of reading "the best hundred books," you may take this up for half
an hour. It will be a change.
CONTENTS.
IDLE THOUGHTS OF AN IDLE FELLOW.
ON BEING IDLE
ON BEING IN LOVE
ON BEING IN THE BLUES
ON BEING HARD UP
ON VANITY AND VANITIES
ON GETTING ON IN THE WORLD
ON THE WEATHER
ON CATS AND DOGS
ON BEING SHY
ON BABIES
ON EATING AND DRINKING
ON FURNISHED APARTMENTS
ON DRESS AND DEPORTMENT
ON MEMORY
THE IDLE THOUGHTS OF AN IDLE FELLOW.
ON BEING IDLE.
Now, this is a subject on which I flatter myself I really am _au fait_.
The gentleman who, when I was young, bathed me at wisdom's font for nine
guineas a term--no extras--used to say he never knew a boy who could
do less work in more time; and I remember my poor grandmother once
incidentally observing, in the course of an instruction upon the use
of the Prayer-book, that it was highly improbable that I should ever do
much that I ought not to do, but that she felt convinced beyond a doubt
that I should leave undone pretty well everything that I ought to do.
I am afraid I have somewhat belied half the dear old lady's prophecy.
Heaven help me! I have done a good many things that I ought not to have
done, in spite of my laziness. But I have fully confirmed the accuracy
of her judgment so far as neglecting much that I ought not to have
neglected is concerned. Idling always has been my strong point. I take
no credit to myself in the matter--it is a gift. Few possess it. There
are plenty of lazy people and plenty of slow-coaches, but a genuine
idler is a rarity. He is not a man who slouches about with his hands in
his pockets. On the contrary, his most startling characteristic is that
he is always intensely busy.
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of
work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to
do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting
one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.
Many years ago, when I was a young man, I was taken very ill--I never
could see myself that much was the matter with me, except that I had
a beastly cold. But I suppose it was something very serious, for the
doctor said that I ought to have come to him a month before, and that
if it (whatever it was) had gone on for another week he would not have
answered for the consequences. It is an extraordinary
|