“NOW” AND “WAITAWHILE”
It is better to hold back a truth than to speak it ungraciously.—St. Francis de Sales.
Little Jimmie “Waitawhile” and little Johnnie “Now”
Grew up in homes just side by side; and that, you see, is how
I came to know them both so well, for almost every day
I used to watch them in their work and also in their play.
It is ever true that he who does nothing for others, does nothing for himself.—George Sand.
Little Jimmie “Waitawhile” was bright and steady, too,
But never ready to perform what he was asked to do;
“Wait just a minute,” he would say, “I’ll do it pretty soon,”
And tasks he should have done at morn were never done at noon.
He put off studying until his boyhood days were gone;
He put off getting him a home till age came stealing on;
He put off everything, and so his life was not a joy,
And all because he waited “just a minute” when a boy.
The artist who can realize his ideal has missed the true gain of art, as “a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s heaven for?”—Edward Dowden.
But little Johnnie “Now” would say, when he had work to do,
“There’s no time like the present time,” and gaily put it through.
And when his time for play arrived he so enjoyed the fun!
His mind was not distressed with thoughts of duties left undone.
Keep but ever looking, whether with the body’s eye or the mind’s and you will soon find something to look on.—Browning.
In boyhood he was studious and laid him out a plan
Of action to be followed when he grew to be a man;
And life was as he willed it, all because he’d not allow
His tasks to be neglected, but would always do them “now.”
Great hearts alone understand how much glory there is in being good. To be and keep so is not the gift of a happy nature alone, but it is strength and heroism.—Jules Michelet.
And so in every neighborhood are scores of growing boys
Who, by and by, must work with tools when they have done with toys.
And you know one of them, I guess, because I see you smile;
And is he little Johnnie “Now” or Jimmie “Waitawhile”?
[CHAPTER IX]
THE WORTH OF ADVICE
Courage is a virtue that the young cannot spare; to lose it is to grow old before the time; it is better to make a thousand mistakes and suffer a thousand reverses than to run away from the battle.—Henry Van Dyke.
Of what value is this book to you?
Perhaps there is more involved in the answer to this question than a careless consideration of it might lead one to think. Shakespeare says: “A jest’s prosperity lies in the ear of him that hears it, never in the tongue of him that makes it.”
So it is that the value of advice depends not so much upon the giver as it does upon the one who receives it.
He needs no other rosary whose thread of life is strung with beads of love and thought.—Persian.
Emerson has observed that he who makes a tour of Europe brings home from that country only as much as he takes there with him. This same truth holds good in the reading of books and in listening to sermons and lectures. He that has not eyes with which to see, will see nothing. He that has not ears with which to hear, can hear nothing.
A sign-post indicating which road to take to reach a certain destination surely ought to be of great value to a traveler in a strange land. If the traveler, having failed to cultivate the habit of observing his surroundings, passes by the sign-post without seeing it, or if he reads its directions and says to himself: “I think I know better; I shall reach my destination by whatever road I choose to travel,” then the sign-post is of no true use to him. Not that it is not a good sign-post. No, the sign-post is all right; it is the traveler who is wrong. He must go his own way and, perhaps, journey far, and fare sadly before he arrives at the place he seeks—the destination he might have reached pleasantly and in good season. Franklin tells us that experience is a dear teacher but fools will learn from no other.
Truth is a cork; it is bound to come to the top.—Willis George Emerson.
He who will not answer to the rudder must answer to the rock.—Archbishop Herve.
Now this book which you hold in your hand is only a guide-post, or perhaps we had better call it a guide-book. It is intended for the use of the boys of our land and all other persons who are not too old or too wise to learn more.
It is not erudition that makes the intellectual man, but a sort of virtue which delights in vigorous and beautiful thinking, just as moral virtue delights in vigorous and beautiful conduct.—Hammerton.
Every boy is starting out on a long, interesting, and tremendously important journey. It will lie mostly through a strange country and is a journey which must, in a very large sense, be traveled alone by each individual person. There are many partings of the ways; many perplexing forks in the road.
Give what you have. To some one it may be better than you dare to think.—Longfellow.
The thoughtful boy will ever feel called upon to ask his highest understanding: “Which is the right road for me to take?” He will not carelessly pass by the sign-posts without learning what they have to tell him, nor will he forget or refuse to be guided by their instructions and admonitions.
There are men who complain that roses have thorns. They should be grateful to know that thorns have roses.—Max O’Rell.
If a sign post says: “Danger! Go Slowly!” he will govern his movements accordingly. If the sign-post says: “Railroad Crossing. Beware of the Engine!” he will not blindly plunge ahead without waiting to see if his course is clear. He will understand that many others have traveled the way before him and have learned by experience that it is well for all to take heed and do as the sign-post directs.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.—Benjamin Franklin.
This life-long pathway upon which every boy is starting is a winding, intricate, interesting way, and many there are who turn into the wrong roads that are ever leading off from the main-traveled track. It is the purpose of this volume to serve as a guide-book for the boy who desires to reach Happiness and Helpfulness, Prosperity and Splendid Manhood in the most direct and efficient manner. At every turn of life’s way it will warn him from the blind paths that would bring him, by the way of Idleness, Carelessness, Ignorance, and Extravagance, to the unfortunate land of Failure, of Broken Hopes, and of Life Misspent.
Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.—Barrie.
There is a certain sweetness and elegance in “little deeds of kindness,” and in letting our best impulses have free play on common occasions.—Joseph May.
“A word spoken in due season, how good is it!” In these pages over which your eye is passing are spoken the words of a large and distinguished company of the world’s best and wisest men and women. Emerson says: “Every book is a quotation; every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone-quarries, and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.”
The school of the intellectual man is the place where he happens to be, and his teachers are the people, books, animals, plants, stones, and earth round about him.—Hammerton.
“In the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” The value of well-selected quotations to serve as finger-posts to guide us day by day is thus set forth by the great German poet, Goethe: “Whatever may be said against such collections which present authors in a disjointed form they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always so composed, so full of wisdom, that we are able to take in at once the whole scope of a work according to its merits. Do we not mark in a book passages which seem to have a direct reference to ourselves? Young people especially, who have failed in acquiring a complete cultivation of the mind, are roused in a praiseworthy way by brilliant quotations.”
Heroism is simple and yet it is rare. Everyone who does the best he can is a hero.—Josh Billings.
One of the dearest thoughts to me is this—a real friend will never get away from me, or try to, or want to. Love does not have to be tethered.—Anna R. Brown.
And if it shall so happen that some word or sentence or sentiment contained in this book shall rouse in a praiseworthy way just one boy—the very boy whose thought is dwelling on these lines at this very moment—all of this labor of love shall have been abundantly rewarded. For just one boy roused to his best efforts can grandly gladden his own home circle and, perchance, the whole wide world.
In all situations wherein a living man has stood or can stand, there is actually a prize of quite infinite value placed within his reach—namely, a Duty for him to do.—Carlyle.
“Why, the world is at a boy’s feet,” says Burdette, “and power, conquest, and leadership slumber in his rugged arms and care-free heart. A boy sets his ambition at whatever mark he will—lofty or grovelling, as he may elect—and the boy who resolutely sets his heart on fame, on health, on power, on what he will; who consecrates every faculty of his mind and body on ambition, courage, industry, and patience, can trample on genius; for these are better and grander than genius.”
To have what we want is riches, but to be able to do without is power.—George MacDonald.
The past is gone forever; the present is so brief and fleeting we can scarcely call it our own; in the future lies our larger, better hope of a happier civilization. Not the men of yesterday, not the men of to-day, but the men of to-morrow, the boys, are the ones who are to make the world right. They are