Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1892-12-22
GOOD HEALTH.
A Very Desirable, But Very Rare,
Blessing.
Nature Intended That We should he Wen
and stropg-why Many OF Us Are
Not so-A Lesson from
the Past.

IL cannot be denied, we suppose, that
health, next to godliness, Is worthy Of
the first consideration
No one can be happy without health,
and there are no circumstances what
ever which can make one utterly miser-
able when his health is perfect
A sound liver, n good, long-winded |
pair Of lungs, and free circulation Of
blood, are worth great deal more 70
the happy possessor than bank stocks,
government bonds and interests in
blocks of brown stone.
II, as a writer of prominence asserts,
spirituous liquors are the cause Of nine
tenths Of the murders committed, then
II is safe to say that torpid livers and
bad digestions are the cause OF the ro-
maindcr; for ill-health sours the dis.
position, and destroys the sweetest
temper in the world.
As We live, and the world moves on.
and our habits Of observation have
broader fehls over which TO roam, we
become painfully aware Of the fac,
that as n race Americans are physically
degenerating.
Go where we may, we find everybody
complaining Of some ache or pain. No
body Ia well. Everybody Is taking
medicine. Pill makers become mil
lionaircs in few years; the man Of
bitters drives his four-in-hand and rears
his family in n palace Of brown stone.
Why is it9
Is the air less pure and health-giving
than II was in the days Of our fore
fathers? Does the sun scorch out OF the
atmosphere the subtle principle Of vi
tality, or the moon drop down malaria
influences along with her rain Of silver
light2 Does the earth send forth pois-
onous miasmas, and the clear rivers en-.
gender more deadly fogs and vapors
| than Of old2
Many OF our men, nearly all OF our
women, are delicate" II In headache,
or neuralgia, or dyspepsia or indiges-
ton, or weakness in the lim6', or back,
and the least exertion wearies, and la
Dor Of any kind is simply impossiblel
Now, oil this 10 not az IL should be.
Nature intended that we should be wen
and strong, and able to endure the shak-
ing and rude jostling Of life, without
being laid up in consequence.
And again we ask, why is it7
Well, then, in the first place, we are
afraid Of the kind Of labor known as
manual. We work with our brains,
and our wits, but we don't like TO bring
our hands TO it
From somewhere and someb ody we
have got the idea that manual l,Lbor Is
not so dignifed as counting room and
Office drudgery, and men who mi ght be
good carpenters and masons are con-
tent TO become poor lawyers and book
keepers
A hundred years ago our GRANDPA
theirs and grandmothers we're hale and
hearty, and did not dream Of such thing
as weak nerves and neuralgia.
The men laid the AK at the root Of the
forest oak, and cleared the smiling
fields which now greet our eyes, and
reared the humble homes wero our
parents were born. They had no serv-
ants to help them - they struck the
blows with their own strong arms, and
at night they were weary enough 70
make their couches Of straw seem to
them soft as down.
The women attended to the frugal
household affairs, and carded, spun
and wove the cloth for the clothing Of
their families, and, when this was done,
they went into the fields and welded
the hoe and the rake, side by side with
their husbands or brothers, and did not
have the headache on accoupt ,1f it.
Our own grandmother, who was u
delicately raised English girl, left her
luxurious home at the age Of Nixteen,
10 become the bride Of u Yankee sailor
all for love-and crossed the seaH to
this. then almost uncivilized, New Eng
land, and travelled with her husband,
on horse back. more than a hundred
miles inland TO bowling wilderness,
inhabited only by bears 0hd Indians,
and forty miles from any white mans
ha bitation.
Here she took up her life duties in a
hut built Of poles and rooted with bark.
Here she reared TO an honorable man
hood seven sons, and TO Il virtuous wom-
anhood four daughters, and having
lived 10 see the desert around her bios
som like the rose and the smoke Of civ
ilization rise from hundreds OF firesides
in the thriving village which had
sprung up at their feet, passed quietly
away at the age Of ninety seven, hav-
ing never consulted the doctor or made
friends with the medicine bottle-he
last illness being also her hrst
And this is no solitary instance. I
was In those days the rule rather thai
the exception
And why?
Simply because our ancestors ha
none OF the Injuries which now bese
us on every hand Their dwellings free
ly admitted heavens pure air Their
were no tight, Ras-oppiessed room
TO breed poisonous vapors Of death an
destruction Spices and condimeni
were unknown Sauces for the app
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