Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-10-07

tween mental habits and requirements of
the professed student and those of the
working man,
In this wretched condition did time at
my country seat drag heavily along
Visiting was a perfect bore, for not feel,
ing the slightest interest in such mascn,
line topics of corn, grubs and manure,
and caring less for the feminine ones
OF dress and local gossip, | did nof.
know what to talk about. Books sci NE.
to sleep, and not having the society of
my two boys, who were off at boarding
school, | became fully satisfied that
$ nothing 20 do was equal to having
everything to suffer. GA 3tsMa
My most delightful place of resort
was a hlacksmith's shop some two miles
from the house, where occasionally i
would handle the hammer, aud clang a
little on the anvil. but my wife.making the
discovery one day that ny hands were
getting grimy again. | was obliged to
own up to the cause of it, and this to my
sorrow was succeeded by a positive pro.
hibition on her part from my taking any
further exercise at the forge. After this,
when ! would sometimes ride past the
shop behind my prancing Morgan horses,
the tears would start in my eyes at my
being debarred the only employment
which was in the least adapted to my
taste or capacity.
But Cousin Aleck, to shorten my
story, wife ~perceiving my un~happiness
was increasing, at last consented to move
back to town, and let me resume my bus
mess. | had no difficulty in renewing an
arrangement with my old partner. and
hence here you see me hard at work, and
happier than the President. | am peri
ectly able in a pecuniary point. of view,
70 live without work, but | have learned
to my satisfaction two important truths
First, that we never enjoy 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 been long
accustomed, and which has hence become
US, as it were, a second %nature.'
| was much pleased with the good sense
of " my wife's cousin as eyinced in the
small action of his autobiography which
he had given me, and very soon after he
had finished it, we reached his sdwelling.
If his shop was dingy there was no diu.
giness here. The edifce was built on the
Philadelphia style, having a large din
ing room back of the two parlors and a
noble kitchen in the rear of the dining
room. The whole floor, as well as the
airy and pleasant bed rooms above stairs,
were probably adorned with a better de-
scription Of furniture than was owned by
the Governor of Pennsylvania. Every
thing was in perfect order, and although
the locksmith's wife was somewhat up
pish in her notions, | soon perceived she
was a capital house-keeper, and that my
friend was proud of his house, and proud
of his wife, and proud of his two sons
who had come from boarding school to
spend vacation. / found that these lads
we're quite intelligent, and that they
were both intended for the learned pro-
LESSONS. While one of them entertained
me with some music on a parlor organ,
the worthy Smith begged ME 70 excuse
him for a few moments, after which he re-
appeared in perfectly clean linen, and a
suit of dainty black. We supped at a ia
BILE spread with the utmost protusion,
and in the evening, some company com
ing in, conversation and music hlled up
the passing hour. / was deeply inter.
ested, and concluded that my wife's
cousin." the locksmith and belI-hanger,
was a wise man, and that unwilIingly he
had discovered the true philosophers
stone. Daily work was to him as neces
sary as his daily bread, and the toll Of
the shop only served to enhance the
pleasures and r~ecreations of a refined
and happy home, On taking my leave, |
realized that I had been taught a valua-
bic lesson ~Employmenb is the heathfui
lot Of life, and he that would seek happi-
ness in a state of perpetual ropose, be
trays a profound ignorance Of the bene.
tcent laws which govern his being. K81