Free press., 1908-04-25

"The majority of men that know
look forward to the time when they
. are not to take any pleasure in this
life said old Linn Jucklin, and his
neighbors who were standing about
the horse block whereon the old man
had just taken his seat looked at him
in astonishment
Il don't see how that can be-" spoke
up Sam Niles, goat-whiskered, squint-
eyed, and a liar on most occasions.
but like most liars, the inheritor of a
sort of engaging wisdom
Old Linn cleared his throat And
the reason you can't see it, Sammy, is
because you are morally blind The
average man looks Forward to the
time when he won't have TO work. and
when this time comes he almost al
ways finds that for him there is no
more enjoyment. Next to the enjoy
ment of work itself, we get the most
pleasure out of rest and
"And when we rest we are enjoyin'
ourselves Sam broke in.
Old Lin nodded. "Yes, but when
we haven't worked we can't rest. for
rest means the luther side of bein'
tired. After climbin' hard to reach the
top of the hill we take a long breath
and ii is as sweet as spring water,
and the reason it seems so deep and
fetchin' is because the breaths comm
up the hill were short. But if we set
down on the top of the hill and stay
there the breaths amt so sweet After
a while they get to be like the breaths
down q To 'ay,o
sweet you've got To climb for 'em. In
this life all the way through it is al
most impossible to get any real good
out of a thing you don't work for
That's the reason the gamblers money
don't amount to anything. 1t hasn't
any sweat value. And even if he
hadn't done anything to cause him to
be driven out, Adam couldn't have
stayed much longer in the Garden of
Eden. He never had worked, it is
true, and he didn't know what it was,
but the fact that he had nothin' to do
had, accordin' to my notion, begun to
make him wish that Sunday was over
with l reckon old AIiz Eve could
have stood it little while longer, un-
til the fall of the year, when the
leaves, chanSin their color, brought
about a new fashion, and that would
have held her a while longer. But
Adam would have had something to.
do if she had given him leaf and
told him to go out and match it for
her. Every leaf in the garden might
have been green, all of an exact shade,
but If Adam had tried to match one it
would have changed color like one of
these here lizards they fetch from
Florida. And l lay you the sweetest
meal he ever eat in his life was the
first bread he earned by the sweat of
his brow. 1t has been writ that man
was made to mourn, but I've noticed
that he don't mourn so much when he
is at work. He starts out loOkin' for
a place where he can ease his mind.
He never finds it, but when at work
he seems to feel that he is gettin'
there"
But the happiest man 1 ever saw
was the LATEST said Sam, and the
old-timers looked at one another and
smiled, for no matter in what rev
erence a country oracle is held the in
grained envy OF his neighbors ap-
plaud the threat of his overthrow.
I'm not here to deny truths, but to
bring 'em out" replied the old man.
i've known lazy men that appeared
to enjoy themselves simply because
they want at work, and can go a lit
tie further and say that the happiest
feller ever saw was an idiot. All he