Fors Clavigera (Volume 6 of 8): $b Letters to the workmen and labourers of Great BritainRuskin, John
General
Fors Clavigera (Volume 6 of 8): $b Letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain
Ruskin, John
Aesthetics; Conduct of life; Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century; Social problems; Working class -- Great Britain
Well, do you want to be better dressed than your schoolfellows? Some of
them are probably poor, and cannot afford to dress like you; or, on the
other hand, you may be poor yourselves, and may be mortified at their
being dressed better than you. Put an end to all that at once, by
resolving to go down into the deep of your girl’s heart, where you will
find, inlaid by Christ’s own hand, a better thing than vanity; pity.
And be sure of this, that, although in a truly Christian land, every
young girl would be dressed beautifully and delightfully,—in this
entirely heathen and Baal-worshipping land of ours, not one girl in ten
has either decent or healthy clothing, and that you have no business
now to wear anything fine yourself, but are bound to use your full
strength and resources to dress as many of your poor neighbours as you
can. What of fine dress your people insist upon your wearing, take—and
wear proudly and prettily, for their sakes; but, so far as in you lies,
be sure that every day you are labouring to clothe some poorer
creatures. And if you cannot clothe, at least help, with your hands.
You can make your own bed; wash your own plate; brighten your own
furniture,—if nothing else.
‘But that’s servant’s work’? Of course it is. What business have you to
hope to be better than a servant of servants? ‘God made you a lady’?
Yes, he has put you, that is to say, in a position in which you may
learn to speak your own language beautifully; to be accurately
acquainted with the elements of other languages; to behave with grace,
tact, and sympathy to all around you; to know the history of your
country, the commands of its religion, and the duties of its race. If
you obey His will in learning these things, you will obtain the power
of becoming a true ‘lady;’ and you will become one, if while you learn
these things you set yourself, with all the strength of your youth and
womanhood, to serve His servants, until the day come when He calls you
to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy
of thy Lord.”
You may thus become a Christ’s lady, or you may, if you will, become a
Belial’s lady, taking Belial’s gift of miserable idleness, living on
the labour and shame of others, and deceiving them and yourself by lies
about Providence, until you perish in hell with the rest of such,
shrieking the bitter cry, “When saw we Thee?”
V.
“3, Athole Crescent, Perth, 10th May, 1876.
“Sir,—Thinking that it may interest you, I take the liberty of writing
to let you know that the ‘Lead’ is not at all in the state you suppose
it to be; but still runs down, very clear, by the side of the North
Inch and past Rose Terrace, and, judging from the numbers of them at
this moment playing by it, affords no small delight to the children.
“I am, yours most respectfully,
“A Reader of ‘Fors.’”
VI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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