Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-06-05
FAST LIVING.
Living Morally tOnly Another Name for,
Living Physically.

to be feared that a great many in this.
world forget what it is to be just to the
body. The impositions upon our human
natures are often self-inflicted. The
race of fast livers is rapidly increasing.
1t is not wonderful that in these days
of rapidity man himself should rush on
and in many ways lose his balance. 1t
is altogether probable that Methuselah
had very little TO hurry him, and that
the modes of doing business as late as
the Roman Empire had but little of the
hot haste of the present day. When
we are rushed along by steam at the
rate OF fifty or sixty miles per hour, and
can have intelligence from around the
globe in a day, it is inevitable that
business methods will receive a like
impetus, and that men and women will
seek to crowd into a day what formerly
took a week. The influence extends
into every walk and run of human life.
just as every mile of speed added to
the locomotive after it has attained a
high rate adds tenfold to wear and
tear, so, in this human race, it is the
stress and strain beyond a certain mark
that puts the whole framework into a
a state of tension. 1t is true that, by
early and continued training, method
may be so attained and an automatic
response SO secured that one does with
ease what would exhaust another. But
the measure of the capacity must be
known to the person himself. Rapid
eating is one of the first developments
of this haste. 1t must be ludicrous to
a restaurant boy to see a COW chewing
placid enjoyment. The idea of.
rest and recreation and delibera-
ton in eating no longer occupies
the thought of the average American,
boy, much less, of the business man.
Yet the power of ones life depends as
much upon this as upon any one con-.
duct of life. The relation of the chew
ing and the juices of the mouth to the
after digestion, all along the digestive
track, and to that assimilation which is
to give force and vigor to work, is
such that VIZ can not afford to forget
the essential relationship. The failure
OF this part of the apparatus to do its
part does not involve Immediate loss of
power or bed-ridden sickness, but is a
more frequent limitation upon force
full life than any one disability. Athor-
ough digestion not only leaves the
mind clear and the nervous system
placid, but SO provides the physical and
mental machinery with it's propelling
power as to make thought as natural
as if it We're a physical function. 1t is
not difficult to see in the work, az we'll
as in the writings of some men, the
traces of a bad physical condition. En-
erson overstated the case when he said
that a sick man is on the road to rascal
is true, that a man in a chronic state
of embarrassed digestion is out of gear
with himself and the rest of mankind.
We believe that the foundations Of
many an ineapacity is laid in this want
of quiet, deliberate eating.
Methods of study, to a large degree,
have similar errors. The examining
process is still too popular. 1t is not al
ways that the amount of study assigned
is too great. Oftener the child leaves
the work to be crowded into too small
a space Of time, or to hours which are
those of tire and sleepiness. The mind
is with difficulty goaded on to its work.
and what is accomplished is at a much
greater expenditure of vital force. So
as to methods of business. Too much
is done under the pressure and excite
ment of hurry and in order that as few
hours as possible may be occupied.
Irregular meals and irregular sleep
come in for their share Of influence.
Because the system seeks to some de-
gree to adjust itself to the forced con-
ditions, the person is too apt to con-
clude that it is no serious matter. But
observers even on 'change are noting
the effects. There are fewer middle
aged and old men that continue to do
business than formerly. Young life is
at the head of most mercantile and
that are retiring too early from actual
breakdown or premature old age is
undisguised. There is need to order a
halt as to all this fast living. Most
men are happier not to retire Goo early
from active life, even if they have a
competency. All are happier with en-
ployment, if the cessation is the result
of damaged health. One can not cross
the ocean, or tarry a summer or a win
ter at any great resort, without noting
how many there are who are only par
tial invalids, and yet whose life-work is
restricted by imprudence as to the care
of life. If, now, a man past sixty is
found in the full enjoyment of business
activity. he is looked upon as rather a
wonder. Such men as M~etternich,
Nesselrode, Palmerston, Gladstone and
Victor Hugo are scarce on this side of
the water. While there are a very few
that survive fast living, if you will
gather the histories of one thousand
persons over ~sixty-tive years of age, it
will be found that, both by good inner
itance and careful living the race is
prolonged. The laws of self-control
and self-restraint need to be brought
more thoroughly to bear on each indi-
vidual life. For, next to character,
health is the best capital we have in
this world. He is a spendthrift who
spends the thrift of a good constitution
more than he who is careless as to &C
cumulating wealthy. Y. Isdepex-
dent.
The largest deposits of salt on the
n--.E. ..-l - A1----J.