WHAT MINUTES ARE WORTH.

N artist once picked up the scattered pieces of glass after a large stained window had been constructed, and with the fragments

he made one of the most exquisite windows of a great cathedral in Europe. So should we use the fragments of time that are scattered through our lives. Moments are like grains of gold. It is said that the gold-room of the United States mint has double floors, the upper of which acts as a sieve, while the lower one catches the minute particles of precious dust which sift through, and that, by this contrivance, about thirty thousand dollars' worth of gold is saved every year. We need some such method to save the priceless but easily wasted moments of our lives. Said Napoleon to the pupils of a military school, "Remember that every lost moment is a chance for future misfortune."

The results accomplished by improving these spare moments are quite as surprising as are the accumulations of gold dust at the mint. Dr. Schlieman, the German explorer of the ruins of Troy, began the study of languages after arriving at manhood, and in the midst of an active business. "I never went on an errand, even in the rain, without having my book in my hand, and learning something by heart; and I

He says:

never waited at the postoffice without reading." By thus improving these odd moments in this way, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the English and French languages in six months. By means of the aid and discipline acquired in mastering these two languages, he was able to write and speak fluently, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese by six weeks' study of each. Elihu Burritt, who was called the "learned blacksmith," was a wonderful instance of what can be accomplished by improving the smallest fragments of time. While working at the bellows, he had his book fastened where his eye could rest upon it for an instant, and in this way began the study of languages, and became one of the most eminent linguists of his day.

Some one has remarked, "It was a maxim of the Latins that no one reached the summit of honor, unless he prudently used his time." This has been the secret of nearly all who have been noted for extraordinary ability, and have attained wonderful results.

The picture of a man with hat and coat off, working at the base of a mountain, while above him is the motto, "Little by little," suggests an important truth.

When Prof. Tyndall was a young man, he was in the government service, and although faithful in the performance of his duties, yet had no definite aim in life. One day one of the officials asked him how his leisure hours were employed, saying: "You have five hours a day at your disposal, and this ought to be devoted to systematic study. Had I, when at your age,

had a friend to advise me as I now advise you, instead of being in a subordinate position, I might have been at the head of my department." This good advice fell upon willing ears, for next day young Tyndall began a regular course of study. About seven years after, desiring a more thorough education, he attended a German university, and in a speech made at a banquet in New York he thus referred to his student life, and how he improved his time, and thus acquired the habits and discipline by which he became one of the foremost scientific men of Europe. He said: "In 1848, wishing to improve myself in science, I went to the University of Marburg, the same old town in which my great namesake, when even poorer than myself, published his translation of the Bible, I lodged in the plainest manner, in a street which perhaps bore

appropriate name while I dwelt upon it. It was called the Ketzerbach-the heretic's brook-from a little historic rivulet running through it. I wished to keep myself clean and hardy, so I purchased a cask and had it cut in two by a carpenter. Half that cask filled with spring water over night, was placed in my small bed-room, and never, during the years that I spent there, in winter or in summer, did the clock of the beautiful Elizabethe-kirch, which was close at hand, finish striking the hour of six in the morning, before I was in my tub. For a good portion of the time I rose an hour and a half earlier than this, working by lamplight at the differential calculus, when the world was

slumbering around me. And I risked this breach in my pursuits, and this expenditure of time and money, not because I had any definite prospect of material profit in view, but because I thought the cultivation of the intellect important; because, moreover, I loved my work, and entertained the sure and certain hope that, armed with knowledge, one can successfully fight one's way through the world."

"The

A sensible writer has made this observation: true economy of human life looks at ends rather than incidents, and adjusts expenditures to a moral scale of values. De Quincey pictures a woman sailing over the water, awakening out of sleep to find her necklace untied and one end hanging over the stream, while pearl after pearl drops from the string beyond her reach; while she clutches at one just falling, another drops beyond recovery. Our days drop one after another by our carelessness, like pearls from a string, as we sail the sea of life. Prudence requires a wise husbanding of time to see that none of these golden coins

are spent for nothing.

The waste of time is a more serious loss than the extravagances against which there is such loud acclaim."

A lady who had the care of a large household, and yet found time to engage in many works of charity, was asked how she was able to do so much. She replied: "I never lose sight of the odd minutes. I have so much to do that there is always something I can turn to if I have a minute to spare."

It is surprising how much can be accomplished by making good use of the early morning hours. It is related of Buffon, the celebrated naturalist, that he was always up with the sun, and he tells us in what way he gained the habit. "In my youth," said he, "I was very fond of sleep; it robbed me of a great deal of my time; but my poor Joseph (his domestic) was of great service in enabling me to overcome it. I promised to give Joseph a crown every time he could make me get up at six. The next morning he did not fail to awake and torment me; but he received only abuse. The day after he did the same, with no better success, and I was obliged at noon to confess that I had lost my time. I told him that he did not know how to manage his business; that he ought to think of my promise, and not of my threats. The day following he employed force; I begged for indulgence, I bade him begone; I stormed, but Joseph persisted. I was, therefore, obliged to comply, and he was rewarded every day for the abuse which he suffered at the moment when I awoke, by thanks, accompanied with a crown, which he received about an hour after. Yes, I am in

debted to poor Joseph for ten or a dozen volumes of my work."

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Sir Walter Scott thus alludes to the freshness of his mind at the opening of the day, and the manner that he took advantage of it in his prodigious literary labors. He wrote in his diary: "When I had in former times to fill up a passage in a poem, it was al