Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-08-06
9Aiseellanepua.
Low LIES cAN DO mosr woRK

HOW MEN CAN DO MOST WORK.
A few years ago q wide circle of friends
aud admirers sorrowed over the premature
loss to the world of Theodore Parker and
Thomas Starr King, in the conviction that
both these ardent and brilIiaut minds we're
cut off, one in the morning, and the other
at noon Of his career, by imprudent and ex-
cessiye intellectual labor. Sixty years added
10 their joint lives would have been equiva-
lent to the creation Of two such men, with
all the stores Of Intellectual wealth already
accumulated, which they had spent nearly
their whole lives to gain The latter half
Of their lives could not have failed to bear
the fruits Of which the part they actually
lived bore only the blossoms. 1t is painful
to see great lives thus shortened and the
world denied the benefits Of what they
might have accomplished, when not only
the longevity eff robust men ike Scott
Humboldt, Byougham, Landor, Thiers
TenDyson and Bryant, but the well preserv-
ed lives and full orbed usefulness ofinvaids
Ike Pope, Charlotte Bloute, Payson, and
many others, prove that literary life is u,st
necessarily averse to health, but, by proper
care, may be avorab'e to the attainment Of
ripe years, as well as the most coveted, and
perhaps the most uusullied of all kinds Of
reputation A few months since General
Charles G. Halpine Miles O'Reilly, a man
Of perhaps the most striking genius Ameri-
ca has known since Pee was cut off sudden
" and sadly. when the world was barely
discovering his rare aud genial powers Aud
it is worthy OF note that in the case of Miles
+ o Reilly, as in the more recent one Of Hen
ry j Raymond, and the earlier ones OF
( King and Parker, and the long previous
and more prominent cases Of Byron, the
/ younger Pitt and Napoleon, all Of whom
+ died prematurely, aud from like causes, the
feature most dwelt upon in their lives was
their capacity for filling sudden, protracted
and enormous drafts upon their mental and
physical powers, living whole weeks oflabol
within few hours or days In fact. there
is a sort Of Napoleonic element in the live.
Of each of these men which seems to beai
them on through their Marengos and Aus
terlitzes only to bring them to their Water-
loo. Their lives have a broken symmetry
like beautifully futed column severed il
mid air Halpine aud Raymond have writ
ten their twelve columns at sitting. This
in narrow field, was like Napoleon dicta
ting to four secretaries at once, averaging
twenty hours oflabor per day, aud only foal
of sleep. It was ike the boy Pitt entering
upon life as Premier of Great Britain, Will
an ambition to combine all Europe anG
crush Bonaparte.
The men who are characterized BY sucl
feats ofherculean labor must separate then
by very thorough intervals of rest or dis
young. Such a mode of life, though il MAY
result in scintillations of brilliant effort
only remind US how much more might hay,
been attained with the same endowments
had the Dossessor been gifted with greater
faculty for judieious indolence. There ar,
so many who err in the direction of idleness
that the world has reached a misehievou
style Of indiseriminate eulogy Of industry
and work, as ifthey were all under eireum
stances admirable, even though carried t,
the degree Of self-murder. But exeessiv,
industry is as much a greater vice than idle
ness, as suicide is greater crime than beg
gary, because it affects more fatally a noble
and better class Of persons. It is not mere
| ly in the lessening Of the quantity but in tht
deterioration TO the quality, also Of life
work, that ilI-regulated industry is danger
Gus aud often fatal to the worker. Loni
before excessive toll has swept of It's victim
his capacity for enjoyment is made dull, hi
Judgment obscured, his tastes blunted anc
often his moral perceptions perverted ans
his reputation marred by its corroding infa
ences The failures Of life admonish him O.
his need Of rest 1t Is characteristic fea
ture Of these brilliant and spasmodic mel
that their hearts burn out with the fires o
life at least as fast as tn ir vital forces
They drift away from the moorings of stead
fast principle, and at their deaths their obit
uaries are eharitably silent, in many instan
ees, on well known follies or vices, whicl
enter vitally into any impartial estimate 0
either their private or public lives
The most rational division Of human lif
would devote about one-third Of every da!
to work, one-third to recreation, society
amusement, hygiene, intellectual and as
thetic culture, and one-third to rest ant
sleep. The liges Of some Of our most sue
cess.ul men shcw that such division re
suits 10 greater aggregate Of achievement
and d utility. Few authors have been j
voluminous as Bulwer, aud set he steadil
confined himself to three hours writing pc
day Hs came to his three hours worl
! I'll g. Il