The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-10-11
Outdoor Exercise.

| 1ad lett OIL, ana restored me in a foler
IDLY healthy condition to my friends
several OF whom, fearing an assessment
or funeral expenses, had been mucb
concerned about my recovery, said that
must take more outdoor exercise He
advised me to play little solo once or
wice day at my wood-pile, using a
sharp saw, and to daily for an hour or
TWO of the pleasant summer afternoons
With the gay and tuneful lawn-mower.
| am person who will take advice.
especially when l have to pay for if at
ull rates whether | take it or not; so I
added a wood-saw to my personal eff
ects, and borrowed a lawn mower from
neighbor who had once owned lawn,
out had inadvertently lost it by giving
I q heavy top-dressing of mortgage.
Though cruel fate and the sheriff had
matched away his lawn, he had held on
20 his lawn-mower as a sort of family
heirloom, which he wanted to hand
DOWN to his posterity, not necessarily
| or publication, but as an evidence that
ne had once owned lawn.
This year my neighbor had all his
available real estate under chicken
coop, and he said | could use the lawn
| mower all summer if would be kind
TO it and not leave it cut Of nights to fall
into the hands of some person who
would forget to bring it back in the
morning. | assured him that while in
my charge his lawn-mower shoul%as6
get into bad company.
think | feel a great deal better for
the exercise l have been taking. T
would not have believed, had | not
tested the matter to my own satisfac-
ton, that outdoor exercise would have
so thoroughly agreed with me.
l began by saving a cord of oak
wood into stove lengths. That is, [
sawed all of the cord save that which
tramp sawed under my personal di-
rection. ! had Just got q stick on the
horse, and had hung my coat on the
willow, as the poet remarks, when the
tramp came along and said he had
had nothing to eat since the middle of
the week before and was hungry, and
would saw awhile for me for some
breakfast. A person who is hungry or
dry always touches my deeper SYM
i
great desire to see tramp at work.
After he had appeased his appetite /
gave him the saw, and then sat under
tree and watched him throw all the
yigor and enthusiasm of his nature into
the work. 1t was the most enjoyable
outdoor exercise [ ever had, and | en-
tered into the spirit ofitwith great eclat
Before ten O clock | was feeling like
new man, at eleven | believe / had
gained q pound, and at twelve [ had an
appetite like a thrashing- machine.
Then the tramp said if | would give
him his dinner and a dollar he would
finish the wOOd-pile, and accepted the
proposition at once, though | feared
was exceeding the proper allowance Of
exercise as prescribed by my most eX-
2ellent physician. But | seemed to.
stand it so wel3 that I could hardly fear
any i'll results.
The following day l brought home
he lawn-mower: Every person who
ass run a lawn-mower for any length,
Of time knows what a Joy forever it is.
Bus | should feel more friendly to lawn
mowers in general if they were wornin.
cold weather rather than in the heat OF
suEmer. They come in fashion at g,
time when they do not fill me with as
mucb delight as Al claret- punch with
two straws in it, and | do not think al
his HTiting that the habit of running
Lawn-moWer would, under any circum.
stances, grow upon NE until | could not
shako'it off. 1 feel that ( could turn
a
at any moment without deep-seated re,
greet | may be mistaken, but | an
willing to put myself on record to that
effect.
ran my adopted lawn-naower until
acquired blister on each hand about
the size and shape Of an adult almond,
and then | hired man to run it while
| sat in the shade of the porch and
directed his course. After that the
exercise was extremely ple2surable.
enjoyed it very much and felt that il
was Going me great good. | don't
think there is any more healthful OIL
pleasant outdoor exercise than that af.
f0rde1 by sitting in the shade and di-
recting the campaign of . gay and
tunefnl lawn-mOwer; which, singing
merrily as it goes, IN the hands of the
hired man, trims off your lawn till il
looks as if it were covered with green
velvet carpet worth seven and a-hali
dollars a yard.
When the doctor came out next time
to look at my tongue and charge up
another visit, he said he hadnever seen
a c0nyalescent pick upin flesh and take
on healthy color an rapidly as ]
seemed to be doing. He then advised
me to be careful and not overtax my
strength; after which ne left bill fol-
5000 and tore himself rather reluc
family away.
p S.-Since the above was written
have again sat on my porch and moved
my lawn, and | think [ enjoyed the
exercise even more than at the first
performance, My proxy, who fol-
lowed the lawn mower around as
directed, says he never saw man toll
with SO much zeal and enthusiasm as |
do when get in earnest about it and
become thoroughly warmed up at my
work.
My health is improving very rapidly.
| called for third piece of pie to-day
at dinner. And just here, while | think
about it, | want to say that it seems to
me that pies are cut much lower in the
neck and shorter in the sleeves this
season than formerly. This is . fashion
l do not like, and some day, when my