A stranger once went to a small inland town in the Ozarks to look over the country.
As he left the little hotel in the morning for his day's wandering among the hills,
he noticed several men sitting comfortably in the shade of the "gallery"
gazing out into the street.
(Mid-20th Century)
Image courtesy/Pinterest
When the stranger returned late in the afternoon, the "gallery" was still occupied
by the same men looking as though they had not stirred from their places since
he left them there in the early morning. This happened for three days and then
as the stranger was coming in from his day's jaunt in the evening, he stopped
and spoke to one of the men.
"Say," he asked. "how do you fellows pass the time here all day? What do
you do to amuse yourselves?"
A man emptied his mouth of its accumulation of tobacco juice and replied
in a lazy drawl, "Oh, we jest set-and think-and-sometimes-we-jest-set."
I have laughed many times over this story, which I know to be true,
with never a thought except for the humor of the tale beyond the
hackneyed ones on the value of wasted time-the vice of idleness.
We are told continually by everyone interested in our welfare or in
"making the wheels go round" how to employ our spare moments to
the best advantage, until, if we followed their advice, there would
be no spare moments. It is rank heresy, I know, to detract from these
precepts, but lately I have been wondering whether perhaps it is not
as great a fault to be too energetic as it is to be too idle.
Perhaps it would be better all around if we were to "jest set and think"
a little more or even sometimes "jest set".
Vices are simply overworked virtues anyway. Economy and frugality
are to be commended, but follow them on in an increasing ratio and what
do we find at the other end? A miser! If we overdo the using of spare moments,
we may find an invalid at the end, while perhaps, if we allowed ourselves more idle
time, we would conserve our nervous strength and health to more than the value
of the work we could accomplish by emulating at all times the little busy bee.
I once knew a woman, not very strong, who, to the wonder of her friends,
went through a time of extraordinary hard work without any ill effects.
I asked her for her secret, and she told me that she was able to keep her
health, under the strain, because she took twenty minutes of each day in
which to absolutely relax both mind and body.
She did not even "set and think". She lay at full length, every muscle and
nerve relaxed, and her mind as quiet as her body. This always relieved
the strain and renewed her strength.
I spent a delightful day not long ago, visiting in a home where there are
several children and the little mother not over strong. She is doing nothing to
add to the family income, has no special work of her own to earn some pin money,
but the way she has that little family organized would be a lesson in efficiency
to many a businessman. The training she is giving the children, and the work
she is doing in preparing them to meet the problems of life and become
self-supporting, self-respecting citizens could not be paid for in money.
(1916)
Image courtesy/Period Paper Historic Art LLC
The children all help and the work for the day goes forward with no confusion.
There is nothing left undone because one person thought another was to do it.
There are no whines such as "I did that yesterday; let sister or (brother) do it this time."
Each child has a particular part of the work to do. Each knows what his work is
and that he is responsible for that work being done as it should be.
One of the girls does the upstairs work; another has the care of the parlor,
dining room, and library`. The two smaller girls must keep their playthings
in order and not leave their belongings scattered around the house. The
mother does the cooking and the washing of the dishes. The places of each
are changed from time to time that there may be no unfairness and that
each may learn to do the different kinds if work.
One boy keeps water in the house, milks the cow, and keeps the motor
car clean. Another boy brings in the wood and runs errands. Each receives
for the work done a few cents a week, and this is their spending money to
do with as they please.
When it is spent, there is no teasing for a few cents to spend for this and that.
They know the amount of their income and plan and spend accordingly. In
this way they are learning the value of money: to work for what they want
instead of begging for it and to live within their income.
If their work is not well done, a fine of a few cents is a better punishment
than a scolding or a whipping, leaving both parties with their self respect
uninjured while the child can see the punishment fits the crime.
"Train up a child in the way he or she should go, and when
they are old they will not depart from it."
(Proverbs 22:6)
"I don't know what to do with Edith," said a mother to me. "I've no idea
where she learned it, but she is a regular little liar. I can't depend on a
thing she says."
Edith was a very bright, attractive child about three years old. Just then
she started to go into another room. "Oh! Don't go in there!" her mother
exclaimed. "It's dark in there and there is a big dog behind the door."
The child opened the door a crack, peeped around it, smiled a knowing
smile, and went on in. Evidently, she knew her mother and that she "could
not depend on a thing she said", that she was "a regular little-"
Sounds ugly doesn't it? Perhaps I'd better not quote it at all, but where do
you suppose Edith learned to be untruthful?
When I went to San Francisco last summer I left the Man of the Place and
his hired men to "batch it". There were no women relatives near, no near
neighbors with whom they could board, and of course, it was out of the
question to hire a girl to stay with two lone men.
I was sorry for them, but our only child lives in San Francisco, and I had
not seen her for four years. Besides, there was the fair (the San Francisco
Exhibition) so I left them and went.
Now the Man of the Place says, "If any man thinks housekeeping is easy work
and not all a woman ought to do, just let him roll up his sleeves and tackle the job."
More than any other business, that of farming depends upon the home, and it is
almost impossible for any farmer to succeed without the help of the house. In
the country the home is still depended upon to furnish bed and board and the
comforts of life. It is a good idea sometimes to think of the importance and
dignity of our everyday duties. It keeps them from being so tiresome;
besides, others are apt to take us at our own valuation.
"Does It Pay To Be Idle?"
(February 1916)
Laura Ingalls Wilder
(February 7,1867- February 10, 1957)
Prolific American writer
Author of the "Little House" series of books
Essay taken from "Little House In The Ozarks
A Laura Ingalls Wilder Sampler
The Rediscovered Writings"
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Edited by Stephen W. Hines
(1991) Guideposts Edition
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