New-York tribune., 1908-02-04
"THE WEARY MIND"
Correspondent Finds Analogy for It in
Weary Matter.
To the Editor of The Tribune

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Your editorial upon this subject prompts a
comparison. The Boston & Albany trains former
y were time, six days in every week, coming
and going to and from Boston. Springfield and
Albany Cioudburst- deluge and bridge gone did,
occasionally, mark exception.
Perfect roadbed, rolling stock and engines, under
competent and determined management accounted
for the regular on-tne arrival and departure OF
Boston & Albany trains. The anatomy the phys
iology and the hygiene of the Boston Albany
Railroad organization Were normal OF late. how
ever, the reverse is reported by the Boston and
Springfield papers. Trains are late, engines are
defective, 1t is said. Old age, rheumatism canes
and crutches are believed to have succeeded the
youthful vigor of the Boston & Albanys equip
rnent The competent and determined management
that conceived organized and controlled this
road is now absent.
Overcuitured American civilization its present
stage cries out, Mind weary" as the would-be
train passengers cry out, Trains late! The
youthful products Of American civilization, grad
uated and mind weary" from the universities at
home and abroad, now asking and offering
cures for this widespread malady. The new thera~
peutics are to be swallowed applied, rubbed in,
looked at thought of or believed in. Experts IN
railroad building and management are not asking
for cures, but new engines and rolling stock
TO be made OF fawless material, the old and de-
fective ones to go to the junk heap.
The abnormal mind weary" condition into which
American civilization finds itself submerged TO
the arnpit- may be the of defective material
in engine and rolling stock, shown by the late
arrival of trains at the railroad stations
Infancy in the human family is now artifcally
trained and tortured from the one-day-old up TO
the time of his exit from the college university.
Brain, nervous system, heart lungs, stomach. kid
ney, liver and appendix-they all separately
guarded and treated by the specialist, and some
are amputated. Many others be. doubtless,
as surgical science progresses. Along with this
modern scientific care OF the organs is the seven
days the culture from spiritual, ethical and
educational well paid supervisors.
Mind weary How it be otherwise? Every
brain, nerve cell and centre emanating from the
American incubators of intellectual and social cult
ure is an artificial and abnormal cell and centre.
Nature, the great architect and builder of all life
and the embodiment of life, has been ruthessly
pushed aside and has the front.
Iron ore, melted and remelted, cast and recast
pounded and Fepounded, burned and returned. can
help make only imperfect engine and imper-
rolling stock. The crystalline affinties lost.
Made of such stock, the engine is a weary
gne to begin with. So the American mind is a
weary mind" if ii be product Of other weary
minds perhaps at the front. writing about
and offering remedies for weary minds The
stream is likely here to get above its source
Artificial culture overleaps itself and its products
now fast multiplying for the increasing demands
of our time. J. Il. LEARNED NJ d.
Northampton, Mass, Jan. go 190S