The Rugby gazette and east Tennessee news. (Rugby, Morgan Co., Tenn.) 1884-188?, 1885-07-04
FOOD AND EXERCISE,


anu Non-Workers.
= Those who have little time for exer-
else and are compelled to live chiefly
within doors must endeavor to secure,
o. should have secured for them as far
as possible by employers, by way of
compensation, regular supply of
fresh air. without draughts, an atmos-
phcre as free from dust and other i'm
puritics as can be obtained, with a good
supply of light, and some artificial
warmth when needed. These necessi-
ties granted, cereal foods, such as we'll
mado bread in variety, and vegetable
produce, including fruits, should form
a great part of the diet consumed, with
q fair addition of eggs and milk if no
meat is taken, and little of other ami
nal food than fish. On such dietary,
and without alcoholic stimulants, thou
sands of such workers as | have briefly
indicated may EN- Joy, with very little
exercise, far better health and more
strength than at present they experience
on meat and heavy buildings, beer,
bakers bread and cheese. OF course
there are workers who belong to neither
Of the two extreme classes indicated,
and whose habits can not be described
as sedentary, but who occupy middle
place between the two. For such some
corresponding modification of the
dietary is naturally appropriate. But
= lfrnr. to nvIr nnnf in,
any form as necessary to life; if
for any it is necessary, it is for
the Woodworking outdoor laborers,
and for these certain proportion is no
doubt desirable. Animal flesh is use
full, also, as a concentrated form of
nutriment, valuable for its portability,
and for the small space it occupies in
the stomach-unrivaled in certain cir
cumstances. Like every other descrip-
ton of food, it is highly useful in its
place, but is by no means necessary for
a large proportion of the population.
To many it has become partially de-
sirable only by the force of habit and
because their digestive organs have
thus been trained to deal with it, and
at first resent a change. But this be-
ing gradually made, adaptation takes
place, and the individual who has con-
sumed two or three meat meals daily
with some little discomfort, chiefly from
being often indisposed to make active
eXertiOns, becomes, after sufficient time
has elapsed, stronger, lighter and hap
pier, as well as better tempered and
manifestly healthier, on the more deli
cate dietary sketched. People in gen
eral have very inadequate ideas of the
great power of habit alone in forming
what they believe to be innate personal
peculiarities, or in creating conditions
which are apparently part of a constitu
tional necessity, laws of their nature,
and essential to their existence. Many
of these peculiarities are solely due to
habit-that is, to long continuance in
routine of action, adopted, it may be,
without motive or design; and peo-
pie are apt to forget that if rou
tine of precisely opposite character
had been adopted precisely opposite
conditions would have been established,
and opposite peculiarities 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, considerable
change may be effected with satisfac-
tory results, when circumstances render
it necessary. To revert once more to
the question of flesh eating, it should
be remarked that it appears to be 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 repugnance to meat at first,
and are coaxed and even scolded by
anxious mothers until the habit of eat
ing it is acquired. Adopting the insular
creed, which regards beef and mutton
as necessary to health and strength, the
mother often suffers from groundless
forebodings about the future of child
who rejects flesh and manifests what is
regarded as an unfortunate partiality
for bread and butter and pudding.
Nevertheless, | am satisfied, if the chill
dren followed their own instinct in that
matter, the result would be gain in
more ways than one. Certainly, if
meat did not appear in the nursery I'M
til the children sent for it, it would be
rarely seen there, and the young ones
would, as rule, thrive on milk and
eggs, with the varied produce of the
vegetable kingdom. Sir Henry 1homp-
SON in NS71eteenLh Ce1lt7lrM