Weekly Trinity journal., 1870-04-09
Brain Work.

men to exert their brain at the expense of the
body, giving undue labor to the one, and scarcely
enough for health to the other. Health of mind and
health of body ought to go together, and if a
man wishes to make the most of himself and of
his faculties he should observe regular hours for
sleep, work, recreation and exercise and be
operate in his diet and in all other things.
He should treat each day of his life as whole
in itself, and avoid bringing himself into a state
in which artificial stimulents become necessity.
But how many persons do we find following
these simple and on-repeated rules As rule,
professional men permit themselves to be over
tasked, for they dislike rejecting business when
it offers itself And the same may bessad of
men engaged in trade and commercial pursuits
While business is brisk they will do or attempt
TO do all that is possible, without regard to the
pernicious strain upon their system which such
overwork entails. If to this be added the per-
petua anxiety, hurry, loss of temper, discourage
ment at losses of failure, and undue exultation
at success, which characterize the life of most
business men, together with the system o, taking
hasty meals, and not allowing sufficient time for
sleep and relaxation, one need not be surprised
at the number of premature deaths which daily
occur. The wonder is that 1t is not greater.
When a man desires to do very great quantity
of work, he almost always is obliged to violate
the rules of health to accomplish il he has to
pay price for being allowed to do it unless
gifted with peculiarly strong organization, his
labor is accomplished by its own retribution.
OF course there frequently occur situations in
which men must work to the utmost they have
no choice but on the whole it may be affirmed
that most of the ordinary work OF the world may
be got through without any glaring inattenton
to or defiance of the rules of health and the re-
quirements of society Aud if each man would
try to find out how he can best do his own work
and not try to do it according to the ways of
others, great deal of useless toll and irritation
might be saved.
twill, perhaps, be urged that there have been
many brilliant cases wherein the rules of health
were not only violated, but outraged, and yet
the work performed of the very highest
order. This is unquestionably true of many
men of extraordinary genius, who were, however,
exceptional men, in every sense of the word, and
hence their example is not to be cited as that
which ordinary persons should follow No one,
for instance, should do as the great French
novelist, Balzac, used to. When he was engaged
ON Il novel he would retire wholly from the
world to write with scarcely any interruption,
and without taking any exercise, from two
o clock in the morning till six in the evening
he allowed himself six hours sleep, aud lived
entirely on fruit and vegetables At the end of
some months Of this lie he would enter the world
again, looking like specter yet 1t may be true
that it was only by such abnormal work as this
he could achieve what he undertook. The vast
majority of men would break down under il.
DOu6 lufu CuuuOI no uTtlu WOIh except ut night.
This the with Schiller; while his
great rival, Goethe did all his work in the morn
ing and never wrote after his midday dinner.
Sir Walter Scott wrote his novels mainly before
breakfast, while Byron composed his poems
mostly late at night. The contrast between the
results of these two opposite systems of labor is
remarkable in these four cases. Goethe and
Scott respectively attained the ages of eighty
four and sixty-one while Schiller died at forty
six, and Byron at thirty-six. Moreover, Schiller
INDUCED in champagne, aud Byron in gin and
water, and both habitualy wrote under the in
fuence of stimulents. They shortened their
lives by their irregular mode of living and work
ing. Would they not have lived longer and ac-
complished more by observing the laws of
health? Goethe worked without stmulauts,
and Scott, though not averse to wine and ale,
was a temperate man, an early riser, and fond of
field sports and exercise in the open air. But
even he succumhed to over tension of the brain
in his desperate but honorable efforts to pay Off
the debts for which he considered himself re-
spOnsible had it not been for this unnatural
brain work he might have lived many years
longer.
Southey, though diligent student and con
stant worker, would never, under any circum-
stances, do with less than niue hours sleep, and
he was an abstemious man accordingly he lived
to the age of sixty-eight he did all his writing
| by day. The late Archbishop Whately, who
| iNou w Vibh'yj ""Sj hoWoNpij
able instance to the contrary. He said that he
could not produce original matter except at
| night, but that he could best critcise and cor
rect in the morning The habit of writing and
reading at night may be acquired and, indeed
it very often is, especially by persons connected
with the press and by others who are called
upon by their avocatons to do brain work in the
evening, such as actors, lecturers, preachers
and others. Nevertheless there is good reason
to believe that all of these would accomplish
more by working as much by day as their avo-
cations will permit, and not undertaking too
much. Phaadelphia Ledger.
| FRENCH AND ENGLISH GIRLS CoMPARED.-The
following passage is from Notes on Burgandy u
Charles Richard Weed, just published in Lon.
don;
| The foolish and often insane attempt, so prev
alent, unfortunately, with our countrymen, to
ape their betters, is rarely seen in France. Con-
tentment with their lot seems to be very gem
| eral and il is feature of the French character
| to be amused with what we should perhaps call
trifies, this custom has, at least, the advantage
of occupying time harmlessly. It.. is impossible