WHAT WORKING MEN MAY BECOME.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 173, 9 November 1876, Page 3

WHAT WORKING MEN MAY BECOME.

It is not given to all to be masters of song, like Burns; of art. lik* Palissy or Gibson ; of engineering skill, like Stephenson: of critical acumen. VM-.; Gif Ford: or of abstract science, tike ! : : or the elder Hcrschcll : yet these, uc lirat, were alt poor or working men, who gained their education by their own efforts who did battle with pinching poverty, Lick of educational means, prejudice of class, and all those Uonsv which stand m the way of men of wraker mould, •' let I dare not wait upon I would." AH cannot be heldmarshats in the army of life ; but somewhat tower, yet very honour-aide grades, have been attained by men once in the ranks, who, while never for a moment despising the labour by which they gamed honest bread, were not disposed to consider that working, eating, and sleeping are alt that h worth living for. Their daily labour honestly and intelligently performed, they felt themselves to be free citizens of the empire of thought, m which true men take rank " ac.ordin? t?» what they essentially are, quite independently of the conditions of their life. Wtien the awn shines, it shines for all, lord or labourer ; and the precious instinct which make men believe in good and beautiful things, treasure; op and nourish the suggestions of universal nature and cultivate the talents entrusted to their care are bestowed as impartially as the sunshine. Look into any biographical dictionary and you will see how tittle the circumstances of early life have been abk* to impede t c »e careers of really great men. Ileal mental energy soon masters them, and makes them even subservient to its will.