The Democratic advocate., 1870-03-17
On Wasting Time.

uhUiS tihlc-Hs lHt1 say u mc, hdlu
Charles Dickens one morning, many
years ago, ms his little boy ran up 10
the Broad stairs sands, spade in hand.
Aud we have often wondered since how
many people there are who know what
is ment by wasting time.
1t is very easy to make mistakes on
this subject, tor nothing is so dcceitful
as appearances. We all know that
Penelope, that classical model Of pro-
priety and all the virtues, employed ali
her time in weayin, garment by day,
aud unraveling it at night. She did
this to keep off her lovers, who wanted
to persuade 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 aud cities. In
fact, he had come home and the fair
Penelope had her reward after all.
Surely it is waste of time for that
old tortoise TO try and beat the nimble
hare at racing, but the silly old thing
will crawl on, without ouce stopping,
ut about the pace Que gets down the
Strand in cab on a rainy day. Pres
eLtly, down comes the hare ut furious
pace-thereis is no wasting time with him,
at all events-but, alas wheu he ar
rlves breathless at the winning post, he
finds the old tortoise there before him,
and fast asleep too. "Ahw says the
hare, " wish | had taken my nap at
the end, Instead of the beginning Of
the race, aud then | should have won
it, and the tortoise would have crawled
Ia vain; as is i. he has made good use Of
his time, aud wasted mine"
What an idle man that is youder,
fishing, hour after hour Truly melan-
choly spectacle, as stearn old Doctor
johnson would say, "A line with a worm
at one end and fool at the other
Wrong again ! That mou is an eminent
statesman, who has escaped to recruit
his weary brain in the company of the
king fisher and the heron. What elo-
quencei wisdom, and wholesome legisla.
tion do we not owe to such hours Of
ideness Nay, do not some of our best
and kindliest thoughts often come to us
as We sit on the beach and toss pebbles
into the shining sea covered with its
innumerable smiles " Recreation is
not waste when it is rest from real
work, aud preparation for more.
We confess we never feel at home
with man who must always be doing
something. There was French states.
man who wrote huge book by snatch.
es, in those occasional intervals when he
happened to be kept waiting for his
dinner. We have not the slightest
wish to see this anti droundial perfor.
nance. We have do doubt it was a
very dull book, for men that are never
at leisure are always dull.
Fussy men and idle men are equally
insutieruble to us. The real worker is
never in a hurry, aud the real idler, we
may add, is never anything else. Who
ever heard of Lord Palmerston, or the
Duke Of Wellington, or Lord Brough.
ham, being in hurry? When we see
a man in great hurry, we may be pret-
ty certain that his profession consists
in doing nothing, aud that he is doing
that badly. The idlest man VIC ever
knew was always SO much pressed for
time that he never had Eve minutes to
spare for anything. No one need ever
be in such terrible hurry us this
If we ever find ourselves so, il is proba.
bly, because we have been wasting our
time. We have no system, aud have,
therefore, done in an hour what ought
to have been finished in twenty minutes
or, like the hare, we have loitered on
the way, and then We make a push for
it, and arrive just in time to miss the
train. How many hares there are every
morning who arrive breathess 10 the
city, because break fast was half au 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 general rule.
waste Of time, We answer in a single
senience-Whatever hinders or pre-.
vents you doing your work 10 life
Every one should realize that his duty
here consists in applying himself TO
some worthy work, and his time NAV
then safely and without waste be diyid.
cd into three periods-preparipg for
work, doing work, and resting from work.
Waste of tima, then, becomes a thing
purely relative. What is mere vast in
one case is real profit in another. The
idle man who travels simple for pleas.
ure, is simply wasting his time 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 filed with some
good principle of action, and let the
miud be directed towards some con-
genial pursuit, and then our innocent
pleasures will be as little in danger OF
degenerating into criminal indulgence.
as our wholesome recreations into waste
of time CdsseR Magasine.