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

written the cdcs and tragedies Rttrib-
uted TO his pcn during his busy military
life" My father" the son replied
wrote those masterpieces during the
time you and l have wasted at our
tables i'm feasting" Young man. better
improve your stray moments as did
Dionysius Tie Great than frittcr them
away as most folks are doing, with
their lips pressed against the chalice OF
pleasure. Better consecrate whole DAYS
in life's journey 20 making yourself
better and trGer than to drop them into
useiessness. as we lost our Thursday
in the smooth waters of the Pacific in
our Journey around the world.
But. though many minutes which in
the aggregate amount to many DAYS.
are lost to the service OF Christ on ac-
count OF our own foliies. how many
nre lost TO Christ 10y reason OF people
who seem 10 have nothing TO do them
selves and who seem 10 be possessed
with the idea that we have nothing to
dof Alas. how many mornings there
have been when we arose with clear
minds ana hearts anxious for study I,
These thoughts. like great fock If
flying doves. seemed ready TO roost on
our study desk Then ideas came not
as solitary scouts. but marshaled in
great armies. ready 10 wheel in line to
attack ut oyr command. Then horror
seemed TO palsy our fingers. The door
bell rang. In came n threatening no.
mad ready TO cncamD upon our prem
iseS for the next two hours. Though
q "squatter.' he came not empty hand
ed. He had piled upon his back all
the gossip and the small talk" of the
Beighborhood. lie had great caravans
halted in your front yard, with all the
scandals and the besoiled regulations
OF the homes he had been lately poster
ing. And he talks and he talks until
he drives away all our IDEAS and all
our desire for work and ell our ambi-
ton, and he leaves in his wake a
wrecked day.
"Destroyers OF Time,
How many errands OF mercy and
pressing duties in the home have been
ruined in the busy housewives life by a
prolonged visit OF one of these "daugh-
tiers of iniquity" called the "destroyers
OF timer They critieise Your husbands
and your children. They find fault with
the arrangements Of your homes. They
find fault with your dressmakers, and
they try to steal your cooks They find
fault with everything, yet they stay on.
They are respectable thieves Of your
time. who cannot be landed i'm jail but
they are bigger nuisance to you than
IL they stole the meat out of your ice
Ghost fhn broad nj
cupboards. Ali, these destroyers of
time! How many precious moments,
which in the aggregate have amounted
to precious days of work, have been
lost for us in the journey OF life, with
Its vital opportunities. through their
unwelcome visits, Well wrote Oliver
Wendell Holmes in reference to such
rs these:
shun such as lounge through afternoons
and ewes
And on thy dial write. Beware of
thieves"
The worth OF treasures which thy fingers
steal
Pick my left pocket of its silver dime.
But spare the right-it holds my golden
time
God says: Work. work. work. Work,
for the night cometh when no man can
work" That means we must fight
against those who would waste our
precious moments as we'll as against
our own slothfui natures. and of all
warnings for busy men / think this one
OF the most important. Where there is
one busy man who would voluntarily
waste his time there are ten lazy fel-
Look out that these despised "nomads"
nay not ruin any more OF your days Of
usefulness.
In heathcn mythology there lived n
god by the name OF Baldur. His moth
er, Frigga, wanted to make him immor-
tai. She demanded from the stones. the
trees. from fire and water and all met
ais and reptiles and birds and poisons,
an oath that they never would kill him.
These all gave willing oath. Then the
gods, believing that Baldur was immor-
tai, began TO strike him with swords.
spears. battleaXes and darts. but they
harmed him not. At last one OF the
gods picked up piece OF mistlctoe.
He threw IL ut Baldur. The little twig
pierced the skin and the heart! and Bal
dur dropped II corpse Many of these
visits OF the "destroyers of time" may
seem 10 be harmless. But are theyP
Like the despised mistletoe of heather
mythology. they may be fatal for whole
DAYS. whole months and years. that
should have been used in service OF The
Master
Time Belongs TO Cod
Would God we might one and all
tight relentlessly against these ode.
stroyers OF time" You cannot afford 70
give away what Is not your own. Your
time belongs not 10 you. but to another.
go with me TO n concert this after
noon,' said one salesman TO another
who was employed In large ware
house. u cannot go this afternoon. >"
was the answer. My time Is not nv
own; IL belongs to another" .sTo
whomT ITO my employer" The fol.
lowing Sabbath afternoon the Same
salesman said 10 the same clerk, .sCome
and 60 riding with me this afternoon.
cannot" said the other. my time is
not my own: Ii belongs to another"
10 whom:' TO God, who said. RE.
member the Sabbath day to keen II
holy. VIII you aud / waste our nre-
cious moments hcreaf ter? Shall we NOT
always feel that IN reality time does
not belong TO us? 1t belongs. in the
higher. nobier and purer sense. to them
whom we are sent to serve and TO the
great God. who Will demand at the
Judgment an accounting for every mo-
ment we friiter away.
This thought flashed upon me as
sat upon the deck OF the steamship
Alameda. trying to figure out how I
lost that day. If instead Of following
the setting sun / had been going to-
ward the east l would not have lost n
day, but gained an extra day; If in.
stead OF going from New York to San
Francisco and New Zealand had been
travelling from London through the
Suez canal to Australia, instead of
having lost a Thursday, would have
had two Thursdays in one week. II
mnttered nothing on our VOYAGE which