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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1880)
March, 1880. THE WEST SHORE. 81 MAN AN IDEAL WORKER. Oar scientists have been a little puzzled to coin a definition of man that would diaoriminate him thoroughly from all other animal. W h been called the tool-handling animal, the only animal that wears clothes, and knows how to cook its food. The ideal worker is a definition that seems to far more aptly discriminate him. The power to create archetypal thoughts, plans and schemes in the mind, and then deliberately seek to realize them in some form, shape or act, is the most distinguishing characteristic of man. The beaver may show great skill in felling trees across a stream to make a dam; the bird may exhibit a very delioate taste in the neat way it weaves sprigs of moss, feathers and leaves iuto a oozy little nest; tho bee is certainly quite a geometer in the way it economizes space in shaping the oells of a honeycomb but all these little, Busy, vivaoious workers are conscious of no creative skill. They are animated in their toil by no ideal plan or system of architecture they would seek to realize. They seem to be driven to their work by a vital force as unerring and as irresistible as that which shapes a leaf or paints a clover blossom. But man takes the raw material wood from the forest, stones from the Quarry, ores from the mine and builds them into forms of beauty and utility according to a plan or idea of his own devising. Let us illustrate some modes of ideal work- ins. What is science? Merely star-gazing. collecting fossil bones and bits of petrified wood, pinning bugs and beetles on a card, pick ing a flower to pieces and giving to each part a forces of nature into these new and useful com binations. The steamship wheeled its way through the deeps of the mind before it slid down into the sea, and in the noiseless looms of the imagination first whirred the faolorv nin- clloe. In short, all our wonderful and uselul inventions are merely ideas in harness, thoughts under saddle. All men are more or less inspired to action by ideals, or the hope uf realizing ionic, itoaire or purpose seeu in me silent sky of calculating forethought The most careless aud thoughtless, even, do not travel all day aimlessly, and then try and find out in the evening where they are going. Look at the motley crowd you see surging all day long up and down these stony aiiilos of trade. How diverse their mental and sooial condition ! Yet there is not cue in that busy OUR NEW MINISTER S WIFE'S BONNET. Well, Sophronia Ann, I'm glad you've come. A great many things have happened slnoe you war her in hnnsa-eteanln' time. You know then I hadn't been near the Methodist church for nigh onto a mouth; and all Clarenoa 1 'enter was a laughing and making fun of our new minister' wife. How dreadful they did talk about that blue velvet bonnet of hernl At last the women in the ohuroh couldn't stand it no longer; so they went to Miss Brown, an' they told her that people thought she were a Injuria' and a-keepiu back the lord's work by a-wearin' auoh a wicked, worldly bonnet. And then says Miss Brown: "Ladies, I should like anew MUM very much. I he MM vsi- v.-t was my weddin' hat, nearly two years ago. thmno from the Phariam t the Puhlioaii. from Since then my huaband has been too poorly the scavenger on his offal cart to the great paid, he has not lieen able to buy me anything hanker on change, from the miserable-looking new. hard name. Why all this is only the crude material out of which scienoe is made. Truo soienoe is an effort to group all the facts and phenomena of nature in the unity of some one great law or controlling principle. Thus astron omy, for instance, now the most sublime and accurate of all scienoes, was once a huge heap of annarent contradictions and absurdities. The nlanets seemed looped and tangled like a lot of dmIiv bnvs and girls in a wild country dance until Newton caught sight of the primal law of the universe, and then all these jarring discords fell into tuneful order. This is the ideal scienoe ever seeks to realize. The scientist, whether atndvimr stars or uolliwogs. is an ideal worker, And what ia art hut an effort to embody the ideal? A thought dawns upon the mind of a gifted artist, ft comes at lirst, perhaps, like a ray of pale, unsteady light, gleaming and enim merino across tho troubled waters of his imagi nation. It is a beautiful thought, but how coy it aeoms. It flies timidly before the srdent pur suer, and when he gives up the ohsse comes aintrinif iavlv back, teasing him with its pro vokinu charms. He cannot rest, he oannot sleep; he is smitten with its beauty, and says f h. Unanaue of the old painter: "My I-ord, ;. ;. ., and must bo forth of me." He throw nr hi. nt and anas to work, chipping and hew ing at a blook of marble for many a weary hour, nr .tandinir bv his easel, pencil in hand and his ..... ii,.,i , tha lnvelv ooiicontinn. and lo the Greek Slave emerges from that stony sepul .h.r ,,r tha Transfiguration blossoms on thi canvas. Thus are all the great works of genius born. . 1 And when we descend into the region of th oaeful and nraotical arts we are still in th presence of ideal working. We never grow tired assembling at agricultural fairs or in the 1 11. .,( th. .wnnaition and boasting of the won derful things we have achieved. But what power is it that has hnng a light house for our '.. - th. .tars: taught sturdy old gravitation patiently to shoulder our bridge, and prop up the walls of our houses; that has I. ' th. li.htnino- its tiarv sting, sud piucatm iiwmi aw m St , ' , 1 . r Z 1. . nor errands: and has com 11. 1 .1 ..t .n.r.ne. of strain to on If ami I t It ii inventive thought that has organiiod tht So 1 have been obliged to wear this hat. om ,n in faded and Uttered uarmnuta nicking summer and winter. Now Sister I ipkm, she rags out of the mud to the fashionable lady had an old black silk apron, Jest aa good as . ..... . I 1 I l . I li 44.