The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-05-04
INKLINGS OF IDLENEsS.
What a Loafer Has to Say
About His Profession.
He Gives Some Very Good Advice.
CHEYENNE, May 3 1873.

To the Editor Of The Leader:
i am, or have been, one of the crowd
of loafers who infest the various bust
ness corners-sunny or shady spots, as
the case may be-and convenient
lounging places of this city. I am
extremely sorry to have such a tale to
tell about my mothers son, but 1t is
true nevertheless; "Pity tits, tits true"
I-don't know that I would come out
and s'tell it alp in the manner 1 DO,
but in a moment of weakness l took a
a solemn oath, not on the holy evan
gels, but n corner, to that effect, and
so in conscience am bound to tell the
truth. / have, however, this much to
urge in cxtenuation of my fault; / am
but young in the business and have
been only a semi-occasional loafer, and
am not in the same boat as an ac-
quaintance Of mine, who, when ques-
toned as to the primal cause of his dis
taste for all manual labor, said: 81
am not TO blame for what you are
pleased to term my laziness, it is the
fault Of my parents" Flows that"
asked the querist. "Well to tell the
truth, l am not lazy, l was born tired"
He was a hereditary loafer. 1 am only
a loafer through circumstances. 1
never had cheek enough to enable me
to take a seat on the handle of a wheel
barrow or the edge Of a curbstone, and
occupy that position day after day.
Instead of that 1 would stand on the
corner, and gaze up and down the street
rs If looking for some who never
came. 1 soon tired of even that kind
Of subterfuge. Then l would walk up
other; then linger around the p~ostofice
corner for a few minutes; button-hole
an acquaintance and pretend that l
had some kind Of business to talk
about; or l was well posted on political
events, or anxious about the result of
the Russo English troubles.
The average %loafer, the old time boy,
one who has been on the turf since '49
can take a leaning position over an
empty spirit cask, and with a sufficient
ration of tobacco and a good subject to
talk on, can occupy the position eight
hours out of every twenty-four, for
three months. This may sound incred-
ible, but the chronic loafer is about the
toughest thing in creation. One class
of loafers hang around the fronts of the
Tobacco stores, billiard halls, saloons,
etc. This class dress tolerably well
and have plenty of tobacco, which they
chew with great gusto, and they have a
singular faculty for depositing their ex-
pectorations where "they will do the
most good" in adhering to the trailing
robes Of the female passers by. Where
they get their good cloths and tobacco
no man can tell. 1 have never heard
of a single instance Of a mother-in-law
furnishing anything in that line.
In conclusion, l will add that 1 be-
lieve the loafer element is n phenome-
non Of the last days. l have been led
to this belief by the fact that 1 car find
no mention made of the existence of
such a class of beings in any of the
writings of Pliny, Herodotus, or the
earlier Hebrew historians. Solomon,
it is true, in one of his proverbs makes
mention Of a sluggard who objected to
going abroad lest a lion should meet
him in the street and devour him.