ortune with astounding
rapidity, to his sorrow he often learns later that he has likewise
acquired a damaged heart, premature thickening of his blood-vessels or
nervous dyspepsia with all of its attendant evils. Descended as we are in
a large measure from the most vigorous and adventurous Europeans of the
last few centuries, and coming into possession of a new world where
everything was to be done, this tendency to overwork is most
natural,--and for this reason is all the more to be combated. That we
have been able so successfully to carry the burden for several
generations is indeed remarkable, but there are not wanting numerous
indications that the strain is beginning to tell. If we do not call a
halt, and devote more time to rest and agreeable pastimes, disastrous
consequences are sure to follow, and we will become in the course of time
a race of neurasthenics and degenerates. Attention should likewise be
directed to the fact that men do not develop to the highest point of
mentality who devote their entire time to work, as leisure is absolutely
essential for thought and the development of all that is best in man.

Let us then cast aside the shallow and ignorant preachments of those who
do not understand the subject, and devote a reasonable time to the
reading of good books, to thought, to the cultivation of the arts and
sciences, and to pleasurable pastimes. In these particulars we are far
behind Europe, and we shall never take our place as an intellectual
people until we radically change our method of life. A nation must dream
before becoming great. Let it not be understood from the foregoing that
the writer would in the slightest degree minimize the necessity for a
reasonable amount of work, for he thoroughly appreciates that without
labor neither the individual nor the nation itself could remain sound--it
is only urged that excessive work is quite as much to be feared as none
at all.

_Health and Labor._--As to the number of hours that should be devoted to
labor no rule can be laid down. It all depends on the age, physical and
mental vigor of the individual, and likewise, to a considerable degree,
on the character of the work. Occupations requiring intense mental or
physical strain can only be kept up for short periods of continuous
application, while, on the other hand, quite naturally, those of a less
strenuous nature would permit longer hours. The young man, in pride of
perfect bodily and mental vigor, too oft