THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1857.

Colonist, Issue 9, 20 November 1857, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1857.

" As truth is truth, And, told by halves, may, from a simple thing By misconstruction to a monster grow, I'll tell the whole truth." Sheridan Knowles.

In a former Leader, we said our " say " on what should characterize the state of all, from the prince to the cottager,—gentility. We felt, in writing the said article, that every man, however poor, should be a gentleman. Nor should coarse garments, when whole and clean, or laborious pursuits at ditch or dung-cart, prevent the purity and superiority of that dignified character. We hear of the respectability arising from francs, dollars, or sovereigns, no less than of that created by rank or birth ; but there is a respectability, a nobleness in honest labour, not quite overlooked in our prior statements, to which it may not be unwise to call the eye of the thoughtful reader. A peasant Alfred, distinguished by industry subversive of the difficulties of the wilderness, and reclaiming the uncouth savagery of the morass to order and fertility, is*great,— is a really grand fellow, one of humanity's truest royalty. To such common, but not the less majestic greatness, we invite attention. It is the kind of politics suited to a young colony, and still more so to its younger population. At the risk of being voted prosing, by devourers cf Coroners' inquests, and exciting stories, we shaft commend our ideas to sober and ingenous natures; and we shall be deeply wrong, verily, if we do not find audience.

"I have great respect," said the late Dr. Chaining, " for the philosophy of labour." We presume he did not mean the philosophical thinkings of men at hard work, but rather the wisdom according to whose unerring designs all useful labour is ordained for general benefit. There may be extensive practical intelligence, and elevated science too, in minds busy with thought, "while the belaboured bodies of their owners are toiling for bread. Such mental occupation or divertisement must cheer, with refreshing variety, or more than pictorial embellishment, a lot otherwise enclosed in tame, darkly-walled existence. The largely-informed mariner, guided to his destined port by well-, known celestial orbs, whose'astronomy delights him, has many an equal on. land who plies the patient limb, at his usual task, under familiar internal reflections, revolving in secret light, in the cloudless firmament of his contemplation. Lowly labour, with such spirits, is conscioxisly in wisdom with the sublime aspect of the universe. On such, earthly potentates can confer, at most, but small honours. But, it is to be feared, the chief part of upright workmen look, for the time, no higher than their more direct undertaking, the specific work beneath their hands. Be it so. If they begin and advance all their actual engagements under the pure beam of just and exalfrng motive, that alone will be sure to dignify and better the understanding hallowed by its steady illumination^ But this is not all. Suitable active bodily employment, leaving out of consideration the expressive exercise of the thinking powers, is replete with advantages which it behoves working-men calmly to observe, in their stated or regular pursuits. Whatever thorns and briars may remind them of pains doomed on primal revolt, there is such a garden full of blessings to be sown and gathered by industry, such a vintage of joy, such a God-like branching of efforts clustering' all over with appropriate enjoyment, that we should be dark, moping and stony pyrrhonists truly if we did not zealously believe in the incalculable good which it occasions. To say nothing at present of the vast importance of release from the yoke and endless chain of curses, dragged by inveterate, degrading indolence,-— we need merely remark, that as sloth is slavish misery, so vigorous activity, brightening itself in daily habit, is a kind of prolonged jubilee, There is a mean, sneaking envy in the breasts of foolish people, when they look at certain trim, fashionable butterflies, as they dream, in pleasant idleness; and then come the needless sigh and truant wish, in languishing cant, — What a fine thing to be a gentleman! How nice to be a lady! Certes, it is so. But our Sovereign Lady is ever busy as a bee ; and her, best friends have no idle hour at command. A blank period of non:employment would be to them the worst purgatory. The truest superiority is refined and kept healthy by energetic endeavour. Over-working may drive its victims for solace to the enticing vices of intemperance, but reasonable exertion is productive of content, physical strength, self-respect, moral hardihood, and preparation for every mode of improvement,

Talk of a good education; — How will the next century laugh at the sickly literature now passing for that!.. What is it, chiefly, but such healthy preparatory studies as naturally induce the hearty application of our faculties, in order to the right satisfaction of our entire being ? It is a sort of training for the imposing games of competition, in the racing and wrestling of human experience and perfectibility. But what education or training is that which leaves ninetenths of the socialpre-requisites unstudied and untried ? " All industrial operati ns should move on as under educational rules, carefully applied. Then should we hear little of tragic monstrosities like those at which a cost'y Pharisaism, with its monopoly' of salvation—-its solemn mockery of saving appliances —cries out in vir-. tuous horror!

