The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-03-25

Of God. II Is not enough that we should
close the shop; We must open the windows
Of ou- souls toward God. The Sab6ath -
a "hallowed" or holy day. The Lord knew
how busy we would be on the secular DAYS
50 b1sy that we are likely TO give iittle
fore He said. IL viii give them n day Tor
their souls; when they may come up INTO
the mountains and breathe the clear air
So He has given Us time divided and ad.
| ;us, ed 10 our needs, and IL behooves US to
maze m economical use Of it. Some people
| are always in haste; others are always pc
| hind time. II was a wise saying Of Fia'
, vel. TO come before the opportunity 10
to conn before the bird il hatched: 70
come after the opportunity is to come al.
ter tie bird is flown Every day. every
boar. every moment strikes it's own bal
ancc. Postponement il profigacy., Fro
c~rartir alton is a spendthrift as well as q
| thief. il was Lord Chesterfield. one OF
| the wor,dliest OF men. who wrote to his
son. Never put Of until tomorrow what
you can do to-day" :.
But the worst Of all capital crimes 10
"l;i.ling 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'
1 IlOU, tuc Olu FOSidi SahipatkhNs
| ders about with a worn-out stomach and q
wizened heart in search OF pastures new;
the devotee Of fashion. whose idle days
are spent in recovering from worse than
| idle n,ghts-these all are chronocides, and
| thew are moral suicides rs well.
Oh. the waste, the frishtful, ~irrevocable
waste! Dreaming empty dreams. building
castles in the air. fighting. specters and
windmills, entertaining vain regrets and
foolish hopes, brooding on old grudges,
tearing characters to tntters over the tea
cups. borrowing trouble. writing hooks
that never will be published nor ought to
be. croaning over imaginary aches and
pains. crossing bridges before We come to
! them-what a large part Of life these I'LL!
| And every moment lost this way il lost to
self culture, lost to humanity, flched 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 hack in their chairs and
twiddlins their thumbs while Waterloo 10
being fought, and they wake up and begin
never catch Up with themselves. The
more convenient season" leads them q
| stern chase scar in and year out.
One Of the valuable secrets OF success ID
knowing how to. economic the fragments
| of tine. An hour seems q 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 Encyclopedias
Britannica. Ten minutes are hardly worth
considering, yet Lonefellow in his youth
translated Dante's Inferno" in the ten
minutes day after day; while be waited
| for his coffee to boil. Gather IN the frag-
-o.kS tk,k rokb;oo he Loaf yVhtIa PRO.
fessor Mitchell was in charge of q division
during the Civil Wal he said to a young
officer: you excuse yourself on the ground
that you are only n few minutes late. Sir,
I have bern in the habit Of calculating the
value of q millionth part OF second!" It
is the loss Of time. a little here and q little
there. that makes life a failure and eternity
an irremediable disappointment.
Will there be an end Of time? Aye,
when eternity begins. The life beyond is
unconditional by the falling sands Of the
enth trumpet John saw m angel arrayed
in majesty. with one foot planted IN the
sea and the other on the land, who pro.
claimed the end of the present cycle,
There shall be time no ~lonser!" But to
all intents and purposes death marks the
end of time for everv man. Probation 10
over. once for all. The present probation
would. indeed. be q farce. II there were
another after it. The fabric is lifted from
the loom and there is no gathering up its
loose ends. School is out and life begins;
Wherefore, whatsoever thy hand findeth
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
whittier thou goest. 1t is n true saying of
Emerson's. mo man has learned any
thing rightly until he knows that every
day is doomsday," for every day and every
hour has the issues of eternity wrapped up
in it. In hoe momento pendit eternitas.
The time 10 will, to choose, to act is now:
II sin ic to BE- repented Of, repent now. II
Now is the accepted time and to-day is the
day Of salvation. "The golden opportunity
is never Offered twice: seize thou the hour
when fortune smiles and duty points the
way"