7 January

Born in 1830 – Albert Bierstadt, American painter.

Above: Fishing Boats, date unknown

Also, born in 1873, French writer and poet Charles Péguy.

Work for them was joy itself and the deep root of their being. And the reason of their being. There was an incredible honor in work, the most beautiful of all the honors…We have known this devotion to l’ouvrage bien faite, to the good job, carried and maintained to its most exacting claims…Today, what remains of all this?

—from Basic Verities, Prose and Poetry (1943)