Page:How to Get Strong (1899).pdf/84

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HOW TO GET STRONG

claim that they are better workers than he was; or that they get through more in a day or year; or that, heavy as their responsibilities may be, they surpass or even equal those which were his for years together. Yet all the terrible mental strain this illustrious man underwent; battling with one of the greatest captains this world ever saw; all the exposure and forced marching, privation and toil, which come to the faithful soldier; and to him who holds the lives of multitudes in his hands, this man knew; and yet so controlled his work, exacting as it all was, as to manage to keep his body superior to all it was called on to do; and his mind in constant working order, and this not merely up to threescore and ten, but to fourscore good years; and three more besides. Did not the vigorous body at the start, and the daily attention to it, pay him?

Will it be claimed that the president of one of the best-known corporations on this continent did any more work than Wellington? or than Gladstone? That president was at it all day, and far into the night, and when away in Europe, nominally on a play-spell, as well. Naturally, he was a strong, energetic man; but he had so worked, and so neglected his body, that he died at fifty-two. Which showed the better sense?

What does cutting one's self down at fifty-two mean? Five minutes' reflection should tell any reasonable person that the man was overworking himself; and going at a pace no man could hold and live. Does not this show a lack of sense; and especially when much of that work could certainly have been done by subordinates? Was not one of Daniel Webster's best points his skill in getting work done by others; and saving for himself the parts he liked best?

When, after long years of toil and perseverance, one

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