American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-08-02
Hurry-Uppers.
BY EL1NoR BROOKS.

HAVE Just been reading Olive Thorne's
| trials with a put-offer, and cannot resist
putting in word on the other side of the
| question, and telling something of the
| life of a hurry-upper.
| If the ''habit of putting off is frightfully
| common" the other extreme is fright
| fully dangerous. For while slow, easy
person usually enjoys a long life, one of
| those go-head drivers will hurry himself
| into the grave, and drive his friends there
| before him. For the last eight years |
have been daily, yes, hourly, prompted
by such precepts as Take time by the
| forelock," "Procrastinalion is the thief of
| time" delays are dangerous Time is
| money" etc, etc, by Il husband who is Il
model in every respect, except that he is
| always in a hurry. Some of you may
| sigh with envy, perhaps, at the thought
of husband with only one fault; but if
| there is anything else so wearing to both
| body and soul as being constantly hurried,
| l do not know what it is.
Hurry up, hurry up, En-, it's almost
seven O'Clock, time breakfast was ready"
| is often the first greeting / have in the
morning. But long ago l learned that
''most seven O'Clock" means from five to
| ten minutes after six, and David always
keeps our clock a half an hour ahead of
| the right time, so | gain still another half
| hour, and reckon that the real time is
only halfpast five. l do protest against
the idea of gaining time by hav-
ing the clock too fast. When our clock
is ahead of time, l am always thinking,
Well, the clock is too fast, | need not
hurry so; and l go a little slower-and
then, am too late; when if the clock had
been right, l would have planned ac-
cordingly.
Now, | hope no one will think | am one
of the put-oiIers, for l am not. | never
am late to church, and in my school days
| used to pride myself on my punctuality
would go term after term without get
ting a single tardy mark never used to
miss train of cars, though L never had
to sit an hour on the hard seats in the
depot waiting for a train, as l have some
times done since David the hasty became
my guide.
Shall | ever forget the last time we went
| to visit grandma? | am certain the hurry
| and worry and excitement of that one trip
must have shortened the span of my earth
| " career by some hours at least.
| / was in very happy frame of mind
| that morning, thinking how pleased grand
ma would be to see us, and how she would
| admire baby Bennie (her only grandchild),
| and whether she would agree with me in
| thinking it best not to cut his gums to let
| his little teeth through, etc. With great
many such things running through my
mind, | WAS very lesurely getting Bennie
ready for his bath, stopping to admire his
dimpled shoulders, and give him hug
| and kiss, when l heard the front door open
and shut hastily. The next moment David
| called up the stairs, Emma, how near are
you ready? 1t is time we were off"
| Now, | knew better. | knew the train
| did not leave for Il good hour at least, but
somehow, when David gets into one of his
| hnrrying fits, it is always contagious, and
in few minutes l was flying around the
| house at a rate that was 4 caution to all
slow folks.
| Bcnnie's BATH of course, must be omit
| ted. | would only have time to wipe off
| his face and hands little, which, of
course, he resisted with all his force of fist
and foot. A regular bath in his bath-tub
| he always enjoys, but wash-rag, he'll
| fight it to his last BREATH Under the cir
| cumStances / did not wait to put much of
| a polish on the chubby checks, but hur-
ried his clothes on, and, to keep him out
of mischief seated him in the middle of
my nice, clean bed. He must have some
thing to amuse himself-anything to keep
him still, I thought, as / crowded the
cover tight in the ponade jar, and handed
| it to him, greatly 10 his delight, for it was
a new plaything.
Bonnie disposed of, hurried TO get my
self ready. | had ust taken down my
hair, when another call came from below,
Come, En-, hurry up" Now, nature
has given me a switch only Il yard and II
quarter long, and thick proportionaiely-
not like a chignon, that can be pinned on
at "A moments notice-but with shaking
fingers uor the hurry was already begin
ming to tell on my nerves. L twisted II up
IN about two minutes, and was hurryng
on my clothes, when again from the lower
regions came Il call, ''Why, wife, what are
you about. You surely will be left, do
hurry" Oh, wasn't that eNaspcrating
When every nerve and muscle | possess
ed were strained to their utmost in my
efforts to move fast to be told to ''hurry."
NV emotions were indcscribablc but Ger
tainlv my strongest desire was to get my
fingers around that mans throat, and, il
possible, choke off, for five minutes ri
least, that everlasting hurry up
| \ noise from Bcnnic attracted my at
tention, and | turned to him TO find tn,
little mischief had taken the cover oil the
pomadc jar, and with his little fingers had
taken out dabS of pomadc and spread
them all over the counterpart, pillows
and everything else within his reach
Never mind we must not wait now to h>
things, for Just then came another call
"Do hurry, EN-; are you never coming ?
and ! hurried down stairs, wiping Ben
f MES fingers as | went, and we hurried in
To the carriagc-and the horse hurried t'
: the depot AT II rate that sent people tlyin:
: across the street crossings-tor David al
], ways will keep n horse that Will go lik
v the wind {; he can't wait Tor Il SLOW
, horse.
When we reached the depot tremblcd
). so that Bcnnie's heavy weight fairly drag