The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1857-12-17
For the PerrysburE Journal.
EXERCISE, LABOR, &C.
From the Flower Garden, an unpublished
poem, by Il. =. y. Rouse.

pOeIns ny lie - BE ttOuses
But here's flower all undiscerned before
'Tis Exercise, OF modest roseate hue
Our fathers used it, in the days of yore
Our mothers plucked it in the early dew :
No better tonic sought they to restore
From sinking lasstude, and their health renew.
1t hath no equal in the medical books,
The frame + iuyigOrate, and improve the looks.
Yet should it not be used in much excess:
'Ts safest to observe due moderation
Any incompetence may produce distress
Good becomes i'll, for want of regulation.
We often hnd it necessary to suppress
Some wayward, innate, prurisnt inclination.
Yet moderate, cheerful, prudent exercise
Is the best curative found beneath tho skies.
Some silly people think it a disgrace
To employ their hands in any useful manner
But sponge their iriendso shrk from place to place
Or lounge aud loaf beneath old Lawrence banner;
Turning to laborsrs contemptuous face
Though sired perhaps by a cobber or tanner.
Give no encouragement to their weak pretcnAe
But only pity them for their lack OF sense.
'Tis a false notion, that labor is a curse:
There is no greater benefit to
Deprive men OF it, how mmcasursbly worse
Would constant deness make our piteous case -
Would men tr anscend our feeble powers ef verse,
In riotous outrage and untold disgrace
Blghting all good with false cOntaminOus breath .
Inducing misery. pain, and woe, and death
Our lives depend upon the laborers toll :
Food, clothes and fuel-all, to him owe
'Tis by the Industrious tller of the SOIL
Our prime, dispenseless fruits are caused to grow.
Artisan tradesmsn, with their busy turmoil,
Cause greater good than have leisure to show.
strike laborers dOwn,-cOmmcrCe and arts destroy,
And now much pleasure would men of wealth enjoy?
BY industry we live, by commerce thrive";
Is a trita adage sensible, and true
And we who occupy lifes throngd hive,
Nesd never dsspOnd, for want of enough to do.
The busiest man is the happiest man alive.
with health and tact sufficient to carry him thro'
But your proud and lazy arstocratic sinner,
lsaworth!ess drone,-and doesn't deserve his dinner.
Some way or other, many men coutriye
To live. without labor, any honest vocation
In lDglng. they u Ghrfty business drive
Claim Difference, and attain to genteel station,
Dress, and luXuriaie dissGmhle, and cOnniye,
Credit abuse, and call it aefdicatiOu
Theft and emDeZZle taking that specious name,
AMI the bigger Iho swindle the less is counted the
shame.
The shrewicst villain secures the greatest credit
Elcitng. secretly. wonder and admiration. .
And many there who have Observed and said it,
In terms almost amounting to commentator
And many OJhsrs who havnt observed, have read it,
That petty theft is i pititul calcuiation,-
The huysst robbery can no more than damn -
One may well die for IN Old sheep for lamb .
Ii one he abls to make a splendid haul,
His chance is better. mach, OF being acquitted:
The ahest lawyers, often, one and all,
Are waiting in his defense TO be admitted
And for u fee, though, possibly rather tall,
The prosecutor himself may seem outwitted.
Though the rogue clearance cost him half his plan
der.
He's a millionaire and fools admire and wonder.
'The poets Objects to inculcate these sentiments
but to expose them.
Mt. NERSOS, Dec. Sd, 1857.