VITAL FORCE. 



473 



work, and no doubt there is much truth in the 

 complaint. Nevertheless, it would seem that 

 vital force is wasted almost as much by the idle 

 man as by him who overworks himself, at high- 

 pressure for the purpose of " getting on." It is 

 indolence which exhausts, by allowing the en- 

 trance of fretful thoughts into the mind ; not 

 action, in which there is health and pleasure. 

 We never knew a man without a profession who 

 did not seem always to be busy. It may be he 

 was occupied in worrying about the dinner or the 

 place where he should spend his holiday — which 

 he did not work for — in correcting his wife, in 

 inventing pleasures, and abusing them when 

 found, in turning the house upside down by 

 doing little jobs foolishly supposed to be useful. 

 And women, too, when stretched on the rack of 

 a too-easy chair, are they not forced to confess 

 that there is as much vital force required to en- 

 able them to endure the " pains and penalties of 

 idleness," as would, if rightly directed, render 

 them useful, and therefore happy ? The fact is, 

 there are far more who die of selfishness and idle- 

 ness than of overwork, for where men break down 

 by overwork it is generally from not taking care 

 to order their lives and obey the physical laws of 

 health. 



Let us consider a few of the many ways in 

 which we waste the stuff that life is made of. It 

 has been well said that " the habit of looking on 

 the bright side of things is worth far more than 

 a thousand pounds a year ; " and certainly it is a 

 habit that must add many year3 to the lives of 

 those who acquire it. Really every fit of des- 

 pondency and every rage takes so much out of us 

 that any one who indulges in either without a 

 great struggle to prevent himself doing so should 

 be characterized as little less than — to use an 

 American expression — " a fearful fool." How 

 silly it seems, even to ourselves, after cooling, to 

 have acquired a nervous headache, and to have 

 become generally done up, stamping round the 

 room and showing other signs of foolish anger, 

 because the dinner was five minutes late, or be- 

 cause some one's respect for us did not quite rise 

 to the high standard measured by our egotism ! 

 As if it were not far more important that we 

 should save our vital energy, and not get into a 

 rage, than that the dinner should be served ex- 

 actly to the moment. 



One day a friend of Lord Palmerston asked 

 him when he considered a man to be in the prime 

 of life ; his immediate reply was " seventy-nine. 

 But," he added, with a playful smile, " as I have 

 just entered into my eightieth year, perhaps I am 



myself a little past it ! " How is it that such 

 men work on vigorously to the end ? Because 

 they treasure their ever-diminishing vital force. 

 They studiedly refrain from making a pull on the 

 constitution. Reaching the borders of seventy 

 years of age, they as good as say to themselves, 

 " We must now take care what we are about." 

 Of course, they make sacrifices, avoid a number 

 of treacherous gayeties, and, living simply, they 

 perhaps give some cause of offense, for the world 

 does not approve of singularity. But let those 

 laugh who win. They hold the censorious obser- 

 vations of critics in derision, and maintain the 

 even tenor of their way. In other words, they 

 conserve their vital force, and try to keep above- 

 ground as long as possible. Blustering natures 

 forgetful of the great truth that " power itself 

 hath not one-half the might of gentleness," miss 

 the ends for which they strive just because the 

 force that is in them is not properly economized. 



Then as regards temper : any man who allows 

 that to master him wastes as much energy as 

 would enable him to remove the cause of anger 

 or overcome an opponent. The little boy of eight 

 years old who, in the country, is often seen driv- 

 ing a team of four immense dray-horses, is one 

 of the innumerable instances of the power of 

 reason over mere brute-force, which should in- 

 duce violent tempers to become calm from policy, 

 if from no higher motive. 



Many people squander their life's energy by 

 not living enough in the present. They enjoy 

 themselves badly and work badly, because they 

 are either regretting mistakes committed in the 

 past, or anticipating future sorrows. Now, cer- 

 tainly no waste of force is so foolish as this, be- 

 cause if our our mistakes are curable, the same 

 energy would counteract their bad effects as we 

 expend in regretting ; and, if they are incurable, 

 why think anymore about them? None but a 

 child cries over spilt milk. The mischief is 

 done, and let it be forgotton, only taking care 

 for the future. Sometimes people keep fretting 

 about troubles that may never take place, and 

 spend life's energy on absolutely nothing. Real 

 worry from torturations of various sorts is quite 

 enough, and causes a greater draught on our vital 

 force than hard work. Let us not, therefore, 

 aggravate matters by anticipations of troubles 

 that are little better than visionary. 



In looking ahead, it is of immense importance 

 not to enter into, any transaction in which there 

 are wild risks of cruel disaster. There we touch 

 on the grand worry of the age — a violent haste 

 to get rich ! Who shall say how much the un- 



