Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-07-13
WAITING FOR LEISURE

1t is what We are all, or nearly all,
inclined to do, and at the first outlook
the inclination seems not only natural,
which it undoubtedly is, but sensible,
which it is not. In a book published
a good many years ago, there is pas
sage about the keeping of diaries, and
1T particularly warns people against the
notion that clean pages, unklurred,
and regularity written up daily, are es-
sential to diary. On the contrary,
the authors advice is to go on with the
same book, taking up the even's at the
point when the diarist is disposed to
chronicle them, and not TO get clean,
new volume, expecting to keep it blot
less, and to make it an unfalling history
of the life.
Now, this counsel about diary keep
ing has certain relation to the wait
lng-or rather, not waitlng-for leisure
which Is the subject of this paper; for
the same necessity of having everything
''cut and dried" the way plain and
smooth, and the surroundings propi-
tious, and the same impossibIlity of
either beginning or continuing any
work unless circumstances are thus
propitious, enter into the disposition of
the mind IN both cases, and lead to
identical results.
To quote the old book again. the
writer says: '1f you start fresh with a
new diary each time that You have
failed to keep mp the original one, you
will never have a real diary at ALL In
other words, there Will be a series of
volumes, all begun and none gone on
with, whereas one book, blotted may
| be, and with erasures and hiatuses, al
ternating with pages fully written. will
grow in time to long record, inter-
esting certainly, and very probably
useful to the writer. 1t is precisely
the same with reference to work, only
that, instead of the inclination being to
| destroy the rough draft or the carefully
indited MS, the tendency is to leave 1t
in the desk and wait for "quiet time"
to take it up again. "All things come
to him who waits" says the French
proverb; but whether that be true OF
not as regards other matters, it GER
tainly is not true as regards work of
any sort. The woman who puts off
general tidying up of cupboards and
! drawers till she has "clear day to do
| 1t in, will fiHd most likely weeks be-
come months, and still the chaos only
getting worse as time goes on.
1t is simply no use, in these days of
pressure-when even pleasure is over
powering, to say nothing of business
to think of resting on the oars of ease
| while the boat drifts over the sea of
leisure. Nothing particular to do
Can such a condition be ever imagined
now, when railroad pace, mentally and
| physically, Is the rule of life? No: the
lesson we all must learn is that what
| 90 IL - 1,
ct arn1es, the armour being that of de-
termination and promptitude. How
often has visit of kindness to an inva-
lid been put off day after day until a
sudden change for the worse put that
visit off forever And that is only one
instance out of hundreds which will oc
cur readily t. everybody's mind. So
with the postponement of mental work
| till it can be done fright off the reel
Each morning we fancy that the next
day will do never the present one, be
cause of the multitudinous Interrupt
! tions " hich viii keep coming to dis
| tract ourthoughts and tempers. And
in truth it is very hard sometimes, Just
when we have warmed to our work, to
have to pay the tax gatherer, or t e
collector of subscriptions to the hospital
or to be called off by one or other of
the thousand trifies, which irritate like
gad-fiies, and are equally persistent.
Still, so it is, and fighting against cir
cumstsnces which are factors IN our
daily life is only waste of time. The
only thing is to be as methodical in our
arrangements as possible, and to make
up our minds 10 do little, at least. of
| the work we have in view every day.
A few stitches in the embroidery or the
plain sewing, few lines added to the
| MS, or a clear wash laid on the water
color sketch, it does not seem much -
"hardly worth the trouble of getting it
all out" is rather the feeling one has
but, nevertheless, it is so much to the
good, and not only to the good as re-
CARDS the work itself, but also as re-
CARDS the strengthening of a habit of
regular working, which is invaluable.
And, as We never know what we can do
till we try, it is well worth while try
ing this plan rather than continuing in
the unsatisfactory and unfruitful state
which is understood by the words
waiting for leisure"