The Monitor-register., 1896-04-24
O GOOD HEALTH.
"A paper prepared by Mrs. M. G. Bassett,
of S%harptown, and read before the
W. G. T. U. Spring School of Methods,
at DaratnWn. Anril s. 1896

at Daretown, April 8. 1861 '
The word Health means Wilderness; and !
person, to be in perfect health, must be l
only physically strong, but mentally !
and morally whole or healthful-a perfect .
being, moulded into the fulness of Gods !
!
As to his body, man is an animal; but
even in his material structure how supe-
rior to all other animals. God breathed
into man the breath of life.
Man is a three.fold being. He
is like a house of three stories. His
physical life forms the first story, his
mental life the second, and his spiritual
life the third. How many live only in
the first story of their beautiful houses.
They eat, drink, sleep; they are born and
they die; in these few words their life is
summed up, and yet physical beauty is
not to be despised. The face is but the
mirror of the soul, and true physical
beauty is only the reflex of a beautiful
mind and heart. Then there are others
who rise to the second story-they Guilt
vate the intellect. But the man who
lives thus is only two.thirds of a man.
The highest room, the farthest from
earth and the nearest to Heaven, is closed,
and dark, and cold.
1t is only when he goes up into the
third story and opens the blinds and lets
in the sunshine of Gods smile, and looks
out and holds communion with his Heav-
emily Father, that he becomes a complete
man.
Again, a great many neglect entirely |
the physical life, and consider it of little
Importance.
Without a strong physique it is impos-
sible to attain to the full stature of a man
in its three-fold meaning. Look at
Gladstone. Think you his mental powers
would have stood the strain they have, |
unimpaired, to his great age, if he had
not had the physical strength of which
he has always been SO justly proudP 1
believe it is impossible for a great mind
to transmit its greatness to posterity if it
must pass through generations of weak
and puny bodies. The Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table says: "Each one of us is
an omnibus in which ride all our ances-
tors"
We are the temples of God, and yet in
what a temple we sometimes ask Him to
dwell. How we abuse and defile it. We
reverence the building dedicated to His
service; how much more should we rev.
erence and care for the bodies given us
by Him as the repository for His most
precious jewel-a human soul.
Physiology teaches us that during in
|, fancy, when the requirements of walking
and talking are gained, the first necessit,
vS-Sv~ "a B.O"Vn a UH0 UvuJ Gil
muscles, and that if any attempt be mad
to foster activity of the brain, and a chill,
becomes, in consequence, precociousl,
!, clever in talking or in any other thin
requiring undue exercise of the mind, /
is certain to be lone at the expense of,
an not infrequently, to the irretrievablt
injury of the body, which, in a short
!, time becomes comparatively puny and
weak. Such early forcing is good neither
for the body nor brain. When we cult
vate any organ or set of organs to the
exclusion of others, the deterioration of
the neglected part will surely follow.
r Wherever we find life We find heredity,
- -LAz-o. oeFoaNa I;fa n ffaofc haraAitu
. and the law of heredity decides in large
measure what the character of the chic
will be. There is a great deal said about
the child's duty to the parents, and
!, rightly; but very little is said of the
: parents duty to the child.
The physical life is a miserable gift
l unless born we'll, strong, and with clear
! instincts. The very nature and the ele
\ ments which tend most to bring success Of
failure in the world are due to conditions
, and circumstances which the parents to 8
: great extent control, and over which the
= unfortunate offspring has no empire
q whatever.
9 M. W. A. says: ga partnership will
= God is motherhood. What strength, sci
, control. love and wisdom should belong
: to her who helps God fashion an immorta
n soul.'' And to-day the rallying cry o
~womanhood is the white life for two, an
o not for oma alone; and it will win, 70
it is of God. 1t is well to look at thi
g subject in the light of duty and reason
, rather than as tradition or superstition.
"They enslave their children who max
compromise with SIM" There are three
kinds of sin-moral, mental and physics
sin, 1t is with the last that this subjec
has to deal.
A prepared body is the need of to-day
The Father of the Universe set a nobl
example.
In the Mosaic age no man was Above
to serve Him in the priestly Office VIII
could not present a body without a sea
or blemish. Is there not a lesson in this
Did God nave no reasons for makin
these restrictions?
Let us look at some of those men
olden time. We very justly admit
Samuel. He led a careful, restricted lif
;, plunging into no excesses. He honore
his body. And then John the Baptis
How abstemiously he lived; he speI
most of his life in the open air; his foo
wild honey and l%ocusts, not u insect
of course, but the fruit of the carrot tire
known aver yet in Palestine as the brea
~ Of st. John. His pure life emanate
from a pure body.
Good health is a prerequisite of hapI
living. To live worthily or to accom-
10 plish much for ones self or others whe
70 suffering from pain or disease is attende
with difficulty.
IA Very much of the c~apriciousness an
impatience of both men and women hi
its source in physical illness. The vel
morals suffer from disease of the bod.
Self culture, both mental and physica
is a positive duty for woman, since ''tf
hand that rocks the cradle rules I'll
= world" And no truer word has ev'
been written, for a mothers infu ence
is not only formative, but all-pervadin
,, through life.
\ The health of the household com
II strictly within the so-called woman
sphere" Her constant presence and hi
:. love place her naturally in control of tn
: vital interest. Training in and know
re edge OF the simple laws of hygiene woul
Is contribute largely to the welfare ar
70 happiness Of her family. A wife ar
at mother has missed a precious opportunii