Strange as it may seem, much of all this may happen to a man, and he may
still struggle onward, ignorant of the terrible demands he is making
upon an exhausted brain. Usually, by this time he has sought advice,
and, if his doctor be worthy of the title, has learned that while there
are certain aids for his symptoms in the shape of drugs, there is only
one real remedy. Happy he if not too late in discovering that complete
and prolonged cessation from work is the one thing needful. Not a week
of holiday, or a month, but probably a year or more of utter idleness
may be absolutely essential. Only this will answer in cases so extreme
as that which I have tried to depict, and even this will not always
insure a return to a state of active working health.
I am very far from conceding that the vehement energy with which we do
our work is due altogether to greed. We probably idle less and play less
than any other race, and the absence of national habits of sport,
especially in the West, leaves the man of business with no inducement to
abandon that unceasing labor in which at last he finds his sole
pleasure. He does not ride, or shoot, or fish, or play any game but
euchre. Business absorbs him utterly, and at last he finds neither time
nor desire for books. The newspaper is his sole literature; he has never
had time to acquire a taste for any reading save his ledger.
Pages:
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68