Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-03-19

more than we know what to do with. Our
1ves are spent IN doing nothing at all,
hotnlng TO the purpose or nothing that we
ought to do. We are ever complaining
that our days are few and acting as if they.
| were without end"
We have time enough for work. An
leigh; .eight- hour % day" is a purely artificial
now twelve hours in the day." Gods dav
IN which "man goeth to his work" is from
morning until evening, and there is not too
| much of it.
| We have time enough for recreation. No
ma1 IS at liberty to overwork or to work
without relaxing. "An work and no plav''
| makes Jack not only dull but an unprof-
| liable boy. No business should ever be so
absorbing as to crowd out other things
| that. contribute to the health and sy1nme-
try OF life More men die of ''quick
lunch" than OF hunger: Not few famish
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 sleepsv Nor is the
night too long, though many people act as
| if they thought it So
:, We have time enough for devotion. All
| tine days are are Gods days, but Of one it is
| written, The Lord blessed the Sabbath
day and hallowed it, have known a
man to curtail his rest six nights in the
week and recuR@erate Pc ON Sunday. This is
/
have separate. uses Christ said sThe Sab
bath was made for man." It was made to
| subserve our highest interests as children
OF God. 1t is not enough. that we should
close the shop; we must open the windows
OF 60 our :; souls J., toward God. The Sabbath is
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 He said. IT will give them day for
their souls;: when they may come up into
with Me-
So He has given us time divided and ad-
| Justed to 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 hatched; to
come, after the opportunity is to come af.
ter the bird is flown Every day, every
hour, every moment strikes it's own bal
ance.: Postponement is profigacy. Pro-
thief. It was Lord Chesterfield, one Of
the Worldhest 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
killing time. The phrase is significant
significant OF murder most foul. The
youth who seeks to quiet memory and an
uneasy conscience by plunging into dissipa-
ton; the old social campaigner who wan
ders about with a worn-out stomach and a.
wizened heart in search of pastures new;
the devotee of fashion,. whose idle days
are spent IN recovering from worse than
idle nights-these all are chronocides, and
they are moral suicides as: well.
OH. the waste, the frightful, irrevocable
waste! Dreaming empty dreams, building
castles in the air. fighting specters and
1ooilsn 15pea brooiag old iek1efS grnoges. saa
. tearing characters to- tatters over the tea
cups, borrowing trouble, writing books
that never will be published nor ought to-
be- groaning over imaginary aches and
palms,, crossing bridges before We come to-
them-what a large part of life these fill?
And every moment lost this way is lost to-
. self culture. lost to humanity, filched from
, | the service OF God.
The world is full of commonplace people
.. who have squandered 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
tWlddllng their thumbs while Waterloo is
!, ! being fought, and they wake up and begin
to- fret when nothing is going on. They
never catch UP with themselves. The
, more convenient season. leads them a
stern chase year in and year out.
One OF the valuable secrets of success is
knowing how to- economize the fragments
of time. An hour seems a. little matter,
but, you can read twenty quarto pages in
an hour, and an hour day for four years
would carry you through the Encyclopedias
Britannica. Ten minutes are hardly worth
considering. yet Longfellow in his youth
translated Dante's Inferno, in the ten
5 ey day al after ba day Mhe he ths waited fs
me1tss that nothing be lost" While Pro-
fessor Mitchell was in charge of a 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,
I have, been in the habit Of calculating the
value Of millionth part Of a second~ It
is the loss of time, a little, here and little
} there, that makes life failure and eternity
an irremediable disappointment.
II Will there be an end Of time? Aye,
t unconditional by the falling sands of the
o hour glass. At the sounding of the sew
: enth trumpet John saw an angel arrayed
|. in majesty, with one foot planted on the
e sea and the other on the land, who pro-
Claimed the % end Of the present p;. peyce
r all intents and purposes death marks the
e end OF time for every man. Probation is
s, over, once for a1l- The present probation
r would, indeed, be a farce, if there were
t., another after it. The fabric is lifted from
t the loom and there is no gathering up its
l. loose ends. School is cut and life begins.
eI Wherefore, whatsoever thy hand fndeth
g to do, do it with thy might, and do it here
and now; for. there is no work, nor device
= nor knowledge, nor wisdom on the grave
r whittier thou goest It is true saying O
3. Emerson's, "No man has learned any
u thing rightly until he knows that every
c. day is doomsday," for every day and ever!
W hour has the issues of eternity wrapped III
lg in it. In hoe momento pendit eternitas
n The time to viii, to choose, to act is now
1T If sin is to be repented of, repent now. 7
* Christ is to be accepted, accept Him now
it Now is the accepted time and to-day is tE
/ day of salvation. s'The golden oportunit
or is never Offered twice; seize thou the hou
I'll when fortune smiles and duty points tn
e. way"
9''
= Gods Opportunity.
a Some one has said that leach human lif
DO is another opportunity for God to displa
ef- His grace and power" So it is and tn
wv thought viii grow upon You as yoa med
ed tate upon it. Just think, Il am Gods OF
We portunity!" Isn't it wonderful! Isn't
Ele glorious! When we look at others whoi
| Il hD~,1 nod 90