Show KEEP AT WORK 0 occupation pupation Mu Pation and industry are so often recommended merely for the aate rial gains that they bring that their moral force is not always recognized as it should be yet occupation that brings no material reward and is by comparison with work the merest trifling may be if innocent in itself a moral force simply because it keeps the ind individual vid out of temptations and gives employment to mischief the Ther mind nind if not the body must be at work during idle id ie hours it is difficult to conceive of a period of inaction for the brain except during sleep or insensibility thoughts come unbidden they may be mischievous or merely idle but occupation supplants them with other thoughts relating to the work or play in which one is engaged or sars the mind to speculation or planning it is not possible even though it might appear to be desirable to keep men at work during all tb their air waking hours they must have rest and recreation and it i is during this period that they need some occupation cu harmless in itself to keep them out of mischief it is for these otherwise idle hours that good amusements should be provided books or papers to be read societies literary entertainments concerts concert s and theatrical performances of an improving kind to be attended in a great city many of these needs of humanity are furnished by business men to meet a want as real as that for food and clothing but there are many who have not the means to avail themselves of such occupation as is thus provided for idle hours and for such as these charitable people establish free libraries schools and other places for self im provement pro some of the working mens clubs and similar bodies go further than this and furnish gymnasiums and rooms for vari sous games recognizing that occupation for idle hours is the main thing and that it must be of a kind contrasting with the daily labor of the individual to be benefited the clerk may find amusement in manual labor or in violent exercise the mechanic who has had enough enough of both is better satisfied with a book or with a game that calls only for mental exertion all these different tastes and needs for an aa occupation that maybill may fill in idle hours are fairly met in a large city by the variety of entertainments provided by businessmen and philanthropists the one for gain the other for the good he may do humanity but it is fax far different in the smaller towns and villages where it does not pay to cater to such needs and where here is seldom wealth enough to furnish from its abundance free en or educational advantages for all such places however there is opportunity to do a good work by operative cooperative co at very little cost A literary society meeting in the schoolhouse or church furnishes occupation cu for the thoughts of members not merely during the few hours houra devoted to the meetings but for many mamy hours in preparation pa ration it may also furnish the foundation for a small circulating library of books or papers that will provide reading matter giving useful occupation for other spare hours from such beginnings in the course of time may developed a lecture bureau bringing to town or village occasional speakers from abroad all such enterprises undertaken in the right spirit have undoubted educational and moral virtue in the smaller corporative bodies work on the part of the members takes the place of money capital A lazy village may be transformed by such an institution the young men instead of idling away their hours of rest in useless or mise chievous gossip at the country store or the wheelwrights wheel wrights may hav their ambitions aroused be encouraged to read and study and thus be given occupation that will keep them out of mischief and promote their mental and moral welfare many of the great men of the country received their earliest impulses to study in societies of this kind the educational value of the exercises may have been limited but the readings the debates and other literary endeavors stimulated a desire to learn and established habits of study and industry bearing fo good od fruit in later years what form rm the efforts to provide occupation for idle hours should take depends very much upon the community to be reached it should be adapted to their wants as well as to their needs aiming at too much good may defeat the purpose if the occupation provided should be in the nature of drudgery for men who work hard during the day relaxation and amusement are needed these may be found in reali reading ug in literary exercises adapted to their understanding and games of various kinds but ut as the main purpose is to occupy their idle hours bours with exercises not injurious efforts toward their improvement should be limited to such things as will surely enlist their interest and engage their attention trusting to time and the influence of good habits for the future development of higher tastes and demands Ba Anore sun |