The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1919. THE GOSPEL OF WORK.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 482, 17 June 1919, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1919. THE GOSPEL OF WORK.

"We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice."

Ideals are being striven for in this age more widely, and more intensely perhaps, than at any other time in the history of man. In every sphere of our now wonderfnlly complex and diversified life there are bands of enthusiasts at work, trying to lift the masses up to higher things, to a better, a more enlightened standard of living. These are good healthy signs in the body politic, and although the stars cannot be reached, nevertheless some progress must be made, and, in any event, those who try are the better men and women for the effort. But sometimes, in this battle for new and worthy ideals, the good old signposts that have piloted humanity along the hard and tortuous way of life, from the primeval days when mastodons inhabited the earth, and, to quote Tennyson, tare each other in their slime," are passed by without, notice. For example, in the battle for easier and more refined conditions of living, we are apt to forget that there is dignity in all honest work, of either hand or brain, or a co-operation of both How many men and women to-day are occupied in what are, sometimes in jest, and sometimes out of snobbery, called "genteel', positions, when they could be more suitably and more profitably employed in totallydifferent occupations? How many young men and women start life in an office, where they may not be obliged to soil their hands, whereas they could get higher pay, and often more skilled employment, and be more independent, if they would only take work in the mill and factory. Better to possess a soul of one's own, even if the j body is not garbed in fine linen, than to sell the " glorioue privilege of being independent" for the sake of immaculate linen) frills, and frippery. Poor, puny, weak-minded creatures, lacking in strength of character, and even an approximately correct valuation of the conventions, formalities, and institutions of life, they do not know, and often do not want to recognise the fact that there is dignity in all honest work, either of brawn or brain ! How farcical are some of our conventions? For example. your true snob, who thinks it a shame to soil the hands by doing honest toil, looks with disdain on those who have I to toil and moil in the struggle for existence, though the latter, j did the snob but know it, are his or her superiors in human values. And there are even | some wh» think it beneath their precious dignity to work at all, and who, by the luck that is 'epitomized in the saying "The devil looks after his own," manage to acquire sufficient worldly [goods to live without working. The reminds one of the 'noble lord" who left his ancestral home, and took a trip to America, and when asked by a little American girl what work he did, replied, in tones of ofl'unded dignity,l do not work. I ;un a gentleman ! " ' Oh !" replied the little Rill " We call those people hoboes' in America." And your snob kowtows in these "gentlemen hoboes." hut scorns to fraternize on equal terms with people who earn their living by the work of their hands and brains, either under direction or directing others. Now that every nation is striving to recover from the demoralizing effects of the most titanic conflict in history, the gospel of work i v one that should he preached troni the house-tops. Work, as long as one is not foolish enough to worry, will not hurt anyone. People who worry when there is no real cause for worry find an early grave, but hard workers and clean livers frequently reach bevond 'he Biblical thre«-score-

and ten. Let us repeat, there is dignity in all honest work, either of mentality or muscles, and satisfaction when " something achieved, something done* has earned a night's repose•" Make the gospel of Emerson and Carlyle a living, all-per-vading force, and act in the spirit of " Produce. I say, produce. Be it but the most infinitesimal part of a product, produce it, I say, in God's name, produce!" Men and womenpoor, middle-class, and rich alike—who live clean, honourable lives, developing characters of sterling worth, provided they do their full share of the world's work, and are both self-reliant, and ever ready to lend a helping hand towards assisting others to become self-sustaining and thus self-respecting-are making the world a better ant? a brighter place for posterity, and are themselves qualifying for rank among " that glorious bind of immortals!"