"We all sorely complain," says Seneca, "of the shortness of time. And yet we have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives are either spent in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing that we ought to do. We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as if there would be no end to them."
An hour a day for a year squandered in idleness or in foolish pursuits means the sacrifice of all the advantages just mentioned. And any one who keeps up idleness or folly for a year, usually ends in having a lifetime of it.—Selected.
"PLEASE, SIR, I WOULD RATHER NOT"
An old sailor tells the following story of a boy who suffered much in resisting temptation:—
When offered a drink, the lad said, "Excuse me; I would rather not."
They laughed at him, but they never could get him to drink liquor. The captain said to the boy:—
"You must learn to drink grog if you are to be a sailor."
"Please excuse me, captain, but I would rather not."
"Take that rope," commanded the captain to a sailor, "and lay it on; that will teach him to obey orders."
The sailor took the rope, and beat the boy most cruelly.