THE EARMARKS

=Am I "Like Folks"?= Before we begin to talk about the real sufferer
from "nerves," the nervous invalid, let us look for some of the
earmarks that are often found on the supposedly well person. All of
these signs are deviations from the normal and are sure indications of
nervousness. The test question for each individual is this: "Am I
'like folks'?" To be normal and to be well is to be "like folks." Can
the average man stand this or that? If he can, then you are not normal
if you cannot. Do the people around you eat the thing that upsets you?
If they do, ten chances to one your trouble is not a physical
idiosyncrasy, but a nervous habit. In bodily matters, at least, it is
a good thing to be one of the crowd.

Many people who would resent being called anything but normal--in
general--are not at all loth to be thought "different," when it comes
to particulars. Are there not many of us who are at small pains to
hide the fact that we "didn't sleep a wink last night," or that we
"can't stand" a ticking clock or a crowing rooster? We sometimes
consider it a mark of distinction to have a delicate appetite and to
have to choose our food with care. If we are frank with ourselves,
some of us will have to admit that our own ailments seem interesting,
while the other person's ills are "merely nervous" or imaginary or
abnormal. After all, a good many of us will have to plead guilty to
the charge of nervousness.

We have only to read the endless advertisements of cathartics and
"internal baths," or to check up the quantity of laxatives sold at any
drug store, to realize the wide-spread bondage to that great bugaboo