The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-06-07
WORK IS MEHAIING.

play for another. No street laborer
has ever worked - hard for . days
wages as . college student win to
win football game or q boat race in
which he is an almost unobserved
factor. And in tho world of business
what differences are seen! One man
goes to his daily labor like slave to
his task. He may work faithfully,
but without zest or ambition. His
only aim is TO earn the wages due at
the end of the week, or rather to get
the wages whether he earns them or
not. His companion is . cheerful
workman who thinks nothing about
the wages because his mind 10 upon
his work. He wants to do some
thing. II, a. result Of his labors,
he gets paid, well and good, but the
pay is not the uppermost thing in his
mind. He finds such pleasure in
work that it becomes play to him,
and all his days are days Of gladness.
In part of Hamlet's eccentric 70.
marks at the time he was feigning
insanity is q bit Of philosophy that
10 worth considering. He has re.
marked that Denmark is one Of the
worst Of prisons. Rosencrantz re-
plies: 1--WE think not So" where
upon Hamlet says, "Why, then, It's
none to you, for there is nothing
either good or bad but thinking
makes it so" The phrase il applied
literally may easily be shown to be
absurd, and yet there is in il the
germ Of . philosophic truth. If We
brood upon the irksomeness Of labor,
work becomes almost iutolerable;
tho thinking makes it so. II, on the
other hand, our thoughts are turned
to the results achieved, We work
cheerfully; labor becomes recrea-
ton - the thinking makes it SO.
Thinking cannot gil an empty stom-
ach. We may safely make that con-
cecsion to the Grsdgrinds, who, be-
ing devoid Of imagination, insist
upon facts; but without making any
drafts upon imagination we may in
sist upon giving due consideration to
the fact established by observation
that the aspect OF work to the indi-
vidual depends less upon the char
acter Of the work itself than upon
the mental attitude Of the laborer
toward it. In this limited sense at
least Hamlet 10 right. Whether our
daily labor shall be . wearisome task
or . recreation depends almost
altogether upon the way in which we
regard il. We can very easily work
ourselves up into state Of mind in
which every fresh task appears to be
an imposition, or into ono wherein
We become eager to have new and
higher duties presented to Us. With.
out carrying the illustration beyond
the bounds Of sober reason, We may
safely say that each worker has with.
in his own control the elements oi
happiness or misery. Il would be
quite safe for anyone to aecept Ham.
let's dictum and, believing that
"there is nothing either good or bad
but thinking makes It %" determine
that work being inevitable he should
make the best Of it, doing his daily
task cheerfully and accepting it's re
suits % the sum Of good. Such {
worker would certainly find favor il
the eyes Of his employer and thus re
csive such reward a. would make hi,
thinking true. Il il in that sens'
that Hsmlet's words are philosoph
ical. The action and reaction be
tween thought and performance ar'
such that it We think Q thing to b
good We make il good; il We thinl
il bad We make it bad. Within req
sonable limits this 10 . true philoso
ply, and it 10 one that No can appl,
in our daily lives with exosllen
effect.
j A desire to attend strictly b
ones own business is . difficult
art to acquire. Chicago News.
4 A man who cannot mind hi