WATCH YOUR HABITS

Shannon News, 27 April 1926, Page 4

WATCH YOUR HABITS

(By Lieut-General Sir Robert Baden- 1 Powell.) i Our maid, Matilda, lias gone. She • had contracted a habit. I love to hear ! people singing ,at their work, but the | line had to be drawn when it came to j "Abide With Me," day after day, and i hour after hour, with a knowledge of the/words limited to: "Chinge and deecai in. all l areound, I see. Chinge and deecai in all areound I see. Chinge and deecai in all areound 1. see. Chinge and deecai, etc." But as j she could't "chinge" her habit she didn't "abide" with us. A habit, though seemingly harmless, may be fatal to the possessor. I knew a real, good-heaterd fellow who for fun used to puff ,and blow when talking; it became a. habit; and he is now as obnoxious to his neighbour as the man who has the habit of loudly sticking in his soup. I have a sketch by me which I ; drew in a tramcar, in Belfast, of a Nsweet clean little blue eyed maiden sitting with all incongrunity, below a notice about expectoration. The antithesis gave one to think that human beings can be delightful or they can be beastly—accordinly to their habits. So it is of big importance in life to watch one's habits. Habit is often *a matter of fashion; ! adopted without reason beyond that it is custom. God has given us two hands, yet I supose nine out of ten people cannot clean, their teeth or write a note with their left hand. They can only use one hand, owing to habit. We don't use half the talents' that we possess, being slaves of habit. Habits grow on us; it is thair effects that count, the effects on the owner, the habit of eating more than is necessary for sustenance is a prevalent one; it only affects the eater himself, makes him obese, and givss him fatty regeneration of the heavt —and he passes on.

On the other hand the habit of; smoking is equally-comforting to the' owner, but often it makes him a' nuisance to otheis and -somotimes a cad. Oh, yes, he is the last to suspect it. ■ Yet every day you may see a man filling a non-smoking carriage with fumes that Eire going to hang aboult that carriage to.sicken woman and travellers after him. Talking of smoking and unwitting offence, I. remember a.fvoman 'asking a man if he ; old-fashioned enough to object to women having the habit of smoking. "Oh. 119," nc replied, "not at all. But I do hata the smell of stale tobacco that hangs abouj't afterwards in their hair, their clothes, and their breath." When next I met her she had given up smoking. / The very yaung num gains great merit for cleverness, in his own estimation ,whon he finds that he can »«■ cynical. If nobody smacks him this grows into a habit, and he becomes ifchat hateful thing, a cynic, and that dangerous thing ,a pessimist. There is an old-fashioned toast, old-fashioned not because it usect to be drunk in bygone days but because its meaning is getting out of date today: "Horses, Wine and Women." Under the heading of horses naturally comes the habit of them, and thence on betting on any kind of competition. Two hundred •millions of pounds are estimated to bo the annual turnover as the result ol: this habit in Great Britain. Ono man. I knew never could acquire tne habit because he never got over the first barrier ,that "is the objection to taking money from another ,not ror work done but by gritting the better of him either by luck or astuteness. There were other barriers beqlaes this, also to be got over, such as the oonsciouness of greed ,and waste or time and talents. But consciousness. lik e conscience, is dulled by habit. Wine. JS'ico Stuff. I like it just w» much as you do, but once begun watch it that it doesn't lead to tne second and third glass and then to the habit which, without fail, brings misery and ruin. Women. The biggest blessing given to man in this world. Yet, my goodness, what wrecks, what havoc of human lives <have been wrought, in this w'orld through mishandling of the right relationship! The habit of philandering, playing with affections lightly entered upon, has sunk men lower and lower into tragedy. Money. Directly you ,get a little money you want to spend ft—and yen do so . Spending your spaite cash becomes a habit. Just when you ■ get to the age of discretion and want ro pet up a house and settle for life you find your money-earning capacity has waned. You wish. that, you had been thrifty when you could. It is now too late. A bad habit is like a bad tooth. Have it. out. But the gap must be tilled in, not merely for appearances sake, bujt for 1130-. An n people, wo are, seH'ish; Ave are brought v»l> that way; at school we are encouraged to l>e lop of our claws, lo win prizes, to gain scholarships, in competition and rivalry with others. Thus we acquire the habit of,looking out for what we can get for ourselves. It's time to have that bad tooth out, and to substitute for it the habit of seeing what we can give to others.