TIME.
"Time," it is said, "is money." So it is, without doubt. But to the
young man or young woman who is striving to make the most of himself or
herself time is more than money, it is character and usefulness. They
become great and good just as they learn how to make the best use of
their time. On the right employment of it depends what we are to be
now, and what we are to be hereafter, "We all complain," says the great
Roman philosopher Seneca, "of the shortness of time, and yet we have
more than we know what to do with. Our lives are spent either in doing
nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing
that we ought to do. We are always complaining that our days are few,
and acting as though there would be no end of them."
In regard to the right use of time--how to make the most of it and to
get the most out of it--there are certain things that we should bear in
mind and keep in constant remembrance. We may arrange them for
convenience under four heads: _Economy, System, Punctuality and
Promptitude_.
I. Economy.--We all know what economy is. In regard to money, in
connection with which the word is chiefly used, it is keeping strict
watch over our expenditure, and not spending a penny without good
reason. According to the oft-quoted proverb, "Take care of the pence
and the pounds will take care of themselves." Economy, in regard to
time, is to watch over the minutes, hours and days, and the years will
take care of themselves. It is, to let every moment of time be well
employed; to let every hour of the day as it passes be turned to use;
to let none be spent in idleness or folly. It is a good advice that of
the poet--
Think nought a trifle though it small appears,
Sands make the mountain, moments make the years,
And trifles life.
In the mint, where money is coined, when the visitor reaches the room
where the gold coins are cast, it is said that the floor is a network
of wooden bars to catch all the particles of the falling metal. When
the day's work is done, the floor is removed and the golden dust is
swept up to be melted again. In the same way we should economize time:
gather up its golden dust, let none of its moments be lost. Be careful
of its spare minutes, and a wealth of culture will be the result. It
is said of a European cathedral that when the architect came to insert
the stained-glass windows he was one window short. An apprentice in
the factory where the windows were made came forward and said that he
thought he could make a window from the bits of glass cast aside. He
went to work, collected the fragments, put them together, and produced
a window said to be the finest of all. In the same way men have made
much out of the bits of time that have been, so to speak, broken from
the edges of a busy life.
Many illustrations might be given from history of what men have been
able to do by a wise economy of time. Sir Humphry Davy established a
laboratory in the attic of his house, and when his ordinary day's work
was done began a course of scientific studies that continued throughout
his memorable life. Cobbett learned grammar when a soldier, sitting on
the edge of his bed. Lincoln, the famous president of America,
acquired arithmetic during the winter evenings, mastered grammar by
catching up his book at odd moments when he was keeping a shop, and
studied law when following the business of a surveyor. Douglas
Jerrold, during his apprenticeship, arose with the dawn of day to study
his Latin grammar, and read Shakespeare and other works before his
daily labor began at the printing office. At night, when his day's
work was done, he added over two hours more to his studies. At
seventeen years of age he had so mastered Shakespeare that when anyone
quoted a line from the poet he could give from memory that which came
next. While walking to and from his office Henry Kirke White acquired
a knowledge of Greek. A German physician, while visiting his patients,
contrived to commit to memory the _Iliad_ of Homer. Hugh Miller, while
working as a stonemason, studied geology in his off hours. Elihu
Burritt, "the learned blacksmith," gained a mastery of eighteen
languages and twenty-two dialects by using the odds and ends of time at
his disposal. Franklin's hours of study were stolen from the time his
companions devoted to their meals and to sleep.[1] Many similar
instances might be added to show what may be done by economising time
and strictly looking after those spare minutes which many throw away.
The great rule is, never to be unemployed, and to find relief in
turning from one occupation to another, due allowance of course being
made for recreation and for rest. The wise man economises time as he
economises money.
II. System.--It is wonderful how much work can be got through in a day
if we go by rule--if we map out our time, divide it off and take up one
thing regularly after another. To drift through our work, or to rush
through it in _helter skelter_ fashion, ends in comparatively little
being done. "One thing at a time" will always perform a better day's
work than doing two or three things at a time. By following this rule
one person will do more in a day than another does in a week. "Marshal
thy notions," said old Thomas Fuller, "into a handsome method. One
will carry twice as much weight trussed and packed as when it lies
untoward, flapping and hanging about his shoulders." Fixed rules are
the greatest possible help to the worker. They give steadiness to his
labor, and they enable him to go through it with comparative ease.
Many a man would have been saved from ruin if he had appreciated the
value of method in his affairs. In the peasant's cottage or the
artisan's workshop, in the chemist's laboratory or the shipbuilder's
yard, the two primary rules must be, "For every one his duty," and,
"For everything its place."
It is a wise thing to begin the day by taking a survey in thought of
the work we have to get through, and thus to divide it, giving to each
hour its own share. The shortest way to do many things is to do one
thing at a time. Albert Barnes was a distinguished American theologian
who wrote a valuable commentary on the Bible amid the work of a large
parish. He accomplished this by systematic arrangement of his time.
He divided his day into parts. He devoted each part to some duty. He
rigidly adhered to this arrangement, and in this way was able to
overtake an amount of work that was truly wonderful. In the life of
Anthony Trollope, the great novelist, we are told that he kept
resolutely close to a rule he laid down for himself. He wrote so many
pages a day of so many lines each. He overtook an immense amount of
work in the year. He published many books, and he made a great deal of
money. The great English lawyer Sir Edward Coke divided his time
according to the well-known couplet--
Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six,
Four spend in prayer, the rest on nature fix.
