The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-04-16
INTERRUPTIONS.
shadow.

| The copy-books rsed to say Procrastina
ii on is the thief of time" but really more
wicked thief Of that esteemed possession is
interruption.
A task may be put eff from incidence OF
| want Of nerve from day to day and from
hour to hour, yet. when at last the duty is
fai rly taken by The horns. the man Of true
energy may feel that he has been robbed by
demonstration, but he will not be overcome
v; til a sense Of absolute ruin as long as time
is left to him to complete his work. But if,
after prccrastination has done its worst, the
victim, while engaged at his task, is made to
suffer from that other and meaner thief, In
terruption, his case is surely hard. The man
who gets out of bed at 5 in all seasons and all
stages Of the thermometer can afford to suffer
the loss of an hour, although he may vince
under the intliction, but he who gives to his
bodily nature its due consideration and cor
rec!ly estimates the value of recreation and
repose cannot afford to have these stray hours
knocked out of the restricted allowance Of
time which he gives to business.
Whoever has important work to do, requir-
ing tension OF the nerves, long continued at
tention, thorough and protracted study,
methodical investigation or serious reflection,
will BE- heavy loser Of time if he suffers
himself to be often interrupted. He loses the
time consumed by his interviewer, and in
addition to that all the time necessary to re-
cover the train of thought which has been
broken up by the intrusion. If sensitive in
his organization, it will take some time to
regain calmness and repose. Being drawn
from his course he must take new observa-
tons, find the current Of the wind, readjust
his sails and resume his voyage.
The trained intellect is usually marked by
power Of continuous attention, a faculty
which often passes for talent, certainly the
best supporter and handmade that talent or
even genius can have. Tue more developed.
disciplined and matured this power is, the less
can its possessor afford to suffer distractions
and Interruptions. Every time that an in
truder breaks in upon his studies or his
medita!;ons it is like bringing some ponder
Gus machine to rest by means OF a log or a
stone thrown into it.
Hence it is that the giant workers Of the
world study and toll in solitude. Isolation,
peace, silence and the absence Of all disturb
ance from without are to them essential con-
ditions Of successful thinking. The great
Calhoun was for many years accustomed to
spend certain hours in his library with closed
doors with strict orders that he should not
be called for any visitor, however related or
distinguished, or for any purpose, however
important it may have seemed to his servants.
The loss by intrusion is not merely time, for
that might always be made up by earlier or
later hours. The great damage is in the
breaking up of continuity Of thought and
compelling the thinker to weave tangled
web with broken threads. Florence Night
ingals expressed the opinion that habitual in
terruptions will middle the best Of brains
and impair their powers. To be perpetually
changing from theme to theme, and having
new, strange and irrelevant propositions thrust
in at every turn, is certainly inconsistent with
improvement and destructive Of the
effects of discipline. There are minds
Of such intensity that they are not
liable to be turned aside from the cur
rent of their thoughts, even as there ere wills
which cannot by any ordinary means be with
drawn from their purposes, but such minds
and wills feel interruption with all the greater
annoyance.
All who have important business, which
requires strict and continued attention, ought
to have the advantage of solitude or else
ought to cultivate the habit Of ignoring what
is said and done around them and Of making
themse selves practically alone. students
skull is his workshop, in which an intruder
is as mischievous as rat in clock.