Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-12-28
PasiuTing children.

fl Cueuf the ordinary events of spring
in the country is the sending off to pas
turagc for the season, drOves of young
cattle; kept.in stalls or cooped up in
coy yards, fed upon husks and hay
through the long winter and spring,
they are released,at last; and on some
sweet May morning are driven away in
frolicsome herds to the mountain pas
lures, where, feeding upon the tender
grasses and drinking the hillside water,
and roaming and revcling at will, they
remain until the autumn frosts drive
them home for food and shelter. They
30 out thin, shaggy, and dirty; they re-
turn sleek and.plump, and ready either
for the knife of the butcher, or for do
nestle service. 1t is in the pasture
that thescattle and colts grow. They
get muscle and health by roaming
and feeding and sleeping in thu open
air.
Now, i'm one respect, children need
to be regarded and treated as young ami
mails, Their particular business Is to
grew, and grow healthily and soundly.
Among the many obligations which a
parent owes to the child he has called
into existence, not the smallest is that
ofgiving him, to tho extent of his abil-
ity to do so, sound and well developed
body. Without this, wealth is OF little
worth, or splendid intellectual gifts, or
fine accomplishments, or excellent ed.
ucation. Without this, he can be of
;pn,paratiyely little use to the world,
and or little comfort to himself. With
it he can be both useful and happy. Ii,
therefore, country air and country eXer-
else and food ure essential to the sound
development of the child, he should
have them, even at the expense OF some
ofahose possessions which parents are
hoapt to oyerrate, and SO covetous to
e,c,lre for their offspring, Let the chill
dren be taken to pasture, then, rs reg
ularly as the calves and the colts, while
we tell with some detail what the pro-
cess will do for them
Of the benefits of fresh country air to
the young organism, little needs to be
said. They are very obvious. Pure air
is the special pabulum of vitality. 1t
gives life to the blood, and is sent warm
and red into overy fibre of the body.
Impure air poisons life at the fountain
The frightrul aggregate of infant NOR
tality in the great cities, shows how
baneful impure air is to delicate young
life. Adult life is less sensitive. ltcaE'I
resist, and does resist wonderfully, the
poisons which it inhales with every
breath but children sickcn aid die Mt
its sidel by hundreds and. thousands
every wear. A man and his wife bred
in the country, or even bred in the city,
may live to n good age, and ENJOY COM
Portable health in town, While they are
called upon to mourn the mysterious
death of every child born to them, or 10
watch with ceaseless anxiety over
puny brood of babes that carry into
their adult life the feeblest powers OF
mind and body. There is no question
that men and women can live IN air
that children must die in; or rather,
that they die very slowly in an atmos-
rhere in viii h children die very
quickly. -,
The next benefit that comes to chill |
dren mt pasture is free and universal eX-
ercise. Dir. bio Lewis has contrived,
with great ingenuity, a series OF eHer,
cises which will bring into action and
development every voluntary muscle
of the human organism; but nature Is
q better counsellor than DIR. Lewis. |
What he teaches us to do by study and
painstaking and labor, from an intelii-
gent motive, she impcls us to DO in the |
simple search for amusement, in every |
playful manifestation oflife. The boy |
left free to play in the fields anu woods
will, in single day, rum more miles
and exercise BEAUTIFULLY more muscles
than could be matched 10y the light
pymnasticsn of week. This he does
in pure sport. Running, climbing,
riding, swimming, rowing, tossing,
batting, jumping, wrestling, hshing'
sce-sawing, rolling and tumbling, day |
after day; there is not muscle in his
little body that he does not bring into
play, without motive that urges from
behind, and solely for the qualification
of his greed for amusement. No where
can he get this free and full exercise ex- 7
cept i'm the country. 1t is impossible
i'm a city. A child that undertakes
anything more than walk in the
street, gets kicked by q passenger, or
run over by horse; and back yards
are largely devoted to rubbish and
clothes lines. Timothy Ttcom6, IN
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