Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1868-02-04
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Muscle VS.. Brains.

hh. 10Y In - nave ueeH Il pretty
constant reader your paper for TIL
past five J ears and although no
subscribing oall your theories, or be
ing able to chant in entire unison
with you, the peculiar doxology O
your political creed, yet | will in al
truthtulness confess that your paper
has an air of originality and honest
truthfulness about it that should rec
ommend it alike to friend and foe, and
which fact has IN the past and must
continue in the future TO sustain its
reputation so honorably maintained
among all intellectual, right thinking
men. irrespective OF creeds, parties,
or 3ogmas
4 $ you have from time to time in,
vited criticisms upon views, notions.
thcnlies, tins, &c. sent ont by Won
through its columns, / shall take the
benefit of said invitation, and under
IFS shield propose to notice briefly
one of yoar articles written in Sep
tem5er think, in reply to letter
from q father asking for a situation
IN your printing office for his boy to
learn the art or trade Of printer
From your remarks notice that Won
have fallen into the at this time com
mon error Of the day, which / shall
designate as the muscle error.
Your position as to the benefits Of
physical and mental culture being
equal, or nearly so, is in the aggre~
gate as theory correct, out as a
practical principle it falls far short of
the mark, and experience fully dem
onstrates that it will not stand the
test. Now, sir, it is a fact laid
down by all Psychologists that quail
ty outranks quantity, which fact we
see daily demonstrated both in mus
cular tissue, nerve fibre and brain mat.
ter. View for moment the faces,
forms, &C., in the circle of your ac-
quaintances, and see who are your
most intellectual men, your ripest
scholars, best tradesmen, skillfulest
professionals and most successful ag>
ricultural men, to say nothing of
your shrewdest, sharpest, political
ones. Are they your fat, heavy,
muscular men, with broad, gigantic
western heads, (84), with an excess
OF vital force, or rather are they not
invariably as rule your lean, spare,
evenly balanced headed nerro-san,
gp{ne, impulsive, wiry, goa head
mon? Who were tho men in our late
war who stood the longest marches,
fought the hardest battles, 'played
off, the least and took the least quiz
nine and whisky, and kept scott clear
Of our hospitals Was it your hca-
w, muscular, broad shouldered men,
or was'it your thin, spare, medium.
sized, long legged, slab sided individ.
uals Let the muster rolls of Our re-
turned armies and the testimony Of
men who have seen the service bear
united testimony to the fact that
qudltty not quantity, makes the man.
Muscular development along with
mental culture is all right, and is de-
manded so far as it goes, but in my
humble opinion in these fast Ameri>
can days of modern times, it has
gone quite too far, and is now work
ing a vast deal of harm to the youth
of our land. Show me the boy or
girl from Z to II years Of age attend>
ing school who loes not tax active
physical exercise enough during re-
cess, vacations, &C., to cause his
physical organization to keep pace
with bis intellectual, in the great MAJ
jority Of instances coming under my
own observation, his muscle comes in
ahead Of his brain. My experience
is that We have few, very few, over
wrought brains in our land but much,
very much, oversize d muscle
The great cause in my opinion Of
so many thin, puny children, full of
aches and pains, clean, lanlS, and SAL
low, very many ofwhom fill prema-
Jure graves, lies beyond all you have
mentioned it lies in the fact that
they are stuffed and crammed to
death with unicholeSome tood-yes, I'M
wholesome food is the word that hits
the mark precisely. Their little stom
achs are made the storehouses for all
sorts and kinds Of indigestible food
from infancy up to boyhood and even
adult age, until at last as they begin
TO feel and know by sad experience
that their stomach has rebelIed at
first and at last completely broken
down by sheer exhaustion, and they
go to fill up the countless army of old
dyspeptics. They then, alas too late
find out their error. Here lies the
whole cause in nut she'll, and how
simple and plain is the remedy =
Parents, give your children good,
sound, healthy stomachs and ] will
insure them good muscle and plenty
of it, as well as sufficient amount
Of brains to correspond.
And right here let me tell parents
in part how to do this: give your
children plenty of plain and whole
some. nourishing food, rich meats and
soups, and plenty of vegetables
Throw away your pies, cakes, hot
bread, biscuits, &C., &c, and depend
upon it you will have healthier chill
dren, more muscular and intellectu-
al, and filter subjects 10 learn the
printers or any other art. But |
must close the subject widens as l
write; should this dose be retained,
| may repeat it in regular old Gallo
Pathy' style. Yours,
Montfort, Jan. 90, 1868. ANTI MUSCLE.