An Unhappy Exception

An Unhappy Exception.

The world is full of changes; there is nothing here abiding;
All things are evanescent, fleeting, transitory, gliding,
The earth, the sea, the sky, the stars — where’er the fancy ranges;
The tooth of time forever mars — all life is full of changes.

Like sands upon the ocean’s shore that are forever drifting,
So all the fading scenes of earth incessantly are shifting.
Change rules the mighty universe — there is no power can block it.
There’s change in everything, alas! except a fellow’s pocket.

– Nixon Waterman, in Chicago Journal.

Daily Republican (Decatur, Illinois) Apr 25, 1895

Employment

 

EMPLOYMENT.

Employment! employment!
Oh, that is enjoyment!
There’s nothing like “something to do;”
Good heart-occupation
Is health and salvation;
A secret that’s known to but few.

Ye listless and lazy!
Ye heavy and hazy!
Give hearts, hands, and feet full employment;
Your spirits twill cheer up,
Your foggy brains clear up,
And teach you the real enjoyment.

The lilies, they toil not,
They drudge not, and moil not,
And yet they are cared for, ’tis true;
But the lily, in beauty,
Fulfills its whole duty;
E’en lilies have something to do;

“They sow not, they spin not,”
‘Tis true, but they sin not;
They work, uncomplaining, God’s will;
Their work never hasting,
Their time never wasting,
The laws of their nature fulfill.

Ye hands white as lilies,
Remember God’s will is,
“Whoso doth not work shall not eat;”
‘Tis heart-occupation
Prevents heart-starvation;
Wouldst thou the great Lawgiver cheat!

Then up, man and woman!
Be godlike —- be human!
To self and to nature be true!
Employment! employment!
Oh, that is enjoyment!
There’s nothing like “something to do.”

Allen County Democrat (Lima, Ohio) Jul 19, 1856