The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-05-13
A LAZY BOYS LESSON.

He Wishes That Work Would Do Itself
The Unhappiness which Followed the
Granting of His wish, and How He Be-
came Industrious and Therefore Happy.
Once upon time there was very
lazy little boy. He never did any work
that he could avoid, and any task that
he was obliged to perform he did I'M
willingly, and with a sad long face.
At school he seldom knew his lessons,
because he would not spend the time
necessary to learn them; and when his
teacher "kept him in" after school
hours, the punishment had little effect
on him, because he had only to sit
still.
One day his parents went Off on a
visit to be gone several days. Before
leaving, they told him to cut some
branches of trees that were lying around
the place, and to put them in the wood
bin In the cellar.
After they had gone, the lazy little
boy sat down beside the wood, and
moaned, and drew his jacket sleeve
across his face to remove the tears Of
discomfort that coursed down his
cheeks.
II wish this wood would break itself
up and take itself into the house, and
that all my work would do itself. Then
should have nothing to do but play.
But of course can't be in such fairy
land as that would be-"
"Yes, you can," said a bumble-bee
that had aligh.ed on rose near by.
Il have Just signaled a number of my
tellow-bees and some ants. They arc
all hard workers, and from them l am
going to select jury to decide whether
you are guilty or not"
The lazy little boy did not like the
idea of being talked TO in this way by a
bee, and he felt disposed to make some
rude reply, but refrained in considera-
ton of the bees sting, and his ability
TO use it.
Suppose you decide that I am
guiltyP" asked the lazy little boy,
''what thenP"
Then" replied the bee in a tone Of
authority, ''you shall not take the
slightest trouble about anything. Your
work shall do itself, and you shall be in
the kind of fairy land you Just spoke Of.
That wood will break itself and go into
the house, and your other duties will
perform themselves"
"Goodl goodr' said the lazy little
boy. II shall be happy now" And he
smiled kindly upon the bee.
The bee then plucked number Of
rose leaves, and on each OF twelve Of
them there was dew drop.
"The leaves without dew drops are
the blanks" remarked the bee, "and
those with dew drops on them mean
that the bees and ants drawing them
must serve on the jury"
Then the bee took these leaves aud
dropped them into a great new-blown
lily; and us she did this she summoned
bat to come down and do the draw
ing, because the bat was blind, and
could not tell which leaves were
gemmed and which we're not.
And the bat drew leaf when name
was called, and the jury was soon Sc
lected. 1t consisted OF about equal
numbers of bues and ants, and they sat
side by side in two rows upon one of
the limbs that the lazy little boy had
been ordered TO cut. aJ. ~.
The bee that was to be the Judge sat
opposite Just under a large red rose,
and looked very severe. A few hum
ming birds and butterflies lingosed
around to hear the trial, and an indo-
lent old spider stretched himself in his
web and blinked lazily at the proceed
ings.
After the bee had related the story OF
the lazy little boys complaint on being
asked to do an easy and reasonable
piece OF work, he asked the jury what
they thought about IL, and the jury
looked very much concerned, as though
II had solemn case to decide, and
wished to decide II conscienliously.
So Just as soon as the Judge bee had
concluded his story, the jury retired
The six ants got on the backs OF the six
bees and they flew away into a crimson
hollyhock that was so high from the
ground that no one could hear what
they were talking about After they
had been in the hollyhock about a min
ute they agreed on verdict, and when
they had returned TO their seats they
pronounced the lazy little boy guilty,
and the bee sentenced him to become
subject Of his own wish.
R After Judge and jury had departed.
the lazy little boy sat looking at the
limbs he had been ordered TO chop
Much TO his surprise they began to
bend themselves backward and for
ward until they broke themselves into
pieces small enough to fit an ordinary
FIRE place. When the limbs were broken
tho sfraioJht t,ipcaa rollad ocrooa ltha