There is Time Enough.Thisis one of the most mischievous sentences in the English language. Not that it is bad in itself—for it is strictly true, as we intend to show presently. But its meaning is sadly perverted, and what was meant for good, becomes the occasion of evil.Many a good thing might have been done had it been begun in season; but because there was time enough, it was let alone, and let alone, and so not started until too late, or never moved at all.But there is such a thing as bringing good out of evil. The bee extracts honey, as sweet, if not as abundant, from the thistle, as from the rose. And he who would profit by studying human nature, and watching divine providence, may learn wisdom from his past errors, and turn over his misfortune to some good account.The wisest man in ancient days, (and we believe he was fully as wise as people commonly are at present,)—the wisest man of ancient days has given us to understand that there isa timefor everything under the sun.A time for laughter and for tears, for sorrow and for joy.A time for business, a time for recreation, and a time for rest; but he does not say a word about leisure time, or time for idleness. He speaks too of a time to die, leaving us to infer, as we may very naturally, that He,who made the sun to rule the day, the moon and stars to govern the night, has given ustime enough, just time enough, and none to spare, to perform all our duties, and to enjoy every rational pleasure—to make the world better for our having lived in it, and to become better fitted ourselves, for “another and a better world.”There istime enough, says the schoolboy; whose time runs out, and he goes half fitted to the counting room, or enters half fitted at college.Time enough, thinks many a young man, if he does not say so, to commence habits of frugality and economy, and thus provide for future wealth; but the time never, never comes, and he, to use a homely phrase of Dr. Franklin’s, “scratches a poor man’s head as long as he lives.”How many designs have we formed, of doing this and that good thing, which fell through, not because we had little time, but because we had time enough, and so wasted one hour after another till the time had passed.Time enough to work says the idler and spendthrift; but his clothes wear out before he finds time to earn new ones; and his pockets are emptied, and he has no time to replenish them.Franklin has a homely saying to this effect,—that he who loses an hour in the morning, must run all day, and ’tis a wonder if he overtakes his business before night. So, if any one finds himself pinched for time, it is likely he has thrown away an hour, when he thought he had time enough and a little to spare.Time enough—say we, when in a serious mood we resolve to be more diligent, more systematic, more punctual; when we resolve upon anyreform.We do not mean to procrastinate; but while we muse, the moment passes, and is irrecoverably lost.Do you say, “We knew all this before?”No doubt of it. Yet we are apt to think there is not onlytime enough, but some to spare.But this is an error, and should be corrected.The different length of different lives is nothing against our position, that life is just long enough. The oldest person has enough of duty and enough of pleasure too, if he lives aright, to occupy his threescore years and ten, while he whose sun goes down at noon, has time enough, if he will but improve it, to make his life here a blessing to others, and that hereafter blessed and glorious to himself.——“That life alone is long,Which answers life’s great end.”The Folly of War.—A few days since a farmer in the town of Jefferson, heard loud talking and angry words bandied about among his dunghill fowls, and being a man of a pacific disposition, no ways inclined to countenance family quarrels, and withal being a little curious to know the cause of the disturbance, and who was in the right, and who was in the wrong, with divers other causes him thereunto moving, he leisurely bent his course towards the scene of cackling and confusion, aforesaid, which, as is recorded in the case of Bullumvs.Boatum, was “very natural for a man so to do.” Arrived in the vicinity of the disturbance above particularly referred to, he observed his dunghill cock, who is a great pugilist, and in the enjoyment of all his physical strength, engaged in mortal combat with a striped snake of about eighteen or twenty inches in length, the cock to all appearance having the decided advantage over his more wily, though less nervous adversary, dealing his blows in quick succession, employing alternately his bill and spurs with true pugilistic skill and science. But the cunning serpent, well aware that the victory must declare against him by fair combat, brought into requisition a portion of that innate cunning for which that reptile has been celebrated from the beginning of the world to the present time; and seizing his antagonist by the thigh, in the rear, he completely secured himself from any further danger from him. Thus situated, the cock very naturally thought his only “safety was in flight,” he accordingly “cleaved the air majestically with his wings,” the snake keeping fast the hold, and dangling like a taglock, underneath, until the cock, overcome by fatigue, alighted on a neighboring apple tree. The snake immediately coiled his tail around a branch of the tree—the cock again attempted flight, but he could scarcely clear the limb, from which he hung with his head downwards, making every effort to escape, but all in vain, until the farmer came to his assistance—killed the snake and set him at liberty.Wager Lost.