Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-01-13

li- W - Ait lHcn NitsifeN away us
correspondence. lie laid out his plans
OF work. and "by breakfast time" he
said. Il have broken the neck OF the
days work" Frederick the Great did
not need any one to describe for him
the rising sun. During all the long
seven years war which has been the
marvel of European strategists for a
century and a half lie saw with his
own eyes the sun rise every morning.
But, though the great work OF nearly
all our great workers was due TO the
fact that they were early risers, many
of MS linger i'm our beds I'm the morn
ing just as long as possible. Instead
of living up To the OLD proverb we say.
Late TO bed and late TO rise" and we
fritter away the late hours of the night
on doing nothing. just as in the morn
ing we fritter them away in bed.
A Family History.
"What time does your rising bell
ring?'' L ask. oh" you answer, 1--WE
do not have any rising bell; We get up
when VIC are slept out" What time
does your breakfast bell ring?' 1--WE do
not have any breakfast bell" you an
swer. when we are slept out, we get
up. and dress and go to breakfast. That
is the history of our house" oh, no.
That is part of the history; 1t is not all.
l will tell you the rest OF IL. When you
awake, you get up and dress. but you
do not all dress at the same time. First
the father has his breakfast. Then one
or two OF the children struggle down.
Then the mother comes last. or the
elder sister. Then the breakfast, which
ought to take just twenty-five minutes.
drags out over an hour. The children
run of to school. The father hurries
away to business. The servant girls
dishes are not washed for an hour and
n half later. There has been no time
for prayers. Everything In the home
goes topsy turvy merely because the
family did not arise together. eat to-
gether, pray together and go to work
at the same time. The wasted minutes
of the early morning are directly re
sponsible for whole days and weeks
and months of life wasted for the serv-
ice OF the Master. The Austrians lost
the battles OF Lodi and Arcola," said
Napoleon, because they did not appre-
ciate the value of five minutes" The
reason many men waste whole days of
lifes service that might have been con-
secrated for Christ is because they do
not appreciate the value of the sacred
minutes in the early hours OF the morn
ing.
utilize the Minutes.
How do we diminish our service for
Christ by lost days? BY not improv-
ing the fragments of time that lie scat
tered about us during the days work,
by not utilizing those extra few min
utes here and there to fit ourselves in
tellgently by reading and study for
the work God has given us to do, by
supposing that God will let us inter
pref the passage. ASK, and we shall
receive; seek. and ye shall find; knock,
and il shall be opened to you" when
our lips are dumb, when our feet are
palsied and know nothing about the
right paths TO tread, when our hands
are helpless I'm their stupidlties. Can
the blind lead the blind? Can some
thing come from nothing? Can the
little child run and leap like fawn
unless she has been first taught to
creep and TO walk2
We must have intelligence in the di-
rection OF our life or else all our work
will go for naught What would you
think II one summer day / should
walk up on the captains bridge of a
steamer and say: Captain, would
Ike TO take charge OF this steamer.
Would the helmsman obey my COM
mand?" Where would YOU take the
shipT 'To Australia" 1 would an
swer do you know anything about
.he laws OF navigatlon?' No" Then
/ cannot let you take command. You
know not the law OF the compass. The
great surface OF the sea Is the same
everywhere. You have no guideposts,
as on the mountain sides. The first
thing you would do would be TO get
the ship OF its course. Ii would take
us perhaps days or weeks TO regain
our course. or perhaps we would never
be able to do so. We might land In
China, as q dishonest captain made the
pilgrim fathers land on the cold. bleak
New England shores when they had
set sail for the southern lands. No
matter how good n mans purpose may
be, IL lac knows not the laws OF navl-
CATION he cannot guide his boat to the
right harbor."
What would you think OF n Iaborer
who should enter your sickroom and
say: Discharge the doctor Let ms
be your physician and prescribe your
medicines What would you think
OF mechanic who would try to con-
duct case in court when he did not
know the first A Il C's OF the law ?
What would you think OF a minister
who would try TO build the Panama
canal when he had never taken n
course in engineering7 And yet the
landlnbber trying to pilot q ship, the
hodcarrier trying TO cure sickness, the
layman trying TO draw up his own
last will and testament" the clergy
man trying to be the chief engineer OF
Brooklyn bridge, is no more absurd
than the ordinary men aud women try
ing to perform their tasks in life with
out an intelligent knowledge OF their
duties.
We must have intelligence to fit our
selves for the duties OF life. How do
most successful men get that neces-
sary intelligence? i will tell you. 1t
is by improving the few moments, the
few stray moments OF the day and the
evening, which, as sacred fragments,
crowd around them. One farmer
works and works hard, but he does
things merely because his forefathers
did the same things. He plants wheat
in one field because his father and
grandfather planted wheat In that
field. The other farmer says to him.
self, Il am farmer, but / am going
to be an intelligent farmer" He sends
to Washington and gets the latest re-
ports from the agricultural depart.
ment. He buys the latest books sent
out by our great agricultural colleges.
He finds, by studying during the few
stray minutes that come to him almost
every day and night, that his farm has
just the right kind OF soil for peach
orchard. He plants the peach trees
lie stops growing wheat. He increases
In Of Il 70, Co