Do It Well

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 1, 1906

A job slighted because it is apparently unimportant leads to habitual neglect so that men degenerate, insensibly, into bad workmen.

“That is a good rough job,” said a foreman in our hearing, recently, and he meant that it was a piece of work, not elegant in itself, but strongly made and well put together.

Training the hand and eye to do work well leads individuals to form correct habits in other respects, and a good workman is, in most cases, a good citizen. No one need hope to rise above his present situation who suffers small things to pass by unimproved, or who neglects, metaphorically speaking, to pick up a cent because it is not a dollar. Some of the wisest lawmakers, the best statesmen, the most gifted artists, the most merciful judges, the most ingenious mechanics, rose from the great mass.

A rival of a certain lawyer sought to humiliate him publicly by saying, “You blacked my father’s boots once.” “Yes,” replied the lawyer, unabashed, “and I did it well.” And because of his habit of doing even mean things well he rose to greater.

Take heart, all who toil! all youths in humble situations, all in adverse circumstances. If it be but to drive the plow, strive to do well; if only to cut bolts, make good ones; or to blow the bellows, keep the iron hot. It is attention to business that lifts the feet higher up on the ladder.—Selected.