252 LITEKAET VALUES 



lage, so now he thought he ■would take his fill of it. 

 But it soon cloyed upon him. He had nothing to 

 do. Every night he would say with a sigh of relief, 

 " Well, another day is through," and each morning 

 wondered how he could endure the day. 



In every village up and down the older parts of 

 the country there are several such men ; every day 

 is a hurden to them hecause they have nothing to 

 do. They drift aimlessly up and down the street ; 

 they loiter in the post-office or lounge in the grocery 

 store or hotel bar-room, — no comfort to themselves 

 and no use to the world. With what longing they 

 must look upon the farmers that drive in to get a 

 horse shod or to do a little trading and then drive 

 briskly away ! How the vision of the farm, the 

 cattle, the sheep, the barn, the growing crops, the 

 early morning, the sowing, the planting, the harvest- 

 ing must haunt them ! Nothing to do ! When 

 they were driven and oppressed with work they had 

 thought. What pleasure to be free from all this, to 

 be at liberty to go and come as one likes, with no 

 cows to milk or chores to do ! Now they probably 

 have not a hen or a dog to comfort them. These 

 men do not live out more than half their latter 

 days. Nature has no use for them, and they soon 

 drop away ; whereas their neighbors who stick to 

 the farm and keep the currents going, reach a much 

 more advanced period of life. 



Rust and rot and mildew come to unused things. 

 An empty and deserted house, how quickly it goes 

 to decay ! and an unoccupied man, how is his guard 



