Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1870-05-13
LABOR.
An Grafton Delivered for tie E'ng Prize
Medal, Kings College, Bristol, Tenn, De-
cember, 22nd, 1869.
BY d. W. CARTER, JR.


Published by request Of tho PhilOthssman sooisty)
When God created man and placed
him in the garden of Eden he gave
nm dominion over all the earth and
babe him subdue it. How difficult
that subjugatiop would have been had
man never fallen we cannot know
But when God cursed the earth for
mans sake, and drove him, friend
less wanderer, forth from his presence,
hc declared that by toil--"in the sweat
of his face"-he should accomplish the
task.
There then arose the necessity for
working men. And from that day
down to the present, every achieve
ment, every triumph of human intel
lect, every single step taken in the
great conquest then began and now
well nigh ended, bears about it the evil
dence that it has been indeed ''in the
sweat of the face"
BY human labor earth, air and sea
have been brought into subsection. BY
human labor the hidden, wonder
working forces of nature have been
called forth and made the obedient vas
sails of the toiler. BY it the mountains
have given up their treasures, and the
valleys their wealth. The ocean has
strewn at the feet of industry her gilt
tering gems and pearls. Human in
genuity has devised systems of educa-
ton adapted to draw out i'm beauty and
symmetry all the powers Of the mind
Colleges and Universities have sprung
up all over the civilized world rs mon
uments of well directed toll. Man has
been elevated from barbaric ignorance
to the highest type of christian civili-
zation. The industrial arts and useful
sciences from the rudcst beginnings
have been brought by patient toll and
laborious research to their present de-
gree of perfection. Labor has accom-
plished IL all.
And thus the achievements of the
hard workers i'm ali the ages past, teach
us the great truth that all things good
and useful
-',are bought with many grOan
BY tho hot sweat of toll alone"
1t is mans duty TO work; and it Is
no less duty than n necessity. He
must work to live, and therefore the
grass will never grow under his feet.
But while he tolls amid the dirt and
rubbish of earth for the things which
perish, he utterly fails i'm his duty, Inc
| misses the great end and object of life
| those things which are enduring. God
has sent us into the world to work.
| And though no prophet told II listen
ing earth of our coming and our mis-
sion, yet the time and place of our adj
vent had their appointment of God
and ages ago he assigned us specific
work and declared that our life duties
differing however much in minor dc
tail, must all find their accomplish
ment in labor III we heal the sicb
body or the wounded spirit; If W,
make laws or plead law III We occupy
the pulpit or the rostrum; ii W,
teach young idea or young corn how
10 shoot we must work.
We are born to life of toll. W.
inherit II MS our birthright. We mus
wiring subsistence from the clenchet
fist of fortune. We must i'm sorrow
till the accursed earth for bread unit
il gives our weary heads pillow. Blu
this toll, this drudgery, is not the su
preme end of existence. We are no
TO spend all our few 1leeting years IL
toilmg for the bread which statistic
not the cravings of an immortal spirit
We are not to let the greed of gain
like burly ring-master, whip us roun'
the circle of our daily tolls, never turn
ing our attention to the perfection q
our moral and intellectual natures
We are not TO let things Of this lif
make "dumb driven cattle" of IA
never raising our heads from earth I
contemplate our duty and our destiny
There Is nothing noble in our to
only rs IL cOnduces 10 noble ends. Tn
necessity TO drudge is the consequence
of sin, and II deserves no panegyri,
There Is nothing no ,le about the ma
|, who makes mole of himself and bun
, rows life away in the dirt and darl
, ness of earth. That man deserves n
I, pean of praise, who spends his tim
, and energies in turning up fortune
4 soil to nOurish the plants OF selfishnei
4 which find cOngenial element In h
a heart. If man spends his life
! building up reputation simply TIN
4 he may have honor of men, wherei
= Is he nobler than the prairie dog thi
burrows in earth and builds its noun