Possibilities in Spare
Moments
"One hour a day withdrawn from frivolous
pursuits and profitably employed would enable any man of ordinary capacity to
master a complete science.
One hour a day would in ten
years make an ignorant man a well-informed man.
It would earn enough to pay
for two daily and two weekly papers, or eighteen large volumes a year. An hour
a day might make all the difference between bare existence and useful, happy
living. An hour a day might make – nay, has made – an unknown man a famous one,
a useless man a benefactor to his race. Consider, then, the mighty
possibilities of two – four – yes, six hours a day that are, on the average,
thrown away by young men and women in the restless desire for fun and
diversion.
On the floor of the gold-working room, in
the United States Mint at Philadelphia, there is a wooden lattice-work which is
taken up when the floor is swept, and the fine particles of gold-dust,
thousands of dollars’ yearly are thus saved. So every successful man has a kind
of network to catch “the raspings and parings of existence, those leavings of
days and wee bits of hours” which most people sweep into the waste of life. He
who hoards and turns to account all odd minutes, half hours, unexpected
holidays, gaps “between time,” and chasms of waiting for unpunctual persons,
achieves results which astonish those who have not mastered this most valuable
secret.”
Orison
Swett Marden, painting by Seymour J. Guy, Utilizing a Spare Moment.
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