The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-11-26
HABIT.

Habit is defined as involuntary tendepcr
perform certain actions, acquired by their fraor..
repetition" 1t is tendency to do easily and @-;
growing certainty" what we do often From II,
academic definition it is plain that what We Il
often becomes habit, and it should be needless
point out that habit must eventually rule the n
dividual in most of his actions Even i'm lin,
things, like going to bed early or getting HID earr
or late-the frequent repetition Of the act bs
comes habit, and It'll pretty hard to break avo
from that habit once it is established Our habit,
and characteristics are not thrust upon us FIN
grown, but are acquired by frequent repetition
of certain actions. And the more FREQUENTLY, n.
do them, the more certain we are to repeat them
Inasmuch as our habits are not thrust upon Us b,,
are acquired, it is evident that each of us is r.
sponsible, to ourselves at least for the quality a.
the habits we possess. We can acquire the habi,
of reading by reading; we can acquire stuim,
habits by study acquire thoughtful habit,
by thinking; and we can acquire every vicious habit
of body and mind by practice We hear much Of
bad habits and expensive habits and of extravagan-
habits, just as if these were the only kinds it !;
possible to possess, but they are not more common
than good habits inexpensive habits. The latter
are not spectacular as the former and hence
pass largely unnoticed in the world.
The economic side of habit is overlooked in mos,
writings on the subject. The morality of the sub.
ject is sought, and the desirability of maintain.
ing strict moral setting for our habits of life
pointed out. The proclamation Of the mind or body
by vicious habits is so plainly not in accordance
afb, +bo+, L. Il
is so plainly In opposition to every religious sent
ment of our Christian civilization that the mere
statement is sufficient But the economic side as
it affects the individual is seldom touched upon
except in the presentation of generalities We say
that some one has expensive habits or is extrava-
CANT in his mode of life But to consider habits
investments mortgages upon US as individ7
uas is to get at the root of this side of the ques
ton Take, for instance, young man who desires
to smoke. He doesn't like the taste of tobacco and
the first time or perhaps the first dozen times he
smokes cigar he gets deathly sick. But he perse-
veres, and in few weeks or months he has learned
to smoke. He acquires the habit by frequent repe-
tition, and the habit becomes fixed with growing
every time he INDUCES in cigar. By
the time he gets thoroughly habituated to the use
of tobacco he is smoking one cigar day. That
cigar costs him dime. Only dime. But the
habit of smoking is mortgage on his back for
more than $780, In year one cigar is not enough
to satisfy him. the mortgage is raised to $1,000
the interest on which is demanded daily. Of course
he is only moderate smoker with two cigars a day
but in few years he is smoking six or eight, prob
ably 70 cents worth day. That isn't very much
for man making good money, but his habit has
grown to mortgage of nearly $4,000 at per cent
Then if he is good fellow, drink or two a day
is added, and that gets to be a habit, so he mort
cages himself for another $1,000 making his total
Indebtedness to habit $4,000 and more, interest
payable at per cent and collected daily 81 at
lime. In other words, any man who INDUCES in
habits that cost him 81 day has mortgaged him
self for $4,000 at per cent. Any would be
foolish to thus mortgage himself to habit, if he
thought of it in this way, yet how many thousands
here are who do it! The cost of living is indeed
high, but to quote Poor Richard 'we are taxed
vice as much by our idleness, three times as much
". our pride, and four times as much by our folly