Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896. Excerpt:... LECTURE II. The Peoblem Of The Unemployed And The Duty Of The Chuech. Matt. Xx. 6, 7. Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. The most tragic figure in the busy city amid the whirring of the wheels of the machinery, the clang of hammers and the bustling to and fro of the creators and distributors of wealth, is the man who stands idly at the corner of the street without a place in all the throng and bustle of industry, and who has no other answer to the question, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" than the reply, "Because no man hath hired us." There he stands, shut out from factory and shop, without part or lot in all that gives aim and interest to life, --for him there is no place in the hive of industry, no share in the wealth which it creates. All around wealth abounds, he is starving and shivering amid heaps of gold, in sight of windows heaped high with bread and clothes. He dreads the return to the room which is his home, for the firegrate is empty, the cupboard bare, the children's faces pinched and wan, his wife pale and spiritless. Day by day he starts on the weary tramp in search of work, and day by day returns footsore and sad, the hope of being admitted into a place in the busy throng of workers becoming less; for in that weary search for work, in those weeks of semi-starvation, he is losing the strength wherein his hope of work lies, he is losing vigour, and what is more than these, he is losing character and the very habit of work. There is much truth in the saying that a man off work for a year rarely works again--rarely settles down to steady regular toil--because the power of application is lost, and the listless ways, and often dissolute habits, which so long standing idle has engendered, can...