Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1875 — Vacant Minds. [ARTICLE]

Vacant Minds.

Most of us attribute our ill-health, or unhappiness, to a low condition of the body and want of physical exercise and 'pleasure, ignoring the fact that the mind has a most important influence upon the bodily system, and is often the cause of much suffering which might easily be avoided if we only looked to the source of the evil and considered the means neceessary for its prevention. Few people attach sufficient importance to the care of the mental faculties, which are frequently either injured by an undue degree of exertion or weakened by neglect and disuse. The vast amount of “social pressure” which bears upon the daily life of business men furnishes only too many instances of the abuse of the mind by over-exertion. The rising man who is making a mark in his profession, or amassing wealth in mercantile pursuits, finds ere long that his strength is only human, and just as he may be about to reach the summit of his ambition he breaks down, and for the want of a little timely care his brightest hopes are wrecked and he is condemned to drag out a weary and shattered existence. The instances of mental neglect are not less sad, lor many a man, whose abilities would have fitted him for the highest spheres of usefulness, allows the demon sloth to exert its fatal influence and incapacitate him for any active walk in life. Restless and dissatisfied, he sesks relief ancl excitement in the reckless indulgence of his bodily appetites, and wantonly destroys the brilliant talents which might have been turned to so good an account. The opposite sqx also afiords numerous instances of misused and neglected minds. The sphere of a woman’s life being necessarily more limited than that of a man, she has not so wide a choice of occupation or amusement. This often causes women who are naturally capable of considerable mental exertion to use their powers in an inordinate and unnatural degree. They choose some peculiar occupation, into which they throw all their energy with such force that they become not only hard and masculine in manner, but eccentric. Often they fall into the opposite extreme. Not being possessed of sufficient force of character to take up any really intellectual pursuit, and being easily influenced by any unusual excitement, they rest their hopes of happiness on such slight foundations that when these fail them they have no power to rally. The vacant mind broods over trifles for sheer want of occupation; inaction produces a feeling of fatigue, which induces a desire lor solitude; solitude soon gives rise to melancholy, and a general weariness of existence makes the sufferer only too glad to embrace any chance of relief. Hence arise ill-assorted marriages, melancholia, religious mania and conventual life. If persons of both sexes would pay more attention to the care of the mind our lunatic asylums would be less full than they now are, and the health of the body would be much better preserved, for, as Schiller truly says, mental pleasure is invariably attended by animal pleasure, mental pain by animal pain. It is 1 too much the custom for people to live in one narrow groove of thought and action. They consequently have no interest or sympathy for matters outside their little world, and having only one support to lean on they become utterly demoralized when it fails them. A change of occupation is as desirable and beneficial for the mind as walking exercise for the body. It should be the practice of every one to cultivate at least one form of mental occupation other than that which forms the chief purpose of life; for a wide range of knowledge and ideas is of inestimable value, and may prove to be not only a means of recreation and pleasure in prosperous times, but a source of profit and comfort when accident or misfortune renders it impossible for the ordinary pursuit to be followed. He who has two oars in his boat has a great advantage over the man who has but one. An enlargement of the field of thought not only yields benefit to ourselves by expanding the mind and making it more fit to bear the harassing cares and troubles of the world, but promotes liberal views, which raise us above the petty jealousies and prejudices, soften the heart, arid tend to make us more kind and considerate to others. Though no amount of study and application can make a dull man clever, yet he may by the practice of self-cultiva-tion become well-informed and studious. Every attempt to gain knowledge is productive of some good result, for, if it does nofci ig else, it leads to a spirit ofinquiry, which is or itself beneficial. The mental faculties should never be allowed to sink into lethargy, for nothing is more productive of irreparable mischief than a listless inaction. —Home Journal.

A lately-issued report of the Govern ment Inspectors of Factories in England speaks as follows of the employment of women in the nail and chain district of the Black country: “The women are in many cases absolute slaves to their husbands, and it is a common thing for ‘ idle, lazy young lads to look out for skilled, industrious wives in order to obtain an easy life.’ The toil is hard and unfeminine, and the so-called husband cares neither for wife nor children so Ion" as he can set money wherewith to gratify his own egraded tastes. The feminine feeling on this subject was well expressed by one woman, who approached the sub-inspector with the words: ‘I say, master, I wish you would make my man do a little more work, and me less.’ It was her fate to keep her husbind, and ‘ hud him money to drink.' ”