CHAPTER XXXIII. INDUSTRY. THE Great Exhibition has now reached its close. No longer an uncertain contingency, clouded by doubt, anxiously discussed in the mouths of men, attended by omens that might suggest either good or evil fortune, it has become a fact, and will soon be fixed forever in the broad domain of history. As to the benefits it has conferred upon humanity, posterity will decide. That it has been largely productive of good, all thinking minds even now readily admit, and this influence must increase, if for no other reason, from its broad sympathy with the spirit of our era. It is a manifestation of approaching power, power widely surging from below, and no longer to be ignored. The hour of the people draws nigh, and the French Revolution itself, violent and irresistible as were the elements of popular strength it bore in its womb, was not a more convincing display of national force than this peaceful triumph of manifold and humble labor. Of old, hereditary princes, uniting in themselves the hands and brains of whole nations, confiscated them to works of royal pride; and "the labors of an age in piled stone" testified to their folly and the thoughtless egotism that could divert the energies of a whole race from noble aims. In our day no Pyramids rise slowly to the groans of dying and miserable slaves; no Coliseums are created by the stripes and blood of thousands of captives; but a more peaceful and honorable monument springs up to bear witness to the power of humble and well-directed labor. In this bright efflorescence of the nineteenth century, the thoughtful mind discerns an energy stronger and more widely extended than the prerogative of kings, a sense of right that gradually is becoming conscious of its force, and will soon cease to submit to the dictation of royalty; a development of vital life, which already is stretching out millions of hands and will soon assume the position to which every man has an innate and heaven-descended claim. Liberty, once a fiction, theoretic and romantic, chanted in the works of poets and enthusiastic genius, is soon to be, in fact already is, a bright and palpable reality. To this result all labor leads, operating through a thousand secret influences. Says Carlyle : "Work is the grand cure of all the maladies and miseries that beset mankind honest work." "Man is born to expend every particle of strength that God Almighty has given him in doing the work he finds he is fit for - to stand it out to the last breath of life do his best." To this result, long waited and wept for by far-sighted and sanguine philanthropists, our history daily tends, and thus "we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." With allembracing and prophetic sympathy, the most humble and devoted of all laborers wrought His unceasing sacrifice in our behalf, "For the night cometh when no man can work." Mindful of this high example, did Coleridge and Doctor Johnson inscribe these words upon their time-keepers, deploring their natural indolence, and seeking, with deep appreciation of their simple and impressive truth, thus to strive against the fleshly weaknesses of their mortal part. Among the various songs that sprang from the Revolution of 1848, this is by far the grandest, and almost the only one that has survived : — "Travaillons, travaillons, mes frères! Le travail c'est la liberté." It was sung by tumultuous and fervent crowds, who, suddenly inspired with a sense of its meaning, could not refrain from expressing the Heaven-revealed belief that was in them. Misguided and ill-directed, this precept at that time brought forth no tangible result. But now, long fermenting in the darkness, its hidden efficacy has been made known, and in the Great Exhibition the people themselves perceive the results of their growing and centred vigor. Thoughtless men may deride it, and verbose pens may heap scorn upon it, but the germ of fruitfulness is there, nevertheless. It has been attended by many little nesses, and, like every other great enterprise, tainted by numerous short-comings. But why cannot the world overlook the bad and cling to the manifest good? Because the restaurant-keepers have been pillaged of their chairs by the Imperial Commission, the whole Exposition is to be swallowed up in the Red Sea of their disappointed avarice. Mr. has not received a gold medal for his most cherished invention, and the whole Champ de Mars is blasted by his wrath. The editor of the " Figaro" goes to the building on a windy day and suffers from cold feet; in the next number is a column of abuse, designed to annihilate the structure and everything therein. Fortunately, outside this windy tempest of newspaporial indignation can be seen a few observers who are not to be led away from the obvious merits of the treasures they perceive around them. Here is every form in which human labor has guided the thoughts and discoveries, the truths and suggestions of genius into tangible grace and usefulness. Here the beauties of Nature have been transferred to glowing canvas, and spotless marble portrays the lineaments of great men for our learning. Here, in myriad shapes, taste and elegance, utility and refinement, clasp hands and strive together for the lasting good and enjoyment of mankind. Here appear unnumbered aspects of that pleasure situate in Nature's works which the skill and ingenuity of the earnest artist have provided for our delight. Fountains that murmur as they flow, meandering streams, the gentle undulations of broadly expanding lawns, towering palms redolent of the mysterious and silent spaces of the East, the ample greenness of tall bananas, the willing offering of tropical lands, and all that endless variety and thick luxuriance of vegetation which bear complete testimony to the rich and undying resources of Nature in every clime. He who enters upon these enjoyments with an humble heart, conscious of his own imperfections and desirous worthily to benefit by them, rises superior to the petty woes of life, and can afford to forget for the moment the extortions of rapacity, the meannesses of officials, the bodily discomforts that for the moment annoy and disgust, and all those lesser ills that we are often called upon to endure as a test of the steadfastness of our faith. To those who have watched with deep and thoughtful interest the progress of mankind, who in later years have rejoiced over its ever broadening growth, and the real increase of its higher powers, the Great Exhibition offers a most suggestive topic for their study. The history of our divine humanity, especially so far as concerns those born in a low condition, and subject to the belittling influences of poverty and ignorance, has been strange and sad. Never ending, still beginning; fighting still, and still destroying; now burning with high hope, now mouldering cold and low, it has yet toiled on and on, conscious of a noble future, and true to its lofty lineage. Led by high aspirations, deriving at least |