Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1857-01-17
Tbe 1Dolpuesiau.
From EIarper's Monthly Magazine.l
HOW TO KEEP WE'LL.

1
| We need not call in the doctor to settle the
question hOW to keep o0eH When that learned gen.
tleman drives up to the door, step out and leave
the case to him and the undertaken. Our Office is
10 dispense the ounce of prevention and thus save
the necessity of swallowing the by no means
agreeable or infalble pound of cure, which it may
| be well TO recOllect is composed of great many
drugs, very few good remedies, and no specifics.
We have great hope of being listened to by
those pruGigals of health and lfe our countrymen
and cOuntrywomen. They are so eager to run
their race that they find time 10 train for the
start, or breathe themselves by the road. Neck
or nothing they will be in for the gold cup even If
they break down die in the struggle. Were it
not that we can send our words upon the wings of
Harper, which, like the wind, extends to all quar-
ters of the globe, the chance of catching an occa-
slonal ear might be hopeless. With such aid, how
ever, that of the Magazine of the Million We are
encouraged to give our coun'rymen and country
women some PLAIN advice, which may save them
from disease, the doctor, and death. We are not
gong TO lecture on physiology and the laws of
health; we leave these abstiuSe subjects to DR..
Draper and the savans. We DO not propose to
lecture at all; it is merely our purpose TO show,
cursorily, in what respect some of our habits are
destructive of health, and how by changing them
we may hope To keep well.
American women, mothers have a very good
character. 1t Is said that no sooner have they
passed from the butterfly state of bellies into the
sober condition OF parturent wives, than the
ternaI instinct becomes wondrously developed.
There is no ground for questionin. the love of
American mothers for their offspring, but it may
be doubted whether that love is judlciouSly exer-
cIsed. The tenaclty with which they cling 10 their
babes is very interesting development OF the ma
ternal instinct; but the resOue energy with which
they insist upon starving the :" little dears " upon
their own meagre supply of mothers nutrIment. is
more affactonate than Wholesome. A town life,
with its career of unheaIthfu excitement, is by no
means the best preparation for what is certainly
not the least important office of the mother, to
supply her infant with nutritious food and plenty
of IT. If our young girls persist III limiting their
vista OF matrimonial life 10 the marriage riDg, and
in exercising their whole address 10 secure it,
without any regard TO the future duties it may I'M
pose, they should understand that if they become
mothers their infants must starve, or be fed else
where than from the maternal supply. By the
sentimental aversion Of American women To dele
gate to others duty they have by their early hab
It's rendered themselves unfit to perorm weak
wives become weaker, and their children never
strong The fashionable French dame is wiser :;
she sends to the country for lusty Norman peas
ant woman. to lnvIgorate with her wholesome
abundance the tra offspring of Partisan luxury.
The wsest of all, however, is for our young women
to live rational life of simplicity and activity, and
thus prepare themselves for a proper performance
of mothers duty. The mortality among infants,
which is great In all countries but greatest in thIs
is due especially 70 a want of wholesome nutri-
ment they are starved to death. Nearly one-half
of all who are born die before the age of five! a
fearful massacre of the nnocents which literally
out herods Herod! The Thracians were said to
weep at the birth of their infants. Would that
Americans had no cause.
That freedom of movement is essential to Wig
orous growth and healthy development Is fact de-
MED by none, we believe, but our fashionable
mothers. The Jockey knows better than to train
the one-year-old for the course the road. He
gives his colt the free run ot the paddock where 1t
NAV gallop, roll and kick up Its heels TO the ut
most of lis frolcsomeness, and does not think of
biting or sadding the animal until its joints are
knitted aud its strength confirmed by full growth.
The colt thus becomes the sound horse, and wins
the Cup or draws the load, according 10 its destiny
We might have sOunder men and women If the
early manaa cement of children by their parents
showed some of the common sense of the horse
Jockey. Human colts are. however, trained ac-
cording to a different principle. They are brought
out the course at the earliest moment, and. all
bitted and brldled, are expected to show off their
PAGES before they well toddle OH their legs.
The children of the present day like men and
women seen through the wrong end OF a telescope.
They are but reduced copies of their parents IN
dress and mien. Anna Maria Wllhelmina, our
Youngest, only three years old last birthday, Is
exact miniature of her mother Each yard of the
one has corresponding inch IN the other. They
revulve IN the same annual orbit Of fashion, and
the bonnels of both mark the seasons with the
regularity of almanac. If mamma opens the
spring with silk and orange buds, ditto Anna Ma
ria WlihelmnI; it mamma blooms IN summer with
pink satin aud flowers, ditto Anna Maria WIlhel-
NINA if mamma rIpens in autumn with straw and
golden harvest of o1t sheaves, ditto Anna Maria
WIihelmina If mamma closes the year with velvet
and lace, ditto Anna Mara WIlhelmlna. Our
youngest is naturally our favorite, as her sisters
have long stree, though not out of their teens,
been young ladies', and have deserted the old fogy-
ism of parental affection for the sweet cOnCourSe OF
young America. Well, in the transport Of
fathers love the other day threw down our
newspaper, pocketed our spectaces, and prepared
for a romp with WHheImina. We had 10 sooner
caught hold of that young lady than, Don't papa,
you have broken my hoop; there now, I'll tell
mamm1." freuuy uttered by the three-year old, so
dscomposed our nerves that we dropped herat once,
and were glad to retreat again behIud the newspa-
per, and put dimmed eyes under the cover OF
our gOd-rimm spectacleS. Ii might be thought
selfish protest against this fashionable excess o
dress on the score of expense. If itwere matter
of dollars and cents only, and husbands are dis
posed to spend the better part of their income on
the skirts of ther wives dresses and the remainder
upon those of their children, we would be willing
10 await the natural collapse that must ensue; but
il Is not merely question of expense. The fash
ion of overdressing children concerns their health
to save which is our purpose Justnow The young
should be allowed the greatest possible freedom
for the exercise of their limbs, which Is quite I'M
practicable if they stiffened and hooped like a
barrel, which can only be moved readily, as we all
know, by being first toppled over Nor is 1t merely
the cut and fashion Of the chds dress which OBJ
siruct the freedom of It's movements. he rich
ness of its silks satinS and ribbons, makes such an
expensive toy of the little one, that the tossing and
tnmhlinr and rollinu Id The dit. which are the