The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-06-12
The Dignity of Labor the Basis of True
Nobility.

Nh Editor:-YVe do not wish to be under
stood that we intend TO make TRADE
against any profession or honorable voca-
ton, but wish to say something in the de-
Tense of honest and honorable labor. We
arc constrained TO believe that labor Is not
respected in this Southern land Of ours as
it should be. If we are correct in this. and
daily observation proves we are, the estima-
tion that is generally placed upon labor in
this country arises perhaps from the fact
that the greater part of the most arduous
toll was formally done by slaves, thus the
people were educated to regard labor as
disdainful and degrading. The universal
haste for wealth coupled with an unwilling
ness TO toll for its acquisition is fruitful of
crime and destructive of business integrity.
Throughout our country the cities and
towns are crowded with idle loafers who
are waiting for something to turn up hv
which they may become possessed Of a for
tune, instead Of going to work and turning
up the alIuvial soil. Such men are the
bane Of society. They seem to think that
labor is degrading and that nothing is more
honorable and noble than some sumptuous
dependence, and society is filled with them.
There is not reader of this article but can
point TO some of this kind Of gentry within
the bounds of his own acquaintance. The
great mistake with us al the present time is
our want OF the appreciation OF industry
and true manliness. Too many OF our peo-
pie consider honest labor degrading and
unworthy OF their attention, and thus they
try to ape the foreign aristocracy by living
without work. The disposition OF our coun-
try should be to exalt labor, and the la
borer for to labor we certainly owe the
grand achievements that our country has
made in the way of improvements, ana it
is by the iron hand of labor that our coun-
try is sustained with its vast enterprises, It's
farms, Its shops, its railroads and its manl-
factories. The founders Of our government
were men who were possessed with a true
regard for honest industry and an unswerv-
ing fidelity to the great principles Of honest
labor. But however true to those principles
our forefathers may have been, we are rapid
ly out living them and leaving them behind.
1t was law among the ancient Jews that
every man should learn a trade, and the
wisdom of that law commends itself to every
reasonable mind, for if in adverse times
misfortune should lay its hands upon them.
and they should be compelled to leave their
chosen pursuits they were then provided
with an occupation which was a safeguard
against extreme poverty or want. If such
law existed in this country we think il
would prevent many of the evils that now
prevail and render our people more pro.
porous and happy; but instead Of honor
ing labor we are attempting to degrade it.
We frequently hear parents over anxious
and ambitions for their children, express
the desire that their lot in life may not lie
as laborious and toilsome as their own has
been, forgetting that by their labor and the
labor of their parents the country has been
blessed and brought TO what it is in the
way of dcvelopement. We maintain that
it is the duty of parents TO instill into the
minds of their children the necessity and
dignity of labor, and truly there is no ex-
celcency without labor To be useful in
some sphere of life should be the ambition
OF the youths Of our country, and our watch
word should be that all honest labor is hon
orable. The honest, industrious and pru-
dent man is he whose loss is most felt by so
ciety, for the lives of such men are more
profitable to the nation than literary fame
or ambitious statemanship, and success in
mechanical art and agricultural industry Is
as professional eminence. 1t is not so much
what one does rs the manner Of doing II
that eIevates or degrades the man, for what
can be more degrading than quack in
medicine, a pe,iifocger in law or a block /
head in pries;ly garments. While no one
Is more honorable than an industrious and !
killful artisan or an Intelligent and faithful .