Wichita eagle., 1888-05-31
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NATURES POINTERS.
THE DANGER SIGNALS THAT TELL
OF TROUBLE AHEAD. -

Human Machine is Wearing Out-A
Weary Heart-Gray Hairs-Other Warn
inEs
Nature Is one Of the kindest Of mothers.
She is ever on the affectionate alert to let her
million children know of the Ills that menace
them and to hoist the-danger signal that tells
OF trouble ahead. For years you have been
accustomed to read an hour or two or three
hours at night without your sight being in
the least affected You can still see the de-
tails Of the Oakland hills and make out
where the few redwoods are left back Of San
Msteo. No type bothers you and you have
no particular focus Of vision. Lstterly, how
ever, you have begun to notice that toward the
end of your seances your eyes become trifle
blurred, that the black of the ink grows
grayer and that you require another gas jet
or the lamp little nearer to your elbow.
There is your warning, and he alone is
wise who heeds it You have received
pointer OF the most valuable description. 1t
means that you are wearing out your eyes
and that the blessed gift of good sight is be-
ing triied with. To let this warning go by
unheeded is criminal, both in intent and
action
The trouble with us Is that We will not
prepare for the tornado until it is upon us;
tl,at we want Clubbing to find out that our
skull can be cracked We are loath to bring
ourselves face to face with the fact that the
machine is wearing out, and we almost take
it as an insult when told that we are not as
young as wemdgfbba. So it happens that
we findwe cannot run up hill with the
same degree of elasticity that we were wont
TO have, ,G2d that when wa arrive at the top
we have bellows to mend, we ascribe these
facts to heavy dinner, the state of the at
mosphere, tight boots, or to any other cause
except the right embarrassing years.
BETTER AVOID A RUSH.
That heavily beating heart that thunps
against your ribs when the run Is over is one
of natures pointers, and ONO given with a
good deal of seriousness, too. 1t indicates
that the heart stock is weakening; that there
is too much fatty debris in the cardiac dis
trict, and that unless you want O smash in
the market you had better avoid anything
like rush Physiologically, the heart
is only a big muscle, but it is also
the great clock of the human system.
Its tick tick goes On from the cradle
to the coffin, and it beats OFF the seconds of
our lives, tangibly, audbfy and ceaselessly,
SO long IS our horoscope permits. But most
of all should We remember that it is an alarm
clock, its warnings being varied, but unmis-
taxable. There is the intermittent beat, the
iutter, the rattie and tie wild throb-all
pointers offered us by nature Something is
wrong. Perhaps it is only a case of indi-
gestion, or the lack of a little iron in the
blood, or the presence of an extra amount of
stimulant, but whatever ID is, we are here
afforded an opportunity Of finding out
whether the trouble is temporary or perrna-
nent. The one with care can be removed,
the other with care can be alleviated. Fail
to heed the warning, and some time when
you are making an after dinner speech you
will fall forward ON the table and never read
your obituary nOtica
Your barber one day sends the cold shivers
down your back by telling you that your
hair is getting thin ON the top of your head.
You had known it already, you had noticed
for very many wesks past that your brushes
carried OF a sad lot Of your crop in its
bristles every time you used them, and by
the use Of your hand glass and the mirror
you had found out that the scalp on the
crown was beginning to show through, that
forehead very high All this you had known,
but you had thought it a secret between
yourself and your mirror, SO that when the
barber bruta1y tells you that the effects Of
the thinning out process are plain to every
one, you cannot help being shocked When
you ge5 home you put yourself in a strong
light and so in for q regular inspection Of
Times ravages. The result is deplorable.
There in the temporal locks, cunningly hid
den away under the darker hair, are two or
three threads Of gray, while, as though the
gentleman with the hour glass had struck
you in the back of the neck, in the short
hairs of the nape two or three more white
ones are seen.
PUT AWAY FOOLISH THINGS.
1t is, perhaps, impossible to imagine any
one of nature's pointers that is more unwill-
ingly received than this. Unwillingly re-
ceived because it means that the time has
como when you must put away foolish things,
quit the frivolities-not the pleasures, neces-
sarily-of youth; give up the assumption OF
juveniiity and settle down to the serious
things of middle age. Fortunately middle
age has its pleasant as well as its serious
things. In fact, 1t is a question whether that
sobrer time when tho leaves are beginning
10 turn; when the noon heat is over; when
the passions e-subdued and when the quiet
twilight Is coming on Is not after all the best
portion OF a mans life and of womans, too
Especially is it likely to be so if we pay
proper attention TO natures pointers and be
careful without codding ourselves.
The schedule Of these pointers is by no
mems exhausted, however. The tailor has
one or two Of them In store for US When,
for Instance he tells US that we are adding TO
urr girth below tho waistband and not above
1t: that the legs of our trousers are growing
shorter and that tho flap of our vests
had bettcr be made q little longer to
look weil-these are few pointers
that aro fnn Of meaning. Then there
Is the fact that wa can't stand getting our
feet wet as we used to; that we have to be
careful when coming out of a warm room
into the cold atr; that we want our meals
at regular hours; tiat we cannot stay up at
nights without sleeping correspondingly
daver in the morning; that the birds do not
sing quite as bonnily as IN lang syne; that
we begin TO think of slippers ana dressing
gowns as the pleasures of an evening, that
oIr feet grow cold if we sit too Long: that
we buy thicker quality Of socks: that our
uE&SulSI heSiu Is peSAnLHEs 10 reacn our
watch pocket; that there arc little creases
settling into She corners of our eyes:
that the lines from the base Of the
nose to the angles of the mouth are
growing heavier; that we do not
look as fresh in the morning Us formerly
these arc q few OF the tips which Mother Ma
tnre gives Us to remind Us that her gentle
but irresistible laws are in operation and
that the macEine we call ourselves is surely
running down-San Francisco CwonScle.
An Exampie OF Free Agency.