i; 2 The Life Worth Living 



as an occasional theatre, or a strain of music 

 in the depth of winter, the only time when 

 the real countryman would have the time to 

 leave his home, or the inclination to do so. 

 The rest of the year would be pretty fully 

 taken up. In my own case, it happens that, 

 unlike most men who have to look to the earn- 

 ings of the year for bread and butter, I can 

 throw all city work overboard when the spring 

 opens, and not set foot in town before the 

 snow flies. To most men, and to all busi- 

 ness men, such an arrangement is impossi- 

 ble ; the merchant cannot interrupt his work 

 for so long a time with any certainty that he 

 will be able to pick it up again ; the clerk in a 

 shop or a factory must be at his post all the 

 year around, or not at all; the lawyer has to 

 "keep track " of his clients' affairs, or he would 

 soon find himself without clients. The world's 

 machinery cannot stop, and the engineers must 

 be at their posts. There are very few occupa- 

 tions outside of certain departments of journal- 

 ism which can be taken up and thrown down 

 at will. The merchant, the clerk, the lawyer, 

 the doctor, must remain at their posts pretty 



