Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1865-11-29
CONCERNING :LAzINESS,

| OUNCERNlNG 'LAZINESS.
The medicinal efforts oflazyness" is the
subject In an article in the late number ot
the London Society. TIE subject is discuss.
ed IN sensible and philosophical manner,
and will apply as well to its meridian, as to
the one for which it was written:
w hoover has passed through season
OF enforced abstinence from accustomed
work, needs no assurance of its ultimate
bepehts. 1t is when the ground lies fallow.
seemingly barren and useless, that it is gath
erlnglts richest sources Of fafter-fruitfulness
the surest strong influences that shall smile
IN future harvests which else could not have
been. If we look closely, we shall discover
that we owe many of our best and most sue
cessful deeds to some impulse of suggestion
that came to us when we were not seeking
lor IL, when our minds were rather recep-
tive than active. Some things are given to
US freely which we could never grasp, and
they are among our best it may be hum
bling, but it is true.
One writer would have clear distinc-
ton made between lazyness and idleness.
he man who is idle and knows that he is
IDLE, however much he may be entitled to
his relaxation, still sees within the recesses
OF ms own mind the mute, half-reproachful
phantOms of the work he has abandoned
Ii his ldieness be compulsory idleness, of
course the care is still more. To be truly
lazy the patient must have no sense Of obi
cations upon him, either present or future ::
he must not only have made up his mind
TO do nothing but must have forgotten for
the moment that there isanything anywhere
to be done. 1t is not an uncommon thing
to hear men say that they are never quite
well W hen they are idle; that they feel in
digestion, headache, loss of appetite, Ian
guor and what not This is because they
are only idle, not lazy Their brains and
their hands have ceased to work, but no
moral change has come over them The
ldleness In which most men indulge is but
temporary change of habits. The idieness
which Is lazyness involves change of char
acter.
The writer touches the root of the matter
when he speaks of the moral quality OF la
illness. TO be lazy when one knows he
ought to work is really more exhausting
than to work, for real rest lies always in the
line of duty. But when duty uIus W CEASE
from work, to lay aside tor the yearly vaca
tion or the evening hour the anxieties, the
hopes, the vexation of working time, what
happiness, what future gain might acquies-
cence bring us. ''The flashes of selfknowl-
edge which dart across his mind at such
moments may change mans career He
may see the folly of his past life, the wisdom
of past resolutions which he has not had
the constancy to keep, or the absurdity of
ambitious dream which till then had been
his master. Or he may on the other hand,
derive new courage from the retrospect
may learn to say to himself with renewed
confidence, this right hand has done so
much hitherto by the sheer force of will,
and answering self-reliance; why should
faint or look back now?'" Wherefore let
thoce who are suffering enforced withdraw
Al from their chosen activities be comforted,
hose who are troubled about many things
be warned and those who are indolent by
nature or habit be condemned by these few
words on lazness