Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.
Tennyson.
One of the pillars upon which the atheists and social
iconoclasts and demolishers base their erroneous philosophy is a seeming
belief that the men of to-day work harder for a living than the men of
olden times. Now I will lay hold of this pillar, and, although I be not
Samson, I may yet hope to rend an ill-constructed edifice. With the aid
of a few figures and a little history the mind may possibly discern,
through the centuries behind us, some evidence of that progress which
Victor Hugo has called "the stride of God."
It is reasonable to suppose that the poor man, during the period of his
veritable history, has always, when not suffering severe privation,
eaten nearly the same amount of food in any given number of hours. We
may, I think, judge of the amount of work cast to his lot if we can find
the ruling values of several of the articles of food which have
contributed to sustain his life. I have chosen the earlier civilization
of England in my examples, not because the Book of Exodus, the Pyramids,
and the temples of Baalbec and Karnac fail to betray the needed
evidences of almost super human toil, but because the authorities at my
disposal touching upon earlier times fail to furnish me