The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-01-15
Frittering Away Time.

NOhMAN MACLEOD, VI du ucu but
last against whom any but himself
would have preferred such an accusa-
ton, sometimes wrote in his journal his
sorrow that his time had been " fritter-
ed'' away. Pastor, editor, philanthro-
pist, he was constantly interrupted in
his work by calls from people who
wished to consult him about their va
rious interests, and it was inevitable
that he should sometimes feel that a
crowd of petty cares were absorbing
and consuming his strength. In some
measure, the same experience comes to
all workers. We need patience with
ourselves and our circumstances, and
we need to guard our minds against I'M
due depression, because our accom-
plishments fall ever short of our aims
and ideals. Still time, most precious
and most impartially distributed of
Gods gifts, is one of the talents for
which we are responsible. and we
should be certain that we are putting it
to the best use possible for us.
1t is not frittering it away to spend it
in recreation, as many happy psople
do, in the summer days. Our National
sin of overwork, of wasting and wear
ing hurry, has cut off many lives in their
prime. Slowly we are learning more
excellent way, and now the annual va
cation is planned for, by most men and
year. That time is solid gain, and not
idle loss, which is employed in climbing
mountain sides, rambling by ripping
brooks, and resting by the ever-chang-
ing sea. Few of us take so much time
as we ought, to look at the beautiful
world where God has placed us. Few
of us are willing to discover its hidden
loneliness, or to read, as we should, its
open secrets of delight. We should be
led from Nature upward to God, as
prophets and kings were of old. And
perhaps we oftener would be, were
we to spend more time in taking in the
new supplies of every fresh morning
and evening.
Time is not frittered away which is
used in healthful sleep. Economic
where you will, but if you are wise
never cut off an hour of needed sleep
at either end of the night. When our
Father draws the curtain of darkness,
we children should obey the gracious
hint and seek the repose which is
renovation and new creation of our
jaded powers.
Let us glance at the other side of the
question. Some of the busiest people
in the world get the minimum amount
done. They are possessed of restless
activity hrf ~ avnanHc ;tcolf ~, +r;Aoo
They fly here and there like butterflies,
slipping here, pausing there; but the
sum of their efforts amounts to little,
and they divert and distract more seri-
Gus workers. Every church and every
Sunday-school has its share of this sort
of workers. They mean well. They
talk. They promise easily and largely.
They always want the hardest enter
prises to be at least started, and they
are energetic at the start. But their
energy is effervescent, and when the
real work comes, and the time for show
and talk is over, they are somewhere
else. And that is why, in most schools
and churches, the pressure of work al
ways falls upon few faithful and tried
ones, who go quietly on, with little
stir.
We fritter our time away in study by
attempting too much at once. Nobody
can proftably read half-dozen oreGt
books at time, and so when one is
dipping into the Greek poets, and CLAN
cling at Shakespeare, and peepine into
Milton, and flashing the lens on Dante,
all at the same time, that person is
gaining nothing. His mental amuse
ment may not hurt him, but it does not
help him, and in most cases he ia in
peril of intellectual dyspepsia. A great
deal of Bible reading is-from its man
ner, or from the readers state of mind
mere frittering of time, because
though the whole Bible is given for
instruction, and all is profitable. If
wisely used, yet even in hallowed
things we are not to take leave of com
mon sense. A chapter read with an
absent heart will do us no more GOOD
than if it were chapter of Choctaw for
the Bible is not a fetch. To Gods
word we should bring our entire mental
strength, and should be solicitous rather
to comprehend what we read than to
read a great deal.
When the end of the day arrives, and