River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-02-27
Brown Hands.

| How | reverence a brown hand! Soft,
white hands may possess more of grace
and beauty, and doubtless do great
deal OF good in the world, but what
would become of us, were it moi for The
! strong brown hands2 We visit machine
shop and note the wonderful mechanism
of ever ything there; watch the won kings
| of the curious, intricate machines, from
| the great Corliss down, see how perie,it
| they are, and with what harmony they
all perform their tasks, seeming more
the creations of some far-away fairy land
than the wonderful children of mems
| brains, and we know brown hands mace
them all, and brown hands guide them
| to their allotted tasks.
We view the splendid buildings erected
all over our land, standing So proudly,
aud so grand in their architectural beau
ty, compelling admiration from evesy
| passer BY, and we know cunning, skill.
full, brown hands put every inch of those
vast edifccs in their place. Brown hands
are to white, what the strong, sturdy fer
est 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 hefsf
Simply nothing; in few hours time they
would be bruised, blistered, bleeding,
useless appendages, not even capable Of
doing their duty as white hands. Send
out a pair of brown hands and how
strongly they grasp the pillow handles!
How easy for them to guide the heavy
pillow through the mellow earth, to bind
the sheaves of golden grain, or toss the
great f0rkfuls OF sweet scented hay
They hardly realize their existence, and
when the days work is over, and the eS-
ira accumulation of mother earth washed
away, they are brown hards still, none
the worse for the days work and just rs
ready for the next to come.
There are those, | know, who predict
that brown hands will soon become OBJ
solete; that Edison and kindred spirits
will sooU end the necessity for brown
hands | have never had the pleasure Ut
seeing Mr.. Edison, but Icandidly believe
his hands are brown, and will be until he
can invent machine that will thencct0r-
ward do his inventing for him. Fancy
if you can, a man who will work for
sixty consecutive hours suddenly chang
ing his course of life, and sitting quietly
by on a downy cushion while sorae
machine does his Inventing for him
Don't YOU know brilliant idea would
strike him SO Iquicklv, G would jump
to his feet. smash his machine and go TO
work HIMSELF Never for one moment
entertain the thought that the work for
brown hands is done. The only troul,ie
is, there is not brown hands enough 70
do the work that ought to be done.
Because you cannot got the wheat
fields with your sickle, or the corn field
with your hoe, don't creep back into
some dark dreary room and imagine
from that time on you are one OF tae
hite-fngered sort and ought to have q
supplement to your name, bat examiRe
Yourself and see if You have not brain
that will guide your hands TO something
besides holding the pillow handle. Tnl.c
is no reason why the brown hands, guid-
ed by the strong brain that can grow in
body developed in Gods pure air aid
sunshine, shall not be the hands to ho!d
the good things of this earth. There 10
little need of the cry, nothing 10 do
the earth is full of work and ready to re-
ward the workers.
And 90 10 our homes. How many IF
our greatest and best men and women
can remember a mother with brown
handsl Is the memory Of that mother
less sacred because her hands were Brow
Was the touch of that well-remembts-
ed. loved hand less tender because 1t wAs
brownl Oh, no. 1t grew brown caring
for the little ones God had given, and ST.
WAYS, in its struggle for life, had time TO
caress and teuderIy lead them through
the first years of existence, and in ma- |
turer wears had strength to point wi:h !
unerring certainty to the path that led 70 /
fufura usef1IIness and honor