—In the year 1765, a waterman having laid a wager that he and his dog would both leap from the centre arch of Westminster bridge, and land at Lambeth within a minute of each other; he jumped off first and the dog immediately followed, but not being in the secret, and fearing that his master would be drowned, he laid hold of him by the neck and dragged him on shore, to the great diversion of the spectators.Anecdote of a Cat.—Sometime ago a respectable lady from Glasgow, having been on a visit at the house of a friend in Edinburgh, fancied a beautiful cat of the Muscovy species, which graced the fireside of the hostess. The latter, being pressingly solicited, at length consented to present her visiter with the animal, and puss was accordingly enclosed in a basket, and transported along with her new proprietrix in the inside of a carriage to the city of Glasgow. For seven or eight weeks after the animal’s arrival at her new residence, she was watched, lest, not being reconciled to the change, she should make her escape.At the termination of that time, she littered two kittens; and this circumstance was considered a sufficient guarantee for her remaining, for some weeks at least, in her new house. Some days afterwards, however, puss with both her kittens disappeared, and no traces could be obtained of the place to which she had been removed, until about eight days from the time of her disappearance from her Glasgow residence, when her well-known mew was recognized by her former mistress at the door of her drawing room. The door was opened; and there was seen poor puss with her brace of kittens—they in excellent condition—but she worn to a skeleton. The distance betwixt Edinburgh and Glasgow is upwards of forty miles; and as the sagacious animal could only carry one of her kittens such a distance at a time, she must, after having placed the one, in someplace of concealment in Edinburgh, have returned to Glasgow for the other—thus travelling altogether upwards of one hundred and twenty miles. There is no doubt but puss chose the darkness and silence of the night as the most eligible season for the performance of her singular journey.Examination of a School Boy.—The following anecdote illustrates the danger of trusting to memory alone, in the acquisition of knowledge.“Now, my boy,” said the master, “pray inform me who was the first man in the world?” “Adam,” replied the youth, with quickness.So far so good; the next attempt was not equally fortunate. “And pray, who was thewisestman in the world?” “Eve,” replied the boy, with a triumphant air; at which all the boys burst into a loud fit of laughter, which the authority of the master calling silence, could not suppress for some minutes.“You mistook the question, my boy,” said the master; “you imagined, no doubt, that I asked who was the wisestwomanin the world; and to that question your answer is very accurate; for, as Eve was thefirstwoman in the world, she must at that time have also been thewisest.”But the mortified pupil was too much disturbed by the laughter of his schoolfellows to avail himself of this ingenious hint. He appealed to the ready-made answers of his catechism, to prove that his master alone was the cause of his distress.“Look there; question fourth, ‘Who was the first woman in the world?’ answer, ‘Eve;’ but instead of that, when I expected question fourth, you asked question fifth, that you did!”A Sly Couple.—A gentleman in the county of Stirling kept a greyhound and a pointer, and being fond of coursing, the pointer was accustomed to find the hares, and the greyhound to catch them. When the season was over it was found that the dogs were in the habit of going out together and killing hares for their own amusement. To prevent this a large iron ring was fastened to the pointer’s neck by a leather collar and hung down so as to prevent the dog from running, or jumping over dykes, &c.The animals, however, continued to stroll out to the fields together, and one day the gentleman suspecting that all was not right, resolved to watch them, and to his surprise found that the moment they thought they were unobserved, the greyhound took up the iron ring in his mouth, and carrying it they set off to the hills and began to search for hares as usual. They were followed and it was observed, that whenever the pointer scented the hare, the ring was dropped and the greyhound stood ready to pounce upon poor puss the moment the other drove her from her form, but that he uniformly returned to assist his companion after he had caught the prey.The Philosopher Puzzled.