Mower County transcript., 1890-11-19
BACKBONE or GENIUS.
That IL the Name Given to Work by Many
rss Famous Men.

Z
That IL the Name Given to Work by Many
s Famous Men.
" There Is one plain rule Of life." says
Stuart Mill, ''eternally binding, and. In.
dependent of all variations in creeds,
embracing equally the greatest moral
ties and the smallest. It is this-Try
thysel! unweariedly till thou andest
the highest thing thou art capable Of
doing, faculties and outward circum-
stances being both duly considered; and
then do It," Ruskin, on being told Of
man who was genus, Immediately In.
3uired: docs he work?"
II dnd." observed DR.. Livingstone,
''that all eminent men work hard.
Eminent geologists, mineralogists, men
Of science work hard, and that both
early and late" Mr.. Blackmore in
Alice Lorraine, has told us how ''Mabel
Lovejoy waited long, and wondered,
hoped, despaired, and fretted; and then
worked hard and hoped again." And
the late President Garfield said: '"The
worst days of darkness through which
I have ever passed have been greatly
alleviated by throwing myself with all
my energy into some work relating to
others"
''Between vague wavering Capable
ity," wrote Carlyle, land dxed indubita-
BILE Performance, what difference! A
certain inarticulate Self-consciousnes
dwells dimly in US, which only our
Works can render articulate and de-
cisively discornible. Our Works are
the mirror, wherein tho Spirit first sees
its natural lineaments. Hence, too the
folly of that impossible Know thyself;'
till it be translated into this partially
possible one: Know what thou canst
work at" Again: Lay this other
precept we'll to heart which to me was
Of invaluable service: DO the duty
which lies nearest thee,' which thou
knowest to be Duty! Thy second Duty
will already have become clearer"
"Dear 20 the heart of Carlyle" says
Paxton Hood, ''was that motto of tho
old monks, Labor is worship We have
met with some few men, and with
women too, who could not comprehend
it, and to whom it was dim. occult,
mystical saying: they wanted an expla.
nation Of it. Poor things! and we had
no explanation to give, for this is one
of those sayings for which no explana-
tion will suffice; it must be felt to be
true; no amount of commentary can
else make 1t appear reasonable. To
work is tho human mission; he who
shrinks from labor shrinks from the
purpose OF his existence. 1t is sad that
to so many thousands of persons now
adays it should be necessary to say this
Labor is everlastingly noble and holy;
it is the source Of all perfection; no man
can accomplish, or become accomplished,
without work; it is the purifying fire,
burning up the poisoning and corrupting
influences emasculating the manhood of
the SOUL"
In George Eliot's Silss Mariner we
have this of the solitary weaver: '"Yes,
sir, yes,' said Mariner, meditatively; II
should ha' been bad off without my
work; it was what held by when every
thing else was gone from me."'
Goethe says: Fortune is tho goddess
of breathing men; to feel her favors
truly, we must live and be men who
toll with their living minds and bodies,
and enjoy with them also" Again:
HE who is born with capacities for any
undertaking, finds in executing this the
fa:rest portion of his being. Cham
bors' Journal.