generation. When President Butler of
Columbia University finds it necessary to censure "the folly and
indifference of the fathers, vanity and thoughtless pride of the
mothers" who encourage do-nothing ailments; and when the editor of the
_Psychological Clinic_ protests that the fashionable private schools
and the private tutor share with rich fathers and mothers
responsibility for life failures,--it is time that educators teach
children themselves the physical and moral ailments and disillusions
that come from doing nothing.

Ten years ago a stenographer inherited two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. Her dream of nothing to do was realized. She gave up her
strenuous business life. Possessions formerly coveted soon clogged her
powers of enjoyment. She imagined herself suffering from various
diseases, shut herself up in her house, and refused to see any one. She
grew morbid and was sure that every person who approached her had some
sneaking, personal, hostile motive. Though always busy, she
accomplished little. Desultory work, procrastination, and
self-indulgence destroyed her power of concentration. She could not
think long enough on one subject to think it out straight, therefore
she was constantly deceived in her friends and interests. She first
trusted everybody, then mistrusted everybody. Infatuation with every
new acquaintance was quickly followed by suspicion. For years she was a
very sick woman, a victim of do-nothing ailments.

Doing nothing has of late been seriously recommended to American
business men. They are advised to retire from active work as soon as
their savings produce reasonable income. It is true, this suggestion
has been made as an antidote to greed rather than for the happiness of
the business man. What retiring from business is apt to mean, is
indicated by a gentleman who at the age of sixty decided to sell his
seat on the New York Stock Exchange and to enjoy life. He became
restless and very miserable. He threw himself violently into one thing
after another; in less than a year he became an ill, broken old man,
after trying vainly to buy back his business.

Both mind and body were made to work. The function of the brain is to
think to a purpose, just as the function of the heart is to pump blood.
The habit of doing nothing is very easily formed. The "out-of-work"
soon become "the work-shy." Having too little to do is worse for the
body and mind than having too little to eat. Social reforme