The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1889-07-04
OCCUPATION MORAL FORCE.

Occupation and industry are SO
often recommended merely for the
material gains they bring that their
moral force is not always recognized
as it should be.
Yet occupation that brings no
material reward, and is, by compar-
ison with work, the merest trifling,
may be, if innocent in itself, a moral
force simply because it keeps the
individual out of temptation and
and gives employment to his ener-
gies.
IdIeness is a fruitful breeder of
mischief.
The mind, if not the body, must
be at work during idle hours. 1t is
difficult to conceive period of in
action for the brain except during
sleep or insensibility. Thoughts
come unbidden; they may be mis-
chievous or merely idle, but occupa-
ton supplants them with thoughts
relating to the work or play in
which one is engaged or stirs the
mind to speculation aud planning.
1t is not possible, even though it
might appear to be desirable, to
keep men at work during all their
waking hours. They must have
rest and recreation, and it is during
this period that they need some &C.
cupation, harmless in itself, to keep
them out OF mischief. 1t is for these
otherwise idle hours that good
amusements should be provided
books or papers to be read, societies,
literary entertainments, concerts and
theatrical performances of an I'M
proving kind to be attended.
In great city many of these
needs of humanity are furnished by
business men to meet want as real
as that of food and clothing. But
there are many who have not the
means to avail themselves of such
occupation as is thus provided for
idle hours, and for such as these
charitable people establish free libra
ries, schools and other places for
self-improvement. Some of the
workmen's clubs and similar bodies
go further than this, and furnish
gymnasiums and rooms for various
games, recognizing that occupation
for the idle hours is the main thing,
and that it must be of kind con-
trasting with the daily labor of the
individual to be benefited. The
clerk may find amusement in man
ual labor or in violent exercise; the
mechanic, who has had enough of
both, is better satisfied with book
or with game that calls for only
mental exertion. All these differ
ent tastes and needs for an occupa-
ton that may fill in idle hours are
fairly we'll met in a large city by
the variety of entertainments pro-
vided by business men and philan-
thropists-the one for gain, the 9TH
err for the good he may do hui
mainly.
| But it is far different in the
smaller towns and villages, where it
does not pay to cater to such needs
and where there is seldom wealth
enough to furnish from its abundance
free entertainments or educational
advantages. For all such places
however, there is opportunity to dc
good work by cooperative enterprise
at very little cost.
| A literary society meeting in the
schoolhouse or church furnishes oc-
cupation for the thoughts of members
not merely during the few hours
devoted to the meeting, but for many
hours in preparation therefor. II
may also furnish the foundation fol
a small circulating library of books
or papers that will provide reading
matter, giving useful occupation for
other spare hours. From such be-
ginnings in the course of time may
be developed lecture bureau bring
ing to town or village occasional
speakers from abroad. All such
enterprises, undertaken in the right
spirit, have undoubted educational
and moral value.
In the smaller cooperative bodies
work on the part of the members
takes the place of money capital. A
lazy village may be transformed by
such an institution; the young men,
instead of idling away their hours Of
rest in useless or mischievous gossip
at the country store or the wheel
wright's, may have their ambitions
aroused, be encouraged to read and
study and TINS he oiven occunat;or