Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-02-04
"The Educated LabOrer."
srJ.s. spAULprNc, IL. D., OF BARRE.

session of the State Board of agriculture
held at East Montpelier, January 9, 1874.
1t must be evident to every one convers-
ant with the history of man, that his lif;,
consists of activity in his physical. mental
and moral nature: also, We know that he
is endowed with powers by which he NAV
regulate and dir ct these impulses of his
constitution as he may elect In reviewing
the history of the human race, or tracing
the accounts ola single tribe or family. we
shall find IN their physical condition, in
their mental development. and in their
moral state, such variety of habits and
customs that we nearly iorget that al
mankind h,d the same origin. In all his
career man has ever been II laborer, and
| the result of his work has always partlken
OF or embodied the thoughts ofhis mind
and the emotions of his heart At first
ignorant of the forces of nature and the
metals, man was contented and happy in
the possession of the stone Ratchet, with
which he defended himself and dug I'D the
roots for his subsistence; now, man educa-
ted. and in the possession of the locomo-
tive and the cannon of to-day is still look
ing forward to greater achievements in the
field of scientific discovery and improve
ii'Nhe' III hiI luC SEdtttS Ill WHICH
we find man, from his primitive to hi.
enlightened condition. we can trace in his
labor IN index ever pointing to his mental
and moral development
In the civilization of antiquity there was
golden, a brass and an iron age. and il
Was the height of ambition among Greek
and Romans to bring back the world to its
lmitlve state. or to restore to man the
.lt nj Srf,ld In fIn
nineteenth century, the element that gives
character to an enlightened society is the
education of the laboring ella SEES A lsl-
pofef, IN the common acceptatiOn of the
term, is Il person who is pursuing some
vocation that requires the constant use oil
his muscl s. The mechanics and the
farmers are all brought within this defini-
ton. To these alone is the term generally
applied. In the most comprehensive sense
OF the word - laborer,n we S ould embrace
al! persons engaged in the professions
bankers, merchants, writers, and, in fine,
all who either exercise their minds OF
muscles. That the man who follows anv
of the learned professions the trader or
apitalist-requires more or less the power
OF thought, is readily admitted; but in
regard to the ordinary, every day labor OF
| the farmer or the mechanic, some men OF
| considerable intelligence are found who
as ert that thought is antagonistic to Uork
and us soon as their boys and girls acquire
II IL tie learning, they are above the labor
OF the farm, the shop and the kitchen
This false notion, in some instances, NAV
be the result of a very little education, but
IN large majority of cases, the Young
person receiving proper amount of men
tai training feels the incentive of thought
ami will become more industrious. All
muscular force originating in the human
body is under the control of the mind. and
when any labor j. to be performed by the
muscular action of the body, two things
must be considered: first, the nature and
amount of work to be done; second. the
force by which it is to be accomplished
The intelligent workman ALWAYS takes
into consideration the place the nature OF
the material to be changed, and the
manner in which the labor can be most
easily effected; and after having laid his
plan, the whole work is finished with the
least possible expenditure of strength and
time. The Observant laboror, also, enlists,
if possible, into his services, the forces of
nature, and, with what is usually called
tact, he gracefully and easily accom-
plishes that which to an ignorant man
appears Il great feat of power.
In all the vOcations of human industry
where the least skill is required, we see II
great q ference in the manner bv which
the same results are effected and also in
the quality of the work done. In the
labor of one man we see thought directing
his hand and skill manfrstng itself in
the result. In that of another, all the ex-
ertions of his hand are left to chance; his
motions are awkward, and frequently his
eXertlons s" misappled that his strength is
spent for naught. If anything is accom-
plshrd, the work is always rough and
unsightlv. Reason teaches that thought
alone gives direction to the motion of the
hand, and efficiency to its exertion in I'LL
lis IN 'velnents; common observation, also.
shows that. in the simplest kinds of labor.
the hand moved by intelligence is quite
Il different instrument from the hand left
to, chance or Ignorance. The uneducated
laborer may comprehend clearly and
quickly, and be enabled to execute work
readily, when he has seen it once done;
still. for the want Vi mental development,
he seems to have no logic, no power for
systematic arrangement no capacity for
cllecting the events of everyday life and
drawing from them sound conclusions 1t
not untrequently happens that one ignor-
ant labOrer alone will execute a simple
operation with great rapidty; but, when
a large number of such are brought
together, everything is in confusion Hence
we see why out ofthe great mass of COM
mon labOrers in Europe, so few rise to
the surface of society, and are found quail
fled to manage the affairs even of a single
room in Il small manufacturing establish
ment. The proverb that, BY learning.
t sons of the common people become
great; but without it, the sons of the
great become mingled with the mass OF
the people, is :rue, not only in China.
but among all nations of the earth; ami
especially in II country where there IS the
greatest degree of liberty for self-dIstinc-
ton, and where mental cultivation and
skill con titute the most important ele-
ments in Il successful life.
While education makes the laborer more
efficient in the simplest operations of his
hands, it adds greatly to his own enjoy
ment, and also increases the innocent
pleasures of Il large circle of friends and
neighbors. 1t must be evident to every
one that the educated and well informed
laborers are generally temperate in their
which partake of rati nal
in refined nature; they have IA taste for
reading, lectures, music, etc, which not
only gives them admittance to the best
society, but it promotes very much their
mental and moral development. They
are found in re;.dlng-rooms, they purchase.
libraries, they are vel dressed and live
in comfortable houses, and all their enjoy
ments are rational and refining And il |
IL ~
borers, whose mental culture does not open
to them the sources of the more refined
spend their leisure time AT
the groceries and other places of public |
resort, because they cannot find other
means of recreation that do not pre-sup-
pose higher degree of education and
refinement than they possess. Further
more, we invariably find the educated
aborer managing to live in respectable
manner. and enjoying the comforts of life.
1t less expense than the ignorant work