The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-09-19
PAST LIVING.


waste their time and pecuniary means
in the indulgence of their appetites,
love or show and devotion to the FASH
ionable tollies of the day. Whoever
draws with needless freedom on the Or
iginal feeling of good health and
sound mind, which it may have pleas
ed the Creator to bestow on him. Is
fast liver. Numerous are the ways
one might say devices-by which thls
waste-sometimes unconsclously, out
for the most part wilfully-ls Drought
about. Every undue strain on the
/ brain by excessive intellectual labor,
and the eager and passionate pursuit
after wealth apd office, is fast and pro-
dIpal living. Even when the long COW
eted prize is won, it Is too often at the
heavy cost OF health, mental vigor and
capability of real enioyments. The
ed, but he sinks down exhausted and
fainting, to find himself, on reviving to
consciousness, helpless paralytic.
Melancholy evidences of this fast living
in particular class are given In late
letter of the overwhelming Paris
correspondence OF the Anserican Literary
Gazette. After telling of the great NOR
tally and frequent loss of intellect OF
late among authors in Paris, he asks,
| is this loss "the tribute levied by tobac
CO, absynthe, beer, late hours. improper
associations, vicissitudes of life, unin-
terrupted excitement? 2" And yet, we
are told, Notwithstanding the accumu-
latIon OF these enfeebling and no1ious
agencies in a great city, that "never did
literary men, French literary men, in
sist more than at present upon the alb
Bolute necessity of living in Paris in
order TO work WELL" 1t was not, we
must say, however, in such an atmos-
phere, that the great problems in sci
ence have been solved, and the mys.
teFie5 of philosophy unveiled.
Even they who confine themselves
to the quiet walks of literature and es-
cape the morbid excitement caused by
vicious indulgences are still fast livers,
If they exhaust their intellectual tacul-
| ties by studies prolonged far into the
night. and refuse to avail themselves
| of the renoVating influences of fresh
air and exercise and regular sleep.
They become spendrifts of powers and
capabilities given to them in trust, 10
be preserved for the longest possible
time and for the most beneficial SER
vices. The same should be said ofthe
merchant, the busy manufacturer the
| banker, and the sanguine speculator
in stocks, when, closing their eyes to
the realities before them, they yield
themselves upto blind chance and in
dulge in dreams of countless riches
while their minds are wrought into a
fearful state of tension which, II the
cords donot snap, Is soon followed by
exhRusting relaxation and depression.
These persons may not have given
themselves up to wine and wassail, but
have led at home quiet, domestic life,
and yet, SO far as relates to themselves
in their expenditure of health and
peace of mind, they are dangerously
fast liyers. or this class are, also, all
who enter with passionate ardor into
discussing the great questions of the
day, especially in politics, the intensity
NknNS VfNNF
ing them into n course of injudIcious
and wasteful action, by which they are
untitled for purposes of more immedi-
ate practical concern. They who in
dulge In the depressing passions of
grief, envy and hate, and join ranks
with the fermenters OF discord, and
strife; the self.made censors and the
habitual detractors are all fast livers-
they sink their original capital for good
works and fritter away their energies
to the detriment of others. With more
than perpetual thorn in the flesh, they
pine under slow hectic, nearly as bad
AS that OF consumption itself. There is
always fast living when the daily loss
to the body OF Gillette and waste
substances through the different
eXcretions, is not balanced by
supply of food and fresh air.
The difficulty Is greater in preserving a
nice adjustment in this respect, ii the
waste be increased by excessive or pro-
lOnged muscular exertion, as in the
large and numerous classes of lRborers,
operatives and mechanics. In this
country the great privation with the
two last mentioned classes is seldom
that OF food, but in the absence in too
many cases of the vitaliZing and regen-
Grating element of the fresh air, want
ing which the blood is not vivified, all
the functions are slowly performed,
and the whole body falls into state of
lassitude and languor, uniting it for
Is often had to alcoholic stimulants as
means of temporary renovation of
strength; but this effect, If obtained,
at all, is but transient, and serves In
the end to increase the process of waste
going on in the body. Tho true means
contributing to its cure, when it occurs,
Is free and constant ventilation of fac
tories, workshops and laboratories.