The national forum., 1910-05-28
CURING A CAPITALIST
His Doctor lust Switched Him
From Money Making to
Basket Making.


The experience of "a capitalist, man
of many millions" who broke down
from overwork and was sent to an
occupation and exercise cure near
New York. is told In the Outlook. he
had first consulted famous special
ist, but an examination had shown
that he had no organic disease OF any
kind.
He told the physician that he was
suffering frfom what he called IN
ward trembling" with palpitation Oh
the heart, poor sleep, occasional dlz-
ziness, pain in the back OF the neck
dificulty in concentrating his atten-
ton. and, most of all, from various
apprehensions, such as that OF neing
about to fall, of losing his mind, Oh
sudden death--he was afraid TO pc
alone, and was continually tired, wor'
ried and harassed. He was informed
that these were merely the ordinary
symptoms of neurasthenia and were
not dangerous. .r-,>----
One hundred per cent. Of cases OF
neurasthenia are curable,' said the
specialist and packed his client on 10
the Occupation and exercise cure
The morning after his arrival, the
capitalist was escorted to the arts ana
crafts shop connected with the cure,
forty-acre place in Westchester
county. He was introduced to an ef-
4 fcient and busnesslike young woman,
the instructress, who explained to him
the nature of the avocations in whicn
he might choose to interest himself
, Here too, he found his fellow pa
tients busily and apparently congeni-
ally employed
In one OF the shops a recent alum
nus of one OF the leading universitles'
who had undergone a nervous break
down after graduation, was patieNtiy
hammerng a sheet Of brass with
view to converting it into a lamp
shade. l1lld ,n
A matron of nearly go, who had pre-
viously spent eight years in SANTA
RUINS, practically bedridden, was set
ting type in the printing Office with
greater activity than she had known
before for two decades; two girls, one
16 and the other 12, the latter in
clined to hysteria and the former once
! subject to acute nervous attacks, TAX
ing the cure in charge of trained
nurses, were chattering gayly over a
loom in the construction Of silk rug.
A business man from a Western
city. like the New York capitalist,
broken down from overwork, was
earnestly modelling in clay what he
hoped might eventually become jar
diniere; one of last seasons debu-
tantcr amorg the fashionables, who
had beer ieading d life Of tpa streliu-
ous gayety shat had told Vra lier
I nerves, Has constructing stamped
Leather portfoiio with entire absorb
lliien,
W. ia4ia lsScl Ult.st @tc9s'y yQpng
4 women, were engaged al woad cary
! ng, boekbinding, block printing tap
estry weaving or basket making, Zach
one of them under treatment for some
nervous arrangement.
! The new patient decided to try his
hand at basket making, and although
4 he figured out that it would take him
about four days to turn out product
that might sell for 10 cents, he was
soon so much interested in mastering
I the manual details of the craft that
he was disinclined to put the work
aside when the medical superinten-
dent suggested a horseback ride
When, at the advice of the special
ist, the capitalist had decided to try
the occupation and exercise cure, he
did SO with little faith that 1t would
restore him to health, though he felt
that /, there was perhaps slight
chance that it might help him. The
remedy seemed to him too simple to
overcome disease that was paralyz-
ing his energies.
To his great surprise he began to
improve at once, and though for the
first week he got little sleep, and his
dizziness, with the pain in the back
of his neck and his apprehensions,
continued to recur for weeks, they did
so always at increasing intervals.
He learned bookbinding, and sent to
his library for some favorite volumes
and put them into new dress; he made
elaborate waste paper baskets and
beat brass into ornamental desk trays,
which he proudly presented to his
friends in the city as specimens of
his skill. Work with him, as with the
others of the patients, was continually
varied by recreation.
In the summer months there was
lawn tennis, golf, croquet, canoeing,
rowing, fishing, riding and driving. In
winter such outdoor sports as skating,
tobogganing, coastirg, skiing, snow.
shoeing and lacrosse we're varied by
billiards. bowling, squash, the medi,
cine ball and basket and tether ball.
The capitalist was astonished to
find that he could take an interest in
games The net results OF his expert
ence was that at the end Of four
months he returned to New York
sound in mind and body, feeling
younger than he had for years.