Haste and Waste

Haste and Waste is one of Oliver Optic’s many novels for boys, with the title drawing from the proverb that haste makes waste. The novel uses the proverbial framework as the moral concept that the central character must learn across the page count, with the wider plot showing how impatience and rushed action produce wasteful results while patience and steady effort produce better outcomes.

Oliver Optic was the pen name of William Taylor Adams, a Massachusetts writer who became one of the most prolific producers of boys’ fiction in mid to late nineteenth century America with more than a hundred novels. His proverb based titles were a recurring feature of his catalogue, with the moral lessons being clearly signaled in the title and then developed through the narrative.

For scholars of nineteenth century American children’s literature or of the wider career of Oliver Optic, the various novels in his catalogue are essential. Many are now in the public domain.