Page:The collected works of Theodore Parker volume 8.djvu/53

Rh still counts beef and brandy better than a wise mind and a beautiful soul; unwilling to wear coarse raiment, and fare like a hermit, that his mind be bravely furnished within, and sumptuously fed—devotes himself also exclusively to his toil, and the evil spreads. The few men with us who have leisure enough and to spare rarely devote it to the Christian work of lightening the burthens of their brethren. Rather, by withdrawing their necks from the common yoke, do they increase the weight for such as are left faithful. Hence the evil yearly becomes worse—as some men fear—and the working man finds his time for study abridged more and more. Even the use of machinery has hitherto done little good in this respect to the class that continues to work. Give a child a new knife, he will only cut himself. The sacramental sin of the educated and wealthy amongst us, is the notion, that work with the hands is disgraceful. While they seek to avoid the “disgrace,” others must do more than their natural share. The lazy man wastes his leisure; the industrious, who does his work, has no leisure to enjoy. Affairs will never take their true shape, nor the labouring class have an opportunity to obtain the culture reason demands for them, until sounder notions of labour, and a more equitable division thereof, prevail. When he works who is fit, and he thinks who can, thought and labour may go hand in hand. The peaceful and gradual change already apparent will doubtless effect the object in time, and for such an issue the world can afford to wait some few years. It is common, as it is easy and wicked, to throw the whole blame of this matter on the rich and educated. But this sin belongs to the whole community; though it must be most heavily charged upon the strongest heads, who should think for the weak, and help them to think for themselves.

But even now much may be done, if men gather up the fragments of time. The blessed Sabbath—in spite of the superstitious abuse thereof, the most valuable relic the stream of time has brought us—in half a century allows more than seven solid years redeemed from toil. There are the long nights of winter, the frequent periods when inclement weather forbids labour in the fields. All of these, taken together, afford a golden opportunity to him who, having previous instruction, has resolution to employ