St. Landry democrat., 1891-01-17
The Battle of Life and how to
Fight IL.

The Battle of Life and how to
Fight it.
If there IL one sign of our times mo
unhealthy than another it is the habit
"self- disse ction." When a physician
ill he is the last man in the world to pr
scribe for himself; he always calls in IL
aid of another physician. What tt
physician declines to do in his wisdom
however, a growing class are continual
doing in their folly. They are for eve
dissecting themselves, always keepin
their finger on their moral pulse. as
were-alwAys analysing the grounds G
action rather than acti ,g; and, of course
they become moral hypochondriscs, fo
next to the contagion of disease itself ther
is nothing SO infectious as diagrams abou
disease.
WHAT A MORBID IMAGINATION CAN DO
Not long ago professor of anatomy IL
a celebrated university took his student
through course of instruction on tn
pathology of the heart. He showed very
ii clearly the signs and tokens of it's normal
healthy action, and then showed with
equal clearness all the symptoms of it,
irregular action in disease. By and by
however, one student after another came
knocking at the door of the professors
private room, and with pale face and
nervous lips, asked to be sounded" One
was certain he was suffering from palpi-
tation, another was haunted with the con-
viction that there was something wrong
with either the right or the left ventricle
while another-a most energetic fellow
hadn't wink of sleep for nights through
having discovered that bis heart was fee
BILE in its action-and so forth. The pro-
fessSr bore with them very patiently for
all the time, laug hing at the fears of one,
wisely humoring another, and gravely i'm
parting instruction to third, for every
man had his Eeart as sound as a roach /;
but at last the thing became serious-there
was evidently an epidemic of diagrams
about-and so he took his class, for
several days, through an exhaustive course
of false symptoms of heart disease, and
thus stopped the plague of private inter-
viewing.
THE CURsE OF SELF DISSECTION.
tits just SO with the genesis of q great
deal of moral sickness that is about, moral
weakness, and moral want of tone, which
is uniting men for the practical work of
this very practical world what first began
In the fancy has come at length slowly to
settle down into fact. Keep clear of the
growing habit of un due introspection.
Wasn'tsit Goethe who said that the curse
of thinking young men was in thinking
about life rather than living it? If that
were true in.his day, it is a hundred times
truer in ours. The spread of education,
the sickly sentamentalism of hectic novels,
and the existence of great cities, which
are the continents of the conflicting views,
creeds and characters of the whole world,
all tend to temp thinking youths to turn
their eyes in upon themselves with self
torturings about questions which have
been asked in every age, and which in the
very nature of the case, can never in any
age be answered. A lady once remarked
to me (she hadn't got hold of the word
"introspection," but she had very good
idea of what it meant), "Nobody ever does
any good who is always studying his
"innards." That's true.
LIFE rs BATTLE.
Life is battle. That is no mere catch |
phrase or poetical fgure-it is fact. It |
means blows and Bullets, give and take,
wounds, defeats, and triumphs. II you |
have not learnt this already 1t won't be
long before you will not require any words
70 teach you. And your first serious
skirmishes will be about as painful as any
you will afterwards have to encounter.
full of affection and kindness, and Won
suddenly have to encounter rough usage,
course handling, and a good deal that
seems to rub the bloom off the peach.
Many noble nature, which, as far as we
could see, seemed planned for O life of
sweetness, has been so roughly handled
at the start that it has never been able to
fulfil it's earlier promise. Something or
other by sharp experience must early ave
you the first proof of the fact that life is
cot q review, but battle, and the firing
ls not done with blank cartridges.
SOME REQUISITES FOR THE FIGHT.
But having cheerfully and manfully &C
cepted the conditions Of life as they are,
here are some requisites we need to give \
heed to for fulfilling our part in these CON.
iitions. The first of these is bodily
health. Guard your health, but don't be
always thinking about it. Supply it with /,
he few simple things it dsmands-fresh
lir, plain food, active exercise, and clean
iness-and then leave it to look after
tself. But NO stimulants, If you please,
except by the doctors order. You can't
lfford them, however rich you are. Hold .
What views You will ON the temperance .
question, there is one aspect of it that is
arely alluded to, but that is yet one of its
mean the destruction of
will power that always accompanies in
Iulgence in stimulants You can never
ely on the man who is always needing
stimulant.
CHERISH HOPE.
Next, cherish hope. Hope, like good !,
Eords, costs little and is worth much. :
.ou cannot start in your career with bet
Or endowment than large measure OF
opefulness, and you will never do a !
arse thing all your days than fritter !
way that inheritance. If anyone tells !
on that the pressure of life is greater to-
ay than it was century ago, or dozen
snturies ago, don't you believe it. The !
ober facts of history are all against it. !
very age has felt the pressure of the !
ruggle in its own way; it is always the J
lcceeding age, with it's greater light and j
lore abundant inventions, which sees
here the previous age might have found r
ore openings. Unhappy, we can't In. b
ruct our ancestors. n
PLENTY OF ROOM UPSTAIRS. }
81 haven't yet decided what profession !
adopt" said young man once to an .
d lawyer; sis your profession fullf' !,
Well, replied the other, with twinkle +
his eye, "the basement is pretty much :
DIVIDED, but there is plenty Of room up- y
airs" That's where it liz, and where it
as always been-the pressure is always at
w%es5 I<~~ ofc~~ 4 i