Claiborne guardian. [volume] (Homer, La.) 1877-188?, 1880-04-21
A Lazy, Labor Saving Age.


Nashville Railroad bore us away
down into the land of the sunshine.
While the potter was making mp
our herths, the tat passengers
thoughts were evidently running
o. what DR.. Yandell said about
walking, that u wise Providence
had given horse four legs, so that
he might walk all he wished, but
the same everything wisdom had
given Il man but two, and had fixed
them so they could bend in two
directions and thus fit a carriage
seat perfectly
at is Il lazy, labor saving age"
the tall, thin passenger said. "Man
is trying to solve the problem Of
living and growing rich without
labor or rxcrtion, 1t is an age OF
labor saving machinery
"And yet" the sud passenger
put in, "therc never WAS an age of
greater or more inccssant activity"
"Pcoplc burn gas said the tall,
thin passenger, disregarding the
others statement, "because they
are too lazy to snuff candle or fill
lamp
EYES" said the passenger with
the sandy goatee, "and they light
it with electricity to save the trUub.
10 of scratching match"
".tnd it was u lazy man." said
the man on the wooden box, "tha;
sat around cold winter mornings,
and shlvcred and shuddcrcd, and
wished he knuwcd some way of
putting enough coal in the stove To
last all day, that finally invented
the base burner. No active man
would ever have thought of such a
thing"
"Men used to take II fair amount
of exercise" said the tall, thin pas
sengcr. "whcn they had to walk
from their homes to their places III
business; but then some ease loving
genius built street car, and now
any man who walks three blocks
with nickel in his pocket will not
he recognized in good society,"
".And if he will not wait in the
cold half IN hour for the car" said
the man with the sample.cases.
abe is turned ont Of the church,
"And even them" said the pas
senger with the sandy goatce, "mcn
took II little air exercise on the
street cars, when their business
compelled them To go from their
own office to other busincs, houses.
But then Edison invented the tclc.
phone, and now il man goes down
TO his office in the morning, CLUES
himself to "a chair and is there
when tho street cars come along To
take him To supper. II he didn't
need them To walk up stairs with,
man IN his luzy age might trade oil
his legs for another pair of hands"
That need not keep him back"
said the sad passenger, "bccalse
when he wants TO go mp stairs he
gently but firmly glides into the
elevator"
The fat passenger looked AZ the
speaker with II look OF approval.
"My SON. he said, nodding his
head, "you are mighty right, he
does"
Surely. it must he rs the passrn.
gers decided, .hc race is degcnera.
ting. physically. We take all our
exercise professionally, us the Jap.
anesc hire people To do their dane
ing for them. We play base bali
with salaried mines, We row with
men who can pull tor us without
taking us away from the counting.
room; when We want to walk some
robust fellow takes our money and
makes GOO miles in five DAYS for us.
We are degenerate race, aud
have fallen away from the high
standard of physical virtue main.
tanned hy our fathers. Aud Yet rs
lie here in the pleasant palace
ear of my friend Pullman, with the
jointlcss blanket folded about me
in unyirlding plates, aud the mini
allure pillow slipping down my
back, | draw the curtain a little
aside aud look out at the snowy
landscape and the glittering star.
light, and | stretch IN, self ont and
snnggle myself up in the very eX.
cess of comfort, and as think OF
our rugged, manly, virtuous, slal.
wart fathers, plodtliug over this
same road from Louisville TO
GAINESVILLE, in slow.moving stages
and numbering wagons, close my
eyes in degenerate content, and
sav. i'm sleepy accents.