The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1858-11-03
WHOLE NO. l07.

months, matters and things went on very
we'll, because I had something to at
tend to in making few little improve
ments about the house. and in furnish
ing a number of the doors with locks of
my own invention but as the whole
premises were in excellent repair when
l bought them ! soon came to a point
where there was nothing to look after
but the cultivation of the garden. !
was not long in making the discovery
that had no genius or taste either for
digging around roots or pulling up
weeds, and so as wife didn't wish the
garden to run to waste, | employed
a regular English gardner to carry the
thing handsomely through.
We'll didn't mind the expense he
put me to in the way of guano, new
tangled gardening tools, and patent
watering apparatus; for had fully ex-
pected to spend money, and thanks to
our previous economy, we had mouy to
spend but, Aleck, it was very anus.
ing to see what the fault anj vegetables
in our garden stood us in. Making use
Of little arithmetic I was master of, I
recollect that l ciphered up the cost of
some of the table ixins, and the result
was eventeen cents apiece;
green peas. dollar and three quarters
for peck currants fifty cents quart !;
raspberries thirty cents a pint; beets
fourteen cents each, and everything else
in proportion. All this I cared moth
ing about: but somehow ! felt out Of
my gearing in not having the right kind
of employm My wife did her best
to coax me into gentlemanly ways had
the Old mechanical CRIME all thoroughly
scrubbed out of my hands-fnger nails
cleaned out and rounded-so as to make
it appear that had never done manual
labor.
Then We must get behind a couple Of
Morgan ponies which l had purchased.
and make fashionable calls in the day
time on those who had called on US
and wife wanted me to soften down my
voice and be particular about my gram
mar, and the subject l talked on but
sometimes forgetting myself. l would
revel in the proud memory of the locks
and keys | had handled in happier days,
and commence history of my exploits
in that line, when wife would look as
though she was going to sink through
the floor. In fact she wished to keep a
perpetual lock ON my lips, $50 far as our
antecedents were concerned, with the
key lii her pocket.
But l sighed for the shop, and time
hung SO heavily on my hands that an
hour spent in stupid listlessness about
the house seemed longer to me than a
day did when | had orders ahead for
locks, and was driving hard to ge, them
finished at a given time. My youngest
brother, who is college bred man and
a lawyer, sent me. at my request, fine
collection of books on all imaginable
subjects, 50 that my library outshone
that Of the parson and indeed any other
man in the place bu. l found ! had no
more taste to sit down and read than !
had for trimming currant bushes
Time was. after ! had finished hard
days labor at the shop. when an hour
At books was a real solace, and also be-
lieyed that an occasion of improvement.
Then envied those whose leisure allow
ed them to feast on books perpe.ually
but the mistake | made was in failing
to discriminate between mental habits
and requirements of the professed stu
dent and those of the working man.
In this wresched condition did time
at my country seat drag heavily along.
Visiting was perfect bore. for not feel
ing the slightest interesting in such
masculine topics as corn. grubs and
manure, and caring less for the feminine
ones of dress and local gossip, did
not know what to talk about. Books
set me to sleep. and no. having the So
ciety of my two boys, who were off at
boarding school, became fully salts
fed that nothing to do was equal to
having everything to suffer.
My most delightful place of resort
was blacksmith's shop some two miles
from the house, where occasionally /
would handle the hammer, and clang a
little on the anvil, but my wife making
the discovery one day that my hsuds
were getting grimy again, ! was oblig-
ed to own up the cause of il, and this,
to my sorrow. was succeeded by pos
tive prohibition on her part from my
taking any further exercise at the forge.
After this, when / would sometimes ride
past the shop behind my prancing Nor
gan horse, the tears would start in my
eyes at my being debarred the only en-
joyment which was in tho least adapted
TO my taste or capacity.
But, Cousin Aleck, to shorten my
story, my wife perceiving my unhaPpi-
ness was increasing, at last consented
to move back to town. and let me re-
sumo my business. had no difficulty
in renewing an arrangement with my
old partner, and hence you see me hard
at work and happier than he President.
l am perfectly able, in pecuniary point
of view, to live without work, but
have learned to my satisfaction tive i'm
portant truths First. that We never en-
Joy ourselves so well as when we are
usefully employed and, second, that
there is no occupation on the whole, for
which we are SO well fitted as that to
which we have long been accustomed.
and which has hence become to us, rs it
were, second nature ....
was much pleased with the good
sense in my wife's cousin as eyinced
in the small section OF his autobiography
which he had given me. and very soon
after he had finished it We reached his
dwelling. Ii his shop was dingy. there
was no dinginess here. The sdifca