Connecticut western news., 1872-01-05
Advice to WOrkingmen.

Henry Ward Beecher, in one of his sermons, spoke to the working classes as follows
 There is tendency among the work ing class to shorten their hours of labor. I sympathize with this and abhor it ; sympathize with it in so far as it is one of the signs of advancement among the working classes of their attempt to aim higher and nobler, and I abhor it in so far as it is tending to make men feel that work is not good thing for them, that they must shrink in equivalent and en- large in reward. don't believe the com mon people are going to carve out inde- pendent fortunes by any combination ex- cept hard knocks, and Q good many of them, during good many hours of the day. Our fathers did so, and their chil- dren must learn that they have got to work hard and long to achieve success. I should be glad to have wages paid for by the hour, by retail rather than by the gross, but if men expect that eight hours day is going to be all that is necessary for their support, they are wrong. My own impression is that there are very few men that can make enough out of eight hours a day to enable them to educate their children and lift their family far higher than they found it. Politicians say great deal about the interests of the workingmen, they are praised a great deal in the papers, and God forbid that I, who have the blood of blacksmiths in my veins, should not think well of work ingmen. But they should love work for its own sake, and their children must be brought up to feel that they musA by work make themselves independent. Do not expect division of your fathers estate. Be honest be manly 1 Cultivate spir- it of independence, and by the sweat of your brow work out your own salvation. There is pride in this, and a just pride, and I honor 8 man who can say, "I am not indebted to fortune for my prosperi- ty earned it by the sweat of my brow !; baptized every dollar of it with that sweat" Money so earned generally stays by man, and usually has 8 man to stay by. (Laughter.) Do not rely on luck. It is asked, Do you not believe in luck Yes, he that has good father and mother has good luck. He whose father and mother whipped him enough had good luck. He that has common sense has good luck. He that rises early and tolls late has good luck. Men that do not drink intoxicating liquor have good luck. A man that does not quar- rel, but by kindness wins the love of all around him has good luck. He that has good faculties has good luck, but never knew man that was weak and changea- ble that had good luck. Luck is in work :; do not trust to any other luck fools trust to lottery, to superstitious luck. Mir. Beecher then advised frugality, and said that those were unhappy who were so brought up that they did not have to economise. It was not so much the val ue of the money saved by frugality as it was the moral benefit of the habit, and the man in this country that knew how to save was sure to become rich before he died, unless he died very soon. He warned his hearers against habits of self indulgence, and inculcated the necessity of self-culture, closing by adjuriug the audience in all things to have firm trust in God, who would order all things for the best.