Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-09-07
Use I.esu and Have Legs.

- AfSo1 s"ANA
Practice makes perfect" "The
used key is always bright" Drawn
wells are seldom dry" The principle
expressed by these maxims is, that the
healthy exercise Of our faculties in
creases their power. This is true, n
it is equally true that if we do not ex-
ercise them their power will decline |;
for, as "to him that hath shall be
given, aud be shall have abundance
so, from him that hath not shall be
taken away even that which he hath"
"Use legs and have legs" This is
a maxim in regard to the muscular
system /; and without regarding it, no
man can increase much in strength and
activity. One can lift 300 pounds with
ease, another a scarcely move lOo
mounds one can run q mile in q few
minutes, or walk forty miles in a day
without fatigue, another is dead beat
with q run of 100 yards, or with u walk
of FIVE miles. And very often the older
man is stronger and more active than
the younger, the smaller than the
larger, the heavier than the lighter.
Whence is this difference in strength
and activity-n difference that very
often amounts to 300 per cent?! VI
course, in many cases and TO q great
extent, it is to be accounted for by the
fact that one man is born with q much
better constitution than another but II
is really astonishing to observe in how
many instances, and TO how great m
extent the difference is explained by the
priuciple of using legs and having legs.
Exercise often reyerses the original
relationship of two men, in the matter
of muscular power. He who was orig
inally the weaker, becomes the stronger.
The disadvantage of n feeble constitu-
ton is overcome by exercise, u inc
advantage Of a strong constitution IS
lost by the neglect Of exercise. AL do
not come into the world with the same
physical capacities; but all do not,
through life, continue in the Same ratio
of inequality /; and it is the use, or non
use Of our powers that effects such al
terations in their ratios.
We often speak with profound pity OF
those who have lost the use of their
limbs, and by such persons, We mean
moor creatures who have been parn-
lyzed, so they can neither run, walk nor
stand. But such unfortunate beings arc
not the only people who have not the
use Of their limbs.
The use of our limbs, their full, per-
feet use, is what very few Of us possess.
The probability is that IL ost Of us have
not more than one-half the use Of our
limbs. Those who are not prncticed
gymuasts, would do we'll to visit a gym.
nasium and witness the the feats that
are performed there. 10 the running,
the leaping, the jumping, the fencing,
the wrestling, the climbing, the lifting
Of great weights and the throwing OF
heavy bodies-our n%ou-athlctic friends
would see what the full use Of the legs
really is and the sight, without any
attempt to perform such wonders, would
convince them that, although, happily
not paralyzed, it is absurd to say that
they have more than n .half the use
of their limbs-if, indeed. they have
that.
Most persons think that they are
what God made them ; and they will
be startled and shocked to be told that
this notion is decidedly doubtful. BUTT
is more than doubtful-it is altogether
erroneous; we are not what God made
| us, but what we have made ourselves,
through the use or non use Of the
faculties which he bestowed upon us.
It is surely very desirable that we
should be, even physically, all that our
Creator has rendered US capable Of be-
ing ; therefore, let us, by careful cul.
turc, make the best use of what power
remains to us, and, as far as possible.
recover what we have lost. Upon
young people especially, let us urge the
duty Of using legs rs the only means Of
having legs.-At Home and Abroaa.