St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-05
THE DRUDGERY OF WORK,

Among the papers that came to our
exchange table during the Christmas
time was one in which the editor con-
graduated his readers on the holiday
season with its relief from what he
termed the drudgery of work. Ali
through his editorial there ran the
sense of the wearisomeness of his Ia.
Dor, and the gladness that for short
time it would cease it's grind. What
was evident was that there was q man
who was misflt; a square peg in q
round hole; one of those unfortunate
creatures, Of which the world has only
too many, who are running in the
wrong groove. The friction Of such
effort is constant and wearing, and
work in it is drudgery comparable
only to the toll Of the chain-gang. II
was hard, dry, unrelieved mental &C
ton, unlubricated by the heart. II
was the doing of work for which there
was no liking, and the product was
dry and strained.
Where the brain and the heart work
together, there is no toll that is drudg-
cry. Where body OF mind is engaged
in doing that for which there is an in
herent aptitude, there goes always
with the doing a sense Of pleasure
and, if fatigue comes at last it is not
That dreary WEAKNESS that comes aft
er distasteful labor. No matter what
the vocation one Is engaged In, it is
the same. Edison prying into the Sc
crets of nature in his laboratory, Koch
or Pasteur hunting the disease germ
destroyers, the novelist pouring out his
Iancles on paper, the artist laying on
the colors that picture the mental
scene, or even the editorial writer, pre-
pairing copy for the remorseless and
insatiate linotype. none. Of these feel
that their work is drudgery; but one
and all feel or ought to feel the keen
est sense of pleasure the mind is ca
pable Of sensing in doing their work.
In fact, it is not work, it is recrea-
tion. ssl5-s
1t was no idle fancy that of Bel
lamy in his Looking Backward" of a
time when parents and teachers should
make close examination of the deyeI-
oping minds under their charge to
discover the aptitudes of the children
so that, In the industrial army they
might be set to doing that for which
they were best equipped. He knew
that with such labor there would go
cheerfulness, contentment.. HAPPINESS
and the best possible product. The
artisan at his bench who loves his
work is a very different man. both
socially and industrialIy,. from the one
at the next bench who is working
merely for the wage and whose heart
is not in the doing
For the most part these insists come
from parental ignorance, sometimes
folly. A mothers pride sends her boy
into profession for which he has no
liking, instead of letting him go into
the shop for which he has a bent
A father, thinking a boy can do any
thlng, puts MIN at trade or into
business without the slightest ques-
ton whether the boy has faculties that
adapt him to that work. The coast OF
the sea of humanity is, strewn with
the wrecks of men whose course has
been thus misdirected.' Now and then
some happy one among them esca pes
+ his fate and gets to doing what he
likes to do, and often a powerful will
saves from life long drudgery by in
sisting on doing that work for which
| strong desire is felt. But to those
not so fortunate, like the writer OF
I the article referred to, toll is drudgery
and holiday seasons are welcomed TO,
the respite they give.