Perhaps he guessed what was
going on in me, for he said in a low, cultured voice: "The wheels will
stop too long some time, and there will be no rebound;"--referring to the
irregular action of his heart.
"Perhaps that is true," I said; "yet it depends a good deal upon yourself
when it will be. Men can die if they wish without committing suicide.
Look at the Maori, the Tongan, the Malay. They can also prolong life (not
indefinitely, but in a case like yours considerably), if they choose. You
can lengthen your days if you do not brood on fatal things--fatal to you;
if you do not worry yourself into the grave."
I knew that something of this was platitude, and that counsel to such a
man must be of a more possible cast, if it is to be followed. I was aware
also that, in nine cases out of ten, worry is not a voluntary or
constitutional thing, but springs from some extraneous cause.
He smiled faintly, raised his head a little higher, and said: "Yes,
that's just it, I suppose; but then we do not order our own
constitutions; and I believe, Doctor, that you must kill a nerve before
it ceases to hurt.
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