New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-06-29
THE VILLAGE DO.NOTHING.

ing house. Nature Is always WIGS aWdke
in the matter Of compensation. Work,
thrift and industry are such an lDcessan!
steam power in Yankee life that society
would burn itself out with intense friction
were there not !nterposed here and there
the lubr;cating power Of decided do-noth-
ing-a man WHO won't De hurried, and won
work, and will take his ease in spite OF the
whole protest OF his neighborhOod to the
contrary And there is on the face OF che
whole earth no do-nothing whose sottness,
id,eness. general ;naptitude 20 labor and
everlasting. universal shiftlessness can com
pare with that of this worthy as found IN a
brisk Yankee village.
Sam Lawson filled his post with ample
honor in Oldtown. He was fellow Gear
to the souls Of all of ''us boys in the viii
lage. because. from the special nature OF his
position. he never had anything more press
ing TO do than Groom and gossip with us.
He was ready 20 spend hours in tinkerlng a
bows lack knife. or menGing his skates: or
start at tho smallest notice to watch. at q
woodchuck's hole: or give incessant service
in tending dogs sprained paw He was
always ON hand TO go fishing with us on
Saturday afternoons, and l have known
him to sit EoIr after hour on the banh. sur
rounded by a troop OF boys, batting our
hooks and taking off our fish. He was g:
and cOntortions of our prey used 70 disturb
his repose, SO that il was regular part OF
his work to kill The fish by breaking their
neck. when he took them from the hook.
why. lordy msssy, boys he would say.
II can't bear TO see no kind OF critter IN
torment These ere pouts amt to blame
for bein' fish. and We ought to put 'em out
of their misery. Fish has their rights as
well as any on az.
Sam was of respectable family, and not
destitute of all education. He was an eX-
pert in at least five or six different kinds OF
handicraft in all of which he had been pro-
nounced by the knowing ones 10 De capa-
BILE workman, ''if only he would stick to
it," He mad blacksmiths shop; when
the fit was on him, he would shoe =
horse better than any man in the country.
No one could supply missing screw, or
apply timely brace. with more adrOitIess.
He could mend cracked china so as TO be
almost as good as new; he could use carpen-
tecs tools as well as born carpenter, and
would doctor a rheumatic door or shaky
window better than halt the professional
artisans in wood. No man could put re-
fractory clock to rights with more ingenuity
than Sam-that is. If you would give him
his time to be about it.
/ shall never forget the wrath and dis
may which he aroused in my Aunt Lois
mind by the leisurely way in which, afte-
having taken our own venerable kitchen
clock to pieces, and strewn the fragments
all over the kitchen, he would rOOst over it
in endless incubation, telling stories, enter
ing into long winded theological discussions,
smoking pipes, and giving histories of all
the other clocks, in OldtOwn, with occa-
siOnal memoirs Of those in Needmore the
North Parish and Pordunk, as placidly in
different to all her volleys of sarcasm and
contempt, her singing expostulations and
philippics. as the sailing old moon is to the
friskv barking OF some puppy dog Of earth.
"Why, We see. Miss Lois lie would say,
"clOcks can't be druv that's Just what they
can't. Some things can be druv. and then
again. some things can't; and clocks is
that kind. They're just got to be humored.
Now this 'eres amaz;n' good clock:
give me my time on it, and Ill have
lennium."
millennium says Aunt Lois. with =
sort of infinite contempt.
Eyes. the millennium says Sam. letting
fall his work in a cOntemplative manner.
THAT ere's an interesting topic, now. Par.
son Lothrop he don't think the millennium
will last a thousand years. What's your
'pinion on that pint. Miss Lois q
MY opinion is" said Aunt Lois. in her
mosL uippiHS lohcss lidI IA Aoihs uOA
mind their own business. and do with their
might what their hands find to do, the mil.
lennium won't cOme at ALL
''Wal you see. Miss Lois. it's just here
one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and Thousand years as one day.
II should think you thought day was a
thousand years. the way you work. said
Aunt Lois.
WAL says Sam. sitting down with his
back to his desperate litter of wheels.
weights and pendulums, and meditatively
his knee as he watched the sailing
clouds in abstract meditation, I'VE see Of
things ordained. why. it's got to be. eff you
lift finger. That eres so. now. amt it :"
''Sam Lawson, you are about the most
creature ] ever had to do with.
Here you've got our clock all to pieces, and
have been keeping up a perfect hurrah's
nest in our kitchen for three days. and
there yon sit maundering and talking. with
your back to your work. fussin' about the
which is none of your business
or mine. as l KNOW of. Do either put that
clock together or Jet it alone"
Don't you be grain uneasy, Miss Lois.
Why. III have your clock all right in the
end. but / can't be druv. Wal. guess III
take another spell ont tomorrow OK Fri.
dav."
Poor Aunt Lois. horror-stricken. but see.
ing herself entirely in the hands of the i'm.
perturbable enemy. now essayed the task
Of Cancellation. Now. do. Lawson, just
finish up this job. and I'll pay you down.
right on the spot: and you need the money"
I'D like to oblige We, Miss Lois; but We
zee money amt everything in this world.
tf l work too long on one thing, my mind
kind o gives out, We see; and beside I've got
sponsibllities to tend to. There's Mrs. Cap.
tain Brown. she made me promise to come
to-day and look at that nose O that ere sill.
yer teapot o heln; It's kind O. sprung leak.
And then greed to split little oven wood
for the Widdah Pedee. that lives upon the
Shelburn road. Must visit the widdahs in
their affection. Scriptur says. And there's
Hepcey. she's alters a castin' it up at me
that l don't do nothing for her and the
,hl'en. but then. lordy massy. Hepsy
laint no sort o patience. Why, lest this
nornin' was tellin' her to count up her
MARCHES, and clare for it, if didn't think
'he'd throwed the tongs at me. That ERE
woman's temper rally makes me consumed.
Wal, good day. Miss Lois. I'll be along
again tomorrow, or Friday. or the first O.
next week. And away he went, with long,
Dose strides. down the village street, while
he leisurely wall of an old fuguing tune
ioated back after him:
"Thy years are An
LItTHdl Jay.
Thy years are An
Eterna! day."
IAN eternal torment" said Aunt Ioi,
With snap. ''Im sure, if there's mortal
,reature on this earth that pity. it's Hepsy
Lawson. Folks talk about her scolding-
nat Sam Lawson is enough to make the
aints in Heaven fall from grace. And You
ant do anything with him. It's like
barglng bav"net into woolsack.
Store i" Oldtow. Folks
What's Your Namee
In Illustration OF the importance of good
manners, London paper recalls an in.
lance which occurred at Scotch Telegram.
{ once some years ago. Lord Russell was
ne minister IN attendance upon her mai.
sty at Balmorai, and one evening there