Smyrna times., 1872-08-21
Hobbs and His Hobby.


is nothing to Hob on his hobby. n
Hobbs hobby is early rising +,
We believe in early rising at our house, and, y
wishing to be healthy, wealthy, and wise, we =
get up every morning punctually at half past
eight, unless it rains. When it rains we lie in h
sees of a rainy day the better. | would not +
get up at all when it rains if it not for the
necessity Of having three meals day. :.
| Hobbs gets up at five ocOck in clear and at {
four o clock in cloudy weather. He says you ;
must get up earlier in cloudy weather in order
to get the mean amount of light needed every
day for the health of the body. | told him
tha. | thought it must be mean amount of
light that he got at four o'clock in the morn
ing. L think he gets up at three in the winter
so as to get fairly warmed up by four. 1t must
be for that reason. Or it may be that he gets
up at three in order to get mean amount OF
darkness. The days being short, Hobbs
lengthels them by rising betimes-or rather
before times
Hobbs rides his he bby.
Hobbs wants everybody else to ride
| have always noticed that when a man has |
one poor little, mean scrub of hobby, he |
, always wants to make it carry all mankind. |
He wants to put all the world on the Group. |
Hobbs gets up early-therefore must get up
early, therefore you, therefore Brown, Jones,
Robinson, and the rest, must get up early:
Hobbs is, like an evil conscience the enemy Of
sleep. If | stay at his house, he WILL on some
: pretext, order breakfast half hour earlier than
usual; then he will get up and ring the rising
: bell himself, to be sure that it is done tho
5 roughly-namely, in every hall, on every stair
s. way, with short pause before the door of each
sleeper. For myself, | scarcely sleep at all
when | have occasion to spend the night under
n the roof-tree Of my friend Hobbs | have so
keen consciousness that L am to be walked up,
e such feeling of haste to condcnSe my sleep
n into the few hours allowed me, such sense of
=, the total moral wickedness of any comfortable
sleep from Hobbs standpoint, that | cannot
~ sleep. Lit L do chance to catch cat-nap, the
ghost of the rising-be rings in my dreams
re- and impresses me with the fearful responsible
ity incur in sleeping at all. Generally | get
about worn out by morning; and in that despe-
Ol, rate mood in which don't care for rising
bells or anything else, | sink exhausted into a
defiant slumber, which may last an hour, but
which is 80 totally unconscious that there seems
to be no time between the moment of getting
to sleep and the coming of that wicked, high
KEYED, tOrturing, demOnlacal. frantic rising
'' bell that wanders III a will-o the-wisp fashion
.ek. through the halls and stairways, and stops a
the last right afront my door, and assumes
vixenish, personal, insulting tone as it attack
lea the first comfortable sleep | have had, an
arouses me to the necessity for early rising.
.y s,sr The worst thing about the old friendship eX
istng between our family and the HObbses /:
that every visit pay to Hobbs is returned
kind. He never sits an evening out. He b(
gins to yawn Immediately after supper, an
says-ah that, to get up early, one only wan
to go to bed early. Then he quotes the dun
brutes as examples; and suppose, il Darwin
0"' ism is ever established, we shall have him tai
ing about returning to the good old ways OF Il
days when our ancestors lived in the tree-tOp'
: g" 1--WE must get mp early because the birds do
NJ to says Hobbs. Why not scratch great de'
then because d mG"Seyi d0 must BE tb.a health
plehearted children Of the forest with the d
sire Let us introduce again the back -scratchC
~ 70 which ladies' carried with their fans #
hundred years ago.
But ali reason and all badinage are lost
Hobbs. He only smiles in a sort OF subll
superiority. We must excuse him he will
n'' on tire. what time do We have breakfast?
asks with look at his watch-and his watcl
his familiar spirit His inspiring muse i:
watch his chastising fury is rising-bell
state our breaktast-time half an hour ear
than usual because we arc ashamed to state
truthfully, and we mean to get up earlier
lint. TO morrow. He smiles with an irresistible Sc
Of the righteousness OF anybody lying IN bee
lysium late-hOpes we won't hurry on hls accot
uu.- though he Gays it with the look of a mar
He says he wonders that we are not all dc
Dc 1--WE would be if he were a regular boarder. }
the morning he is up early, in order to get
mean amount of light needed. He is tramT
up and down the hall in front of my door.
have sense of duty in the matter and feelt
must get up for Hobbs is making as m
noise as possible in the bathroom He 8
Springs up and down stairs like restless evil spr
only there il no evil spirit that ever ha
much "sdueaking leather in its boots
unbolts the front door and goes out, and
comes back and slams it. OF course | get
e'' and am greeted with: up at last, eh ( a
81 haip
prides himself on having maintained the pI
omwells tive habits of his monkey ancestors.
But there must be an end of all things
wnwood, Hobbs leaves Then | get frantic with deli
'"u l1a and order breakfast delayed an hour
Settle morning. And next morning l keep wa
Trinity mn from nv cozy, half-conscious slumber,
topping off of the night, best of all, bee
YOU know you are getting it, " as heard
say | keep waking out of this slumber
nu, and chuckline TO myself that Hobbs has go
and falling off again and again into the par
''''"' " of unlimited repose. Then | get up wit
nerves all smooth and placid, and do
'ecan. to work in an hour than Hobbs can do IN
giving him four morning hours the start.
HilI and Bishop Whitehouse has been blame
ur Bluff many things, but there is current IN 1ln
e. aesD saving Of his that should be immortal. Ht
that people should not rise until the worl
S'nns' had good airing. Hobbs talks about the
of sunrise; and | am very sensible
scene, because il is. so rare. With lilo
Springs. sunrise must be vulgar, everyday affair
what is that golden sentence Of Beecher s
all great workers are great restersl Is /
healthy, wealthy and wise? No, think
He has weakness in his chest and he
III ie Depot asleep in his chair, and he is not rich
for wisdom he has not sense enough to liz
when he gets there. He does not know
IN Springs he is well off. His first wife died Of !
Hill. and bells, and .he second one is insane. All
f getting the mean quantity OF light. :.
.tti p. 81 forgot to say that Hobbs, i
other early risers takes nap in tie mid
the day ! think he only gets up to to