The Labor Question 255 



others. If he does not work, he fails not only in his 

 duty to the rest of the community, but he fails sig 

 nally in his duty to himself. There is no need of 

 envying the idle. Ordinarily, we can afford to treat 

 them with impatient "contempt ; for when they fail 

 to do their duty they fail to get from life the highest 

 and keenest pleasure that life can give. 



To do our duty that is the summing up of the 

 whole matter. We must do our duty by ourselves 

 and we must do our duty by our neighbors. Every 

 good citizen, whatever his condition, owes his first 

 service to those who are nearest to him, who are de 

 pendent upon him, to his wife; and his children ; next 

 he owes his duty to his fellow-citizens, and this duty 

 he must perform both to his individual neighbor and 

 to the State, which is simply a form of expression for 

 all his neighbors combined. He must keep his self- 

 respect and exact the respect of others. It is emi 

 nently wise and proper to strive for such leisure- in 

 our lives as will give a chance for self-improvement ; 

 but woe to the man who seeks, or trains up his chil 

 dren to seek, idleness instead of the chance to do 

 good work. No worse wrong can be done by a man 

 to his children than to teach them to go through life 

 endeavoring to shirk difficulties instead of meeting 

 them and overcoming them. You men here in the 

 West have built up this country not by seeking to 

 avoid work, but by doing it well; not by flinching 



