The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-05-12
OYER WORKED MEN.

The sudden death of Mr.. William Orton
has furnished another of those warnings to
Overworked men which come 60 ofteE and
to which 30 little heed is given. There can
be no doubt about what killed Mr.. Orton.
He ought to have lived twenty years longer
at least, and in any other country than
this, or if he had been mechanic or Il small
shopkeeper, hs might with reason have
looked forward to even u longer term o.
life. He was in robust health and IN hat
moet people would consider very comfort.
able circumstances he was temperate in
his habits, careful In his mode Of living,
and, 30 far ss is known, he had no domestic
or personal cares to worry him. Why should
such man wear ont at fifty, going to
pieces al! at oncef Simply because, like
nearly every man among us who Eolds q
position OF ike responsibility, he imposed
upon his IervOus system too much work
and gave it too little play. 1t is not 30
much the amount OF work that wears out
the brain or any otter organ as the neg
lect of the needed rest. A man cannot be
thinking about his business all the time
any more than he can be hammeriug at the
anvil all the time without exhaustion, and
the men who work with their brains are in
greater danger than those who work with
their han de, for the obvious reason that the
limit of muscular exertion is soon reached,
beyond which it is impossible to 90, while
3
until it is altogether used up. TIE reason
that the average life of our public men
among whom we include not uuly politi-
clans but the managers of our great ccrpo
rations-is shorter than that of the CORES
ponding classes abroad, is to be found in
the hurry and worry to which they are
subjected and in the neglect of a wise ard
systematic division of their time. This
latter difficulty is a part of our social
organization or want OF Organization. An
English railway president, for example,
easily falls into the habit of apportioning
the details of his work among su bordinates
wto obey his commands without question,
retaining to himself only general super
vision, which can be- maintained just as
ef.ctively by few hours attention each
day as by working and worrying through
the whole twenty four. The days busi-
ness despatched, it is dismissed from his
mind, not becauee he is Indifferent to it,
but because it is part of the system in
which he has been educated to work only
in working hours. He dimes leisurely and
goes to the play or to his club he rides or
drives he runs down in the country to
take turn with the hounds; he makes his
recreation as much q matter of duty as his
business, and the result is that be is an
active man at seventy, whereas in America
he probably would have broken down at
fifty. 1t is difficult for man who is placed
in a responsible position in this country to
apportion his daily. work in this way. So
citty does not move along SO smoothly in
well worn channels, and business follows
to an exaggerated degree the habits of
society. We often hear it said that it is
The iasFdi+.a late desire wealth power I
that wears men out SO soon, and In many
cases this is true; but not in all. Often
enough a mans overwork is caused by a
simple and honorable desire to do his whole
duty in the station to which he is called,
that int taH IN him,
uffer from his neglect He sees that hard
work is necessary to success. aud he will
work as hard as any man. he knows the
Importance of attention to details, aud he
will look after everything himself. He finds
DO recognized division between the worlds
hours OF work ard of play, and he dare not
be idle lest somebody get ahead of him. II
be had only himself to think of he might
take the risks; but there are great interests
entrusted to him, for which he is RESPONSE
bic and which he dare not divide, and 80
he works all the time, until some day he
finds that he cannot work at all. 1t is not
q matter of choice, but of compulsion it
is not avarice or ambition, but duty that
cannot be escaped. Men like President
Orton are as truly overworked as was ever
Il plantation negro, and it is the ceaseless
drive of our uniformed aud unorganiZed
society that kills them in their prime. 1t
is of very little use to scOld these men and
tell them that they should not work so
hard. They are driven continually by a
force which they can neither control nor
resist: they must work, and if it kill them,
ae they know 1t may, at least they will die
in harness. They can help Themselves
little sometimes by systematizing their
work, by securing as much rest and diver
eion as they can but they have had no
time i'll their hard driven lives to learn
how to rest or how to 30 diverted, and if
ever they do learn, the knowledge com
monty comes too late. 1t is in this way
that we are killing off our ablest men, just
at the time of life when they are worth the
most to US.