National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-06-26
Aatioual 8spabIifat
TURNING PoIYES IN LIFE.


or recklessness. It Is popularity supposed thss
we change our constitutions every seven years;
but practically every decade makes a turning
point m life. II Is not too much to say that,
barring accidents, man can, at certain dates,
decide what manner of death, and of Whist
class of disease he shall die. The formation of
the constitution In early life-say from the age
Of five to ifteen-devolves on the nurse, the
mother and the training In the nursery and
school-room. In the nursery, at any rate,
over feeding Is q cardinal vice; but the over
fed children who eat flesh meat three times
day become so gross and unwisldy as to be q
burden to all concerned; while tight stays,
tight boots and high heels develop every evil
under the sun, from bunions downward. At
this point two years Of gymnastics, or q couple
OF years spent on board of one of our training
ships does wonders for our boys, VINO get the
use OF their arms and legs to a wonderful de-
gree. 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 overturned, because he is perpee
ually In condition.
FROM FIFTEEN TO TWENTY-FIVE
a man has to prepare for that legitimate en-
joyment of life which should by rights be his
He has In all probability chosen his profession,
memory is at its best, ambition at its highest,
and his temptation to burn the candle at both
ends-to be brilliant boon companion, a man
whose good tales are remembered, and whose
witty sayings are everywhere quoted-is al
most irresistible; facility does not come with
age, and the best of stories grow stale. OF the
number of prematurely exhausted intellects
and shortened lives brokenI down in this way,
there is no need TO tell. Every mans memory
viii furnish him with q list of names more or
less wellknown.
FROM TWENTY-FIVE TO THIRTY-FrvE
Is the true time for all the enjoyment of a mans
best powers, when physical Vigor is at its high
est, and human passion is at its full strength.
During the last half Of this decade a man
should be aSsiduous to construct a system of
philosophy by which to rule his life, and to con-
tract chain of habits intelligently, so 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 Intellectual
strength should be gagged, and the constitu-
uonal weakness, or, in other words, the disease
toward which tendency exists, should be as
certained. 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 car
rage save rain. The day on which 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-indf-
gestion, liver, kidney disease, and 30 on; while
II, to utilize his leisure, he reads as he drives,
his eyesight becomes seriously affected.
FROM THIRTY FIVE TO FoRTY-FIvE.
a man should arrange with his food and square
hypochondria. He cannot, It is true, change
his diathesis, but he eau manage It. The hab-
itual character of food, mo les than its guam
tity and quality, begins to He'll whether it
charges the system with fat, muscle, sinew,
fibre or watery particles. As to the evening
glass of spirits 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 oYerstep-
ping the truth to assert that q weekly excess
Of whisky does less harm than the moderate
evening glass. Good, generous red wine,
toasted bread and brown meat comprise the
best nourishment man can take at this period.
From forty-five to ffty-tive the recuperstive
powers should be encouraged and developed.
There is nothing like WORK to keep an old
horse sound. Sporting dogs should be thin,
but obesity will set in. About this time man
has his first serious Illness, or he gets heavy
fall, loses his nerve, and becomes miserable.
Anxiety ought to be STAYED Of, hope encour-
aged, sordid cares avoided.
If i grief exists it should not be brooded
over, but talked out with q friend, gauged,
estimated at its worst, and dismissed to absorb
itself. If man at this time is much engaged
In outdoor sports-hunting, shooting, fishing,
ete.-and lives wholesomely and temporarily,
he 10 pretty sure to be clear Of sedentary dis
ease. But he may probably have TO his sc-
count q broken rib or collar-boue, or get .
heavy fall from his horse. The last Is often
owing to the greater caution In riding, pro-
duced by age and increase in weight; fofriding
boldly at a fence, as young blood does and
light weight can, frequently saves horses and
man from disaster. For this reason middle
aged men should not ride old horses. Rheu-
matism, coughs and inHsmmatory diseases
arising from exposure to wet or cold . man Of
forty-f will have to contend with, but his
blood will be in good condition for the strug-
gle. Moderate exposure to hardships of this
kind, like moderate irregularity of meal times,
never harmed man yet.
YOUR CHOICE OF MALADIRs.
During this decade man clearly has In his
hands the power of deciding of what class of
maladies he will die. Indeed, be may almost
specify the precise disease II he prefers to perish
inch by inch Of nervous diseases, paralysis,
sefts9ing q he srslp, stss se cannot Do better
his office, near to . rGlYaS station where the
service Of trains is imiteaa His anxiety to
catch the morning train will cause his breass
fast to be swallowed in hurry, and to lie IN
digested, while the steady jar and vibration Of
the train on the spine and neWes, endured
daily and without intermisslon, will moi, fail to
produce the results referred to, besides setting
up most unhappy and wearing irrirabiltty Of
temper. A good many London men who re-
side at Brighton and do thu journey twice in
twenty-four hours, can bear melancholy testi-
mony to this truth. Better thousand times
buy 9 pony every two years, and batter its
legs to pieces every twenty months by gallop-
ing ten miles in and out, than adopt such
suicidal mode OF transit. About this time
AGE BEGINS TO ASSERT ITSELF;
loss of repairing power and inroads Of decay
are visible; and here skilled aid and advice by
way of prevention are Invaluable. The peri
odical attention of q good dentist Is about as
necessary as anything can be for health; the
slightest failure Of eycsight should be atteuded
to, and proper spsctacies adopted. Reading
By gaslight or without properly shaded lamp
is simply madness. man may use his eyes
necessarily all his life into the small hours Of
the night, and preserve q strong, useful vision.
BY proper care. Such has been the case with
many old men, and nothing can be imagined
finer than Sir David Brewster on his dying bed
making scientific notes on the diseases OF the
eye peculiar to old age; or the late Sir Henry
hOuknu CnrOuclln8 the gIauual steps WHICH
marked the progress of decaying vital. powers.
he knew he was growing old, he says, when
he no longer crossed tbs street slsnting, but
made the full square, the impesuosity Of youth
had gone.
ADVANTAGE OF A HOLIDAY.
If man has thus through his life made .
point of taking two clear months holiday
every year, he has, so to speak, insured his
life and health indefinitely, and viii assafedly
begin to realize the fact. 1t is now that gem
erous food and nourishment are imperatively
required to keep up vitality. We live literally
by dying, and perpetuAlly change every atom
one BY one. Life consists In perishing and re-
newins, and we are sustained by giving and
taking. Every mealiss rescue from death, an
by which we stave of the inrosds
and waste which heat, cold, atmospheric
enecta and exercise makes on our organic Life.
DR.. Beard puts il thus: The golden decide is
from thirty to forty; the silver decade, forty to
fry; the brszen, twenty 10 thirty; the iron,
ffty to sixty, and from sixty to seventy we
learn whether the iron is forged or only cast :.
According to the Doctors estimate, we are at
our best from thtty-eight to forty7six, when
judgment and experience ara bal,
anced. After that date enthusiasm declines,
Judgment grows tmid, and, though expe-
renee enlarges, there comes time when it
ceases to have any educating powers.
= FLORAL TRIBUTES IN PAR rs.
The enormous bouquets actresses now re-
eejve IN Paris cannot he carried fnto a nriva Il