What did A G Gardiner write on Habits?

Answer 1

The London newspaper editor A.G.Gardiner once wrote an interesting article on how useful or troublesome habits can be to a man. His argument is that helpful habits can be cultivated. He usually spent long hours with a pencil in his hand. The pencil had become a part of his organism. Pencil promoted his thoughts. It became his favourite weapon with which he wrote fluently. A pencil was as stimulating to him as his sword was to Artagnan, the fighting hero in the novel, or as his cheroot was to Grant, the U.S.President. One morning Gardiner tried writing an article without a pencil, but with a pen. His mental mechanism failed and the pen won't move. He had thought his pen would jump like a horse but it remained as obstinate as a mule. However hard he tried, the pen could not be moved. He thought he was Stevenson in the story riding his mule Modestine which would not move. The habit of using a pencil had become such strong in him that a pen became of no use to him.

Habits can cause failure in life as well as success. Gardiner cites a cruel joke played by Walter Scott on a classmate. The boy was First in the class whom Scott rivalled. The boy always answered questions fingering a button on his jacket. Scott cleverly removed this button and the boy became a failure not only in the class but later in his life also. This poor fellow early took to drinking and died of consumption. Most of us are bundles of habits neatly done up in a coat and trousers. But habits should be a stick that we use, not a crutch to lean on. Bad habits should be thrown away and good habits cultivated. Gardiner had a problem of finding his coat and hat when he left his club. So he cultivated the habit of hanging them always in a particular peg or the one nearest to it. It worked and solved his problem.