152 YACHTING ON THE ST. JOHNS. 



comfortably, and with a wide, lazy wake spreading far 

 behind on the golden river, we laid back in our scats, 

 and determined to abandon Northern haste, and learn 

 laziness in earnest in fact, to do nothing as hard as 

 possible. And the lesson was yery easy. The slow- 

 drifting clouds, the currentless river, the gentle wind, 

 and all about was peaceful and free from suggestion of 

 haste ; and coming fresh from driven clouds and hurry 

 ing storms, it was enough to take in sunshine and re 

 pose, leaving for another time action and progress. 



All that surrounds one at the South is suggestive of, 

 and in unison with, rest ; and nothing is more grateful. 

 At the North it is not so ; energy and haste seem the 

 spirit of animate and inanimate life. The wind blusters 

 and frets in an eager way, while the clouds drive on as 

 if their haven was not yet found. The surf on the 

 rocky shores is not the low, long tone of the strand ; it 

 essays the conquest and crumbling of the rock-bound 

 coasts, while the streams hasten on their way to the sea, 

 cutting corners like messengers, and turning a whirl here 

 and there with an expression of relief at getting away 

 from a temporary delay in the quiet pond. And are we 

 not too much the same ? Do not Northern men wear 

 away in efforts to save time, and never command leisure ? 

 Are not brains mazed by efforts to save and systematize 

 that only increase complexity ? Do not our women 

 assume care to preserve and protect their beautifully fur 

 nished homes, until their chairs and fragile china out 

 last their weary lives ? Can minds always engrossed 

 really see what is laid broadcast of beauty and interest any 

 more than rufilcd waters can reflect the sky or beautiful 

 shores ; and does not our laboriously assumed discipline 

 of habit finally become a power that cannot be shaken 



