Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1884-07-04
why We Are Weak.

Nothing is ever gained by breaking
.he slightest of Natures laws. She has
decreed that thus far we may go, but
whoever crosses tho invisible line pays
the penalty, himself or in his children.
Our bodies are made Of the most doli-
cate and complex machinery strong,
but capable of endurance and long wear;
every person who subjects any organ
to abuse will in the end find that it does
not pay. Our grandfathers, sturdy old
woodchoppers and tillers of tho soil,
manufactured their own apple-jack and
rye whisky and used them on all oc-
casions, and who ever knew any one
iniuredp 1t would have been better II
they had felt the effects and not trans
mitted weakness and depraved tastes
to their descendants. Our grand
mothors-I wish we had their strength
spun and wove, and MIXED and
churned, walked countless miles with
chopped, keeping pace with the stur-
diest men. The result is felt now-a-
days in the weakness and debility
which old people find so hard to ac-
count for, imagining it caused entirely
~ changed modes Of living. Not once
will they acknowledge that these same
feats, their ouer,corb of which they are
so proud, could even remotely cause
these dire results!
Nowadays we are quite rs culpable.
The stomach is gorged with imperfectly
masticated food, and though long en-
during, finally. makes its owner pay
the penalty of season of pain and a
long doctors bill. The eyes, naturally
weak in this degenerate age, are
strained and overworked; and spec
tacles and early loss of sight are the
result. Young people, ignorant of the
result, lift weights too heavy for their
strength; the spine is injured, and they
spend y life of weakness or invalidism.
lmperfectly cooked or improper food
is n prolific source of disease; also i'm
pure air; hurtful positions in sleeping,
walking and sitting; lack of sunlight;
imperfectly ventilated school and Sleep
ing rooms; mild use of stimu!ants;
ungoverned passions. These are ap-
parently slight and unimportant, and
Dame Nature, that kindly soul, dis
poses her forces to such good advantage
that the broken laws are unnoticed
until one begins to think he can go on
indefinitely. But by-and-by ther
comes crash, and the constitution,
which seemed of iron, is so permeated
with disease that it is broken by a
trifling accident, slight cold or slow
fever, and after months of inactivity
and drugging, the patient realizes that
health and strength are never more for
him.
Often we here the complaint that
these indiscretions were committed in
Ignorance; but we know that "ignor.
ance of the law excuses no one," and
should we expect more elemency from
nature than from our law makers
Every observing person can see on all
sides the i'll results of young people
growing up in absurd ignorance of the
proper care of their bodies, and the
sure and awful penalties which visit
the erring. Physicians say that case:
are by no means rare where they are
consulted by patients suffering all the
horrors of Il living death. which might
have been averted if the parents, the
real offenders, had given them work:
on health and physiology. alway:
feel indignant when see the results OF
this most culpable neglect, and wonder
how parents can allow their children
to mature in ignorance of all health
rules, while they are careful to instruct
them in the less important matters o
spelling and writing. The reason
usually given is that the innocence OF
childhood is $50 engaging" So it is
but when it results in ruined man and
womanhood it loses its charm, and we
perfer our children less ignorant, and
our coming fathers and mothers more
healthy. IL children are taught the
common rules of health rather than the
best cure of disease, and by word upon
word, prccept upon precept, arr
directed in the right path, they viii
seldom sin against themselves, b,
undue exposure or injudicious practices
Our periodicals are crowded witt
patent medicine advertisements, eacl
claiming to be the real and only
panacea for all human ills. Would i
not be infinitely better to prevent dis
ease, than to resort to these doubtful
and dangerous attempts to effect ,
cure9 This is n subject that need
thorough agitation and ventilation
Many of the men and women of to-da,
may be past reclaiming; but thu
children, on whom the success of ou
nation depends, should be taught tina
health and wisdom are better thar
wealth and disease. = Cor. COuntr,
Gentleman.
William Martin mado n ,,;ol, III,