THE MUSCLES. 251 



the fact that less fatigue attends and follows exertion under a buoy- 

 ant and healthy mental stimulus, than without it. While reluc- 

 tant labor is exhausting, cheerful and willing labor leaves hardly a 

 trace of toil. A successful sportsman pursues his game without 

 any sense of fatigue, while, if unsuccessful, he finds it a task to 

 drag himself along. In war, when the long march seems to have 

 exhausted every muscular energy of the tired troops, let but the 

 enemy .appear and every one is on the alert and ready for vigorous 

 action ; while should the alarm prove false the mental stimulus is 

 withdrawn and lassitude again falls upon the army. Therefore it is 

 that more depends upon the habitual spirit of the soldier than upon 

 the bulk and strength of his muscles, and that striplings have so of- 

 ten out- wearied and out-marched the sturdiest veteran in the ranks. 

 So in the daily vocations of life, if the mind have some cheerful or 

 noble incentive to toil, the tiresomeness of labor is greatly dimin- 

 ished. Those men are the true captains in the army of labor who 

 are capable of inspiring the workmen whom they control with a 

 cheerful and willing spirit. One such foreman or overseer is worth 

 for the interest of his employer half a dozen of the dull or driving 

 sort. Hence also walking for mere exercise though this is better 

 than no exercise of the muscles is comparatively irksome and un- 

 profitable. Let your daily walk have some errand or objective point, 

 to which the mind can look with interest, and health and strength 

 will more speedily result. 



