The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-02-03
JUDGE ToURGEE.
".oiye Us a Rest. /"
Cincinnati Commercial, Jan. 1871.

q
fifty years Of age, is dark complexioned,
rather heavy set, has straight, dark hair, and
black mustache. His oratory is Of the quiet
kind, entirely free from gesticulation, q
seeming reliance being placed by him on the
selection Of words and the timelness of their
2 utterance. The reliance is not misplaced,
and his quiet manner Of expressing certain
I ideas and experimenting them with closely re-
I lated anecdotes was highly relished by the
audience, as was testified by the frequent
and hearty applause.
The title of the lecture, d" Give us a Rest"
had significance in 1t other than that con-
veyed in slang phraseology. 1t was descrip-
tive of the relentless chase of Americans
after the almighty dollar, a chase In which
the hunters sacrificed health, happiness and
life. Its pursuit wasted his vital energies,
deprived his family of its Preside enjoyment,
and fastened him TO an early grave. The
son would take up the trail and push on
with equal determination after the golden
sprlte. As consequence, the nationality,
as distinctive nationality, was growing
hardy men of vigorous physique from the
soil tilling classes Of other countries, would
disappear altogether. The deterioration
could be better understood by a mental
comparison of the men of the East with
those Of the West, whose outdoor occupa-
tions and simple mode of living gave them
large stature, enduring strength, and long
life.
Old men, in looking at the schoolboy of
to-day, felt like squaring up earthly accounts
and retiring TO their eternal rest. American
children now get out Of the cradle in hur-
ry. Only last Saturday the speaker had
noticed an item In the paper that, in men
tioning the birth Of a baby, said II had
started In the heel-and toe race through
life.
When satisfied that babies could walk I'M
aided, mothers would lose no time In send
ing them to place Of learning, where they
would receive dollhouse culture. At
Philadelphia school he heard a girl, too
large for an angel and too little for a saint,
give. from memory the names and date of
birth of every English sovereign. 1t would
have conduced TO her better health had she
used the time required to learn them in
making paper wads to throw ut the teacher.
Another instance he cited was that Of a
child who, on every Thursday, was seized
Of q sort Of frenzy akin TO lunacy. Investi-
CATION discovered that every. Wednesday she
was required to bring an original drawing
e.. n.
by the teacher, but looked for. He would
guarantee that any bald-headed representa-
tive Of the past in the audience, If asked TO
draw an original design in wall pockets or
organ dados, could not produce one In three
weeks. Spending an evening with a friend
In Troy not long since, they talked until the
gentleman looked at his watch and saw that
1t was IL O'Clock. Turning to his little son
who had been an interested listener all the
evening, he said: "My son, have you studied
to-morrow's lessons P" The reply was, 'tNo,
father.n Then take hold of them at once"
That child had to content himself with six
or seven hours sleep, when health at his
years demanded nine or ten.
The examining process was dwarfing the
children mentally and physically. Rushed
through school, and with no time to play,
they were thrown into the commercial whirl-
pool and compelled TO buffet and battle for
the remainder Of their lives. The eighteen
year old girl now reads more In month
than Lady Jane Grey did in her whole life.
People steal minutes during the day 10 read
papers at night. On one ofhis trips, and 60
ing to Boston by rail, he saw seventeen men
reading by tallow dips, destroying their sight
and counting iunacy. Conditions were now
reversed; men were the weaker sex, state
ment that any physician would verify by
telling how men are now the great consum-
ers of nervines and stimulants. No good
American farmer In the East now felt happy
without he had the dyspepsia, q big barn and
wife in the lunatic asylum. The war
waged against intemperance was almost
futile, as the rising generation was resorting
TO ardent spirits as a mental stimulus. Ev-
erything was being done In hurry. Stand
ing on one Of the New York avenues and
noting the elevated trains as they went flying
from one end Of the island TO the other like
huge shuttles in a monster loom, he saw
thirty people hasten toward one of the station
stairways. OF that number twenty five were
on the dead run, although another train was
in sight and would arrive In less than a
minute. This suggested to him something
that he had once read In an English comic
paper. English papers Of this particular
class, as rule, had a depressing effect on
mirth, but In this instance he was amused
no little. ....-#"M
II described scene at an American ferry.
The boat was just leaving the slip when two
young men came tearing down the incline.
As one ofthem made the leap and was going
through the air, he yelled:
"Come on, Jim, there won't be another
boat for nineteen seconds"
Mr. Tourgee then gave statistics showing
the lessening Of the American race In differ
ent portions of the country. One set espe-
cially was interesting. IL was TO the effect
that of the 5000 lawyers practicing at the
New York bar, less than one score were
born In New York City.
or commercial travellers or drummers,
there were 100000 In the United States.
They were bright, smart, quick-witted and
yet with all these qualifications very few OF
them ever attained positions as proprietors Of
business houses. Taken from school at an
early age, they were sent out on the road,
and In the desperate competition for trade
from early morning until late at night, day
in, day out, week In and week out, year In
and year out, the over taxed, nervous system
would break down, making them helpless
old men when they should have been In the
prime of life.