because he must—it makes the difference between the artist and the drudge. The
drudge does only what he must when he works, the artist all he can. The drudge
longs for the end of labor, the artist for it to begin. The drudge studies how he
may escape his labor, the artist how he may better his and ennoble it.
To labor when there is joy in the work is elevating, to labor under the lash of
compulsion is degrading. It matters not so much what a man's occupation as how
it is performed. A coachman driving his team down the crowded street better
than anyone else could do it, and glorying in that fact, may be a true artist in his
occupation, and be ennobled through his work. A statesman molding the affairs
of a nation as no one else could do it, or a scholar leading the thought of his
generation is subject to the same law; in order to give the best grade of service of
which he is capable, man must find a joy in the performance of the work as well
as in the end sought through its performance. No matter how high the position or
how refined the work, the worker becomes a slave to his labor unless interest in
its performance saves him.
3. TRANSITORINESS OF CERTAIN INTERESTS
Since our interests are always connected with our activities it follows that many
interests will have their birth, grow to full strength, and then fade away as the
corresponding instincts which are responsible for the activities pass through
these same stages. This only means that interest in play develops at the time
when the play activities are seeking expression; that interest in the opposite sex
becomes strong when instinctive tendencies are directing the attention to the
choice of a mate; and that interest in abstract studies comes when the
development of the brain enables us to carry on logical trains of thought. All of
us can recall many interests which were once strong, and are now weak or else
have altogether passed away. Hide-and-seek, Pussy-wants-a-corner, excursions
to the little fishing pond, securing the colored chromo at school, the care of pets,
reading blood-and-thunder stories or sentimental ones—interest in these things
belongs to our past, or has left but a faint shadow. Other interests have come,
and these in turn will also disappear and other new ones yet appear as long as we
keep on acquiring new experience.
Interests Must Be Utilized When They Appear.—This means that we must
take advantage of interests when they appear if we wish to utilize and develop
them. How many people there are who at one time felt an interest impelling
them to cultivate their taste for music, art, or literature and said they would do