Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1891-08-12
FOI U
MARGINS.

With the bulk OF our possessions, the sane
among us know pretty well how to dear
With the margins we are often at loss.squan-
dering and going wide, or boarding and nor
utilizing. Take our income as an example.
We nav so much In rents, taxes and the prinoi-
pal items of housekeeping. Take our time Tor
another. We devote SO many hours In the
day to our work, our domestic duties. our In
tellectual life, So far good; but the unap-
propri ated surplus and what we do with it
the unoccupied margin and how we fill 1t
these are the vital questions for the present.
moment; and the answer Is of more conse-
uuenee in the fit conduct of life than some
will allow.
But among the many marks of fool, one
is his contempt for small things and his grand
way of overlooking the cumulative power OF
aggregation and repetition. In spite OF the
lessons taught by flint and chalk and coral,
1 the good old saw setting forth how many q
mtckle,makes muckIe is without significance
to him. Only few pennies-only few dol
lars-surely he can afford that out of his mar
gin! Only few minutes in the daJ-what is
the worth of few minutes? Nothing! Out
of the twenty-four hours, half an hour here,
quarter, ten minutes there-just ten-what
folly to make @ fuss and call that waste! The
learned man who wrote book In the inter-
walls OF waiting while his wife put on her bon
net and settled her strings, must have been
horrid bore. argue these idle ones who let
their unappropriated time lie fallow. No one
can be always between the shafts; and the
sweet Do-nothing has its mental use as we'll as
its charms.
It Is so restful to sit and dream, weaving
fairy stories Of improbable chances out of the
golden threads Of hope and Imagination! 1t is
so please Mt, too, to dawdle and potter and
Ill hon
ones energies-as If energies did Lot grow
with the using!-and to waste the margin In
long ats of inactivity between the stages of
accomplishment!
Why should Life be a cruel taskmaster
gaunt and grim. priggish and precise. and moi
the jolly generous. lOose.handed friend who
winks at faults. overlooks lapses, and lets
things run free in happy-gc-lucky KIND o.
way, the margin not counting? Why not IN
deed! When we all emigrate into the king
dome of Cockatgne, and our larks fall from
the sky ready roasted for supper. it will be SO,
but till then the margin has to be considered
and Its best use made clear.
In whatever wsy we spend our money, some
one profits. This is one of the points of con
fict between morality and political economy
After all, squan dering is distribution, ano
personal loss is public gain. If you waste
you disburse others pocket; and fifty-cen1
button hole bouquet helps the f1ower"seller tt
live. That other bills arc left unpaid-tha1
the wife and children go short Of their right
full share-these form distinct questions o
their own, They are moral knots which are
not united by the most dexterous use OF dis
tribution" and public GAIN" or any othel
verbal juggles Like metaphysical arguments
on the subtleties OF free will and necessity
we blow them all aside when we come down
to the "hard pan" OF common sense and per
sonal experience.
The cottager who spends his margin on hi
f1ower-beds and lets his cabbage garden g
bare, and his potato patch unweeded, is
thriftless husbandman; the woman who fill
her drawJng-room with knick-knscks an
does not renew her broken jugs and basins.
as thriftless a housewife. But the millionair
may give thousands for his orchids and hi
vines and his margin is we'll employed,
With our margin of time, things go the sam
way. 1t all depends on the amount OF time W
have in hand whether we squander foolish
or use with permissible generosity. But tn
rule which holds good with many is inverte
when we deal with time, and the man VIII
has nothing to do, and whose whole day
therefore one wide margin. has heavier &C
count against him than the busy worke
whose narrow l1tJle Strips OF leisure are Ill
most too small to be put out to interest. An
yet 1t is the busy people who have time TO
extras, The idlers never have margins.
ASK the man who gets up at twelve and VIII
has not the very ghost of q duty to emplo
him-who has not an obligation save thos
which he chooses to make for hi1nself-as
him to undertake any matter that will fill u
half an hour In the fourteen he takes fro1
sleep for idle pleasure. and he cannot In
that half hour in all his margin.
Ask the man who is In his office at nine an
who leaves at six, and he will do it 'of til
reel" at once.
Those who use their margins are rich in
ways; those who do not, but who let houl
and weeks and months PASS by like derelt
vessels floating on sluggish streams. are poo
in all ways,
Ask the one what he has gained? A row {
pearls would but i'll emblemize the things Ii
has accomplished. and the reward he ha
earned.
Ask the other>-emptiness and not so inuc
as a handful of chaff to fill up The void {
Nothingness MARINE.