ARE WE TOO LAZY?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 10 April 1928, Page 5

ARE WE TOO LAZY?

DECLINE OF ENULISH CRAFTS

LACK OF PATIENCE A bishop, who is also a skilled carpenter, is earnestly advocating the revival of the spirit of craftsmanship in this age. of "soulless industrialism."' Perhaps his plea is not ill-timed to a generation that is in danger of becoming over-mechanised. In any case, it is sad to think that the handcrafts, which once flourished in our English homes and enriched the architecture of their day, should in. recent times have fallen into semi-decay. Yet the fact remains that amazingly few people in this age show any inclination to pursue a time-absorbing, indoor hobby, writes Winifred Phillips in the "Daily Mirror.'' Where there was once a devotion !o wood-carving, to hand-weaving, or to fine embroidery, there is to-day a marked preference for billiards, bridge, or cross-word puzzles. Tt is now a. rare exception to hear of an amateur carpenter who has triumphantly furnished part of his home with the fruits of hours of happy toil in his little workshop. Or to meet a young bride who has filled her linen chest with exquisite specimens of her own work. We pretend that we prefer machineturned furniture and machino-stitched linen !

Are we not all fnmilftir with the popular argument, "Why ruin eyesight and waste patience on work which can be equally well (and more quickly !' accomplished by machinery?" This may be a superficially sound argument,, but it is one which at once recalls the indictment made recently by a certain distinguished person. "English people have ability -but they aIV infernally lazy !"'

After all. it does seem a pity to leay" possible talents undeveloped. For, in so doing, we are robbing ourselves of one of the grandest joys in life—the joy of achievement.

Quite recently 1 was \isifing the ruins r-,f an eleventh-century abbey, which still bears witness to the remarkable skill

and patience possessed by ihoso- early builders.

Turning to the keeper, 1 said, with excusable disloyalty to my own generation, "What, wonderful craftsmen these monks m".sl have been." and the old man repiied simply. 'Well, miss, in those days they built to the. glory cf (iod—.and their heart- was ill it I" What has caused this decline, in the arts and crafts as spare-time hobbies? Is it reallv that we moderns are less endowed with natural skill? That the stress and strain of existing conditions leave no time for serious application? Or that- we definitely regard it as an act of folly to make'by hand what can hi' more easily made bv machine?

In my opinion, it is none of these things. ' It is simply that we lack the necessary patience and perseverance to accomplish a self-imposed task of any magnitude. We pause, aghast, at the very thought of an undertaking which mights take months, or even years, to complete. Without patience, there can be little hope of craftsmanship !