Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-09-22
A Health Talk in the Nurael v.

f1ealtn ana temperance, winch IN IFS
broadest sense is tie law of health,
needs TO be taught from the cradle.
When my little four year old bow dis
covered the veins IN my hands, | was
obliged to lay down my pen and give a
plausible answer before his childish
curiosity would be satisfied. On being
told they were little rivers carving
blood, an exploration ofhis W chubby
hands followed, with the delightful dis
covery that he, too, had those little
rivers" Of course a volley Of questions
were fired at me in quick succession
The first of which was What is blood
made OFF" what we eat" 'NVhat do
the little rivers carry what | eat to my
hands for {" "To make them grow"
Does every thing we eat make our
hands grow ?" In that wav he soon
learned that some kinds of food fur
nished better building material for his
bodily house than other kinds, and af-
forwards when inclined To eat something
that was not suited to his chlld's stom
ach, ] had no difficulty in inducing him
to deny himself, when reminded of the
work of the little rivers" He does not
want tea and coffee, because in our talks
he has learned that they hurry the
nerve builders; but is a staunch friend
of milk and brown bread and takes great
interest in his food, and by this means
is learning to have power oyer his APP
petite and exercise self-control. On
discovering a picture Of a man drinking
beer, his first question was "does beer
make my house grow. On being told
that the alcohol of the beer drank up
the water in the little rivers and in
jured them, he voluntarily pledged him
self against intoXicants, because he is
inspired with an ambition to possess a
fine bodily tenement. His delight is
~unbounded, if, when taking a bath he
discovers in some part of his body a
vein heretofore unknown to him. |
consider that here is foundation for a
desire to make his body a splendid
creature, with every nerve steady, and
every muscle trained to do his bidding.
His Imagination makes the wonderful
little builders very real, and be will not
Intentionally re:ard their progress. He
is willing to retire early because his
house is being built more rapidly while
sleeping aud the very best work is done
the first half of the night. We have
even gone q step higher in u little
talk and learned to reverence the crea-
tor of such a wonderful building. and
that it is a sin to abuse a house so costly
and beautiful, because it is Gods work
manship. And all this came about
without "cramming" his mind. The
questions naturally came, at intervals.
even after l had forgotten our previous
talk, and it was better to give the little
philosopher a reasonable satisfying
answer He is a child Of only ordinary
intellect, so believe every fact and law
of physical life car be taught the child
very clearly, and physiology become a
fairy tale to the imaginative child, and
they are all such. Every w. c. L. L..
woman, for this reason if no other. |
should at once enlist in the department
of Hygiene. You owe it not ONLY TO
yourselves and community, but most
to your children, whose first
years are spent entirely with you, and
a time too when lasting impressions
are made; the early impressions enter
INTO the solid masonry upon which man
hood is built. Someone has likened the
knowledge acquired in maturity to paint
md w~hitewash.
NErTIE {. HALL, NJ. d.,
Territorial Superintendent Hygiene, Da-
,ota w. c. L. L.