The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-02-02
Che 9aily 9 lllstiu.
TUESDAY, FEB. 2, 1886.
FAST LIVING.

in this world forget what it is to be
just to the body. The impositions |
upon our human natures are often |
self-inficted. 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 bal
ance. 1t is altogether probable that
Methuselah had very little to hurry
him, and that the modes of doing
business as late as the Roman En-
pire, 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 day, it is inevitable
that business methods will receive
like impetus, and that men and
women will seek to crowd into day
what formerly took 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
high rate, adds tenfold to wear and
tear; so in this human race, it is
the stress and strain beyond GER
tain mark that puts the whole frame
work into a state of tension. 1t is
true that, by early and continued
training, method may be so attained,
and an automatic response so Sc
cured, 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 de-
velopments of this haste. 1t must
be ludicrous to q restaurant boy to
see a COW chewing her cud, and
quietly resting in placid enjoyment.
The idea of resting and recreation
and deliberation in eating, no longer
occupies the thought of the average
American boy, much less of the
business man. Yet the power OF
life depends as much upon this as
upon any one conduct of life. The
relation of the chewing and the
juices of the mouth to the after di-
gestion, all along the digestive track,
and to that assimilation which is to
give force and vigor to work, is
such that we cannot afford to forget
the essential relationship. The fail
ure of this part of the apparatus to
do its part. does not involve immedi-
ate loss of power or bed-ridden
sickness, but is more frequent
limitation upon forceful life than
any one disability. A thorough di-
gestion not only leaves the mind
clear, and the nervous system placid,
but so provides the physical and
mental machinery with its propelling
power as to make thought as natural
as if it were q physical function. 1t
is not difficult to see in the work,
as well as in the writings, of some
men the traces of bad physical
condition. Emerson overstated the
case when he said that the sick man
is on the road to rascality, but,
nevertheless, did indicate what is
true, that q 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 incapacity
are laid in this want of quiet, de-
liberate eating.
Methods of study, to large de-
gree, have similar errors. The
examining process is still too popu.
lar. 1t is not always that the
amount of study assigned is toe
great. Oftener the child leaves the
work to be crowded into too small 9
space of time, or to hours which are
those of tire and sleepiness. The
mind is with difficulty goaded on tt
its work, and what is accomplished
is at u much greater expenditure Of
vital force. So as to methods Of
business, too much is done under
the pressure and excitement of hurry
and in such way that as few hours
as possible may be occupied.
Irregular meals and irregular
sleep come in for their share of in.
fluence. Because the system seeks
in some degree to adjust itself to
the forced conditions, the person is
too apt to conclude that it is nc
serious matter. But observers, even
on change, are noting the effects.
There are fewer middle-aged and
old men that continue to do bust.
ness than formerly. Young life is
at the head Of most mercantile anG
banking establishments. The mum
Der that are retiring too early from
actual breakdown or premature ole
age is undisguised. There is neet
to order a halt to all this fast living
Most men are happier not to retire
too early from active life, even j.
they have competency. All ar
hammer with emplovment, il the ces