ome especial kind of
work, and devote several hours a day to the study of it. At first this
will be hard, for a mind that has fallen into lazy ways is not easily
aroused to continual effort, the deeply rooted weeds are not easily
destroyed.

Many half contented women realize this need of mental food but hesitate.
As one woman said, "Why, my husband would leave me if I started to
work!" Some men take a peculiar attitude towards women. They would like
to treat them as a woman treats her pet dog. The dog is provided with a
comfortable home, plenty of food, someone to bathe it and carry it
around. The dog is contented with this. It loves to sleep and eat the
livelong day; it comes when its mistress calls, and goes when she is
tired of it. Unfortunately, perhaps, all women cannot be contented with
such a life. The woman was given a brain which refuses to be dormant. If
it is not required to be used in a useful way, it occupies itself with
bad thoughts--it worries and becomes fault finding or gossiping.

No woman should allow her mind to grow up to such weeds. If the
circumstances of her position, her education or her environment seem to
make it unwise that she take up any work that would bring a monetary
reward, she easily can find some charitable work that needs all the
energies she can devote to it. If such a woman would take up some
special branch of philanthropic work she would be amply rewarded, not
only by the consciousness of the good she had done, but by the
improvement in her own health and happiness.

There is another phase to this lack of nerve control shown in a nervous
tension, an inability to relax and enjoy life. Some people go through
the day on such a nervous tension that they are unable to take
cognizance of their surroundings. Eventually this tension will manifest
itself in some disorder, as headache, nervous indigestion or complete
nervous prostration. In the latter case the nerves have been so abused,
so strained that at last they are worn out. A rest is imperative!

A woman who, if she has a few spare moments, can lie down and relax
absolutely, perhaps even drop to sleep, has a better chance to stand the
stress and strain of business or of housekeeping than the one who finds
it impossible to do so. Try making it a point to lie down for two or
three minutes several times a day; lie flat on your back and relax every
muscle; put every worry or ugly thought out of your mind by thinking
some pleasant but