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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1877)
EjPjiijaHji w (j m b ikH' I Ifl1r' fc" tf HP v. T1113 HESPERIAN STUDENT. unO'jr.' voi,. vr. (lit! noil Vrolldt, Vollcil. VAO UAi "JANUARY, 1877. NO. 1. It has been said Unit all things which exist must have had n beginning. When wo ask lh! question, What was Hit begin ning of work? our minds immediatel' re. vert to tlie grand Mosaic allegory of the creation of the world, and we repeat the llrst verso of the first chapter of the oldest writing on earth. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." To continue the inquiry and inquire when man llrst received his commission lo work would elicit tlie answer, "In the sweat of thy brow shall thou eat bread." This do. creu of the Almighty is considered one of the effects of the mnii and woman's sin, and was in Hided on Adam as an addition al punishment, but toiisit seems as though ,n moment's dizzy whirl on the high pinna- God, after banishing our primitive pa- jele of fame, before being plunged into the senseless, weary waste of years' a gigantic torture of Tantulus in reality, and wo would rejoice when the inevitable result of the world tumbling back into chaos was accomplished. What is the object of labor? If life is but a Heeling show, if man is but of u few days and full of (rouble if it be thai "dust thou art and unto dust thou shall return," if, as Shakspoaro s.iys: "I.iro i a talis Told li.v mi Idiot, full ill" sound and fury, Signifying nothing, why this unending slrifo for what will profit us nothing And we answer, if youe.vpt'Cl the full reward and complete results of your labor in Ibis present exis tence, then indeed you are working for poor -ay. A passing breeze of applause, rents, pitying Uieir deplorable condition, gave them word as a means of regaining their lost position, for by it we are eleva ted and ennobled, preserve our health, hap pinessand virtue, and attain ailluonce and distinction, placing us in as perfect an Eden as would be beneficial tons. Imiig ine if you can the condition o( this world without work. What an endurable, stag mile, insullerable place of torment it would be. Life would be a weird nightmare, a abyss of obscurity, a wearisome chaso through jungles of prejudice, and bogs of slander and abuse, after the "will-o'-thc-wisp" of popular lavor and a llnal grasp at I hi: coveted delusion only to find il tlie phoruscent glow of n rotten stump, or to see your ignis fatuus flickering in some other quarter. A brief ride on the tide of public trust before you are engulfed by Ihe greasy, slimy waves of calumny ai.d dishonor that onlv hiss and moan for oth
