The Young Man and the World | Page 9

normal repose. The
humblest toiler, even in our greatest cities, can find physical renewal
and soul's upliftment in forest, at river's side, or on the shore of lake or
ocean--thanks to rapid transit and cheap fares.
So let us not get to pitying ourselves--we are pretty well circumstanced
for the alternation of work and play, even in our state of partial
development. It is for us to use the opportunity already afforded us; and,
speaking by and large, ought we not to deserve more by using, without
waste or worse than waste, what we already have? Is there not sound
philosophy in the legend which Mr. Lewis tells us was inscribed on the
headboard of Jack King, deceased: "Life ain't in holding a good hand,
but in playing a poor hand well"?
My suggestion of one or two months' outing in addition to our fifty-two
Sundays and several holidays is to those who have poured out in
brain-work and nervous strain more than the system can possibly
replenish except by a period devoted exclusively to the manufacture of
force to replace that which has been unnaturally expended. There are
men who toil night and day. Mostly they are young men establishing
their business or getting their "start."
I know many young men who work twelve and even fourteen hours
every day, and keep it up the year round. One of the greatest merchants
of my acquaintance worked from five o'clock in the morning until
twelve and one o'clock at night, and then slept in his little store. He was
just building up his business. We all know men who literally will not
stop work while awake, and when their task is near them. Such men

must go away from their business and let Nature work on them awhile.
Have your doctor look you over every six months, no matter how well
you feel--or oftener, if he thinks best. Have your regular physician.
Pick out a good one, and, especially, a man congenial to yourself. Make
him your friend as well as medical adviser. The true doctor is a
marvelous person.
How astonishing the accurate knowledge of the accomplished
physician! How miracle-like the dainty and beneficent skill of the
modern surgeon. The peculiar ability of a great diagnostician amounts
to divination. And he, whom Nature has fitted for this noble profession,
is endowed with a sympathy for you and an intuitive understanding of
you very much akin to the peculiar sixth sense of woman--that strange
power by which she "knows and understands."
Consult your doctor, therefore. Be careful of medicines he does not
prescribe. The most innocent drug is a veiled force, a compound of
hidden powers--the system a delicate intricacy whose condition may be
different every day. The neurosis of our American life is seducing too
many of our best and busiest men to the use of chemicals, mixtures,
nostrums, pick-me-ups, etc., which make nerves and brain utter brave
falsehoods of a strength that is not theirs.
Your doctor won't let you do this--he will stay your unconsciously
suicidal hand. If your machinery is out of order, he will tell you so, and
do what is necessary to repair it. He will comfort and reassure you, too,
and administer to the mind a medicine as potent as powder or liquid.
But you will get no false sympathy from him. If you have nothing the
matter with you, yet think you have, your doctor will take you by the
collar of your coat, stand you on your feet, and bid you be a man. So
don't dose yourself. Be a faithful guardian of the treasures Nature gave
you.
Returning now to reading: You are not to neglect books. They must be
read. If you are a professional man they must be more than read; they
must be studied, absorbed, made a part of your intellectual being. I am
not despising the accumulated learning of the past. Matthew Arnold, in

his "Literature and Dogma," quite makes this point. What I am
speaking of is miscellaneous reading.
After a while one wearies of the endless repetition, the "damnable
iteration" contained in the great mass of books. You will finally come
to care greatly for the Bible, Shakespeare, and Burns. Compared with
these most others are "twice-told tales" indeed. Of course one must
read the great scientific productions. They are an addition to positive
knowledge, and are a thing quite apart from ordinary literature.
My recommendation of the Bible is not alone because of its spiritual or
religious influences; I am advising it from the material and even the
business view-point. By far the keenest wisdom in literature is in the
Bible, and is put in terms so apt and condensed, too, that their very
brevity proves its inspiration--is an inspiration to you.
Carry the Bible