The Republican journal., 1898-03-10
WORK.

| BY LADY COOK, nee TENNESS C. CLAFLIN.
1t shows the occasional perversity of
/ social sentiment that the state of least
value should often be most esteemed, that
labour should be scorned and aff1uent idle
! ness held in honour Thus the general
ambition of those engaged in work of any
kind, and especially in manual work, is to
escape from it, to gather riches and retire;
for, with large class, gentleman is not
as in old times a man of gentle birth or
gentle manners, but simply one who can
live without work. We have grown SO
sordid that wealth overshadows all. With
the multitude, virtue, valour, learning,
and abilities, obtain less esteem than
riches. And even when stream of titles
flows from the royal fountain of dignities,
these are almost solely bestowed upon the
very wealthy. If to preserve an appear
ance of impartiality, man celebrated for
worth or genius here and there receives
one, it is only some scrappy thing, the
slightest on the list. 1t would be un-
pardonable presumption on such occasions
for distinguished scientists, inventors,
poets, artists or men of letters, to put
themselves on par with plutocrats,
though the latter may be destitute of every
! thing but money. But all these distinc-
tons in favour of wealth are unwise, I'M
| just, and therefore immoral; are calcu-
| lated to discourage and demoralize the
workers, and must eventually fail to confer
any honour upon their recipients as soon
as high spirited men refuse them on princi-
pie.
Intelligent and responsible work is the
privilege and glory of man. 1t is true in
sense that other animals work, and some
of them in communities with regular and
orderly divisions of labour; but even so,
their efforts are instructive, and invariably
alike from age to age-without progress
and without deterioration. Man. however.
can adapt his work to all circumstances
and to all needs. He has arrived from
the flint file to the circular saw, from the
stone javelin to the Armstrong gun, from
the jade hammer to the giant NasmYth,
and from fig-leaves to shot silks. He
! burrows into the bowels of the earth and
robs it of its treasures, explores the bed
of the sea, and mounts aloft in mid air
beyond the eagles highest flight. He has
measured and weighed the planets, and
put the earth in balance; has mapped
out the universe and determined the com
ponents of the stars. Vast and innumer-
able have been his achievements over the
blind forces of matter; dissolving, combin-
ing, blending and transposing, and subdu-
ing all to his service, forming new sub
stances, discovering new materials, and at
the same time multiplying and gratifying
human wants, pleasures, and conven-
fences. All this has been the result Of
work. Brains and hands have united for
its production. The quickest brains, the
deftest hands, have led the way, and the
others have followed in their rear What
we are and have to-day form the resultant
of the combined forces of mind and muscle
during all the past existence o humanity
All honour, then, to work and to the
workers, whether their part be high or
low; whether theirs are the master minds
| that plan, or the patient hands that eX-
ecute. Whatever their degree, each is
essential to the others, and they to each,
as Menenius Agrippa showed the discon-
tented Romans long ago in his fable of
the Belly and the Members. No properly
informed person could ever suppose it
more desirable to idle than to work. or
that any man of worth could ever be do
nothing. The drones of our common
wealth may be anything, from tramps to
Piccadilly loungels, may be beggars Or
peers, but they have no moral right to
dwell amongst an industrial community.
AS rule, they are the pests of society,
high and low-its roues, gamblers, profit
gates, and debauchers; the disciples and
apostles of sensuality Those marvellous
insects, the honey bees, give a perpetual
series of object lessons in the proper
treatment of drones. Their remedy NAV
| be sharp, but 1t is very etfectual
Idleness is the mother of mischief, and
man or woman without an occupation
of somesort is on the high road to moral
ruin, if not to financial. Idleness has
been the bane of women of the wealthy
classes in the past, and has seriously re-
tarded female progress. But new era
has dawned for the sex, and it will de-
volve upon the enlightened mem bers of
all classes to lead the way for through
and permanent reform. 1t is gratifying
| to know that the idlers are in a compare
lively small minority. Many of our hard
est workers are men of rank and wealth.
Oar national sports are robust, and in
dictate manly, hardy race, and English
gentlemen are not afraid to soil their
hands either at play or work. The star
of effeminate dandyism is no longer in
the ascendant, and the tribe of Popes
''Sporus'' becomes annually smaller
How savagely the poet dashed this dainty
Lord Fanny -''Sporus, that mere