Once upon a time every boy and every girl left school and got a job. It was the done thing. New adults were expected to pay their way.
There was a wide range of occupations needing recruits. The old nursery rhyme started its list with ‘tinker’. Pans with holes needed attention. Tinkers travelled, pick up information, moved on. Their calling became part of a mischievous reputation.
In our European society men needed trousers. Tailors provided them. They also provided suits for Sundays – and suits included waistcoats. Imagination could go no further. Italy as an inspiration for men’s wardrobes had lost its way.
Could career guidance go any further? Yes, it could. In the absence of computer programming, jet engines, air-conditioning and such-like civilised conveniences the nursery rhyme went on to suggest soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief.
Niggardly opportunities, you may say. But they were better than being picked up by a press-gang looking for crews in Nelson’s navy. Better than cutting out coal from thin seams. Better than being a night-watchman. Better than selling encyclopaedias from door to door.
The Bible restricts ‘calling’ to God’s route out of darkness into his marvellous light. Beyond expecting men to earn a living, to pay their way, the biblical writers have little concern. Shepherds, carpenters, smiths and tax-collectors were God-fearing workers. Some were more honest than others but all knew there were jobs to be done, pleasant duties, disagreeable duties but society depended n men doing what their fathers did or doing what they had learned from an experienced worker.
While we revel in the abolition of chores, even those that were once the lot of women or children, we can be thankful for the men of Christian faith like George Bull who were concerned about prevailing working conditions.
FLASH-POINT
Tolpuddle, Dorset was the flash-point for those agricultural workers who could find no outlet for their grievances. ‘We are open in outlook, rooted in the Gospel,’ says the parish church. The church website is well worth a visit.
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