Show ADVANTAGES OF TIDINESS Tidiness is satirized by a hundred writers and despised as we have said by millions but nobody ever argues against it seriously unless we take the allegation that strong men are never tidy to be a serous a gument i It would be one perhaps if it were true but it is not Great soldiers and sailors are almost invariably tidy Frederick of Prussia being rather a conspicuous exception many great lawyers have been neat to finical aess and the same may be said of many great men of business We would say indeed that as many weak men tvee as untidy as strong men and that of the latter a large proportion will be I found to be of the dreamy or the reflective re-flective temperament Dreamy people hate tidiness the reason rea-son being the same in both cases that j such persons besides feeling the inherent in-herent dislike of most men to small recurrent exertions without immediate end are annoyed by interruptions to the current of thought They wan ab j they say to be at peace from trifles and as eomeb dy usual y saves them from the consequences of the r ways they remain untidy through life j That they gain anything Ov their untidiness except possibly some light relish from irritabil ty is however a most rash assumption They rarely save time for they can never find anything they do not think mora clearly for the materials for thought are never ready to hand and II maybe may-be questioned if their habit adds even to their mental peace The Spectator |