Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-12-19
FOOD AND MORALS.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SPiR-
ITuAL AND PHYSICAL
Nutriments That Exert Good or BAD In
opcncs on the Soul or Body-Common
Hvcfenic Laws That Should Make Every
Housewife a Moral Agent.

) Housewife Moral Agent.
Few things in domestic life deserve more
rareful study than the influence exercised
liz food on our health and our moral life
and II Is TO be feared few Of these obtain
Iosa 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 nigh
thinking and low living" is insisted on ad
nauseam.
Now that It IS possible to attach too
much Importance TO the question Of What
shall we eat and what shall we drinkF' no
one viii for a moment 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
talk 1t would almost seem as If the phys
ical body and the mental body were two
entirely separate entities, absolutely indie
pendcnt the one Of the other, though for
practical purposes the greater and more
important was 50 to speak, imprisoned
in the lower and least considerable pOr-
ton. IL this were true, 10 doubt much
might be said in favor OF the 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 ineGtrlcabIy
bound up in one complex whole, the spir-
itual reacting on the bodily and the body
in its turn influencing tho spirit or soul
call 1t which you will and it is to this re
elprocal action that we owe the absolute
Importance of the food question.
II is not too much to say that no Ill fed
man can be either thoroughly sano or in
trinsicaIly moral, and unluckily i'll fed
does not necessarily mean under or insUtH
ciontly fed, for in that case the remedy
would be Of the simplest, viz, n more gen
erous supply of nutriment OF course it
may not be in tho poor mans own power
to obtain more food, but it would certain
" mako the task Of those anxious to re-
lieve him easier, as it would be plain what
10 do.
Broadly speaking, all disease is origi-
nalIy preventible. Eliminate dirt and its
spiritual prototype, sin, and the human
race would be both healthy and happy. AS
unfortunately, we can, however, get rid
fIIlftIy Ol IitItIlbE VI NiH0D iti-tbi9f W. HehlA
only do our best to minimize their effects
and in this work, little as many appear to
realize it, no one has moro part than tho
house mother. Do not shirk the knowledge
that such and such tendencies are, so to
speak in your blood, but face it, and
make il your study to countcract them, II
not in yourself, at least in your children.
Now, in this work food is undoubtedly
firm ally Take baby, for instance, and
sec how entirely its moral condition de-
ponds on its bodily. a healthy, properly
fed and tended baby is never fretful pee
wish, little imp, always on the whine, and
restless and uneasy just when 1t ought to
be asleep. We hear n great deal of tho inn
proVcmont in the health Of our girls and
attribute it to the increasing physiological
knowledge of the day. Asa matter of fact
it is due to the increasing amount of out
of door exercise, fashionahly considered a
part Of aCtual education by the well to do
which enables them to digest and assmi-
late their food better than in the old days
WHOM milo was looked on as an unusu-
ally long walk for % well bred gcntlewom-
an, and battledoOr and shuttleCOck, or at
most Ia grace, was the extont Of their ath
lotics. A mans dict, and moro particular
" woman's, requires to be carefully ad
justcd to tho manner 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 sedcntary and
confined Iifo is inevitable, tho diet should
be, whilo nourshing enough to repair the
waste Of tissue, yet light and digestible
enough not unduly to tax the already over
worked internal ORGANS
At tho Same timo it must bo borne in
mind that too much coddling is as harm
full rs neglect. From oyerzCal some house
keepers study the wholesomcs sooXclusivo-
~ rs to hupolcssly weaken tho digestive
organs they desire to spare. There is %
rago JUST now for condcnsing food, SO to
speak, by removing to the very uttermoet
all innutritious matter from our food
etutrs, leaving as much as possible only
what can be absorbed into tho system.
Now on tho face of it this would appear "A
wise plan. but rs matter of fact it is pro
durtiye Of great harm. We ara formed 40
lead useful, industrious lives, bearing our
fair share Of tho heat and burden Of the
tlav, not to ho the coddlcd. idlo inhabit-
ants Of a kind Of intellectual dollhouse. so
we arc given organs of various kinds 1T
ted Tor the WORK we are 10 perform. BUt rs
il is law Of nature that unused powers
should he taken away this coddling pro
ducos tho very effect it is intended to pre-
vont--i. e, by want of use it gradually
NNfthcrs away the digestion we do not seem
TO need, and then when we have to leave
this dollhouse atmosphere, as sooner or Ia
ter we all must, we find ourselves unfit.
ted for tho struggle before us, and blanc
poor hcredity fer the evils brought on us
either by the ignorance or the oyerzcal Of
our upbringers.
10 produce successful results our diet
should not only be generous and whole
some, but it should be suitable to our
manner of life, adapted to our constitu-
tions, varied enough 10 give work to all
our internal organs by turns, and sufll-
GENTLY appctizing TO tempt us to take the
and wholesome food required by
our way of life Unless it is SO regulated
we shall not be healthy, and in conse-
quenoe shall probably be moroso and
gloomy from dyspepsia, irritable and un-
certain from nervous prostration, and, in
short, untitled for the life before us long
r = = i.