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Jane Addams grew up with this clock in her house. It kept the time for a family that believed in promptness. Her father, a businessman, found lateness annoying. He taught his children to always be on time. The lesson stuck. As a college student, Jane Addams was famous for never being late. The head of her school, another stickler for punctuality, told the students to make sure that at least one girl besides herself, was on time. According to a news item in the school magazine, most girls decided to save themselves trouble by being responsible for Jane Addams.
In her 20s, Jane Addams worried that she was wasting time. She wanted to do something to change the world, but instead, she was visiting family, traveling in Europe , and reading books. She wrote her friend, Ellen Gates Starr, I'm filled with shame that with all my apparent leisure, I do nothing at all.
Beginning when she was 29, and co-founded Hull-House with Ellen, Jane Addams had a different problem with time. She didn't have any. The settlement house was full of people coming and going to all the clubs, classes, public lectures, concerts and parties. Parents brought children to daycare, people came for advice. Letter writing was impossible. Early on, Jane wrote her sister, Alice , I have been interrupted so many times that I think I will give up trying to write more.
Over the years, Jane Addams increased her skill at managing time, and this was one reason why she was able to accomplish so much. She applied another lesson her father taught her about time, to always do the things she least wanted to do first. She did not procrastinate. A resident of the settlement, Nora Hamilton, sister of Alice Hamilton, was fascinated by the orderly beauty of Addams' second floor office, and wrote about it, At the end of the day, everything is in its place. Ms. Addams completes her work so that when she leaves, her desk is clear, ready for what will happen tomorrow. Addams wanted to give as much of her attention as possible to the present. To her, the present was alive and vital, full of social forces that urgently needed responding to. In her day, these forces were called the spirit of the times, and included the economic oppression of the working poor, the economic and social oppression of immigrants and African Americans and the civic oppression of women. She thought every generation needed to respond to the spirit of its time.
As for the past, Addams thought it important not to be too respectful. One of her deepest beliefs, gained at Hull-House, was that there were no eternal truths about how society should organize itself. On the other hand, Addams deeply respected the time of the future. Her life's work in social reform was her attempt to ensure that the times for those who lived after her would be better than her own. She would urge us to do the same for those who live after us. In other words, to make good use of our time. |
