become one's own. And as civilization advances, the element of labor
involved in the production of goods steadily increases. The universal
necessity of human labor to convert the raw materials given us by nature
into articles serviceable to life and enjoyment renders work a
fundamental branch of human conduct. Regular meals, comfortable homes,
knowledge, civilization, all are the fruits of work. And unless we
contribute our part to the production of these goods, we have no moral
right to be partakers of the fruits. "If any will not work, neither let
him eat." "All work," says Thomas Carlyle, "is noble: work alone is
noble. Blessed is he that has found his work; let him ask no other
blessedness. Two men I honor, and no third. First, the toilworn
craftsman who with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the Earth,
and makes her man's. A second man I honor, and still more highly: him
who is seen toiling for the spiritually indispensable; not daily bread,
but the bread of life. These two in all their degrees I honor; all else
is chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth. We must
all toil, or steal (howsoever we name our stealing), which is worse."

THE DUTY.

+Every man lives either upon the fruit of his own work, or upon the
fruit of the work of others.+--In childhood it is right for us to live
upon the fruits of the toil of our parents and friends. But to continue
this life of dependence on the work of others after one has become an
able-bodied man or woman is to live the life of a perpetual baby. No
life so little justifies itself as that of the idle rich. The idle poor
man suffers the penalty of idleness in his own person. He gives little
to the world; and he gets little in return. The idle rich man gives
nothing, and gets much in return. And while he lives, someone has to
work the harder for his being in the world; and when he dies the world
is left poorer than it would have been had he never been born. He has
simply consumed a portion of the savings of his ancestors, and balanced
the energy and honor of their lives by his own life of worthlessness and
shame. Inherited wealth should bring with it a life of greater
responsibility and harder toil; for the rich man is morally bound to
use his wealth for the common good. And that is a much harder task than
merely to earn one's own living. An able-bodied man who does not
contribute to the world at least as much as he takes out of it is a
beggar and a