The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1910-01-21

fee to plunge into So
cial dissipation Of one -
kind or another, eating 80 <OCI
too much, drinking too ~
much, smoking too
much, going to bed too
late, and keeping his
nervous system %continu-
ally on the rack until, all at once. 1t breaks
down. Incidentally, his digestion becomes i'm
paired, his vital organs suffer irritation, which is
often the beginning of disease, and his circula-
ton is clogged, threatening apoplexy. No won
der, then, that In many an instance he dies sud
denly, while yet in the prime of life.
Sudden deaths are much more common than
they used TO be. The high pressure of modern
life, with its keen competition and intense
strain, is the chief cause. The busy merchant
drives his body machine beyond its capacity and
suddenly 1t %collapses. Heart disease or apo
plexy the attack may be, according to the ply
sician's diagnosis, but it is really over-driving
that Is accountable for the mischief. The siren
uous life is all very well, but 1t is liable in these
days to be carried too far. l have known several
tragic incidents of the kind within the last few
years-one of them the case of a gentleman
whom had earnestly advised to lead a more
simple life. Mature" l said to him, ibid not
provide you with a machine capable of enduring
such use. You have so many hours for sleep.
so many for work and so many for recreation;
you must arrange them accordingly" But he
kept on at the same gait, and, not long ago,
while speaking at a dinner on board a steam
ship that was entering the harbor Of New York,
he dropped dead. A blood-vessel had given
way.
When the body-machine is weakened by over
1t cannot withstand the hostile germ life which
1t cannot withstand the hostile germ life which
1t is obliged to encounter. In other words, its
power Of resistance Is diminished, And when
the hours that should be devoted to healthful
recreation are given up to the enervating dissi-
pations of club and social life there is a double
drain upon the vitality. Many business men
nowadays are kept under such continual ner-
vous strain that they resort to stimulants in
working hours and it is this sort of abuse, COM
bined with constant and racking excitement,
that has earned for paresis recognition as a
brain disease to which stock brokers are pecul-
iarly liable-so much so, indeed, that 1t might
be called brokers' insanity.
The conditions of luxury under which most
of us live-for these are days when even the
poor man enjoys comforts such as were unob-
tainable by the rich half a century ago-have a
tendency to weaken our constitutions and impair
our vitality. Our houses are overheated and
even the vehicles in which we ride are often
warmed almost to suffocation. Thus we have
become like dollhouse plants and, If by chance
exposed to a current of cool air, we catch cold,
or perhaps contract bronchitis or pneumonia, a
trifing change of temperature cutting our lives
short in a twinkling Or, again, 1t may be that
a like cause will bring congestion of the kidneys,
leading to disease Of those organs proving even
tually fatal.
Not long ago, while travelling, l CHANGED to
stop at a village on the river Rhine, where I
found an astonishing number of old people.
There were a dozen over 100 years Of age and
many from 80 years old up to the century mark;
yet straight and vigorous. One woman nearly a
hundred years old was earning her living by
picking hops; her grandchildren were middle
aged. 1t was quite wonderful. But there was
no mystery about it; It was merely the effect Of
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