BE YOUR OWN EMPLOYER by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 15, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 46.

BE YOUR OWN EMPLOYER.

By T.

ONE of the greatest complaints made by men and women in these times is that they can not get work. Is there one class of men that are by nature so constituted that they must find work for all the rest? And, on the other hand, is there another class who can never find anything to do unless some one else gives them work?

It can not be that the foregoing statement of the case is true, yet a great many act as tho they thought it were.

There is nothing that seems more pitiful than to see an old man or woman who has no home and no independent way of making a living, and who has to go from door to door hunting work. It is an unnatural order of things that brings this about.

There are too many persons being raised on the factory idea that you must "find a job" somewhere, in order to have work to do; and if some one is not good enough to give you a job, then you will have to suffer. Children are raised by parents who live in this way, and the children naturally come up with the same idea of things.

But why not put a little study on the subject of employing yourself? Certainly it is much more natural, and at the same time it is very much more pleasant. All may not be able to run a shop or factory, and employ themselves in this way, for there is a limit to the number of factories and shops that can be profitably sustained. But there is a field in which all may find employment for themselves; and that field, too, is the natural line of work for man. And the man who has not been molded in some of these unnatural ways will not be so happy anywhere else.

The sphere that we speak of is that of agriculture. A man who has from two to forty acres of land, owing, of course, somewhat to the condition of the soil and location of the land, can make an excellent living for himself and family.

But many will say that the life of the farmer is that of drudgery. This is a slander on the farmer who puts thought and heart into his work. He will need to work hard, it is true, if he succeeds. But hard work may be drudgery, or it may not.

He who works by the day, let it be either in the shop, or factory, or on the public works, or wherever it may be, is required by his employer to be there at a stated time in the morning, and he must stay there until a stated time in the evening. His hours are regulated for him. He has but very little to do with it. If he is feeling poorly, he must be there just the same. For if he is not on hand, some one else comes in to take his place, and he is "out of a job," and his family will have to suffer.

But he who works for himself—who is his own employer—while he will be methodical about his work and will have regular times to go to work and quit, the same as the day laborer, yet he is not obliged under all circumstances

to rigidly follow that rule. If he has taken a cold, or is in any way indisposed, he can take a little extra rest and thus soon recuperate. Many a man is made prematurely a physical wreck because he felt that he was not able at the proper time to take some needed rest and receive some proper restorative treatment.

There are times in the year when the farmer will have to rise early and work hard and late in order to plant and save his crops. But then there are other times in the year when he can take it more moderate, and thus rest up. Indeed, he will find times when he can take several days or even a week or two at a time for some educational and recreative rest. And all the time that he is taking this rest he is buoyed up by the thought that, in the place of his losing by it, he is really gaining; for he is getting rest and physical recuperation, and at the same time his crops are growing and bringing him in something while he is enjoying his recreation.

Now, honestly, who is the one who does the drudging? Is it the farmer, or is it the one that works by the day, and who is all the time filled with nervous anxiety for fear he will "get out of a job"?

It is perfectly true that the few hints that we have given of what may be the life of the farmer are not the thing that we find at all times in the actual practise of farming. But we have seen many farmers who run their business in just that way, and who are happy and independent all the time. But they put thought and heart interest into their work, and of course there is all the time a pleasure and no drudgery in it.

Some people have a great faculty for making drudgery out of everything they try to do. Of course all such, unless they turn from their wrong habits, would make drudgery out of farming. But such persons should not be taken as examples.

We do not think that it may be possible for every one to go to farming, unless many should materially change their minds in regard to it. But we do believe that large numbers who are now crying out because they are out of work, might find employment for themselves by renting a little farm, and then, by study and faithful work, soon get enough ahead to buy a home for themselves.

If there was more thinking done in this line there would be less people out of work, and more happy homes. T.