The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-02-16
LABOR.
A Normal School Essay, by May Miller.

A Normal School Essay, by May Miller.
Labor is physical or intellectual
exertion, directed to some useful
end, as distinguished from exercise
that is merely for amusement.
Labor is q fundamental necessity.
Look out upon nature. Here labor
is life, and death is the penalty of
inactivity. The purity of the ocean
is preserved by motion. Let the
river stop On its way to the sea, and
its waters will be claimed by the
cloud-they may not pause in their
circle of blessing. Let the leaves
cease to collect nonrishment from
the air and send it through the
fibres, ana the tree must die. God
feeds the birds, but their table is not
spread in the tree-tops, they are
taught where, by effort, they may
find it.
The same rule is for us. If we
cease to use any of the powers God
has given us, we lose the possibility
of that use. Shut out the light
from your eyes, and in time you can
not see. Do not use your arm, and
soon it will become powerless.
This rule also applies to our higher
nature, our Imagination, intellect,
soul.
"God, in cursing, gives US better
gifts than man in benediction,'
writes Mrs. Browning. Surely, Ia
Dor was benediction, rather than a
curse, a means of grace through
which men mount the ladder OF
Gods love-doiDg His will-keep.
ing His commandments.
Nothing truly desirable is accom-.
plished without effort. Knowl.
edge, self-conquest, and, above all
the glorious Inheritance of chin
who overcometh, are offered us
only on terms of earnest, self-sacri.
ficing labor. 1t is only the use o.
hand, brain, and heart, and the cul.
ture arising from that use, thai
makes one nation differ from an.
other.
Turning from the LESSON so plain.
ly imprinted upon all nature, some
have grown to consider inactivity
honorable! They refer with scorr
to the "laboring classes" The la.
boring classes, whom do these CON-
prise? In Heaven the angels dc
. ever the will of their King. The
Great Teacher has said, 'My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work.
Ours Is the glorious privilege O.
joining our efforts with these. oct
work to-day in my vineyard" is the
message to us.
Every planet has its appointed
place, every particle of matter il
the universe its object in existence
we cannot doubt that the human
soul has its place in the divine
plan that we each have a work
which, if we fail to do, must be {
blank forever. What new dignity
our life work assumes, when W.
think of the eternity for which
through faith, it is the preparation
Ali effort is ennobling. I would
rather be day laborer, rather DE-
anything useful from morning til
night, than be a prince without thu
opportunity, or a fashionable idlel
without the inclination, to labor
Better be the smallest numeral, ad
ding ever so little to the value o
the universe, than a gilded cipher
We want more life in our labor
more heart work. Labor is wor
ship" "By their fruits ye shall
know them" Whether we wasl
dishes, or write poetry-spend on
nights in astronomical observations
or our days in following the plow-
it matters little. If we only throw
heart and soul into our work, doin!
it out of love to God and our fel
low man, it is grand, ennobling
holy.