New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-03-16

/
success of life, energy, acuteness, cleverness. we
can't nurchasr these things for him. But. esti-
| mate the initial differences between boy and boy,
between man and man, as highly as you please.
| there still remains the almost incaculablc adj
| vantage which one has whose powers, great or
small have been trained over him whose powers
have not been trained
| ta) Take, for example. that matter Of physical
health and endurance. When some one rcmon-
stratcd with Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson for eat
ing minoc pie for breakfast. the great Concord
philosopher replied gently. Nay, but for what
is mincc pie made. if not to be eaten?' One
could not wear it unless as poultcc or warm
himself with it, or even I" hitch il to star and.
under such circumstances it appeared TO a person
of very great intellectual gifts plain duty to
cat it.
And vet. all the same, it was not-not at any rate
for breakfast There certain rules of diet that
one can long disregard without permanent
injury to health and both mental and moral
Vigor And as of diet, of dress sleep. exercise
and all the rest which have 10 do with the highest
efficiency of that fine and complex instrument
which we call the body. And if we could run
back the record of many a man who drops dead
on 'change, or tottcrs and falls. stricken with
apopcXy paralysis. in the street. or surr'nders
to some epidemic disease with scarce an effort
at resistance we should find that the fatal weak
ness that Slapped the foundations of life began
long ago in some boysh youthful indulgence.
or indiscrction unbrdcd license. at the table
or elsewhere. which could never afterward' be
cured by any temperance. or sei-rcstrant. or even
total abstinence, however vigiantly maintained
Now. making every allowance for youthful
grecdnrss reckessncss, waywardness. much of
this sort of folly is plainly to be traced TO orig
nal ignorance. The teaching of our American
homes as to the laws of health is miscrablN
defective. and it is not less SO in the homes OF
wealth and cultivated intelligence than i'll those
of ignorance and narrow means. There is an in-
difference. a parental ignorancea mauvalsc hontc-
n bad shame which is silent and unobservant
when it. ought TO be watchfu and speak. And
the schools are not often greatly better in these
respects than the homes. They are gladly own.
striving TO be better. but taking our common
school system as whole. | believe the time
will come when we shall look back with amaze
ment at the folly and viciouSncss Of a system
which. being employed in teaching boys and girls,
O large proportion of whose usefulness. happiness
aud success in life depended upon the mems sona
in sano corpore-thc sound mind dwelling in the
fcmplc of the sound bOdy-has been so largely
silent as the laws of the body, its construction.
lis,r and abuse and the conditions on which It's
health and we'll being depend.
ATHLETICS AND MORALS NOT ANTAGONI >TIC.
And so | think that if | were publicspirit'd
citizen. with the means TO bless and cnnohe at
once the place of my birth and the city of my
adoption-if | were frank TO recognize. as any
honest mind must be- the close and vital relation
between the better life of or great city and the
purifying and enriching Of those streams which.
from villages and hamlets and homes all over The
land are perpctually pouring into them would
stop 10 consider whether it We're not worth while
10 begin right here. Every now and then wc
hear OF some one who has not forgotten lis more
modest beginnings returning To his native place
and cnrichng it with some generous hcncfacton.
1t is one of the finest and mos; engaging exhibit
tons of the nObicr impulses OF our humanity. II
is the Illustration OF a spirit which goes a long
way 10 redeem our modern life from the charge
of being only sordld and sclf-scckng. Bu' II Is
something which needs not only 10 be appreciated
and encouraged. but 10 be wisely directed. Ani
therefore would venture To suggest whether II
might not be worth while for some successful man
who is moved 10 build amid the scenes of his
nativity a monument 10 his achie VcMcnts III ne
10 consider whether he could do "a better ihihS
than 10 erect at some point IN TIE country where
men and boys cOngfcgatc good Sfinnas nm.
with swimming bath and 4 bail ground.
and eood-slzcd assembly room, where
now and then, men could talk 10 men
and boys, and women 70 women ana eI's' as
these classes are talked to from time 10 time IN lhc
Young Mems and Young WOmens hustion rs
ISOLATION and elsewhere as to the due and decent
care and ennoblcIDcnt of that matchlcss and beau
tful mechanism. the human BODY. one j. A.
most afraid TO quote the old brcekS IN ms matter
but he need not be- If il be true that fine ph' 81.
cal culture was with them too often associated
with moral decadencc. il need not be. One may
never forget that the most striking figures OF ihe
glowing rhetoric Of the great Apostle 10 the
Gentics as he described the struggle and disci-
pline demanded in the Christian life. were hor-
rOwed from the classic arena: and we may be sure
that he would not have used them If ne had
accounted his illustrations ILLUSTRATIONS OF UllhEo
evil in Themselves.
b But in such a scheme as have sugscsicd,I do
not believe any thinking man would care 10 stop
at the point ri which ! have lcit II. ana
that inst because he is a thinking man
For we may not forget that the body Is after
all but an instrument, not an end: Inc race docs
not exist like a breed Of Ianible'onans or Al
dcrncys for certain physical results Of pace. ana
bone, and muscle, and production. These are IN
cidenfal 10 thos" intellectual ana moral achicvc
mcnts which are the. calling Of those VINO were
put into the world not only 10 rcpicnish the
earth but TO subduc ito master is obstlnacy
- rcnd open It's Secrets 10 study It's laws ~ dis
cover so far as by discovery they may. lis
origin 10 master IFS forces 10 dispcl Us barbarsm
and 50 TO make ready a highway and home for
the coming Of the nobler Kingdom that IS 10 be
And that men may do these things Requires not
only physical culture. but supremacy In" culture
of the powers that think and reason. ana com,
pare and remember, ana contrivc, and love- and
hate and aspire.
COUNTRY LIBRARIES AID THEIR rSrS.
Now them come bacl, for moment to a lad or
youth who has come up 10 town from the country.
lie gets. il may be. sooner or later, fair foot
hold. He pushes his way, step by step Till he
climbs TO the high places of his business or pro
fession. But. unless he has had during his youth
what are still, in America exceptional advan-
taQcs Of culture, man under such circumstances
will find himself increasingly plagued with a
sense Of his intellectual! deficiencies his want of
general culture, his poverty, no matter what the
size OF his bank account. which he learns Is IN
that direction as we'll others. simply and
utterly Impotcnt-his poverty in things that give
him the easy command Of his powers, that give
grace and dignity TO the occupancy of great
place that make him nj home among the think
crs and leaders Of his time and that make history
and politics. and art, and letters, and religion,
u living unity, instead Of battling and unmcan-
ing tumble and confusion
And here il is that there would seem 10 he no
unworthy opportunity for such q use Of wealth rs
,rn,lld ma kn hnth a hirhcr culture and higher