...laziness

On November 19, 1856, The New York Times ran a story on a man named Thomas Burns, who was semi-buried as a punishment for laziness. Burns was a prisoner at a penitentiary in New York City and was expected to work in the quarry. The article reports that Burns’ consistent refusal to work at anything but a snail’s pace so irritated the quarry-master that Burns was buried up to six inches above his knees and then left there for two days!

According to the deputy warden, Burns was so lazy that he had “tired out” the superintendents of all the prison work departments. It was reported that Burns seemed to enjoy the irritation of his supervisors, appeared in good health, and was quite active when it was mealtime. 

Burns himself admitted that he felt the world “owed him” food and lodging and that the only thing he owed in return was to wear the prison’s “striped pantaloons.” He’d been in and out of prison several times—his repeated crime was “vagrancy” or wandering idly. The article made no mention of whether the punishment had any effect on his work ethic.

As harsh and unconventional as this punishment might sound to our ears today, Solomon seems to understand the feeling of Burns’ supervisors: “As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, So is the lazy man to those who send him” Proverbs 10:26. Proverbs even predicted Burns’ situation: “The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor” Proverbs 12:24. 

Solomon presents to us the alternative to laziness—diligence. He says that those who are diligent in their work “shall have enough … for the food of [their] household” Proverbs 27:27. 

How much better it is to be considered one of the diligent than one of the slothful! 

"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.

For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?" Proverbs 27:23,4

-doug batchelor