- .1. ...... .. ....1.1 I.. ... ishing by 111 her stylish turnout -not one nut new. mm aue ssin 11 m. we wutuu ... hat is animated by some secret hope or luring bold and help, she would have a sewing liee, desire, that gives to life all the zest and mean- and make up Miss Brown a decent minuet, ing it possesses, and without which the hours I didn't care nothm' 'bout the bonnet, hut would drilt by aa drearily aa lliu dead, yellnw seem onaa 1 ipaui wit. rris ..... leaves of autumn. The only thought uppermost aguttin' up a .upper, ! thought 1 would go and in the minds of many may be: What shall I eat, help 'em. Well, if I do say it, wo made one lrinkor wear; how soaro the wnlt Irom the 01 mo puruo minnow you lone and drive winter from the llroulsoe : or There waa none of them highfalutin things how to make a fortune, and glitter and dazzle about the liouiiot. And we sent it to her that in a drawing-room for an hour. But whatever very nignt now in rowm nuim.j it may be, it is something that causes them to morniu' they all looked at Miss Browns seat, think more of the morrow thau the presout, end to see how tho new Unmet look . d on her hoed, in whioh hope builds its nest, though it lie on but she waan't there. After the prayer was the ground or in tho sky. And in this ideal over, who should they see nit Mis. Brown working we find tho glory and dignity of man. a-oomin up me mm, anumm u.r wmm, ........ man a aim, nun isv "u ui"w. .... . BORRROWINQ TROUBLE. "I believe in work in' and earnin' your honest bread, etc., and SO forth; but Still I believe III makin' things agreeable and pleasant, very. Wo Americans aa a nation aro a dretful animus lookiu', hard-workin', long-faoed, ambitious, go-ahead race, and we tackle a holiday as if it was a hard day's Work we hail got to git through with jest as quick aa we oould; anil we laoe en joyiueuu Willi conanieranie vim saiou uuuuio nance WO do Minerals. 111 th wnrrv business, nights is the best time for It ill the hull 24 hours. M old I in' sized t roubles swell so in the dark; tribulations that haunt much by laylight, at midnight will look lugger 11 a nam. I declare for't I've hail bonnets Iwforo uow our now hnunet? No indeed! But she did havn on 0110 of them now black felt hats, that ooma down over a ersuu s eyes, and aro all covered over with black heu leathers. It looked a great sight wiiss than her old one. And the meanest of all waa, not, morniu when old llyar the wash woman, came to do Mia. l'lpkin s washili , she hail on that very same blank silk bonnet. that we had took .loh pain, to make for Miss Brown. IromiiM Jourmtl. Sruin III Knot. " Strike the knot'" said a man one day to his son, who, tired and weary. waa leaning oil his as over a log, wnian ne nan In vain been trying to ol.ave. Than looking at the log, the gentleman saw bow tha boy nasi hacked and chipped all round the knot without hitting it. Taking the as, ha struak a few sharp blows on the knot ami split the log with- out difficulty. Hiniling, he returned the as to hi. Sim s.viiiu "A nil striae ine Knot: that didn't suit me was trimmed up too gay T,mt WM K, satjf. It is good for you, my or come over my face too much, or sunthiu , , n,, ,., ,, it we. fur the hoy to whom It waa and when I d wake up in the nignt anil uiiua ,,rlt ((,, it capital maiim to follow on 'em they'd look aa big to me as a buahal baa- .(, you r Ml trouble, Have you a hard sum ket, and humblier; and I'd lay and groan to tl, , ,t Hhool? Have yon got to faoa a diffi- think of ever wearin' 'em to moetin'. But at ouity? Are you leaving horns to Bv among davlight they would kinder dwindlodowii again strike the knot! Ixtok your trouble to their natural shape. Aud Jisiiah Allen! I m ,, ,.lr M the bold lion huntsr,looks In the innu I have huriutl that man many time, aa . r 7 . . . tl I I 1L- 1 44.. L.l.ll he has got naira on 111. neao um 11 jm-ny ""m. when he'd have a ool j or anything. 1 a wees un in the latter part of the night, when It waa as dark aa Egyptian darkness, and Id gat to thiukio and worryin , ami neioro 1 anew it more .loaiah would be all laid out, and ine procession meanderin' off toward Joneeville buryin' ground, and I afollerin' him a weepiu' widow -and I've 'one an far as to see mveell lay deatt by the leolin I 1 '. . , . i 1 11 1 I .1 side 01 turn, auimi iiy mo itmiiu ot ......... .. . IFjaEw man and there we'd lay, with one stone over overlapped the raveled wlge of the aoek rib; I us a'readin': '""J ,n 1mv" to ft "Isaai'.y disw It off, turned had for that face of the lion. Never shrink from a pernio! luty, but step right up to it and doit Yea, strike the knot! Strike the knot, boys and girls, and you will always oonnner your difficulties. Hoati'Mnlst UubKMCMiTHM. A correspond- nt uf the .'in .1 ( Arm lurkir says: I liavn just repaired some flannels, and for wristbands t-.ok tha tops of a pair of old soeks, stretched them on the press-hoard, which tapers, drew the sleeve over it till the turned in edge Just 'Hers lays Jualah and H.insnil.4, Their warfars Is acsnmiiilltlud it and tewed down the sock t.lgo Thi. make. an elastic band whioh voids tu the mot ion. of tha body. It would be better, uf course, to have knit Hannela entire, but they art very si. lint last as fun aa the suu would rise up and , , I. ...I l.-i.l, would n.. up and build hi. fir. in th. stovs, why the M. fW "' ''U Jff H . . . 1 ...ii tl..t k.snu.1 .... Unuht for WJ oeuU per yard, and lUyardawill gno.v.0, .r ... -"'"7 ""-.', .-,!. Ill ' MF-' .ht. LSJZrmZrwSTm I mi drawee Shrink th. M.-t Uka an Arab man. and silsnt go to stsaylin' some (Wt and Hnish th. rM ami twtln where el... ' "-Marietta BJS, Samantha at knit nb, put on aa direot-d nbova. Tbjf wtU '- I last throe winters.