The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1877-01-10
Not Too Much at Once.

Sufficient, for the day is its own good
We are SHINING against this primal law al
the time, and are feeling the scourge of its
violation: "What a mountain of things to
d." says one, is piled up in the coming
month? How shall get through u" This
groan of care may come from the counting.
room, from the farm, or from the scene Of
woman's homework. If a months view Of
anything must be forced upon the scene of a
single day, then the complaint will be uttered.
For it is tiresome thing to see, in one pile,
a months labor, months rations, or a
months revelations But the simple rule Of
carrying only what our hands can grasp, and
letting the rest wait, settles all this perplexi-
ty. A child with two oranges and one bs-
mana is miserable, because tnere are but two
hands to hold three things. Take away one
orange, and theSreSult is happiness. A
mother with dresses for FIVE girls on her
mind is wretched, because there are more
than her arms full. Take away four dresses,
and the one remaining is a luxury, and the
mother is so engrosSed in it that she cannot
take time for the evening concert. A man,
studying out sum- in the future life, when he
has not all the figures yet, is sure to get a
headache. He is" crossing Fox river before
he gets there" Of course he fancies q
freshet, and the waters come into his SOUL
If he waits till he reaches the stream, he
laughs at himself when he finds that there is
no freshet at all. .
Nothing is so hard as to carry weight at
arms length. We have no purchase on it,
and the load goes down. Great weight is
quite bearable when We hold it close to our
breast, and get all the bodys machinery un-
derneath. Pho sSent is manageable be-
cause We can getIour arms around it, and can
get good hold upon it. The future is un-
manageable, because nobody's arms are mon
strous enough to reach round the bundle. l
have seen maSAnth great brains for other
work tugging aSk at load which neither
muscle nor love q bid put along. And then
some fellow with hardly any brains, but &C
customed to labor, has come to the job and
made light of it,ssimply because he knew
enough to make two loads of it, and to go
twice. People uu4sed to work always amuse
day laborers, because they put the energy of
half day into five minutes, and, so are
asthmatic in trice. See, for example, how
the "gentleman" manages scythe which he
takes from the mower. He laug lbs at him
self in less than three minutes.
Thus the Bible Injunction which limits to-
day to its own care @to its own joy, touches
the real philosophical life. When we carry
weight as nature and Providence lay it upon
US, we get our strength round it and move
on. When we take up too much at once,
when we try to stretch our arms or our plans
around too big burden, we find that We
have it at arms-length, and we are forced to
let it fall. To-day is not too much because
it lies close to US, and God puts it well up
on our shoulders. Tomorrow is enough to
break down anybody, because tbs larger than
our arms-length, and God does not fit it to
our backs. So let us say it over again, up
town and down, in doors and out, though we