Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-03-12

absorbing as to crowd out other things
that contribute to the health and symme.
try of life. More men die of 'Quicl;
lunch than OF hunger. Not few famlsh
on the husks of hurried devotion. TOO
busy, too busy" and the trumpet sounds
We have time enough for physical rest.
The night is for sleep, tired natures
sweet restorer, balmy sleep Nor is the
night too long, though many people act as
if they thought it so.
We have time enough for devotion. All
the days arc~God2s days, but of one it is
written, "The Lord blessed the Sabbath
day and hallowed it," | have known IA
man to curtail his rest six nights in the
robbing God. The night and the Sabbath
| have separate uses. Christ said, "The Sab.
bath was made for man." 1t was made to
lubserve our highest interests as children
of God. 1t is not enough that we should
close the shop; we must open the windows
of our souls toward God. The Sabbath is
a "hallowed" or holy day. The Lord knew
how busy we would be on the secular days
so busy that we are likely to give little
or no thought to spiritual things-where-
| fore lie said, 81 will give them a day for
their souls; when they may come up into
the mountains and breathe the clear air
with Me"
So lie has given Us time divided and ad-
| jlsted 20 our needs, and it behooves us to
make an economical use of it. Some people
| are always in haste; Others are always be-
hind time. 1t was wise saying of Fla.
vels, ITO come before the opportunity is
to come before the bird is hatchcd; to
| come after the opportunity is to come af'
| ter tie bird is flown" Every day, every
| hour. every moment strikes its own bal
anCc. POstponemcnt is pronigacy. Pro.
| crastI alton is a spcndthrift as well as a
! thief 1t was Lord Chesterfield, one of
! the woridliest of men, who wrote to his
son, "Never put off until tomorrow what
you can do to-day"
But the worst of all capital crimes is
| 'kiing time" The phrase is significant
| significant Of murder most foul. The
| youth who seeks to quiet memory and an
uneasy conscience by plunglng into dissipa
| ton; the old social campaigner who wan.
| dcrs about with a worn-out stomach and a
wizcned heart in search of pastures new;
| the dcvotce of fashion, whose idle days
| are spent in recovering from worse than
Idle n'ghts-these all arc chronocides, and
| they are moral suicides as well.
Oh. the waste, the frghtful, irrevocable
waste! Dreaming empty dreams, building
| castles in the air, fighting specters and
wlndmlis. entertaining vain regrets and
! foolish hopes, brooding on old grudges,
| tearing characters to tatters over the tea
| cups, borrowing trouble, writing books
that never viii be published nor ought to
| be, groaning over imaginary aches and
pains, crossing bridges before We come to
! thcm-what a large part of life these fill?
| And every moment lost this way is lost to
| self culture, lost to humanity, ilchcd from
| the service of God.
The world is full OF commonplace people
who have sQulndcrcd their birthright and
| fallen short of all the large possibilities of
their being through the misuse of time.
They sit tilted back in their chairs and
twlddlmg their thumbs while Waterloo is
being fought, and they wake NJ and begin
to fret when nothing is going on. They
never catch up with thrmse.veS The
more convenient season leads them a
stern chase Sear in and year out.
One of the valuable secrets Of success Il,
knowing how to econom2c the fragments
of time. An hour seems little matter,
but you can read twenty Quarto pages in
an hour, and an hour a day for four years
would carry You through the Encyclopaedia
Britannica. Ten minutes are hardly worth
considering. yet Longfcllow in his youth
translated Dantes "Infcrno" in the ten
minutes day after day. while he waited
for his coffee to boil. Gather up the frag.
mc1ts that nothing be lost" While Pro.
iessor Mitchell was in charge of division
during the Civil War he said to a young
officer: You excuse yourself on the ground
that you are only a few minutes late Sir,
| have beer in the habit of calculating the
value Of millonth part OF second.' It
is the loss OF time, little here and little
there, that makes life failure and eternity
an irrcmcdable disappointment.
VIII there be an end of time? Aye,
when eternity begins. The life beyond is
unconditional b. the falling sands of the