—De la Croix relates the following instance of sagacity in a cat, which, even under the receiver of an air pump, discovered the means of escaping a death that appeared to all present inevitable.“I once saw,” says he, “a lecturer upon experimental philosophy place a cat under the glass receiver of an air pump, for the purpose of demonstrating that very certain fact, that life cannot be supported without air and respiration. The lecturer had already made several strokes with the piston, in order to exhaust the receiver of its air, when the animal, that had begun to feel herself very uncomfortable in the rarefied atmosphere, was fortunate enough to discover the source from whence her uneasiness proceeded. She placed her paw upon the hole through which the air escaped, and thus prevented any more from passing out of the receiver.“All the exertions of the officer were now unavailing; in vain he drew the piston; the cat’s paw effectually prevented its operation. Hoping to effect his purpose, he let air again into the receiver, which as soon as the cat perceived, she withdrew her paw from the aperture; but when he attempted to exhaust the receiver, she applied her paw as before. All the spectators clapped their hands in admiration of the wonderful sagacity of the animal, and the lecturer found himself under the necessity of liberating her, and substituting another in her place, that possessed less penetration, and enabled him to exhibit the cruel experiment.”—Naturalist.Rising Genius.—A boy who displayed a long dangling watch-chain, was asked, “What’s the time of day, Josiah?” The lad drew out his watch very ceremoniously, and after examining it for a while referred to another boy and said, “Is this the figure nine, or the figure seven?” He was told that it was the figure seven, “Well then,” said the genius, “it lacks just about half an inch of eight.”The French Officer and his Mastiff.—A French officer, more remarkable for his courage and spirit than his wealth, had served the Venetian republic for some years with great valor and fidelity, but had not met with that preferment which he merited. One day he waited on a nobleman whom he had often solicited in vain, but on whose friendship he had still some reliance. The reception he met with was cool and mortifying; the nobleman turned his back upon the necessitous veteran, and left him to find his way through a suit of apartments magnificently furnished. He passed them lost in thought; till casting his eyes on a sumptuous sideboard, where a valuable collection of Venetian glass, polished and formed in the highest degree of perfection, stood on a damask cloth, as a preparation for a splendid entertainment, he took hold of a corner of the linen, and turning to a faithful English mastiff which always accompanied him, said to the animal, in a kind of absence of mind, “Here, my poor old friend, you see how these haughty tyrants indulge themselves, and yet how we are treated.”The dog looked his master in the face and gave tokens that he understood him. The master walked on, but the mastiffslackened his pace, and laying hold of the damask cloth with his teeth, at one hearty pull brought all the glass on the sideboard in shivers to the ground, thus depriving the insolent noble of his favorite exhibition of splendor.A rustyshield prayed to the sun and aid, “Oh sun, illumine me with thy ray!” To which the sun replied, “Oh shield, make thyself clean!”Laconic.—Perhaps our readers are not all aware that the style of speaking calledlaconicwas taken from a practice at Sparta, ancientlyLaconia. Lycurgus, the lawgiver, exercised the young people in conversation while at their meals. Questions were asked them at the table, to which short and ready answers were required. This was both the amusement and business of old men, and great attention was paid by those who watched over education, both to the expression and manner of these replies. The boys, accustomed to have their answers listened to, corrected and applauded by men for whom they had the greatest esteem, acquired a quickness and propriety in answering, with a manner of speaking, at once graceful, respectful, and determined; while that strict obedience which was required of the young, that watchful eye that was kept over them by the aged, in whose hands all the authority of the laws was placed, produced that modesty in youth, and that reverence for age, for which Sparta became so famous.A wise Parrot.—There is an Eastern story told of a person who taught his parrot to repeat only the words, “What doubt is there of that?” He carried it to market for sale, fixing the price at one hundred rupees. A Mogul, seeing the parrot, asked him “Are you worth one hundred rupees?” The parrot answered, “What doubt is there of that?” The Mogul was delighted and bought the bird. He soon found out that it was all he could say. Ashamed now of his bargain, he one day exclaimed, “I was a fool to buy this bird.” The parrot replied, “What doubt is there of that?”
