INDOLENCE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 38, 20 September 1890, Page 18

INDOLENCE.

T r is reported that Napoleon once ordered his private secretary to leave all letters unopened for three weeks. At the expiration of the time he observed, with satisfaction, that a larire number of the letters had so disposed of them selves as not to require an answer. This example, if Napoleon ever set it, is a very unsafe one to imitate, as the following anecdote, told in Hainerton's Htrmoii hitercoitrxc, illustrates. A French artist exhibited a picture at the Salon. He waited in Paris till after the opening of the exhibition and then went down into the country. On the day of his depart me he received letters from two different collectors, expressing a wish to purchase his work, and asking its price. Instead of staying in town and answering both letters at once, the artist, whose indolence made the writing of a letter of business an irksome task, left the inquiries unanswered. ‘ If the men had really wanted my picture,’ he said to himself, ‘ they would have called to see me.’ He never sold the picture, ami subsequently his lack of promptitude in business affairs forced him to give up his profession.