Show written for this paper OVERWORK AND WORRY washington nov 16 1893 how shall we keep our intellectual health HOW shall we avoid worry what is your cure for insomnia what would you advise a person who is overburdened with work and worry to 10 do lo to make the most of himself I 1 have a number of opinions on this subject from famous people away from washington one of the best is from neal dow who now though nearly ninety years of age carries onan on an active intellectual life ale I 1 give his letter in full if reads PORTLAND me sept 13 1893 dear sir you ask me or my secret for intellectual health and prevention of worry there is no secret about it except dont worry let what may come bear it philosophically and dont worry worrying wont help it help it it if you can if not dont worry there is ten times as much suffering from mis fortunes anticipated that never come than from those which overtake us dont worry submit quietly to the inevitable As to my habits of work I 1 am always busy with books or pen or exercise I 1 do not over fatigue myself with books that require great concentration when the mind begins to nag flag I 1 take a lighter 1 book I 1 do not write to weariness I 1 take a walk or a drive or an amusing book I 1 lose no time yes I 1 can throw my work off when I 1 leave it and wish to do so but often when tired by the pen I 1 lay it aside for a walk and on the tramp block out what I 1 afterward put upon paper or into a speech which I 1 am engaged to make you ask as to insomnia 1 I sleep well I 1 though often in bed I 1 lay out the plan of a speech or of what I 1 am engaged in writing but when the time comes for sleep I 1 I 1 throw off all that which I 1 do by bringing back to mind vividly some pleasant scene of which I 1 have met many in my travels at home and abroad As to advice for or brain workers I 1 would say one should not permit himself to be overworked because the end will sooner come when theres no more of it do not overeat be careful to avoid that take nothing a second time that the digestive machinery do s not kindly accept let conscience reason I 1 common sense and knowledge that every intelligent person should have and not fashion or custom control ugin all matters relating to right or wrong to what is best for us personally and as to ones duty socially and in every relation in life so that our influx ence whatever it maybe may be in morals in politics and what not shall be always on the side of right and never on any pretext or pretense on the side of wrong respectfully yours NEAL dow A WORD FROM ENNIE JUNE women are naturally more nervous than men and the women workers of the he united states are increasing so fast that a word from the oldest of them will be read with interest jennie june croly is one of the first women writers of the united states for thirty eight years she has been attached to the editorial staff of newspapers and magazines during this time she has taken care of a sick husband had six children and made a competency during all these years she has never failed to keep an engagement and has never been out of the office more than two weeks at a time she is the originator of syndicate newspaper work il ij the united states and her letters have been read more widely perhaps than those of any other woman writer for a newspaper I 1 give her letter verbatim NEW YORK N Y sept xi ii 1893 my dear sir I 1 think I 1 have worked in the face of as many obstacles as usually fall to the lot of women large family small means a husband who never saw an entirely well day and was an invalid for twelve years of his later life add to these an imperfect equip ment which must be constantly supplemented by special endeavor and short sight which made the acquisition material for newspaper work extremely difficult at times and you have what have proved the more or less hard conditions under which I 1 have had to work for thirty five years or more if I 1 have conquered this with any success it is because 1 L loved my work and was always thankful for it I 1 never felt afraid of anything but losing it it was the source of my independence of comfort for my children of communication with the world of thought and activity in which alone there is satisfaction personally I 1 found it necessary to be very regular and very temperate to get all the fresh air and all the walking exercise exercise possible I 1 always sleep with open windows summer and winter I 1 take a cold bath every morning and I 1 wear wool thin in summer and warmer in winter over the surface of the body I 1 do not eat canda or ice cream and I 1 drink as little ice water as possible M my digestion has always been weak M and difficult end I 1 keep the digestive apparatus at af as even a temperature as possible at the same time I 1 have few fads ads about eating or drinking I 1 have little liking for anything except fruit and prefer to eat meat only once a day and then in small quantities I 1 eat whole weal meal or what is called health food bread i the great sins sins against ourselves are hurry wor worry and dissatisfaction they prey upon and destroy the peace of our lives the secret of content is to eliminate the source ot of our discontent we shall generally find that it lies in our own selves in our fears our vanity our suspicions our jealousies our unworthy or