Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-02-16
ON WASTING TIME.

Here you are, sir, wasting your valuable
time.-as they say TO me- said Charles Dick
ems one morning, mary years ago, az his little
boy ran up to him on the Broadstairs sands,
spade in hand Aud we have often wondered
since how many people there are who know
what Is meant by wasting time.
1t is very easy to make mistakes on this
subject, for nothing is so deceitiul as appear
ances. We all know that Penelope, that
classical model Of propriety aud all the vir-
tues, employed her time in weaving a gar
ment by day, aud unraveling it AZ night She
did this to keep of her lovers, who wanted TO
pursuade her that her husband Ulysses was
dead When the suitors found her out Of
course they accused her of wasting her time
but at that moment Ulysses knocked at the
door, after seeing many men and cities Ia
fact, he had come home aud the fair Pene-
lope had her reward after all.
Surely it is waste Of time for that old tor
toise to try aud beat the nimble hare at ra-
ciug, but the silly old thing vii, crawl on,
without once stopping, at about the pace one
gets down the Strand ia cab on O rainy dav
Presently, down comes the hare at furious
pace-there is no wasting time with him, at
all eyents--but alas When be arrives breath
less at the winuing-post, be fnds the old tor
toise there before him, and fast asleep too.
" Ah!' says the hare, ' wish | had taken
my nap at the end, Instead Of the beginning
Of the race, aud then | should have won it,
aud that tortoise would have crawled in vain
as II Is, he has made good use of his time,
aud have wasted mine"
What an idle man that is yonder. fishing
hour after hour Truly melancholy spec
taole, as stern old Doctor johnson would say.
"a A line with Il worm at one end and fool
at the other" Wrong again That man is
an eminent statesman, who has escaped to re-
cruit his weary brain in the company of the
kiDg6sher and the heron What eloquence,
wisdom, and wholesome legislation do we not
owe to such hours Of idleuess Nay, do not
some OF our best aud kindliest thoughts often
come TO Us as We sit on the bench and toss
pebbles into the shining sea covered with its
a. innumerable smiles2" Recreation is not
waste when it is rest from real work, and
preparation for more.
We confess we never feel at home with
man who must always be doing something
huge book by snatches, in those occasional in
tervals when he happened to be kept waiting
for his dinner. We have not the slightest
wish to see this ante-prandial performance.
We have no doubt it was very dull book,
for men who are never at leisure are always
dull
Fussy men aud idle men are equally in-
sutiertble to US. The real worker is never in
a hurry, and the real ider, We may add, j.
never anything else. Who ever heard Of
Lord Palmersion, or the Duke of Welliug-
ton, or Lord Brougham, being in hurry
When We see man in a great hurry, We may
be pretty certain that his profession consists
in doing nothing, aud that he is doing that
badly. The idlest man we ever knew was
always so much pressed for time that he never
had five minutes to spare for anything. No
one need ever be in such terrible hurry as
this. Ii We ever find ourselves so, it is pro-
badly because We have been wasting our
time. We have had 10 system, and have,
therefore, done in an hour what ought to have
been finished ia twenty minutes or, like the
hare, We have oitered on the way, aud then
we make push for it, and arrive just in time
to miss the train. How many hares there are
every morning who arrive breathess III the
city because breakfast was half an hour late,
or because they would not get up when the
clock struck seven
But our readers have a right to ask what
constitutes as a general rule, waste Of time.
We answer in single senteuce---W Whatever
hnders or prevents you doing your work in
life. Every one should realize that his duty
here consists in applying himself to some
worthy work, and his time may then safely
aud without waste be divided into three peri
for work, doing work, and
resting from work Waste of time, then, be-
comes thing purely relative. What is mere
waste in one case is real profit in another -
The idle man who travels simply for pleasure,
is simply wasting his tme the man who
travels for safety, or the man who travels to
get rest from work, or for the sake of his
health, is not wasting or abusing his time; he
is turning it to good account
Let the heart be filled with some good priu-
ciple of action, aud let the mind be directed
towards some con Genial pursuit, aud then our
innocent pleasures will be as little in danger
of degencrating into criminal indulgence, as
our wholesome recreations into waste Of time.
-Casselts Magazine.