If I rest,I rust

 The signnificant inscrīption found on an old key—“if I rest,I rust”—would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest taint of idleness.Even the industrious to rest,like the iron in the unused kkey,they will soon show signs of rust,and,ultimately,cann’o do the work required of them.

  Those who would atttain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use,so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge,the gates that guard the enteances to the professions,to science,art,;iterature,agriculture,--every department of human endeavor.

  Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement.If Hugh Miller,after toiling all day in a quarry,had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation he would never have become a famous geologist.The celebrated mathematician,Edmund Stone,would never have published a mathematical dictionary,never have found the key to science of mathematics,if he had given his spare moments to idleness.Had the little Scotch lad,Ferguson,allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside,instead of caculating the position of the stars by a string of beads,he would never have become a famous astronomer.

  Labor vanquished all,--not inconstant,spasmodic,or ill-directed labor,but faithful,unremitting,daily effort toward a well-directed purpose.Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.

  “Seice,then,the minutes as they pass;

  The woof of life is thought!

  Warm up the colors;let them glow

  With fire of fancy fraught.”