The Litchfield County post., 1827-01-02
FOR THE COUNTY POST.

There is an immediate connection between matter and mind, as they unite and consti- tute man. Whatever impulse sets in motion the powers of the mind, is felt either directly or indirectly by the body; as on the contra ry, whatever causes affect the body, whether they he natural-as heat and cold, hunger and thirst, or whether they be health or decease, these operating directly in the body itself have a collateral effect in the mind, and tend either to make it elastic and happy, full of high hopes and jocund as the spring, or produce a despondency which prcys upon our happi- ness, and oftentimes, makes us feel as if we were outcasts from the favours of providence, and that our destiny was to be miserable. Onr happiness then must necessarily depend in the main on the situation of the body. In proportion as the latter is weighed down by any of those diseases which prove to us the frailty of our natures, the former is the sub .ject of restIessness and disquietude. Not but that the mind may, Independently ofthe body, engender and multiply its own troubles; it often does, and many sore wound does it infiictin itself; but now speak of those causes which commence acting on the body and are through the medium of the body made to op- crate oh the mind. The mutual dependence then of body and mind for the support and comfort of each other, makes it of the highest moment to take care about the introduction into either, ofany more trouble than is by ne- cessity caused from the constitution and con dition of our natures, and by events and cir cumstances beyond our controul. But many are the pains endured by our habits, and ma my thorn is made to rankle in our bosoms. planted there by our own hands.
 Customs and long cherished notions make many courses fashionable which courses are so many post roads on which thousands of the eager vOtarics of pleasure travel some to an early grave, others to premature old age; while others find themselves engrdled by circle of diseases which torture both body & lnind. It is of vast importance then that the mind be made to think in correct channels, & that the body be trained up to the exercise of whatever is necessary to the regular perform ance of its functions and the health of all its members. We prostrate the fairest the no- biest work of God, when by neglect, or in- temperance, we sow the seeds of dissolution in ourselyes--we make advances to our great est enemy, death, when we employ any of the emissaries which he sends to us On errands of destruction, and thousands of these emissa- are abroad in the world sucking up the juices of human happiness, and endeavouring with all their malignant cunning at the destruction ofthe human race. Already have they thrown a portentious gloom over this land of civili- zation and refinement, already has intempe- rance spread her sable mantle upon the bo- som of our country and when and how she is to dismantle herself God only knows. It must be ere long as it will have nipped the tenderest buds that put forth from the bosom of our families. This nation proudly vaunts herself on her physical strength and resources, while a disease turks within her veins nrure fa- tai than the pestiferous blasts of the Simeon, and more to be dreaded than fleets end armies. The attention of many has been called to this subject. It demands yigoHrous and decided measures. do not know that there is moral principle enough in the land to stay the tide of desolation; if there is not, legislative aid must be called in.
 There is but one alternative, either intem- perance or our national prosperity and per haps cur national existence, must cease. The men of former generation trained as they were to arms, their constitutions made vigor- ous and healthful by athletic sports and inured to toil and hardship in every possible shape. could mingle in scenes of debauchery and in- temperance and yet eke out long life but either from the peculiarity of our climate or some other natural cause, or from the degen- eracy of the present race of men from the physical strength and hardihood of their an- cestors, the process is now summary: and thousands of youth, the flower of our land & the hopes of their parents yearly fall before this sirocco, like the yellow leaves which the autumnal blast strows upon the health. This