, 1888-09-06
OUR VITAL FORCES.
Drained by the Demands of Ultra FASH
ionable Society-Sad Results.

Drained by the Demands of Ultra FASH
ionab1e Society-Sad Results.
We live in a busy age and business
men have little time for homilies. But
there are some warnings to which they
must listen. If they do not heed them,
the same fate lies in store for all. Nature
cannot be thwarted. If there is a run
on a bank and the deposits are drawn out
too rapidly the bank must suspend. 1t
is the same way with our vital forces.
If we drain them more rapidly than
nature can supply the loss the body must
succumb and the mind loses its equilib-
rum. What shall it profit a man if he
gain the whole world only to become a
physical wreck2 What happiness does
ais wealth confer on him then? What
pleasure can his family derive from that
wealth when the thought comes that the
father and husband secured it only at the
expense of his body and mind?
The faul is not SO much with the men
as it is with society. There are few men
who do not like to take life easily. They
recognize that a certain mount of effort
shall be expended in order to accomplish
certain results. With some the friction
is less than with others. These are the
men to be envied. But society steps in
and asserts its meretricious standards.
1t declares in a dictatorial way that if a
man desires the entree into the fashion
able circle he must ave money and make
an attractive external show. If he has
Il wife, she must load herself with money
equivalents, and must not walk any more
than she rides. Bear in mind that only
h ultra fashionable society is referred
to. If he has some daughters, they must
keep up he standard of the model SET
by paterfamilias and mSterfamilias. This
demands q large income. \ SNOWY es.
Enlistment is not maintained at a rea-
sonable cost. The next question is, how
is the man to gain all this? To most
men and most ome social distinction
is a prize to be secured, no matter what
the cost. Albeit like the Dead sea fruit
it is empty and its rewards are deceptive,
the prizes must be gained. If the man is
a business man in the old fashioned way,
unless he has a mammoth establishment
he cannot maintain this expensive lux
ury. To get more money without drain
ing his business, he ~speculates in stocks
or in grain. He may be successful and
have all the money he desires. He NAV
be unsuccessful and lose all. With the
latter this is the end. We can drop him
LulO tne PIT Oh social OBLIVION.
The lucky sp~eculator one in the whirl-
pool of speculation is like the unlucky
ship in the Norway maelstrom. He can
not get out. He becomes more and more
fixed in speculative habits. He NAV
never be u~nlucky. He may accumulate
his millions. His wife and daughters
nay wear the most expensive diamonds.
they may cover themselves with the
most gorgeous apparel. But the end is
lear-overwork, nervous exhaustion,
physical bankruptcy.
But society is not altogether to blame.
If a man does not want to enter the up
}er tendon society does not compel him
% come In. The mans ambition impels
lim within the SO called charmed circle,
which has not always SO many charms as
u mas ~annoyances. Society, of the ultra
hihd, Is In asserting that fool
'sh standard That fine feathers make fine
plrds. Old A1sop's fable about the Jack
daw with the peacock's feather stuck
INTO Its tail Is a true in its moral today
as 1t was when Asop wrote it. If fash
lonable society were less punctiious in
its demands for outward e~xcellencies and
more punctilious in its demands for cul-
ture, for refinement, for honor and
purity, the lines would be drawn with
some sense, and there would be less
moral, as well as mental and physical
wrecks.
Life is worthless without health.
Health is at all times in the physical ca
reer of a man more valuable than money.
Age will overtake us all. If we wish a
decrepit and painful old age, to be a bur-
den to ourselves and to every one about
us, let us keep on this rapid wasting of
the vital energies. If we wish to be
hearty in the twilight of life and happy
we must not in the heyday of life draw
too heavily upon natures resources.
Never forget this: That those who SOW
the wind shall reap the whirlwind. DE
troit Free Press.
I lie largest stock of fine brandies, old