The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-03-02
SEES JOY IN WORK
WORLD SEEMS 70 HAVE mo
PLACE FOR THE iDLER.
No Real Joy In Life Of Ease Without
Labor, Says Man Who Has Given
the Matter Thorough
Trial.


after all," snid a man who some
time ago had a fortune left to him,
there's nothing like work.
Il used to think that IL ! had
money enough to live on comfortably,
so that | didn't have to work, should
be happy. My work was one incessant
grind. day after day the same un.
ending round of the same things over
and over again, and | used to get so
tired of IL all that sometimes IL seem.
ed as though should fly.
But ! had to keep at 1t 20 live. and
so did keep at II till q distant rela.
tive of mine that ] had never known
was worth anything died and left me
q fortune.
There never was anything that
over happened to me that ever gave
me half so much pleasure as that.
The first thing | did was to shake the
work which | got rid of as quickly az
] decently could, and then | set about
planning enjoyment.
THE one thing Of all that wanted
most was travel craved change,
thN NhNu tiitiI llIbuty tliS'-s EOl IL. U
set ont on my dreamed Of travels,
and found keen delight In them all
for a time.
1T was all the same TO me whether
it rained or the sun shone, for wher
ever ! was or wherever ! was going
was free to enjoy II all, and ! did
for time, but then | began to flnd
myself in way apart, and not Sc
much privileged TO enjoy these things
rs | had been at first.
For | was an idler pure and sim
pie, while all those to whom ! was
indebted for the possibility OF the
pleasures of travel, the railroad men
and the steamship men, were all
workers, as were also the hotel men
and the theater people and every
body to whom ] was indebted for
pleasures in sojourn, all workers. Sc
likewise were all or nearly all tho
travellers ] met workers In one field
or another all, and finding delight In
every breath they drew because they
were workers
And they were drawn, IL not to.
SNN"N'' "e iNISI tONdlu VIC
OF their Kind. while |. an idler only,
had nothing in common with the
world Even in the far distant ports
where ] leaned over the rail / found
myself more and more separated from
the laborcr on the wharf who. bound
though ne might be To his work, yet
had an object in life, which he nc.
compllshed by labor, while was a
mere part.
: I'm facothe more / idled the more
clearly came TO realize that the law
OF the universe is labor, that In nature
there is nothing idle, and the more
! travelled the more clearly II came 10
me how few real idlers there are
among men. When finally at the
end of three years Of idling had
come back again to the city had
this fact borne in upon me with
greater intensity than ever and now
the great Joy that / had found at
first in sheer loanng was quite de-
parted.
THE city was alive with activity.
with men all at work, all doing some
thing, all accomplishing something,
and was ont of IT, an idler and--a
stranger. Actually men looked at
me as a strange being. and some of
them with curiosity. That should
be doing nothing when there was q
chance, they wondered.
Friends that | had known greet.
cd me and smiled and then---passed
on. They Lad their work to do, and
their interests and their sympathies
were with o,her people. So stood
alone, as orc set Off, until. by a
Kind OF Providence, there arose with.
N me a desire to work.
I've been at 1t ever since, and I
am at 1t still, grateful to be back In
the fold OF mep."