ing through
irritability and fatigue into neurasthenia. We say human beings are all
the same, but the range of individual susceptibility to trouble is such
that a difficulty not important to most people will raise havoc with
others who are in most ways perfectly normal.

Look then for the bad hygiene! Look for the evils of the sedentary life
Look for the root of the trouble in lack of exercise, poor habits of
eating, insufficient air, disturbed sleep! Search for physical
difficulties before inquiring into the psychical life.

If poverty exists, then one may inquire into the amount of work done,
the character of the home, the opportunities for recreation and
recuperation. All or any of the factors I have mentioned in previous
chapters may be critical, and the moil and turmoil of a crowded tenement
home may be responsible. That such conditions do not break all women
down does not prove that they do not break _some_ women down, women with
finer sensibilities, or lesser endurance (which often go together). The
most depressing problems are met among the poor, the cases where one can
see no way out because the social machinery is inadequate to care for
its victims.

What is one to do when one meets a poor woman with three or four or
more children, living in a crowded way, overworked, racked in her nerves
by her fears, worries, and the disagreeable in her life, drudging from
morning till night, yearning for better things, despairing of getting
them, tormented by desires and ambitions that must be thwarted? "What
right has a poor woman anyway to desires above her station, and why does
not she resign herself to her lot?" ask the comfortable. Unfortunately
philosophy and resignation are difficult even for philosophers and
saints, and much more so for the aspiring woman. And our American
civilization preaches "Strive, Strive!" too constantly for much
philosophy and resignation of an effective kind to be found.

One must give tonics, prescribe rest, try to get social agencies
interested, obtain vacations and convalescent care, etc. Can one purge a
woman of futile longings and strivings, rid her of natural fears and
even of absurd fears? It can be done to a limited degree, if the patient
has intelligence and if one gives liberally of one's time and sympathy.
But unfortunately the consulting room for the poor is in the crowded
clinic, the thronged dispensary, and how is the overworked physician to
give the time and energy necessa