Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-06-06
Brown Hands.

HOW reverence DtOWn Q0n0! Soft.
white hands may possess more OF grace
and beauty, aud doubtless do q great
deal OF good in the world, but what
would become OF US, we're it not for the
strong brown hands? We visit ma
chine shop and note the wonderful
mechanism of everything there watch
the workings of the curious, intricate
machines, from the great Corliss down,
see how perfect they are. and with what
harmony they all perform their tasks,
seeming more than creations of some
far.awuy fairy land than the won
derful children of mems brains, and
We know brown hands made them all.
and brown hands guide them to their
allotted tasks.
We view the splendid buildings
erected all over our land, standing so
proudly, and 80 grand in their architec-
tnral beauty, compelling admiration
from every passerby, and We know
cunning, skillful, brown hands put
every inch of those vast ediiices in their
place. Brown hands are towhite, what
the strong, sturdy forest trees are to the
tender, graceful, smaller growth
protection, an ever-present help in
every time Of need.
Go to the farm. What think you
would white hands accomplish here?
Simply nothing; in few hours time
they would be bruised, blistered, bleed
ing, useless appendages, not even capa-
bic of doing their duty rs white hands.
Send out pair OF brown hands and
how strongly they grasp the pillow han
dies ! How easy for them to guide the
heavy pillow through the mellow earth,
to bind the sheaves OF golden grain, or
toss the great forkfulls OF sweet-scented
hay! They hardly realize their exis-
tence, and when the day g work is over,
and the extra accum ulation of mother
eurth washed away, they are brown
hands still. none the worse for the days
work and just as ready for the next to
come.
There are those, know. who pre-
dict that brown hands will soon be-
come obsolete that Edison and kim
dred spirits will soon end the necessity
or brown hands. l have never had
the pleasure of seeing Mr.. Edison, but
1 candidly believe that his hands are
brown, and will be until he can invent
a machine that will thenceforward do
his inventing for him. Fancy if you
can, man who will work for sixty
consecutive hours, suddenly changing
his course Of life, and sitting quietly
by on u downy cushion while some
machine does his inventing for him.
Don't you know brilliant idea would
strike him 80 quickly, he would jump
to his feet, smash his machine and go
to work himself? Never for one mo-
ment entertain the thought that the
work for brown hands is done. The
only trouble is, there is not brown
hands enough to do the work that ought
to be done.
Because You cannot 60 to the wheat
fields with your sickle, or to the corn
field with your hoe, don't creep back
into some dark dreary room and i'm
agine from that time on you are one of
the white.fiugered sort and ought to
have q supplement to your name, but
examine yourself and see if you have
not q BRAIN that will guide your hands
to something besides holding the pillow.
handle. There is no reason why the
brown hands. guided by the strong
brain that can grow in body devel-
oped in God pure air and sunshine,
shall not be the hands to hold the good
things of tL.s earth. There is little
need Of the cry. nothing to do = the
earth il full of work and ready to re-
ward the workers.
And go to our homes. How many of
our greats-t and best men and women
can remember a mother with brown
hands? Is the memory of that mother
less sacred because her hands were
brown? Was tho touch of that we'll
remembered, loved hand less tender
because it was brown? Oh, no. 1t
grew brown caring for the little ones
God had given. and always, in its
struggle for life. had time to caress
and tenderly lead them through the
first years Of existence, and in maturer
years had strength to point with un-
erriug certainty to the path that led to
future usefulness and honor.