Thisis one of the most mischievous sentences in the English language. Not that it is bad in itself—for it is strictly true, as we intend to show presently. But its meaning is sadly perverted, and what was meant for good, becomes the occasion of evil.
Many a good thing might have been done had it been begun in season; but because there was time enough, it was let alone, and let alone, and so not started until too late, or never moved at all.
But there is such a thing as bringing good out of evil. The bee extracts honey, as sweet, if not as abundant, from the thistle, as from the rose. And he who would profit by studying human nature, and watching divine providence, may learn wisdom from his past errors, and turn over his misfortune to some good account.
The wisest man in ancient days, (and we believe he was fully as wise as people commonly are at present,)—the wisest man of ancient days has given us to understand that there isa timefor everything under the sun.A time for laughter and for tears, for sorrow and for joy.A time for business, a time for recreation, and a time for rest; but he does not say a word about leisure time, or time for idleness. He speaks too of a time to die, leaving us to infer, as we may very naturally, that He,who made the sun to rule the day, the moon and stars to govern the night, has given ustime enough, just time enough, and none to spare, to perform all our duties, and to enjoy every rational pleasure—to make the world better for our having lived in it, and to become better fitted ourselves, for “another and a better world.”
There istime enough, says the schoolboy; whose time runs out, and he goes half fitted to the counting room, or enters half fitted at college.
Time enough, thinks many a young man, if he does not say so, to commence habits of frugality and economy, and thus provide for future wealth; but the time never, never comes, and he, to use a homely phrase of Dr. Franklin’s, “scratches a poor man’s head as long as he lives.”
How many designs have we formed, of doing this and that good thing, which fell through, not because we had little time, but because we had time enough, and so wasted one hour after another till the time had passed.
Time enough to work says the idler and spendthrift; but his clothes wear out before he finds time to earn new ones; and his pockets are emptied, and he has no time to replenish them.
Franklin has a homely saying to this effect,—that he who loses an hour in the morning, must run all day, and ’tis a wonder if he overtakes his business before night. So, if any one finds himself pinched for time, it is likely he has thrown away an hour, when he thought he had time enough and a little to spare.
Time enough—say we, when in a serious mood we resolve to be more diligent, more systematic, more punctual; when we resolve upon anyreform.
We do not mean to procrastinate; but while we muse, the moment passes, and is irrecoverably lost.
Do you say, “We knew all this before?”
No doubt of it. Yet we are apt to think there is not onlytime enough, but some to spare.
But this is an error, and should be corrected.
The different length of different lives is nothing against our position, that life is just long enough. The oldest person has enough of duty and enough of pleasure too, if he lives aright, to occupy his threescore years and ten, while he whose sun goes down at noon, has time enough, if he will but improve it, to make his life here a blessing to others, and that hereafter blessed and glorious to himself.
——“That life alone is long,Which answers life’s great end.”
——“That life alone is long,Which answers life’s great end.”
——“That life alone is long,
Which answers life’s great end.”
The Folly of War.—A few days since a farmer in the town of Jefferson, heard loud talking and angry words bandied about among his dunghill fowls, and being a man of a pacific disposition, no ways inclined to countenance family quarrels, and withal being a little curious to know the cause of the disturbance, and who was in the right, and who was in the wrong, with divers other causes him thereunto moving, he leisurely bent his course towards the scene of cackling and confusion, aforesaid, which, as is recorded in the case of Bullumvs.Boatum, was “very natural for a man so to do.” Arrived in the vicinity of the disturbance above particularly referred to, he observed his dunghill cock, who is a great pugilist, and in the enjoyment of all his physical strength, engaged in mortal combat with a striped snake of about eighteen or twenty inches in length, the cock to all appearance having the decided advantage over his more wily, though less nervous adversary, dealing his blows in quick succession, employing alternately his bill and spurs with true pugilistic skill and science. But the cunning serpent, well aware that the victory must declare against him by fair combat, brought into requisition a portion of that innate cunning for which that reptile has been celebrated from the beginning of the world to the present time; and seizing his antagonist by the thigh, in the rear, he completely secured himself from any further danger from him. Thus situated, the cock very naturally thought his only “safety was in flight,” he accordingly “cleaved the air majestically with his wings,” the snake keeping fast the hold, and dangling like a taglock, underneath, until the cock, overcome by fatigue, alighted on a neighboring apple tree. The snake immediately coiled his tail around a branch of the tree—the cock again attempted flight, but he could scarcely clear the limb, from which he hung with his head downwards, making every effort to escape, but all in vain, until the farmer came to his assistance—killed the snake and set him at liberty.
