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MICHIGAN FOOD & BEES BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
Supposing you killed one. A hundred others rushed on over the dead body of their fallen comrade to avenge his death. So small a thing to create so much trouble and misery! How often, in the evening, after the smudge had been made, would we sit and fight these little tormentors, till tired, victimized and
"Weary of life, we would fly to our couch, And fling it away in battle with these Turks. "
THE FROLICS OF FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.
BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN. SOME OF THE SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
Labor is the price we pay for whatever is good in this life. The only true luxury we have is that which is produced by the result of needful toil. And that class who are endeavoring to find true pleasure and happiness in this world without labor, are following a will-o-the-wisp that will cheat them at last. Labor regulates life, promotes health, secures happiness, makes men honest and virtuous and keep them so. The thefts, crimes, and villainies of life are committed mostly by men who avoid work. All men labored in our new; settlements in Calhoun county. Hence we had so few bad men. The rule was, those who came here must work to support themselves. Few could, and none wished to, support any one in idleness.
The first real cheat was the man who shirked labor, for as he did not work for a living, he must needs get it by stealing the products of somebody else's labor. There is no truer saying in our language than that, "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do. " And our language contains no truer saying than the converse of this—-"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. "
Michigan
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