When? When? When?—By-and-by! By-and-by! By-and-by!
"By-and-by is a very bad boy,
Shun him at once and forever;
For he that goes with By-and-by
Soon comes to the town of Never!"
They say that Rothschild, one of the wealthiest men of the world, made the beginning of his fortune by acting at the moment. He was in Brussels and heard the report of the battle, and spurred his horse and paid a large sum to be ferried across a river; and got to London early in the morning before the news was abroad; and laid the foundations of his wealth in a few hours.
That is one of the roads to success—being prompt.
The dilly-dallying, shirking, waiting girl or boy will always be at the tail-end of things, and will never catch up enough to catch on.
Do you want to catch on?
Then do it now—not by-and-by!
There is a little poem printed in Messenger for the Children. I want to repeat it to you:
PUT-OFF TOWN
Did you ever go to Put-Off town,
Where the houses are old and tumble-down,
And everything tarries and everything drags,
With dirty streets and people in rags?
On the street of Slow lives Old Man Wait,
And his two little boys named Linger and Late;
With unclean hands and tousled hair,
And a naughty little sister named Don't Care.
Grandmother Growl lives in this town,
With her two little daughters called Fret and Frown;
And Old Man Lazy lives all alone
Around the corner on Street Postpone.
Did you ever go to Put-Off town
To play with the little girls, Fret and Frown,
Or to the home of Old Man Wait,
And whistle for his boys to come to the gate?
To play all day in Tarry Street,
Leaving your errands for other feet?
To stop or shirk, or linger, or frown,
Is the nearest way to this old town.