The Republican., 1897-07-08
Copyrighted by Memo. p"

ceivable fashion, belong in the same
class. Dirt and daintiness, rags and
respectability blend in one common
downfall of all that is best in human
nature. The race has hitherto gained
solely by the sweat Of the brow in some
form or another, and we who toll see
no other way to assure further prog
ress. But these easy-goers tell us. in
effect, that we are fools; and they are
always gaining fresh listeners. You
who are halting between opinions,
strong III capacity but weak in will,
undetermined whether to expend the
minimum of effort in the world, or
whether to give of your capacity in
full measure be the gain yours or not.
let a toiler speak to yon out of
full heart.
*.#
May he be cOnfounded who would
persuade us away from work. 1t al
ways has been a blessing in disguise.
or, as Whittier says:
The curse of earth's morning
Is the blessing ofits noon"
To work is to discover the happy,
the healthful, the hopeful way
through life; for definite labor puts
the nerves at rest and quiets the
feverish heart. If bowed down with
sorrow, striken because a beloved
voice is silenced for evermore; Go,
Work! and the motions of daily duty
will solace your spirit. If bewildered
at apparent confusion in the world,
misery where there should be Joy,
crops of disappointment from a gen
erous seeding of hope, Go, Work. and
the concentration of purpose needed
by your Over-stlained brain. and a
clear understanding Of the laws of
life will be yours. The balance of
the wide worlds brain is kept by toll
With nothing to do and boundless
time for thinking and pulling over
the mysteries of our ending, we should
become a universe of melancholic
fatalists. But the rythm of work
constantly recurring keeps us Who'll
sOme-minded, just as the ebb and
flow OF the ocean purities the world.
Work is the anodyne for suffering.
1t is the great sanity-idleness the
insanity-of life.
*x*
How much we love the Wonderous wand
In childhood's story told,
Which, waved by the magician's hand
Turned everything to gold!
And changed the cottage mean and low
Into a palace great,
And made grimed Cinderella glow
In robes ofrOyal state.
Yet we too have Il magic wand
Which stranger changes shows,
And makes the Greary desert sand
To blossom like a rose.
so let us lift our power on Hight
We may not, dare not shirk.-
And move the very earth and sky.
By simple, honest work.
*..%
Let it not be supposed that riches
bring happiness. The owners are
only happy if they have some definite
duty in life. Many of the wealthy
toll away under responsibilities that
would crush the experienced. But
the indolent among them are most
miserable; the men Out-Of sorts with
themselves and their comrades, follow
ing evil to drown reflection and being
of such little Importance to the world
when they pass away that they be-
come nothing more than worthless
names to occupy valuable space on a
head-stOne, the women, wrapped up
in soul-shrinking ambitions and de
voured by petty jealousies unworthy
of humanity. They dress for dress
sake, having more worth with
out than there is within, and strut
their little day like puppets on par
ade. No soul gets satisfaction from
that sort of life, any more than the
prodigal could find nourishment in
husks. Spend no time pining for a
condition of ease that has more dan
gers than poverty
tell you that | see more happiness
in the faces of shop-girls hurrying
home from work, than in a whole
room-full of idling women. The girls
toll, rest, take their wages and look
at the duty of life with an air of in
dependence. But the idling fashion
ables are scarcely raised above the
standard of a Turkish harem; they
have been bartered for with dowries,
bought with social prestige, and then
shut up to an obiectless life of social
inanities. Happier than they, and
freezer to choose a fitting mate, is the
poorest child of toll, barefoot beneath
the burning sun.
***
FOR OTHERS.
In aching thought pondered deep
On ife's mysterious maze,5
And why the world must ever weep,
The wicke prosper in his ways