St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-09-03
WHO ARE THE LABORERS?

II there are any who retain an i'm
plicit belief in the narrative Of Eden,
with its picture of exemption from labor
as the highest bliss, and its dis0bedience
punished by curse TO rest OH all the
generations of men, cOndemning them
to earn their bread by the sweat of their
brOws, these statutes setting apart a
day to the glorification of labor. and
these professions, with their bands and
banners and orators paying tribute to
labor, must seem like pagan idolatry.
All these panegyrics proclaiming the
dignity of work are to such addresses
to the sun by the worshlpers Of. THAT
luminary. If it is true that work was
imposed on man as a punishment for
sin, then it is thing 10 more to be
gloiitied than are the stripes Of the suit
the convict wears, or the shaved head
that signalizes his condition. 1t is a
thing to he dreaded and summed, aud
those who escape from it are the chosen
ones, consequence that exalts the
lowly and despised tramp above his
less fortunate fellows.
But we apprehend that there are few
who regard labor as the primal curse or
as anything but the primal, healthfui
and necessary condition of men, and
that there is fitness In setting aside
this one day OF the year to be given
over to a worshipfui recognition OF the
kingllness of work. The really reverent
person, drawing his conclusions from
communion with his fellows and nature,
to believe that there is but one worship
worthy of the great unknown cause OF
all things, and that is in honest, con-
scientiUus, faithful work. He learns
this as he witnesses the processes con-
stantly going on in the great workshop
of nature, and the planets in their
courses and the seasons in theirs teach
him that labor is worship. The clou DIS
that seem to float in luxurious idleness
over him are but the evidence of forces
at work. and the winds that blow where
they list are busily performing their
allotted work.
Work that is the true worship,
whether it is done in the service of
others or in executing the plans of ones
own brain, Is that which has worthy
purpose for its objective and is per-
formed cheerfully and honestly. If
giving service to others for compensa-
ton, il does it with no watcllful eye to
see that the labor done is the exact
equivalent of the compensation received,
and whether for self or others in pro.
duction it Sights no portion Of the pro-
duct. covers up no defects. and keeps to
the truth that ''it it is worth doing at
all.it is worth doing WELL" There is In
this something of that reverence which is
the essence of worship, and in the doing
OF work in this way there grows true
sense of the worth and the dignity of
labor and belief that such best accords
with the design of nature and her God.
Such a worker appreciates the dying
song Of HelenHunt jackson, who. contem-
plating the heart whence noble i'm
pulses had sprung and the hand that
had worked them out, lamented the fate
that awaited them after death. but,
rejecting that all they had done was to
work, said:
All, well. kind death good friend thou art.
will be free when thou art through.
luxe dll tueIc Is, luke uduu huu ucdrJv
There must be somewhere work to do.
But as one reads the published pro-
gramme for the day and runs down the
list of the kinds of workers whose as
sociations will take part in it, one may
well ask are these all the workers? Are
these the only men and women who
work? Where are all the rest? Are
they idiers whom this labor must sup
port? Where in this list is the union of
lawyers and teachers and doctors?
Where the associations Of merchants
and manufacturers? Here are the com-
positors. but where are the reporters and
the editors and the men in the counting
room? Here are the women who bind
books. Are they the only women who
work. Where is the great army of
mothers, whose patient toll begins with
the dawn and ends long after the dusk?
And where are the girls who work in