360 THE. ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OP 



There are different kinds of waste. There is waste of time, 

 waste of food, waste of personal energy, waste of mechanical 

 energy, and waste of material. These are five kinds of waste, 

 which, if they could not be avoided but reduced to inconsiderable 

 proportions, would constitute an enormous source of wealth. 



As regards waste of time. I think we must all plead guilty 

 to wasting a great deal of time even the best of us. It seems 

 strange that men who are very economical in some respects 

 who don't like to pay away their money which they might earn 

 again, are very liberal with their time. They think nothing of 

 wasting a day, or many hours every day, in doing nothing, and 

 some men, I am afraid, and even ladies, spend a very considerable 

 portion of their time in their bed-rooms. Our ancestors were 

 much more active than we are, and I have heard it said that it 

 used to be an adage, "six hours bed for a man, seven for a 

 woman, and eight for a fool." I suppose those who take nine 

 hours are exempted from this comparison, and think they are 

 doing quite right. Then, in addition to the time wasted in one's 

 bed-chamber, there is a great deal of time frittered away in idle 

 talk and in pastime, which is not profitable either to the body or 

 the mind. In fact we must all confess to wasting say two hours 

 in the day, and if the Legislature could exact a tax of a penny 

 an hour on that, it would pay off the National Debt in a very 

 little time. Therefore wasting time is a thing we ought to learn 

 to avoid and may avoid. 



A very wise suggestion was made by a great moral philosopher 

 and poet, who led a most industrious life, and yet had time for 

 everything. He was fond of a rubber at whist, fond of a long 

 talk with his friends, fond of society, the theatre and arts, and 

 yet he accomplished an enormous amount of work. He wrote 

 volumes and volumes of books, involving an immense amount of 

 thought. He was a minister in his country and directed the 

 Government ; he directed the academy of arts and the theatre ; 

 and the secret, he said, consisted entirely in packing into 

 every day the different occupations as you would pack a box. 

 Give a set time for everything, and you will find time for many 

 things which you now think you cannot possibly attend to, and 

 which, indeed, you cannot without such methods. 



Then we have another kind of waste that we might avoid. We 



