A PLEA FOR INDOLENCE. 



119 



riches consist as much in the things he 

 doesn't require as in the things he pos- 

 sesses. "Lord, how many things' are there 

 in this world of which Diogenes hath no 

 need?" cried the rare old Greek. To suc- 

 ceed is to obtain the object of our desire, 

 and as happiness is the thing to be desired 

 above all others, therefore happiness is 

 success ! "The man who would be truly 

 happy," said the wisest of the Athenians, 

 "should not study to enlarge his estate, 

 but to contract his desires." Why, may I 

 ask, should one wish to own great parks, 

 great libraries, great art galleries, when he 

 may enjoy these things without the trouble 

 or expense of getting and maintaining 

 them? And why should his own small 

 grounds, his modest library and his few 

 choice pictures appear mean to him merely 

 because they are not ten times more valu- 

 able or numerous. I like the philosophy of 

 quaint old Izaak Walton, the ideal dis- 

 ciple of indolence, who, without much of 

 this world's goods, extracted all the sweet- 

 ness out of life, and was — 



"Glad with the birds, and silent with the 



leaves, 

 And happy with the fair and blessed 

 world." 



Suffer me to quote him : "Nay, let me tell 

 you there be many that have 40 times our 

 estates, that would give the greatest part 

 of it to be healthful and cheerful like us, 

 who with the expense of little money have 

 eat and drunk and laught and angled and 

 sung and slept securely, and rose next day 



and cast away care and sung and laught 

 and angled again." 



Certainly he is unfortunate who in this 

 beautiful world can find no pleasure that 

 he does not have to buy, who would rather 

 die rich than live rich, who refuses to take 

 the good that lies ready at his hand, and 

 who makes the acquisition of wealth the 

 height of his ambition instead of an im- 

 portant adjunct to other and better pos- 

 sessions. 



Robert Louis Stevenson — peace to his 

 ashes — has well said that "perpetual devo- 

 tion to business is only to be sustained by 

 perpetual neglect of many other things, 

 and it is not by any means certain that 

 business is the most important thing he has 

 to do." The muscle that is never used 

 shrinks and withers, the plant that is not 

 watered fades and sheds its leaves ; the 

 faculty that is not exercised ceases at last 

 to perform its functions. The love of the 

 beautiful, the capacity for enjoyment, the 

 appreciation of the finer things of life grow 

 by what they feed on and may be starved 

 to death by neglect. Are thev not worth" 

 keeping alive? Shall we find no oppor- 

 tunity in this time-serving, train-catching, 

 watch-consulting existence to enjoy our 

 heritage and shall we mortgage all our 

 vitality and reserve force and pay mental 

 usury to the greedy god of business? Or, 

 shall we wisely elect to so arrange matters 

 that the hum of the tread-mill shall not 

 always be sounding in our ears ; that in the 

 desert of toil an occasional oasis shall ap- 

 pear and blessed Indolence be free to per- 

 form her gracious work? 



A TRAGEDY. 



I. — The Bonnet. 



A bit of foundation as big as your hand; 



Bows of ribbon and lace ; 

 Wire sufficient to make them stand ; 

 A handful of roses, a velvet band — 



It lacks but one crowning grace. 



II.— The Bird. 



A chirp, a twitter, a flash of wings, 



Four wide-open mouths in a nest ; 

 From morning till night she brings and 



brings 

 For growing birds — they are hungry 

 things — 

 Aye ! hungry things at the best. 



The crack of a gun, a charge well sped ; 



A crimson stain on the grass ; 

 Four hungry birds in a nest unfed — 

 Ah ! we leave the rest unsaid ; 



Some things it were better to pass. 



III.— The Wearer. 



The lady has surely a beautiful face, 



She has surely a queenly air; 

 The bonnet had flowers and ribbon and 



lace; 

 But the bird has added the crowning 

 grace — 

 It is really a charming affair. 



Is the love of a bonnet supreme over all, 



In a lady so faultlessly fair? 

 The Father takes heed when the sparrows 



fall, 

 He hears when the starving nestlings call — ■ 

 Can a tender woman not care? 



— Current Literature. 



