nts and
Noon. to ) dine.
1 )

2 )
Afternoon, to ) Work
5 )

6 ) Put things in their place;
Evening to ) supper; music or diversion or
[Question, What good 9 ) conversation; examination of
have I done to-day?] ) the day.

10 )
Night to ) Sleep.
4 )

It is evident that a scheme of life like this could not suit everyone.
It is given as an illustration of the value of adhering to method in
our work. "Order," the poet Pope says, "is Heaven's first law," and
time well ordered means generally work well and thoroughly done.

III. Punctuality.--This means keeping strictly as to time by any
engagement we make either with ourselves or with others. If we resolve
to do anything at a certain time, we should do it neither before nor
after that time. It is better to be before than after. But it is best
to be at the very minute. If we enter into an engagement with others
for a certain time, we should be precise in keeping it. In a letter
from a celebrated merchant, Buxton, to his son, he says, "Be punctual;
I do not mean merely being in time for lectures, but mean that spirit
out of which punctuality grows, that love of accuracy and precision
which mark the efficient man. The habit of being punctual extends to
everything--meeting friends, paying debts, going to church, reaching
and leaving place of business, keeping promises, retiring at night and
rising in the morning." We may lay down a system or method of work for
ourselves, but it will be of little service unless we keep carefully to
it, beginning and leaving off at the appointed moment. If the work of
one hour is postponed to another, it will encroach on the time allotted
to some other duty, if it do not remain altogether undone, and thus the
whole business of the day is thrown into disorder. If a man loses half
an hour by rising late in the morning, he is apt to spend the rest of
the day seeking after it. Sir Walter Scott was not only methodical in
his work, he was exceedingly punctual, always beginning his allotted
task at the appointed moment. "When a regiment," he wrote, "is under
march, the rear is often thrown into confusion because the front does
not move steadily and without interruption. It is the same thing i