Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-03-02

was delivered last evening in Meonian Hall,
by Hon. E. F. Pillsbury of this city.
Mr.. Pillsbury's subject was "Labor," which
he defined as the first great law of life. The
brain and the hand of man are alike fitted for
it. Mans dominion over the earth was given
with the understanding that he was to subdue
it. 1t was the plan of the Creator that his life
should be one of mental and physical activity.
Ills life, in any of its conditions, depends
upon labor. This condition applies also to
animallfe. Animals have to resort to physical
exertion to obtain the food which is to sustain
life. There is no such thing as absolute rest
| for any living being. Absolute rest is death.
Work or die, is the immutable law Of the
| Creator to every living thing
| The superior wants of man to those of the
animal were shown, and the hard work re-
quired to supply thenf In this man is assisted
| by the forces of nature. Animals are provid-
ed to work for him; the force of the wind to
drive his mills and machinery and send his
ships across the water water-power turns the
| wheels of his factories the steam power
pushes on his rail-cars the power of cleo
| tricity enables him to whisper from continent
| to continent; but after all, labor is the only
key that unlocks these forces Of nature and
makes them minister to the wants of man.
Capital must be considered as an important
element in the production of other capital,
but if it is not used in the employment or
support of labor, it never produces anything.
We speak of the desirableness of inducing
capital to come into our State to improve our
| vast water-power, but though it were to come
in untold millions, it would never construct a
dam or build a mill.
The blessings of labor were considered.
Labor is not generally regarded a blessing.
Many people have similar feelings with the
boy who said there were three things that he
did not like to do-turn the g,Indstone, sac
rood, and leork. Labor gives health and
vigor to the system, developes the powers of
mind and body, elevates the character and
adds UNNECESSARILY to the enjoyments of life.
The hardest and healthiest, most intellectual,
most successful and most happy people are
found in those ATTITUDES where the greatest
amount of active labor is performed. In
the Torrid zone, where natural luxuriance
brings ease, the people are eliminate, igno-
rant and debased. The Esquimaux of the
northern ATTITUDES are as weak and ignorant
as the inhabitants of the hottest countries
They both live with but little labor, and are
alike degraded. Human progress has been
oh; cd IN hoo ,.Lo Al
necessities for labor and the inducements to
labor are greatest. All that makes life desir-
able is found there. 4 comparison of nations
will prove that labor is conducive to the high
est human progress, and elevates and blesses
mankind. In any community Of individuals,
as a rule, the wisest and most successful and
happiest are those who labor. Every active
mans experience proves that he is the hap
piest when he is the busiest, while the habitu-
al loafer becomes incapaeitated to enjoy even
the common blessings of life. He is of no
consequence to himself or the world, and de-
serves to be taken with a pair of tongs and
dropped into nonentity. As employment
tends to contentment, peace and happiness, it
saves from immortality, vice and crime; while
ideness breeds discomfort and unhappiness
and leads to debauchery and crime.
The lecturer next dwelt upon the varied
products of labor. Aside from the gifts of heav-
en- that are common to all, and landed estates,
what property have we that is not chiefly the
product of labor? To it are we indebted for the
buildings that shelter us from the storm, for the
clothing that protects us from the cold, for
the food that supplies the constant waste of
our systems, for the furniture in our dwell
lings, for the fuel that warns them, for our
churches and school houses, for the factory
and mechanics shop, the machinery tina, helps
US in our work, the ships that traverse the
ocean, the stores where exchanges of products
are made, the roads along which we travel,
the carriges and cars in which we ride, the
books and papers we read, the ideas slowed
in the mind, and the many things that adorn
and beautify our surroundings. Labor must
preserve them all or reproduce them when
they perish. The wonderful progress that
has been made in the modes of labor was de-
tailed in very instructive manner, as also
were the improved modes of living, going back
to the rude implements and customs of the
fathers and contrasting them with the inl-
proved helps TO labor at the present day. The
improved means of conveying information
were also cited as triumphs ofintelligent labor
These could be continued only in the exercise
of the same activity that brought them TO their
advanced condition. As Nature prohibits one
generation from living upon the fruits of the
labors of the previous one, and compels each
to toll for its own support, SO the offspring
cannot inherit the knowledge and practical
experience gained by its parents, and requires
that labor shall be bestowed upon and ex-
perienced by each and every child in turn
in order to perpetuate any and all advance
ments made.
In view of these considerations, is not labor
honorable? The lecture had no sympathy
with the notion that labor is misfortune, or
with the theological idea that it has been i'm
Cd q, -, hot