The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-12-31
KEEPING A HOLIDAY.
How Shall We Plan to Get from 1t All tn,
Good 1t Can Give?

How Shall We Plan to Get from 1t All the |
Good 1t Can Give?
What is sure to make it a red-letter |
day?
What is the very best way to spend it? |
How shall we plan to get from it all that
! il can give? TO make the very most of
a single day, Il holiday, day that we
are at liberty to spend as we like, may
be something of 3 puzzle.
1t suggests the question-what do
you care most about doing with all
your time? Time is the stuff of which
life IS made and just to be sure of what
we care most to do with it is worth
thinking about.
Most young people. and in fact pretty
much all persons, have some favorite
occupation or study, or both in one,
some special direction in which they
are strongly drawn, that lies outside of
the daily necessary routine of work.
For those who have ordinarily but lit
tie leisure land in this busy Work-a-day
world this includes the majority), the
| Indulgence of this private liking is a
capital use for at least part of the
|
suits or it may not-the thing we are
most eager to do may be a mere amuse-
ment of which we soon tire, or it may be
EIhe thing that we We're made to do,
+ tractive a1d the sure lriGings
one real serious business & our lives,
(which circumstances have seemed to
put beyond our reach, yet which per-
| to 1obi
However that may be, there is no
i, question about the pleasure of doing
the thing one likes best. 1t may be
nusc or history, or football, or Wooo-
carving, or what not-there is certainly
very keen satisfaction in following
; ones own personal taste And the
t, chances are that if YOU are enough in
l earnest. something worth while will
come of it. Too much is made of the
motive of making money. 1t is well to
remember that there is another kind Of
satisfaction in good work, in every kind
of employment, done for lis own sake.
) 1t does not make much difference what
the work is. Any kind of useful or
) beautiful thing done, in the measure
{ in which the heart is thrown into it,
y doing ones very best for the sake of
" seeing it wei done, is good and satisfy
= ing. Time spent in this way is well
y spent.
If there is any such thing as secret
& of happiness. it is surely this make
= others happy. And all good work is
L an antidote for selfshness. Not only
that. but it is one of the surest, most
lasting and rightful sources of con
tinual happiness. TO talk about work
as the best play-the best resource
for enjoying a holiday, seems on the
surface a contradiction. But the best
play is not idleness merely. To be
worth having, it must be some kind oil
activity, and to be really delightful ii
must be something loved. To make the
most Of holiday, then, it is quite fai1
to do the very thing that you care fol
personally, however unimportant it may
! appear TO somebody else.
i Something is due TO the day itself
Is it Thanksgiving day? Are we no
more ready to give thanks in sincerity
for material blessings, for abundan
food and rich dress, prosperity i'll The
shape of money, houses and lands, THAI
for better culture and richer gains il
building up our own characters anC
lives? Yet these are worth more.
Is it Christmas? Do we think of i
as time of gifts, Of merry making o
| Unusual gayety and self-indulgcnce, o
| 10 we care first for its higher mean
| ings? Do we make it time of 5000
| will toward all, time for earnes
| thought and generous deeds to pro
| mote the welfare of those whom we love
tiyxt, but also, so far as we may, of al
our human brothers and sisters?
Even on a holiday, and perhaps mos
! on holiday. when our time is free tror
ordinary claims, little honest discus
sion with ones self of the very hes
uses and objects to which we can d
be vote a little of our time will not com
he amiss.-Country Gentleman.