The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1880-05-06
the same law in their restless and ever


tiful as art can make it. Its gre.
dome glistens in the sunlight; we loo
at it and exclaim: "lt is the home {
some millionaire" We say it is wort
one thousand dollars. But whenc
this standard of value? why is
worth that amount? Because it too
SO many days to build it from base t
| dome. Because some Brown Hands
gave so much of life's time and energ,
to produce it.
We admire our farms and place upol
them a certain value. A has a hun
dred acres of land, and the communit,
say his farm is worth ten thousand
dollars. Whence this value? Yo,
will point to his comfortable house
where cheerful fire bids US welcome
to his spacious barn where the animals
all find sheItef-frosn. the rude biasts %
winter, to all the improvements, an6
say, "surely such farm, with SO many
useful improvements, is worth thai
amount" Now let US go further and
ask whence came all these improve
ments which have made the farm sc
valuable? The scene at once changes
Backward we turn our gaze through
the gathered shadows of century
We are now in a dark and almost i'm
penetrable forest; no path isseen save
here and there the trail of the red man
and the track of the deer; no voice is
heard save the song of the bird and
howl of the wild beast. But bark
hear footstep. 1t is the firm step
of the sturdy pioneer, blazing here and
there tree as he pushes on into the
gloomy glen. Now he strikes his
flint and builds his camp fire. The
beasts have not yet learned to fear this
disputant for their home, but turn
their wondering eyes on Gods last
revelation in human form. Night
throws her ebon mantle over the dim
solitude, and the pioneer sleeps by the
burning embers. The tireless stars
watch over him. Does he dream i?
Whence the smile which now fits over
his dusky features? All! methinks
he sees in the strange wierd land of
dreams, his own native hills in the sea-
girt New England. Mother and home
and a heart and love which nerved
him to daring deeds are there. He
has forgotten his weary march, space
has vanished and God is kind to him
in dreams. The morning breaks and
the song of the birds call him from his
slumbers. He gathers his hasty meal,
then pair of Brown Hands sieze an
ak, and life's battle begins. Day after
day the solitude echoes with his stroke
until at last cabin has been reared by
those Brown Hands, improvements
made, and then he turns his face to-
ward his New England home to bring
with him one whom he loved and
whose heart has followed him in his
contest
Now let US return to the question.
That very camp fire was built on AS
farm; the blows were struck there
and the value of that farm to day is
due to the Brown Hands and iron
will, which have fitted and adorned it
and made it "blossom as the rose."
The basis of value is labor. Gold is
more valuable than iron simply be-
cause it takes more labor to produce it.
So of every other product OF the earth.
Not only do we find in our country
and all others, this marked distinction
between the rich and the poor, but
there is also great distinction made be-
tween the various kinds of labor.
When we speak of labor we use the
term in general sense, tereby includ-
ing all sensible action and endeavor.
We mean herein the whole field of
mental and moral action, each
of which has its important
functions in society. The man or
woman who devotes a life to the at
tainment of useful knowledge, or in
the dissemination of great moral
truths, is worker in the great field of
human action, which we can never
overestimate. Indeed, the world has
always done honor to these. Their
names haye been written high on
proud pedestal. History has
folded them in her arms and handed
them down from age to age. The
academy of Plato has long since been
swept away by the ruthless hand of
time, but his name will continue to be
reverently spoken so long as philoso-
ply finds devotee or the human mind
stretches out to grasp the intricate
problems of the universe. The name
of Newton will lap over and through
the generations to come, blazing like a
deathless star in the clear azure OF
scientific attainments. The moral
hereism of Socrates will fire to daring
and self-sacrifice unnumbered souls
when you and 1 shall have faded from
memory and our names have been for.
gotten. Such characters have their re
ward, and we would not, if we could
take from their fair fame single ray
Our criticism is not that such charac
ters and such labor shall be less re
spected and reveared, but rather tha
the standard we place on physical la
Dor should be elevated. We woulG
enter q plea for the ''hewers of woo6
and the drawers of WATER" aud ash
that the unjust and unrighteous line
of demarkation between their worl
and those who labor in moral and in
tellectual fields be wiped out and for
ever obliterated. We ask that Brown
Hands who have toiled through tn,
heat of the summer, and the blasts O
winter, to feed earth's poets, sculptors
orators and philosophers, shall not b.