Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 64.djvu/349

of the town dweller is unknown. But enough is currently reported to make the conclusion inevitable that the sine qua non of longevity is a certain amount of time spent in the country. The city child is subject to a number of disturbing conditions other than mere absence of creature comforts, which undermine the constitution by throwing too heavy a burden upon the sense organs, through which exhaustion of the central neurons follow; these conditions are such as noises, a perpetual round of hurry, unending sequences of incident exhausting the attention, to which are superadded the physical discomforts of vitiated air and effluvia from human beings and waste organic products, besides offensive gases and infection-laded dust, etc. All these and others more than offset the civic improvements which have their value, of well paved streets and shelter from winds, better housing and many conditions furnished in cities and not in country places. What has been said does not obtain in respect to well conditioned villages and suburbs; at least to the same degree. All this makes for an alteration in the character and quality of symmetrical development. When adult age is reached, these conditions are merely exaggerated. The rush and hurry of competition still interferes with the acquirement of full organic vigor, which demands for its fruition, adequate time and leisure, so that cellular stability may be safely secured. To those of comfortable means, who can from time to time withdraw from the agitating circumstances of city life and enjoy periods of rest and quietude elsewhere, there is less left to be desired. For those who can choose their manner of living, the natural instinct may be trusted to secure selection of those opportunities in the life of most persons which will make for better conditions for continuance of life. To those who have reached middle age, and to whom the desire comes of conserving their powers to the utmost, it is distinctly possible to gain excellent success. So far as the general circumstances of life are concerned, there should be no difficulty in intelligent persons determining for themselves what had best be done. This of course will consist in relieving themselves from worry, strains and anxieties, and in the periodic withdrawal from the hurly-burly of effortful existence; in modifying their diet, in omitting the use of stimulants and narcotics and in spending long periods of time under pleasant conditions, in practical retirement. Above all, amusements should be simplified and accepted rather than sought after. There is enough. Heaven knows, of happiness to be had in keeping the eye, mind and heart open to the enjoyment of those opportunities which lie in the pathways of every one. It has been my experience to know a number of men and some women who, when the occasion came to them out of the fullness of opportunities for choice, instead of contenting themselves with enjoying life, rushed after such sports as were popular or fashionable, thought to be amusement, and the following of these exhausting pleasures cut