VI

THE JOY OF WORK


If one is in good condition, the exercise of any physical power is a
pleasure. It is a pleasure to run, to sing, to dance, to climb
mountains, to row, to swim; it is a pleasure to shout for nothing else
than for the pure joy of letting off surplus energy. In the world of
animals, the horse and dog, to take only two illustrations, abound in
this enjoyment of physical energy. The horse paws the ground and snorts
and whinnies and loves the fastest road pace you will let him take. The
dog leaps in the air, jumps fences, barks, and races around madly,
sometimes after nothing at all.

But the highest power of which human beings are possessed is not the
power of the body. It is the power of the mind. Yet many of us
throughout our school and college life not only do not wish to use this
power but even rebel against it. "What," some girls are saying to
themselves, "enjoy the work of a classroom? Who ever heard of such a
thing!" Yes, just that. And if we don't enjoy the work of a classroom,
even an indifferently good one, there is something the matter with us,
or the subject should not have a place on any curriculum. Every mental
exercise should be full of the keenest pleasure, of intellectual
pleasure.

Our schools and colleges to-day are very much richer in the joy of
everything else--in beautiful surroundings, in freer and fuller athletic