Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-03-15
The Happiness OF Labor.

The Happiness OF Labor.
It may not be strict etiquette for writers
in one department of a newspaper to refer
to- much less to compliment, the writers in
another department; but in view Of the fact
that the agricultural editor is so little con-
cened with the rest Of this journal that he
has no knowledge whatever Of the author
ship Of its inside editorials, he may perhaps
be allowed to express his admiration of re-
cent article among Them entitled " Thoughts
on Work"
If the writer of that piece is a college-bred
man, we shall have to canonize him among
our "Noble Traitors" by which title we
designate those collegians who by a high and
true culture, have risen above class preju
dices, or who, by progress in the Christian
life, have come to recognize in its fullness
the brotherhood of all men in Christ.
The article we refer to is so admirable,
and so wins upon us 10y its brave recogni-
ton of what seems to US fundamental prin-
ciples of Christian sociology, in defiance of
caste prejudices, that we dislike to except,
even to few opening sentences thereof.
We would not do So did we not feel that
those sentences, in their full meaning, tend
to nullify all the rest. We will quote them
The writer says:
eve are not inclined to think that manual la
Dor Is ever pleasure We have never yet known
...b, -. NJ. Al. t..l.
man is to be blamed II he docs not love It, We
have known work done as necessity, as duty,
rs habit, as a punishment, as an evil which
clings to our estate but men may be pardoned
for not loving IT, and pursuing il as a pleasure.
There is all the difference between work and play
that there is between earth and heaven We do
the one because we must we engage IN tho other
because we delight In It,"
These statements are so much at variance
with our personal experience, and so funda-
mentally counter to the very nature Of man
as we comprehend it, that we feel impelled
to give the reasons for the opposite .,rnei
which is in us.
But first let us define. BY manual labor,
as distinguished from play, we understand
bodily work which has for its object some
directly useful material result. And we say
that this manual labor has always in it an
element Of pleasure, which increases CON
stantly in the proportion in which the labor
is informed by knowledge and prompted by
n desire Of use.
Uninteligent drudgery is simply pain
For that we accept all that is said of manual
labor in the above extract. Drudgery is
ennobled into true labor by the influx thereto
of intelligent action and noble purpose. In
our common farm labor there is much drudg-
cry. The object of the diffusion of knowl-
edge among farmers and farm laborers is to
infuse this drudgery with the light and heat
Of intelligence, and thus transform pain into
pleasure. If to this, by the power of the
gospel, unselfsh purpose can be added, we
should say that between idleness and labor
"there is all the difference between earth
and heaven"
Take the heaviest work upon the farm,
ditching, or blowing, as an illustration. The
bodily work of ditch-digging with spade
is hard. We knOo it is hard. As it is per-
formed by an unintelligent laborer it is pure
drudgery, and if he be compelled to it
against his viii, or is overworked at IL, it is
hell upon earth-the primal curse without
mitigation. But let it be done by vigor-
Gus, healthy man, with his frame toughened
by early drill in lighter work let him start
at it with a full consciousness Of useful pur-
pose, and forecasting knowledge OF useful
results; let him have in possession so much
OF science as TO be able to apply his own
work, and the resources at his command in
the way Of tools, trained animals and natu-
raj forces, to the best advantage, and we
lnoc that the whole task is full of delight.
Men have even taken gang of ignorant
hands into swamp TO drain it, aud have
by stimulating their powers of thought
through the simple explanation of principles
and natural laws, and their demonstration
in rapidly achieved and perfectly attained
results, inspired them with the pleasure OF
work. And surely, II "a thing of beauty is
joy forever" ought not the sight OF a
worthless waste, transformed by ones own
hands into fruitful field, be perpetual
source of enjoyment?
In the preceding paragraph is sentence
TO which we wish to direct little special
attention. We say Of this hard labor OF
ditching, that the man who engages in II
should be vigorous, and that his frame should
have been toughened by early drill in lighter
work. Early, juiicious and long continued
training is as necessary preparation fol
heavy bodily labor as similar training Of
the thinking power is for great intellectual
undertakings. And just as the unframed
mind balks before a big task of ratiocna
tion, so unframed, fabby muscles, weak,
knit joints and untempered tendons quai
before big job in cedar swamp. But a
In the first case triumph in the successful
solution of some deep problem Of sclenc
fills the soul of the earnest student, so tn
mighty rustic glories in his victory over tn
hitherto unsubdued wilderness OF nature.
II Is not strange to us that the college-bre'
man who, la his holiday excursion, grasps tn
wood-chopper's axe and essays to lift it u
against the tall trees Of the forest, throws
down again in a few hours, fully imbued witt
the thought that manual labor is never
pleasures" or that he rises from bed the mex