Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-11-15
FOOD AND MORALS.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE splR.
ITUAL AND PHYSICAL.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE sPiR-
lTUAL AND PHYSICAL.
Nutriments That Exert q Good or Bad In
huence on the Soul or Body-Common
Hygienio Laws That Should Make Every
Housewife a Moral Agent,
Few things in domestic life deserve more
careful study han the influence exercised
by food on our health and our moral life,
and it is to be feared few Of these obtain
less attention. Indeed, with an unfortu,
nately large number Of people the study
of food is looked on as almost wicked. GER
tainly derogatory, and the duty Of "high
thinking and low living is insisted on ad
nauseam.
Now that it is possible to attach too
much Importance to the question'of'sWhat
shall we eat and what shall we drink" no
one will for a omen deny. At the same
time it is probable that inattention to that
very important question has far more to
answer for. From the way some persons
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lcal body and the mental body were two.
entirely separate entities, absolutely indie
pendent the one Of the other, though for
practical purposes the greater and more
important was, SO to speak, imprisoned
in the lower and least considerable por-
ton. If this were true, no doubt much
might be said in favor of tho doctrine that
our mental and moral powers are to be
considered above our bodily ones. But as
a matter of fact, plainly demonstrated by
modern research, these two entities have,
at present anyway, no separate existence,
but, on the contrary, are inextricably
bound UP i'll one complex whole, the spir-
itual reacting or tho bodily and the body
in it's turn influencing the spirit or soul,
call it which you will, and it is to this re-
ciprocal action that we owe the absolute
Importance of the food question.
1t is not too much to say that no ill fed
man can be either thoroughly sane or in
trinsically moral, and unluckily ill fed
does not necessarily mean under or INSULT
GENTLY fed, for in that case the remedy
would be of the simplest, viz, a more gen
erous supply Of nutriment. OF course it
may not be in the poor mans w power
to obtain more food, but it would certain
aly make the task of those anxious to re-
lieve him easier, as 1T would be plain what
to do.
Broadly speaking, all disease is origi-
nally p%reventible. Eliminate dirt and it's
spiritual prototype, sin, and the human
race would be both healthy and happy. AS,
unfortunately, we can, however, get rid
entirely of neither of these factors, we can
only do our best to minimize their effects,
and in this work, little as many appear to
realize it, no one has more part than the
house mother. Donot shirk the knowledge
that such and such tendencies are, so to
speak, in your blood, but face it, and
make it YOU study to counteract them, if
not in yourself, ut least in your children.
Now, in this work food is undoubtedly a
firm ally. Take a baby, for instance, and
see how entirely it's moral condition de-
ponds on it's bodily. A healthy, properly
fed and tended baby is never u fretful, pee
wish, little imp, always on the whine, and
restless and uneasy just when it ought to
be asleep. We hear q great deal Of the i'm
provement in the health Of Jul girls, and
attribute it to the increasing physiological
knowledge of the day. AS a matter Of fact,
it is due to the increasing amount Of out
Of door exercise, fashionably considered &
part of actual education by the we'll to do,
which enables them to digest and assimi-
late their food better than in the old days,
when a mile was looked IN as an unusu-
ally long walk for a we'll bred gentlewom-
an, and battledoor and shuttlecock, or at
most la grace, was b e,extent of their ath-
letics. A mans diet, and more particular
~ q woman's, requires to be carefully 'ad-
justed to the n of life. If hard out
Of door work is their lot, strong nitroge-
nous food is in our climate both suitable
and necessary, but when a sedentary and
confined life is inevitable, the diet should
be, while nourishing enough to repair the
waste of tissue, yet light and digestible
enough not unduly to tax the already over
worked internal gan
At the same time it must be borne in
mind that too much coddling is as harm
full as neglect. From overzeal some house
keepers study the wholesomes so exclusive
ly as to hopelessly weaken the digestive
organs they desire to spare. There is a
rage just now for condensing food, SO to
speak, by removing to the very uttermost
all innutritious matter from our food
stuffs, leaving as much as possible only
what can be absorbed into the system.
Now on the face Of it this would appear a
wise plan, but as a matter of fact it is pro
duotive of great harm. We are formed to
lead useful, Industrious lives, bearing our
fair share of the heat and burden of the
day, not to be- the coddled, idle inhabit-
ants of a kind of intellectual dollhouse. So
we are given organs of various kinds fit
ted for the work we are to perform. Butas
it is a law of nature that unused powers
should be taken away this %coddling pro
duces the very effect it is intended to pre-
VENT. g., by want of use it gradually
withers awaythe digestion we do not seem
to need, and then when we nave to leave
this dollhouse atmosphere, as sooner or Ia
ter we all must, we find ourselves unfit
ted for the struggle before lis, and blame
poor heredity fer the evils brought on us
either by the ignorance or the overzeal Of
our upbringers.
To produce successful results our diet
should not only be generous %a1ldsswhoie-
some, but 1t should be %suitablee TO ou1
manner Of life, adapted to Il constitu-
lions, varied enough to give work to al
our internal organs by turns, ;:nt: stiff
GENTLY appetizing to tempt us to take tiat
necessary and wholesome food reqnircq 10y
u way of life. Unless it is SO regulated
we shall not be healthy, and in conse.
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