The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-05-19
LITTLE ILLNESSES,
Kate Upson Clarke Discusses the Immor.
aiity OF Sickness.

H,tty OF sickness.
The head Of well-known seminary
used to say to her pupils: "The time
will come when men will be fined and
imprisoned for being sick. In this ago
of intelligence and light, 1t Is q crime
to be sick.' In a country and race
where hereditary weakness. dense ig-
norance aud unavoidable accidents arc
responsible for q large portion OF the
Illness suffered, this excellent lndy's
sweeping prophecy will not come true
at present. But. leaving out of sight
che classes named, is she so very far out
of the wayp Among us who read and
think. and are supposed to understand
something Of the law of our own bodies.
IS there not II vast number of ailments
which we might avoid perfectly we'll
except for blameworthy carelcssness. or
wrong indulgence of appetite. or silly
fear of the criticism of our "friends?'
A prominent and respected citizen of
one of our inland towns had very nice
pic for dinner the other day, and was
helping himself to second piece, when
his daughter said: "Take care, father,
or you will surely bring on one of your
headaches" II declare" he said Gas
we have all heard people say some
times under similar circumstances, },
''tl,is pie is so good that it is worth II
little trouble. I've got to have another
piece. any way.' He was laid up for
three days aftcrward, and paid for
three visits from the octor during their
painful course. Was not that man
directly to blame for all the trouble ho
made others us we'll as himsclfp
DR.. johnson say $: Every man is ras-
cal as soon as he is sick" 1t is sure that,
with the exception of some of earth 5
heaven-inspired saints, most of us do
lose what little virtue we possess under
the spell of wearing pain, the con-
seriousness that our business is going
awry, and the other trials attendant
upon illness. Our sanitary experts de-
clare that the vast majority of the
crimes committed in the world are due
primarily to bad food or to hunger. 1t is
a well-establishcd fact that very many
men and women acquire the drinking
habit from the craving of the stomach,
which there is no nutritious food to
satisfy. A thoroughly-sane mind can
only exist in II thoroughly-sane body.
In view of the facts here presented,
which are only types of hundreds fa-
miliar to us ali. we arc forced to adj
nit that by exercising the faculties
with which kind Providence has en-
dowed us--our intelligence, our self
restraint-we may avoid by far the
greater part of physical ills which our
flesh is heir to. Since these ills bring
trouble to our families. from the actual
excrtion they arc forced to make Ito
say nothing of the endurance of all our
invalid whims and caprices); cause OK
pense which we can often ill afford to
bear; presumably shorten our lives Gn
other words slow suicides). and make
us less able to do useful work and bear
hard strains in the future, and, above
all,strengthen the always strong enough
tendency in human nature to center its
thoughts in self rather than in higher
and altruistic hummelshine, these
things are so, most of our little illnesses
become absolute immoralities in us, and
we should hate them sincerely, and
shun them by every means in our pow
Congregationattst