Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-02
Sunday Morning Talk.
The Blessedness of Being Idle

Twelve rules for the conduct of life.
This caption of an article caught my eye
the other day as l was running through
the papers 1t emanated from one of
those prudent persons who every now and
then arise to mark out the path of recti-
tude for their less enlightened fellow
men. AS am none too wise touching the
conduct of my life l started to read the
article Rule 1: Never be idle / read
no further 1t was pretty strenuous doc
trine for this time of year and indeed for
any season. never be idle" Would the
man have us run the machinery night and
day? Or would he have us fill every wax
ing hour with some useful occupation?
Rather let us sing the praises of idle
ness for a moment. We rate ehclency
and achievement so high. we so constant
ly eXhort our young people to be up anu
doing, we declare that it is absolutely
necessary to have a purpose In life ana 10
stick to it and we forget the great COM
Elementary truth that ought to be empha-
sized at the right time and in the rlght
way There is time for idleness. sheer
idleness for the putting aside of engross-
ing tasks and problems and even those
forms of physical recreation that keep
life tense and highly spiced. We need
to evacuate the mind now and then, to
let il lie absolutely quiet OF go wool
gathering
Some
voted themselves so assiduously to their
business profession that they have al
most lost the ability to be idle. They may
take vacation, but 1t must be spent
where there is a plenty of diversion. They
must have a merry-go-round or its equiv
alent or the spot where they are ceases
to be a pleasure resort and they flee In a
swift automobile to some place where
there is someing doing morning, afternoon
and evening Just to lie on the grass
branches at the scudding clouds or to
stretch out on the beach and watch the
distant sails come and 60 would be little
short of torture.
To others-and they are to be con-
gratulated-the chance to spend even one
day doing absolutely nothing is rich
privilege. A clever story in current
magazine describes the efforts of
quiet in her home during which the chill
dren the cook and the telephone would
have no claim upon her. The rest of the
family offered their cooperation. The
husband brought up the breakfast with
the children trooping after him. But
somehow the habit of resortng to moth
err had become so firmly established IN
that family that her long anticipated
and greatly needed quiet day turned
out complete failure. Then the
physician interviewed and packed her off
to the country for a period of complete
idleness.
Aside from physical benefit. the IN
tellectual and spiritual gains from this
utter relaxation are immense. Words
worth was right when he sang:
1--WE can feed these minds of ours with
wise passiveness.'
Had men been always busy and never
idle we should not now have great works
of art, masterpieces of literature. Such
achievements grow out of great thoughts
and these in turn are the product of a
certain amount of contemplation. of
brooding. While l was musine the fire
burned said the psalmist of old. The
vision comes to him who has the quiet
receptive mind. Down deep in your sub
consciousness are things which may
never emerge unless you will let your
mind lie falloW for a season. Idleness
often flashes light into these otherwise
dark chambers of the brain.
1t Is not the idleness of the idle that