The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1884-01-18
THE HABIT OF HURRY.
Modern Life Dominated by Desire To
Do Too Much.

A medical contemporary publishes
some sensible and. we fear, only too
opportune observations on what it calls
the ''habit of hurry" in modern life.
The modern man of business dresses in
hurry, he breakfasts in hurry, he is
in n 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 hurry
that he reads his letters, that he an
swers uheni, that he passes his day, and
that he returns to the station to catch
his homeward- bound train. All this
precipitation, this constant, daily, per-
petual being in hurry is altogether
gratuitous, and that it is the mere
result of bad habit. Business men
can not afford not to be seen in hurry.
If one of them were 10 walk at leis-
urely and deliberate pace to his morn
ing train and saunter through the day
at the same rate, people would con-
clude that he had very little business
to transact, or that he was remiss and
lethargic in transacting it. Hence, he
begins by assuming necessity for haste
when none really exists: and, by de-
grees, habit becomes a second nature.
That there is a good deal of truth in
all this nobody who has observantly
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 necessari-
ly certain days in the year-''mail''
days, for instance, or "balancing"
days-when there really does exist
greater pressure of work than at other
times. In these cases push has to
be made, and everybody concerned in
getting the work done communicates
his own feverishness to his neighbors.
But such is the constitution of the
human frame, such the mechanism of
human temperament, that what is done
frequently has a tendency to establish
itself as something there is always
done. 1t even becomes pleasure to
some men at last, as we'll as necessi-
ty, to do things quickly. Moreover, on
the supposition that man of business
lives in the country, or in semi-rural
suburb-which is the case with the
majority-it is only natural that he
should linger among his household
gods till the last possible minute. 1t
is so much more plesanter to go round
to the stable, to see how the azaleas
are getting on, to count the coming
rosebuds, to linger 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 for it." The day begun in that
fashion probably Is continued in that
fashion. The train arrives at the place of
departure five, ten, fifteen minutes late.
The traveller begins to fidget 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 the plight of Macaulay'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 a futile attempt to catch it
up. It 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 1t Is to be avoid
ed under the conditions of modern life,
or how, when once set up, 1t Is to be
remedied. There is however, this
comfort which men of business and
the working bees Of society may take
to themselves, that modern life very
often seems to spare the drones no
less. Certainly during the height of
the London season no persons acquire
habits of hurry more completely than
people of fashion. In order to consume
all the amount of enjoyment" that Is
placed at their disposal they must
pcrpetually be In q hurry. How to be
In the row-in time; how to be back
for luncheon-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 centers of
business, is dominated by the desire to
do too much and the consequent neces-
sity of doing IL with precipitation. It
is horrible habit-a detrimental habit;
we had almost said vulgar habit. The
whole world Is In o conspiracy to
double, to treble the pace. And what
is gained by itp Loss of temper, de-
terioration Of manners, injury to diges-