unnecessary desires we take ourselves too seriously the rest of the world and our relation ta it not seriously enough the one qualification for success aboe all others is steadfastness it never fails of its fruit one of my greatest regrets now is that never in all my life have I 1 cultivated sleep enough I 1 have not averaged six hours out of the twenty four and I 1 know that it would have been better if it had been seven or eight anxiety is the foe of sleep so is irregularity bad air eating at night and continuous brain work before retiring happy tranquil evenings and fresh air are best friends of sleep JENNIE JUNE EDWARD EVERETT HALE I 1 have just received a letter from edward everett hale giving me several references for opinions of his upon this subject I 1 find however a most excellent letter which he wrote about a decade ago when he was as he is is now in the prime of intellectual health it was to the editor of the herald of health and was entitled how a writer should live his words as to a writer can be equally applied to all brain workers and the letter is full of meat he says dear sir the business of health for a literary man seems to me to depend largely on sleep that means thes th ebrain brain should not be excited or even worked hard for six hours before bed time the evening occupation should be light and pleasant as music music a novel reading aloud conversation the theater or watching ng the stars from the piazza of course different men make and need dif different terent aures I 1 take nine hours of sleep and do not object to ten I 1 think three hours is enouf enough h daily task work fora man of letters betteis let lett teis ets I 1 dislike earl early rising as much as any man nor do 1 believe that there is any moral merit in it as the childrens books pretend but to secure an unbroken hour or even less I 1 like to be at my desk before breakfast as long before as possible I 1 have a cup of coffee and a soda biscuit brought me the thee e and the thirty to sixty minutes which follow before breakfast I 1 like to start the work of the day I 1 believe in breakfast very thoroughly and in having a good breakfast I 1 have lived in pans a month at a time and detest the french practice of substitute ing for breakfast a cup of coffee with or without an egg there is no harm in spending an hour at breakfast after breakfast do not go back to work for an hour walk out in the garden lie on your back on the sofa and read in general loaf for an hoor hoar and then bid the servants keep out everybody who rings the bell and work steadily until your days stent is done stick to your stent until it is done when you have finished stop do not be tempted to go on because you feel in good spirits for work there is no use in in making ready to be tired tomorrow you may go out of doors now you may read you may in whatever way get light and life for the next day indeed if you will remember that the first necessity for literary work is that you have something ready before you begin you will remember that most authors have thoroughly ly forgotten or never knew the business of writing is the most exhaustive known to men you should therefore steadily feed the machine with fuel I 1 find it a good plan to have standing on the stove a cup of warm milk just tinged ting edwith with coffee beef tea answers as well and a bowl of chowder equally eally as well as either if f this bowl of coffee or or soup pup is counted as one meal the working in in man n who wishes to ke keep in in order will will h have ave five meals a day besides the morning cup of coffee or of coffee colored with milk which he has before breakfast breakfast is one this extended lunch is another dinner is the third say at half past 2 tea is the fourth at 6 or 7 and what is too apt to be forgotten a sufficient supper just before bed time is the fifth this last may be as a light as you ou medical gentlemen please but let it te be sufficient A few oysters a slice of hot toast clam chowder again or a bowl of soup never go to bed in any danger of being hungry people are kept awake by hunger quite as much as by bad conscience remembering that sleep is the essential force by which the whole scheme starts decline tea or coffee within the last six hours before going to bed if the women kind insist you may have your milk and water at the tea table colored with tea but the less the better avoid all mathematics or intricate study of any sort in the last six hours this is is the stuff dreams are made hot beads and the nuisance of waking hours keep your conscience clear kemem ber that because the work of lifes life is infinite you cannot do the whole of it in any limited period of time and that therefore you may just as well leave in one place as another pardon me that I 1 have used so often the first person singular in in giving this advice but your letter asked me what my habl habits its are and does not ask for those of the empress semiramis is believe me dear sir very trul truly KALE yours EVERETT HALE A GREAT MAGAZINE EDITOR A prominent business man who uses a great deal of edward everett hales work is mr john brisben Walker editor of the cosmopolitan magazine he has seen all sorts of ups and downs in business speculation and literature he made a fortune in denver and he promises to make another in the