Sir William Jones, the famous Oriental scholar, altered this rule to
suit himself.
Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven,
Ten to the world allot, and all to Heaven.
Benjamin Franklin's system of working is given in his "Life." Each day
was carefully portioned off. His daily programme was the following:
Morning. ) Rise, wash, and address the
5 ) Almighty Father; contrive
[Question, What good 6 ) the day's business and take
shall I do this day?] 7 ) the resolution of the day;
) prosecute the present study,
) breakfast.
8 )
to ) Work
11 )
12 ) Read or look over accounts and
Noon. to ) dine.
1 )
2 )
Afternoon, to ) Work
5 )
6 ) Put things in their place;
Evening to ) supper; music or diversion or
[Question, What good 9 ) conversation; examination of
have I done to-day?] ) the day.
10 )
Night to ) Sleep.
4 )
It is evident that a scheme of life like this could not suit everyone.
It is given as an illustration of the value of adhering to method in
our work. "Order," the poet Pope says, "is Heaven's first law," and
time well ordered means generally work well and thoroughly done.
III. Punctuality.--This means keeping strictly as to time by any
engagement we make either with ourselves or with others. If we resolve
to do anything at a certain time, we should do it neither before nor
after that time. It is better to be before than after. But it is best
to be at the very minute. If we enter into an engagement with others
for a certain time, we should be precise in keeping it. In a letter
from a celebrated merchant, Buxton, to his son, he says, "Be punctual;
I do not mean merely being in time for lectures, but mean that spirit
out of which punctuality grows, that love of accuracy and precision
which mark the efficient man. The habit of being punctual extends to
everything--meeting friends, paying debts, going to church, reaching
and leaving place of business, keeping promises, retiring at night and
rising in the morning." We may lay down a system or method of work for
ourselves, but it will be of little service unless we keep carefully to
it, beginning and leaving off at the appointed moment. If the work of
one hour is postponed to another, it will encroach on the time allotted
to some other duty, if it do not remain altogether undone, and thus the
whole business of the day is thrown into disorder. If a man loses half
an hour by rising late in the morning, he is apt to spend the rest of
the day seeking after it. Sir Walter Scott was not only methodical in
his work, he was exceedingly punctual, always beginning his allotted
task at the appointed moment. "When a regiment," he wrote, "is under
march, the rear is often thrown into confusion because the front does
not move steadily and without interruption. It is the same thing in
business. If that which is first in hand be not instantly despatched,
other things accumulate betimes, till affairs begin to press all at
once, and no brain can stand the confusion." We should steadily
cultivate the habit of punctuality. We can cultivate it until it
becomes with us a second nature, and we do everything, as the saying
is, "by clockwork." In rising in the morning and going to bed, in
taking up different kinds of work, in keeping appointments with others,
we should strive to be "to the minute." The unpunctual man is a
nuisance to society. He wastes his own time, and he wastes the time of
others; as Principal Tulloch well says, "Men who have real work of
their own would rather do anything than do business with him." [2]
IV. Promptitude.--By this we mean acting at the present moment--all
that is opposed to procrastination, putting off to another time, to a
"convenient season" which probably never comes--all that is opposed
also to what is called "loitering" or "dawdling." There is an old
Latin proverb, "_Bis dat qui cito dat,_"--he gives twice who gives
quickly. The same thing may be said of work, "He works twice who works
quickly." In work, of course, the first requirement is that it should
be well done; but this does not hinder quickness and despatch. There
are those who, when they have anything to do, seem to go round it and
round it, instead of attacking it at once and getting it out of the
way; and when they do begin it they do so in a listless and
half-hearted fashion. There are those who look at their work,
according to the simile of Sidney Smith, like men who stand shivering
on the bank instead of at once taking the plunge. "In order," he says,
"to do anything that is worth doing in this world, we must not stand
shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in
and scramble through as well as we can. It will not do to be
perpetually calculating and adjusting nice chances; it did all very
well before the Flood, when a man could consult his friends upon an
intended publication for a hundred and fifty years, and then live to
see its success for six or seven centuries afterwards, but at present a
man doubts, and waits, and hesitates, and consults his brother, and his
uncle, and his first cousin, and his particular friends, till one day
he finds that he is sixty-five years of age, that he has lost so much
time in consulting first cousins and particular friends that he has no
time to follow their advice." This is good sense, though humorously
put. Promptitude is a quality that should be assiduously cultivated.
Like punctuality, it becomes a most valuable habit. "Procrastination,"
it is said, "is the thief of time," and "hell is paved with good
intentions." These proverbs are full of wisdom. When we hear people
saying, "They are going to be this thing or that thing; they _intend_
to look to this or to that; they will by and by do this or that," we
may be sure there is a weakness in their character. Such people never
come to much. The best way is not to _speak_ about doing a thing, but
_to do it_, and to do it _at once_.
To these thoughts on the use of time we may fitly add the great words
of Scripture, "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom," Ps. xc. 12. "Redeeming the time, because the days
are evil," Ephes. v. 16. We transform time into eternity by using it
aright.
[1] These illustrations are given by Mr. Davenport Adams.
[2] _Beginning Life_.