Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1888-06-14
LIFE AT HIGH PRESSURE.
In N Worth the Price Paid for It =
simplicity Should Be ''Good STYLE"
and Ostentation Vulgar.

The m st salient Characteristic of
life in the latter portion of the nine
'teenth century is its speed, and the
question to be considered is, first,
whether this rapid rate is a good one,
and next, whether it is worth the
price we pay for it? No doubt we
'''do" more, but is "doing" everything
aud "being" nothing? The first
point to notice is that we have got
Into = habit of valuing speed as
speed, with littlo reference to the
use made of the time gained. Mr..
Matthew Arnold tartly writes of the
man who thinks it the highest pitch
of civilization that trains run every
quarter of an hour between Islington
and Camberwell. He thinks it moth
ing that the trains only carry him
from dismal, illiberal life at Cam
berwell to q dismal, illiberal life at
Islington. Baron Hubner describes
how, in spite OF frequent exhortations,
the steamers across the Atlantic face
all the dangers Of icebergs met in
logs, instead of steering a more south
ern course and arriving but 4s
hours later. The physical conse-
queuces of this needless hurry are
grave enough; the moral consequent
ces are possibly graver still, though
both sets Of effects are as yet only in
their infancy aud will take a gen
Grafton or two fully to develop.
The .rapidity of railway travelling
produces chronic disturbance in the
nervous system, and the anxiety to be
in time, the hurrying pace, causes II
daily wear and tear as we'll as accel-
Grated action Of the heart, which
kills or Injuries thousands. The CON
situations which are thus enfeebled
aud impaired we transmit damaged
to our children, who add to and pass
on the sad Inheritance. Heart disease,
too common already, may be expected
to be more common still. We are,
perhaps, most of US, conscious at
some time OF the need to be quiet and
alone, but few OF us have estimated
adequately the degree in which an at
mosphere Of excitement, especially
when we enter it young and continue
i'll it habitually, is fatal to the higher
and deeper life; the subtle poison
which it disseminates throughout the
whole character; how it saps solidity
and strength of mind; how it daily
becomes more necessary and in in
creasing measure; how it enfeebles
and renders abnormally sensitive the
subtitle organization Of the brain; and
how far, by slow and sure grad uations
it carries us on towari a mental and
moral condition which may justly be
pronounced unsouni.
But "high PRESSURE is shown even
more in our own style of work than
in our rate of movement. The world
is more exacting in its demands from
all laborers, except merely manual
ones. Success in professional, public
and commercial life demands more
strenuous and exhausting toll, Steiner
concentration and more harsh and
rigii sacrifice Of the amenities which
time otfsrs tho easy going than was
formerly the case. The eminent
lawyer, the physician in full practise,
the minister and the aspiring politician,
oven the literary workman and eager
men of science, are now condemned |
to an amount and severity of exertion
which forces one after another to
break off Tor to break DOWN in mid |
nar Shatfnra1 4
to premature inaction or senility.
What work does for the learned pro-
fes,ien, an x,ety does for the merchant
and the manufacturer.
Men who have given up their entire |
being to business labor often lose all |
capability of u better life, all relish |
Tor recreation or contemplation, all |
true appreciation of leisure when it
comes At last, for the facilities of en-
j'yment, like all others, are apt to
grow atrophied with disease. The |
successful man, too, often with much |
to retire upon, has nothing to retire |
To; for literature, science, domestic |
ties, public and philanthropic interests,
nature itself have been lost sight of
during the mad struggle, and these
are treasures the key to which soon
grows rusty. This ceaselessress and |
severity Of toll gives the PRICES of life
to men of exceptional physique.
Physical and cerebral toughn.ss is the
prime requisite. The moderately en-
dowed in brains, in health and |
strength, are t'nowhere;" tn. slow
moving bid fair to be elbowed out of |
their careers. |
Less than a generation ago families
could live with all the comforts aud
essential elegancies of life On couple
OF thousand, who strive in vein to
do SO now. England, says a recen,