THE IMPATIENCE OF THIS AGE.
By T.
The contestants in a race are very intolerant of anything that might come in to hinder them. And it would seem as you watch men going about their business in these days that everybody was running a race with everybody else, and that they would resent any obstacles that chance might throw in their way. Just stand on the street corner and watch the people as they rush hither and thither. They stride along as fast as they can, elbowing each other, and pushing and crowding as tho their lives depended on their getting to some distant place in just a few moments. Everything is whirl and hurry and excitement. The literature that is most generally read by many of the people of this age must also be of an exciting nature. Commonplace facts will not do. The marvelous, the highly romantic, the fanciful, and the unreal must be had in order to satisfy the stimulated imagination. Those who give themselves to solid reading, to a very great extent, are also kept under a constant strain. The world is driving so fast that they fear they can not keep up with it. Every new idea must be written up in magazine or book; and, to keep fully intelligent, men think that they must read, and read, and read. The day is not long enough for them, so the night is heavily drawn upon to do the immense amount of reading that is thought to be necessary. The business man is not satisfied with an income that will keep himself and family in comfort, but he must strive for thousands, and even millions, simply to hoard it. He can not possibly use it, only as he may invest it for the purpose of making still more money, to be again invested to make more money for further investments, and so on till the man drops dead from exhaustion. And what has he done?—He has spent his life racing for wealth. And a mad, rushing race it was, for thousands of competitors were in the contest with him, and each one straining every nerve to make his heap of wealth the largest. And so, in all the avocations of our time, men are on the rush and hurry. Old-fashioned sociability is largely a thing of the past. Everybody is too busy to spend time in social intercourse. Unless there is some money to be made, they can not stop. They must hasten on for some more dollars. The only exception to the rule, perhaps, is in the field of sport. Many who will stop for nothing else, will leave their money-making to attend a race, a ball game, or a prize-fight. And here more than any other place the same feverish excitement rages. Men and women fairly go wild over the fun-making and exciting sports of the day. And hundreds are being drawn entirely away from business to the races and the games. They throw away their money in betting and hilarious, riotous living, and often resort to frauds and robberies to replenish their wasted fortunes. In all this rush of business and pleasure there is a feverish desire for stimulating foods and drinks. Nature in its normal condition will not hold up under the strain. So the reserve forces of vitality are whipped into action by all sorts of excitants and nerve stimulants. Most of the nostrums that are sold to cure “nervousness” are only nerve stupefters. The worn nerves are seeking to warn the individual of his excesses of work, dissipation, or whatever may be his physical transgression, but instead of heeding the warning, he swallows some drug that is highly recommended for “nervousness,” and its benumbing effects make him think for the moment that he is benefited. But, in the place of real relief, he is only turning on more steam, to drive him down the grade all the faster. Any one who reflects at all upon the condition of things in the world to-day is fully aware of the fact that the foregoing paragraphs by no means overdraw the situation. And while the general cultivation of the reading habit makes the majority of people more intelligent than in former years, and while there is an abundance of veneer politeness, and while the most beautiful ideals of “the brotherhood of man” are pictured out, still you will find the people at large full of impatience. If a person is jostled in a crowd, it is a rare thing if some angry word does not escape the lips. If things in general do not come around just to suit the individual, his “brotherhood of man” is forgotten, while he indulges in fretful, unkind, and even heated speech. And while the world is so universally in this condition, where is there any chance for a general peace? It may be pleasant for those who are given to dreamy imaginations to picture Utopias in their minds, but for practical purposes it is far better to look at the facts. The manner of living in the world to-day is driving it headlong over the precipice into destruction. And the fact that the multitude is so completely intoxicated with business and pleasure that it does not seem to even dream of the peril, is continually adding fuel to the flame. Why is it that so few have ever been able to see the present-day facts of their time, and must wait till calamities and revolutions overturn the foundations of society before they awake to the situation? And even then their awakening is so tardy that they only have time to see the ruin that might have been averted if they had not refused to observe the unmistakable premonitions of danger that had been urged upon their attention. The people of this age can not go so fast without soon striking the rocks that will dash them to destruction. And do not smother your convictions in regard to the danger signals that are so visible. Reflect upon the condition of things as they are in the world to-day. Throw away your ideals, and confront the facts. What are the portents of the hour? T.