Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-01-18
TAE MERALD.
ISLAND POND, w. JANUARY 10.
NEGLECTING NOW FOR THEN.

W. ~ "iANaN ~ - ~ MUM
easier picking up a poor living than
working for a good one, that even
if a good plan is made, the execu-
ton of it is liable to be deferred
until the proper time for doing it
has passed. This proorastination
that is the thief of progress as well
as time is not one of Vermont's
characteristics The majority of
folks here attend to business in
season, almost out of season, too;
but even here some things are put
off from day to day that ought to be
attended to at once.
Almost every busy man or woman
has some pet scheme for enjoying
life in that far distant future
when riches, leisure and favorable
circumstances permit of such enjoy
ment. One person has an ambition
for being the possessor of a good
library, perhaps does accumulate
the books, but seldom takes time to
read them. Another hopes to en-
JOY music or art in that sweet bye
and bye looked forward to here on
earth. The looking forward to the
happy future when these or other
delights will be all ones own Is one
of the chief sources of joy to some
of the most sanguine when they
first begin the more prosaic task of
earning living, while others render
their lives more miserable by dwell
ing upon the thought that probably
they will never reach the desired
goal.
1t is here that many otherwise
wise people make a sad mistake.
Instead of enjoying all they can of
their favorite pursuits, without neg
lect Of more important duties, they
wait until they can carry on these
pursuits on a large scale before be-
ginning at all. Sometimes this time
never comes and sometimes when it
does come they find to their sur
prise that they do not want to do
what they have looked forward to
30 many years, after all. 81 have
grown too old for that now. If |
could only have had the chance when
/ was younger" is their cry, when the
truth is that the talent they once
possessed is ruStcd from disuse and
if they had only INDUCED the taste
IL little even, through all these years,
their enjoyment in these things
would be as keen as ever. If one
cannot have the large library and
leisure, he probably can have few
good books, magazines and papers
and take a few minutes in each day
or each week for their enjoyment.
If the elegant hot house, extensive
grounds and stables are denied him
he may be able to keep few hens
and raise iis own strawberries or
potatoes, and the beginning thus
may lead to the greater opportunity
as we'll as affordIng present enjoy
inert and profit. One may spend a
lifetime saving up money for travel
in foreign lands and neglect to visit
the beautiful bit of scenery in the
next county that hundreds annually
come many miles to see.
This neglect of ones own present
happiness for the sake of some un-
certain pleasure further on is bad
enough, but not SO bad as the simil-
ar neglect of friends. Too busy to
make calls, almost too busy to re-
ceive them No time for writing
letters or for visiting friends at a
distance Too much occupied in
laying up money for the children to
take any interest in their plans 70,
tomorrow And one by one the
friends drop from sight the children
grow up strangers so far as mutual
interests are concerned, perhaps &c
astray when little friendly counsa
and sympathy might have saved
them, and when the leisure comes
the friends have become eStranged
or have gone. That one brings thi,
loneliness on himself, oftimes, is evi
dant. Some of the busiest people
in every community are the people
with the most friends. They never
are so absorbed in business as tc
overlook hand stretched out fol-
help or 4 wound into which they
can pour balm. Their ranks would
be fuller were each one to follow
the dictates of his heart or con
science at once, instead of waiting
for more convenient time and bet
ter preparation.
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