The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-12
HEALTH FROM ExERC else.

| II
which is next to the best exercise
known, is most uncommon here among
the whites, not only because of lazl-
ness, but for the reason that such ac-
tivity induces an amount of perspira-
ton which willis collars saturateS
clothing and leaves the victim, when
he sits III the shade to rest, doubly sus-
iceptibIe to draughts. We know a man
who cured a persistent cold last sum-
mer by discarding his dark-colored,
moderately heavy garments getting in
to duck and grass-cloth and riding in
stead of walking to his office. PerSpif
alton was kept down and cold air did
not touch a wet skin and moist cloth
| ing. He is now a foe to Professionalism.
Horseback exercise used to be popu-
lar here but it has fallen into disuse.
partly because of bicycles. partly be-
cause of the increased cost of keeping
a riding animal. The bicycle has prov
| ed TO be an excellent substitute for a
horse except that the rider, when he
| reaches his destination, is soaked in
| the moisture from his pores. 1t is
borne upon the habitual wheelman
that every bicycle should have its
shower bath. When wheeling to the
beach one may get into the surf while
his clothes are drying; and at home.
when he returns. he may find his own
shower. But thare are so many deStin-
ations where it is the fate of the wheel
man to dry in his own garments, that
he longs for the form of hospitality
which, when he calls, does not instantly
invite him to the breezy piazza or the
hot drawing room, but takes him to
nice place in the yard where he may
shower himself in one apartment, and
in another hang his limp garments
|above the heat of an easily adjusted oil
stove or in some place visited by the
sun Such thing would be a novelty;
but the caller would come again.
The ideal way to exercise in this eli
mate however-apart from the tonic
sport of sea-bathing, the best exercise
known, one that gently manipulates
and refreshes almost every muscle is
that provided by home or public gym
nasia. The man who builds in his
yard a small airy structure with three
of four gymnastie machines in it and a
shower bath adjoining. is preparing to
lengthen his life and vastly in
crease his comfort Or q room so
equipped, next to the family bath
would answer. For public use the gym
nasium of the Y. Nj. C. A. is invaluable.
Let business man who has never
tried the experiment go there some day,
take few of the milder exercises to
start with and end with a shower and
he will be astonIshed to find how much
his capacity to work has been increased
The time will yet come, if common
sense extends it's area of influence
when every store and suite of offices will
have it's few pieces of gymnastic ap-
paratus and it's shower. The Standard
Oil headquarters serves Mr.. Rockefel-
Ter and some of the other magnates in
that way now.
Many people are averse to the gym
nasium, because it looks like hard work
and a waste of time. But one does
not need to spend hours in the place
like an athlete who is specializing mus
cles. Fifteen minutes divided between
the rowing machine and the pulley
weights will stir the blood, Timber up
the muscles, improve the digestion and,
after the shower bath, make the man
buoyant and optimistic What is half
an hour or so a day? The average man
spends twice that time during business
hours doing nothing in particular.
Occasionally a man comes out of the
hottest part of India, where he has
been for twenty years without vaca-
ton, his eyes bright. his complexion
clear and his digestion sound. How
did you do it?" a friend asks. The
answer will be something like this: II
took moderate exercise in the cool of
the day, I bathed often, I ate sparing
ly of easily assimilated foods and I
drank no beer. Stimulants, I never used
to excess, and between eleven a. m.
and four p. M, did not unnecessarily
expose myself to the sun. That is the
whole recipe"
Would Honolulu people have so much
sickness and would they so easily run
down if such healthful customs of mid
die India-a place precisely in this lati
tude--were more generally adopted
here2