American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-03-29
OVERWORK.


still more credit from their mothers and
sisters. A young gentleman whose face
is rather pale, whose hand shakes more
than is fitting at his time of life
and who has generally dilapidated ap
pearance at the end of term, is APT t6
ascribe those symptoms TO the superhu
man efforts he has made in passing the
Little go. He throws out dark hints
about the necessity of fastening Il wet
towel round his head, and supporting his
nervous system by copious draugits OF
green tea. His female relatives naturally
sympathiZe, and regard examiners rs
stony-heaIted ipflictors of torture upon
the young. The more experienced and
impartial observer is apt to be skeptical.
1t is indeed true that some young men
have injured their constitutions, and
probably more are likely to suffer the
same injury, under the influence of com
petitive examinations. But it is also true
that in a majority of cases the fiction is
tolerably transparent to the young gen
tlemen's college acquaintance. Over
work is sometimes simple appeal for
compassion: its supposed victim is mere
1y acting the part of the pallid student to
impress the audience at home. More
frequently it is delicate periphrasis for
some other evils of less presentable
nature. Its sufferer NAV be imputing to
intellectual eXertion what is really due to
a misguided passion for supper parties
and to nights spent in devotion to loo.
In shsrt, Overwork is highly convenient
veil to throw over the innumerable
methods in which youth may iniure his
constitution. If the physical mischiefs
produced by excessive study could be
fairly compared with the mischiefs pro-
duced by other causes, we have a shrewi
suspicion that their SUM total would be
infinitely less than is generally supposed.
We may say pretty confidently, from a
tolerably wide experience, that the num-
Der of victims to overwork is utterly in
significant, compared with the number
of victims from other causes, and with
the number of cases in which the excuse
is imposed upon soft-hearted relations.
What is true of undergraduates is at
least equally true in later life. Most men,
as they grow older, grow lazier, and at
the same time become more accomplished
hypocrites. For both reasons they ac-
Quire greater skill in imposing upon
themselves and others. A young man
brought up in happy ignorance of ply
siologicaI laws, and placed under the
stimulus of competition whose import
ance he grossly eXaggerates, does occas-
iOnally take liberties with his cOnstitu-
ton. When he becomes conscious of his
digestive apparatus, he grows more
cautious, and is less accessible to excite
ment. He cannot be ridiculed by his
companions, and he becomes an adept in
the art of self-fiattery. Everybody likes
to think that he is making superhuman
exertions, and his wife and family accept
his theories much more readily than his
tutors and competitors. And thus, when
some eminent man breaks down under
the strain of his labors, there is immed-
lately chorus of Woodworking people
who are ready to exclaim, Yes, we are all
breaking down. The cry is taken up by
the newspapers, and we are treated to
eloquent sermons upon the terrible ex-
element and the incessant wear and tear
of modern life. We are living too fast,
burning the candle at both ends, and ex-
hausting our nervous systems under the
incessant pressure of our strurgl for
existence. How much of all this is gen
uine? and how much is merely the rope
tition in later life, and with greater af-
fectation of solemnity, of the old under
graduate pretence that we are being over
worked, when in reality we are only
wanting TO excite little domestic pity =
The complaint of overwork, when it
has some genuine foundation, is generally
founded upon a miscOnception. There
is undoubtedly very real and not IN
common evil which is described under
the name. Two men of equal strength
may be doing the same amount of actual
work, and yet one man may be killing
himself, while the other finds his duties
mere child's play. The reason is, of
course, that one mans work is productive
of anxiety, whilst the others may be
merely soothing. A Spectator may spend
a very few hours in anything that can be
called business, but the difficulty is that
he cannot leave his business behind him
Anxiety about money is the most deadly
nj a hon
suicide, it is far less reasonable accord
ing to the old proverb, to ask, Who is she?
than to ask, How much is it Business
which keeps man in state of constant
oscillation between ruin and a fortune,
which follows him home and prevents
him from sleeping, is incOmparably more
trying than almost any quantity of down
right steady work. The Stock Exchange
at New York must fill lunatic asylums more
quickly than all the most laborious Uni
versities in Germany, England and Amer
lea A professor may labor at the COLA
ton of manuscripts, or even at the search
for the Absolute, for fifteen hours day,
and be all the better for it; third of the
time spent in studying the ups and downs
of Erie Railroad shares, and stalking
money on the result, would qualify him
for straight-waistcoat or halter in
year. As, however, speculation has
comparatively discreditable sound, the
evils which it produces are very frequent
ly placed to the account of its more re-
dsectable rival. Straightforward industry
We choose, in one form or another, to
spend a great part of our time at the gam
ing tables which exist in an infinite Yari-
ETY. of forms in every capital in the world,
and then complacentiy complain that we
have injured ourselves by overapplica
ton to our duties.
As rule, therefore, we should say that
the complaints of overwOTk are amongst
the most fiimsy of all the excuses set up
by men for the evils which they bring
upon themselves. Very few people really
work hard; and when they do, it general
ly agrees with them Directly or iudi-
rectly, idleness does fifty times as much
mischief, for the best cure for the love of
excitement is steady application A vast
amount of good pity is thrown away in
the world; and, instead of solemnly warn
ing our friends not to do too nluch we
should find it simpler to refuse the iudi-
rect compliment for which they are man
euvering, and advise them TO relax their
minds by little strenuous activity.
When the danger really exists it may gen
orally be remedied rather by re-distribut-
ing the burden than by diminishing
1t. A very slight physical exertion
may injure man for life, If only he I'M
dertakes it in the wrong way Try to
lift thousand pounds weight by Il sud
den jerk, and YOU may probably break a
blood vessel. Divide the weight into ten
portions, and lift each calmly by itself,
and the exercise may do you good Run
a milc after hearty meal, and you may
be injured for life; walk ten miles "a day