The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-23
Medical Notes.

The average American man and wom-
an, whatever their calling may be, pride
themselves on thustling" Even recrea-
ton is taken with feverish enthusiasm
that makes it work. Part of this is due
to ambition to excel, to be known and
spoken of as a worker, and to a fear of
being thought or called an idler if a mo-
ment of rest is taken. True, excitement
| may be called medicina; agent; excite
ment takes US away from ourselves; but
too often it is like the spur of a jaded
horse making us run ON and on until
tired nature can endure no longer and
we drop by the wayside. On the other
hand, rest is a medicinal agent, but few
know how to balance rest against work
If We could rest with the same intense
application as we apply ourselves to
work all would be well, but many have
forgotten how to, rest. Most people i'm
agine they are taking a rest if they
sit down for a minute or two, but they
have not learned the art or repose; they
rock to and fro, or twaddle their fingers,
or swing their feet, or talk, anything to
keep the mind and body busy; or else
they read, or worry; anything to do moth
ing. This assuredly is not rest. Rest
means perfect relaxation of mind and
body, quiet and eomposure. Rest means
a shutting down of the gates that ner-
use, as the miller fills the mill pond by
shutting the gates of the sluiceway,
AS | came from the busy Office in the
city, where the excitement of news-gath-
capable employees of the civil department
erlng keeps every man at the highest
tension, and the roar and rumble of CITY
traffic, and the hum of many voices, keys
up the nerves to the highest pitch, 1 meet
young girl on the train who, as soon
as she rushed into the car and seated
herself with a f1irt and furry, pins the
evening paper to the back Of the seat in
! front of her, and, pulling out crotchet
work from her bag, proceeds to keep her
mind and fingers busy lest she should
waste a precious moment. But such
| economy of time is unwise thrift, and
sooner or later that girl will be a physi-
cal wreck, an old young girl, who has
done her life work in half the allotted
time, and must spend the balance of her
! life In misery Of mind and body I see
! about me every day men who are in a
perpetual nervous cyclone because they
do not curb their ambition. They under
take the task Of a giant; with only the
strength of a pigmy, to perform it. Their
mind is not held in the leash of the will
! and their power Of resistance has be-
come so slight that they are forever at
the mercy of circumstance. They cannot
foresee the indigestion, with all it's at
tendant ills, the insomnia, the failure of
bodily power that is often solely due to
indiscriminate unreckoning waste of ner-
vous force. Having unwisely expended
their vitality such men soon go into ner-
vous bankruptcy and bodily failure. They
can no longer do anything we'll for want
of reserve power, which means self-con-
| troll and latent strength.
| Vacation that comes but once a year
to the business or working man comes
| too often for the ambitious man who
! takes a vacation because it is the fash
| ion, not because he wants to. The Vaca-
tor q have coined this word to fit the
| occasion) as a rule, is not one who rests,
| as he should, but one who works hard at
play. True, he may make a change in his
work, and routine is a great Wearer out
of nerves; change is a good thing, in It's
! way, even if it is work, but it's not va
cation. Rush and routine are two r S
that begin rack and ruin. Relaxation
| and repose are the two RS that begin
recovery and restoration.
From the laborious way in which many
! people, young and old, set about taking
| a vacation one might think that but few
| knew what vacation means. It is deriv-
| ed from the Latin Vaeatio, a being free
| from duty, a state of idleness, freedom,
| the word vacuum coming from the same
| root, meaning a state of emptiness. The
! Romans also used a word relaxatio, which
needs but the to make our English
| word relaxation a state of being frae
! from bonds and also a state of cheerful
| ness, such as prisoner would feel who
| had been released.
The Romans certainly had many holt
| days and days of rejoicing but even then
| there were some men so ambitious that
| they never took a holiday so that the
| Romans had an apt phrase for the ever
| busy man in the words. sine ulIis ferris,
| without any holidays. Phaedrus' warning
! otto rumpeS arcum, Semper ST tensum
! habueris," you will soon break the bow
| but seldom minded, while Horace says,
| neque semper arcum tendit Apollo" an
| intimation that even the gods with thei..
supernatural strength sometimes relaxed
their arduous duties and sought repose
and pleasure.
The Greek word for vacation was exc
cheira, literally a holding off of hands,
an armistice or truce, a folding of hands
as 1t were, a cessation of labor Thus
even the the Romans and Greeks realiz-
ed the necessity of ceasing for a season
from the strenuous exertionse of life and
seeking 1nnocuous desuetude in some Sc
cluded spot far from the naddine crowd
Going to the country, to the seashore
Or to the mountains, are all synonymous
with vacation, as it is generally spoken
ly different. At the fashionable summer
or winter resort there is no vacation in
the true sense Of leisure or freedom from
care: 1t is one mad and merry whirI of
excitement in a different environment;
the physical and mental benefit is worse
than none.
There is, however, sound medical advice
beautifully expressed in Longfef1oW's
lines: If thou art worn and hard be-
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