Once upon a time, a long while ago, when such things could be, came
a young man of thirty-five years of age unto his friend, who was a
politician--Big Indian, and “High Up”--and the young man spoke unto
the Politician, saying: “Friend, for twenty years have I striven and
strove; I have cut hay; I have hewed wood; I have laboured in the
vineyard; I’ve made things with my hands, and schemed with my head; I
have gone up against many games and fought for the wherewithal to keep
a family and clothes upon my back. Now I am tired and would pass my
remaining days in peace. Therefore, I pray thee order it so that I may
have a Government Job and be happy.”
And the Politician questioned the young man and asked: “_Peace_? Did’st
say that thou wouldst have Peace?”
And the young man answered and said, “I wouldst.”
And the Politician said: “You know not what you ask. Peace never
accomplished anything, and is not for the active-minded. You do not
understand life if you desire Peace.”
But the young man harkened not to the Politician, but pressed his
request for a Government Job.
And it was so, even within a few months, the young man found himself a
Civil Servant with regular employment and a small, but regular, income.
And years rolled on, as usual, until the young man became nearly
elderly; yea, for twelve years he plugged and said unto himself: “Truly
this is not exciting or elevating, but it is the sure thing that my
heart craved, and I should be satisfied and happy.” But the wise know
that the “Should Bes” and the “Ises” do not balance; and the young man
woke up to the fact that at forty-seven years of age he was neither
satisfied nor happy, although he was willing to admit that he should be.
And it came to pass that as the young man sat in his office, working
for the King, by punching holes in documents, that they might be strung
on a file; on the twelfth anniversary of his conversation with his
friend, the Politician, a great light broke upon him, and he saw the
wisdom of the talk of the Politician. He looked about his office, and
peered backward over the past twelve years, and he saw that he had had
Peace in large bunches, and by the mile--yea, by the year and day--and
he found that it was not in his heart to feel glad with his peaceful
experience, and he reasoned with himself and said: “In a short fifteen
years I will be in the Has Been class. I will have whiskers in my ears
and my back will be humped and moss-grown. I’ll be a back number,
and be as a dead one; therefore, it behooveth me to get busy and do
something worth while lest I get mental dry rot and be as a beast of
the field. Peace I desired, and now that I have found it, it satisfieth
me not, but is a burden and ashes in the mouth.” And thereupon he arose
and got out and went against the world amidst those who were in the
great struggle. And the world smote him and threw him down and swat
him, hip and thigh, right and left; but he became patient and wary, and
he husbanded his strength and sparred for an opening and kept cool;
and, behold, in a little while came an opportunity unto him, and he up
and grasped it and made it his, and he played the game so that others
were ’ware of him, and the world bowed down to him, even to his feet,
and when it came to pass that he was gathered to his fathers, all his
children called his name blessed. See?
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