The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-11-07
From the n Y. independently
Life's Sluggards and Trifers
BY SAMUEL 7. SPEAR. D. d

| BY SAMUEL 7. SPEAR, D.
/ No sensible person can fancy that race
! of beings known as SluggordS, whether
/ male or female, old or young. III nigh life
or low life hey have come to the
wrong world; and the sooner they get
out OF it the sooner society will be relIev
ed of "a hurdensome and expensive nui-
sauce Eating and drinking and sleep
| ing are their chief employment Give
them their provender, and they are quite
! satisfied Habits OF industry they have
| not; business III the useful sense they
have not; aud. moreover, they never ex-
pect to- do anything that is of practical
value for either world Fortunately for
themselves, breath ing is spontaneous and
animal nutrition goes forward by selt-
lmpeliing law OF Nature. Were 1T other
wise, they would either die TOR the want
of breath or speedily become CHASTITY
skeletons Occasionally tney relieve the
| ennui of doing nothing by making bust
ness in the shape of hunting, fishing,
playing cards, gong to the theater, Will
ing away their hours at the grog shop,
| attending horse race, and perhaps visit
ing the dens of nocturnal intamy Such
men are the sluggards OF human society,
having no purpose in their hearts or
practice in their lives that lifts them
above the low level of an animal
Woman, in her way, generally more
delicate and less offensive, is sometimes
amenable to the same charge. There are
too many women-far too many for the
credit of the sex-whose lives are prac
tically as useless as they are aimless
They can manipulate the little punctilios
of what they regard as elegant life; they
\ h. l. l.,
to spend money; no one can beat them
in using an opera glass or laying plans
for empty and proftess amusement. In
the matter of mere sho0 they are finished
experts and this is about all that they
are good for-indeed all that they pro-
pose. To life they productivity contrib
ute nothing They never did anything
and they never expect to do anything
that has the value OF dollar to human
ity The world is in no sense richer, or
wiser, or better for their presence in it.
They were boln with free ticket of ex-
emption from all the practical RESPONSE
bilities of an earthly existence. Splendid
receivers they are, and just as poor pro-
ducers.
Such persons are not really worth the
garments they wear or the bread that it
takes to iced them. The wonder is that
They are mere mock cries of a rational
human lite-guilty abusers of their own
powers and as guilty misusers and wasters
OF time, as indifferent about its value, its
Improvement its duties, the claims OF the
world present and the world future AS
they could be if no such ideas had ever
been heard OF on the globe Their viola
ton of the two great principles Of utility
aud moral obligation they seem to regard
as one OF the tue arts Their idl-ness
they present as their letter OF credit to
The first class in human society They
do not belong to the vulgar crowd that
must practically work i'll order to live.
W hen one OF these proHigates OF time
dies society loses nothing by burying
them, since it has ust one pauper the
less to support
God never made any man or any
woman thus 10 spend the hours Of his or
her sniourn on earth 1t is a falrr and ab
one can consistently think o. doing is to
return to the world IS much as it takes
to casry hrm through it He ought to
pay the expenses OF his passage through
lie If he does less than this, he will
then die an insnlvSnt debtor TO mankind
by all the difference between his con
sumption and his production Children
falling victims in their early years, con.
genital imbeciles, and persons without
the ordinary normal abilities of our na-
ture are the only ones excusabie from the
obligation. Society Is really a compact
OF mutual dependencies and services; it
lives and thrives upon the toni of its
members From it all receive some
thing; and, hence, all are bound to give
back to il at least as much as they take
rha loyp of f,,1 lob L.
all. and condemns the system of help
lessness in all, whether it be genteel or
vulgar,
The trifers with time form a class Of
beings not TAR removed in moral estimate
from the sluggard. The first thing is to
identity them. Here is one of them
and as we look at him we see a light
irivo volous, empty headed specimen of hu-
manity, ust skimming along the surface
Of existence and generally running upon
the errands OF fool He has no solid
thoughts and no solid enjoyments. The
books that he reads, if he reads at all,
are, like himself sensational, superficial,
and trashy; quite often worse than this
indeed, not worth the paper on which
they are printed. His pleasures have his
own specific gravity To Danish care; to
work but little and play great deal; to
keep lie on a sportive jump; to fit about
hither and thither, and chase all the
amusements and perhaps dissipatons
that can be found; to have d gay time in
the winter and, il possible, a gayer one in
the summer; tD make and receive fash
iopable calls and always talk nonsense;
to think and chat about fine feathers,
beautiful colors, graceful attitudes the
newest fashion, and the latest opera to
spend ones midnight hours IN reveiry,
at the theater or In parules of pleasure,
.jadlng his powers with the fatIgues OF
nocturnal diversion aud perhaps crime
these aud the like things are the we'll
known characteristics OF the trifer
They form the staple artrcies OF his rxie-
t-nce, aud with them h. manages 10 keep
lite iii Il ui~auIngirse buzz.
Now to sensible eye such & character
npue4r> positively rIteulous and to "A
'h'.- Isl. -. 'r'~t's T. 'G,~ add
| ,..e liz a. nun niuf..t ,'rInE, w.."~c
! nhI-.l =. "B i, L. a. - ,nd'~t I,nn =ln1
ule .-a -- -s-. ...1t, as gt e