River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-06-26
THE VALUE OF METHODS.
Living on q System which VIII Best Pre-
serve the Harmonies of Life.

Living On System which VIII Best Pro-
serve the Harmonies of Life.
Once in awhile there finds its way
into print some method or system of
| living, advocated by the man who ap-
| plies 1t, that is startling. A journalist
recently published and strongly advised
| his NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. to follow his
| plan, system that was the worst form
of slavery, He was engaged in a pub
| fishing house where he was compelled
TO spend seven hours day. Neither
the salary nor the employment was sat
isfactory, as the gentleman had literary
| proclivities, so he adopted his method
TO meet his wants, and believed entirely
that he had found the secret of success
| in his method. With the aid of an
alarm clock he is reused at $3.50 each
morning, and one hour later, after very
thorough ablutions" and a light break
fast of bread and milk, or rolled wheat,
he is at his desk, whore he remains till
seven O'Clock; then the morning paper
and breakfast; at eight he starts for
business; the study of Spanish furnishes
employment for the half-hour spent on
the elevated road-for of course this
man lives in New York-then seven
hours in the publishing house, more
Spanish, dinner, and bed at eight. 1t
would be interesting to read the liter
airy work ground out by such a system.
The closing sentence of the article is
characteristics: but it is a. m, and
i must stop" Think of what the world
has lost because of the unfortunate
minute hand on that workers clock.
Is life TO be spent in treadmill?
Are we to be nothing but machines?
Sometimes we see, We hear, of mothers
whose lives are one incessant effort TO
gain a period of rest; but that a man
could be found who would be willing 10
shut out friends, art, music, hJe, willing
ly, and advocate a system that involves
such sacrifice seems incredible.
But was there ever a man who doubt
ed his ability to advise his neighbor?
The subject may be what it will,
whether the division of income, invest
ments, love affairs, government of wife
or nothing daunts or deters
him. In no relation does man show his
belief in the brotherhood of the race so
thoroughly as in his willingness to
management of his affairs, in advis-
ing him especially about the use
of time. Every man beliyes that he
has found the secret of accomplishing
the greatest amount of work with the
least expenditure of force. And so we
hear, from the man who finds he can
work best in the afternoon, convincing
arguments for following that method of
dividing time. Then there is the man
who works best when he has not a mo-
ment of time in which TO catch up wi tn
the demand. Then we have the man
who eats, three hundred and sixty-five
days in the year, exactly tho same
breakfast at the same time, and 20 this
babit attributes his sound health and
working powers. We have the man who
believes in inspiration, and the man
who thinks inspiration is habit and
il is merely a matter of sitting down
and rising on the exact minute each
day.
zone mans meat is another mans
poison" says the old saw, and it applies
to life on every side. What is tempta-
ton to one man is not to another What
is case to one man is distress to an
other. What is attractive to one man is
repelent TO another. We can not make
rules for each other; fortunate are we
if we can make rules for ourselves
which we find always workable. But
there is one gospel which we should all
preach in these days, and that is that
the liberty of life is worth more than
systems, more than rules, more than
theories; that every man should seek
to find that philosophy, that system, of
living which will best preserve the har-
monies of life for him. Christian
Union.