The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-05-23
Tho Folly Of Wasting Time.

It7very frequently occurs that those Speopl
who are most careful IN affairs OF money n
guilty Of the greatest waste In the disposal o
time. Thrift may be said to consist in gettinl
moneys worth for money spent. Tho sam
virtue may plainly exist In connection will
time. Money for which you fail to get son'
: due equivalent is in 80 far wasted. Lapse o.
time which brings you nothing is wasted IL
the same aepse. Fools allow their money, Oh
some of it, to slip through their fingers, with
out getting a morssl of good out Of it. And
time, too, Is thus allo we'd to slip away, with.
out being forced TO surrender some advantage
not by fools only, but by good many who pass
for wise people, and who, in trnth. are rather
| wise. II is really startling to reflect bow trne
this 10 even OF men and women who know the
| real value of time, and are most careful. there
| fore, that none of it escapes, without giving
| mp and leaving behind something wholesome
and profitable. A thorough appreciation of
| the worth of time means neither more nor less
than q Just estimate of things which worth
seeking and possessing; and the ve1ation
only means that he has been compelled to pur-
| sue something which he does not desire nor
! deem in any way worth pursuing. In this
country, particularly, bnt in some degree, per-
haps, ali over the world, there is absurd
and downright pesilent notion that time de-
voted to pleasure is almost, If not altogether,
wasted. or, in other words, that pleasure is an
object which we ought to be ashamed, rather
than otherwise, Of caring much sbont ran-
ming much after. Dull blockheads often affect
grand contempt for pleasure, and they are
certainly consistent in steadily abstsining from
making any addition TO the existing stock Of
pleasure already in the world. Pleasure is in
itaen quito Is good and worthy an object of
pursuit es business, and probably not Nsss than
threefourths of the time that il given to bust
ness are only not wasted because success in
business 10, or ought to be, q stepping ssone to
increased opportunities of pleasure aud enjoy
ment. The real evil. however, is that the level
of pleasure 10 ordinarily placed o grea1 deal
lower than it need be-
How many foolish men, every night, in this
city, at thfs time of yess, consume time at
routs and other inscrutably devised social
gatherings, which would have sufficed for the
OF new language. of ipte4li-
gible aud coherent views on politics. Ii social
diversions were that in reality, they world
then have just place in the scheme of things.
But standing iA D crowd of people whom y0a
do not care about and who do not care abont
you, who have nothing whatever to say to yon,
you may have 10 say to have to listen to sim :
pering songs and feeble music, perhaps to
have to mako taik,-is this, or nythiDg like
this, to pass for divsrsiesf Perhaps 1t is true
that no man oan keep his mind wholesome
without mixing good deal with his fellows
But there is all. the difference in the world be-
tween real Intercourse an d this transpery pre-
tence. The mere sight of o crowd of people in
. parlor can do one no god in any way. 1t
does not refresh ono, nor please one, nor Bug-
gest anything to ons.
Take a large portion of AL the conversation
that an ordinary man has to take q share in.
IL does not load to anything. Rt docs not en-
terrain US 1ecruit us. and it is not pleasure
We might as we'll spend the time ia whipping
tops or playfDG at marbles There ia Da exer-
cise of any of thu faculties except that of
perhaps, and therefore u good game
Of tops and marbles would be much betser. 1t
would be a pAipabte folly to suppose that all
con yersation snght 10 be- of THAI terri bic kind
which is usually SAID to be improving.
Besides the mysterious aud indefsnsible
claims of society, men too often allow 6heEn-
selves TO be ed captive by snail worries and
obscure little cares. great many persons
themselves body and soul to paltry
cares. They are like q man. w ho would s9uan-
der u fortune Oh toys. There is every degree
Of difference in the ways ia which people take
by . bad dinner or . poor glass of
wine as another by the loss of three parts of
his fortune in q broken bank. Another will
lose n WHO'S day in demonstrations ever the sick
Dess of u horse, or the presence Of rain when
he desired sunshine. moderate vexation is
justified. Anything more than this Is waste.
People 7Ather attach vague motives to what
is called wrong. But everyboSy knows what
you mean by waste. whether of money or of
for sotnethi1g, wishes to have something,
and fade pleasure in doing something,
over and above ALL things. If people are
made to SEQ, and to get into the habit
of ceOing, that prolonged worrying over mat
ters which worrying cannot repair, is an ex-
travagant waste of tune which would carry
them q long way in their favorite business,
they are far more likely to train themselves to
something like properly proportional forti-
are not SO acute as they will be one day in dis
covering that how much that passes for usefnl
disposal of time is in truth reckless prodi-
gaity.