Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-07-24
A WASTE OF LABOR.
Appliances to Conserve the Health and
Strength of the Household.

Appliances to Conserve the Health and
Strength of the Household.
1t would seem hardly necessary to
enter into a course of argument with q
man possessed of seeing eyes and a
reasoning mind to convince him that
the half of a thing is less than the
whole of it, Or that the radius of q
circle is less than it's circumference.
And yet there are men possessed Of
both these attributes of sight and rea-
son whose daily tasks and plans in life
are measured out by a rule that sets at
naught these self-evident truths. And
as might naturally be expected from
an application of such a false rule of
measurement, their work, whatever it
may be, is generally in q state of con-
fusion and their plans seldom come out
as they are expected to do. The fact
is that 40 great amount of time and
labor is spent to no purpose, or in
ways that are wholly unnecessary
and avoidable by a little are
and forethought. 1t is the wise
and prudent man who learns to
economic tiM~, to turn every moment
of his LABOR to the greatest possible
advantage. to make every ounce weight
of his energies weigh on the side of
actual profit. 1t is this proper use of
time that often turns the scale between
success and failure in any given calling
or profession. Men sometimes wonder
at one of their number that he is able
to accomplish such q prodigious amount
of work in a brief space Of t me with
out appearing to exert himself any
more than others whose labors have a
comparatively small result. In such
cases generally the secret is that the
| one has learned how to economic time;
he has s arranged his plans that all
his efforts may be concentrated upon
one point at a time, and that the neel-
full n His energies are not dis
sipated in fruitless and aimless en-
deavors, but expended in every ins
stance just where they will do the most
good. He does not spend his time
in going around a circle when
with a slight additional effort hn
might open a way across it.. He doea
not himself carry great burdens to and
fro between two points when by the
exercise of 4 little patience and inge-
nuity he might devise some means for
lessening the number of steps and thus
save time and labor. We have in mind
q case that may be cited as an extreme
example of the inconvenience a person,
will snbject himself to which Il slight
effort would remove. In tins case it
is a farmhouse where the wood-shed,
though jutting against the kitchen, is
to be entered only by going through
the gate out of the front yard and
around to a door that opens. on a high
way. The buildings are old, and this
arrangement has probably been in
force for forty years or more. The
distance around by the highway to the
interior of the wood-shed is not less
than seven or eight rods, while the
same point might be reached in 70
ing as many feet. The only obstacle
that intervcncs in the latter case
between the kitchen stove and the
wood-pile is a thin board partition.
But in all these forty years, more or
less, it seems never to have occurred to
the responsible head of this house to
cut a door through from the kitchen
into the wood-house, or directly from
the yard outside. If it has aver oc-
Cured to him, the thought has been
dismissed by the conviction that
''things are good enough as they are"
and that what has been must continus
to be. And so through the winte.
SHOWS. the rains of spring, the sum-
mer's scorching heat. the daylight and
darkness. the storm and shine Of neal.
ly half a century, the good wife OF this
farmer, and her occasional assistants,
have trudged around the circle carry.
ing wood to replenish the kitchen fire.
IN. !. Observer.