The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-26
HE WHO LOVES HIS WORK
By SOPHIE IRENE LOEB

Alfonso has just finished stone chimney for me. There are two fire places connecting in this one chim- ney and there was considerable in- genuity needed to build a chimney on that particular spot
 One of the fireplaces was built of stone and the other of brick. and as ] watched Alfonso lay the stone and the brick with such loving care and interest, giving just the proper slant to the flue and moving backward and forward viewing iis work, was filled with admiration.
 Alfonso is not satisfied with work. I<e insists on making 1t an art. It makes no difference how rough the job is. It must be done just SOL And you can't hurry him or insist that YOU don't want such skilled job. This means nothing 10 him. He. is going to do it right or not at all.
 The people up in the country where I am, at Croton, look upon AL fonse as what he really is-the chim- ney doctor When a chimney smokes and everything and everybody has failed, they call In Alfonso. In couple of hours of work he has done something inside the chlmpey to give 1t a certain curve or angle and the trouble of the smoking flue is at an end.
 He comes out of the chimney as black as the ace of spades with great big smile, knowing he has com quered. Alfonso knows the difference between mere work and workman ship. Some people just labor while others insist on doing a thing in the very best way it can be done.
 He loves to stop and tell you how when he was young and travelled in foreign countries he watched eVery- body at this particular kind of work and learned something from each of them, so that he became practised and eXpBrt. The school of observa- ton and experience was his college.
 Alfonso scoffs at the chimney builders who slap on the cement in any old fashion. Tt Is not for a for years to come when 1 will be dead"
 An, there is the spirit that the world wants in building, not only for ones self, but for posterity as well.
 This man gets good wages, as has a large family and is teaching each of his children to do some one thing with him every day.
 Alfonso Is not so happy because of his pay, but because of the pleasure he gets cut of his work. He takes E pert and loves to tell you how they call in the doctor to care for your physical ills the lawyer for your legal ailments, but they have to call Alfonso for their chimney troubles"
 To build beautiful chimney Is just as dignified and just as great an art as any other. And why shouldn't 1t be? l know of no man who gets as much fun and joy in completing a task as this modest man who is as much concerned in satisfying himself that he has done his best as in re- ceiving the pay for the work that he has done.
 There is great lesson to be learned from the old school men like Alfonso, the Italian who speaks brok- en English but builds strong. They belong to an age when hurry and furry were unknown, and in which their greatest thoughts were reflected in work beautifully done. They looked down on the man who skins over a job and works only for the money.
 These are the souls that still love work for works sake, and when I talk to Alfonso I cannot help but realize that here lies happiness in it's highest form. This man who makes beautiful chimneys is glad that he is able to do it and regards the word of approval as a solace to his soul.
 There is something in the game of life with men like that. They get the best times the happy times out of labor, and after all this is the largest part of the day. The man who gets no joy out of it, looking for the idle time he thinks he will enjoy, is indeed poor, because he has lost the real mission of man in the scheme of things-which is to get the best out of every hour, be it work or play.