Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1874-02-27
The Man Who "Sits Awhile"

some nulSancaS are not lndlCtable-
more's the pity. You can arrest man
for libel, and pay costs too if you choose,
but you cannot imprison him for boring
you. 1t is crime for man to steal your
pocketbook even if il 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. s. drops in and kills the
choicest hours of your day, throttes your
best ideas, and throws your whole train
of thought off the track, there is nothing
to be said save that he 'just thought he'd
run in for a moment and sit awhile and
have a 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-called ad-
vanced 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 sincere desire, no less real because
not formulated, to pursue a 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 his own time. He alwaS has a 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
ment. Not so with men who work will
their brains. Often when apparently
most idle they are putting in their bigges
licks. What seems to be the mere idlt
watching of the curling smoke whiol
issues from their lips is really the solving
of social problems, the diagnosis of dis
ease, the analysis of compound, the ar
rangement of discourse. Hour afte
hour may pass with no visible work anC
no visible results, but the work is ther,
and the result is there. Now these proc
esses, unlike those that are merely me
chanical, can not be carried on stimuli
taneously with others that require con
tinued mental exertion. Some men afte
years of severe discipline may have ac
quired the faculty of thinking severa
things at time, turning out their menta
products by the dozen or great gross in
stead of singly. Napoleon could give hi
attention to three or four processes a
once. But most men are not Napoleons
and very few are capable of thinking NOR
than one thought at a time, and henc
with the majority of us the interruption
of thought is the removal of it for tn
time, if not its absolute destruction. !
is in view of these facts that we make ou
outcry against men who seem to have n
other business than to go round and 81
upon their friends after the similitude @
peripatetic cOroner's inquest; who reall
have no Ostensible occupation but I
"drop in" on busy men and "just have
chat"
1t would seem, further, that some pre-
fessional men can escape these int1iction
of friendly burdens with greater read
ness than others. Physicians are force
very often by the absolute necessities G
, the case to cut the inquest short Thei
patients demand their presence-it ma
be matter of life and death. So editor
must get their copy ready for the press
, they cannot be interrupted-and q
privileged characters, can hang up a
sorts ofOminOusly warning notices in thei
sanctums, and can give any kind of sul
gestive hint to their visitors; and if word
fail can resort to revolvers and horse
whips to clear the boards. But the pre-
fessional man who is not bound by inel
! orable necessity-who cannot positivel
say that the loss or delay of an hour wi
make great deal of disturbance or a
entire failure in his work, becomes til
victim, pitiaDle and abject of these tim
and thought leeches. They suppose thS
because professor is much in his study
or minister spends hour after hou
among his books and papers, that he il
forsooth, Legitimate prey; that his tim
amounts to but little, and that there is n
harm in boring him for an hour or two c
three.
Now, in the name of common law an
decency, we protest; in the name of tn
scores of hours that have gone into etc
nifty undeveloped, we protest; in the nam
of our thoughts lost, of our indignatio
excited, of our opportunities missed, "
protest; and if protesting won't do an
/ good, we propose to lock the door herr
after; that is, provided we can get ou
visitors on the outside.
In my opinion there ought to be an IL
sane asylum for idlers. They are par
, sites, living by destroying the life {
, others. They cannot be persuaded {
} their own condition. Hints slide off theI
like bullets off an iron.clad or water off
ducks back; threats are considered sin
! ply as earnest remarks nothing but I'll
toe of your boot can convince them of th
estimation in which you do hold then
! and if you should undertake to kick thel
2 out they couldn't really appreciate whi
7 you mean by it. They would suppo'
8 you were only in fun. There ought to |
J a commission of intelligent profession
) men to decide upon the mental conditic
4 of bores, and TO estimate the exact amour