritage Of
sin-but in Gods economy, it has become
a blessing. There is no happiness tor the
drone, and be is made to experience this
misery always and inexorably. A thousand
times better is the man that gains liveli-
hood by honorable labor in health of body,
mind and soul; and thousand times more
respectable is be than the lazy creatures who
scorn to work, and damn the miserable ne.
gro for the very idleness they wallow in
themselves. The graudest thing in all the
Confederate story is the alacrity with which
our best and bravest have gone to work -
They do not feel disgraced; and they who
fought and starved. under Gardner at Port
Hudson are proud of their old commander
as the local reporter Of New Orleans Jour-
nal. There is an undyiug halo round
Professor Lee, and the old First Corps
think none the less of James Longstreet,
Commission Merchant, any more than the
cavalry of the West would shun N. B.
Forrest, head OF a saw mill.
The monarchs of Europe are all taught
trades, and very useful do they sometimes
find them. Crowns and sceptres are uncer.
tain matters, but a substantial trade can
never come amiss How shall conside.
rate parent imagine his child lowered by
being taught trade, when even the Hsps.
burg aud the Bourbon have found the vir-
tue of such tuition? We have a superb
a. th nhan RIO in ho
South and make them what they should
be ever deemed-bouorable To the me-
chanic we owe nearly all the solid prosperi.
ty of the country, and that class which pro.
duced Watt, Stephenson, BruDel,a
Wiuaus, and host of benefactors of their
race, is more to be regarded than all the
desolators since the food, whether they wear
the shaggy crown of Attila or the usurped
purple of Napoleon. .s..
1t would be herculean labor. to sum up
the responsibilities attached to the disciples
of the mechanic arts. Take, for example,
an engineer. What cargo of precious
lives does he daily hold in his hand: what
sleepless vigilance must he not exhibit
what fertile resources husband2 1t is o
false pride that seeks to trample these men;
it is the purest gentility to seek their ad.
vancement and respect their worth. We
always foster any improvements looking for
ward to the dignity and progress of labor;
the man of honorable toll shall not find US
lukewarm in his interest or cold to the man
ifestations of bis skill.-Augusta Constatu.
tionaEist.
What :, The worst kind of fair for a