FARM MACHINERY 91 



that are too hard for him is disposed to quit his books, and he 

 languishes if compelled to remain by them. On the other hand, 

 if the tasks are suited to his capacity and he masters them, he 

 is usually proud of his achievements and anxious to do more ; 

 and if, instead of being assigned further work, he is required 

 to do the same problems over and over again for, seemingly, no 

 better object than that of being dutiful, he becomes dissatisfied 

 and discouraged. In either case there is degradation and loss 

 of power. 



The grown-up man is only an older boy. He delights to learn 

 new things. He wants to be ever moving forward, in the satis- 

 faction of new wants ; and if for any reason, as from the con- 

 sciousness that the length of the working-day or the intensity 

 of his employment exacts too much for his strength or from a 

 feeling that he is subject to some undue disadvantage, he finds 

 that his natural powers are being overtaxed or that he cannot 

 advance as rapidly as he thinks he should, he becomes dissatis- 

 fied and discouraged ; and the longer he stays at his post, the 

 less prepared he becomes to go into another employment. Hence 

 arise the despair and abandon which lead to reckless living and, 

 occasionally, to riot. 



It is idle to say that the mere fact of working with a machine 

 tends to narrow the intellectual capacity of the worker. As well 

 might one say that it is injurious to a pupil to give attention to 

 the more skillful work of his teacher. ^ 



The mere fact of working with a machine and of being com- 

 pelled to follow its orderly processes tends to develop in the 

 mind of the operator, unless he be a perfect blockhead, a more 

 or less perfect comprehension of the plan which was in the 

 mind of the inventor. From having a conscious perception of 

 the purpose of the inventor to noting defects in the means 

 provided for the execution of it, is a step so easy and so 

 obvious that it needs no discussion here. Every such conscious 



^ It is thought that educates the contact with quick and fertile minds; and 

 it matters not whether this contact be produced by a voice or a book or a 

 machine : the result is the same. Washington Gladden, " Working People 

 and their Employers," p. 20 



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