Henry George's career as a writer should be dated from the commencement
of 1865, when he was an irregular, substitute printer at Eastman's and
on the daily newspapers, just after his severe job-office experience.
He now deliberately set himself to self-improvement. These few diary
notes for the end of March and beginning of April are found in a small
blank book that in 1878, while working on "Progress and Poverty," he
also used as a diary.
"_Saturday, March 25, 1865_.--As I knew we would have no letter this
morning, I did not hurry down to the office. After getting breakfast,
took the wringing machine which I had been using as a sample back to
Faulkner's; then went to Eastman's and saw to bill; loafed around until
about 2 P. M. Concluded that the best thing I could do would be to go
home and write a little. Came home and wrote for the sake of practice
an essay on the 'Use of Time,' which occupied me until Annie prepared
dinner. Went to Eastman's by six, got money. Went to Union meeting.
"_Sunday, March 26_.--Did not get out until 11 o'clock. Took Harry
down town and then to Wilbur's. Proposed to have Dick [the new baby]
baptised in afternoon; got Mrs. Casey to come to the house for that
purpose, but concluded to wait. Went to see Dull, who took me to his
shop and showed me the model of his wagon brake.
"_Monday, March 27_.--Got down to office about one o'clock; but no
proofs yet. Strolled around a little. Went home and wrote
communication for Aleck Kenneday's new paper, _Journal of the Trades
and Workingmen_. Took it down to him. In the evening called on Rev.
Mr. Simonds.
"_Tuesday, 28_.--Got down late. No work. In afternoon wrote article
about laws relating to sailors. In evening went down to Dull's shop
while he was engaged on model.
"_Wednesday, 29_.--Went to work about 10:30. In evening corrected
proof for _Journal of the Trades and Workingmen_.
"_Thursday, 30_.--At work.
"_Tuesday, April 4_.--Despatch received stating that Richmond and
Petersburgh are both in our possession.
"_Wednesday, 5_.--Took model of wagon brake to several carriage shops;
also to _Alta_ office. In evening signed agreement with Dull.
"_Saturday, 8_.--Not working; bill for week, $23. Paid Frank Mahon the
$5 I have been owing for some time. Met Harrison, who had just come
down from up the country. He has a good thing up there. Talked with
Dull and drew up advertisement. In evening, nothing."
Thus while he was doing haphazard type-setting, and trying to interest
carriage builders in a new wagon brake, he was also beginning to write.
The first and most important of these pieces of writing mentioned in
the diary notes--on "The Use of Time"--was sent by Mr. George to his
mother, as an indication of his intention to improve himself.
Commencing with boyhood, Henry George, as has been seen, had the power
of simple and clear statement, and if this essay served no other
purpose than to show the development of that natural power, it would be
of value. But as a matter of fact, it has a far greater value; for
while repeating his purpose to practise writing--"to acquire facility
and elegance in the expression" of his thought--it gives an
introspective glimpse into the naturally secretive mind, revealing an
intense desire, if not for the "flesh pots of Egypt," at least for such
creature and intellectual comforts as would enable him and those close
to him "to bask themselves in the warm sunshine of the brief day."
This paper is presented in full:
_Essay, Saturday Afternoon, March 25, 1865_.
"ON THE PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT OF TIME."
"Most of us have some principal object of desire at any given time of
our lives; something which we wish more than anything else, either
because its want is more felt, or that it includes other desirable
things, and we are conscious that in gaining it we obtain the means of
gratifying other of our wishes.
"With most of us this power, in one shape or the other--is money, or
that which is its equivalent or will bring it.
"For this end we subject ourselves to many sacrifices; for its gain we
are willing to confine ourselves and employ our minds and bodies in
duties which, for their own sakes, are irksome; and if we do not throw
the whole force of our natures into the effort to gain this, it is that
we do not possess the requisite patience, self-command, and penetration
where we may direct our efforts.
