Wichita eagle., 1888-10-26
SOUND MINDS AND BODIES.
The Old Mxxim Called In puestion-Whaa
''Healthy Insa3ia'' Nay Do.

The Old Msxim Called In Question-Wha4
Healthy Insaaia'' Nay Do.
Il is serious question whether, in these
day Of health lifts, rowing machines, chest
weights and bean bags, rather exaggerated
ideas are not held out to the pubic as TO the
spiritual benefits to be confidently relied on
from the diligent use Of these. The old
maxim, "a sound mind In q sound body" Is
pretty severely put to its tTumps when it has
to maintain tn dignity against practical
illustrations.
Of course, the old Greeks and Romans, or
whoever invented the saw originally, merely
meant that, If a man only had Q sound mind,
he could do great deal moro with il if it
were IN sound body. The modern bean
bag professors, however. can never content
themselves with so moderate statement as
this. Tone up your muscular system, they
insist. and forthwith the whole Sermon on
the Mount will enter in and take possession OF
the soul. Their favorite illustration is taken
from the goings on Of the baby. Who ever
knew baby, they say, that nurses well and
sleeps well, 10 fret and cyi Well, that is
simply because he is baby, a little animal.
with few physical wants. Once satisfy
these, and the baby does not know enough to
ask for anything more.
But a grown man is not baby. he may
be strong enough to digest food that would
distress an ostrich, to sleep like hibernating
bear and to tramp forty miles ON q stretch,
and still be a moody, morose, discontinued
and querulous fellow. His mind caz1not di-
gest the tough experiences Of life, and his
irritable spirit never gets the mental sleep
and refreshu,ent OF trust and peace in
higher power One good healthy Invalid
like Robert Louis Steverson. with q sound
mind in a crazy rsttlerap of body, has
more brace and inauguration in him than
scores of athletes who have sought their sole
spiritual instruction from dumb bells and
rowing machines. With quarter of q lung
he breathes in more tonic mountain air than
they with lungs Ike the bellows Of q forging
shop. No man can abolish his ancestors. II
they bequeathed him dyspepsia, consump-
ton or nervous exhaustion he will have to
fight it out on that line. But let him only
say: II mean to make small capital win
a big fortune and ten to one be viii get
more genuine satisfaction and profit out OF
life than thousands who contemptuously dis
miss him as not having body enough to set
up peanut stand on.
i ne ndkeu IlC0 Is bQat SOuNu IneE ana
horses are about equally rare. How TO make
the spawned and wind CALLED capable OF
prencing and caracoling to the best advant-
age, Is the practical question; and just here
is where the healthy invalids have their
blessed mission in the world. A mere physi-
cal thread Of a man hike Robert Louis
Stevenson, with his admiration for stout, old
English admirals and heroes Of every type.
and who, while perfectly entitled to swathe
himself in hannels and drink catnip tea,
hates the whole race of winners and self cod
dlers, touches the viking nerve in every
reader Of his books who has sense Of shame
enough in him to blush where he ought to
blush. All over the land is the same story
repeated. II half the great, hulking fellows,
who estimate the health of their minds by
the vigor Of their bodies, would now and
then desert their rowing machines and put
themselves under the spell OF the sweetness,
cheer and faith Of some frail woman tied up
in hard knot with rheumatism, they would
feel that, with half the same amount OF
spirit to the square inch Of flesh, they ought
to be able to shoulder whole Alps Of obsta-
cles, instead OF whining over mole hills
Boston herald.