For when boys or soldiers or poets, or any other blossoms and prides of nature, are for lying steady in the shade and letting the Mind commune with its Immortal Comrades, up comes Authority busking about and eager as though it were a duty to force the said Mind to burrow and sweat in the matter of this very perishable world, its temporary habitation.
I never minded mowing the lawn when I was a kid. When I was big enough to handle pushing a lawn mower up and down the hills of our acre of lawn, my father paid me $2 for the lawn. It took me 4-5 hours. I was glad to have the opportunity to make some money.The previous year, in a practice run, my father paid me to mow the very flat lawn of a WWI vet who had been gassed in the war.(An Englishman, he ended up marrying his nurse.)
ReplyDeleteAt times, mowing the lawn is a blessing. One time when we were visiting our grandparents, a pair of elderly female relatives drove up to visit. My grandfather told everyone that I had to mow the lawn. As I didn't mind mowing the lawn, and had never considered the possibility of disobeying my grandfather, I merrily set about mowing. I later heard that the two relatives were insufferable bores, so my grandfather was doing me a big favor.