PADUTCH-LIFE-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: 9-Happiness--Unsought & Uncalled
Date: Tue, 04 Aug 1998 19:30:53 -0400

HAPPINESS--UNSOUGHT AND UNCALLED

Coom hare amohl nuchber, un sitz on der dish.
De socha sin gons room ga-draid;
Ae helft fun da leit de fonga de fish--
De onera grawva es bait.

(Come here neighbor and sit by the table.
So many things are in a twist;
Half of the people catch the fish--
The other half dig for the bait.)

This little piece of poetry has a big meaning. One half of the world
does the fishing--the other half digs for the worms.

Have you ever considered how unjustly fate deals with humans?
Some people are born with silver spoons in their mouths. They live
in idleness from birth till death. Yet even they are not satisfied. We
have an example here at Rabbit Mountain. Sam Hetzel's nephew,
who was raised in Philadelphia, is as rich as a Jew. His income is
seven thousand dollars a year whether he works or not. The boy is
now twenty years old and has a good education, but he doesn't have
the good common sense that is earned from making your own way
through the world. He knows everything about style, is always
clean-dressed, wears a diamond on his tailor-made shirts. He
doesn't need to work for a living, and his biggest concern is keeping
himself busy. He has all the time in the world to go fishing, but he's
too stupid to bait a hook with a worm, and even if he could, he'd be
too lazy to walk to the creek. It's just that sort of person who has
plenty of time to spend fishing.

Next to him lives Sam his only cousin. He was raised in the country
and is as tough as a hickory knot. He is poor, and yet he built
himself a small house and is married with two children. He works in
the fields the whole day and comes home hungry and tired in the
evenings. He can eat a yard of fried sausage and twenty buckwheat
cakes at one sitting. His children crawl all over him like cats, and
whenever he finds some free time he takes off for the creek to catch
trout for his family. Returning from a fishing trip, his wife will stand
in the yard and ask whether he made a good catch. You can tell by
the expression on his face whether he caught anything long before
he even gets to answer. She'll praise him for a good catch, or
otherwise encourage him to do better the next time. A wife of that
kind brings more joy to a home than a million thousand dollars in
interest. And yet Sam wishes for his cousin's wealth every day, so
that he could spend all of his time fishing.

Let me tell you, you can't find happiness in this world by searching,
but you may find it where it's least expected. Those who are too
busy to hunt for happiness usually end up finding more of it than
others. If we could always go fishing it would become so common
that it could be eaten from a spoon. A man who has never felt
tiredness can never know what rest is. A man who has never felt
hunger can never know what it means to have an appetite. The
tramp who has spent a night sleeping under a haystack will find
more joy in a breakfast of buttered bread than would a rich man in a
thousand dollar banquet. The farmer spending a whole day walking
behind a plough will find better rest on a chaff mattress than would
a rich man on a golden bedstead. The man who finds himself on top
of the rat heap must claw to hold his place. The poor man,
regardless where he stands, can find a place to rest peacefully. He
has no position to lose, and when he dies he'll lay down to rest
without worrying of a will, because he won't leave enough behind
for his relatives to fight over.

One half of the world digs for worms--the other does the fishing.
To which would you belong? To that of the fisherman, of course.
So does everyone, and even in this remember that there is greater
joy in preparing to go fishing than in coming home with an empty
basket.

Moral: Happiness comes without asking and vanishes when sought
for.

* * *

Note: This collection of Boonastiel stories was written by H. A.
Harter in the original Penna-Dutch dialect and were published in the
Keystone Gazette, Bellefonte, PA, between 1894 and 1904. They
were translated and transcribed by Bob James of Alaska and they
are being posted to this PADUTCH-LIFE mailing list with his
permission.

This thread:

• 9-Happiness--Unsought & Uncalled by "Vee L. Housman" <>