The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-05-01
The Workers of the WOrld-.Past and
Present..


Present.
Every man is bound to work in some
way or other. If he does not procure en-
ployment for himself. the devil, according
to the learned and piOus DR.. Watts, is sure
to furnish it for him. Labor is one of the
conditions of strength. All slOthful races
are weak, physically, morally, and intel
lectually. Go to the intertropical regions.
where nature, without culture produces all
that is necessary to supply the animal wants
of man, and you will find the natives de-
ficient alike in brain and Drawn. Morality
is at the lowest possible ebb among the lazy
tribes of hot cOuntrieS-a fact that demon
strates the truth of the theory so unsteady
prOpOunded by our old friend DR.. Watts.
1t ought to be great consolation to the
| work day world to know that it could
| thrash the play-day world in a fair fight
without pulling off its jacket And yet
| the Stalwart tOilerS are sometimes foolish
enough to envy the etfeminate do nOthings.
Silly fellows, they do not know that the
most valuable of all jewels are the sweat
beads that fall from their own pOres-most
| valuable. because they purchase health,
vigOr, and sound repOse; things which all
is no real enjoyment save that which is
fairly earned either by hand work or head
| work. or both. 1t is true that the human
machine may be OvertaSked. 1t sometimes
is. But in these days, when the toughest
portion of the worlds work is done by
m-driven iron, there is no necessity, i'll
enlightened countries, for man to OverStrian
his strength. Let those who are inclined
to grumble at their share Of the wear and
tear of life, glance back into antiquity, and
learn to be content with their lot. The
miserable ancients-the tOiling class we
mean-had hard time of it. Think how
the steam engineless Egyptians must have
strained their unfortunate arms and SpineS
while piling up the Pyramids and scOOping
out the Catacombs- the comparatively
| ScrewleSS and levereSS Chinese must have
ruined their constitutions in building their
"Great Wall' to keep out the TartarS-and
at what a cost of broken backs, and con-
tracted SineWS the immense masses of rock
on Salisbury Plain were brought from dis
tant QuarrieS and arranged in circles for the
mysterious uses of Nobody knows-who.
Possibly the poor wretches of the past had
more mechanical helps than we know of,
but certainly they had no steam engines.
Look at the gigantic results of Roman labor
as seen in the mOldering remains of the
|
lie buildings that were ever constructed. 1t
seems incredible that these were the
achievements of mere muscle. The Romans
conquered the world, thOugh-we must re-
member that-and that it was only when
they became lazy that they lost it, After
all, there is nothing like hard work; it is the
parent of greatness. We have not very
high opinion of the Turks, but they have
one admirable maxim. viz, that every boy,
no matter what his degree, shall be taught
some handicraft whereby. under any cir
cumstanceS he may get living. Sultan
MahmOud was a tOlerable shoemaker. and
other SultanS were compelled in their youth
to learn mechanical trades. The worst of
it is that your Ottoman is so confoundedIy
indolent that, after having been taught how
to earn his bread. he would almost rather
starve than labor. Upon the whole, mod
ern tOiler-in civilized and Christian lands
at least-can well afford to pity the fate of
their brethren of long ago. Modern tOilerS
are not sightless SamsOns, working in the
dark and treated with scOrn. They work
understandingly. and live in an age where
eXertiOn is honorable and idleneSS is dis
graceful. Furthermore, mechanical power,
scientifically applied is the slave that does
most of the hard jobs, and saves muscle no
end of lifting, pushing, striking and haul
ing. 1t has been we'll said that no illus
tratiOn could more aptly show the difference
between the old times and the new than the
picture of the ancient galley, urged onward
with tiers OF flashing oars welded by the
sinewy arms of unwilling servitOrs, and the
modern steamer propelled by the fire and
water that science has made the vaSSalS of
man. Still, all of us. if we would be happy,
must perform fairly and squarely the work
given us to dO.-New York Ledger.
The AVariciOus Man.
OF all the bad passions that corrupt the
human heart there are nnna better calcu-