,
stamped with his royal likeness, he said to the astonished laborer, who
knew not what was coming, "The coin is good, for it also comes from our
Lord God, and I am his paymaster. I bid you good-day."

* * * * *

Memory Gems:

The working men, whatever their task,
Who carve the stone, or bear the hod,
They wear upon their honest brows
The royal stamp and seal of God;
And worthier are their drops of sweat
Than diamonds in a coronet.

Give fools their gold, and knaves their power;
Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall;
Who sows a field, or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree, is more than all.

_Whittier_.

[Illustration: LABOR _Millet_.]

* * * * *

_12_

con' script
in dis pen' sa ble
im' ple ment
in de fea' si bly

TWO LABORERS.

Two men I honor, and no third. First, the toil worn craftsman, that with
earth-made implement laboriously conquers the earth, and makes her
man's. Venerable to me is the hard hand, crooked, coarse, wherein,
notwithstanding, lies a cunning virtue, indefeasibly royal, as of the
scepter of this planet. Venerable, too, is the rugged face, all weather
tanned, besoiled, with its rude intelligence; for it is the face of a
man living manlike.

Oh, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and even because I must
pity as well as love thee! Hardly entreated brother! For us was thy back
so bent, for us were thy straight limbs and fingers so deformed. Thou
wert our conscript on whom the lot fell and, fighting our battles, wert
so marred. Yet toil on, toil on; ... thou toilest for the altogether
indispensable,--for daily bread.

A second man I honor, and still more highly; him who is seen toiling for
the spiritually indispensable; not daily bread, but the bread of life.
Is not he, too, in his duty; endeavoring towards inward harmony;
revealing this, by act or word, through all his outward endeavors, be
they high or low? Highest of all, when his outward and his inward
endeavor are one; when we can name him artist; not earthly craftsman
only, but inspired thinker, that with heaven-made implement conquers
heaven for us!

If the poor and humble toil that we may have food, must not the high and
glorious toil for him, in return, that he may have light and guidance,
freedom, immortality?--these two, in all their degrees, I honor