Wager Lost.—In the year 1765, a waterman having laid a wager that he and his dog would both leap from the centre arch of Westminster bridge, and land at Lambeth within a minute of each other; he jumped off first and the dog immediately followed, but not being in the secret, and fearing that his master would be drowned, he laid hold of him by the neck and dragged him on shore, to the great diversion of the spectators.
Anecdote of a Cat.—Sometime ago a respectable lady from Glasgow, having been on a visit at the house of a friend in Edinburgh, fancied a beautiful cat of the Muscovy species, which graced the fireside of the hostess. The latter, being pressingly solicited, at length consented to present her visiter with the animal, and puss was accordingly enclosed in a basket, and transported along with her new proprietrix in the inside of a carriage to the city of Glasgow. For seven or eight weeks after the animal’s arrival at her new residence, she was watched, lest, not being reconciled to the change, she should make her escape.
At the termination of that time, she littered two kittens; and this circumstance was considered a sufficient guarantee for her remaining, for some weeks at least, in her new house. Some days afterwards, however, puss with both her kittens disappeared, and no traces could be obtained of the place to which she had been removed, until about eight days from the time of her disappearance from her Glasgow residence, when her well-known mew was recognized by her former mistress at the door of her drawing room. The door was opened; and there was seen poor puss with her brace of kittens—they in excellent condition—but she worn to a skeleton. The distance betwixt Edinburgh and Glasgow is upwards of forty miles; and as the sagacious animal could only carry one of her kittens such a distance at a time, she must, after having placed the one, in someplace of concealment in Edinburgh, have returned to Glasgow for the other—thus travelling altogether upwards of one hundred and twenty miles. There is no doubt but puss chose the darkness and silence of the night as the most eligible season for the performance of her singular journey.
Examination of a School Boy.—The following anecdote illustrates the danger of trusting to memory alone, in the acquisition of knowledge.
“Now, my boy,” said the master, “pray inform me who was the first man in the world?” “Adam,” replied the youth, with quickness.
So far so good; the next attempt was not equally fortunate. “And pray, who was thewisestman in the world?” “Eve,” replied the boy, with a triumphant air; at which all the boys burst into a loud fit of laughter, which the authority of the master calling silence, could not suppress for some minutes.
“You mistook the question, my boy,” said the master; “you imagined, no doubt, that I asked who was the wisestwomanin the world; and to that question your answer is very accurate; for, as Eve was thefirstwoman in the world, she must at that time have also been thewisest.”
But the mortified pupil was too much disturbed by the laughter of his schoolfellows to avail himself of this ingenious hint. He appealed to the ready-made answers of his catechism, to prove that his master alone was the cause of his distress.
“Look there; question fourth, ‘Who was the first woman in the world?’ answer, ‘Eve;’ but instead of that, when I expected question fourth, you asked question fifth, that you did!”
A Sly Couple.—A gentleman in the county of Stirling kept a greyhound and a pointer, and being fond of coursing, the pointer was accustomed to find the hares, and the greyhound to catch them. When the season was over it was found that the dogs were in the habit of going out together and killing hares for their own amusement. To prevent this a large iron ring was fastened to the pointer’s neck by a leather collar and hung down so as to prevent the dog from running, or jumping over dykes, &c.
The animals, however, continued to stroll out to the fields together, and one day the gentleman suspecting that all was not right, resolved to watch them, and to his surprise found that the moment they thought they were unobserved, the greyhound took up the iron ring in his mouth, and carrying it they set off to the hills and began to search for hares as usual. They were followed and it was observed, that whenever the pointer scented the hare, the ring was dropped and the greyhound stood ready to pounce upon poor puss the moment the other drove her from her form, but that he uniformly returned to assist his companion after he had caught the prey.
