<h2>THE SLUGGARD.</h2>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">'Tis the voice of the Sluggard: I heard him complain,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">'You have waked me too soon! I must slumber again!'<br/></span>
<span class="i0">As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Turn his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">'A little more sleep, and a little more slumber!'<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thus he wastes half his days and his hours without number;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And when he gets up he sits folding his hands,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Or walks about sauntering, or trifling he stands.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I pass'd by his garden, and saw the wild brier,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The thorn, and the thistle grow broader and higher;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And his money still wastes, till he starves or he begs.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I made him a visit, still hoping to find<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He had took better care for improving his mind:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He told me his dreams, talk'd of eating and drinking;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Said I then to my heart, 'Here's a lesson for me!<br/></span>
<span class="i0">That man's but a picture of what I might be;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Who have taught me by times to love working and reading!'<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="figcenter"> <SPAN name="p005-illus.jpg" id="p005-illus.jpg"></SPAN> <ANTIMG src="images/p005-illus.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="496" alt="Ants at work" title="" /></div>
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