Richland beacon., 1880-09-04
Il MATTER OF HABIT.
A Chapter on the " Regular Man,"

A Chapter on the " Regular Man,"
We can see him nOw-with our minds
eye-the person of Irregular habits"
He commonly lives in the country. He
rises at 4 o'clock in the summer and 6
o'clock in the winter, rain or shine, busy
or idle he invariably puts Oh his right
stocking and boot first, starts the kitch-
en- fire-if he be a real Christian and not
II mere "believer calls nanny" or
the girl, does the "chOres," eats the
regulation breakfast at the precise hour
he ordered it fifty years before, and then
proceeds to walk through the rest of the
hours of the day like a piece of machine
ry, until the old clock strikes 9, when
he puts aside his pipe and paper and
goes to bed like a chicken-that is, II
venerable rOOster-at sundown. So he
joys through llfe-tick-tack, tick k-tack,
round and round, in the same old track
until he dies, at ripe old age, and
has the distinction Of q mention in the
obituary notices of his local paper as a
"gentleman noted for his regular hab-
its.
Well, such life has its advantages
and compensation, and if the highest
aim Of our life on earth were to see how
long we can stay on the top of it the
success might make the mode more uni
versal. But one may pay too much even
for long life, and regular habits that
shut man out from that large liberty
of choice and action necessary to self
development and great achievements are
an expensive necessity. We hear great
deal about costly luxuries, and there are
some so-called necessities thst are vastly
more extravagant, if life be considered
as doing no less than being. When one
is robbed or hampered harmfully by
self-imposed conditions of living, it is
we'll to consider whether the life is no
more than meat. and the spirit superior
to red-tape fetters. A good share of the
failures in life come from the attempt to
feed without changingthepost or length
ening the tethers. Men walk mechan-
ically in circle when they should
mount with wings like eagles. They
realize the low aspiration of DIR. Holmes
convict, and have "a tread-mill of their
own."
For certain physical functions and
habits of life, regularity is Of prime i'm
portance but the conditions of society
and affairs are such that there must be
considerable pliancy and adaptabilty in
many of our modes and customs. Few
busy lives, closely connected with others,
can be so we'll ordered as to take so many
and such-and-such meals each day-sO
many miles walk or ride-and just SO
much sleep, in a set portion of the
twenty-four hours. The turtle doesn't
beat the hare in the race, except in
fables. There are spurts in all swift pro-
gression. Even nature is regular only
in q large way. She will do more tow
ard her "grand spring opening" in the
second week of May than for the three
weeks previous to that time. Within
the week when the opening bud becomes
leaf, new sim and wind and rain, and
the silent, unseen earth-fOrces combine
to "push things!" Nature rests. She
is the pattern saint in patience. She
gets ready, and then moves-slows mp,
and comes down the home stretch like q
Thoroughbred. The sun has not yet been
brought to shine by rule, even by the
weather bureau. The rain does not come
every day like a street-sprinkler. The
wind continues to blow where it l;steth.
though observation and the telegraph
wire enable us to know its course.
The regular man is apt to he too method.
ical. 1t never occurs to him that there
are days when he may get up early, and
others when he should lie late-times
when he needs three hearty meals, and
Others when he should eat scantily, OF
fast-occasions when he must work like
a steam-engine, and times when he
should cultivate and encourage genius
for repose.
A FELLOW in Chico, Cal, went up in.
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