The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-04
LITTLE LAZINESS NOW @
 AND THEN IS NEEDED

From the Cincinnati Enquirer
 T is often said in commendation of
 some one that he hasn't a lazy streak
 ! in him. What an unfortunate and
 abnormal makeup! One that never could
 have been produced under perfectly na-
 tural conditions, and must have been
 the result of the hurry and competition
 of modern life, the struggle to arrive,
 regardless of the joy or contentment
 which should fall to the lot of the hum-
 blest. Such a man Is clearly out of har-
 mony with nature. While she has times
 of manifesting intense activity and en-
 ergy, they are plentifully interspersed
 with days when she seems just to breathe
 and when her great vital process, never
 interrupted, are carried forward imper-
 ceptibly and with no outward sign of
 stir or effect As one lies at ease on the
 sand on such a day, the blue ocean
 strtches away in peaceful calm, and the
 ripping wavelets caress the shore with
 soft murmurs, as though soothing it to sleep. And asleep 1t seems to be. There
 is hush over everything. The white
 sails of fishing boats do not flap idly"
 in the breeze, for all winds refuse to
 blow and all sounds have ceased in
 sea and air. Or if by chance 1t be rocky
 coast where you repose, the gentle lap
 ping of the water on the stones Is per- feet lullaby. What can one do but yield to such a spell, and lie all day careless
 and content. basking lazily in the genial sunshine?
 Inland the same spirit prevails. The wide, green earth lies in a half-conscious swoon, under the warm rays of light that flood her everywhere. No tree fiutters its tiniest leaf; the birds rest silent in shady hooks, and the far-off cav of a crow. the soft tinkle of a mountain stream near by, the drowsy humming of bees, all Hull to rest Nature is surely in a lazy responseful mood and we cannot do better than to fall in with it, and culti- vate and seek after something like it in our own lives. Perhaps all the past year has been one of incessant toll and strain. Day in and out, with little respite month after month, the weary grind has gone on till life seemed a treadmill. Now that you have stopped. be 1t for every so short time, don't go on marking time, or fancy that unless you keep thinking about your work something will happen to it. Just throw yourself down on the sand or the grass, wherever you spend your vacation. and relax, and let things in general, and your own little affairs as well. take care of themselves. Look up at the beautiful fieecy cloud that floats solitary and motionless against the sum mer sky In it's bosom sleeps the thun- derbolt, but now it Is picture of indo- lence. It is in such quietude that it gathers force.
 We have as people recognized dis ease known as Americanitis, too highly developed nervous susceptibility, which keeps us always on the qui vive, and dis contented. and bored, unless doing some- thing. Under it's strain we grow lank and haggared, and wear out and die be- fore our time. The remedy lies in talk ing a different mental attitude. It is all right to work while you work and play while you play. but commingled with work and play there should be lazy times, when one simply basks in the sun and vege- tates, and when mental and physical &C., tiyity are brought to stapdstill.
 A summer visitor on the Maine coast asked an old fisherman what he did with himself in the winter time. He replied: