THE VALUE OF SPARE MOMENTS
[Sidenote: Not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by
striking.--CROMWELL.]
"If I had the time!"
Yes, indeed! Time is a very necessary factor in the doing of things.
Time is money. Money is capital. Capital is power. The one who is in
the possession of the most power and uses it to the best purpose has
the best chance for winning success.
[Sidenote: The greatest work has always gone hand in hand with the most
fervent moral purpose.--SIDNEY LANIER.]
Other things being equal, the boy who devotes an extra half-hour every
morning or evening to the study of the forthcoming day's lessons will
get on better than his classmates who do not thus mentally fortify
themselves.
[Sidenote: No true and permanent fame can be founded except in labors
which promote the happiness of mankind.--SUMNER.]
So in the world's big life-school, the man who finds time to think
about and to study the tasks and duties that confront him will make a
better showing than the ones who thoughtlessly and in an unprepared
manner blunder into the work that is before them.
"If I had the time!"
[Sidenote: The greatest men have been those who have cut their way to
success through difficulties.--ROBERTSON.]
That is the sorry cry coming from the lips of thousands of unhappy
persons of all classes and ages. But the saddest feature of it all is,
that they have the time and do not know it. Or, if they do know it,
they still go on trying to deceive themselves and others by repeating
the same old, threadbare excuse the world has always offered as the
reason why it has not made the progress it should have done.
[Sidenote: One has only to know the twenty-six letters of the alphabet
in order to learn everything else that one wishes.--DUKE OF ARGYLE.]
Now, my boy, stop a moment and honestly think it over. Haven't you the
time? Isn't it the disposition to make the most of your opportunities
that is lacking? How much time did you waste yesterday? How much time
are you going to waste to-day?
[Sidenote: Strength is like gunpowder; to be effective it needs
concentration and aim.--MATHEWS.]
Let us not lose sight of the sorry fact that in wasting an hour we
suffer a double loss and commit a double wrong. We not only lose that
particular hour, but we are suffering a moral weakness to impair the
strength of our life purpose, which will result in making us more
likely to waste other golden hours yet to come.
And what is a wasted hour? This is a question well worth considering.
Moments spent in bright, healthful, joyous play are not wasted. "All
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." It should be remembered, also,
that "All play and no work makes Jack a dull shirk."
[Sidenote: Success treads on the heels of every right effort.--SMILES.]
We should play with the same keen zest with which we should work. We
must not work all the while; we must not play all the while. Good,
vigorous play prepares one for the enjoyment of work; good, vigorous
work prepares one for the enjoyment of play. Those who dawdle in a
listless, half-and-half way find no joy in working or playing.
[Sidenote: The creation of a thousand forests is in one
acorn.--EMERSON.]
It is an error to think that play cannot be made to serve a good and
useful purpose. Give one boy a knife and a stick and he will produce
only a lot of shavings as the result of his whittling. Give another
boy a knife and a stick and he will carve out some object or invention
of use and beauty. Give one man leisure and he will produce nothing
or worse than nothing to show for his wasted hours. Give another man
leisure and he will master some trade or profession or theme of study
that will make him of happy worth to himself and the world.
[Sidenote: That is the best government which teaches us to govern
ourselves.--GOETHE.]
It is not the lack of time, but the lack of the will to improve our
spare moments, that keeps us from going toward success. We mean to do
great things some time, but we haven't the will to begin to build just
now. We prefer to belong to that great host of procrastinators who are
known as
THE "GOING-TO-BEES"
[Sidenote: The chains of habit are too weak to be felt till they are
too strong to be broken.--DR. JOHNSON.]
Suppose that some fine morn in May
A honey-bee should pause and say,
"I guess I will not work to-day,
But next week or next summer,
Or some time in the by and by,
I'll be so diligent and spry
That all the world must see that I
Am what they call a 'hummer'!"
[Sidenote: Wise evolution is the sure safeguard against a
revolution.--ROOSEVELT]
Of course you'd wish to say at once,
"O bee! don't be a little dunce,
And waste your golden days and months
In lazily reviewing
The things you're 'going' to do, and how
Your hive with honey you'll endow,
But bear in mind, O bee, that NOW
Is just the time for 'doing.'"
[Sidenote: The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a
saint.--LAVATER.]
Suppose a youth with idle hands
Should tell you all the splendid plans
Of which he dreams, the while the sands
Of life are flowing, flowing.
You'd wish to say to him, "O boy!
If you would reap your share of joy,
You must discerningly employ
Your morning hours in sowing."
[Sidenote: God sows the self-same truth in every heart.--ALICIA K. VAN
BUREN.]
He who would win must work! The prize
Is for the faithful one who tries
With loyal hand and heart; whose skies
With toil-crowned hopes are sunny.
And they who hope success to find
This homely truth must bear in mind:
"The 'going-to-bees' are not the kind
That fill the hive with honey."
[Sidenote: Are you a shepherd, or one of the herded?--EDMUND VANCE
COOKE.]
"Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden
hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for
they are gone forever." How clearly these words of Horace Mann set
forth the experience of thousands of persons, day by day.
[Sidenote: There is a destiny that makes us brothers.--EDWIN MARKHAM.]
Channing tells us, "it is astonishing how fruitful of improvement a
short season becomes when eagerly and faithfully improved. Volumes
have not only been read, but written, in flying journeys. I have known
a man of vigorous intellect, who has enjoyed few advantages of early
education, and whose mind was almost engrossed by the details of an
extensive business, but who composed a book of much original thought,
in steamboats and on horseback, while visiting distant customers."
[Sidenote: If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great
enterprises, even though they fail.--SENECA.]
The thought recorded by Jeremy Taylor is well worth remembering, that
he who is choice of his time will also be choice of his company, and
choice of his actions; lest the first engage him in vanity and loss,
and the latter, by being criminal, be throwing his time and himself
away, and going back in the accounts of eternity.
[Sidenote: No one is free who is not master of himself.--SHAKESPEARE.]
The plea, "If I had the time," is well met by Matthew Arnold, who says:
"And the plea that this or that man has no time for culture will vanish
as soon as we desire culture so much that we begin to examine seriously
into our present use of time."
[Sidenote: A thought may touch and edge our life with
light.--TROWBRIDGE.]
"Oh, what wonders have been performed in 'one hour a day,'" says
Marden. "One hour a day withdrawn from frivolous pursuits, and
profitably employed, would enable any man of ordinary capacity to
master a complete science. One hour a day would make an ignorant man
a well-informed man in ten years. One hour a day would earn enough to
pay for two daily and two weekly papers, two leading magazines, and
a dozen good books. In an hour a day a boy or girl could read twenty
pages thoughtfully--over seven thousand pages, or eighteen large
volumes, in a year. An hour a day might make all the difference between
bare existence and useful, happy living. An hour a day might make--nay,
has made--an unknown man a famous one, a useless man a benefactor to
his race. Consider, then, the mighty possibilities of two--four--yes,
six hours a day that are, on the average, thrown away by young men and
women in the restless desire for fun and diversion."
[Sidenote: Nothing is too high for a man to reach, but he must climb
with care and confidence.--HANS ANDERSEN.]
[Sidenote: Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them, then, or
bear with them.--MARCUS AURELIUS.]
[Sidenote: Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no
good.--WILLIAM PENN.]
There is little excuse for continued ignorance these times. If one's
time is spent at a point remote from institutions of learning, or his
days are so occupied that he cannot avail himself of their advantages,
he can be a pupil in an ably conducted correspondence school, that
most worthy of educational means whereby the youth in the isolated
rural home, the shut-ins who by force of circumstances are prisoned
within narrow walls, the night-watchman whose leisure comes at a time
when all other schools are closed, the seeker after knowledge of any
kind, at any time and at any place reached by the great governmental
postal system, can be brought into close touch with a great fountain
of learning and inspiration of which one may absorb all he will. From
this time forth it will ill become any man to say that he has no chance
to acquire an education, or that he has no opportunity to improve upon
the mental equipment he already possesses. Instruction is within the
reach of all. The schoolmaster is abroad as he has never been before.
Wherever the postman can deliver a letter, in cottage or mansion, in
the closely packed tenements of the city or in the remote farm homes
reached by the rural free delivery routes, there the trained college
professor makes his daily or weekly visits, giving his "heart to heart"
talks with each of his thousands of pupils. He is with the boys as
they follow the plow, the men who go down into the mines, the girls
who serve at the loom and the lathe, pointing out the way that leads,
through self-help, to happiness.
[Sidenote: One great cause of failure of young men in business is the
lack of concentration.--CARNEGIE.]
[Sidenote: Better say nothing than not to the purpose.--WILLIAM PENN.]
[Sidenote: Diligence is the mother of good luck.--FRANKLIN.]
It is more true to-day than ever before, that "they can who think they
can." The means are more nearly at hand if one is determined to try
them. Nothing but the spirit of procrastination can keep man or boy
from setting about it to help himself toward better things. When to
begin is the stumbling-block in the way of most persons. There is but
one time when we can do anything. That time is NOW! To delay a year, a
week, a day may prove most unfortunate. Indeed, trouble lies in the way
of those who are disposed to defer the doing of their duty for even
"JUST A MINUTE"
[Sidenote: One to-day is worth two to-morrows.--FRANKLIN.]
Whene'er he faced a task and knew
He should begin it,
He could not start to put it through
For "just a minute."
