Flings at Things.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 80, 20 September 1912, Page 1

Flings at Things.

Bo not jib. It won't spoil your "crib.' . If we quote more of the dribBle of Scotehbyterian Parson Gibb. Said he: "The cry for shorter hours arose from sheer indolence and a base conception of life as a condition, not of strenuous toil and unceasing endeavor, but of inglorious ease and sloth." This is Gibberian gibberish. Even if it were true —which it is not —can it be denied that were it not for tho lazy meu of the world lots of beneficial labor-saving devices would never have been invented? And what does Dr. Gibb think of the words of a greater and wiser man than he? Disraeli in 1872 said: "Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilisers of men." The chief end of tihe labor agitator is to make life better worth living to the toilers by increasing their comforts and reducing their hours of toil. But the employers fight like tigers to reduce tho people's means and curtail their leisure. And parsons like Dr. Gibb aid and abet them by making statements sircilsr to that one of his we have quoted. * * * Anway, it is time the capitalistic Gospel of Work—of incessant, compulsory drudgery—got a bump or two. The old Patriarchs didn't believe in work—the Bible proves it. Take some of the people who particularly found favor in the sight of the Hebrew God, Jahweh. Consider the story of Cain and Abel. Cain was a tiller of the ground, a real, downright, solid toiler. Abel, on the other hand, was a shepherd. Which is to say that he reclined all day on the grassy sward lazily watching the flocks and herds browsing contentedly near by. He wasn't a monument of industry in the true sense of the words. Yet Cain's offering of the fruits of the field—won by hard "yakker"— was despised of the Lord, while Abel's offering of a sheep—which cost him little expenditure of manual labors-earned him first awai-lof merit tv'.ieii the prizes were handed out. * » * A similar story is that of Esau and Jacob. Esau was a worker, a man who spent his strength and vigor in snaring the raging rabbit and killing the wild pig of those days. Jacob was in the same line of biz, as Abel aforesaid. In addition, he was something of a scurvy knave and a pious hypocrite, whose meannesses were many. Esau was a brave and hardy man wha earned a precarious living as a hunter. Jacob stayed at home loafing while the flocks and herds waxed fat and multiplied exceedingly. Yet Jake was the favored of the Lord. * •* # Then the jews in general. God's Chosen People. Do they toil hard? That is, do they engage in occupations requiving regular expenditure of physical power? Not much—they know better. They don't go down in the mine and dig for gold or coal. Wo, don't find them wielding the pick and shovel in cutting tunnels through the mountains of this country. They-are not found in the ranks of the carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, engineers, plumbers, wbarfi.es, laborers, carters, etc. Mighty few of them are members of the various trades unions of manual workers of this or any other land. No, they keep the old do' emporium and the three balls establishment. They bulk numerously on the Stock Exchange and in the resorts of tho money-mongers.

They are to be found in offices, shops, and Warehouses. Everywhere when they can they follow avocations that do hot necessitate much muscular exertion and in which "monish" is to be made by "bithneth" ability. When the Lord saw how they were forced to work in Egypt, He thought it was time they got out. So he ordered a general strike, and since the time when the Jewish brickmakers downed tools and spoiled the Egyptians they've never taken the game on again. Wise m^nl r- * « Men were not made for the humdrum existence the mass of the workers lead to-day. They were not made to be chained to irksome tasks, and to move in well-worn grooves. They w«re made to roam at large about the earth, to sail at large about th© seas and find delight in the hazards of the enterprise. >' But they are denied this natural life, are compelled by the exigencies of capitalistic society to be merely a paTt of the machinery of production. So are'women. And women, even more than men, v- - not born to. be stop slaves and -. / automata. They have one great primal purpose in life—to perpetuate the race. Apart from that, their lives should be lives of play and pleasure, of ease and contentment, seeking health and happiness in a joyful, care-free existence. , • Someone, with a turn for epigram, has written: "Man is the Lord of Creation; Woman the Lady of Recreation." They are not, but they ought to be.