New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-11
Tensions of Peace
By Irwin Edman
ffTE WAR should come" the Nerve ..
cialist complained, my bus
would be ruined. There MA

wouldn't be two patients week."
had come in morbidly cheerful mo.,
gather material for an article on the Inc,..
of Nervousness in Wartime.
mo, indeed" he explained with the 81.
one whose lifework has been DESTROYED /.
war comes the American people will BE-
leased from the terrific nervous tension ma.
which they live in times of peace. Why. NJ.
news came Of the break in diplomatic rel.t,.
the wealthy clients for whom work ma.
annual retainer. 'phoned me with jubilsp,.
their voices that l was discharged ina.
nitely."
81 always thought I interrupted, an,,
war produces an epidemic of hysteria 4.
melancholy"
Nonsense; it's the innocent-looking dow
peace that carries the germs of hysteria. IA,
YOU ever reflected on the nervous strain Of !,
ordinary quiet evening in the home? I've IA
under my care for the past two years WI
TODD family who spent their spare tin.
bridge. Auction bridge. And when d,
came here, quivering bundles of palut,,
fibres, they assured me they had been lead,
regular, well-ordered lives. The mother A,
daughters told me they played bridge Of
evening to take fathers mind off the strenur,
excitements of the day.
about half-past one father used to drUv
off from exhaustion, and they would wake
the maid to serve black coffee TO enable he
to bear up under the strain. You could new,
tell when the rubber was going to end, and
put little additional tang into it, theydn nal
little side bets among themselves as to rh
the rubber would end. The small boy, who h,
gone TO bed at eight-thirty, would be pres
into service to keep score and his eye on
clock.
1.-THE eldest son had just been married,
he and his young wife used to come in fro
the suburbs every other night or so TO make
a second table. They always missed the a
train, so they'd pass the night in the waltz
room, playing two-handed bridge until the IN
mail train left in the morning. By that tn
it was too late for the young husband,
was a business man, to go home at ali. HI
sit around until breakfast studying Hoyle.
1.-THE whole family would be sleepIess Of
Saturday night waiting for the Fine Point,
Bridge Section of the Sunday papers,
they'd spend the rest Of the day trying
the new moves they learned.
"One rubber, they confessed, lasted
night 1t looked as if it was going 10
every minute, but nobody dared to say gu
Finally, father suggested it in weak tn
tone, but mother glared him into silence; a
there was no such thing as not finishing
rubber. The maid came in to set the breakfs
table, and they told her she'd have to wait;
rubber was more important. Just be
lunch they finished; the maid served lun
and before the dessert they were all asleep
their chairs"
"Those are extreme cases." | suggested, "a
anyway, not every one plays bridge"
Every true; but it's very good exanr
The morbid determination to finish the n
Der; the uncertainty, the obsession. War
have a wonderfully curative effect. 1t has
interfered with bridge yet, but at least Il
make it seem less important. The nero
tension will be reduced. Already some Of
patients have left in the middle of the gan
just as their opponent shouted, You decisr
in order to see whether Wilson had.
"But bridge is by no means the worst e.
There is the steel bead disease. My own
was taken with it before could interfere.
friend Of hers was knitting a steel be
pocketbook-for friend of hers. Ny W
bought three dollars and sxty-seyen cen
worth of beads, and started She made
for herself, and one for each Of our won
relatives. And then she started with
friends Always started late in the aftern'
after a bridge party, and would sit up al
early morning. Must finish that bag tom
row morning for Mrs. T. Got 10 start one
Mrs. Y. tomorrow afternoon. I'm getting
worn out, dear; don't you think I'd better
down. to Atlantic City for a rest. She's o0'
in my sanatorium now, knitting imagn'
beads in the air."
"Well, | admit" I said, somewhat sS'
shat the conditions of women in times
peace are almost unbearably tense but "
about mem"
Business doesn't make people nervous
more than war does" the Specialist answer
emphatically. "but men aren't at work ."
time. It's the feverish rush Of trying 70
as good story as the one you've Just DC.
of promising seven people you'll make y
with each Of them for luncheon in the neA'
days. These are the things that shal'e
network Of the cerebral vortex, and make .
little neurone dance in agony. Most hsi,s
breakdowns have come directly after men 10
remained to smoke.
81 wouldn't guarantee it, but if II wel'
real big war it would go a long way '0N.
steadving the nerves Of the nation. An lhSsse