The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-01-07
The Man Who Had No Time

"Allow me to introduce my nephew to
you, said dry old Scotchman to a
friend of ours che iss young man who
has got nothing to do, and never has
time to do it,
Whether the description was more
caustic than just We cannot say, but it
shall serve, at all events, to introduce to
our consideration a character we have
often met with IN the world.
Not that he is always, or even gener-
ally, young, nor that he is to be found
only amongst those who really have
little or nothing to do. On the con-
trary, there are graybeards As well As
youths, busy men as well as indolent
ones, who, with more or less severity
of application, may be described as
"having no tlne."
1t is a chronic complaint with them.
There is no one, indeed, who doe. not
have an occasional touch of il, or who,
some time or other, has not wished,
when under pressur of urgent demands
upon his time, that, like Joshua, 1t were
given him to make the day twice as
long as usual but in the character we
speak of the compl amt is not occas-
ional, nor intermittent, nor spasmodic,
but chronic. 1t is the plea that is ever
on the lips as the sole and sufficient
excuse for thing, of all sorts not being
attempted. or done as they ought, or
not done at az.
Perhaps he is 4 shrewd man of busi-
ness, sharp as needle. H. will tell
you how much more rapid is the STRAIN
now in these days OF kilograms than it
used to be when he was young man
more done in an hour sometimes now
'li~ii @ould have been done IN a week
III .'ose ''>V- coach days. He himself
assilhilS'es To ~'egraphic instrument;
his very words come -.
with sort OF sharp click, ~. that M.
chine when at work there IS a-,..,
tiousness in bis remarks that remin.
you of the restriction to "twenty words"
in telegraphic communication. 1t is all
a race with him. If you meet him in
the street and threaten chat. he will
most likely wave you off with "Can't
stop-no time" If you happen to ask
him whether he has read some book of
the day-ot course nothing uncommon
| or abstruse-he will shake his head in
SPONTANEOUSLY. as if it we're touched by
an electric current. and Say, "No time
for reading" Or if you try to get him
to help you in some good work whose
operations are not quoted in tine share
list, he will tell you at once, and almos
before you have said five words, that !:
you want a subscription you shall have
it (and very likely it will be handsome
one), but as to giving any personal at
tention to the matter, it was simply ou
Of the question, for he really had NJ
time for such things.
Sometimes this character is to be me
with among persons whose circum
stances are the very opposite of thos
of the man cngrossed in business. W.
will not say that he ha, absolutely moth
ing to do, though if such man shoul'
be found, it is quite possible that h
might be victim of this complaint (t
coin a word\ of achrouiSm, and fanc
he had no time for anything But wha
we say is that he has very little that h
i. obliged to do. He is the man VIII
really ha. a good deal of leisure, an
vet never has time for anything BIT
what he likes. 1t il astonishing wh'
; an estimate he forms, and honestly, too
, of the large amount of occupation tn;
I falls to his share. To hear him, 20
5 would suppose he was one of the bus
u est of men. Just as Frenchman
y characteristic is aniably to make muc
1t of mere triAe, so his tendency is
= view all he does in pleasantly exas
k gerated light-under microscope,
: it we're. He is generally, in fact, q
W easy-going, good-tempered person. I
IL him any proposal to attempt what is nj