THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 



"Why, years, of course." 



"But what have years to do with the matter? Yon- 

 der tree is probably a century old, but I presume you 

 will not admit that it is wiser than you are. To measure 

 a man's life with years is like measuring diamonds in a 

 bushel measure. Now you don't estimate diamonds 

 that way; you don't even weigh them by ounces or 

 drachms or grains. Your unit is the karat, which is a 

 mere fraction of a grain. In the same way the life of a 

 man should be estimated not in years or months or 

 days even, but in minutes or seconds. Take care of the 

 seconds and the years will take care of themselves. Let 

 us, however, measure even by the crude standard of 

 hours, and I shall still be able to show that I have 

 really lived longer than you have." 



"Go ahead," said the other incredulously. 



"Well, to begin with, what are your hours of sleep?" 



"I retire about ten and arise at eight." 



"Very good. I retire at eleven and arise at five; so 

 I take six hours of sleep to your ten, gaining four hours 

 of waking life each day. Now how much time do you 

 spend at meals?" 



"About three hours." 



"And I not over an hour; so I gain two hours more. 

 What about games? I notice that you play billiards 

 and cards and checkers a good deal." 



"Yes, I always play one or another game for two 

 hours in the evening." 



"During which time I am studying some informative 

 book. Therefore I must claim those hours also. I 

 don't say your time at the games is absolutely wasted. 



[292] 



