Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-10-04
LABOR, A NECESSITY AND A DUTY.

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for the South, could all the idle brain
and muscle be converted into an active
producingpower, instead of being vast
ed in dissipation and rusting in indo-
ience. We then treated the subject as
one pertaining to political economy
only, and trust we will be pardoned for
departing from our legitimate province,
as secular editor so far as to look, for
a moment, at the theological or religi-
Gus aspect of the question, in its bear
ings upon immigration. 1t is admitted
that the South needs labor to deyelope
its resources and multiply its wealth;
but before we ask for foreign aid, we
should use due diligence in utilizing
the material we have, that we may
know the extent of our wants, and
then appeal for aid to the amount Of
the deficit.
Among the commandments issued to
all mankind through the medium of
the Scriptures, is the following: Re-
member that thou keep holy the Sab
bath-day Sir days thou shalt labor,
and do all thou hast to do; but the
seventh day is the Sabbath of the
Lord" We quote no farther, but
pause to enquire whether the command,
TO labor sac days is not as imperative
as the command to keep the seventh
holy? fso, to work ceases to be a
merely secular necessity and becomes
religious duty, and the man, or wo-
man who idles away one, or more, of
the six days of labor is as clearly gull
ty of violating one of the command
ments, as though he or she had violat-
ed the Sabbath. There are those,
however, who, processing to be chris
tians, habitually idle away time that
shouldb be devoted to labor, if not for
the supply of their own necessities, to
enable them to relieve the wants of the
.unfortunates unable to provide for
themselves.
If the duty to work, could be i'm
pressed upon all, both as secular and
religious obligation, no one can fail to
see how greatly the prosperity of the
South would be increased and how
rapidly it would elevate the social
virtues and Danish the prominent vices
which bring disgrace and poverty and
wretchednessin into so many households.
This publication of the social atmos-
phere, through the agency of active
and useful employment, would be of
incalculable value; and by judicious
education of the heart and head in the
domestic circle and in the schools, the
dream of the most sanguine believer
in mans perfectibility would at least
approximate realization.
Where members of q family work
faithfully and in concert, contentment
and thrift are apparent. Such family
needs no extraneous aid, and is, in
fact, the happier because it is self sufi-
cient. If we suppose the South to be
one family-each individual member
working for the common good, accord
ing to his, or her ability, would not the
same resultfollow--h happiness and pros
perity? If so, the South can become
self-suficient, and instead of calling
for immigration, will pride itself upon
its homogeniety and the wisdom OF
having ,oOrked out its own redemption
The one great obstacle to "a conshm.
nation so devoutly to be wished" is
the difficulty of impressing upon all
the conviction that is either religi.
Gus or secular duty to obey the com.
mandment quoted above-provided We
have construed it correctly. If We
have not, this sermon loses its point
and idleness and vice must supercedt
industrious and intelligent morality
until some other correction is found.
individuals are never more trul,
cOntented than when usefully employ
ed and since idleness is the parent O
vice, the conclusion is inevitable, tina
industrious habits are security agains
immortality as well as the promoter O
individual prosperity and the well-be
ing Of society. These habits are in
stinctive in children, and rarely leaC
them into mischief under judicious pa
rental guidance. This instinct should
be cultivated rather than repressed-
but so guiding and educating it, tina
the innate industry of the child, shall
become the fixed habit of the man, o.
woman. No doubt, habitual indolenc,
often results from the injudicious re
preston of the natural activity o
children, and since all are condemned
toearn their bread by the sweat of thei
faces-work should be the motto o
every family-work, as duty, not as
punishment, as is often the case. An,
whenever the young are so trained
that the discharge of a duty is a source
of satisfaction, the foundation of hon
esty and usefulness, in after life, is firm
enough to resist the temptations o
idleness and vice. A generation thu
trained, will have little need to invok
foreign aid to build up the waste place
of the South-its great want being in
dustry founded upon sense of duty
and intellectual expansion inseperabl
blended with the purest moral princi
Piles. We want immigration, but tn
promiscuous crowd flowing into tn
North, would prove anything but
blessing to the South, because it ha
no public lands upon which the differ
ent nationalities can colonize, it is no
prepared TO subdivide plantations, o
to provide for the wants ola large sur
plus population, therefore immigratio,
must be very slow, but none too slo,
if the population we have, will worl
rs it should, sic days IN the ,oeek.
EX-PREsIDENT FILLMORE is sal
to be in favor of single term of 81.