Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-02-27
Brown Hands,

=
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 not for the
strong brown hands2 We visit machine
shop and note the wonderful mechanism
of everything there; watch the wol kings
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
the creations of some far-away fairy land
than the wonderful children of men s
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,
aud so grand in their architectural beau
ty, compelling admiration from every
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 for
est trees are to the tender, graceful,
smaller growth; protection, an ever
present help in every time of need.
would white hands accomplish here?
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 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 ferkfulls of sweet-scented hay
They hardly realize their existence, and
when the days work is over, and the ex-
ira accumulation of mother earth washed
away, they are brown hards still, none
the worse for the days work and just as
ready for the next to come.
There are those, know, who predict
that brown hands will soon become OBJ
solete; that Edis0n and kindred spirits
will soon end the necessity for brown
hands. | have never had the pleasure OF
seeing Mr.. Edison, but Icandidly believe
his hands are brown, aAd will be until he
can invent machine that will thencef0r-
ward do his inventing for him. Fancy
if you can, man who will work fol-
sixty consecutive hours, suddenly chang
ing his course of life, and sitting quietly
by on a downy cushion while some
machine does his 1nventing for him
Don't you know brilliant idea would
strike him SO quickly, lie 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 trouble
is, there is not brown hands enough TO
do the work that ought to be done.
Because you cannot go to 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 the
white-fngered sort and ought to have a
supplement to your name, but examine
yourself and see if you have not brain
that will guide your hands to something
besides holding the plow-handle. There
is no reason why the brown hands, guild
ed by the strong brain that can grow in a
body developed in Gods pure air and
sunshine, shall not be the hands to hold
the good things of this earth. There is
little need of the cry, "nothing to do;'
the earth is full of work and ready to re-
ward the workers.
And 60 TO our homes How many OF
our greatest and best men and women
can remember a mother with brown
handsS Is the memory of that mother
less sacred because her hands were brown
Was the touch of that well-remember
ed, loved hand less tender because 1t was
browne Oh, no. 1t grew brown caring
for the little ones God had given, and al.
ways, in its struggle for life, had time tc
caress and tenderly lead them through
the first years of existence, and in ma
turer years had strength to point with
unerring certainty to the path that led to
future usefulness and honor.