278 LAND AND LABOR. 



a counterchange a reaction. Everywhere I have 

 heen struck with the number of faces which told in 

 strong lines of the burdens that had to be borne. I 

 have been struck, too, with the large proportion of 

 gray haired men ; and inquiries have brought out the 

 fact that with you the hair commonJy begins to turn 

 some ten years earlier than with us. Moreover, in 

 every circle I have met men who had themselves suf- 

 fered from nervous collapse, due to stress of business ; 

 or named friends who had either killed themselves by 

 overwork, or had been permanently incapacitated, or 

 had wasted long periods in endeavors to recover 

 health. I do but echo the opinion of all the obser- 

 vant persons I have spoken to, that immense injury is 

 being done by this high pressure life the physique 

 is being undermined. That subtle thinker and poet 

 whom you have lately had to mourn, Emerson, says, 

 in his essay on the gentleman, that the first requisite 

 is that he shall be a good animal. The requisite is a 

 general one it extends to the man, to the father, to 

 the citizen. We hear a great deal about the 'vile 

 body ; ' and many are encouraged by the phrase to 

 transgress the laws of health. But nature quietly 

 suppresses those who treat thus disrespectfully one 

 of her highest products, and leaves the world to be 

 peopled by the descendants of those who are not so 

 foolish. 



" Beyond these immediate mischiefs there are re- 

 moter mischiefs. Exclusive devotion to work has the 

 result that amusements cease to please ; and, when 

 relaxation becomes imperative, life becomes dreary 

 from lack of its sole interest the interest in busi- 



