Saw Wood.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XIII, Issue 6, 1 December 1922, Page 429

Saw Wood.

(By Dr. 1 Frank "Crane)'. y

-American slang has a most expressive term — "Saw wood." It means, keep right on. The idea is that, while the uncertainty lasts, while the probleria is still unsolved, while nobody kridws the outcoriie, you go on with your job. Keep the wheels turning, the goods moving, the business stirring, the store open arid the work going on. Then, whaitever happens, il y a toujours cela, as the French say, or at least that's that, as the English put. it. Most thirigs rectify themselves if you don't get panicky and quit. It always stops raining, said J. ; P* Morgan. Most diseases disappear of you can manage to forget them. If your enemies are after you and the air is dark with threats, if -the

clairiour .-' of tongues assails you, arid if the grey wolyes are howling m the •v^O^S~Say'riotihirig' , arid' saw wood. |f ..you. are unappreciated and tend . to' r cliscouragemerit and life' altogether - lppkjg,. bleak— go ahead and saw wood. Things : will take. a turrii ...... '„. ' „,.. . n^S aUji&ve,jQ^r.i^sk§"'lhaiiks be ! IT.f ■v^^'adn't understand arid can't see ajijd, $$c; buffeted by fear's and flirm.es, af jeast'we can go ahead with, our • W&E'' That's tnat. At the fea«»ajjre- ©#- laf e we. are employed by "the 3ay, not by the job. We have so . j^iiyllbrhslcs'-to lay, so many shingles to nail or so many feet of ditch to dig/""" As for ••how it's all coming out, whcM&nows?; ■'■-'- -: • -• . "-:' Meanwhile let" us saw wood. - Blessed be"a*6utine !.*■ • Sometimes; v/e c&mplain'of 'it, *We curse the daily gbindv But;' take -people- by and large, it' is they'- who 'have soine- imperative thing tP-ido;' Jsome exacting rdetail, that^keeli sanesti^ ; - ■-■ • - r"-At lfeastHhey who work eight hours a day are noij'iboTedy usually. And it is'thOse whe^ do- mot- know - what they are to .dO-n^x-t^-Or have •:. to do-"at'4lly'^h6s'get-intoinisehief. •■-.. . Only the idlers are world-weary. " : Recreation is :/j>'ood, but only as a fringe^ 'corollary* ; arid appendix of work. Nothing but play drives' a maiv.tp gaol.. The sun is an old routiner. Every inor^ig he: gets. up, and every ev'cn-

ing he r goes to bed. ' He's been 1 at it lo! these many years. Yet every morning is fresh and dewy and every evening is new.. The oldest things are freshest. . Men change their clocks, they sleep late or rise early, and they dispute about the zodiac, but the sun goes on sawing wood. Do your daily work, attend to your job, go on with your programme, and so line yourself up: with the steady forces of" the universe. Only by .sawing t wood will we get our national debts paid^ and bringback prosperity, and achieve success, and outlive • scandal, and establish a imputation. - What you dp every day is granite beneath your feet. Routine makes power. Saw wood !