Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1874-07-09
THE LIFE OF NAN.
Something About Turning-Points- Physical
and intellectual Strength The Decades OF
Man.

About these matters youth thinks
little and cares less; in manhood we
shirk them; in old age we stand face to
face with them, dwell Oh them, it may
be overmuch. That which we saw
with unintelligent calm we now scru-
tinize with intelligent fear and recog.
nize, too late, those points in physical
lite when we have taken wrong turn,
from ignorance, negligence, or reck-
lessness. 1t is popularity supposed that
we Change our constitution every seven
years; but practically every decade
makes tulning-point in life. 1t is
not too much to say that barring acci.
dents, a man can, at certain dates, de-
eide what manner of death and of what
class of disease he shall die: The for
nation of the constitution in early life
say from the age of five to fifteen
| devolves on the nurse, the mother, and
the training in the nursery and school
room. In the nursery, at any rate, over
feeding is cardinal vice but the over
fed children, who eat flesh ,meat three
times day, become so gross and un
wieldy as to be a burden to ali con-
cerned while tight stays, tight boots,
and high heels develop every evil uh-
,, der the sun, from bunions downward:
At this point two years Of gymnastics,
or couple of years spent on board of
one Of our training ships does wonders
for our boys, who get the use of their
arms and legs to an amazing degree
The athletic work performed by school
boys and university men is, perhaps, at
its best in these days, though most
happy is the man who is never over
trained, because he is perpetually in
condition. From fifteen to twenty
five a man has to prepare for that legit-
innate enjoyment Of life which should
by right be his. He has in all prob
ability chosen his profession, memory
is at its best, ambition at its highest,
and his temptation to burn the candle
at both ends-to be a brilliant boon
companion, a man whose good tales
are remembered, and whose witty say
ings are everywhere quoted-is almost
irresistible. Facility does not come
with age, and the hest of stories grow
stale Of the number of prematurely~
exhausted intellects and shortened liyes
broken down in this way there is no
need to tell. Every mans memory
will furnish him with list Of names
more or less we'll known.
FROM TWENTY-FIVE TO THIRTY FIVE
is the true time for all the enjoyment
Of mans best powers, when physical
vigor is at its highest, ard human pass
ion is at its full strength. During the
last half of this decade a man should
be assiduous to construct system of
| philosophy by which to rule his life
and to contract chain of habits intelli
gently, 50 that they should not sit too
lightly upon him, and yet cautiously,
so that he should neither be their slave
nor too easily cast them aside. The
exact proportion of physical and intel>
lectual strength should be gauged, and
the constitutional weakness, or, in other
words, the disease toward which ten
dency exists, should be ascertained.
Preserve, if possible, the absolute
Necessity for exercise, and have your
place of business two or three miles
away, over which let nothing tempt
you to an omnibus or carriage, save
rain. The day on which a medical
man gives up riding to see his country
patients, or the use of his own legs to
see his patients in town, and takes to a
close brougham, fixes the date when
sedentary diseases are set up-indiges-
tion, liver, kidney diseases, and so on ;
while if to utilize his leisure, he reads
as he drives, his eyesight becomes ser
iously affected. From thirty-fve to
forty>five a man should arrange with
his food and square hypochondria
He cannot, it is true, change his diathe-
sis, but he can manage it. The habit
ual character of food, no less than its
quantity and quality, begins to tell
whether it charges the system with
fat, muscle, sinew, fiber or water parti-
Giles. AS to the evening glass of spir
its, it is not the quantity or the quality,
but the daily recurrence of the dose
which deteriorates. Witness the Scotch
+, fishers; whose drink is tea, save on the
Sabbath even, when they are all drunk.
1t is not overstepping the truth to as
sert that weekly excess of whisky
does less harm than the moderate even
ing glass. Good generous red wine,
toasted bread; and brown meat COM
prise the best nourishment a man can
take at this period. From fofty-fve
to fiflS-fte the recuperative powers
should be encouraged and developed.
There is nothing like work to keep
an old horse sound Sporting dogs
shdald be thin, but obesity will set in.