Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-08-10
Sunday and Suicide.


one thing that kills, exhausts, or sends to
the lunatic asylum more of the active and
strong men of this country, than the breach
of the fourth commandment. "He kept no
Sunday"-you may safely write that cpl
taph over hundreds of graves that will be
dug, in this year 1869, for strong men cut
down in their prime, for ambitious, pros
porous, influential men, cut off in the midst
of the race of life. The doctors will say,
'softening of the BRAIN paralysis heart
disease nervous exhaustion'-tbere are a
dozen medical names for the cause Of the
sad and untimely deceaSe of our promin-
ent fellow citizen, Mr.. Blank But sifted
to the bottom, the real fact was Mr.. Blank
killed himself by breaking Sunday.
There are suicides in scores, where no ap-
parent cause exists for what the newspa-
pers call "the rash act" The man was do
ing well. His business was prospecting.
His family relatives were pleasant and af-
fectionate. One day he puts an end to him
self, no man can tell why, least of all the
solemn coroners jury who return the usual
owl-wise verdict, temporary insanity
Searched to the bottom, the matter will
yield this verdict-"died of working on
Sundays"
No law of God is arbitrary. 1t is for
mans good that God has established all his
statutes. Clear as that truth is about them
all, it is especially clear about the Day of
Rest. "The Sabbath was made for man
and not man for the Sabbath" And if it
was made for man anywhere, it was surely
made for him in these United States.
Our life is more intense than any the
world has yet known. The movement of
all things is with express train speed. We
are all in the whirl together. 1t takes ev.
cry faculty man possesses to enable him
to hold his own. Striving to get on, striv
ing to keep square up to the front, with tn,
army of competitors, man is compelled
to use every power to the fullest. 1t make.
little difference what his calling may be
the pressure is about the same in all. Tn,
man who will succeed-whowill even holt
fairly his own-must accept the necessit,
, of anxious, ceaseless, never ending work.
So our people ''burn the candle at botf
ends Nervous diseases, diseases which
affect the brain, the physicians tell us ar
: becoming the most common. So, suddel
deaths, death by paralysis, death from
: "softening of the BRAIN" as it is called, ar
the common exits of our most prominen
men. Business men, statesmen, lawyers
clergymen, students, they are getting, il
America, into habit of going out at mo
ment's warning, dropping dead as they stan
in way that has never been known before
The probabilities that any prominent mar
in any walk of life, will die in his bed, i
D ripe old age in these United States, ar
daily becoming rarer.
3 There are reasons enough given for thi
state of things, we say, but they all resolv
. themselves at last into the same-ovel
: work. The men have no Sabnaths-n
i 'rests" at all. 1t is one perpetual workda
and when they seek for enjoyment it is en-
e joyment of that fierce, restless kind-lat
hours, hot suppers, gas flaming theatre'
a the Spectacular DRAMA" the gambling ts
S BILE often, "amusements,p SO called, whic
S keep the nerves on the same tension, an
: infame still more the feverish and restles
: brain. The calm quiet of rational soci.
d enjoyment, the sports ofthe children
g home, the soothing intercourse of domest
6 life, the peace of intellectual relaxatio
with genial books or intelligent friend
e pail on the jaded taste. Intense excitemen
new sensations are essential elements
IS what Americans miscall amusements. Ar
so comes the overwork upon the nerves an
= brain. There is no rest for them day
e night.
nj Now and then there is enough of tougl
: ness in the constitutional fiber, enough
e. steel and whalebone derived from har
d working parents, the children of the so
!. to carry a man through this sort of life
1T a reasonable old age. But these are exec
tional cases, and they are daily grown
more exceptional. The children of the
fathers and mothers, whose nerves are "a
r to the touch, and whose brains are in
v restless buzz all their lives; are showil
N themselves true to the inevitable natul
to law.
o. Now it was to meet just this sort Of blu
h der in human life that the Lord gave Z
j. seventh day ofrest. He knew the cons
~ tuition of the creature he had made, q
did not order him to do no work on Il