The Columbus commercial., 1908-05-17


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
81 don't see how that can be- spoke
up Sam Niles, goat-whiskered. squint-
eyed, and 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 .t, 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 it 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 il 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 in the valley. To make 'em
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, il 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 MiZ Eve could
have stood it little while longer, I'M
til the fall of the year, when the
leaves, changin' their color, brought
dbOuI d new IdSHtOils anu ljJdb WOuIu
have held her a while longer. But
Adam would have had something to
do if she had given him a leaf and
told him to so 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 / 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 I 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 1 can go lit
lie further and say that the happiest
teller l ever saw was an idiot. All he
had TO do was to jolt himself and he
was tickled mighty nigh to death. The
sight of a dog scratchin' of himSslf
was better to him than the keen joke
Of a wise man. But when l spoke of
he average man 1 meant the man
with a mind"
But one of the smartest men / ever
saw was lazy said Sam.
Yes, that may be fact, and some
If the plainest truths have been told
~ liar, but the liar amt the man
hat fills the world with truth. But I
still insist that I'm talkin' about the
average man, and l don't think the
Lverage man is lazy The brightest
minds have had the most beautiful
thoughts, enjoyed mebby by the few,
,ut 1t is the work of the average mind
hat has built up civilization. If every
mind had been as great as Shake
peare's, the world would have been a
vhirlwind of ideas, like light'nin' bugs
n swamp. and there wouldn't have
een anybody to stoop low enough to
ig food out of the ground. There | I
wouldn't have been anything to learn,
nd the universe would have been a ;
reat mental starvation There is
nore happiness in bein' able to enjoy
he wisdom of the wisest than to be
he wisest. Wisdom is sometimes a |
ort of savior. crucified for the bene-
t of mankind. A man at the top is q
title too lonesome, 1 should think, and
7e'd get mighty tired havin' to look
own all the time. In my blunderin
ray I've read some of the great books,
nd II don't seem to me that the
Triters of them were happy | can
nderstand that a new and surprisin'
bought shootin' through a mans mind
'ould thrill him to his marrow, but
fter great light there is always
arkness; after a great joy a CORE
pondin' sorrow. And no matter how
lany big words man may have he
aels things that he can't tell about.
n every drop of our blood there is q .
bought that can't be expressed