Had all the Time there Was.
When Uncle Abe used to attend the Courts in the regions round about Sangamon, he generally made easy stays, and was wont to look at the country and talk to the people at his leisure. On one occasion he was riding by the premises of old H———, who was notorious for his unthriftiness, and who was in the act of driving some stray hogs out of his corn-field.
"Good morning, Mr. H———," said Uncle Abe.
"Morning, Mr. Lincoln, morning."
"Why don't you mend that piece of fence thoroughly, Mr. H———, and keep the pigs out?" asked Uncle Abe.
"Ha'n't got time," said H———.
"Why," said Uncle Abe, with an air of blended reproof and humor, "you've got all the time there is Mr. H———."
Whether H——— mended his fence and his thriftless habits, this deponent knoweth not; but has often thought how true was the remark, whether as a joke or an admonition. Every second, minute or hour is ours—ours to use or ours to squander. How wontonly wasteful would be the rich man who should stand upon a vessel's deck and cast his million golden coins into the sea; yet day after day we stand upon the shores of eternity, and cast the golden moments into the unreturning past. All the knowledge and wealth of the world is but the result of improved time. So don't say you "havn't got time," for you've got all there is, as Uncle Abe says.