My Wife's Cousin

Some time figo I called upon a cousin of my wife, who resided in the city of ['hiladelphia, I had not .pen him 'for a ong timo, but havicg understood tliat he was n afflucnt circumstances, I was but ittle prcpared for the eondition in whieh I found him. Through information derived fi-om a Philadeiphia directory. I went to one of those illeys with which thát cily abounds, and found Iris name n a sign board, assoeiated with that of another man, over a dark and dingy shop. The sign purported that they were loclcfmitlis and bell hangers; also that locks were repaired and keys íittted. Without eeremony 1 walkcd into the gloomy recess, where there was a blacksmith's :'orge, and where amongseveral muscularíoeking men up to tbeir arm pits in work, was "iny wi'e's couiin." He received me fcost cordially, and for a moment intertuit ed filing a huge brass key on which he was engaged, and the shake of my own dexter hy one of his broad, brawny hauds 1 can Hken to nothing nearer than tlic shock of a young eartbquako. "Take a seat, fake a Seat," he observed "and jftBt as soon as I fiuish this key, we wül inake tracks fur home " As soon as it was cotnpk-ted ho wash ed the worst of the dirt tïom bis haiids, liiiMgup his worfe aproii, and putting on his hat and co;tt, said in a clieerful tone, 'Come now, cousin Aleok, let's go and see whether wife has got any tea for us." Af'ter we were in the stroet our con versation inscusibly ran on business, and I took occasion to say to Ijiin that I had been of the opinión that he liad retired from his tradu on a haulsome competeucy. 1 Don't say a word about rctirement," he rep'iea ; "it nearly makes me sick to think about it. People talk of retiring, from business whiie thej are healthy and abletowork; why, I teil you, Aleck they dou't knovv wbat it meaus. I did not know what it meant until 1 tried it, but now retiremeut and misery sound to my ears Jike words of the sanie ineaning. "You see, Aleck, it is about three years ago that having, as you would say, a competuncy. I made up my mind to stop work acd mee into the country. - So I sold my share of the business to my partner, spent a year or more looking at two or three score of country places, and at last found one that my wife and myself were considerably pleased with. "For two or tbree months matters and things went on very well, bccause I had something to attend to in making a few little improvemenls about the house, and in furnishing a uumber of the doors with locks of my own invention ; but as the entire premises were in excellent repair wheu I bought them, I soou carne to a point where there was to look after but the cultivation of the garden. I was notloDg, though, in making the discovery ihat I had no genius or taste either for digging around roots or pu'ling up weeds ; and so. as wife didn't wish the garden toiun to waste, I empioyed aregular English gardnerto carry the thing regularly through. "Wcll, 1 didn't niiud the expense he put me to, but somehow I feit out -of my gearing in not Laving the right kind of employment. Wife did her best to coax me iuto gentlemanly ways; had the old mechanical grime all thoroughly scrubbed out of my hands - finger-nails clean ed out and rounded - so as to make it appear thal I had never done any manu al lubor. "Then we must get behind a eouple o; Morgan ponies which I had purchased and wake fashionable calis in the day time on those who had called on us ; aut wife wanted me to soften down my voice and to be particular about grammar anc the subjects I talk.ed on ; but sometime forgetting mygelf. I would revel in the proud lemóry of the loeks aud keys i liad handled in happier days, and com menee a history of iny exploits in tha line, when niy wife would look as thougl she was agoing to sink llirough the floor In fact she wished to keep a perpetua loek on my lipa so far as our antecedent were concenred, with the key iu he pocket. JJut I sighed for the shop, and time hung tso heavily on my hands, that. an hourspent in stupid listlessness abuut the house seemed lorger to me tha a day did, wheu I had orders ahead for {.ooks, and was driving hard to got them done at a giveu timo. 'My youngt'fet brotber who is a college bred nuin and a lawyer, gent me, at iny rerjuest, a fine cojjection of books on all imaginable subjects, so tliat my library oútslione that of the parson, or indeed any other man in that vicinity ; but I füund I haU no more tis'e to sit down and read than I had for triniming eurraqt bushes. The time was, after I had finisliecl a hard duy's labor at the shop, when au 1 o'ir at books was a real solace, and I also believéd' an occasion of improvement. Then I envied those whose leisure allowed them to feast on books perpetual!} ; but the mistake I made was in failing to discriruraate between the mental habitsand requiréments of the professed student aud those of the working man. " In this wretched manner did tïine at my country seat drag heavily along.- Visiting was a perfect bore, for not feeling the slightest interest in sucb masculine topics as corn, grubs and manure, and c:iring. l.ess for the feminine one of dress and local gossip, I didn't know what to talk about. liooks set me to sleep, and not hnving the society of my two boys, who were away to school, I became fully satisfied that ' nothing to do' was et[ual to having everything to suffer. My most delightful place o( resnrt was a blacksmith's shop, some two miles from the house, vrliere occasionally I would handle the hammer and clang a liltle on tho anvil, but wife niaking the discovery one day that my hands were getting grimy agaiu, I was obliged to own up the causo of ie, and this, to my sorrow, was sueoeeded by a positivo prohibition on her part from my taking any further exercise at the fcrge. After this, whcn I would ride past the shop behind my prar.cing Morgan horsen, the tears would start in my eyes at my being dobarred the only employment whioli was in the least adopted' to my taste or eapacity. " Kut, Cousin Áleck, to shorten my story, wife perceiving that my unhappiness was inereasing, at last consented to move back to town, and let me resume my business. I had no difficulty in renewing an arrangement with my old partner, henee here you soe me hard at work and happier than the President. I am perfectly able, in a pecuniary point of view, to live without work, but I have learned to my satisfaction two important truths : First, tliat we never enjoy ourselves so well as when wo ire usefully einp'oycd ; and second, that there is no ocoupation, on tho whole, for whieh we are so well fitted as to when we have beeu long accustomed, and which Ins henee becomo to us, as it were, a second nature." I wns much pleased with the good sense of " my wife's cousin." As evinced in the small seetion of his autobiography which lie had given me, and very snon after he had finished it we reached his dwelliiig. If his shop was dingy, Ihere waa no disguise hore. livervthiiig , was in perfect order, and altliougli the loeksmith's wife w;is somewiiat uppish in her notiona, I soon pereeived she was a capital house keeper, and that my friend ' was proud of his two sons who liad come i from boarding-school to spend the , tion. 1 füund t li a t these lads were quite intelligent, at d that they we: e both ! ded for the learned professions. While one of them entertained nie witb. some music on a pailor organ, the Morthy inith begged me excuse him for a few nioments, after which he appeared in a lerfectly clean linón and a suit of daiuty )lack. We supped at a table spread with the utmost profusión, and in the vening, some company coming in, conersation and music filled up the jassing hour. I was deeply interested, nd concluded that " my wife's cousïn," he bell-hanger and locksmith, was awise man, and that unwittingly he had discovered the true philosopher's stone. - Daily work was as necessary to him as his daily bread, and the toil of the shop only served to euhance the leisure and recrealion of a ren'ned and happy home. On taking leave, I realized that I had been taught a valuable lesson : Employment is the healthful lot of life, and he who would seek happiness in a state of perpetual reposo betrays a profound igcorance of the beueficial laws which goveru his being.