The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-06-24

fulness is the proper condition of the
human heart. Hope should spring
daily as well as eternal In the hu-
man breast" And when we find our
selves in the Valley of Baca, we may
know we are out Of place: something
10 wrong, some law has been violated
and the sensible thing Is to search
for the seat Of the trouble.
Let such an one look first in his
Shysical condition. Many man
thinks hts faith 10 gone. his hold on
the eternittes has loosened. the Bible
has proven false. the church fall
ure, the Almighty untrue to his prom
ises. and all things dissolving into
speculative chaos. when the whole
trouble may be found lurking in some
affected nerve or deranged organ
whiting himself. To the eye behind
the colored glass all the world seems
tinxed. 1t Is not his faith, but his
digestion. that ID at fault. 1t Ii not
prayer only that he needs, but fresh
air and exercise. to clear up his doubts
as to the inspiration OF the Scriptures
and the divinity of our Lord. And
to prescribe conservation of life and
heart without adding course OF med
icine will not dissolve that amber
mist. What the man needs Is to
consult good physician who will
possibly put a lever under sleeping
liver and turn it over.
A scoff, q calumny or a Jest fall
ing upon a sensitive temperament IL
a fruitful source of melancholy. Dir
fidence Is sometimes accounted for as
the possession of too high an esti-
mate OF ourselves. or wounded con-
ceit II this Is true. then such a
person will travel a weary journey
through this life for "a blow with a
word strikes deeper than blow with
q sword" upon such sensitive ma
lures, and feelings are CALLED and
hearts som etimes permanently cloud
ed by a jibe, ding. an inuendo.
squtb more than by real misfortune
The surest cure for bashfulness and
undue sensitiyeness Is to arrive at a
proper conception OF your Creator,
Your fellows. yourself; TO consider who
YOU are q man, a woman equal in
the sight OF God In privilege with all
others, to remem Der that every other
man or woman Is OF the same stand
ard as yourself and to remind your
self OF the infinite greatness OF God
before whom you and your neighnor
will soon appear.
This will relieve that moodiness of
the spirits of which Pope speaks;
"AlI seems infected TO the infected
As all looks yellow to the jaundiced
eye"
Elijah under the juniper tree types
another class. Reaction explains IT.
Only the day before he had stood
single handed, alone against all. the
world on Mt. Carmel. had conquered
and alone had slain the four hundred
and fifty prophets OF Baal. and hurt-
ed himself against the idoiatry Of the
nation. But to-day we find him nee-
ing TO the desert utterly broken in
spirit and discouraged. clear case
OF nervous collapse from overwork
and protracted anxiety. No human
constitution could have endured tne
terrific strain of Carmel without hunt
ing the desert and the juniper tree
the next day. The pendulum when
let go swings to the other extreme
and he prays God that he may die,
There are friends Of ours in this
city, some before us tonight. whose
spirits are depressed from overwork
and the awful grind OF ceaseless snx-
iety and the many cares OF this strsn-
uous American life. My brother. spare
yourself before the collapse comes
We love you and want you by our
side for years to come. This world
will be lonely without you. Put away
some of this American rush, Slow
down a little. especially through the
heated term. Take vacation, at the
seaside or In the mountains. or IN
dulKe yourself in that journey TO the
Old World or such of 1t as you have
not seen, and see how our transatan-
Ito friends have learned to live. When
a European has acquired few thous-
ands he rests, buys himself micro
scope and studies botany. or writes
a book. or deyotes himself TO land
scnpe gardening or takes his wife ana
his Baedecker and goes around the
world. while the American Is only en-
couraged by the thousands ne mas
gathered to double them, and slave on
the harder as he grows older until at
last he falls in his tracks. In fact' IL
In said that the time is coming when
the national motto on the office door
of America, Gone to dinner. be back
In Ave minutes" win no longer be
needed. as all the nutrtment OF
meal will. be condensed into single
Mill of which the busy man may carry
a box In his vest pocket and with q
glass Of water make his dinner with
out leaving his swivel chair In front
of his desk.
AS long as the human mind and
frame remain as at present. rest Is
not a luxury or a sin. but neces-
atty and no lower authority for busy
workers vacation can be quoted than
that OF the Master. who said more
than once to his disciples. Come ye
aside into a desert place and rest
awhile" obeying which command,
they took boat and crossed the sea
of Galiiee, evidently protracted abb
sence from their arduous labors.
Sometimes lowness OF spirit Is Gods
danger signal to the soul The idle
man may well be depressed. He Is
out of touch with the whole universe
In a world where every atom 10 preg-
nant with immortal energy there 10
no place for the drone. "unhappiness
IL the rust OF disused mind" or as
Cowper says:
Absence OF occupation is not rest.
4 mind quite vacant is a mind dis
tressed.' Ones knowledge. as well
as character. II unused, melts as stead
lily az Ice In the sun. And only by
adding to the pile can we preserve its
bulk and value. Natures changeless
law 10 that happiness ceases where In
dolence begins and life without ac-
tivity Ia q life of wretchedness. The
Turks have an old proverb which runs.
1.-THE devil tempts all other men. but
an idle man tempts the devil" Or az
Burton says, "Idleness Is the bane of
body and mind. the nurse of naughti-
ness, the step-mother of discipline,
the chief author of all mischief. one
Of the seven deadly sins. the cushion
upon which the devil chiefly reposes.