The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1880-07-22
Time Once Past Can Never Return.
ny o. A. HErFEB.

How many here this evening have
stopped TO think how much time
they have wasted to-day How
much they have lost I And have
You thought that those moments
which are lost, are lost forever :
We may cay il was only minutes |
idled away. But minutes make
hours, aud hours Gil up lifetime
Every moment lost is link lost in
the chain of life aud how brok IN
will be our chain OF life il we are
forever losing links We ehoul d
consider time as n sacred trust COM
mitted TO us-of which We are no W
the depositaries, aud at the last we
are to render an account How
fast times flies away II we trifo
away the bright and shiny moments
OF youth manhood will be disgroced.
Old age will be oppressed with care,
aud at tho close of life the dying
mau will behold with anguish that
hi 8 days are ended aud his prep
aration for eternity has not been at
tended to. Such will be the effects
OF a person who has wasted all the
bright moments Of his youth. Ever
in our school room We can readily
mark the progross OF scholars who
improve the moments. Those who
do not improve their time are always
at the foot OF thoir classes. They
never have time to get a lesson. aud
are always treated 80 mean by their
teacher. But still hey are as good
az any other scholar in school.
While those who improve their mos
ments always have good lessons
and are always at the head Of their
classes. They have time to get
their lesssns and arc always treated
we'll by all whom they assosiate with.
These are they who will reach the
summit of tho "fiill Of Scionco.'
But those who do not improve
their moments will still hope to
reach the summit but the ground
will slide away from beneath their
feet aud they soon will have changed
places aud be at the foot Of the
hill. Aud why Because when
pleasure warbled in the valley they
mingled in her train and when
pride beckoned towards the preci-
pee, they ventured to the tottering
edge they idled their moments
playing here aud skipping over that
hard aud stony road. They were
co ontented in youth, but now they
are melancholy, aud are compelled to
dwell in the cells of ignorance and
in tho mansions OF misery. While
one has been idling away his mo
ments the other has been creeping
along with slow and persevering
steps, patiently they have removed
every stone that obstructs their way,
and now science aud virtue have
raised them to eminence and fidelity.
The bright clouds has been borne
away from the one by his own hand
simply because he did not improve
his time when he should have i'm
proved it while to the other it has
brought to him u name that will soon
be forgotten. Both began life in
the same field aud on the same road.
The one has devoted his time to
labor, aud now you can readily see
who has chosen the wise way and
who has won the prize. Their la.
bors are ended. And now will the
grave, which covers their forms,
cover and conceal within its cham
bers oil their past life No. The
seed they have sown in their lives
will now spring mp in harvest OF
blessings, or o harvest OF sorrows.
Their influence still survives them.
The echos OF their words will be re-
peated and reelected by another gen.
Grafton. How careful then should
We be to spend our bright moments
Alright Now is the time to improve,
not tv morrow or the next day, but
now. How beautiful it will be when
we have finished our work, look back
with pleasure over the life we have
lived, aud turp over the pages OF life
and read the record Of our lives
There black will ever be black, and
white will ever be white. You can
not erase one mark. What you put
there, there it will stay. But now
you need not put anything down in
black, and when you turn the final
leaf no black or blurred pages will
meet your eye. Always remember,
"Time once passed can never return.