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Show u LEISURE TDIE. Leisure time is a comparatively modern invention. The old timers never had any leisure. They worked longer hours than we do. Factories used to run 11 and 12 hours a day. Farmers would get up at four and work until dark. Clerks, merchants, and professional men used to run their own back yard gardens. Many men receiving large incomes were not averse to raising potatoes and beans in the home lot. They had become accustomed to counting count-ing the pennies, and besides they thought the active work was good for their health. Today working hours are gradually growing shorter. Many people get Saturday afternoons. The eight hour and the nine hour days are becoming common. There are a great many people who can have their evening meal promptly at six o'clock, leaving a good long evening free for other pursuits. Hundreds of thousands of these people, whose fathers as aforesaid used to take up the shovel and the hoe at that hour, are now out spinning around in their automobiles. automo-biles. Many of the young people are simply promenading up and down the towns, thronging the refreshment stands and eyeing the other sex. This great change in the habits of our people is not wholly a decadence. It does mark a decline of that old resolute spirit that founded fortunes and developed savings sav-ings bank accounts. But leisure time is valuable if used well. The hours an in-door worker spends on out-door sports are often the most valuable of the twenty-four. Only the time ought not be spent aimlessly. Simply drifting around the streets develops no muscle and lays no foundations for future success. If many people this summer would spend it in raising potatoes, they would stand a better chance of business success. But whether spent in labor or sport, some definite end of achievement or physical advancement ought to be held in view. n |