The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-11-03
A Thought For Today.

Earnest words must needs be spoken
When the warm heart bleeds or
burns,
With It's scorn OF wrong. or pity
For the wronged, by turns.
But by all thy natures weakness,
II ddeu faults and follies known,
BE thou, in rebuking evil.
Conscious Of thine own.
y. G. whittier.
a pretty. dreamy girl about fifteen
years of age was standing in gar
den which lay bathed in the mild au-
tumn SUM ght, when her mother call
ed out to her, What are you doing.
jenny"
Il was listening to the rob n" re-
piled the child.
It's well for you that you have
the time to waste" the mother re-
pAeu erushingly, and her daughters
eyes fideu WIN tears.
We are ala feaoy enough 10 accuse
others of wasting time when they
Iause to admire ana ENJOY the charm
Of The ear.h around them, We even
have a gu liy conscience when we DO
t ourselves forgetting that this pow
er of simple en- In living. this
ambition to be as well as to do, Is
an important element in true happ =
ness, and ought not to be reserved
just for holiday once year or for
spare moments in the strenuous BUS
ness of existence.
The idea that all time is misspent
unless it Is occupied W tn duties more
los a Or Ia n m
OF Puritan SIN. which denounced all
pleasant Things as wrong. Thus peo-
pie may be found who account mis-
cellaneous reading. which anriches the
mind, as waste of me- and others
who account all kinds of social inter-
course, In which We enjoy the soc .ety
of our fellows. as no better.
l once knew a most uncomfortable
person, whose days were mapr ed out
with as strict regularity as King AL
fred mapped out his hours of study.
She began in the morn ng before
breakfast with a fixed number Of min
utes for her toilet and her physical
exerc SEES. Then certain parts Of her
time were allotted to domestic ave-
cations, to reading the paper. to writ
ing letters. to enterta ming her guess.
She never gave an extra ser ond to
4 call All WISH she SAT uuWH TO ldIh
one felt her eye was on the clock,
and this strenuous method of resting
so tired her companions that their
powers of conversat on were speedily
exhausted.
Even after dinner, an interlude
which the most conscientious toilers
give to harmless repose and jollity,
this excellent creature pulled out her
crochet and worked until actual bod
ily fatigue compelled her to seek sleep
in bed.
She was apt to say that II she de-
parted one hairs breath from her pro-
gram she could never catch herself
up. and her day would all go wrong
But how terrible to live the prisoner
OF set Of hardand fast rules, with
out any delightful excursions into the
unknown or any scraps Of adventure
to vary the monotony Of existencei
Perhaps. instead Of to the home, q
woman OF this type devotes her ener-
gtes to some special hobby which oc~
cupies her whole time and thought.
She never realized II IN d serious
mistake to have no time to spare In
which to be kind to others, in which
to learn to know and like them. Mod
ern teaching Ia perpetually impresstng
upon us that we must have resources,
we must fulfill ourselves, In some
way prove We have an aim and goal Ia
living
Yet the happiest and dearest woman
with the serene and obssrvanf man