The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-04-20
WAITING TIME


} valuable time-as they say to mo," sale
Charles Dickens ono morning, man,
years ago, as his little boy ran up to hin
on the Broadstairs sands, spade in hand
and We have often wondered since how
many people there are who know wha
is meant by wasting time.
Il 1t is worry easy to make mistake. on
this subject, tor nothing is 80 deceitfu
as appearances. We all know tha;
Penelope, that classical model of pro-
priety aud all the virtues, employed hel
time in weaving garment BY day, and
unraveling it at uight. She did this ia
keep off her lovers, who wanted to per.
suade her that her husband Ulysses Yves
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. In faot, he had como
home, and the fair Penelope had her
reward after all.
Surely it is waste of time for that old
tortoise to,try aud beat the nimble hare
at racing, but the silly old thing will
crawl on, without once stopping, at
about the pace one gets down the Strand
in cab on. a rainy day. Presently, down
comes the hare at furious pace-there
is no wasting timc with him, at al!
events-but, alas whom he arrives
breathless at the winning-post, he finds
the old tortise there before him, and
fast asleep too. "Ah" says the hare,
"I wish had taken my nap at the end
instead Of the beginning OF the race,
and then l should have won it, and that
tortise would have orawled in vain as
it is, he has made good use of his time,
and have wasted mine"
What an idle man that is yondor,
fishing, hour after hour! Truly o me-
lancholy spectacle, as Itern old Doctor
johnson would say. ga line with a
worm at one end and fool at the 9TH
er." Wrong again That man is an
eminent statesman, who has escaped to
recruit his weary brain in the company
of the kingfsher and the heron. What
cloquence, wisdom, and wholesome
Legislation do we not owe to suoh hours
Of idleDess Nay, do not some of our
best aud kindliest thoughts often come
to us as we sit on the beach and toss
pebbles into the shining sea covered
with its "innumerahle smiles ?" Recrea-
tion is not waste when it is rest from
real work and a preparation for more.
We confess We never feel at home
with man who must always be doing
something. There was a French States.
man who wrote huge book by snatches,
in those occasional intervals when he
happened to be kept waiting for his din.
ner. We have not the slightest wish to
see this ante prandial performance. We
have no doubt it was q very dull book,
for men who IRE never ut leisure are al.
ways dull.
Fussy men and idle men are equally
insufferable to us. The real worker is
never in hurry, and the real idler
We may add, is never anything else.
Who ever heard of Lord Palmerston, or
the Duke of Wellington, or Lord
Brougham, being in hurry? When we
see man in great hurry, VIC may be
pretty certain that his profession con-
sists in doing nothing, and that he is
doing that badly The idlcst man we
ever knew was always 80 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.
If we ever find ourselves so, it is proba-
bly, because We have been wasting our
time. We have had no system, and
have, therefore, donc 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, aud arrive just in time to
miss the train. How many hares there
are every morning who arrive brcathless
in the city, because break fast was half
an hour late, or because they would not
get up when the clock struck seven /!
| But our readers have right to ask
what constitutes, as general rule,
waste OF time. We answer in q single
Observation-Disclosures hinders or prevents
you doing your work in life. Every
one should realize that his duty here
consists in applying himself to some
worthy work, aud his time may then
safely aud without waste be divided in.
to three perioas-prcparing for work,
and resting from work. Waste of time,
then, becomes 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 time the man who travels
for safety, or the man who travels to got
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 somo
good principle ofaction, and let the
mind be directed towards some congo.
nial pursuit. aud then our innocent
pleasures will be as little in danger OF
degnoratiug into criminal indulgence as
our wholesome recreations into waste OF
time -CussclPs Ahgasiae.
- There il n,au in tho vicinity OF
Cedar Keys, Florida, who has twenty
two children living. The family subsist
principally on fish and oysters. They
| haVa ho1 ~,