The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-11
THE ART OF LAZINESS.
An Appreciative Sketch Evidently
by an Expert.

by an Expert.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
All really successful gardening is
done by proxy. 1t is the same way
with fishing. 1 know of nothing more
delightful than to lie under a tree,
with the shadows of the leaves max
ing delicate tracery on my face and
clothes, and watch the other fellow do
his level best to catch fish.
There is only one drawback. If by
some unlucky chance he gets a bite
he usually gets ridiculously excited
about it and insists upon ones stirring
oneself and doing things-which is fiat
burglary and not to be endured.
But, take it all in ALL fishing is very
pleasant piece of business. l think If
l had a friend who had a rod and line
and didn't know too much about either
l should be very pleased to go fishing
with him this afternoon.
You will observe that 1 have said
nothing about bait.
Laziness is an art that requires a lot
of study. 1 get out of patience with
people who abuse this great gift. Some
are born lazy, some acquire laziness
and some have laziness thrust upon
them 1t is the latter class that 1 OBJ
ject to. They don't know how to relax.
They do their little bit of nothing
painfully. Their nerves are on edge.
They are a WEAKNESS of the flesh to
those who have made study of the
subject. Bah! And Pish!
Now, the first class-those who are
born lazy-have the happy gift of re-
Taxation, but not even these can know
perfect beatitude until they have
graduated from the second class
those who acquire laziness.
We say that a man is a born must
clan or a born poet or a born painter,
but his inheritance counts for nothing
at all until he has studied the tech
nique of his craft. He has to work
hard.
With laziness it is the same because
it is so different. 1t is not enough to
be lazy; one must learn to get all the
enjoyment out of laZineSs that there
is in it. This only comes with long
patience.
1t is a thing impossible in the brief
ness of one article to tell of all the
things that go to make for the enjoy
ment of true laziness. Some of these
days l shall write a book upon the sub
ject-a book which will send my name
reverberating down the ages. In this
brief article 1t is simply my wish to
save some earnest young soul from
nervous prostration and to lead him in
the way he should go for the proper
enjoyment of life. To this end / have
prepared a few rules which, of follow
ed. are bound to bring happiness:
Rule l. Have something to do.
Rule 2. Don't do it.
Rule 8. Get somebody else to do IL.
Rule 4. Watch him do it.
Rule 5. Convince yourself that you
could have done 1t ever so much bet
ter IL it had been worth while.
Rule 6. Rest from your labors.
Rule 7. Do the thing that has to be
done as leisurely as possible. More
haste less speed Do it well, so that
you won't have to do 1t again. Avail
yourself of all labor-saving devices. In
vent some.
Rule g. Rest.
Rule 9. Never do to-day that which
NAV be done as we'll tomorrow, for
tomorrow you may not need to do it.
This advice is not new, but it is worth
regarding.
Rule 10. Don't fuss.
Rule II. Don't worry.
Rule II. Tess up to being thorough
ly lazy.
Rule 10. Surprise yourself by discov-
ering that you are doing as much work
as any industrious cuss of your &C
quaintance.
To this may be added that it is as
wicked to wear out as it is to rust out.
A man should keep in good health to
the day of his death. He should drop
into oblivion like the old deacon's one
boss shay. No man can always do as
he should, but he can always go in the
right direction, and the proper way to
go in the right direction is to go as
little as possible.