Every man appeared to understand his work, and went at it with a sober, yet cheerful earnestness, which betokened the deep interest which he felt in what he was doing, as well as a sense of his own dignity as a man.
Observing free laborers in New Bedford, Douglass reflects on the dignity and engagement of men who understand and value their work.
Share
More from Frederick Douglass
Treason had shot its poisonous roots deeper, and had spread its death-dealing branches further than any northern calculation had covered.
Land is not worth much where there are no people to occupy it, and a mule is not worth much where there is no one to drive him.
The sentiment that brings us here to-day is one of the noblest that can stir and thrill the human heart.
The good to be sought and the evil to be shunned were flung in the balance and weighed against each other.