The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1904-10-06
NOTHING TO DO.
Provokes Disease and Mental Weak.
ness.
RUINouS 70 ALL MORALS.

~ OS6NSO0 ~ 0o0 GsbOAsS2A6s
Medical Talk.
Probably no sentence was ever | ass
ed upon a human being so ruinous tc
morals, so provocative Of disease and
mental degeneration as to have moth.
ing to do.
There are people, Of course, who
must work too hard and too many
hours every day. These people are te
be pitied, but their lot is 4 far easier
one than the lot OF those people who
have nothing to do.
II Is not netural to have no vocation
or to be Obliged to put forth no energy
to procure the necessary food and raj
ment. Such state of life is unnatur.
Al. The fiat went forth many centu.
ries ago, "Six days shalt thou labor and
do thy work." There is no other way
to liye satisfactory life.
Every one that has arrived at ma
ture age should have something to de-
every day. Not 80 much and so hard
as to become a burden to life, hut
enough to require the putting forth
OF muscular and mental energy.
1t hae been said "He that will not
work neither let him eat" But the
truth is that he who will not work will
socn find himself unable to eat.
There are great many lazy men
and wumen in the world who avoid
work i'll every possible way, and are
known as shiftless, good-for-nothing
people. These people continue to
have good appetite in spite of it all
But a little closer examination OF their
lives Will discover that they probably
work harder TO get rid Of work than
il they were really at some profitable
business.
Take, for instance, the life of the
tramp. He is m.n who does no
work, and yet the fact is be is one oi
the hardest working men to be found.
He is exposed to the elements nigh!
ard day, with insufficient clothing aid
covering. His long, dreary tramp, his
scanty iood, his jolting rides In frelgh;
cars or dirt carte, do really give him u
great deal Of hard work, althou. h it
earns him no money. He is eng ,ged
in no useful occupation, but yet il re.
quires of him endurance, fatigue, ab.
stinence, exposure, and frequently con-
tlnued lasts. All this furnishes him
the exercise and self reliance necessary
for his bodily needs.
But there is claes of people who
need not work because they are proyid
ed for. They are possessed of sufficient
property to raise them aboye financial
necessity. These people often have
nothing to do. OF all the miserable
wretches ON the face OF the earth they
are the most miserable. They list
wearlly in the morning with no incen'
tive before them. They languidly
dress and eat their break fast, lacking tht
stimulus Of motive, entirely destitute oi
helpful necessity. They drag themsel
YES through the day aimlessly. The,
have no ambition to prod them, NJ
compulsion to urge them forward
They very quickly become blase, hav
Ing run the gauntlet Of sensuous en-
]oyment. The world becomes to them
dreary level, with no hilltops of hope
no picturesque valleys of adventure
Everywhere they look the Same lack o.
necessity to exercise meets them.
Creatures of eensuous existence
Nobody depending upon their toll o.
ingenuity. Parasites upon the toll o
others. Simply waiting to die.
No criminal crouching in his lonely
cell rests under more disheartenlne
sentence. No slave cringing under hi
masters lash has before him such ,
pitiless existence as that poor human
being who has happened to inherit o.
become possessed of a sufficient amoun
of money to raise him above the ne
cessity of work.
Unless he has force of character
enough to turn away from his weal,t
and seek employment tor the love o
it, his money becomes his winding
sheet, his palace but an expensive
tomb, his life a premature death.
The only natural life is lie with
something to do every day. Some
task to accomplish, some work to per
form, some enterprise that demands
skill or endurance, soma reason for K
istence, some occasion for putting forth
the powers Of mind or body.
Those who have something to do an
the people who 1--we. The one thing
they need most is to realize that theil
life OF toll is the highest iiie. Many
toilers imagine that they would bt
happy if they could only be relea; Cd
from the daily grind, the weekly tread
mill. They look upon those who lol