Skilled workmen might--and, if they had the will, they would--occupy a
social position as high as the educated classes we refer to. What
prevents them rising? Merely because they will not use their leisure to
cultivate their minds. They have sufficient money; it is culture that
they want. They ought to know that the position of men in society does
not depend so much upon their earnings, as upon their character and
intelligence. And it is because they neglect their abundant
opportunities,--because they are thriftless and spend their earnings in
animal enjoyments,--because they refuse to cultivate the highest parts
of their nature,--that they are excluded, or rather self-excluded, from
those social and other privileges in which they are entitled to take
part.

Notwithstanding their high wages, they for the most part cling to the
dress, the language, and the manners of their class. They appear, during
their leisure hours, in filthy dresses, and unwashed hands. No matter
how skilled the workman may be, he is ready to sink his mind and
character to the lowest level of his co-workers. Even the extra money
which he earns by his greater skill, often contributes to demoralize and
degrade him. And yet he might dress as well, live as well, and be
surrounded by the physical comforts and intellectual luxuries of
professional men. But no! From week to week his earnings are wasted. He
does not save a farthing; he is a public-house victim; and when work
becomes slack, and his body becomes diseased, his only refuge is the
workhouse.

How are these enormous evils to be cured? Some say by better education;
others by moral and religious instruction; others by better homes, and
better wives and mothers. All these influences will doubtless contribute