The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-10-10
Read Udolpho Wolfe's advertise
ments in to-day's paper.


Read Udolpho Wolfe's advertise
ments in to-day's paper.
FoR THE HEADS OF FAMILIES. We
extract the following hints from an
exchange, and commend them to the
attention of our business men, who
just now sorely feel the depressing
trials of dull trade and scarcity of
greenbacks:
Autumn evenings have fairly
begun. What shall be done with the
shadowed hours that precede repose?
There never was q time when this
question was so important to bust
ness men. Few of those who are
engaged as principals in either trade
or manufactures now attend to their
daily avocations during the late even
ing hours. But while there is no
part of their time more precious,
there is none other that is so freely
wasted. 1t is poor economy for one
whose business cares are pressing
him sorely to sit down moodily at
his home, with the heavy burden
still about him, in the vain hope that
his weary brain may thus find clue
that will lead him out of the laby-
rinth of trouble. He would not
leave an over-tasked horse harnessed
all night in the stall, or expect of
any other creature besides himself
such miracle as work without recu-
peration; still less would he set one
that is already tagged out at task
ordinary strength. And yet this is
the demand he is imposing on him.
self. His proper hours of toll are
numbered for the day, but he will
not ease his aching shoulder of the
oppressive BURDEN; and he is still
struggling-now vainly, of course
to solve the problem which was too
intricate even for his freshest powers.
"There are others who do lay aside
the harness after the days toll or
conflict, but who then sink down in
mere vacuity of mind, mistaking
idleness for refreshment. There is
no recuperation in state of indo-
lence. 1t is true, that the hands
need not move restlessly, nor the
sinews be strained in unwonted exer-
ciso to recruit the system. But the
lungs must be expanded and the
blood stirred by fresh emotions, if
the wasted strength is to be rcgained.
There are many who are shrewd
enough to perceive this, but who fail
of their object because they pursue
it in the wrong direction. The true
exercise for recuperative purposes is
simply change in the bent of the
mind. Whatever bodily action this
new mental fiexion may demand, the
relief is not in the physical activity,
but in the fresh ardor which directs
it. In plain terms, if tho mind and
body be worn down in the daily
effort to advance ones material inte-
rests, let the relaxation be found in
an effort equally jealous to do good
to somebody else. A miles walk,
taken as penance to relieve an over
taxed brain, will only increase the
throbbing fever, if the same thoughts
be entertained on the journey. An
hours gallop will not cure even fit
of dyspepsia, if tho dinner humor
that produced it is carried upon the
ride. He who would change the cur
rent Of his thoughts need not go far
from home to find fell for his be-
nevolence. A sunny smile rs he re-
turns from business, like an electric
spark, will light up the whole au-
tumn evening around his hearth
stone, and create a magic atmos-
phere, which shall be to him like
new-found elixir of life. If he has q
family, let him interest himself un-
selfishly in their pursuits, their
plans, their joys and sorrows, seem
these ever SO trifiing; and the mo-
ment he forgets himself, he will be-
gin to rest from the weary load he
has borne all the day.