Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 April 1876 — The Waste of Time. [ARTICLE]

The Waste of Time.

A story Is told of a man of some note that he learned to read in a foreign lan. guage by making use of the intervals of time which elapsed, when going out in company with his wile, after he was ready before she had completely arrayed herself in walking costume. It is possible that tlm iadydn the case belonged to the class that expend an inconceivable length of time at their toilet, and If the inclinations of the gentleman so prompted him that the time could have been equally empldycd in a pursuit of some other kind or whiled away in n manner less toilsome. Be this as it rpay —arid whether the waiting moments were only such as were tairly snatched from Time, or of so long duration that absolute idleness while they were passing would be almost unbearable to a mnhof nervods temperament—the mriral to be derived from the Story is apparent. It is the moments which make the year, and if the spare moments are idly employed. a good portion of the year is wasted. The practical use to which these moments have been put bus enabled men whose infancy and growth were pusseu under diretiinstances that scarcely admitted of a hope .of foture fame or fortune, to overcome all adverse circumstances and raise themselves to positiohs of eminence. Arid altbough,it Capnot be said that all persons, or evpn a considerable portion can by the-proper use of available time,accomplish the extraordinary achievements which are recorded to the credit of some of those who have hewn their way to a prominent position among fellow-men, it cun be said that much can be accomplished by any one who will simply refrain from wasting time' How few there are who ever take thought of the time that is Waste 1 in a day, or calculate how much it amounts to ip a single year. Fifteen minutes a day is equivalent in a year to over riine days-iof ten hours each, and a wasted hour a dfty means more than a wasted working month in the course es a year. Of course it is difficult to summarily and completely define what wasted^timei is,‘_Tiiue.whiefoja wasted; but on the contrary is well spent. But an undue proportion of time can be surrendered to these purposes, and when this is done, time is certainly wasted, find worse than wasted. The homely adage has it that “ all work and no play nujlfcs Jack a dull boy,” and k fair supplement to it is that'all play arief nb work lriakes Jack q liwy, aleU'tlpsfy.goqd-for-nuUijug. ’’ There is a large number of persons wlio, spend-no” mcbnsiderablt; portion of their time in envious Contemplation of their neighbors, in repinings at their own lot, or in brooding over their affairs. It is no wonder that many such persons carinot succeed, for they are at a great disadvantage as compared with those who plod on with indomitable perseverance, and who take no note of unfavorable circumstances except as a reminder that they must not lose heart. In all communities it is the energetic, persevering men who become the men of influence; and habits of energy and perseverance canJinacciuired by cultivation. It is hard for those who have fallen into habits of an opposite character—who are indolent and indifferent—to put off the old habits and to.put. on the new; but the undertaking fax from impossible. The mere trying to do it is a step in the right direction, and the effort, if persisted in, cannot fail -at last, ae crowned wjth success. Those, there; , who Arid, on reflection, Hint the/ waste much time which coula readily be utilized, should attempt to utilize ft in such a manner as shall occur to them to be best, all things corisidered, for themselves.—Detroit Free Press ,