Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-05-05
Work.,

ny Lazy COOK, nee tennessee Z. Clan1nl ]
1t shows the occasional perversity
Of social sentiment that the state of
least value should often be most es-
teemed, that labour should be scorned
and affiuent idleness held in honour.
Thus the general ambition of those
engaged in work of any kind, and es-
pecially in manual work, is to escape
from it; to gather riches and retire !;
for, with large class, a 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 a stream of titles flows
from the Royal fountain of dignities,
these are almost solely bestowed up
on the very wealthy. If to preserve
an appearance of impartiality, a 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 objectionable
presumption on such occasions for
distinguished scientists, inventors,
poets, artists, or men of letters, to
put themselves on par with pluto
Gratis, though the latter may be des-
titute Of everything but money. But
all these distinctions in favour Of
wealth are unwise, unjust, and
therefore immoral; are calculated to
discourage and demoralize the work.
ers, and must eventually fail to con-
fer any honour upon their recipients
as soon as high-spirited men refuse
them on principle.
Intelligent and responsible work is
the privilege and glory of man. tits
true in a sense that other animals
work, and some of them in commun-
tiles with regular and orderly divis-
ion of labour; but even so, their eff
forts are instructive, and invariably
alike from age to age-without prog
ress 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
ITO the Armstrong gun, from the jade
hammer to the giant Nasmyth, and
from fig-leaves to shot-silks. He bur-
rows 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 q
balance ;has mapped out the universe
and determined the cOmponents Of
the stars. Vast and innumerable
have been his achievements over the
blind forces of matter; dissOlving,
combining, g,blending and transposing,
and subduing all to his service,
forming new substances, discovering
new materials, and at the same time
multiplying and gratifying human
wants, pleasures, and conveniences.
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 Of humanity.
All honour, then, to work and tu
the workers, whether their part be
high or low; whether theirs are the
master minds that plan, or the pa
9ent hands that execute. Whatever
their degree, each is essential to the
others, and they to each, as Meneniua
Agrippa showed the discontented
Romans long ago in his fable of the
Helly and the Members. No properly
Informed person could ever suppose
i1more desirable to idle than to work,
OF that any man of worth could ever
b& q do-nOthing. The drones Of our
commonwealth may be anything
fr}m tramps to Piccadilly loungers,
mi " be beggars OF peers, but they
h3ve no moral right to dwell amongst
! al industrial community. As rule,