ner than worry. Everybody seems to worry. Men worry.
Women worry. It is commonly supposed that women worry more than men. I
doubt it. After watching both pretty closely under all sorts of
circumstances I doubt it. Yet if it be true that woman does worry the
more, I think it is because, being more sensitively organized, she is more
keenly alive to the issues involved and to the responsibilities of life.
Poor people worry. Those with enough money to be easy worry. And those
with the largest wealth seem to worry too. Busy folks worry. And so do the
idle. The cultured and scholarly touch elbows with the ignorant here.
Americans are supposed to be specialists in worrying. The name
Americanitis has been given to a certain run-down condition of the nerves.
Well, we may possibly have set the pace, and may be making new records.
But certainly there are plenty of pushing followers. Our Canadian
neighbors seem not to be wholly strangers to worry. Nor our British and
Dutch forbears. The European continentals, and those of the East nearer
and farther off seem to be good or bad at worrying. It is a characteristic
of the race everywhere, the difference being merely in the degree. It
seems inbred in man.
There are two "don't-worry" chapters in this old Bible, one in the Old
Testament and one in the New. In the Old Testament is the Thirty-seventh
Psalm with its oft-repeated "fret not." The word under that English phrase
"fret not" is significant. It is so blunt as to sound almost like a bit of
American slang. Literally it means "don't get hot." The New Testament has
the sixth chapter of Matthew with Jesus' own words. One should be careful
here to note the better reading of the revision. The old version says
"take no thought," and that has been misunderstood by many who have not
thought about its meaning. The newer translations are truer to the meaning
on Jesus' lips. Do not take _anxious_ thought, "be not anxious." But apart
from these two chapters there is a phrase running through these pages
clear through the whole Book, a phrase shot through, piercing everywhere,
even as the glorious sunlight pierces through the thick cloud and fog. I
mean the phrase "fear not." All worry roots down its tenacious tendrils
in fear.
A Fence of Trust.
It will help to understand just what worry is. It is always an advantage
to get an enemy clearly defined and keep it so, so you can hit it harder,
and make every blow tell on a vital part of i
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