Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1908-03-07
ALL KNOW THIS MAN
THE TIME-STEALER ONE OF The
EVERLASTING NUiSANCES.
Minutes, Hours, Days and Weeks Are
His PIunder-Foe to Industry with
Whom II Is Very Hard
to Deal.

He is known among his acquaitlr-
ances-and about everybody knows
him-as the time thief. Not that ne
relieves his friends of their watches;
that wouldn't be so bad, because
watches can be replaced but the time
thief takes what can never be recoV-
cred or uplicated-minutes anc
hours, and days and weeks, which do
not belong TO him. Unlike the ordi-
nary thief who steals from those VINO
have the most of what he covets, the
time thief steals the golden moments
from those who have the fewest 10
spare.
The time thief is not ordinarily a
bad sort of fellow. But Tor MS per
nicious habit of taking what does not
belong to him he might be good citi'
zen and an ornament to society. The
modus operandi of this foe to indus
try constitutes the peculiar enornlty 2
of his offense, for he carries on his ne
farious business openly and cheerfully,
persuaded that he is an angel of benefi-
cence to his fellow men.
He blows breezily into the Of
fee of his victim at the busiest hour
of the day and this is what takes
place:
"Hullo, old chap" sass the time
thief slapping his victim on the back.
There you are with your nose at the.
grindstone again. You'll peg out one
of these days and never know you've
been alive
How are you?" returns the victim,
with forced politeness, for Of eoutse
it is impossible to kick the time
thief You'll excuse me if | finish
what I'm at here-awfully busy this
afternoon.
BUSY, nothing" says the time thief,
jovially. You only think you're busy.
Nothing but habit, old man, nothing at
all but habit If | didn't drop in every
day o. two to jar you out of your rut
| don't know what would become of
you. Now, just chuck that PEN
while I'm here and put your feet uI(
on the desk. Got little story want
to tell YOU
But the victim, who has been
through all this before, laughs as pc
litely as possible. and keeps on with
his work. If the time thief didn't have
hide as thick as an alligator he'd
take the hint and ramble OFT. But
such course never occurs to him.
Being a time thief, he won't go until
he has obtained enough plHnder 70
make it worth his while. Accordingly,
he planks himself down in chair,
puts his feet on the desk, and tells his
little story The telephone rings, Wis
itors arrive to transact business with
the victim, the Office boy comes in
with papers for him to sign. Thee,
are very annoying Interruptions for
the time thief, but they do not dis
courage him TO the point of giving up
his attack. He always begins again .
at the point where he left off and
carries his story through to the end
and begins another.
The time thief never has any bust
ness OF his own, and never can see
why anybody else should have any
Look at me-" he says boastfully.
81 look 20 years younger than you do
now, and I'll live that much longer
than you. All because | know how 10
live. Well, so long for now; III
drop in again tomorrow and cheer
you up again.
Although the time thief boasts that
ne knows how to take things easy.
It would be worth while to have him
tackled by another time thief The
chances are that he would see things
IN a different light at once. But the
effect would only be temporary, and
he would pounce on his victim with
all the more delight at the next op-
portunity. In all probability the time
thief will last while time lasts.