Life must needs be disgusting alike to
the idle rich man as to the idle poor man, who has no work to do,
or, having work, will not do it. The words found tattooed on the
right arm of a sentimental beggar of forty, undergoing his eighth
imprisonment in the gaol of Bourges in France, might be adopted as
the motto of all idlers: "LE PASSE M'A TROMPE; LE PRESENT ME
TOURMENTE; L'AVENIR M'EPOUVANTE;"--(The past has deceived me; the
present torments me; the future terrifies me)
The duty of industry applies to all classes and conditions of
society. All have their work to do in the irrespective conditions
of life--the rich as well as the poor. (7) The gentleman by
birth and education, however richly he may be endowed with worldly
possessions, cannot but feel that he is in duty bound to
contribute his quota of endeavour towards the general wellbeing in
which he shares. He cannot be satisfied with being fed, clad, and
maintained by the labour of others, without making some suitable
return to the society that upholds him. An honest highminded man
would revolt at the idea of sitting down to and enjoying a feast,
and then going away without paying his share of the reckoning. To
be idle and useless is neither an honour nor a privilege; and
though persons of small natures may be content merely to consume--
FRUGES CONSUMERE NATI--men of average endowment, of manly
aspirations, and of honest purpose, will feel such a condition to
be incompatible with real honour and true dignity.
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