Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-04-08
AN AUCTION ROOM.


Remind One of the Value of Time.
Going! going. gone.' The Other
day, as l was walking through a side
street in one OF our large cities, heard
these words ringing out from q room
so crowded with people that l could
Just see the auctioneer's face and up.
lifted hammer above the heads of the
crowd
"Going, Going. Going! Gomez
and down came the hammer with a
sharp rap.
do not know how or why it WAS.
but the words struck me with a new
force. and significance. | had heard
them hundreds of times before, with
only a sense of amusement This time
they sounded solemn.
Going! Going! GOne!"
That is the way it is with life" l
said to myself-''with time.
This world is sort of auction room;
we do hot know that we are buyers;
we are, in fact, more like beggars; we
have brought no money to exchange
for precious minutes, hours, days or
years: they are given to US. There IS
no calling out of terms, no noisy auc-
iioneer. no hammer; but, nevertheless,
the time is going! going! gone"
The more | thought Of it. the more
solemn did the words sound. and the
more did they seem to me a good mot
TO to remind one of the value OF time.
When we are young we think old
people are preaching and pressing when
they say 50 much about it-when they
declare so often that days. weeks. even
years. are short. l can remember when
holiday. whole day long. appeared
to me an almost inexhaustible play
spell: when one afternoon, even,
seemed IN endless round of pleasure,
and the week that was to come seemed
longer than does a whole year now.
One needs to live many years before
one learns how little time there is in a
year-how little. indeed. there viii be
in the longest possible life-how many
things one will still be obliged to leave
undone.
But there is one thing, boys and
girls, that YOU can realize. if YOU viii
try-ify You will stop and think about it Il
little; and that is, how fast and how
steady the present time is slipping
-zway. However long life may seem to
-gs7p. As YOU look forward to the whole of
It, she present hour has only sixty min
utes. and minute by minute. second by
second it is going! going! gone!' Ii
You gather nothing from it as it passes it
is gone" forever. Nothing is SO hope
lessly lost as .'loSt time" 1t makes
me unhappy when l look back and see
how much time l have wasted; how
much | might have learned and done
if had but understoodhow short is the
Longest hour.
Ali the men and women who have
made the world better, happier or
wiser for having lived in it. have done
so by working diligently and persist
entity. Yet. l am certain that not even
one of these. when Cooking backward
from his manhood's prime saw not
the specter of his mis-spcnt time"
Now, don't suppose am SO foolish as
to think that all the preaching in the
world can make any thing look to young
eyes as it looks to old eyes; not bit
of it.
But think about it little; don't let
time slip away by the minute, hour.
day, without getting something out OF
it! Look as the clock now and then,
and listen to the pendulum, saving of
every minute, as it flies = Going!
going! gone,
Going. going. gone, Is this an auction. here.
Where nobody bids. and nobody buys. and
there is no auctioneer!
No hammer. no crowd. no noise, no push OF
women and lnen-
And yet thI chance that is passing now will
never come back again!
Going, going. gone! Here is a morn of June
Dew and fragrance. and coior. and light, and
III. lion sounds a-tune.
oh. look, Oh listen. BE wise, and take tn S
wonderful thing
A jewel such as You witnot ind IN the treas
ury OF king.
Going, yoingI gonei What is next on the list
An afternoon of purple and geld, faira N
And large enough to hold all good things
under the sun.
Bid it in now and crowd it full with lessons
and work, and fun.
Going. going: gone! Here is ayear to b
A whole MAGNIFICENT year held out to ever,
lass and iadi
Days, anu weeks. and months. Joys. Ont
la5ors. and pains!
Take II. spend il. buy with it, lend it, and pre-
sently count your gains
Going, going, gone! The largest lot come:
last:
Here with its infinite unknown wealth is Of
fered lifetime VaSti
Out of II may be wrought the deeds OF hert
and sage
Come, hid Come. bid lest . brave brigh
youth fade out to useless age!
The Late Helen Jackson IN st. Nicholas.