Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-09-01

reason, and can be accounted for, and, by
proper precautions, prevented. But It sell
dom seems to be thought that the same rule
extends to the colds, fever, auxcs and con
sumptions which aflict us, cost us so much
money, and Kill us
Yet science has revealed TO us what shrewd
thought ought to have convinced us Of, that
all diseases are preventable, and that nan
has no other legitimate occasion to die than
that introduced by time, when his natural
limitation Of life is reached. Every cause
Of sickness and death, except old age and
accident, may be escaped by those who
choose TO know the simple rules Of health,
and to live 10y them. Farmers and their
families ought to be the healthiest psotli in
the world. The poor in cities are subject to
causes of disease which they cannot them
selves prevent or escape, so long as they con
tinue to live there But the farmer has
around him the four essentials Of long life,
pure air, pure food, pure water and pure
soil and possessing these, if he understands
also that all disease is due TO an unnatural
want--he has it in his power to prolong his
life and the life of each member Of his house
hold to its scriptural limit, in almost every
case.
The average cost Of each case of sickness
has been put by careful calculators at fifty
dollars, and it seems to us that this is quite
low enough, when we consider all the ex-
penses, direct and indirect, together with
the weakness Of the body that so frequently
follows, and reduces the working power of
the sufferer for months and years, if not for
life. Taking this estimate, it is sufficient to
enable us TO see how many industrious
families are kept poor, in spite Of their best
exertions, by disease And il it be really
true that all disease, except that which is
accidental or hereditary, (and the latter after
two or three generations,) may be prevented
by the observance Of simple rules, or by the
practical application of easily acquired
knowledge, how greatly the wealth Of a
country, to say nothing of the happiness of
its people, may be increased
In the first place let us look at the great
mortality among children. Were such a
rate of death to prevail among our calves and
colts as exists among the youngof the human
race, would not the whole farming commu-
nifty be appalled,, and would we not all set to
work with energy TO discover a remedy Is
not u child of more value than a calf2 Yet
how few parents care to know the proper
method of rearing their own young, or know
ing, will observe it, though they be each of
them skillful in bringing young turkies OF
young cattle to vigorous maturity
The same rules apply substantially to the
human and to the brute Pure air, pure and
proper food at regular intervals, pure drink
and comfortable temperature, are the grea
essentials ; and we are successful with oul
young live stock just in proportion as thes,
are secured to them. Do we ever attempt t.
secure these things to our children
So far as our own observation and expert
ence goes, it is one of the rarest things il
the world that any regimen based upon in
telligent system is ever adopted with chill
dren. No animal subjected to such abuse
Unconscious though it may be,) as mos
babies undergo, up to five years old, could b'
reared to usefulness and that so man,
babies do grow up, (though fewof them Will
perfectly sound bodies,) is a convincing proc
that the human race is the toughest of al
the animal creation.
In food the abuses Of infants are so grea
that many die from that cause alone. Capa
bic only of digesting milk until the teetl
appear how often do we see these little one
sitting up at table within few months o
birth, fed from the mothers plate with mea
and vegetables, not unfrequently washe,
down with tea or coffee. So soon as the.
can hold anything in their hands, how oftel
is it that doughnut, or a cake or, a piece o
candy is thought to be a sweet boon for tn
innocent, until the pains of indigestion dis
play themselves in shrieks that the mothe
will then try to lull by offering some othe
equally pernicious luxury and this failing
win drug it into temporary quiet by som
opiate "soothing syrup"-only to go throug
the same routine the next day and the next.
1t will not be setting it high enough Il
say that three-quarters of the children il
New England, during the coming, as durini
all preceding winters, will suffer with tn
cold because of insufficient clothing, and tn
custom OF setting them upon the floor. Tn
stratum of air, even in the warmest of GU
houses, that lies next to the floor in freezeinl
weather, is rarely more than few degrees
in warmth above the external atmosphere
Yet ii is the habit of mothers to keep thei
children, so soon as they can sit up an,
creep in this chilling air, often with bar
legs and insufficient clothing upon thei
bodies. The consequences are colds, Group
and lung feyers. Thousands of babies ar
killed in this way every winter, on farm
where early lambs and chickens are nue.
better cared for
1t is not too much TO say that the foo,
upon most OF our farms, though abundan
and good in its raw condition, is rendere'
very injurious to health by bad cooking
Flour and fat are both wholesome article
of diet, taken separately, but mixed AM
cooked together, they come quite as near b,
ing poison as some things that are Gale
SO. II to the mess is added soda, up to tn
usual point of yellowness, an actual, thong
perhaps a slow poison is produced, and pc
manent destruction of health is only que
ton Of time. Frying any kind of FOOD
whether vegetable or animal, units il 70
all but the strongest digestions, and beget
most of the dyspeptic disease and much O
the consumption, with which so many Of on
people are dying by inches.
Insufficient clothing neglect of persona
cleanliness, and unfrequent changes of M
der-clothing, destroy the health of thousands
To these, as a cause Of disease, must be adde
constipation Of the bowels, that being itsel
in part caused by the -four, grease and sod
diet, and in part by habit formed in col
sequence Of the too often shamefully insu
fcient and uncomfortable provision, mad
for the calls of nature in our farmhouse
Animal excretions, whether confined fc
days within the body, or kept long in col
tact with the surface by unchanged clotl
ing, act as powerful poison upon the bloc
and lay the foundation of many long, an
many fatal sickness.
Very few women In our climate we