Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCXVII
Fab. CCXVII.
An Ant and a Grasshopper.
AS the Ants were Airing their Provisions One Winter, Up comes a Hungry Grasshopper to 'em, and begs a Charity. They told him that he should have Wrought in Summer, if he would not have Wanted in Winter. Well says the Grasshopper, but I was not Idle neither; for I Sung out the Whole Season. Nay then, said they, You shall e'en do Well to make a Merry Year on't, and Dance in Winter to the Tune that You Sung in Summer.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
HERE's a Reproof to Men of Sensuality, and Pleasure. The Moral Preaches Industry, and Beats down Sloth, and Shews that Alter-wit is Nothing Worth. It must be an Industrious Youth that provides against the Inconveniencies, and Necessities of Old Age; And He that Fools away the One, must either Beg or Starve in the Other. Go to the Ant thou Sluggard; (says the Wise-man) which in Few Words Summs up the Moral of This Fable. 'Tis Hard to say of Laziness, or Luxury, whether it be the more Scandalous, or the more Dangerous Evil. The very Soul of the Slothful, does Effectually but lie Drowzing in his Body, and the Whole Man is Totally given up to his Senses: Whereas the Profit and the Comfort of Industry, 1s Substantial, Firm, and Lasting; The Blessings of Security and Plenty go along with it, and it is never out of Season. What's the Grasshoppers Entertaimment now, but a Summers Song? A Vain. and an Empty Pleasure? Let it be Understood however, that we are not to Pass Avarice upon the World under the Title of Good Husbandry, and Thrift: and under That Cover to Extinguish Charity by not Distributing the Fruits of it. We are in the First Place, to Consult our Own Necessities, but we are Then to Consider in the Second Place, that the Necessities of our Neighbours have a Christian Right to a Part of what we have to Spare. For the Common Offices of Humanity, are as much Duties of Self-Preservation, as what Every Individual Contributes to it's Own Well-Being. It is in short, the Great Interest and Obligation of Particulars, to Advance the Good of the Community.
The Stress of This Moral lies upon the Preference of Honest Labour to Idleness; and the Refusal of Relief on the One Hand, is intended only for a Reproof to the Inconsiderate Loss of Opportunity on the Other. This does not Hinder yet, but that the Ants, out of their Abundance, ought to have Reliev'd the Grasshopper in her Distress, though ‘twas her Own Fault that brought her to't: For if One Man's Faults could Discharge Another Man of his Duty,there would be no longer any Place left for the Common Offices of Society. To Conclude, We have our Failings, Every Mothers Child of us, and the Improvidence of my Neighbour must not make Me Inhumane. The Ant did well to Reprove the Grasshopper for her Slothfulness; but she did Ill then to refuse her a Charity in her Distress.