The Daylight Hours

There are proverbs and pronouncements from many centuries back concerning the use of the daylight hours that God has given. Indeed in his dissertation on Economics, the much-quoted Aristotle himself said: “Getting up before daybreak makes for health, wealth and wisdom.” (Perhaps there are some who have quoted Aristotle at length, who, having heard this, will now quote him at less length!)

Be that as it may, there are many people whose professions, or whose temperament, or at least whose acquired habits lead them to think they work better if they leave their work until later. And there are also those(fewer it seems than there once were), who have a kind of drive, a kind of purpose, that knows no hours, as contrasted with those who too closely watch the clock and who too quickly drop their tools. But all exceptions, all deviations, and all acquired habits aside, it is still true that merely as a matter of mechanics, the daylight hours are more efficient. Natural light is a factor of efficiency- the light that doesn’t distort, the light that gives growth, the light that contributes to rather than takes out energy.

And besides mere mechanical efficiency, there is the matter of safety, the safety that comes from seeing, the safety that comes with alert senses. And in darkness also there is discouragement; in darkness there is a sense of being behind.

Benjamin Franklin briefed the subject when he said: “He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night.”

But a more poignant cry came from Hannah Cowley almost two centuries ago: “I have been five minutes too late all my lifetime.”

Well, these observations are not likely much to modify the man who has acquired the habit of leaving the work of the day to the darkness of night. But this we can conclude; It is discouraging to have to run all day because of beginning a little too late. It is discouraging always to have a sense of being behind.

And now to tie together these thoughts on daylight and darkness, we quote in closing: “Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault on with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” Blessed are they who use well and willingly the light of the day, and who sleep in peace in the darkness of the night.