North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1868-03-04
From the ST. Louis Home Jaurnal
LAZlNESs DEFENDED.
CY FELIX LANIS.

Cf fELlX LAAlS.
Experiencing for the while dull and
| dreamy emotion Of pleasure that the task
has fallen to my pen, proceed to write in
praise of what is called by common con-
sent, the ''vice of lazness.n
l hold it to be absurd for II person to
attempt to treat of Il subject with which lie
has no practical acquaintance. and may
rs well say right here, that it is requisite
that the reader hereof accept this PROPOSE
ton as true. Once this is done the road
to conviction is cleared Of one serious OBJ.
iection-lack Of confidence in the writer
! llcrodotus' credit rs Il historian is hi.ht-
ened by the fact that he lived in the times
of which he wrote. Everybody accepts
the writings Of Humboldt as standard and
verocious, because he was practically a
naturalist. | am a lazy man therefore, l
am qualified to descant upon the talent,
attribute, or vice-call it what you will
laziness. write in the light of it, and
should find ready crcdeuce for what l shall
| announce.
Now, the term laziness is. of itself, un-
| Objectionable. and mi ght, with equal pro-
| priety, be used to designate the emotion
which we call love, as to be put to its pre-
sent use; but, unfortunately. for very
large portion of mankind. like the word
'tyrant," it has come to mean exactly the
! opposite Of what in my belief, it was in
tended to signify, SO that to be called la
zy person is, at the present day. some
thing reprehensible.
In this dissertation I would coin new
word, or adopt one with reputation bet
1 ~, l. !
ziness, hut | am admonishcd by Professor
| Gray. that I" it is not well to change old
| namcs,' and, therefore. use the venerable
trisyllable, hoping to bring it back to its
pristine significance.
| Laziness is n gift of nature. Let him
who doubts this 90 to the nearest pigs
and barn, and pasture and ask of the
swine. the cattle and sheep. which he shall
find there, why it is that they thus dozc
away the hours of daylight; let him look
under the first cooking stove or at the first
rug that lies in his way, and inquire OF
the dog Or cat there lying, for the cause of
is idlencss. and why it does not arise and
bear IFS part in the great work of progress:
'et him ask of the tortoise and turtle, why
they are content to lie all day long in the
sun. in a state of somnolcnce let him ask
If the gcometrical spider. whose labor is
hut for f"w minutes. and whose rest is
almost constant. why he does not work
from morning until night The answer
in all these cases. and legions more, will
be: " Nature made me lazy"
That miserable sophst, Ben. Franklin
once gave currency to the following libel
unon the great truth which advocate ::
Laziness," says he, travels so slowly
that poverty soon overtakes him. Oh,
what wretch In this he belicd all the
analogies OF nature, and set at defiance the
best OF her teachings. Did he not know
that the principle so slandcrcd by him is
the very lever Of creation? ? Perhaps he
did not but the proof shows that he
did.
Laz,css is the prime agent Of Progress.
In proof Of this / ask you, kind reader.
what is the incentive to invention ? Is it
not true that every important invention
from the foundation of the world. was
made for the purpose Of economizing
work ? And are not all our machines de-
nominated ''labor-saving %
The animal kingdom is opposed univer-
sally to labor the vegetable kingdom is
inactive three-fourths of the time. and the
mineral. But let us investigate
Newton, as he sat under the apple tree
enjoying his otium Gun, dig-a Latin term,
and q very praiseworthy one, too, for lazi-
ness--saw an apple gravitate, and thus
discovered the universal principle. Inertia,
which pervades all pondcrous bodies, ami
mate or inanimate, is nothing more nor
less than laziness. Now inertia. opposition
to motion, natural inacton, or laziness, is
always safe. There is danger only in its
destruction. a quantity Of .gunpowder
and a cannon ball, left in the hands of ma.
ture are alike HARMLESS but let one of
your active men come along, place them
in a gun, and reverse the order of things
by i@niting the saltpetre, and the ball
unnaturally robbed Of its rest--destroys
human life. The earth, the air, the ocean
arc each harmless, but let the repose Of
the one be disturbed by an earthquake,
the n xt degenerate into action, called hur-
ricanes and tornadocs, thus agitating the
last, and the injury which will most pro-
baby be inflicted upon the world will not
he capable of computation. All injury to
all things is the result of action, not of
rust. The lazy man seldom kills his fel-
low ; indeed, he never does, save when he
!orgets his high destiny and moves. Your
active spirit cuts the throat of his brother
1t will be uselss for cavilers to cite me
to the perpetual motion Of the heavenly
bodies. These move because they are
obliged to obey the law of attraction and
attraction is only positive inaction. as op-
posed to negative. Astronomers tell us
that the myriads of fixed stars are really
in motion-that they are SO distant that
their movements cannot be noticed. / tell
them these are truly fixed. They move
not. Planetary motions, like all others, is
a part of tho penalty of Adams sin, which
everything within the solar
system. The universe is in rest, and action
is the exception. All Increment is inrolun.
tary is the rule. by the sweat of thy
brow shalt thou earn thy bread.' Is not
this the same as saying ''work is punish
ment and repose (lazincss) a blessing ?"
This disquisition is now long enough to !
be convincing, and the remainder must be !
devoted to "modern instances
30 thunder, Peter" exclaimed an old |
farmer, cursed with the spirit Of action, to !
his son lying under the shade OF friendly
bush, "get up and go to work. believe
you are the LATEST boy in the country"
Peter gave a yawn, and very hlamaby,
as think, raised himself upon his elbow.
Dad" answered ha with an ple~a n