The Philosopher Puzzled.—De la Croix relates the following instance of sagacity in a cat, which, even under the receiver of an air pump, discovered the means of escaping a death that appeared to all present inevitable.
“I once saw,” says he, “a lecturer upon experimental philosophy place a cat under the glass receiver of an air pump, for the purpose of demonstrating that very certain fact, that life cannot be supported without air and respiration. The lecturer had already made several strokes with the piston, in order to exhaust the receiver of its air, when the animal, that had begun to feel herself very uncomfortable in the rarefied atmosphere, was fortunate enough to discover the source from whence her uneasiness proceeded. She placed her paw upon the hole through which the air escaped, and thus prevented any more from passing out of the receiver.
“All the exertions of the officer were now unavailing; in vain he drew the piston; the cat’s paw effectually prevented its operation. Hoping to effect his purpose, he let air again into the receiver, which as soon as the cat perceived, she withdrew her paw from the aperture; but when he attempted to exhaust the receiver, she applied her paw as before. All the spectators clapped their hands in admiration of the wonderful sagacity of the animal, and the lecturer found himself under the necessity of liberating her, and substituting another in her place, that possessed less penetration, and enabled him to exhibit the cruel experiment.”—Naturalist.
Rising Genius.—A boy who displayed a long dangling watch-chain, was asked, “What’s the time of day, Josiah?” The lad drew out his watch very ceremoniously, and after examining it for a while referred to another boy and said, “Is this the figure nine, or the figure seven?” He was told that it was the figure seven, “Well then,” said the genius, “it lacks just about half an inch of eight.”
The French Officer and his Mastiff.—A French officer, more remarkable for his courage and spirit than his wealth, had served the Venetian republic for some years with great valor and fidelity, but had not met with that preferment which he merited. One day he waited on a nobleman whom he had often solicited in vain, but on whose friendship he had still some reliance. The reception he met with was cool and mortifying; the nobleman turned his back upon the necessitous veteran, and left him to find his way through a suit of apartments magnificently furnished. He passed them lost in thought; till casting his eyes on a sumptuous sideboard, where a valuable collection of Venetian glass, polished and formed in the highest degree of perfection, stood on a damask cloth, as a preparation for a splendid entertainment, he took hold of a corner of the linen, and turning to a faithful English mastiff which always accompanied him, said to the animal, in a kind of absence of mind, “Here, my poor old friend, you see how these haughty tyrants indulge themselves, and yet how we are treated.”
The dog looked his master in the face and gave tokens that he understood him. The master walked on, but the mastiffslackened his pace, and laying hold of the damask cloth with his teeth, at one hearty pull brought all the glass on the sideboard in shivers to the ground, thus depriving the insolent noble of his favorite exhibition of splendor.
A rustyshield prayed to the sun and aid, “Oh sun, illumine me with thy ray!” To which the sun replied, “Oh shield, make thyself clean!”
Laconic.—Perhaps our readers are not all aware that the style of speaking calledlaconicwas taken from a practice at Sparta, ancientlyLaconia. Lycurgus, the lawgiver, exercised the young people in conversation while at their meals. Questions were asked them at the table, to which short and ready answers were required. This was both the amusement and business of old men, and great attention was paid by those who watched over education, both to the expression and manner of these replies. The boys, accustomed to have their answers listened to, corrected and applauded by men for whom they had the greatest esteem, acquired a quickness and propriety in answering, with a manner of speaking, at once graceful, respectful, and determined; while that strict obedience which was required of the young, that watchful eye that was kept over them by the aged, in whose hands all the authority of the laws was placed, produced that modesty in youth, and that reverence for age, for which Sparta became so famous.
A wise Parrot.—There is an Eastern story told of a person who taught his parrot to repeat only the words, “What doubt is there of that?” He carried it to market for sale, fixing the price at one hundred rupees. A Mogul, seeing the parrot, asked him “Are you worth one hundred rupees?” The parrot answered, “What doubt is there of that?” The Mogul was delighted and bought the bird. He soon found out that it was all he could say. Ashamed now of his bargain, he one day exclaimed, “I was a fool to buy this bird.” The parrot replied, “What doubt is there of that?”