The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-05-10
HEALTH OF MIND AND BODY DE.
PENDENT ON SURROUNDINGS.

the idea that the mental operations are
entirely distinct or independent of phys
ical we'll being or disease. A healthy
mind belongs naturally to a healthy
body, and vice versa. Still, believing
this firmly, we are no ultraist, and ac-
knowledge cases where the mind seems
brighter and clearer for physical weak
ness Or deficiency.
No attention to the laws. of health
would have made DR.. johnson a better,
or a greater man than the diseased, half
blind giant whose kingly stride carried
him above the heads of common men.
Nor could Milton, with clear, unclOuded
eyes, have seen more glorious pictures
than those painted on the black back
ground of his blindness. Would John
Bunyan's blouse, called Beautiful"
have gained one adornment more, had
the authors eye rOved freely over the
beauties of nature, instead Of languish-
ing within Shiny prison walls? Shelley,
ill-cared for by his literary wife, would
pass a whole day without food, nor feel
it's want, amidst the brilliant imagery of
his genius. No degree of robust vitality
could make Carlyle see the stars Of Heav-
en- other, than "a sad, sad sight"
But these are exceptional men. Their
lips have been touched by live Goals from
the altar of genius, and the rim Of the
Apocalyptie cloud, under which they
dwelt, blinded them to the common
wants Of daily life. ..:.-
But ommon people, who, after all,
make up the world, are at the mercy of
their surroundings. If they are pleasant
and happy, we are very apt to be pleas
ant and happy too. The man who goes
from a badly cooked dinner, and an i'll
regulated household, will be sour, mo-
rose and at wal with the world. Optim-
ism and an i'll digestion are at var with
each other, and all the household virtues
cluster around a comfortable hearth.
Job might have hailed an m-cooked din
ner and s~latternly wife but, alas, Jobs
ways are not our ways. Of course, these
opinions will expose us to the charge Of
materialism, and very high ground may
be taken against them. But we not be-
ing on high ground, but on the we'll beat
en- pathway of everyday life, speak ac-
cOrding to our lights, when we say the
spirit is not independents of bodily needs.
The soul receives messages from the
outside world through the medium of
the senses, and as 1t is not always cased
in an armor of stoicism, or fairly anch-
ored in the faith-locked harbor of some
"Espiritu Sancto," it must necessarily
be affected by the tidings it daily and
hourly receives. 73
Sidney Smith understood this principle
better than most living men, when in
the morning he would call out Celebrity
the ROOM" and the sun poured in upon
the genial divine and his friends.
Leigh Hunt, too, neglected nothing
which could add his cheerful surround
ings. Color was his mania, and to sur
round himself with flowers of every hue,
the delights Of his life. He writes
"see how Heaven loves color,
How great nature clearly joys in red and green
What sweet thoughts she thinks,
In violets and pinks,
And a thousand flushing hues meant solely to be
seem g1E vaE.
A healthy mind in a healthy body is
the anddesideratum of modern science,
Whatever wonderful discoveries on the
earth, above and below it, have been
made, none are pursued with more ca
gerness than those which seek to grasp
the problem of humanity in all it's as
poets. With the first realization of the
dependence Of the mind upon the body
Materialism sprung up crowned andreg,
nant. But q healthy reaction has nov
begun. Naturalists follow the action Of
the mind to a certain point and the1
something real, and yet tangible escapes
or repels them. We are not dealing
however, with the high and abstrusivt
elements of this subject. w simply as,
sert that our daily walk in life is shaped
by our daily life. If that's pleasantant
cheerful, we are full of sunshine-if It'll
warped and crooked, We can see nothing
strait in Heaven or earth.
So that homes, either happy or Che re
verse, I probably the nucleus whenc,
good or evil flows over the world.