"I am constantly longing for wealth; the wide difference between my
wishes and the means of gratifying them at my command keeps me in
perpetual disquiet. It would bring me comfort and luxury which I
cannot now obtain; it would give me more congenial employment and
associates; it would enable me to cultivate my mind and exert to a
fuller extent my powers; it would give me the ability to minister to
the comfort and enjoyment of those whom I love most, and, therefore, it
is my principal object in life to obtain wealth, or at least more of it
than I have at present.
"Whether this is right or wrong, I do not now consider; but that it is
so I am conscious. When I look behind at my past life I see that I
have made little or no progress, and am disquieted; when I consider my
present, it is difficult to see that I am moving toward it at all; and
all my comfort in this respect is in the hope of what the future may
bring forth.
"And yet my hopes are very vague and indistinct, and my efforts in any
direction, save the beaten track in which I have been used to earn my
bread, are, when perceptible, jerky, irregular, and without
intelligent, continuous direction.
"When I succeed in obtaining employment, I am industrious and work
faithfully, though it does not satisfy my wishes. When I have nothing
to do, I am anxious to be in some way labouring toward the end I wish,
and yet from hour to hour I cannot tell at what to employ myself.
"To secure any given result it is only necessary to rightly supply
sufficient force. Some men possess a greater amount of natural power
than others and produce quicker and more striking results; yet it is
apparent that the abilities of the majority, if properly and
continuously applied, are sufficient to accomplish much more than they
generally do.
"The hours which I have idled away, though made miserable by the
consciousness of accomplishing nothing, had been sufficient to make me
master of almost any common branch of study. If, for instance, I had
applied myself to the practice of bookkeeping and arithmetic I might
now have been an expert in those things; or I might have had the
dictionary at my fingers' ends; been a practised, and perhaps an able,
writer; a much better printer; or been able to read and write French,
Spanish, or any other modern or ancient language to which I might have
directed my attention; and the mastery of any of these things now would
give me an additional, appreciable power, and means by which to work to
my end, not to speak of that which would have been gained by exercise
and good mental habits.
"These truths are not sudden discoveries; but have been as apparent for
years as at this present time; but always wishing for some chance to
make a sudden leap forward, I have never been able to direct my mind
and concentrate my attention upon those slow processes by which
everything mental (and in most cases material) is acquired.
"Constantly the mind works, and if but a tithe of its attention was
directed to some end, how many matters might it have taken up in
succession, increasing its own stores and power while mastering them?
"To sum up for the present, though this essay has hardly taken the
direction and shape which at the outset I intended, it is evident to me
that I have not employed the time and means at my command faithfully
and advantageously as I might have done, and consequently, that I have
myself to blame for at least a part of my non-success. And this being
true of the past, in the future like results will flow from like
causes. I will, therefore, try (though, as I know from experience, it
is much easier to form good resolutions than to faithfully carry them
out) to employ my mind in acquiring useful information or practice,
when I have nothing leading more directly to my end claiming my
attention. When practicable, or when I cannot decide upon anything
else, I will endeavour to acquire facility and elegance in the
expression of my thought by writing essays or other matters which I
will preserve for future comparison. And in this practice it will be
well to aim at mechanical neatness and grace, as well as at proper and
polished language."
Of the two other pieces of writing spoken of in the diary notes, the
"article about laws relating to sailors," has left no trace, but a copy
of the one for the _Journal of the Trades and Workingmen_ has been
preserved.
[1] Unlike that fish on the Atlantic Coast, sturgeon on the Pacific
Coast, or at any rate in California waters, is of fine quality and
could easily be substituted on the table for halibut.
[2] Meeker notes, October, 1897.
[3] Henry George related this incident to Dr. James E. Kelly in a
conversation in Dublin during the winter of 1881-82, in proof that
environment has more to do with human actions, and especially with
so-called criminal actions, than we generally concede; and to show how
acute poverty may drive sound-minded, moral men to the commission of
deeds that are supposed to belong entirely to hardened evil natures.
Out of long philosophical and physiological talks together at that time
the two men formed a warm friendship, and subsequently, when he came to
the United States and established himself in New York, Dr. Kelly became
Henry George's family physician and attended him at his deathbed.
[4] She was now a widow, James George having died in the preceding
August.