The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1880-06-30
WHOLE NO. 1912.
Keep Your Mouth Shut.

The peculiar arrangement of the
narrowed and branched and deli
cately-furnished nasal passages are
specially fitted To strain the air and
to warm it before it enters the lungs.
The foul air and sickening efliuyia
which one meets in a days travel
through the crowded city are breath
ed with greater impunity through
the nose than through the mouth.
Raw air, inhaled through the
mouth induces hoarseness, coughs,
etc. The great actor Cook, when
dying, told his friend and faithful
attendant, Broster, that, although he
could make him no bequest in
money he would give him something
worth money. He then advised
Broster TO set up as a teacher of
elOcutiOn, and to impart TO his pu-
pills, ON condition of large fee, and
a solemn promise no to diyulge it,
the secret of his (Cooke's) extraor-
binary powers of voice and Its un-
tagging quality, which was TO carry
on respiration through the noStrils,
so rs not to dry or irritate the deli
cate organs of the voice. Broster
took this advice, and used it so well
as to retire with a fortune He
made every young clergyman, who
took lessons, sign a bond that in the
event of his becoming Il bishop he
would pay a further fee OF 100
guineas. John KelWell inherited
/ the secret from Broster, and used it
with similer reserve and profit but
his son, upon being appointed a col
lege lecturer on public reading and
speaking, disclosed the secret TO all
his pupils as thing of the greatest
importance to them. Mr.. Pitman
gives an epitome of Mr. George Catlin
in his travels among the Indians, of
whom he visited 100 tribes. Every
where he found the Indian women
careful to press together the lips of
their children after leaving the
breast, and before being suspended
in their narrow cradles in the open
air, and he found it to be Il very rare
thing to hear of a death during child
hood among any of the tribes, before
strong drink and new diseases were
introduced among them by the
whites. 1t is said that no animal
but man ever sleeps with his mouth
open, and that the lungs need a
degree of rest from labor which they
get with the moderate inhalation
that, with 4 low pulse, attends perfect
nightly repose. Mr.. Catlin attrib-
utes his escape from malarial fevers,
and his actual recovery from pull
mOnary weakdess, to a strict observ-
ance of the rule to keep the lips and
teeth closely shut. When he went
to the wilderness he was feeble He
found himself compelled 90 si,ep in
the open, dewy air. His one main
precaution secured the eLdre restor-
alton of his health and vigor He
found that all Indians had good
teeth, which remained sound to old
age, and that there was no Sufferers
among them. In his closing para
graphs he advises that mothers ut
home, and teachers in seminarics,
should make nightly rounds as long
as necessary to put stop to the
unnatural, dangerous and disgust
ing habit of sleeping with the mouth
open. NO one who has been snor-
ing through the night feels properly
refreshed in the morning. Keep
your mouths shut, my young read
ers-when you read silently, when
you write, when you listen, when
you are in pain, when YOU are walk
ing or riding, and by all means when
YOU are angry