The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-04-23
LOaferiSm Is Death.
What is q man

If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast more.
Hamlet
Start not. reader, it is true. Loaferism is
death-death of the most dismal and dam
gerous kind. There are more kinds of
death than one. There is the death of the
body. when sad farewells are spoken. when
eyelids drOop over sightless eyes, and pale
lips close over voiceless mouths, when in
silence and mid sorrow the stern agony is
endured, and the light and warmth of life
is exchanged for 1.-THE shrOud. the pail, the
breathless darkness. and the narrow house."
This death alone is inevitable. But as sun.
light often gilds the mountains top, around
whose lower sides dark clouds are drifting,
so is there land of light and blessedness
lying somewhere in the ''Great Unknown"
But there is death or tOrpOr of the mind,
a death of kindly affection, death of gen.
erOuS trust and ennObling faith, death of
fixed purpose and noble endeavOr which
lead to a brightness beyond. Here is bus
mess man, alive to the musical chimes of sill
yer and gold. keen to detect the means of pc.
cuniary gain. In his eager. untiring labor
for wealth. he has forgotten the wealth of
affection. the world of intellectual enjoy.
ment which lies around him. The heart is
dead. but portion of his intellect is sharp
ened into unnatural life. Here is the ig-
norant day-laborer. He knows nothing of
the wealth of science, the lore of history,
or the charms of poetry. His mind is all
uncultured and inert. But he is not wholly
dead. His heart is alive. He loves his
wife and joys in the sweet presence of bis
children, and labors cheerfully for their
support. Here is another whose course in
life is itful and changing as April skies.
He has no fixed purpose. He goes on like
a sail-vessel driven here and there by every
wind, and often becalmed-instead of NOV
ing steadily onward like steamer breast
ing every opposing wave, and dashing aside
obstacles as the steamer at every pulsebe
of its fiery heart dasheS aside the spray.
Some part of his manhood Is dead. He has
no faith in the omnipotence of work, no
just conception of his dignity as man, no
worthy goal in view. and so his course is
vacllatng and uncertain.
The lOafer has suffered the triple death
of heart. mind and purpose. He cannot
love any one wOrthily, for love makes us
self distrustful, it awakens desire for nObler
life. it inspires to work. He cannot even be
good friend, for his nature is too sluggish to
perceive and meet the delicate requirements
of friendship. His mind is dead, except
that baser part which gives expression to
passion and appetite. The dignity OF man.
the divinity of knowledge. the desirableness
of self culture. the unmeasured worth of
the soul-all these inspiring thoughts are
lost to him. o lOafer! thou art miserable
being. Thy life is aimless as the beasts.
Thou wilt gaze on life with an eye as dull
as that of the OK who looks on beautiful
landscape.
Young man, would you be loafer? It
is a small task. ''Facilis descensus Averni
est" 1.-THE way to hell (or loaferism.
about the same thing,) is easy" You have
only to hate to work. to neglect to cultivate
your mind. to acquire passion for playing
all kinds of games and telling all kinds of
stories. to allow yourself to hang around
public places, and the thing is done. You
are defunct, dead and worthless. and you
bear about your own epitaph. written un-
mistakably plain-Loafer!-Lu Taylor's
Chip Basket.