No. XV. HABIT
By Habit is meant accustoming ourselves to do certain things regularly. Habit is a tendency of the mind and body resulting from frequent repetition of the same acts.
An old man who had very deformed fingers said: "For over fifty years I used to drive a stage, and these bent fingers show the effect of holding the reins for so many years." Carlyle said: "Habit is the deepest law of human nature. It is our supreme strength, and also, in certain circumstances, our miserablest weakness." In the life of the young, especially, the two greatest laws are Habit and Imitation. There is nothing a boy's parents fear so much as that he will imitate bad things in the characters of others, and so learn bad habits. When a boy has learnt a great many bad habits, it is almost impossible to get rid of their effects, even though he should change his habits. They leave marks upon the character, just as smallpox does upon the face.
It is easy to learn bad habits. It is just like the old game of "Follow your Leader." Unless the leader is a very clever athlete, most boys have no difficulty in following and imitating what he does. When once a boy makes up his mind that he is not going to be very particular about his language, it is astonishing how easily he will learn to swear, and to use unclean words. But if he should become ashamed of such a habit, how hard it is to drop it! He may make the strongest resolutions, and try his best to put them in practice; but he will find himself dropping into profane language when he gets excited, or loses his temper, or at other times when it is particularly necessary for him to be careful.
With many people to do a thing once is to form the Habit. It is well known that the taste for wine and spirits is often inherited by a boy from his parents. For that boy, or young man, to drink once is to form a Habit, though he may be quite unconscious of it. We always do form habits unconsciously, and we often know nothing of them until they are fully formed and have nearly mastered us. If some kind friend warn the youth, he may drop the habit at once; but, if not, drinking will soon be a positive pleasure, and, before he knows it, he will be on the primrose way. Let a young man give way a few times to impure imaginations and thoughts, and he will soon be in danger of a habit that will destroy him, body and soul. The curse of the human race is the tendency to form bad habits.
The surest way to avoid bad habits is to form good ones before the former become established. And the first good Habit that will help us to avoid or conquer bad ones is never to be idle. "An idle man is like the housekeeper who keeps the door open for any burglar." I do not mean by not being idle that we should never cease from work. But I do mean that as soon as work ceases play should begin. Idleness is loafing; and nothing so surely produces other bad habits as the habit of loafing. The boy who has a game in view the moment his work ceases is not in very great danger of forming bad habits. The boy who is in danger is he who, having done the least possible amount of work in school hours, is tired by the effort to do nothing, and so would rather lie upon his bed than take exercise.
The Habit of exercise is a sacred duty. All feel the effects of systematic neglect of fresh air and muscular training, and most young men and boys do take exercise spasmodically—one day a great deal, and the next, perhaps, none at all. The bodily system can no more flourish under that sort of treatment than it could if one were to over-eat on one day, and go absolutely without on the next. The only way to bring the body to a high state of cultivation and to keep it there is to form the habit of exercise, and let nothing interfere with it. It need not be always the same; it should be varied; but it should always be active. If a boy does not care for very violent exercise, he can substitute for it light gymnasium work, or club and dumb-bell exercise. The great Sandow says that he keeps his strength up to the point of efficiency by clubs and dumb-bells, and open-air exercise. The great thing about it is regularity; that is to say, Habit.
Another great factor of success in life is the Habit of early rising. We all love to lie in bed a little longer than we ought; but we should fight against it. Mr. Gladstone, throughout his years of vigour, took seven hours sleep, and he said to a friend: "I should like to have eight; I hate getting up in the morning, and I hate it the same every morning. But one can do anything by habit, and when I have had my seven hours sleep my habit is to get up." King George III. was an early riser. He once said to a man who came late: "Six hours sleep enough for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool." Dickens use to rise at seven, have a cold bath, "and then blaze away till three o'clock." Kant, the greatest philosopher of modern times, used to retire at ten, and his servant had strict orders never to allow him to sleep later than five, no matter how strongly he might plead for rest. Sir Walter Scott said: "God bless that habit of getting up at seven. I could do nothing without it." The Duke of Wellington said that when we turn in bed it is time to turn out.
The wise boy will form habits of reading good books regularly, especially the Bible; of exact and strict punctuality in all his engagements, great or small; of neatness in his appearance; of personal cleanliness; of politeness of speech. A Habit once learned will stick to one, whether good or bad.
"Habit at first is but a silken thread....
Beware! that thread may bind thee as a chain."