Grass Valley telegraph., 1854-03-09
No TIME TO READ.-How often do we hear

No TIME TO READ.-HOW often 90 we near
tho remark-I am fond of rea10lne, Il would
like to read. but my businesa IS such that |
cannot possibly find the time.7 This is un-
doubtedly delusion of the brain-iti is mis-
conception of facts there is no man in the
endowment of health, who cannot set apart
some portions of the day for the Improvement
of his mind. You may ask how this is? and
we will answer. How many moments do you
spend in useless conversation. or even in an
iniurious and useless mood of dreamy contem-
plation? 1t is true that your daily labor may
fatigue and weary your physical powers, and
vet it is only habit that induces you to think
that you should dream instead of read, or
worse yet, that you should play cards, gam
bic or ''spree" it with your comrades, instead
of devoting your leisure time to the improve
ment of your mind. For one, who is habit
uaied TO daily physical labor, it is not wea-
risome task for him to devote an hour or SO
in each day to reading aud study. True 10
one who is not accustomed to it, It requires
quite mental effort to make commence
nent, but aonce in the hagness,7 every thing
sz=eon' suaoothlg and h:ifsGly, and thus while
your daily labor is adding to the fullness OF
your pile = your daily reading is making
far more important additions to the stock Of
information AID wisdom in your head. And
so sure as man is Of greater Importance than d
beast, just SO sure does this Importance consist
solely in accordance with the natural and ac-
ouircd endowments which he possesses over
the brute, and consequently the Importance,
ah the privilege ofmental discipline. If one
of the two must be neglected, We would pre-
fer neglecting the wants, or at least the luxu-
ries of the physical, to the remotest require
ments of the mental. The cattle that feed
upon thousand hills, do not want for daily
sustenance they have no thought for more
than Giving the present consists their
only desire Not so with man his longings
are immortal, they pierce futurity, and look
ing beyond the vale of dull mortality, they
gaze with rapturous hope upon the beauties
of unknown worlds; shall then a being of
such infinitely high endowments, think only
of 'living?" Contemplate thought ht-pit-
table condition. 'Let us eat, drink and be
merry, for tomorrow we die?" Degradation,
deep damnable degradation. No, no, we
would rather share crust with Diogoncse in
''tub' than to revel with Alexander in all
the luxuries of his midnight Qualifications.
The mind is the immortal part of man-the
mind is the part we should cultivate and
cherish it is the only part that distinguishes
the man from the beast, and were it not for
this, we would not ask to live another hour.
Strike a flint with steel, and from its dead
and stubborn surface, will spring forth a
bright and living spark of fire; apply your
labor to the human mind, and you will en-
kindle a flame, the light of which shall illu-
inmate the eternal world. Do not say then
| have no time for reading, for study. My
God, you have eternity before you, and if
you do not improve it to proper advantage,
the fault lies at your own door; the degrada-
ton is your own.