The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1871-07-06
ON WASTING TIME.

sands, spade in hand. And 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 deceitful as appear
anees. We all know that Penelope, that
classical model of propriety and all the vir-
tues, employed her time in weaving a gar
ment by day and unraveling it by 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 vast;
ing her time-but at that moment Ulysses
knocked at the door, after seeing many men
and 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
running, but the silly old thing will crawl
on, without once stopping, at about the pace
one gets down to the Strand lin a cab on a
rainy day. Presently, down comes the hare
at furious pace-there is no wasting time
with him, at all eYents-but, alas when be
arrives breathless at the winning post, he
finds the old tortoise there before him, fast
asleep too. HAh," says the hare, 81 wish /
had taken my nap at the end instead Of the
beginning Of the race, and then I should
have won it, and that tortoise would have
crayled in vain as it is, he has made good
use of his time, and have wasted mine"
What an idle man that is yonder, fishing,
hour after hour Truly melancholy specta-
Gle, as stern old Doctor johnson would say.
"a line at one end, and fool at the other"
Wrong again That man is an eminent
statesman, who has escaped to recruit his
weary brain in the company Of the king
fisher and the heron What cloGpence,
Wisdom, and wholesale legislation do we not
owe to such hours of idleness 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 sen, covered with
its "innumerable smiles?" Recreation 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 French statesman who wrote a
huge book by snatchcs, in these occasional
intervals when he happened to be kept
waiting for his dinner. We have not the
slightest wish to see this ante-prandial per-
formance. We have no doubt it was very
dull book, for men who are never at leisure
are always dull s1-- = = 49,, =. .,.'
Fussy men and idle men are equally in
sufferable to u.s. The real worker is never
in hurry, I'd 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 a hurry? When
we see man i'll great hurry, we may be
pretty certain that his profession consists in
doing nothing, and that he is doing that
badly. The idlest man We lever 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 a terrible hurry as
this. If ever We find ourselves so, it is proba-
bly, because we have been wasting our time.
We have had no system, and 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 push for it, and arrive just in time
to miss the train. How many hares are
there every morning who arrive breathless
in the city, because breakfast was half an
hour later, 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 single sentence-what-
lever hinders or prevents you from doing
your work in life. Every one realizes that
his duty here consists in applying himself to
some worthy work, and his time then safely
and without waste be divided into three pc
riods, preparing for work, doing work, and
resting from work. Waste of time 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 trav-
els for study, 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
good principle If action, and the mind be di-
rcctcd toward. some congenial pursuit, and
then our innocent pleasures will be as little
in danger Of dcgenerating into criminal ipr
diligence, as our wholesome recreation into
waste of time.
THE INFLUENCE OF PRETTY WOMEN