And, though the case demanded speed
He could not move just then; but he'd
Be ready for it, yes, indeed!
In "just a minute."
[Sidenote: My young friend, do you know that there is but one person
who can recommend you? Who is that, sir? Yourself.--EMERSON.]
His purposes were out of rhyme
By "just a minute."
The whole world seemed ahead of time
By "just a minute."
He could not learn to overhaul
His many duties, large and small,
But had to beg them, one and all,
To "wait a minute."
[Sidenote: Think before you speak.--WASHINGTON.]
In manhood he was still delayed
By "just a minute."
He might have won, had Fortune stayed
For "just a minute."
But at the end of life he railed
At "cruel Fate," and wept and wailed
Because he knew that he had failed
By "just a minute."
[Sidenote: There are people who do not know how to waste their time
alone, and hence become the scourge of busy people.--DE BONALD.]
[Sidenote: It is better to be alone than in bad company.--WASHINGTON.]
[Sidenote: Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic
men are better than gold.--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.]
If we make a careful study of the lives of the world's great men and
women, we shall find that their distinction was achieved by making the
most of their spare minutes. The ordinary, commonplace, and inevitable
tasks of life and the effort required to make a living are remarkably
similar in the daily experience of most men and women. It is what one
does with the remaining leisure moments that determines his individual
taste and trend, and eventually gives him such distinction as he may
attain. It is in our leisure hours that we are permitted to follow our
"hobbies," and it is in them that our truer selves find expression.
Many of the greatest men in the world's history achieved their fame
outside of their regular occupations in the spare moments of time which
most people think are of no serious use. Marden wisely observes that
"no one is anxious about a young man while he is busy in useful work.
But where does he eat his lunch at noon? Where does he go when he
leaves his boarding-house at night? What does he do after supper? Where
does he spend his Sundays and holidays? The great majority of youth who
go to the bad are ruined after supper. Most of them who climb upward to
honor and fame devote their evenings to study or work or the society of
the wise and good. For the right use of these leisure hours, what we
have called the waste of life, the odd moments usually thrown away, the
author would plead with every youth."
[Sidenote: Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested
in business.--P. T. BARNUM.]
[Sidenote: Let none falter who thinks he is right.--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.]
[Sidenote: The truest test of civilization is not the census, not the
size of cities, not the crops; no, but the kind of man the country
turns out.--EMERSON.]
Watt learned chemistry and mathematics while working at his trade of
a mathematical-instrument maker. Darwin composed most of his works by
writing his thoughts on scraps of paper wherever he chanced to be.
Henry Kirke White learned Greek while walking to and from a lawyer's
office. Elihu Burritt acquired a mastery of eighteen languages and
twenty-two dialects by improving the fragments of time which he could
steal from his occupation as a blacksmith. Hundreds of similar
examples could be given in which men have achieved distinction by
improving the odd moments which others waste.
[Sidenote: Inherited wealth is an unmitigated curse when divorced from
culture.--CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT.]
And you, oh, my boy! when you have reached the age where the world
has a right to expect that you will begin to prepare yourself for the
work that is before you, lay hold, I beseech you, of these "spare
moments," and weld them into a beautiful purpose that shall make
your life a joy to yourself and to all who shall come within the
zone of your influence. Do not fail to improve the moments because
they are so few. The fewer there are the more the need of improving
them. Do not procrastinate, do not put off, do not defer the work of
self-improvement till a more favorable time. Know that with the coming
of every opportunity you have a duty to perform. That you must help
yourself whenever you can, and that you must
DO IT NOW!
[Sidenote: The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are
brief and pithy. Collect and learn them; they are notable measures
and directions for human life; you have much in little; they save
time in speaking, and upon occasion may be the fullest and safest
answers.--WILLIAM PENN.]
If you have a task worth doing,
Do it now!
In delay there's danger brewing,
Do it now!
Don't you be a "by-and-byer"
And a sluggish patience-trier;
If there's aught you would acquire,
Do it now!
[Sidenote: Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no
other.--FRANKLIN.]
If you'd earn a prize worth owning,
Do it now!
Drop all waiting and postponing,
Do it now!
Say, "I will!" and then stick to it,
Choose your purpose and pursue it,
There's but one right way to do it,
Do it now!
[Sidenote: Don't flinch, flounder, fall over, nor fiddle, but grapple
like a man. A man who wills it can go anywhere, and do what he
determines to do.--JOHN TODD.]
[Sidenote: Do all the good you can, and make as little fuss as possible
about it.--DICKENS.]
All we have is just this minute,
Do it now!
Find your duty and begin it,
Do it now!
Surely you're not always going
To be "a going-to-be"; and knowing
You must some time make a showing
Do it now!
[Illustration: GARFIELD AS A CANAL BOY]