The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-12-20
The Habit OF HurTying.


some sensible and, we fear, only too |
observation on what it |
calls the 'habit of hurry" in modern |
business life. The modern man of |
business dresses in q hurry; he break |
fasts in a hurry; he is in Il hurry to |
catch his train; he is in hurry to get |
out of it. 1t is with hurry that he
proceeds to his Office. in a hurry that |
he reads his letters, that he answers
them, that he passes his day, and that
he returns to the station to catch his
homeward bound train. All this pre-
cipitation, this constant, daily. per-
petual being hurry is altogether gra-
tuitouS, and that it is the mere result
of bad habit. Business men cannot
afford not to seem to be in Il hurry.
Ii one of them were to walk at q leiS-
urely and deliberate pace to his morn
ing train, and saunter through the day
at the sauna rate, people would con-
clude that he had either very little
business to transact, or that he was
remisS and lethargic in transacting it,
Hence, he begins by assuming a ne
cesSity for haste when none exists,
and, by degrees, habit becomes sec
ond nature.
That there is a good deal of truth in
all this nobody who has obserYantly
watched modern ways Of life would
dream of denying. But in truth the
habit of hustle, which is so marked
characteristic Of our time, is originally
set up by conditions over which men
have little or no control. In the case
of men of business there are necessa-
rily certain days in the year-"mail"
| days, for instance, or "balance" days
| when there really does exist q greater
pressure OF work than at other times.
| In these cases push" has to be
| made, and everybody concerned IL
getting the work done communicates
| his own 1eVerishnesS to his neighbors.
But such is the constitution OF the
human frame, such the mechanicism
| of the human temperament, that what
| is done frequently has tendency to
establish itself as something that is
| always done. 1t even becomes a
| pleasure to some men at last, as we'll
as necessity, to do things quickly,
| moreover, on the sCppositiOn that a
| man of business lives in the country,
| or in semi-rGyal suburb-Which
| is the case with the majOrity-lt
is only natural that he should lin
| ger among his household gods til!
the last possible minute. 1t is so much
pleasanter TO go round to the stable,
to see how the azaieas are getting OF,
to count the coming rosebuds, to lin
ger on the deWy gravel path than to
be in the noisy dirty, steaming city
Then suddenly the watch is taken out
of the pocket to see what time it is,
and in order to catch the city train
he "must make a run to it," The day
begun in that fashion probably it con-
| tinued in that fashion. The train ar
1 rives at the place of departure five,
ten, fifteen minutes late. The trav-
eler begins to fget and worry. He
has an appointment, and he fears he
will be late for it. Possibly he is.
Thereby everything is thrown out of
| gear, and for the rest of the day he is
in a plight of Macauley's Duke Of
| Newcastle, whom the historian de-
scribed as losing half an hour in the
morning and spending all the rest of
the day in futile attempt to catch
it up.
1t is easy enough to see how it is
that the habit OF hurry" is set up
but much more difficult to perceive
how the setting up of it is to be
avoided under the conditions of mod
ern life, or low, when once set up, it
is to be remedied. There is, however
this comfort which men OF business
and the working bees of society may
take to themselves, the modern life
very often seems to spare the drones
no less. Certainly during the height
of the London season no persons ac-
quire habits of hurry more complete
ly than people of fashion. In order
to consume all the amount of "enjoy-
ment" that is placed at their disposal
they must perpetually be in a hurry.
How to be in the RoW-in time; how
to be back for luncheon-in time; how
to dress for dinner-in time; how to
reach the theater or the opera-in
time; these are problems Of daily, of
hourly occurrence in the West End.
The whole Of modern life, whether
in the centers of pleasure or the GEN.
tiers of business, is dominated ~ the
desire to do too much, and the conse-
quent necessity of doing it with pre-
cipitation. It is a horrible habit-a
detrimental habit; we had almost said
vulgar habit. The whole world is
in conspiracy to double, to treble the
pace. And what is gained by it? Loss
of temper, deterioration of manners,
injury to digestion, increase of nerv-
Gus diseases-these are the natural
and inevitable results of that high
pressure to which we nearly all eX-
pose ourselves and subject each other.
Who is made happier by it, who wiser,
who even richer? Everything is rel
alive in this word; and if everybody
gallops, nobody is better off than If
everybody walked. But who will
consent to alter it? 1t would require
a universal consensus; and this is not
attainable.