RANA GERUMP SAYS 



'LET US STAND BY THE STEAM SHOVEL AND DIG." 



was Superintendent of Public Works, 

 that work was my recreation, and 1 

 guess it is. A fellow can have a good 

 deal more fun with a steam shovel 

 than with an automobile, if his taste 

 runs that way." 



Here is the right spirit — the joy of 

 doing things because they are worth 

 while in themselves. Here is plenty 

 of philosophy to save all mankind from 

 many of their troubles. At the very 

 best the time for social recreation must 

 be short, but all of us can, if we will, 

 make the regular routine duties of life 

 our joy and recreation. I believe that 

 things are worth while in themselves, 

 and that our interests should not al- 

 ways be relegated to something else. 

 Life is worth living for this world, 

 whether there is another one or not. 

 That was what Thoreau had in mind 

 when, on his deathbed, he spoke those 

 matchless words, "One world at a 

 time." So we might say one hour at 

 a time, one thing at a time, this is really 

 worth while, it cannot be lived over 

 again, it cannot be done again. It 

 sounds well and inspiring when one 

 reads it in verse, that life is worth liv- 

 ing for itself, but here is a man. Con- 

 tractor Wm. H. Arthur, whose philoso- 

 phy should be heralded to the ends of 

 the earth for the good of others. Poetry 



and philosophy after all must in value 

 come home to ordinary prosaic things, 

 yes, even to the steam shovel. Life is 

 not a curse, nor should work be a 

 burden — each should be a perpetual 

 joy, and if it be your mission in life to 

 dig" into a bank of obstacles, remember 

 Contractor Arthur's philosophy. A 

 steam shovel that stays right there and 

 plods on, faithfully digging into the 

 bank, going ahead though slowly, but 

 surely, may be so utilized that it shall 

 bring as much joy as an automobile 

 that is everlastingly whizzing to 

 "something else." 



The philosophers at their books, the 

 poets singing their rythmic verse, the 

 preachers in their pulpits, never ut- 

 tered words of more thorough prac- 

 ticability to human needs than those, 

 "Work is my recreation." We have 

 heard of a man who did not appreciate 

 that kind of philosophy. He thought 

 that two years of hard work in the joy 

 of doing, should bring enough money 

 to enable him to enjoy another kind of 

 recreation, and to find other good 

 things in something else. 



Let us stand by the steam shovel 

 and dig. 



Throw open your house and your heart to 

 the sunshine. 



