The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-09-02
Food and Exercise.

/ Those who have little time for ex-
ercise and are compelled TO live chiefly
within doors must endeayor TO secure,
/ or should have secured for them as lar
as possible by employers. BY way of
compensation. a regular supply of
| fresh air. without draughts. an atuios-
phere as free from dust and other i'm
parties as can be obtained. with 3
good supply of light. and some arti-
| fieial warmth when needed. These
necessities granted. cereal foods, such
as well-inade bread in variety, and
vegetable produce. including fruits,
should form q great part of the diet
| consumed. with a fair addition of eggs
| and milk If no meat is taken, and little
of other animal food than fish. On
su b a dietary. and without alcoholic
stimulants. thousands of such workers
rs have briefly indicated may enjoy,
with very little exercise. far better
health and moro strength than at
present they experience on meat and
heavy puddings, bakers bread, and
cheese.
OF course there are workers who be-
long 10 neither of these two extreme
classes indicated. and whose habits can
not be described rs sedentary. but who
occupy middle place between the
two. For such some corresponding
modification of the dietary is naturally
appropriate. But it is a vulgar error
to regard meat in any form as neces-
! sary to life; il for any it Is necessary,
it is for the hard working outdoor la
borers, and for these certain proper
ton is no doubt desirable. Animal
flesh is useful, also, as a concentrated
form OF nutriment, valuable for its
portability, and for the small space it
occupies In the stomach-unrivaled in
certain circumstances. Like every
other description of food, it is highly
useful in its place, but is by no means
necessary for large proportion of the
population. TO many it has become
partially desirable only by force of hab-
it and because their digestive organs
have thus been trained TO deal with it,
and AT first resent clange. But this
beng gradually made. adoption takes
place. and the individual who has CON-
sumed two or three meat meals daily
with some little discomfort. chiefly
from being too often indisposed to make
active exertious, becomes, after suffi-
cient time has elapsed, stronger, light
er, and happier, as well rs better tenn
pered and manifestly healthier, on the
more delicate dietary sketched.
People in general have very made
quate ideas of the great power OF habit
alone in forming what they believe to
be innate personal peculiarities, or in
creating conditions which are appar-
emily part of constitutional necessity,
lax fef hn5 fai
their existence. Many of these peculi-
arities are solely due to habit-that is,
to long continuance in routine of ac-
ton. adopted. it may be, without mo-
tive or design; and people are apt to
forget that If Il routine of precisely op-
posite character had been adopted pre-
cisely opposite conditions would have
been established, and opposite peculi-
arities would have become dominant,
as their contraries are now. Alterations
in the dietary. especially of elderly
persons. should be made gradually and
with caution This condition fulfilled,
a considerable change may be effected
with satisfactory results. when circum-
stances render it necessary.
10 revert once more to the question
of fiesh-eating, it should be remarked
that IL appeafs 10 oe by no means
natural taste with the young. Few
children like that part of the meal
which consists of meat. but prefer the
pudding, the fruit, the vegetables, if
well dressed. which. unhappily. is not
often the case. Many children mani
fest great rcpugnance to meat at first,
and are coaxed and even scolded 10y
anxious mothers until the habit of eat
ing it is acquired. Adopting the in-
sular creed, which regards beef and
mutton as necessary to health and
strength. the mother often suffers from
groundless forebodings about the fu-
ture of child who rejects flesh and
manifests what is regarded as an I'M
fortunate partialty for bread and but
ter and pudding. Nevertheless, [ am
satisfied, if the children followed their
own instinct in that matter, the result
would be a gain in more ways than ono.
Certainly, if meat did not appear in
the nursery until the children sent for
it. it would be rarely seen there, and
the young ones would, as a rule. thrive
on milk and eggs. with the varied pro-
duce of the vegetable kingdom.-sir
Henry Thompson, TN the Aigeteeata Cen
tury.