The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-02-01
THE PACE THAT KILLS.
Are We Not Driving Ahead Too Rapid
Nowadays?

Are We Not Driving Ahead TOO NSapioiy
Nowadays?
Many foreigners have warned US OF the
danger engendered by our fast living.
They say we are going at 1.-THE pace that
kills" We are in what some great minds
have denominated as "a railroad and cleo
trio age"
The word distance has in a number of
instances become meaningless. Impossi-
bllities have been assigned TO the domain
of legend and wonderful accomplishments
are wearing the crowns OF the laurel and
the oak. The mighty forces of ma
ture which awed and enthralled
Us are now the Obedient slaves of our will
and ingenuity. Philosophers and the
great seers and solvers OF thought and
speculation have noted all the glory and
beneticient manifestations of our transi-
tionRry period and have ppiauded when
they saw US safely pass scylla or charyb-
dis as the mighty sea of commerce and
manufacture, yet their minds have not
been without anxious suspense when they
saw us suddenly disappear beneath q huge
wave on the stormy sea of experience. only
10 their utter CONSERVATION to again bob
up sereney In the distance. Ii has been
a race, mad race; like wild
Mazeppa dashing down the mountain
SIDE We have struggled onward
in the race after fame and money.
Nor have we stopped TO count the cost.
But these same philosophers who have ap-
plauded our wonderful ieats, who have
TREMENDOUSLY watched US succeed, have not
by any means made this the sole point of
their observation. Every detail has been
recorded, every deviation from previous
established criterious has been noted, and
every new innovation registered. SO that
now, weighing us inIthe balance. thew are
capable TO at least approximately point
out where the sand Of friction Is mixed
with the oil that lnhricates the wheels Of
civilization and thus gradually grinding
away the axle of life. Distin-
guished writers declare this the age
| OF nervousness period when the
civilized race will enter upon the stage of
| deterioration. "Our lunatic asylums,"
they claim, ARE filing up at a irightful
rate; women erstwhile plump and ROSY
are growing pale and smaciated, children
| formerly JOYOUS. sDrightv, strong and
/ vigorous, are becoming debiiitated, weak
| ana unhappy. Business men are engines
! OF perpetual worry and victims of in-
somnia. The social life has become q
| whirl of Notwithstanding excitement;
/ cities are Clamerous with the distraction
/ OF railroad traffic. manufacture and
/ all busting airs that de-
/ stroy reposs and hinder quiet" No
/ longer can We appreciate the Roman and
| Greek virtues of luxurious ease and health
! vitaizing repose. Peace health and the
serenity OF old age are bartersd at ruinous
and discount rates to hasten the destruc-
tive pestilence of veal, h. Accompanied
/ by the direful neurasthenia classifying an
endless array of nerve ills we spin
along with fearful velocity, as it were,
over the smooth and CLASSY surface, and
with wild erraticsm bordering on mad
ness. We have lost ali respect for causion,
care and precedent. A whole life is
| crowded into a decade, and we grow tired
OF mundane existsnce before we have
| tasted its bitter sweet. No wonder
that diseases are multiplying faster than
doctors can classify them and that bril-
liant careers are cut short by premature
| paralysis. insanity anil death Nature
never allows breach of its laws to 90 un-
| punished. as an artificial exaltation oil
mind has compensatimg. miserable de-
preston so that extraordinary waste oil
vitality is followed by corresponding
disease.
II We wish to check this great lost oil
| extra strength we must curtali our pace Ol
living Instead of rushing during every
conceivable hour after business as fully
we must give MP more time to sleep
the proper digestion of food, and
healthy recreation. Nor is this ali
Our great anxiety for gain has not alto
gether been the fruit of natural longing
We have stimulated our natural desires
by artificial ones. All kinds of tonics, mar
cotics and Opiates have been resorted to
to excite already high strung nerves with
its resultant evil We are physical and
mental rocks totally unfit to properly per
form the functions necessary for the prop
agation of the race. That the ciscontinu
ance OF the uss Of drugs, the proper utiiza
ton of the laws governing the use of food
air and RAIN Mt. coupled with The abolish.
ment OF the pneumatic tire and kiteshRped
track gait, will have beneficial results we
will not dispute. but that il cannot accomp
lish ali that is necessary to bring us back
TO the firm old Anglo-Saxon footing o.
yore is equally clear.
Gazing backward We see a world en-
shrowded in darkness where once discours
ed the savants ofleaning on the immortal
ty of the soul. Why is this SO? Why were
these people comparatively swept from
the lace of the earth? Forbid it that our
fate be the same. POLLOK.
Ft. Sheridan, ILL.,, Jan. Is.