Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1896-12-04
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.ent-tho=e who, IKE DR.. Ionns0r, are
never. physically. ready to get " 81 the
morning. bat who. ike BIN, are pos
ed 81 a Coincidence. which cOmPels
them. now ard again. to face the reae--
ton Of what fhey have-compared with
what they might hage-done. and to
stand agsast a. the comparison. There
are those whom circumstar ces have
made idle; riches; absence Of motive
for exertion; III health, real or fancied;
indulgent friends. and much more often
BY self-induIgence. That idleness is
one of the seven deadly sins gives them
no sort of concern; It IS of the essence
OF their complaint to have no feeling of
their own inhrmity. They are asleep;
they cannot tell their dreams, for they
do not even know that they are dream
ing. Giving up, nerveless relaxation,
has become habit, and to then-as to
the immortal Mr. Toot>, though from
different woodworking is of any con-
sequence But whereas it was his own
convenience, his own feelings, his own
comfort, that never were of conse-
quence to the unselfish Toots, it Is pre-
cisely your convenience, your feelings,
your comfort, that are-to the idle man
of no consequence. Floating idly
about on "the great Pacific ocean of
Incidence" he makes first one compro-
mise, and then another, with self-res-
pect, until he ends by sacrificing the
esteem of his feIIow-men on the private
altar of his own sloth. His affairs get
first muddled, then embarrassed, then
decaying, then desperate; and he feebly
aatters himself with an idea of pros
perity, now thai all is gone.
It is of no consequence to him that he
has impoverished his relations and
brought his wife-who brought him
money as well as good will, VINO has
borne him children and borne with him
for a quarter of 4 centry-it is of
no consequence 70 him that he has
brought her and them to poverty His
round, unalterably good-humored face.
his stolidly physical bearing, his placid
equanimity, proclaim him true Lotos-
eater. To him It is always afternoon
Why should he toll: Let what is broken
remain so; let him alone. He is one of
the ill-used race of men who ask only
remissions from labor. Unfortunately
for this Lotus-eater, lotos are not indi-
genous In the British Isles. He cannot
or will not dig; to beg he is not ashamed
only-it is too much trouble. His table
is furnished, he scarcely knows, and not
at all cares, how, or by whom; son or
! daughter, wife or brother, friend or
stranger-it is all one to him. His
friends have long given up all thought
of his working-have given in TO the
power of the Wis Inertia of which he is
so prodigious an example. Like the
birds of the air, though he neither sows
nor reaps, far less stores up for the fu-
ture. vet he is fed and clothed, and Is
seldom, moreover, without coin in his
pocket
AS in the ant-world there Is a race of
idlers so inveterately helpless that should
their-voluntary-n desert them
they would die Of their own incapacity
TO provide food for themselves; so
among other men, there is scarcely
community without its idle members, to
whom the industrious minister, for
whom they toll and deny themselves, in
order to prolong for their parasites their
long day of rest and dreamful ease.
That idleness should have been long
considered the badge OF gentry'-we all
remember the servant who warranted
her mistress "quite lady" because s'she
never put her hand 20 nothing"-znd
that this notion still survives uncon-
sciously in many minds, is perhaps one
reason whv the idle are so long endured;
that they have in all probability sunk in
the social scale, and still preserve some
traces of the gentility TO which they
were born, is another. They are living
paradoxes. They eat bread unsweeten-
ed BY toll, and do not find It disagrees
with them. They sleep the sleep of the
Just, and never dream of untitled duties.
They somehow manage 10 escape the
universal doom; while those about them
earn their bread BY the sweat OF their
brow, these are concerned only in the
consumption of It. and never turn hair
in its production. Lean in mind Is plump
of person, incorrigibly Idle. and imper-
turably good-temPered, they peacefully
bring their prePosterous careers 70 q con
clusion, and the story Of il reads Ike a
satire upon careful industry