St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-01-22
Some Illustrations of the Benefit
of Walking.
nY RERrHA voN HILLERN.

our generation. An intelligent under
standing and practical exercise of these
laws are rapidly becoming parts of
popular education. An English phil
OsOpher, who had crossed the ocean to
study the people of America, at the
farewell banquet rendered him in New
York on the eve of his departure, thus
gave the result of his observations, his
remarks turning chiefly on national
health 1--WE hear great DEAL he
said, "about the vile body, and many
are encouraged by the phrase to trans
gress the laws of health. But nature
quietly suppresses those who treat
thus disrespectfully one Of her highest
products, and leaves the world to be
peOpled by the descendants of those
who are not so foolish when life has
been duly rationalized by science, it
will be seen that, among mans du-
ties, care of the body is imperative not
only out of regard for personal well
fare, bnt also out of regard for descen-
dants. His constitution win be con
sidered as an entailed estate, which he
ought to pass on uninjured, if not i'm
proved, to those who follow"
The direction of present thought
and it must be also added, of present
fashiOn-point to the future he pre-
diets. 1t is now as fashionable to have
cheeks Drowned by the sun and wind
as it once was to preserve the invalid
pallOr gained by careful protection
against both. Lawn tennis, boating
and other forms of outdoor exercise
lend themselves to this end, but no
other form of open air exercise is so
adapted to every rank, age, sex, tenn
lends itself to every mood, from the
slow saunter of the thoughtful in
valid to the bounding race of those in
the full tide of youthful strength and
high animal spirits. No wild galop
across the country upon spirited
horse is more exhilarating no idle
repOse is more sOOthing-Onc the
taste and habit are formed.
In the struggle to regain the squan-
dered health of the American people,
walking can, and / am convinced will,
play an important part. AS IL mem Der
of the lordIy sex the philosophers in
terest and warning conferred in the
men of the nation by a life token, my
own efforts are addressed to the wOm-
EN- the health of the mothers of Il ma
ton should quite as solemnly be re-
garded as "an entailed estate and
happily the widening circle of wOmen's
usefulness is giving them greater in
centives to preserve that health which
is so important. An added motive,
and it may seem a more truly feminine
one, may be found in the somewhat
tardy discovery that beauty of face
and form, and grace of movement, are
to be the accompaniment of bodily
health, and woman, originally created
to be beautiful, has preserved through
all generations "a natural craving for
beauty, which proves stronger as an
incentive to any habit of life, than all
the pangs of disease have proved us a
preventive. Health doubtless will not
make of IN ugly woman a beauty but
it is one of the most powerful agents
to make of each the best of which her
original structure is capable. | have
known many instances of people whom
habit of Open-air exercise had devel-
oped from frail childhood to perfect
health.
But recognizing the fact that there
is no theory so foolish that an array of
proofs may not he produced in its sup
port, have tried To study the effect of
walking upon others in every variety
of climate, and under various circum-
stances, comparing also the testimony
of the numerous letters addressed to
me by those who wished to ask if some
tendency to disease should prevent
their walking and from the same peo-
pie, after they had formed the habit,
and found the greatest good resulting
from it,
Above all, during the last three
years have ] had special opportunities
for studying the reiGtiue good of this
form of exercise, in locality where
the natural means of Iocomotion seem
almost entirely supplanted by the hab-
it of horseback riding. In Virginia.
from the smallest children hardly large
enough to sit on a horse, to the aged
''grand-pap" and ''grand nanny" the
entire population seem to live on
horse back.
The habit of borrowing and lend !
ing, cOnsecrated by immemorial GUS
tom, and crystalized into fixity by the
kindly nature of the people, places
the horses of those who own them. at
the service of those who do not. It'll
has consequently taken deal of inge-
Nous devising of motives to induce
these people to walk enough to com
pare the relative value of the two
forms of open-air exercise enough to
form general conclusions. but the evil
1ence has been Enthusiastically in favor |
Of walking.
All the world knows that often, |
when all the resources of mdteriG med |
lea seem to fail, the physician aban-
dODs the patient To nature for a cure, I
and not unfrequently nature fulfIs the /
task. In these cases how is nature to |
effect cure and how can walking |
m n fari allr MD In fLl ,,rncnsS