Worry, however, is not only an effect. It is also a cause. Worry causes worry. It breeds more rapidly than do flies. The more one worries the more he learns to worry. Begin to worry over one thing and soon you are worrying about twenty. And the infernal curse is not content with breeding worries of its own kind. It is as if it were a parent gifted with the power of breeding a score, a hundred different kinds of progeny at one birth, each more hideous, repulsive, and fearful than the other. There is no palliation, temporization, or parleying possible with such a monster. Death is the only way to be released from him, and it is your death or his. His death is a duty God requires at your hands. Why, then, waste time? Start now and kill the foul fiend as quickly as you can. CHAPTER II OURS IS THE AGE OF WORRY How insulting! What a ridiculous statement! How ignorant of our achievements! I can well imagine some of my readers saying when they see this chapter heading. _This_, an age of worry! Why this is the age of progress, of advancement, of uplift, of the onward march of a great and wonderful civilization. Is it? Certainly it is! See what we have done in electricity, look at the telephone, telegraph, wireless and now the wireless telephone. See our advancement in mechanics,--the automobile, the new locomotives, vessels, etc. See our conquest of the air--dirigibles, aeroplanes, hydroplanes and the like. Yes! I see, and what of it? _We_ have done, _our_ advancement, _our_ conquest, etc., etc. Yes! I see _we_ have not lessened _our_ arrogance, _our_ empty-headed pride, _our_ boasting. _We_--Why "_we_"? What have you and I had to do with the new inventions in electricity or mechanics or the conquest of the air?