Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 257, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1912 — THAT THANKLESS JOB [ARTICLE]

THAT THANKLESS JOB

80METHING THAT SEEMS TO BE ALWAYB WITH ÜB. Evidence of Its Presence to Be Noted Wherever You May Look—Some Comfort In Remembering Words of Ruskin. One of the most constant and distressing quantities in everyday life is the thankless job. It is firmly fixed .in the established Order of things that while we often rebel, we continue to accept. It seems immutably placed, and is illustrated in every circle of friendship or business. ( The mother who sacrifices, oh, so much, for her children and is Immediately relegated to second place, if not utterly neglected, when Tom, Dick or Mayme decides to marry; the daughter or son who after years of faithful, tender service in the home, is accused of ingratitude when opportunities for a life of wider effort present themselves and are accepted; the generous hearted sister, who, having refused to listen to her own love story and having kept house for years for brother Bill and brother Bill’s brood of motherless bairns, is told nonchalantly cne morning that he, Bill, is to be married and “the boss of that particular ranch” hereafter will be the new wife; the white haired clerk who is either discharged or placed in a position that is an insult to his years of service, not to mention his intellect —these are but • a few examples of the' little thanks that loyalty commands. Here’s what Ruskin says on this subject: "Generally, good, useful work, whether of the hand or head, is either ill-paid, or not paid at all. I don’t say it should be sq, but it always is so. People, as a rule, only,pay for being amused or being cheated, not for being served. Five thousand a year to your talker, and a shilling a day to your fighter, digger, and thinker,, is the rule. None of the best headwork in art, literature or science is ever paid for. How much do you think Homer got for his Iliad or Dante for. his Paradise? Only bitter bread and salt, and going up and down other people’s stairs. In science, the man who discovered the telescope and first saw heaven was paid with a dungeon; the man who invented the microscope and first saw earth died of starvation, driven from his home; it is indeed very clear that God means all thoroughly good work and talk to be done for nothing. Bafuch, the scribe, did not get a penny a line for writing Jeremiah’s second roll for him, I fancy; and St. Stephen did not get bishop’s pay for that long sermon of his to the Pharisees; nothing but stones.” True, work earnestly and loyally performed brings to a degree its own reward. The sweetness of doing something for either one’s very own or the people out in the great, busy ’ world is real and heart-warming but, even so, it doesn’t satisfy any kind of man or woman outside of the ultrasaintly and excessively humble who, by the way, are few and far between. Men and women of everyday life need a tangible evidence of gratitude.