Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-08-13
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9lINDoLENCE.
BY HENRY-wARD BERcHRR..

hnB 1neie4nOrtatlOn,s sD0 with thy might
whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,ought;
I, not to, be confined to- active labors.-
There is duty of rest; and then men
are to rest nightly. .mIa-pgGa
Men should work with energy, amusei
themselves with nimble aalacrity, sleep
with conscientious fidelity, and be indo-,
lent with all their might, each in its own
iway and place, without prejudice to the
/ other. q As itwould be an iimpeftinence
to intrude Incidence upon one Whose
duty it is to work, so it should be count
|. ed a misdemeanor to speak of work to
eneIwhp is called to- the sacred duty Of
Iaznsssg and ~ 3D. do d'!5e,. you then aadyo adv
cate, lazipess tYea--esrnestlyt An
occasional fl, of laziness would save
|, many q, scholar from breaking, down,and
check the waste of many brain which
is tending to insanity. rf ,. - Il
Every farmer knows the value Of tzz-
losOizg7 ground ,Judicious laziness is
ffbrain-fallow. Now a summer7fallow,does
} not imply an. absolute inactivity. There
s is slow decomposition, of the chemicali
elements of soil going .son, to prepare
, food for plants; and there is a lively
! growth of grasses and flowers, which
some people call weeds;i and snow and
then the farmer turns the ground with
the plow. Nevertheless,theg ground rests;
it is indolent; it is judiciously lazy.
When those blessed days come, when
it is my duty to be lazy, I find myself
! amply endowed with all the powers and
faculties required for that purpose I
have very genius for laziness. L can
get through hours and days without
leaving more of trace than a bird does
in the air. Sometimes / walk-no saun-
iater-for walking implies some exertiop.
y L saunter forth over the near fields, Sc
lecting instinctively the line of least re-
sistance, looking at nothing in particu-
lar, and at everything in general. / say
to nature "Have you anything to say
y to met If so, say on" Sometimes it
is my business osolicit nature, but now
in these long, lazy days, it is nature's
business to solicit me If there are any
butterflies that wish to show their wings,
let them approach !! If there be any old
friends among bugs and worms that
would renew their intimacy, let them
come forward! am in no haste Take
your own time. Or, if the sun is grow
ing something too familiar, I will wait
for you on the edge of the wood, where
/ see orioles, the several sorts of warb-
lers, and hear the woodpecker hammer
ing away on the trees. If he gets paid
for hammering as good wages as I have
to pay the carpenters, he must be grow
ing rich. ,.... ~ ~, iu
There. is no use in standing up when
you can sit down so, right by the moss
grown stump we will be seated. I am
perfectly silent. The birds have forgot
ten that I am here. Squirrels, too, have
done their peering and inspection, and
gone to frolicking again. Now can see
the inside Of wood-life. Let everything
take its time. There need be no haste.
/ am here on purpose to be lazy. The
only very active things about me are a
sufficient commentary on unnecessary en-
terprise. Four species of flies are in
| quisitive about me. Two-no three,
four sorts of ants are greatly exercised
"a very small kind, medium-sized red
ant. a black ant, and a very large black
one. How they do race One would
think battle was going on, and they
were: carrying dispatches. No such
thing. All this fiery haste, like much
other in the world, is for nothing-=a
mere qualification of restless nerves.
| Only consider how many ants there may
be in this wood, and what leagues Of
travel they compass every hour for moth
ling On the trunk of this tree, close at
| hand, a. chestnut tree, I see some twenty
ants; some ascending with amazing ce-
lerity and others descending with, head
long energy Now and then two meet,
and feel each Others heads, and pass on
lagainlat full speed. They carry moth
ing. They bring nothing. p It is mere
fwastefnl activity. Stopi Who knows
but these are brokers a. When they as
cend, stocks are going up; and when they
descend, stocks are going down! ii sus-
/ pect that this is the truth, for notice
that whether going up or coming down,
they are alike useless '
Now look at my old friend yonder, the
spider. He has not stirred since come
hither. Wherein is he any lazier than
these most intolerably nimble ants
They race by the hour to do just moth.
ing. and he does nothing without stirring
a leg! ..-...5,----.a .1l<s t.,s 6
What philosopher the spider is He
is apattern of patience and self-restraint
h How he thrives on leisure For his
size, nothing is bigger than he!@ How
plump his abdomen How splendidly
he has got himself up! Those yellow
bars across his back are in the very high
est taste. He spins his fine large web
and sits in the center, gathering under
his bosom every thread, as if he had
spread his nerves outside of him, knew
when even the smallest insect touched
them. There, with all the lines of web
tucked up and held in his hands, he
awaits the supplies which providence
sends him. He never hunts. He throws
out no decoy. He never uses honeyed
| lips to persuade or hatter. He swings
in the wind until some desperate fly
love-lorn, or mad with losses, and tirei
of life, tbrowsshimself upon the glitterine
web. No sooner does the victim feel the
web than he repents, and cries aloud fol
rescue In one second the spider acts
the multiple parts of friend, doctor
priest and sexton. Why are we enraget
at at,spiders2 Are their webs to be com
a, pared to village slaughter housesl Il
there an insect, reptile, beast that kill
so much and with such needless cruelty
as man does
But, really, must move away, or
shall violate the laws of Incidence BY
! falling into moral reflections. L return
with steps even slower, than went out
The sun s,high. Under my maple tree
let me lie downq Who would set up tha
| 6ca,, INST nc we'll lie. dnurr q - Nomr th,