Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-14
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES e. TRAcEWELL.

Dear Sir: Some day won't you write
an article on procrastination to make
some of us so ashamed of this sin that
we never will be guilty OF 1t again.
I've been putting off for a whole year
writing to you and thanking you for an
article you had on good diction in sing
ing. clipped 1t and loaned 1t. and II
was never returned (you might write
something on that subject, too). I'm
very anxious to have this for my scrap
book. From a voice teachers point OF
view, 1t was invaluable, and I have used
It with many of my pupils
Sincerely, H. r"
Knowing nothing technically of die
ton in singing, we were rather pleased
that common sense, as applied to this
art could win the approval of a teacher.
Common sense is like procrastination
"a thoroughly human thing. BY using
it candidly, not being afraid of it, one
often may achieve results beyond the
reach of mere mind.
ProcraStination is in a class with
insomnia. If one lies awake and wor-
ries about lying awake, he is far worse
of than If he just lies awake.
Eminent medical men agree (and this
seems to be one thing on which they do
agree) that there is no particular hurt
from insomnia if one can keep from
thinking about it,
They point out the plain fact that
few persons who complain of not sleep
ing seem to be injured much by it..
Even those who assert that they didn't
sleep a wink last night" get along pretty
well.
The trut probably is. doctors say,
that in such cases the victims actually
sleep q great deal more than they think
they do, and that In any case the hu-
man system needs rest. and that appre-
ciable benefit is derived from relaxa-
ton. whether there be sleep attending
or not.
Procrastination is the thief of time,
the poet Young said in his Night
Thoughts. The following lines, sell
dom quoted, are:
Year after year it steals, till all are
ned,
And to the naercies of moment leave
The vast concerns of an eternal scene"
So 1t goes, indeed, with the article
which our correspondent desired. AL
though We keep q reasonably good index
Of This and That" we have been I'M
able to locate the article which was
desired in this case.
"Procrastination" is one of those in
pEIC0GAIlB 4dGlL WOIQS WHICH somehow
always appeal to the man or woman
who speaks English. You will hear
lc. Of pother about how such words are
not as good as the simple, strong
Anglo-Saxon words"
The latter are so strong, indeed, that
they need no perennial defense in the
shape Of sneering at the many charm
ingly complex words which have come
to us from the Latin and the Greek.
"Procrastination" is a wow. to use
good slang. 1t comes from the Latin
pro, forward. plus crastinus, of tomor-
row, and means to put off till tomorrow
or from day to day. Dilatoriness is an
approximate synonym.
There Is curious similarity between
our word of the moment and the name
of the jolly old Greek robber of N.Y.
thology, one Procrustes, who enjoyed
placing his victims on an iron bed and
stretching them to At. He was properly
killed by Theseus, who thus cut short
the career Of the inventor of the metal
bed.
'Let us leave hurry to slaves" said
Emerson in one of his grand moments.
He who never procrastinateS is very
much OF slave, although he may be
terribly efficient, and all that
And some of the best little procras-
tinators We know do manage to get
great deal done.