The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-03-20
Our Worn Out Young Men.

The other day one of the worlds greatest
rulers died at the age of ninety-one. His life
had been stormy one. He was rocked in the
cradle of war. His boyhood was passed in
camps and on battlefields. He was at Wa
terloo, and also at Sedan, witnessing with
the serene consciousness of power the crush
ing defeat of the First Napoleon, and the
complete humiliation of his successor. Yet,
with all the cares of empire resting upon
his shoulders, this man survived three gen
erations of his contemporaries.
On the day of Williams death the gem
eral manager of the Union Pacific railway
died at the age of forty-eight. He was not
the victim of any disease. He was killed
by overwork. Before he was twenty-one he
was a rising railroad man. His friends say
that he never took a rest. He was untiring,
and delighted in hard work. And this is the
end of it all. At an age when he should
have been fitted for his best work, he was
so utterly worn out that the thread of life
suddenly snapped asunder, and he fell by
the wayside.
These two cases are not exceptional. In
Europe men of four score and over hold
their own with younger men. In this coun-
try it is a common thing to find men yield
ing to the strain of overwork at the age of
fifty. We do not find such examples in
other countries. Brougham was an active
man at ninety, and Wellington was power
when he was eighty-three. Gladstone, at the
age of seventy-nine, is the head and front of a
great reform movement. kossuth, at eighty
six, is in vigorous health, and Chevreul, who
is now one hundred and one, is still making
chemical experiments. But this country is
the land of old-young men. Dyspepsia, par
alysis, and Bright'S disease stalk behind
our youngsters, our boys who are gray
haired at thirty and ready to die or lose
their grip at fifty.
1t is very strange. We are wonderfully
learned in all that pertains to diet. Nowhere
in the world do people make such an cutlery
against liquor, tobacco, and everything that
is said to be injurious to health Even in
our schools little boys and girls are taught
the principles of hygiene. What is the re-
suit? Our newspapers are filled with adyer-
tisements of nerve tonic, brain foods and all
sorts of invigorators for our nation of ply
steal and mental wrecks.
Is it our climate, our diet, or our over
work? Perhaps it is all due to hurry, furry
and worry. We despise small things, and
everybody is trying to make fortune at one
lick. Our young men try to leap to the top
most round of the ladder, instead of climb
ing. Every man wants to dictate, lead and
boss the job. The man who starts with
nothing and makes million dollars, throws
up the sponge and retires from the business
arena bitterly disappointed because he failed
to make ten millions.
Now our European cousins have way Of
making haste slowly. They do not exhaust
all their mental and physical capital in a
succession of mad leaps. They believe in
plodding, but they like to take IN LAY orr
occasionally and they nre all the frcsher aud
stronger for IT, They don't know as much
as we do about the laws OF health, bat they
manvge TO enjoy life. 1t viii not do to -uccr
at the men and the ways OF the old world Il
would be wiser to initiate tAom la aomc 70.
spects.