Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1865-10-13
For the journal.
LEISURE TIME, AND WHAT 1T II
E60H FOR. az j

=
good for purposes of temporary recreation. So,
| say, they seem to reason, for niultitudes are
accustomed to make no serious use of their
leisure hours. They have no earnest purpose
which is followed when they are off duty in
the hard labors of their daily life. Thus, young
men are seen to devote their leisure time TO the
billiard table, to cards, or to the street. where
they contract various habits that never do them
any good and often do much harm Isit nee
essary that this should be so? @
few months, since the newspapers of the
country told of man w no was labOring in
ship yard in Philadelphia. His fellow labor
ers, when they were released from their labors,
found their way to beer-shops, saloons, target
shooting and similar places OF, amusement and
money spending. One of them bought poo
die, and spent long time in teaching the brute
to dance But the man Knowlton-for such
was his name-joined in none of these things.
His leisure hours were spent in study, refec-
tion and experiments. After time he invent
ed machine which would saw beam in
curved shape as quickly as an ordinary saw
mill will cut log into straight Planlzs This
machine he got patented, and it is used in all
the ship yards Of the country. Thus his study
and thought i'll his leisure hours was equiva-
lent to riches. Next he invented machine for
cutting material into spherical form. A share
in the right of this machine he sold for a hand
some sum. Then he invented machine which
bores into solid granite at the rate of twenty
two inches an hour, This was tested in the
presence of man from Europe, who offered
KnOwlton ten Thousand dollars for a share in
the interest of the invention over the ocean,
Here was fortune at once All this grew out
of the industrious use of leisure time
This man Knowlton is not regarded as pos
sessed Of greater talents than his fellow ship
builders. The difference lay in his industry
and application, not his endOwments. 1t may
be stated as general fact that the men who
amount to nothing in the world are equal in
natural abilities to other mec. Their failure to
be anybody or to do anything is the result OF
idleness, want of application and steady pur-
pose. The men who acquire large amount OF
knowledge have no monopoly of instruction.
Their opportunities not better than the op-
portunities of other men. They get their
knowledge by industry and application. 1t is
not the gift of capricious dame Fortune The
men who attain an honorable prominence in the
business world, are not always men who re-
ceive great talents from nature, or for whom
circumstances have done much Many of them
have come up from poverty and lowly lot ev-
cry way, by dint of industrious labor So j,
it in every department of effort Those mcr
succeed in life who lay hold on the opportun.
tiles which they have; who create opportnnitie.
for advancement; who have a steady and per-
sistive determination that overcomes all obsta.
cles, and ,eM succeed Efficient lives do moi
flow from great talents. But they do flow from
industry and application.
1t is an old saying that The boy is father tc
the man. So it is in relation to the point now
up. Suppose five bOys-say fifteen years o
age Four of them are content with mediocrity
in all that they attempt to learn or do. All may
| labor, perhaps. All have some leisure, Blu
the four see no beauty in knowledge above wha
boys in general have. The fifth one, however
is intent upon his own improvement His re
creations are found in study and thought. b,
soon leaves the others behind He may not at
tain greater riches though he probably will, i
he chooses calling that lies in the way of larg
gains. But he makes himself more of man
He attains more knowledge. He is more hon
ored, and stands higher every way. From tif
teen to twentyyears of age the young man il
commonly drawing drafts upon his middle lif
and old age that it win take him his lifetime t,
cancel. He who spends his leisure time ant
with it his surplus money, (for the two natur
ally fall into the same channel, in mere pleas
ure-seeking, contracts for a listless mind tina
will be the bane of his existence. He who seek
to turn every opportunity to good account
makes a bid for intelligence; for respectability
for honor, tor usefulness. And the thing tha
young men bid for is struck off to them.
would be amusing, if the subject were not to-
serious for amusement, to hear men in middl
life tell what they might have done if they ha,
been wise in time, and what they ought to hay
done. Many man says Il was fool Som
! lament the formation of hurtful habits in youth
which eat away remorselessly at their purse
their comfort their health, their usefulness an,
their good name. Few indeed are they VIII
have not something to lament. And yet tn
instructions of human experience are eabundan
and the veriest child can read them plainly.
1t seems very generally assumed that leisur
time is to be put to no earnest use. "A mos
pernicious. assumption. Most. people find
necessary to labor large share of the time i
order to earn living. This necessity is not
thing to be lamented. The man who has moth
ing to ,Io is more to be pitied than he whose lif
is a perpetual battle with necessity for the sup
ply of his wants. Well, the most of men, then
have little opportunity for the improvement Q
their minds except by the proper use of thei
leisure hours. And, although an hour or two
day may seem to afford little space for improve
ment, yet "inthe long rtin' it will be found tina
they will be productive of good and grea
results. F ~ "a
The matter is of special momentin connexiol
| WlJn Lne tODS evenings WHICH WInVer Drlng
with it. There are many people to whom thes
evenings are hours of leisure. They have moth
ing special to do Is it wise to devote this larg
amount of time to the search for tempOrar7
gratifcationg Many young persons ns-appren
tices, journeymen and others-might, as wei
as not, devote say five evenings in the week t.
the study of some useful branch of knowledge
Fifteen to twenty hours week might thus b
devoted to the culture of the mind. In man,
instances it would bear directly upon prof
eiency in business. Thus every house carpen
ter every ship builder every cabinet maker
every mill wright, every machinist would de
rive direct and immediate advantage of plan
geometry. And any apprentice could maste
the principles Of geometry by the study of On
winter, employing only his evenings hours
And, by mastering the principles upon whicl
even any trade is based, man qualities him
self to be a leader in his business. If he is thi