tance that no man has a right to squander. The
antediluvians might have afforded to be a little profligate in this
direction, but the man who would fulfill his high destiny in this age
has no time to lose. Lost time is forever lost. There is much useless
complaint in the world of a want of time. It is not more time we need,
so much as a better use of that we have. I do not mean that we should
deprive ourselves of requisite sleep and rest. On the contrary, the
regulation of these constitutes a part of the economy of which I speak.
Rest is necessary; but all rest is not idleness. We should learn to
rest by changing our employment, not by its abandonment. The man whose
mind becomes weary in his study, finds the most invigorating rest in
manual labor. The physical and intellectual have a happy reflective
influence on each other. The moments wisely taken for intellectual and
moral culture by the laboring man are fountains whose refreshing
stream, like that from Horeb, follows him through his daily toil. They
are a ceaseless pleasure, both in remembrance and anticipation. Those,
also whose lives are disconnected with manual labor should have such a
variety of work that one kind prepares the way for the enjoyment of
another. There are both pleasure and health in a change of diet. To
happily manage this variety requires a training of the mind essential
to self-culture. We must learn to do the right thing at the right time.
The happy influence of one thing upon another depends on their
arrangement and the manner of their execution. It may not be well to
have too many irons in the fire, but it is certainly best to have
enough for some to be heating while others are cooling.

In order to do the right thing at the right time, and do it well, we
must learn to think about the right thing at the right time. This is
one of the most important features in mental training. We can think
well on but one thing at a time. Therefore, the mind that is filled
with various kinds of thoughts can prosecute none of them successfully.
We must learn to select the guests that we would have sit at our
intellectual banquets, summon or exclude them at will, and never permit
the intrusion of a promiscuous crowd. When our work is arranged for the
day, the week, the month, the year, we should set apart the time to be
devoted to each item, both in work and in thought; and then never allow
the thoughts of one to encroach upon the time allotted to another. We
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