Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-06-09
THE VALUE OF WALKING.
A Poetic Dissertation on This Most Beno-
flclal Exercise.

ilclal Exercise.
To walk Is wise, independent, manly
and moral. 1t is also healthy and
agreeable. Our characteristic impa-
tience and fury of competition has in
troduced artificial and ina measure, OBJ
jectionable features into 1t, to which
allusion win be made further on
But let us linger few moments over
its aesthetic and hygienic rewards, The
man afoot on the surface of his own
earth is the true king; the so-called
monarch who journeys in coach or in
bomb-proof railway carriage is, in
truth, slave The pressure of the free
foot on turf or road exhilerates the
soul; the magnetism of our mother
flows into our nerves and nourishes
their vitality; our blood dances through
our veins and strengthens muscle
and organ. The whole atmosphere is
our own; it flows rhythmically into our
lungs and unites with the sky. The
horizon woos and stimulates the eyes;
they become bright andgain power and
Judgment. Nature instructs us at every
step; her beauty must ever remain UNI
known to him who has not thus placed
himself face to face with her. Distant
hills slowly draw near, and unfold to
us their wonders of color and form;
winding valleys reveal their lovely
hearts to our orderly seeking, temper
ing their surprises by exquisite grada-
tions. The trees are companions; each
yields to us its individual charm and SO
passes us on to the new charm of its
neighbor. The forests veil from us the
sky, as if to remind us of the beauties
of this earth; the broad plains smile to
| Heaven, in intimation that earth and
| Heaven are inwardly at one. Every
insect, animal, and bird vouch-
safes us glimpses of its secret
life, which shuns the monstrosity
of our machines. A day of walk
ing in the country, whether 1t carry us
four miles or forty from our starting
point, at any rate leads us back through
the countless noisy ages of civilization
to the quiet seclusion and spontaneous
insight of the pastoral era before cities
| and business were invented. We are
not the same at evening as we were in
the morning. We have absorbed the
day and the Landscapes; we have jour
| neyed shoulder to shoulder with the
sun, and the winds and rains have Wis
tied us. A little more, and we should
become gypsies; still little more, and
we could comprehend the faun and the
satyr.
The best thoughts and the purest mo-
ments of mans life may often come to
him when he is afoot. The regular and
gentle exertion of the movements gives
the body just enough occupation to
keep it out of the way of the mind.
The heart acts fully, but not to excess;
the lungs thoroughly aerate the blood,
without becoming overcharged; the
other organs discharge their functions
with ease and lightsomeness. The lit
tie ducts of the skin breathe forth their
moisture: the muscles glow and ex-
pand; and the brain, finding all well in
the domain of its dependencies, turns to
its affairs with joyous freedom and
alacrity At evening, what an appetite!
AT night, what sleep! Were any mag
ical physician to invent elixir which i'm.
parted tithe of the vivifying virtue OF
days walk in the open air, he would
be the Cr@sus of pill-makers. How
much would we give for bottle of his
concoction? And yet we may walk for
nothing, and we may begin to-day; and
the more we take of the prescription
the more solid and lasting will be the
benefit we derive from it.-Julian Haw,
thorne, in Lippincotts.