Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-01-08
nd he would be. in fact, an invalid. Were

else at first, gradually increasing the amount |
until he had resumed his accustomed actlvl- |
ties. his muscles would resume their former
firmness and strength. Men have control
over their health, and if they fail to do their
part in the world it is usually their own
fault. If they strive to do too much and
thus impair health and shorten life, it is
still their own fault. Those are happlest
and live the longest who are well nOurished
and whose regular business demands about
the same amount of bodily activity every
day, as would be essential to health under
any circumstances.
The object of exercise is to stimulate the
vital organs to healthful activity. The
breathing becomes more rapid under eXer-
else, the blood is more rapidly oXygeniZed,
the circulation is quickened, and the refuse
matters are eliminated more promptly TOR
the system; the digestive organs do their
work more promptly and more thoroughly,
and demand is soon made for new mate
rial (; the individual is hungry and takes
food with an increased relish. Thus the
machinery Of life runs on smoothly and nat
urally under the stimulus of fresh air ana
exercise, the strength is renewed and disease
banished.
The best of all methods of eXescise is
horseback riding, and this is the reason:
the horse does most of the work and the
rider receives most Of the benefit, because
he does not exhaust his own strength, but
that of the horse in taking the exercise
The rider is passive to q great extent, par
ticularly if he has horse with an easy gait.
He is shaken up without becoming fatigued,
and he really gets more air in the lungs
than if he were walking. Another most I'M
portant point is the excitement and pleasure
of riding it is often a new sensation, While
walking is common place and soon becomes
tiresome, and then its benefits diminish;
Still walking is neXtto horseback riding and
is method of locomotion that renders us
quite independent.
TERRITORY OF ALAsKA.-Our most west
ern possession is, to the great majority, a
land unknown. a land unappreciated, re-
gion of doubts. We have owned the coun-
try since 1867, but what of that? Only
score know what revenues it brings, Alas
ka scenery rivals in grandeur and beauty
that of Switzerland and Norway, but how
few are aware of this? 1t has glaciers larg-
er than any other in the world, but what has
ever been said of them?
The Territory of Alaska, purchased from
Russia in 1867 for 81 900, has an area OF
$50, ,1O7 square miles, or size equal to all OF
the United States east of the Mississippi
River and North of Alabama, Georgia and
North Carolina. Its extreme breadth from
east to west is 1900 miles. The Island OF
Attu, in Alaska, is as far west Of San Fran
cisco as the coast of Maine is east of that city.
The length of Alaska is 400 miles, and the
shore line up and down the bays and around
the islands is $4,000 miles. In other words,
the coast of Alaska, if extended in straight
line, would belt the globe. Along the entire
length of the coast it's islands are grouped
before the gently curving mainland, and be-
tween them run deep channels, witha heavy
growth of trees and shrubs covering their
banks. There are big islands and little ones,
but all have their thick covering of forests,
which, in nearly every instance, have never
been disturbed by man. So thickly indeed
do the trees grow, and 50 rank is the shrub
berry, that one can hardly travel inland, and
the natives of the country depend entirely
upon their cedar canoes when moving from
place to place. The canoe, in fact, is to the
people of Alaska what the gondola is to We
netians; and like the dWellers by the Adrl-
attic, those in the far North know nothing OF
and care nothing for the horses which in
other places are so necessary.
THE B.ANANA.-The banana is an annual,
the fruit coming to maturity about q year
after M the shoot is planted, the trunk of the
| tree subsequently attaininga height OF from
eight feet to ten feet, and a girth of thirty
six inches. From this trunk, which is OF a
tibrous nature, are thrown out long palm
| like branches, at the junction of which ap-
pears the fruit, each group of punches, num-
| bering from four to twelve, being called a
"hand,n and each hand having eight to ten
bananas upon it. A bunch of eight hands is
the ordinary standard size of shipping fruit.
From the root of the tree several shoots or
suckers sprout, each of which, in turn, be-
comes fresh tree. The life of the banana
tree, however, is not usually long, for it is
felled after the fruit is gathered, and some
times indeed, during the operation. Jamal-
ca contains good many banana plantations,
varying in size from twenty-five thousand
! to two hundred thousand trees, for the most
part cultivated by the small settlers i'll the
different parishes. These holdings general
| ly consist of three or four acres OF land, on
which the owners live in temporary mud
hut, being afraid to leave their property to
the tender mercies of their neighbors, who
rob each others ground with the strctest
/ impartiality whenever they get a chance.
The cultivation is very primitive. The land
/ being cleared by big iron hoe, hole is dug
and The sucker planted in it, in most cases
nature doing all that is necessary but in
! the larger plantations the trees are planted
| with some degree of system, in the form OF
squares, and trenches are dug for irrigation,
the banana thriving best in damp, stiff soil.
/ How Do You LIE?-Dr. Delaunay, an
| eminent French student, writes to the Paris
! Biological Society on the subject of dreams.
The character of our dreams, he claims, is
very much determined by the position we
occupy in sleep. The most general method
of lying, perhaps, is on the right side, and
/ this appears to be also the most natural
I ,nnthod for MANY persons object to living
upon the side of the heart, which, 1T has
, been more than once asserted, should have
; action during sleep. Nevertheless, DIR. De-
launay's statements hardly harmonize with
this opinion When one sleeps upon the
right side, that is to say, upon the right SIDE
of the brain, ones dreams have marked and
rather unpleasant characteristics. These
characteristics, however, are essentially
! those which enter into the popular defni-
/ ton of dreams. Ones dreams are then apt
to be illogical, absurd, childish, uncertain,
incoherent, full of vivacity and eXaggera-
ton. Dreams which come from sleeping
on the right side are, in short, simply de-
ceptions. They bring to the mind very old
or faint remembrances, and they are often
accompanied by Nightmares. DIR. Delaunay
points out that sleepers freqently compose
verse or rhythmical language while they
are lying on their right side. This verse,
though at times correct enough, is absolute
/ lv without sense. The moral faculties are
| then at work, but the intellectual tacul-
/ ties are absent. On the other hand, when
person slumbers on his left brain, his
dreams are not only less absurd, but they
may also be intelligent. They are, as a
! rule, concerned with recent things, not with
"reminiscences.
I,,t~