The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-17
The Millionaire In oyeralls.

Divers esteemed contemporaries praise
the Hon. FRANKLIN FARRELL Of Ansonia,
Conn.,, who IL loosely described rs sew
eral times a millionaire for his devo-
ton, at rs, to work. He puts on overalls
every day but Sunday, and not for spe-
cial occasions only, az is the fashion Of
statesmen looking after their fences and
the farmer vote. He works every day
at some sort Of machine, and so keeps
his own going; and doubtless his sleep
Is sweet.
What merit Is there in these his labors?
There Is much unconscious cant about
the duty and dignity Of labor. Those
who cant It have forgotten the unsavory
origin Of work. Work is a memorial
and result OF sin, an inferior condition to
which we all fell when ADAM blamed dear
EVE for his i~ndiscretions. The holy.
stainless and original condition was re-
pose, enjoyment. ADAM found a holiday
world. The old rascal changed IL into
a workaday world. Contemplation, not
action, seems TO have been the first plan.
II ADAM had behaved himself and had
a proper regard for posterity, neither
work nor strikes would have been the
human lot. 1t may be impossible wholly
to regret a misstep without which man.
kind would not have been illuminated
and cheered by the American Federation
of Labor and the Hon. SAMUEL GoMPERs;
but it is right not TO forget that work is a
curse, a necessity laid upon guilty man.
The faint of sin is upon it, nomatter how
much ages of heredity and habit have
obscured it's first character. There are
those who love work, or say they do, who
make a luxury Of a necessity. So far as
they do, they reverse the purpose of its
institution and thwart the object Of their
Creator.
In saying this we do not criticise
the venerable Ansonian. He, too, works
because he has TO. He tried to leave off;
peaked and pinned; didn't know how to
amuse himself and had to return to the
treadmil. He is excused as a victim Of
necessity. There are natures to which
labor is as the morphine habit. They
cannot give it up. Very well, let them
work. They deserve pity, not praise.
Work may be used by the rich philoso-
pher as an antepast, shoehorn and stimu-
liant Of repose, Of reasonable pleasure.
To him 1t has the charm Of contrast, as
rest has to the most Of US. 1t accentu-
ates and sets of his play. In reality it
is a form OF play to him. So long as 1t is
not necessity it is all right. What pri-
vations and h~ardships will not men en-
dure in their play-work; in stalking deer,
hunting elephants and tigers, making
long distance automobile runs, climbing
mountains, trying to climb the pole. No
man likes TO work harder than the man
who thinks he is playing.
This essential and undeniable phil
osophic distinction between work and
work-play, or play-work, is not ours 1t
belongs to our white robed young friend
the Hon. MARX TWAIN; yet we dare say
that you can find it a hundred times
among the ancient Greeks, who made
other folks work for them and went in
! for gymnastics; and IL must have been
old when NOAH was a sailor.
Work for works sake is a superstition
and a delusion. The best that can be
said for II is that it perpetuates a great
mistake. If it has become almost a law
Of the human c why should anybody
go into raptures over II? G~ravitation is
q good deal more impressive and a
universal law. Does anybody feel called
upon to thank Cop for gravitation when
a brick hits himp