The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-02-07

ART OF KEEPING WELL.

ART OF KEEPING WELL.
Most people know how to get sick,
writes Frederick Stanley Root, in the
New York EUen,ng Post, but few know
how to keep we'll. Health is an art to
be learned like any other art-that is,
, by study, observation, experiment, and
the analysis of the reason which make
a given result possible. The hit-or-
miss style of living establishes hit-or
miss constitution. And some atten-
tion to the art of preserving health is
imperatively demanded by the fright
f"l prevalence of what the physicians
call neurasthenia. suppose the Eng
lish or the Greek symbol would come
pretty close to used up nerves. And
this nervous exhaustion, affecting d.
rectly or indirectly every vital organ.
cuts off gifted lives. Secretary Win
dom fell dead while making notable
speech at the board of trade banquet;
Henry George died from overwork at
the fullness of his powers; Castlemary
expired while his audience was thrill
ed with his last song; Rcmenyl, wiz
ard of the bow, dropped in his tracks
long before his normal span was reach
ed; DR.. William NJ. Taylor was built
to last beyond three score and ten and
pershed some milestones this side of
the threshold; George f. Waring risk
ed overwhelming mental strain and
was lost to the cause he glorified be-
fore his depth of usefulness were sound
ed. And so it goes.
Now, at twenty years Of age tenn
perate person is supposed to have a
chance of living for forty-foul years.
Should the same person, still living
temperate life, (and herein lies the
crux,) arrive at the age OF sixty-six,
the chances are that he will exist four
teen years longer. With the intem-
perate, whether from drink or nerve
wear, chances diminish perhaps 40 per
cent, although l have not the exact
figures at hand. Everybody well un-
derstands that work alone, tempered
by judicious exercise, prolongs exist
ence. A lazy brain or sluggish body
invites disease. A man may Keep 60
ing heartily and cheerfully, and to sur
prising age limits, when the machine
Of his physical being is fabricated with
the oil of commonsense and lnvigorated
by proper rest. Every barber will
tell you that a razor's edge grows
keen by occasional disuse. The edge
of the mind regains its temper by the
same method. But what one may do
to maintain the play impulse at equili-
brium with the work impulse another
may not do. Temperaments vary.
When the Russian Marshal Kutusoff
desired a good nights rest he "remov-
ed his spurs!' l believe he did not
die young. Other men would die
young if they sought to sleep with sim
liar pretense of disrobing.
1t will thus be seen that the art of
keeping we'll is one that each must
learn for himself. And if, as Schiller
writes, Call art is dedicated to joy,"
Joy and health are synonymous terms.
1t is worth while to study this con-
nection with sedulous care to reap the
fruits of being rounded age, replete
with usefulness and vigor. OF fads
for preserving strength and vigor there
is dismal sufficiency. But recently
people drank piping hot water as
cure all. Others went barefooted in
the cold dews of morning. Some
try electric hair brushes. Going with
out breakfast has broken a possible
corner in porterhouse steaks. One
man declares lie owes his recuperating
to hot milk and taf1y. Milton Rath-
bun, who tasted thirty five days, says:
II feel better; think clearer" And
all of these various fads for keeping
we'll am bound to say that the quasi
starvation method appears not unreas-
enable According to a theory advanc
ed by physician in an Eastern State,
the brain, being the great dynamo OF
the body, exerts curative powers over
the body when not made to take up
other work, such as the assimilation of
food through the stomach. l suppose
he must go on the assumption OF the
Irish official who, when distributing
food during the famine, proceeded on
the theory that there could be no &C
tual suffering as long as there was a
noticeable calf on the leg! At all
events, the people who eat too much
and play too little are as the sands of
the sea for multitude. Cut down the
food consumption one-half, and extend
the play time one-quarter, and the in
stances of neurasthenia would not be
so startling or so numerous.
But, after all, am inclined to think
the art of keeping we'll lies, in large
measure, in what some would consider
a very insignificant cause. | refer to
the absolute cessation of the everlast-
ing "fussing" which is the bane of so
many lives. Let us look at this hob
by more closely. One barbed wire is
but pin, prick to the bull. But
shower of barbed arrows, persistantly
hurled against his hide, diminishes