WHY MEN SHOULD EXERCISE DAILY
Now, while this rare hardiness and tone cannot be had by a person who has twelve hours of busy brain-work daily in-doors, and only one of bodily exercise; still, much can be done; quite enough to calm and tranquillize; and to carry easily over those passes which used to be dreaded.
If the man who habitually works too long without a rest, would every hour or so turn lightly from his work, for even sixty seconds, to some vigorous exercise, right in his office, or even in the next room or hall-way, until the blood got out of his brain a little; and the muscles tingled with a hearty glow; he would go back so refreshed as to quickly make up, both in the quantity and quality of his work, for the time lost. When his hour for exercise came, instead of having no heart for it, he would spring to it with alacrity, like the school—boy does to his play.
Even if the strong man does occasionally become jaded; he knows, as Hughes did, how to get back his strength and snap; and that a tired man is many removes from a tired-out one. There is a great deal in knowing whether your work is overdoing you; or only tiring you. One of the strongest and best oarsmen Harvard ever had, used, at first, to think he ought to stop rowing when he began to perspire; and was quite astounded when an older man told him that that was only the beginning of the real work. There is no end of comfort to a tired man, either mentally or physically, in the thought that sure relief is near.
Again, this relief by physical exercise will encourage the man to hope that, if war or accident do not cut him down; he may look for a long life, no matter how great may be the occasional strain. Few men, for instance, familiar with the life of the Duke of Wellington, will
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