The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1914-11-20
WORK ALONE is TRULY NOBLE
To tho ToiIer Belongs the Credit For
the Advance of Civiiization-Praise
of the Workineman as Sounded In
Ecclesiasticus

the ADVANCE OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
of the Workingman as Sounded In
Ecclssiasticus.
For these workmen maintain the
fabric of the world, and in the handi-
work of their craft is their prayer
Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. 34.
Here is a very different idea of work
from that contained in the opening
chapters of Genesis. According to this
prophet, labor is not a curse laid upon
man for his sin, but a service so holy |
that the very doing of it constitutes a |
prayer" Therefore does he sound |
the praises of the workingman as |
others have sounded the praises of
king and soldier The plowman. the |
Jewel cutter. the blacksmith. the potter |
ALL these, although they are not |
hought for in the council Of the people |
nor exalted in the assembly, though
they sit not in the seat of the judges
nor understand the covenant OF Judg
ment," are still to be numbered among
the great and honorable of mankind!
In order to understand the justice of
this tribute we only have to remind
ourselves that ii is work which has
made the world what it actually is at
the present moment. All that we
mean by civilization. in the material
sense, is the result of toll in the sweat
of mems brows For ages past the
men who have labored with their
hands-the farmers, the woodsmen,
the blacksmiths. the spinners, the
builders-have been contemptuously re-
garded as an inferior grade of human
ity, as little better, indeed, than ami
mails! And yet while kings have
fought and nobemen hunted, while
gilded courtiers have twirled their
scented handkerchiefs and toyed with
their jeweled swords while so called
superior classes of all ages and coun-
tries have sported, gambled and de
bauched. these same inferior laborers
have made the world what we see 1t
today! 1t is their toll which has
cleared away forests. cultivated farm
lands, opened mines. constructed rail
roads, laid out and builded cities 1t
is their work which has created
wealth. founded nations, redeemed the
waste places OF the earth, reared the
vast monuments of civilization Not
more surely are the pyramids Of Egypt
the memorial not Of the pharaohs. but
of their driven slaves. than are the
huge piles of stone and steel in our
modern cities the MEMORIALS OF the un-
named toilers OF this later age.
And not only is it work which has
made the world what it is today, but
it is work also which keeps the world
going from hour TO hour. have food
upon my table clothing upon my back,
a roof over my head. books upon my
shelves only because a million hands
are toiling In my service. Let this labor
be suspended but for little time and
death and destruction would stand
towering at my threshold. Without
these says the author of Ecclesias-
ticus, "shall not a city be inhabited
nor shall men sojourn or walk up and
down therein; these maintain the
fabric Of the world"
1t is these facts which are slowly
teaching the supreme dignity Of labor
Carlyle had these in mind when he de-
clared that work and work alone is
truly noble; Ruskin. when he revealed
the beauty gained through toll; Morris
when he preached and practiced the
gospel OF skilled craftsmanship; Millet
when he painted the "Sower," thu
Reaper" the Cleaners" Abbey
when he used the steel worker anC
coal miner for his symbolic frescoe:
In the Harrisburg capitol. Idleness il
doomed as a badge of distinction
Work must henceforth be the sole titl'
TO nobility. Whitman is the tru
prophet when in his Song Of Occupa
tions' he chants the Homeric cata
logue, "house building blacksmthing
glassbowing. ship joining. pile driving
fish curing" and declares that there i
nothing (which leads to greater thar
these lead to."-John Haynes Holmes
Church of Messiah. New York City.