Parables, Timing
'There is a tide...'
1. An inexperienced shot will fire at a partridge the moment he sees it. When this error is brought home to him he tends to go to the other extreme and to wait until the bird is out of range before he shoots.
An experienced shot, on the other hand, understands the curve of opportunity, aims with unhurried deliberation, and shoots at the summit of that curve. And, if for any reason, for instance the intervention of circumstances beyond his control, he misses the effective period of that curve of opportunity, he forbears to fire when he could only hope to wound the poor bird, and allows the occasion to pass as though it had never arisen.
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2. If you prepare a feast for a friend and he does not respond to the invitation the cakes become stale and the ripe fruit has to be thrown away. If later on he decides to partake of the feast you had spread for him he will find the board bare or will have to be satisfied with whatever happens to be in the house.
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3. Some people, instead of catching omnibuses when they stop, seem to make a point of missing them and then running after them in despair. Usually they have to walk home.
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