The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-01-17
BoILED Snow ZOE zee NERvEg.
Newest Fad of Nervous Century
Said to Possess Real Merit.

Newest Fad of Nervous Century
Said to Possess Real Merit.
Nerves may DE cured by drinking tea
made OF boiled snow.
This is the newest lad of this rerv-
Gus century. Snow can raise" pan
cakes as well as eggs, and il must have
chemical properties.
There Is and can be no remedy for
bad nerves other chan changing the
kind Of life which has made them bad.
As very subordinate TO this, doctors
drugs may be of some use, but even
then their use is small. and when these
drugs are taken without ever stopping
the cause Of the mischief the evil IL
only masked for a time.
II is like Sheridan putting the sher-
III s officers into mis- own livery at g.
party. making them masquerade as mis-
funkies until the door slammed on the
last departing guest--and then,
Now, what is the cause or what are
causes of presant-day nerves. There
are two answers, Or sets OF answers,
the one fattering, the other quite the
reverse The first * ''oVeFWork-
Nowadays we are all supposed. or
wish TO be supposed. abnormaHy indus
tFious The age is supposed to be
breaking its bones With industry. But
is this actually the case? And while
undoubtedly there are many hard
workers-VeTy hard Wor1ers-it is these
who suffer from nerves? Probably not.
for work, even when excessive. IL it b.
free from a certain alcoholic element
which shall be given presently. con-
tribute TO steady and strengthen the
nerves.
Nothing is here said Of those who ara
handicapped throughout life with
nerves eOngenitaliy weak or diseased
But even FOR these good regular hard
work viii be by far the best tonic.
If we call to mind the men who judg-
ing from the output Of their labOrs, not
o. their genius, but OF their sheer toll,
must have been hard workers, We shall
not find that many Of them suffered
from nervous breakdown. though moi q
few Of them were men of feeble health
ia other ways.
Not many men ever did as much work
as Alfred the Great, who was always
III. Everybody remembers Macauiays
description of William III as an "astn-
matte skeleton" Besides, it is more
than doubtful whether, considered as
a whole, our own age is pre-eminent
in hard work. Our working classes do
not toll as their forefathers did Hours
Of labor are now shorter than they ever
were, while half holidays are cases IN
the desert of monOtonous dreariness
unknown to former generations.
ooh, but look at the brain workers,
il is said. And when we look at tho
brain workers in our great industries
we see dawdiers. The universal com
plant is that we Sall behind because
these same brain workers won't think
won't take trouble and wont throw
their neregy into original methods.
Upon examination il would very
likely appear that nerves are gener-
ally the outcome of idleness. and dissi-
patton. And by dissipation is meaIt
not merely social dissipation, but THAI
kind of dissipation (Ter so l beg leave
II call itg which consists in a restless
craving for money and for show. and
that uncertainty about the future which
characterizes all periods OF commercial
and ether speculation; ard men never
lived SO much by speculation as they
do at present. IT Is precisely among
the classes who are he galley slaves
of social dissipation. or who are either
directly or indirectly tossed about hy-
the VARYING gusts IF speculation. who
supply the long roll of victims ID
nerves. And no wonder
We say truly that il is not work that
kills. it is worry. But most caEker-
ing worry is the worry OF suspense, the
worry of uncertainty Another is the
4 third is the nameless consuming wOr-
~ of what is called pleasure, especial
IL If il be associated with ambitions 10
play a part in society, and TO shine or
be recognized in the siittering
thrOng.
If we reflect upon these causes Of
unrest. of constant feveTish anxiety, Of
incessant drains upon nervous force.
and upon TO other force. not the force
r.E-
ennebling enthusiasm, or manly ambi-
ton. or of even healthy muscular la
Dor, but sheer drain upon vital energy
without any compensation we eanrot
but see that there is enough here to
account for the crowds OF neurOtics
that torture their miserable way
through our civilized life
Probably there never were more peo-
pie than there are now whose ambition
is to do nothings but. as Carlyle puts
il. 20 do nothing in an ornamental
manner" or in some way which gives
them some kind Of distinction or makes
them conspicuous. To walk upon iife's
common way" as we are told Milton
did. aud like him. lay upon themselves
the lowiiest duties, is what they can
rot condescend TO.
They toll TO escape from il as Monte
Cristo mined his way out of prison.
with this difference, that Il they knew
II they are mining themselves into
prison. oft of the healthy, happy day
light into souI-darkness and soul-sti-
fling an.
The toll, however. is not mans nat
ural work in harmony with his nature,
and which, being IN harmony, brings
happiness: il is the NvriggIe Of seheni-
ing and contrivance, and not the forth
putting Of straight, honest effort. The
spirit of gambling is everywhere. de-
str0ying life by spreading over if
miasmatic sense of meanness, fretting
it by uncertainties, robbing US of al
true joyfulness, buoyancy and zest, and
leaving us in possession Of what We call
nerves. Serves us right.
Under these circumstances one is
skepticaI whether tea made of snow
water can be of much service, or any
thing else except true views Of life,
cultivation of those uHperverted in
stincts which viii discover for US d life
OF true enjoyment and real worth.
return to the fountain of living waters
which. If we read jeremiah Alright,
meant a return to common sense, wise
policy, simple faith and plain duty.
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