The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-09-23
miscellaneous.
A New Beginning.

The calendar year begins January |,
but for most of us our year begins
when our vacation ends. We pick up
then the threads that were broken.
We learn, some of us with a shock.
how well the world has gone on with
out us; how admirably our work has
been done; how small a place in the
world we fill. Yet we do not get the
lesson from this experience that we
should. We take up life again as if we
could not be spared from doing, losing
sight of the far richer growth that
comes from b. ing. We begin life with
the same nervous energy, the same
prodieal waste of vitality. Within q
month the familiar cry of CT have no
time " is heard, and the lines that the
weeks or months of rest had erased
appear with additional creases, written
not by time, but by worry-worry born
Of a spirit Of haste. We do not sit
down quietly before making engage
ments to fit the duties to the pleasures,
the dc mand to the strength we have of
nerves as well as muscles; so the waste
of forces that distresses the conscience
and produces nervous internal friction
saps vitality, but we do not cry I" Haltl'
We preach loud and long against
American mel vousness and haste, talk
earnestly of the delightful leisure that
is one OF the charms of life in Europe,
and go right on contributing our indi-
vidual share to the national weakness
enc is tempted to write crime. For is
there no criminal act in depicting our
mental and physical powers? We say
that the man who by dissipation brings
Aice 10 c,,,iltxy e
self. But is it any less a crime, by
waste of nervous force in work or by
over-demand upon our powers, to use
in months what should have been at
our command for years?
What l esteem most in that
woman" said a close observer of
human nature, -" is that she knows
when to say 'no.' Whenever she is
asked to do work, go on a committee,
identify herself with any movement,
she considers first of what value she
would be; how far her present engage
ments would permit of her charging her
activities; but, first of all, would the
work proposed interfere with her home
duties? 1t is this slowness of decision
that makes her so valuable in any posi-
ton, for when she takes hold she has
arranged her life to meet the new de-
mands upon her thought and time
Waste of vitality is not confined to
the women who encourage outside in
terests. Women who never have a
care outside of home and family waste
strength of mind and body. 1t is mis-
taken for unselfishness, and they are
blinded sometimes to believe that their
life is one long act of st lf-sacrifce. But
if they stop to analyze the motive that
controls them, they will find that to
change th,i life to one of leisure that
would permit of rest and recreation
would be positive sacrifice. Few peo-
pie in this world make life one long act
of yielding self to others. Most of us
enjoy the life we live, and prefer it to
any other. If we have more outside
interest than permits Of our giving time
and thought necessary to inside cares,
to our own needs of mind, it is because
we choose that form of activity. If we
shut ours elves into the home and its
imme diate circle, it is because we pre-
fer it; but we take into either sphere of
activity the same temperament, the
same energy, the same training, and we
use the same judgment in serving, in
giving, in keeping ourselves.
81 think it disgrace to be tired, and
a sin to be ill.," said young woman
whose life was one of activity in and
outside of her home. She knew her
limitations and accepted them; she did
not reach further than the length of her
arm, nor try in brief lifetime TO revo-
lutionize the world.
The coming weeks will see new be-
ginning for me st of us. We have
dropped threads we need not pick up;
shall we have the will-power to make
the acrifce-letting them lie un-
touched, or, what is sometimes harder,
giving them into other hands to finish
the fabric into which we had hoped
to weave part of our own individu-
atty?
In this power to adapt our time,
strength, and talents to the demands
made upon us we show our character.
Not by exhausting ourselves, but by
expanding wisely, do we make our