Labour is not only a necessity, but it is also a pleasure. What would
otherwise be a curse, by the constitution of our physical system becomes
a blessing. Our life is a conflict with nature in some respects, but it
is also a co-operation with nature in others. The sun, the air, and the
earth are constantly abstracting from us our vital forces. Hence we eat
and drink for nourishment, and clothe ourselves for warmth.

Nature works with us. She provides the earth which we furrow; she grows
and ripens the seeds that we sow and gather. She furnishes, with the
help of human labour, the wool that we spin and the food that we eat.
And it ought never to be forgotten, that however rich or poor we may be,
all that we eat, all that we are clothed with, all that shelters us,
from the palace to the cottage, is the result of labour.

Men co-operate with each other for the mutual sustenance of all. The
husbandman tills the ground and provides food; the manufacturer weaves
tissues, which the tailor and seamstress make into clothes; the mason
and the bricklayer build the houses in which we enjoy household life.
Numbers of workmen thus contribute and help to create the general
result.

Labour and skill applied to the vulgarest things invest them at once
with precious value. Labour is indeed the life of humanity; take it
away, banish it, and the race of Adam were at once stricken with death.
"He that will not work," said St. Paul, "neither shall he eat;" and the
apostle glorified himself in that he had laboured with his own hands,
and had not been chargeable to any man.

There is a well-known story of an old farmer calling his three idle sons