Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-09
h Work.

Uphill Work.
Saturday Reyiew.l.
The act of engaging in labor may
be uphill work only at the outset OF
life but the work itself which we do
may become ever more and more
arduOus, if we are not content with
quantity of effect, but aspire to per-
lection in quality. Those who are
possessed by this ambition will find
the whole of their life's journey lying
uphill. There are for them no level
plains OF which to settle down to reap
the reward of former toll. For them
the shades of evening bring no relax
alton Of effort. Their expectations may
be less unlimited as time goes on, and
less of their strength will be wasted
IN vain endeayors to grasp at what is
beyond their reach; but the upward
strain will not be relaxed it will only
be economical, as experience takes
the guidance of their steps. And
with the lifelong toll of ascent comes
the lifelong expansion of horizon /;
the journey which is all uphill must
needs conduct the wayfarer to fresher
air and serener solitudes away from
the crowd and the smoke, up to the
hight, from which what is mean and
trlvial,falls out of sight, and the sounds
of strife are hushed. A freshness
more exquisite than the freshness of
youth is reserved for some of the aged
but 1t can be attained only by a path
which lies from first to last uphill.
Uphill work, both literally and fig.
uratively, means work in two direc-
tons at once literally, it is going
forward while we raise ourown weight
fguratively, it is doing things aud
learning how to do them at the same
time; thus lifting ourselves on to a
higher platform of moral or intellect
ual being. There is always in some
senses an ascending slope before us,
which We may scale if we will. But
happily it does not rest with our
selves to decide whether the general
tenor Of our lives shall be that of labo-
rious ascent or Of gentle downward
gliding. The force of gravitation
need not be always regarded as a type
Of the depraved tendencies of the
human heart. There is a time for all
things, says the wise man, and.if there
IS a time for learning, so is there, hap
PLY, a time for forgetting; and also a
time for idly applying and enjoying
what we have learnt. There is a
time for s%crambling upward, and a
time for lying on the grass
IN the valley; a time for climbing
fruit trees, and a time for letting the
ripe fruit drop into our mouths. Even
Christian, who was not the man to
finch from his share of climbing.
found rest and refreshment in the
Valley OF Humiliation, and it would
be a poor view of life which valued
nothing that was not gained by the
sweat of our brow. Let life tend ever
so steadily upward in its moral and
spiritual aspects, and intellectual la
Dor be ever so strenuously directed
toward higher and higher levels of
attainment, still there will be in the
outward life pauses from all activity.
and welcome and gentle r~elaxations of
effort, when our wisdom is to sit still
and receive the riches which flow into
our souls from above. Hard work is
no doubt a cure for many evils, and
the taste for it a most excellent one to
acquire if we can but not to be able
to abstain from it for a time, not to
have any idea of enjoyment without it,
Is q miserable slavery and blindness.
The most exquisite pleasure which
we ever take in the work of orr own
hands or brains, is probably derived
from some rapid achievement wrought
without conscious effort in some direc-
tion in which we have lately been
working hard. After making a series
OF %laboriops studies, with. perhaps.
little apparent result, we suddenly find
ourselves rendering an impression,
either in words or in color, with an
mstudied felicity which has o n far
beyond the result of all Il former
labor, and perhaps by means of which
we can give no complete account.
Such moments are like those in
which, after a long, steep climb in the
shadow up the jutting shoulder of a
mountain, we suddenly turn a corner
and find ourselves face to face with
the whole expanse of the western
heavens.