The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-06-18

TNE JAIL DISI n-l.-l-----.
MONDAY NoRNINo.. JUNE 10 1855
HIGH PRICES AND Low LIVING.
An unusual exemption from sickness in
New York, Of late. Is attributed by . learned
medical authority to the involuntary absti-
nence of the people. caused by the hard
times. This il highly consoling fact. which
ought to be generally known. IT, IN TINS
long reign Of high prices. people are o''en
compelled to rise from their tables with ap-
petites uusatisfied, it is satisfactory to PM
iosoohic.l mind to be assured that the physi-
cal system is the better for it. SO the doc
tora sav. and the doctors must know.
Occasional fastipgs and notifications, 1t
il certain, promote the welfare OF the body.
II men could live on dry bread and water, it
would undoubtedly be better for their
health. than their present diet. We re-
commend our friends, who are not i'm
moderately healthy, to try the expert
ment, for there is no knowing what we
may all come to after while Although
prices are declining, they have an enormous
descent yet to make, before they reach o
poor mans means, and possibly may not de-
cline much after all
We took up an old newspaper the other
day, and looked with pensive melancholy at
the market prices of that happy era. BY
gone days never seemed to diffuse 80 SAD
and touching q light as through the dim
and discclored columns'.of that journal
People contemplate the past according to
the mood they are in. If in poetic and
ETHEREAL frame of mind, they mourn over
the buried joys of youth, the faded How
era of love, the bubble of ambition bro
ken. We do not profess to be in any sucn
mood. In these old newspapers, it is not the
poetry in the corner which takes our eye, or
the wars between Wings and Democrats, or
the essays on the dissolution of the Union
which has been in Process of dissolving
ever since it was formed-but the prices cur
rent. Beef l-2 cents per h.; chickens 10
cslfs pieces turkeys so cts; butter ~ l-2
cents; -four SIS per Dbl, family. Those were
the "good old times" when laboriDg men
could eat good dinner without eating them
selves into the custody of the sheriff when
housewives were not distracted with great
financial questions attending the commits
sarist of a domestic army without an ex-
chequer; when nobody was pale, thin and
uneasy, but the spectators.
In those times, too, rents in Richmond
were modest and becoming a city, which has
not reached the dimensions of London. But
times have changed; and it is some comfort
to learn from the New York physicians that
they have changed for the good of our race
Low prices and high living were fast eleva-
ting the body over the soul; high prices and
low living are restoring the proper relations
between soul and body, and making man
spiritual and angelic creature.
We are 80 captivated with this doctrine
that we advocate its application to all the
various branches of household economy
OF course, we need not speak of desserts
buildings, pies, custards, which, even if OBJ
timed gratuitously, are poisonous to the
whole system. No man who does not desire
to be made himself dessert for the epicu-
rean worm, will ever patronize them. But
two meals day, one composed of corn bread
and milk, if the high prices and distille
ries leave corn enough to eat,) the other of
milk (if you can get i'll and corn bread, are
all sufficient for the support of nature, and
far more healthy than pampering the system
with highly seasoned dishes. Coffee and tea
are both known to be injurious, and ought
never to be touched, except as medicine
The same remark is applicable to brandy
and water and other stimulating beverages.
Then, in regard to other household expenses,
pine table, plain wooden chairs, and straw
beds, would be much more conducive to AMI
NAL vigor than the present luxurious and en-
ervating appliances of dining rooms and
churches. The next reform should be in the
article of clothing. Why are savages SC
much more robust, hardy and long lived thar
civilized men? Because their habits of liv
ing conform more closely to nature, espe
cialiy in their apparel, which, as every bod,
knows, is scanty in the extreme. 1t is unde
niable that if society would consent to Law OF
first one garment and then another, until it
of aboriginal life, we should have a vigor
Gus and stalwart race upon this continent
instead Of the present puny and feeble gen.
Grafton. The revolution might be copsun.
mated by living out doors, result which
will be naturally produced in the course OF
time by high rents. We trust the New York
doctor will be duly grateful for these suu.
gestions, and adopt them in his next conso.
latory epistle to the public
If man can conquer the demands Of HIM
ger, and content himself with eating half a.
much as he wants, the rest is comparatively
easy. Surely this is an end within the com
pass of every rational and immortal mind
1t Is only the pure animal who cannot re
strain his appetites. There is wide field o,
intellectual and social pleasures beyond and
above the sphere of the market house. II
You can't get good dinner, 20 read a good
book, and for that purpose we recommend
one Of those works of Dickens or Irving
which contain felicitous descriptions of fine