The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-08-17

What shall it profit a man if he gain
the whole world and lose his own soul"
Suppose We take the liberty of saying
lose his mind instead of close his soul.'
Soul and mind are pretty near together so
far as one can find out from the m%etaphy-
sicians who nave tried to tell us in what
respect the two differ, and who have uni
formly succeeded in making things about
as clear as they were before.
But men are getting rich about us and
losing their minds almost every day. Is it
not safe to assume that where one case is
made public two are not? He may not be-
come totally insane. There are many
grades of weakened and shattered intel
lect, from that of the man who finds his
mine slightly confused, blurred, clouded
and lacking in its accustomed grasp, to the
raying maniac whose brain IS totally off it's
centre.
The children Of this world having " thin
the last fifty years found some new toys,
to-wit: steam, electricity, telegraphs, tele-
phones, tickers, and other rapid transit ap-.
paratus for mind and body, are playing
too hard with them. There is a species of
mental intoxieation evolved out of all this
crushing things" which is ever more sub
tie and deadly than that coming of alco-
hol. In this wh1rl and high pressure of
business there are those who, in mind as
well as body, are on the run from morning
till night, and every act of theirs, every
epistle they write, every letter they shape
with the pen is in the doing pushed and
hurried in mind by the thought of the next,
of many other pressing things which must
be done in a given time.
There is no repose, no rest for the mind
from morning till night, no time or incli-
nation to dismiss thought or care if for
ever so few minutes, and at last there is no
capacity for so doing. This habit of mind
grows into a fixed one. 1t leads away
from precision. 1t leads away from exact
ness. 1t leads away from order or method.
1t does lead even brilliant intelIects INTO q
sort of h~elter-skelter way of doing every
thing. 1t leads to forgetfulness, for the
memory cannot make a clean record when
so much is forced on it. This habit of
mind goes with its owner everywhere. 1t
goes home with him. 1t goes to bed with
him. 1t keeps away sleep. 1t gives only
an unhealthy. feverish sleep at best to the
body. 1t leads, and has led, to the insane
asylum.
But If you owned the whole State of
New York-land, lots, houses. rivers and
all, and next the whole United States
land, rocks, rivers. mountains and all, and
at last both Continents, and, finally. you
held a bill of sale for the whole earth in
your trousers pocket, and the effort and
strain and excitement in gaining it caused
softening of the brain, what an aggravating
thing it would be for you to be imprisoned
in an insane asylum you owned yourself,
and guarded by your w hired keepers!
Some very rich men are beginning to
smell a rat. 1t is dawning upon them that
the care and keeping of their immense pos
sessions does not pay. 1t takes so much
time and strength to attend to it all. The
ownership Of the whole earth is a fearful
tax on the body. IL beaches the hair, puts
extra wrinkles in the face, weakens the
stomach and pains the body. So if they
do not lose their minds, they find them
selves in danger Of losing their bodies.
One loss seems almost as bad as the other.
IL your mind goes, you cannot enjoy any
thing yen own, and if your body goes, you
no longer own anything you now have.
This getting wealth at the expense of
health is equivalent to cutting off your
feet and swapping them for a pair OF boots.
Still, if you can't use the boots, you can
leave them to yoar children, who in this
will-contesting era would doubtless have
them anyway.