Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1875-12-22

Spirit.
Every popular man is in great dan
ger of excess. He becomes heated b,
his own work I; he works with delight
to himself !. his friends love to hea
him; ambition spurs him the cause
he advocates becomes in his eyes all
important he assumes responsible,
ties and contracts engagements which
tax him to the utmost and when bis
powers need rest he feels that he can
not take it, and either breaks down
is compelled to give up, or dies. And
the more serious a man is, the more
likely he is to overdo and destroy HIM
self Contrast Edward Payson with
Henry Ward Beecher in this respect.
The strong constitution and genius of
the latter would not have enabled him
to do the work he has done if he had
been impressed with sense of the
doom Of sinners as profoundly as was
Payson. But the same spirit which
leads men to oyerwork may lengthen
unduly an essay. | conclude this pa
per. therefore, by pointing out certain
errors into which most intellectual
and sedentary men are prone to fall.
l. Neglect Of exercise. Many do
ncthing but walk few hundred
yards day. which they dispense with
in storms or when the walking is bad,
which in the case of ministers, with
Sundays added. is, in this climate,
about two thirds of the time.
2, An attempt to cheat nature by
such sublerfuges as '.health lifts A
poor sedentary man, who needs light,
air, rest, and change ofscenery for his
eyes, and tancies that he can keep at
books or study all day AID then in ten
minutes lifting Of heavy weights set
his system right, must be classed with
the people who expect to get rid ofthe
consequences of lite-bng violation of
the laws Of health by a few doses of
patent medicine. Aud man who
Can believe that men whose profession
al life makes them liable to heart or
lung disease can safely practice lifting
heavy weights is possessed of great
faith" a strong, vigorous man may
not be injured by lifting (and may en-
joy il much), while some weak men
may have been benefited but to rely
wholly or chiefly on ten menutes' lift
ing is the greatest hygienic absurdity
of modern times.
8. Overlooking is a great error, es-
pecially when connected with inactiv
ity. The Arabs have a proverb that
"Fat and inaction are the cause of the
principal diseases and vices of horses
And a dyspepsia minister gorging the
system with the rich food prepared by
the SISTERS" and taking no exercise,
is a spectacle to make only infdels
and undertakers rejoice. 1t was
gravely proposed to inscribe on the
tombstone of u gluttonous young
minister, who was cut off by disease
induced in this way, 'Died Of going
going out to tea.
4. Forgetting the danger of expos
ure or a strain after forty-fve years of
age causes many failures. The farm
er, sailor, and mechanic is, if well to
begin with, and temperate through
life, as strong at tifty-fve, and often at
sixty, as he ever was. But not so the
sedentary man, whose rebuilding has
gone on under facilitating Influences.
He may outlive the farmer, but he
must begin to be careful physically
long before such care is necessary for
the outdoor labo-er. And many by
forgetting this have in day broken
themselves down, who might have
lived to four-score. In contrast with
these errors I place the following
hints:
l. Night travel and day work
should not follow each day. God
does not command it, nature is incens-
ed and outraged by it, and nothing is
to be gained by it.
2. Students, teachers, ministers,
lawyers, editors, and physicians should
exercise the arms and chest at least
half an hour day, and spend three
times as long in the open air.
8. They should sleep all that the
system can endure without injury, and
if they lose sleep in the night should
chase it when possible all that day, till
the balance is adjusted.
4. For some weeks in every year
they should return to life of nature.
The man who takes cold from the