Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-07-20
THE BOON OF WORK.
1t is the Panacea for Mental and
Physical Ills.
From the Minneapolis Times.l

Half the people in the world are busy
trying to evade work. Well for them
that they cannot wholly succeed. OF all
the gifts of the gods, work is among the
choicest. 1t is the great civilzer and the
great balance wheel OF mankind. To the
individual it is an incalculsble blessing.
Nor is this truisIn meant in the stereo-
typed sense in which it once figured as
fundamental law of education-the false
and unpalatable sense that whatever was
difficult and disagreeable was necessarily
good discipline. 1t is meant in scien-
titic sense. Every advance in the study
of mind and body reveals the fact that
action is the normal condition of all ami
mate creation. Nature abhors inertia not
less than she abhors a vacuum. Decay
and death are the penalty OF inactivity,
and not to use faculty is to lose it.
"Get work: be sure It's better than
what you work to get" A wiser epigram
was never twisted than this quaint ad-
vice of Mrs. Browning's. Man works for
bread, for wealth, for fame or far-off ease
But these are not the real objects OF work
They are but lures to lead man on to
greater effort. They are no more the pur-
pose of work than an oratorcal prize is
the purpose of speech. Money and posi-
tion may be prizes, but the effect of work
upon the worker is infinitely better than
he gold or honor he works to get.
Like breathing and all the processes of
nature, the effect OF work is so subtle and
gradual that few appreciate its value. 1t
is recognized only in striking instances.
Yet always it exerts its potent in
tiuence for change and growth and
energy. 1t is the motive power of
the engine of the heart, and sends
the red blood coursing with renewed
force through the tingling veins. 1t
is the master builder of the body and
the brain, and daily tears down tissues
only to build up stronger muscles, tirmer
flesh and healthier nerve-cells. 1t writes
wrinkles on the brow, tits true, but not
more surely than it writes convoIutions
on the brain. 1t schools the body to in
slant, deft and accurate obedience to the
mind. Watching the moral, we cannot
fall to see that work is necessary to health
and sanity, to growth and culture. 1t is
as certainly an element by which the
whole being thrives as air.
As we'll hope to live without eating as
to live without working. 1t is a condition
imposed upon all life by the Supreme
Scientist. Not only is work inevitable
and essential to the safety, health and
growth of the whole being, but it is one
OF the greatest sources Of pleasure. In
directly it adds to enjoyment because the
change from effort, application and
monotony lends double zest to recreation.
But it gives also direct pleasure. All en-
joyment arises in the use Of some faculty.
Conversely the normal use of any faculty
is pleasurable.
The man who has found his natural
and congenial sphere OF work and Tho
prosecutes it under proper conditions,
derives real and constant qualification
from it although, from necessity, he does
not recognize it with the same efferves-
cent enthusiasm with which he recog-
nlzes the pleasures of a holiday. Taken
from his work he would suffer more from
the loss than ever he suffered from drudg-
cry.
There is nothing like hard and system
attic work to keep the emotions under
proper control. 1t is the best oblivion in
which to bury self or sorrow. 1t
broadens the outlook and abstracts the
mind from petty personslism. Like a
brisk walk or plunge in the ocean, an
exacting duty steades the nerves, settles
the mind and dispels illusions. No one
is so foolish as to argue that unremitting
work, work beyond the strength, work
unrelieved by proper diversions, could
prove benefit. But properly limited,
1t is the salvation of man. To find ones
work is the first duty of life, and to
throw his whole heart into it is the Sec
ond. He is the happy man who works.
He is the succ essful man who works best.