CHAPTER V

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!