“I am sorry to say that you have, my dear daughter, all these and even more.  I have promised to keep an account, and I have done so; add them up and see how many there are.”

Emily added up the figures with tearful eyes, and said, “there are four hundred and twenty, mamma.”

“And how many hours does that make, Emily?”

The little girl thought a moment, and then answered,

“Seven hours.”

“Very well; then you see you waste seven hours in a week, which would make three hundred and sixty-four in a year, and if you should live the allotted period of life, which would be sixty years from the present time, you will willfully waste twenty one thousand eight hundred and forty hours of the precious time God has given you in which to work out His will.”

“Oh, dear mamma, it does not seem possible; I am sure I don’t know how the time slips away,” said Emily, sadly.

“I will tell you, my love,” replied Mrs. Manvers.  “It slips away in just a minute; as uncounted drops of water form the sea, so do millions of minutes make up the sum of life; but so small are they that they pass without our heeding them, yet once gone they come back to us no more.  Time is the one talent, the precious gift which God has bestowed upon all his creatures, and which we are bound to improve.  Every hour brings its duty, and do you think it is right, Emily, to leave that duty unfulfilled?”

Emily hung her head, while tears slowly coursed down her cheek.

“Do you not see, my dear, that by idling away the precious moments you crowd the duty of one hour into the next, so your task can never be finished, or at best very imperfectly?  If you reflect, the experience of the past week will tell you this.  I have kept this memorandum on purpose to convince you of your sinful waste of that most precious of all gifts,—­the time which our Master allows us here to work out our happiness hereafter.  Remember, my love, that you are accountable to Him for your use of His gifts, and a proper improvement of time will not only save you many mortifications and produce much pleasure and comfort to yourself and all about you, but it is a duty you owe to the God who bestowed it.  Do not think me unnecessarily earnest, my dear little girl; the subject is of fearful importance, and this habit of putting off till to-morrow what should be done to-day, is your greatest fault.  Remember hereafter that ’Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it now with all thy might,’ and then I shall have no more occasion to remind you of the wasted gift.”

Emily never forgot the lesson of that week, but gradually overcame the evil habits of idleness and procrastination which were becoming fixed before she was made fully aware of their danger, and a long life of usefulness attested the good impression left upon her mind by her mother’s memorandum of “The Wasted Gift.”

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