Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-08-29
DAILY OCCUPATIONS.
HUMDRuM WORK AFTER ALL MAY BE
THE MOST SATISFACTORY.

EngrOssing ahd Intsn&ctdai Occupation,
Do Notify Any Srea6s Promote Health
and'UnsesAsKAsss- 4Adtonatic work AT
SOrds Chances FSk Resi-.
The Prince of Wales, ii, the Interesting
little speech which he made in Opening the
National Workmen's exhibition, hmented
theseffectof the subdivision of labor in de-
priving tile laborer of any Opportunity OF
taking pridein his work. If man only
makes a small part of any product, he said
for instance. the head to a pin, or even
the pin to head-rhe can hardly throw his
mind, still less his soul, into that very frag.
mentary achievement. The consequence is
that the maker OF such fragments finds 1t
impossible to EXPRESS his higher nsLture in
tho work by which he lives- He becomes a
mere mechanic, mere drudge, and though
the consumer benefits and benefits largely
by this subdivision Of labor, getting both
vastly cheaper and generally vastly more
effective products by means of it, the oper-
ative suffers, having nothing to do into
which he can really pour his heart and soul
The Prince of Wales is quite right in his IN
ference, but it may fairly be doubted wheth.
er to the majority of men it is great mis-
fortune to have an occupation which does
not absorb the attention and elicit the char
acter of the man, as any artistic occupation
absorbs his attention and enlists his char
acter.
Are ehumdrum occupations without great
advantagesS Consider only that almost all
occupations, even when requiring at first
very considerable skill and delicacy of
manipulation, tend to become humdrum
so soon as the art is acquired of doing
them with the highest efficiency. Un.
less the method Of doing them has to
be varied in every separate case, the art
soon becomes sort of tact hardly requir.
ing the serious attention of the artifcer.
Look at woman with even the most elab-
crate fancy work. As soon as her fingers
are we'll trained to it and discharge their
functions as they ought, you see that she
hardly needs to think at all of what she is
doing, and the heart and soul wander off
to the topics which interest her most. You
see a smile steal over her face as she re
members her children's quaint little vaga
ries, OF she sighs as she thinks of the dying
mother or the anxious husband.
Her heart and soul are no longer in the
mere work, elaborate though it be- The
stitch has been thoroughly learned, the
practice of it is merely automatic-'refiex
action" as the Psychologists call it-and
the heart and soul are at liberty to expati-
ate on any subject which most deeply in
terests her In a word, even the difficult
technique in which she is engaged has be-
cohle lor ner q 'ii s.'
W mneii n"oeio % ~ P - ~. - m
ene orsaniAa.ion .. y. @ 49, 'I ~ :. 1neair a..
~ 70 au au'ul'@D,o poo, o. ';st..,,,, =; .ha
Uneie san 20 a' ;,,oSaaS;,,rr ~
.'cy .it'a' -. ~ 49, ,,n.l1 tosda 20
poaoroa p arton,atic and falls natnrallv into
~ oharao,or Of h,,rndr,, n, yvortS
W. ",'~rsoo+ tbat ~ is M ,,,isfortrna a,
an 80 ~ 80 hao, tho ,.bola q hanet;cont
CO.. ,';a;",, 80 g.. i;horot;n1, the hsart and soni
" - tha ,rorlS or 70 dvuail On the cIass of snh.
;aots ,,hiob hast fao5- or al oil evants in
tto t h;a.ho- oIass ~ D,inds best feed~tbe
Laovt ~ the ;r,ooinat;on We remember
,,,', +h,ae s;stars oil ~ tbam 1yo,n
a'. nf s..od asai 80 ;ntalIi,encea and warmth
- oh,eootan r,,ora onca comnarino tbAir
sa.o-i+o ooo,,,o+ions Ono ~ them said abe
anioreS ber music so mncb another that
LIN, ,1oat w was her chief deli0bt while
.L;s5 Cd GOVT oinlv tba clevaresf of the
throa sa;d ssWaII for NV mart there Is
,otLi,,o, +ho. sootbes me 90 mncb as match
;no, an Old cheu;ea - THE truth was that
thet e a. not M yarv intellectual occupation set her
,o;,,d ond heart free 10 4 we'll on the thoughts
and ob;acts wb;ch most deenlv interested
Sar ,ySiIe or the same time Giving her the
aoath;,,a nea, tsaI;nn thot sba xyss doing some.
tH;na nssf,I and contribution To the econo.
~ "a oo,,,fort ~ the household Indeed
.-,' S.,,lt ,,a,.r ,oucb whether N Ia either al
VIC uou"O .el' A N-. LIos-ss,,.N % Nha,,o g.,
ways OF oIIeh Ere,. oteSsinS " -
your chle1 WORK IN Iie IhaI whicn C@AeS "P
your WhoIe atUenIioh anu @uin''0 Vi "0 "a
cursions beyond lts range:
1t may be very great Dlessing When !he
subjects OF Thought on whlch the mInu
chiefly dwells are OF a very painrui ana un-
nerving kind. But In nine cases out OF zen
this is not so, and the only enect OF an oc-
cupation which concentrates the whole en-
ergy of the mind is to exclude from mans
thoughts those casual glimpses OF his fel-
low creatures interests and feelings by
which mainly he comes 10 understand
them and to realize that there are gooa
many competing interests in the world ana
that he is not the very center OF creation
We believe that what are called the en-
crossing and intellectual occupations are
by no means those which most promote Sne