Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-02-19
The Man VINO "Sits Awhile"


Some nuisances are not indictable--
more's the pity You can arrest a man
for libel and pay costs too if YOU choose,
but you cannot imprison him for boring
YOU. 1t is a crime for man to steal your
pocket.book even if it is trash; but he
may steal out of your working day three
or four hours, worth perhaps ten dollars
in money and double that in discipline,
with perfect impunity. 1t is called muir
der for one man to destroy another's life,
but when Mr. 5. drops in and kills the
choicest hours of your day, throttles your
best ideas, and throws your whole train
Of thought off the track, there is nothing
10 be said, save that he lust thought he'd
run in for a moment and sit awhile and
have friendly chat" No penalty in
law, no fine, no Imprisonment, no gal
lows. Such laws, or rather such lack
of them, reflect upon the so-caled ad-
yanced civilization of century No. 10.
| have heard editors utter bitter com
plants against this class Of offenders.
They seem TO regard man who comes in
to chat with them for an hour very much
as they do one who does not pay his bills.
There is apparently no hope for either of
them, and it is very hard for any man,
and especially hard for an editor, to spend
time and energy upon hopeless case
His usual course is to send the devil"
after man who does not pay up, and he
has a sincere desire, no less real because
not formulated, 10 pursue similar course
with man who comes in to sit awhile.
But editors are not the only victims Of
these vile and unmitigated interrupters
of legitimate effort. They are curse to
all professional men. The man that works
with his hands is usually not the master
of lis own time. He always has real
and admitted excuse for continuing labor.
His work is seen to suffer, to be retarded
by interruption. Then, too, when labor is
mainly mechanical there is opportunity
for brain work also, and conversation may
readily accompany the manual employ
mcnt. Not so with men who work with
their brains. Often when apparently
most idle they are putting in their biggest
hicks, What seems to be the mere idle
watching of the curling smoke which
ISSUES from their lips is really the solving
of social problems, the diagnosis of dis
ease, the analysis of a compound, the ar
rangement Of discourse, Hour after
hour may pass with no visible work and
no visible results, but the work is there
and the result is there Now these proc
eSscs, unlike those that are merely me-
ChauiCal can not be carried on stimuli
tancOuSly with others that require con-
tinueJ mental cXertion. Some men after
years of severe discipline may have ac-
quired the faculty of thinking several
things at q time, turning out their mental
products by the dozen or great gross in
stead of singly. Napoleon could give his
attention to three or four processes at
once. But most men are not Napoleons,
ana very few are capable of thinking more
than one thought at time, and hence
with the majority of us the interruption
of thought Is the removal of it for the
time, if not its absolute destruction. 1t
is in view of these facts that we make our
cutlery against men who seem to nave no
other business than to 20 round and sit
upon their friends after the similitude OF
peripatetic coroner's inquest; who really
have no ostensible occupation but TO
drop in" on busy men and 'just have a
chat"
1t would seem, further that some pro
ieSsiOnal men can escape these infections
of friendly burdens with greater readi-
ness than others. Physicians are forced
very often by the absolute necessities OF
the case to cut the inquest short. Their
patients demand their presence-it may
be a matter OF life and death. So editors
must get their copy ready for the press
they cannot he interrupted-and, as
privileged characters, can hang up all
sorts ANONYMOUSLY warning notices in their
sanctums, and can give any kind OF sug
EestlvC hint 10 their visitors; and if words
fail can resort TO revolvers and horse
whips to clear the boards. But the pro
icSsional man who is not bound by mex
arabie uecessity-who cannot positively
say that the loss or delay of an hour vii
make a great deal of disturbance or al
entire failure in his work, becomes the
victim, pitiaDle and abject, of these time
sud thought leeches. They suppose tina
because "a professor is much in his study
20 minister spends hour after hou
among his books and papers, that he IS
'orso'th, Legitimate prey; that his time
amount, to but little, and that there is NJ
harm in boring him for an hour or two o.
IArce.
Now, in the name of common law ant
Je,enCy, We protest. in the name of tn
scores Of hours that have gone into etel
AltF undeveloped, We protest, in the nam
% our thoughts lost, of our indignation
excited, OF our opportunities missed, W
protest; and if protesting won't do an
good, we propose to lock the door here
alter, tina, is, provided we can get GU
visitors on the outside.
In my opinion there ought 70 be an il
sane asylum for idlers They are para
sites living by destroying the lite {