The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1891-03-20
Misdircctcd Emotional Force.

f1yS0n Call, is a uttle DOOk tnaJ Ougnt
10 be useful to persons who are suffering
under nervous strain. Miss Call tells MS
q a German physician who came here
b practice medicine. Patient after pa
tent called on him for relief from nerv-
ous prostration. 1t was q trouble he had
mt known in Germany, and he thought
The matter over carefully and finally
pronounced the disease "Americanitis.
Nearly all in this land suffer from Ameri-
canitis, and it is Miss Calls task to tell
- how to relieve it.
The power through repose' which
she indicates is simply relaxation Of
Ill the muscles of the body, simply let
ting them go, and falling together as
limp rs q wet towel. Then new power
can flow along our nerves to our tired
muscles, whether of arm, finger or eye,
nd we can fill up with force again. AS
4 Is we keep our muscles drawn up into
. tense strain most of the time, whether
We are using them or not, and so ex-
hAust ourselves and become miserable
wrecks along the sands of time. The
true way, according to Miss Call, is to
use the muscles the occasion demands,
and let all the rest be limp and free, with
all power withdrawn from them. So
shall we conserve our nervous force.
But most of all we waste our forces in
misdirected emotional energy. Espe-
cially this is true of women Most of
the emotions over which they wreck
themselves are false and morbid the suf-
fering itself and its disastrous conse-
quences are frightfully real. Miss Call
defines the difference between a real
emotion and false and morbid one to
be this: If the emotion is genuine and
healthful, whether it is pleasant or un-
pleasant, we shall learn its lesson and
gain health and strength of character
from it. If on the contrary it is false
and morbid it Injuries the health and
weakens the character. So our friends
among the young ladies and gentlemen
can judge by this token whether their
hopeless love is real or false.
The writer speaks in one place of the
emotional drunks some persons habitu-
ally indulge in, the wild fits of emotion,
Mysteries etc, which seem to give SO
much pleasure to certain individuals.
The name by which these fits are known
in colleges is "dry drunks" The term
decribes state of intense nervous ex-
element and want of control This
state Miss Call designates as condition
of sham emotion, and she adds: 1T has
often seemed to me that sham emotions
are a woman's form of getting drunk
and nervous prostration is its delirium
tremens." 1T is an inexpressibly sad
sight to see a woman broken down and
an invalid for no reason whatever but
the unnecessary nervous excitement of
weeks and months of sham emotion"
How can one master these sham emo
tons, so as to grow strong, self-con-
tained and helpful? Miss Call explains
how in a paragraph on mastering the
temper:
Many Of US know the sense of relief which
follows a volleys Of indignant words. To say
that we can get q far greater and more lasting
relief without a word, but simply through re-
hxing our muscles and freeing our excited
nerves, seems tame, but it is practically true
and is indeed the only way from a physical
standpoint that ono may be sure of controlling
. high temper. In that way also we keep the
spirit, the power, the strength, from which the
nmper comes, and 30 far from being tame
lite has more for rs. We do not tire ourselves,
and lose nervous force through the wear and
saaf Of losing our temper. To speak express
iyely, If not scientifically-Let go, and let the
temper slip over your nerves and off. You do
not lose it then, for you know where it Is, and
you keep all the nervous force that would have
been used in suppression or expression for
hatter work.
So with a fit of nerves or blues, or
chronic grief and despair. Do not resist
and try to fight it back; simply "let CO."
Relax the muscles of your body all over.
Then the worry will pass off and out
through your nerves
Keep still, that all which is good may come
10 you, and live out to others that your life
may broaden for use. In this way we can take
al that nature is ready to give us, and will
constantly give us, and use it as hers and for
ner purposes, which are always the truest and
best. Then we live as a little child would live
only with more wisdom.