Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-10-11
NO. g..
THREE HOURS AT NIGHT.

The days work ends ut six o'clock.
Supper is ended at seven. Then
from seven to ten are three hours, and
with most men the question is what
shall be done with them. The con-
,dition Of the man must determine
this. Ifhe has been at work, then he
is weary, and he must begin the recu
peratiye rest that will fit him for the
next days work. Ten hours of toll
require that Overstrung muscles must
be relaxed, and yet these three hours
to the laboring man determine more
for his future than the ten hours in
which he has labored. All his society
relations that make him any more
than an uncongcnial creature must be
attended To in these three hours. All
his mental furnishings that are to
make him an intelligent man belong
to these three hours. All his bust
ness projects except his mere manual
labour, all his family societyship, all
his fraternal duties, and nearly all his
social religious privileges belong to
these three hours. What the man be-
comes will grow out of the way lie
uses these three hours.
They form q considerable part Of
his actual life. Three hours per day
for six secular days give eighteen
hours per week, measured by the
school day of six hours, this gives
three school days per week to the la
boring man, Forty weeks per year
is about fair average for public
schools, and this at five days per week
gives two hundred days per year.
Fhrce hours per day for fifty weeks
gives one hundred and fifty school
days, or three fourths of the whole
school time per year to the man who
yet labors ten hours per day. For
the forty years of life, reaching from
twenty to sixty years of age, this
gives thirty school years. A prepara-
tory course Of study followed by a
thorough course at college occupy
seven school years. Now on this
basis the laboring man has at his dis
sposal more than the time of four whole
courses Of study, that well improved
would bear away the honor and the
diploma of any American College. If
thorough college training developes
and determines the individuality of
the man, these evening hours of
the laborins man give him four-fold
this opportunity.
1t is recklessly criminal to ones
self to spend these three hours as
.three-fourths of the laboring men
spend thcm Listless smoking after
supper trenches greatly on this valu.
time, this tends to make man con-
tented with his lot. Right here is its
thief injury, for if man was not con-
.cented with his lot he would try to
rise to better condition. The old
men who live in cabins smoke theil
precious evenings away at the cabin
door. The young men who do the
same, will do it all the same when
they become old. They will not gel
ahead very much. Store loungine
only kills the time; he who kills time
commits a eold-blooled murder, or
the person OF his most valued oppor-
tunity, and sooner or later the blood
stains will be found on him. Toe
many society engagements take all
this valuable time to little purpose
The reading Of story papers is another
way to squander this time. AS a
general rue what they contain one
would be wiser and better not tC
know. The tremendous possibilitie:
that are within this surplus time Of
the laboring man are sacrificed tt
such useless and frivolous things.
The wise and industrious use o
these three hours will make a mar
eminent at the age Of sixty years. l
they are devoted to money making
they will double his ordinary income
one year with another for forty years
They will do this without increasing
their ontlays. In forty years doubt
income would net $4,000 dollars il
property, In most small villages thu
man with $4,000 dollars can contro
the village. If they are devoted t.
reading and study, in forty years the,
would give the mental discipline pos
.sessed by the profoundest Universit
professor in tile whole land. Ifdevote
to literature they could lead in fort
years to peerless authorship. Th
conversation Of the ancient philoso
pliers would not be more attractiv
than the dignified wisdom of sugl
scholarly men oftoil when they shoul
pour it in torrents from their lips. ]
this time should be devoted to til
building up of the social attraction
of the home it would accomplish S
much that the children when grow
mp and gone on life's mission woul
always remember that home with az
miration. The young life that h0
had attractions thrown around it an
inspirations infused into it begins tn
race for usefulness and goodness at
magnificent advantage.
How can map begin the improve
ment of this time The first thing
TO understand its importanc e, and th
can be done by thinking about i!
The next thing to do is to set abor
it, Stay at home from the loungin
place after supper Break the pip
and burn the tobacco in the stove
Danish trashy reading. Forget dom
noes and such pastimes. Arrang