Year: 1860

all the land, and with him share life of


toll, than to choose affiuence, with such a


biped possessing neither manhood nor wo-


manhood. Labor too has its rewards-How


true are the words of the Preacher that "the


sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether


he eat little or much but the abundance Of


the rich will not suffer him TO sleep" -


The idler is a stranger to the refreshing


influences of sound sleep, because his


whole life is one inglorious snooze but


the man who has experienced the luxury


of fatigue, knows how to enjoy the attend


ant luxury ofrest. So, also, the bread of the


laboring man is sweet, and he partakes of


it with a relish which the child of idleness


and luxury cannot know. Let it not be


supposed, that am lauding manual labor,


at the expense of Intellectual toll; that


am approaching the labors of the man who


works with his hand, and depreciating the


labors of the man who works with his


mind. These two kinds of labor are not


the enemies of each other, and both are


necessary, and may unite, and should much


more frequently unite, in the same person.


Many of the useful arts afford boundless


fields for intellectual effort, and where this


is not SO, mental improvement, should be
the recreation of man, whose chief business


it is to labor with his hands; and manual
labor in the workshops, on the farm, or in


the garden, should be the recreation of the


man whose life is devoted to mental toll


By this means, the man who labors with


his hands for his daily bread, may become
the peer in knowledge of his co-laborer,
who works for the same object, with his
mind, while the child of mental toll, by
seeking recreation in manual labor, pro-
notes health of mind and body, learns to
sympathiZe with those who labor, and expe-
riences for himself in some degree, the
sweetness of the food and sleep of the labor
ing man. The man who devotes himself
exclusively to manual labor, and the one
whose daily pursuits are entirely mental,
cannot properly sympathize with each 9TH
er, and neither does justice to the other or
his calling. If professional men by way
of recreation, worked more with their
hands; and if mechanics and other labor
ing men more frequently sought relief from
bodily toll in mental recreation, each
would learn better to appreciate the other;
and greater degree of sympathy would ex-
ist between these two classes of work kers.-
The small talk, which sometimes passes for
w.t. aimed by one class at the other, would
soon become less exclusive, and bodily and
mental labor, twin sisters as they are,
would 20 forth hand in hand to bless
the world. Do you ask me for exam
Piles Of the dignity of labor as illustrated
in the lives of men? My reply is, Benjamin
Franklin was printer Elihu Burret was
a blacksmith, Hugh Miller was a stone
cutter, and the founder of the Christian Re-
ligion was a carpenter. The Apostle Paul
who apart from his inspiration, belonged to
the noblest style of man, illustrated the |
dignity of labor, by making tents for his
living, and inculcated the duty of labor by
promulgating the righteous precept, I" that |
if man will not work, neither shall he
eat"