Activity is the living stream of purest desert, and strengthens as it flows. Such was, according to Ciceeo, a man no less philosophical than eloquent, and to the most informed Roman historians also, the pith and motive nerve of Italian greatness. Even the Chinese ethics, those of the great Confucius, particularly branch from their axiom, as Moffat informs, long anterior to Christ,— " Do to others as they should do to you;" and hence in a good. degree the industrious doings of the Celestials. Old Socrates, and Epicurus likewise, when properly interpreted, represented the gem of felicity, the genuine " stimmum bonum" as best realised in harmony with the aphorism,—"virtus in actione consistit," or all goodness is active, and, as the phrase implies, strenuously so. Christianity, the adumbration of Egyptian and Jewish wisdom, the concentration also of the scattered rays of all ancient orac'es, is the full and wise activity of our whole manhood, under divine: influence. Every faithful busy workman is a moving eye, or lesser wheel, in the symbolised machinery of what is termed " the work of the Lord." In truth he is in his own department an apostle, a messenger from the Eternal. We care not whether he urge the spade or the shuttle—promoting the great cause. He is one of that high commission, that million of virtuepaid, unselfish, constant, and indefatigable cooperators who are to renovate the world. The nervous.and.muscular systems of the human frame are not more furnished with the vis medicatrix naiur, as the doctors call it, or self-restoring energy, than even that is felt to develop itself in common with correct will, or right motivity, in sympathy with which its exercise results in whatever is naturally beneficial. Inertness is feebleness, or a festering, evil,—a general malady, or partial decay; but industry is hale with cheerful bliss. Its sweet hive is a perpetual hum.

Children of toil can well afford to congratulate each other. Their fields may be often dewed by the sweating brow, but they need not usual'y be endosurers of groaning- pain and degradation, according to the crabbed not'ons of a moroso and an ignorant piety. On the con- , trary, they may easily hail them every morning' with the glee of the lark, and with minds that would be cloudy indeed if all their loftiest thoughts were not gilded with more than sunrise. So curative is a well-ordered disposition, cherished in uniform employment, that sickness itself, that clog to the spirit's nicer movements, may be frequently averted by its changing activities. Besides tin's, what multitudes of cares and griefs may be dissipated by its charm, —yes, the charm of a well-poised disposition, winging, so to say, its liveliness through all the- stirring varieties of congenial endeavor! Surely it is good to keep company with useful occupations. Their society is the very best; for they are truly conservative of the worth they are sure to protect. Like the choice companionship of young Cyetjs, they are a body guard ever in close attendance. • Let our working friends, however, avoid one fault, mostly attending colonial struggles: slovenly haste. Dispatch let them ' worthily attempt, at all times, but not that of wastefulness, or of the untidy slattern, or- unbusinesslike clown.Any thing well done, is its own ornament. Like, nature's works, where there is no waste, there is beautiful economy in proper contrivance and finished execution. The attainment of excellence in any calling, or particular work, if combined with trustworthy perseverance, makes the master of a given profession, trade, or enterprise, a Homer in his peculiar sphere. And tfbere-he may be 'confident of reverence, as of success. His movements will be those of a chief,. although perhaps a bashful one, whose doings are rewarded by the patent of due appreciation, and are regularly gazetted in the view of the little public where he dwells. Nor will any right-hearted person undervalue such distinction. It is a staple fame, although neither marble nor brass may prolong its notoriety. For a man to be known by his good work is a sort of authorship of which his posterity may often be more deservedly proud than of a peerage. It is as meritorious in its place as a Corinthian Institution promotive of the arts. The proficient Greek who visited the studio of an absent brother of renown,- and ins'end of leaving of our modern cards, chalked a matchless curve for which he was famous, belonged to a genius of artistic perfection, that has survived the mightiest dynasties. In proportion as we excel in performance, we not only build an admirable monument, have the honor and the pleasure of adorning the age in which we flourish, but we are also sure.in some degree to impart to the future the. mould of past grace. Thus the noblest lineaments of the next generation will smile with the accomplishment of sires who strove to do well. . , No patriotic virtue surpasses that of a person who does his best in the station won by bis ability and desert. But we should bear in mind, that the man is not for the station, but

he station for the man. If the former were correct, he would be the slave of caste; but, according to the latter, his caste is from himself. That is to say, studious of his entire make and capability, a sensible and an industrious man will so endeavour to unfold the whole of his compound attributes, in any position which he has gained, as to invest it with his beamy qualities. He is the revolving brightness of the beacon, the tower of whioh only rises to e'evate a glory that most evidently appears when nothing else can be seen. He need not be anxious, like a Phidias, to inclose his own name or picture in the shield of his Minerva; his own larger and more divine workmanship will claim the homage of mankind.