cosmopolis cosmopoli Cosmo poli tan magazine he is is a man perhaps forty five years of agen he is a man of brain push and intellectual vitality and words that he writes are worth printing though he does not seem to think the questions I 1 have propounded by any means easy to answer he says EDITORIAL ROOMS cosmopolitan MAGAZINE NEW YORK 1893 my dear sir you are a modern ponce de leoa in search of the fountain of bf perpetual you ask a busy man how he avoids woric worry he is like yourself seeking the clue to this secret and will doubtless some day have his body covered over by a mississippi of care and anxiety and the secret be still a secret yet there are two or three things worth knowing one is to aid digestion by plenty of out door exercise walks brisk enough to bring out the perspiration another is never to worry at the result after you have done your best these two will bring sound sleep and so next days labor becomes a pleasure if you obtain the true solution to your problem please send it to me JOHN BRISBEN WALKER OLD STATESMEN ON intellectual HEALTH judge holman tells me that the secret of his good mental condition is in a good diet and sleep ht believes in hard work and says more men are killed by shirking their work than by doing it he takes a cold bath every morning and says he loses a great deal of intellectual vigor whenever he misses it gov curtin once told me that he thought his intellectual health came from his care in his diet he said he could go all dav without eating and not notice it henry B payne the famous ohio ex senator told me that he owed his good mind to the fact that he was temperate in all things and also to his habit of walking long distances every day he believes that more men are killed by intemperance in in work than by iu intemperance temperance in drinking and is an active advocate of short hours and long rest cassius M clay once told me that he could never get along on less than nine hours sleep and that he be did not believe that a man should be waked in the morning he believes that a good mental condition can ony only be kept by daily exercise in open air and by cold baths it was the same with a number of old men whom I 1 interviewed of these men there were about a dozen famous octogenarians and without exception they attributed their good mental condition to open air exercise frequent bathing and moderate drinking I 1 knew george bancroft w 11 during the latter years of his life he took a ride every day almost up to the day of his death arid and he was in the saddle for hours every day between the years of eighty and ninety he attributed his long life to his exercise and temperance ERASTUS WIMAN ON intellectual HEALTH among my letters from prominent brain workers is one from erastus wiman he is you know a self made man and has certainly had his share of ups and downs his pen just at the present time is more interesting than when he was at the top of the a swim im as a wall street millionaire his letter reads naw YORK N Y sept 11 1893 my dear sir I 1 wish I 1 could give a recipe for intellectual health and freedom from worry worry and work ought not to be harnessed together so constantly as they are but they travel in pairs to a far gre greater ater degree than is desirable desira le intellectual work and worry make old men of the bet be t and brightest of our race and I 1 fear will do so to the end of the chapter working at night is to me the worst thing that can happen when darkness comes all nature seems to be at rest and I 1 dont believe it pays to labor after dark in the morning before dawn darkness may be made available but after the exhaustion of the day intellectual work is burning the candle at the other end in answer to your question as to my habits of work I 1 beg to say that from 5 to 7 in the morning are my best working hours for reading and writing and that the rest of the day is given to i business with a total cessation of work and worry at night sleep is the best as you suggest and many a man can sleep at 9 or till or 4 a m that cant sleep from 1130 or 1230 to 7 a m my pull on good health and vigor of body and mind is in the ability to drop asleep at the plebeian hour of 9 A snooze in the middle middie of the day after lunch on the ferry boat or in the train is the best of tonics in the middle of the day strong C cigars I 1 agars cigarettes or nibbling at tobacco s seems ems tome to me to handicap hundreds of nervous nervous organizations I 1 found tobacco and tea so completely relaxed my nerves that I 1 completely eschewed them and will never again indulge strong black coffee is equally hurtful hurt tul these are trying times and there is more to follow to avoid stimulants to live regu regulars reg lany eat sparingly ani and sleep when you can will enable one to keep a cool head and get the most out of ones self I 1 wish I 1 could do you some good and am truthfully yours ERASTUS WIMAN A WORD FROM W D HOWELLS W D howells is one of the mo most s t conscientious workers in the united emte d states as well as one of the most regular I 1 once asked him as to his manner of 1 working and why he did not buy any books except those on money making he replied 1 I can answer that question best by quoting from one of the italian poets who says our work of making books is all in vain if books |