r their rights. It is only the small boys who
occasionally defy such laws by robbing an orchard and putting to
shame their big, cowardly fathers.

When I consider what pleasure it gives me to lie abed in the mornings
at my own sweet will, I cannot help but feel pity for the great
majority who must needs rise to answer the demands of civilization.
Of course, I could not myself be so independent if I were not
contented with very little, and did not prefer freedom to fine
clothes and furniture and the luxuries of food.

We know very well that the one happy hour in the week for a man of
business is when he wakes on a Sabbath morn, or a holiday, at his
usual time to rise, and finds, O joy! that he is privileged to lie in
bed, a free and a happy man.

What a strange contrast there is between the man who lives in a
small house with just enough means, and no more, to keep him in idle
content, and the man who, to keep up a position, has a large house
with several servants, and worries himself night and day in business
to keep things standing! What a wise man is the former, and what a
poor fool is the latter! Position! What is it? It is to be pestered
by invitations to other people's houses, and to be worried again in
returning those invitations. How foolish is that business man, that
he does not sell out and retire to a small country cottage, with
his little income of a pound or twenty-five shillings a week, where
he could eat, sleep, and read in peace, and walk abroad admiring
Nature. Thousands of business men could do this, and would, if they
were wise enough to see what an empty thing position is.

There are not many men in this world who appreciate more than I do
that precious gift called sleep. When I wake in the morning and look
at my watch, it may be seven o'clock. Then I question myself--"Shall
I get up? If I do, what for? No, gentle Sleep, one more hour with
thee." Then I sleep again and wake the second time, and ask this
question again--"Shall I get up?" What with yawning and stretching
it usually takes a quarte