Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-04-18
WHICH is THE WISER


might be, Smith and Brown Their habits
of life and the results these habits produce
are worthy of being recor,.ed: they may
serve as mirrors in which some Other
folks may see themselves as others see
them. They are both somewhat oveI
thirty years of age, are hothe married and
have several children, and are comfortably
well off for this worlds goods. Smith is
good, sensible fellow, of more than
average culture, whose opinion or advice
on most matters | would as soon ask as
| would that of any man | know. His
wife is right clever, good-natured, hard
working woman--somewhat given to the
frippcrics of fashion, but always con-
scicntiously doing, as she believes, every
thing she can to promote the well-being
of her husband and family. Neither
Smith, who has been a great reader, nor
his wife, who has not, had ever paid the
least attention to hygicnic matters.
They both "came up' in families where
the largest liberty to do as they pleased
was given to the children, ami they
have continued the same courSe with their
own, trusting in Providence, as they
said, to carry them safely through.
They have had five children, two of them
are already in their graves and some one
of the others, or one of the parents is
needing the doctors care continually
their door being one of the regular stands
mt which his patients go to look for his
gig. No one who knows their habits of
life needs to have studied the great prob
lem-h0lo 10 secure good hedlM-any great
length of time, not to know that there are
good reasons, which ought TO be patent to
these parents, why sickness and death and
the long train of anxeties and heart
rendings which they bring with them have
invaded their house. Let us see, then, if
zoe can find sufficient cause. In the Sc
lection of food for their tables, the gratifi-
cation of the appetite is the only point
consulted, and their table is always boun-
tifully supplied with the richest and most
appetizing food-if such rubbish may be
called food Their children are allowed
to come to the table at which their parents
eat as soon as they sit up alone in chair
are always asked what they would like to
eat, and their every wish in this particular
gratifed. / dined there one day when two
of the children were at the table--One
three and the other five years cd, perhaps
and | saw that they ate heartily of roast
pork with plenty of gravy, and finished
with mince pie, and this at six O'Clock in
the afternoon! At another time l saw the
mother come in few minutes before din
ner, with paper of candies, eating of
them herself, and dealing them out liber-
ally to her children.
These instances only serve to show the
ordinary habits of eating in the family,
and are in no wise unusual for them. An
other matter. In the winter these chill
dren are kept housed almost the whole
time-sometimes not going out of the
house from one weeks end to another, for
fear the poor little things would take cold
and of course they had colds nearly the
whole time The natural consequence of
such management of children, as any one
who has paid any attention to the study
of health knows very well, is certain sick
ness and probable early death. A
death, which is the result of the ignorance
or Indifference of the parents to hygenic
laws, is but very little short of homicide;
and the time will come, we predict, when
it will be generally so regarded. In
family where such habits of living pre-
vail it is no wonder the doctor reaps a
rich harvest; no wonder the husbands
yearly balance-sheet makes so poor a
showing; no wonder that the father and
mother suffer from care and anxiety
their hearts lacerated with grief; and no
wonder that they are always bewail-
ing their misfortunes, and that they
experience so much Of that
wonder, however, that any clergyman can
his Maker by eXclaiming, as one did in
the course of his remarks at the funeral of
one of these children, "GOd has called this
little one away | ached to speak in
meeting" and tell the reverend gentleman
that God had done no such thing; that it
was not His will that any child should die
thus early, and that il was only in conse-
quence of disobeying His laws that death
had come to the poor little creature before
him. This child who had, as / had al
ready learned, been ailing for several days
had been allowed to come to the table at
dinner late in the day and eat heartily of
lobster-salad and drink freely of milk, be-
cause she asked for these things, and her
mothers only thought was to crafty the
child's every wish. The consequence was,
as might be expected, that about midnight
the child had violent attack of cholera
n0rbuS, and within twenty-four hours was
corpse! In what sense could it be said
then, pray, that "God called the poor little
thing away?" 1t was a cheap platitude
for the clergyman to utter, and perhaps a
solace to the wounded hearts of its parents
but it was SANDER on Divine Wisdom,
nevertheless.
Brown and his wife and Smith and his
wife were married about the same time.
Brown, Intellectually, was far below Smith
His reading had been confined more to
the practical side of life, and somehow it
happened that while yet a youth, the i'm.
portance of the subject of health had at
tracted his attention, and he studied il
thoroughly, and had so far indoctrinated
his wife before her marriage with the sub
ject, that they were already fully agreed
that good health for themselves and off.
spring, If they should have any was TO be
the foundationstone of their domestic hap
piness. They provided themselves with
the best book on the Management of In
fancy, on Hygiene and ON Physiology;
studied them and proflted by what they
learned They found out how best TO care
for their offspring before birth, and how to
treat them after. They knew what was the
proper food for them and this they pro
vided and saw that IL was good and prop,
erly cooked. The children understood
That their parents knew what was the
proper food TO give them to eat, as
wen as the proper quantity, and they
also knew that they were certain TO
be helped to 1t at the proper time, and
they were never asked what thew would
like to eat They came to the table with
their parents, ate what was given them.
and always seemed contented and happy
These children were encouraged also Ia
take robust exercise out of doors, ALWAYS
when the weather was fair, and very often
when II was not; cold and wet had little
fear for them. When the weather was bad
they dressed warmer, Ilhave often seen