The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-01-18
ART OF KEEPING WELL.


writes Frederick Stanley Root, in the
New York E0ening 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 given result
possible. The hit-or-miss style of
living establishes hitor-niss con-
stitution. And some attention to the
art of preserving health is imperative
ly demanded by the frightful preva-
lence of what physicians call neuras-
thenia. l suppose the English or the
Greek symbol would come pretty
close to used up nerves. And this
nervous exhaustion, affecting directly
or indirectly every vital organ, cuts
off gifted lives. Secretary Window
fell dead while making a notable
speech at the board of trade banquet
Henry George died from overwork at
the fullness of his powers; Castle
mary expired while his audience was
thrilled with his last song Remenyl,
wizard of the bow, dropped in his
tracks long before his normal span
was reached DR.. William M. Taylor
was built to last beyond three score
and ten and perished some milestones
this side of the threshold George E.
Waring risked overwhelming mental
strain and was lost to the cause he
glori6ed before his depth of useful
ness were sounded. And so it goes.
Now, at twenty years of age tenn
perate person is supposed to have
chance of living for fortyfour 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
fourteen years longer. With the in
temperate, whether from drink or
nerve-w wear, chances diminish perhaps
40 per cent, although 1 have not the
exact figures at hand. Everybody
we'll understands that work alone,
tempered by judicious exercise, pro-
longs existence. A lazy brain or a
sluggish body invites disease. A
man may keep going heartily and
cheerfully, and to surprising age lin
its, when the machine of his physical
being is fabricated with the oil of
commonsense and invigorated by
proper rest. Every barber will tell
you that 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 ere
moved his spurs p l believe he did
not die young. Other men would die
young if they sought to sleep with
similar pretense of disrobing.
It will thus be seen that the art of
keeping we'll is one that each must
learn for himself. And if, as Schiller
writes, "All 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, re-
plete with usefulness and vigor. Of
fads for preserving strength and vigor
there is dismal suficiency. But re-
Gently people drank piping hot water
as a cure all. Others went barefoot
ed in the cold dews of morning.
Some try electric hair brushes. Co.
ing without breakfast has broken
possible corner in porterhouse steaks.
One man declares he owes his recu-
peration to hot milk and taffy. Mil
ton Rathbun, who tasted thirty-fve
days, says: ri feel better think
clearer" And of all these various
fa6s for keeping we'll 1 am bound to
say that the quasi-starvation method
appears not unreasonable. Accord
ing to theory advanced by a physi-
clan 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 officials who, when distributing
food during the famine, proceeded on
the theory that there could be no ac-
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 ex-
tend the play time one-quarter, and
the instances Of neurasthenia would
not be SO startling or SO numerous.
But, after all, 1 am inclined to
think the art of keeping well lies, in
large measure, in what some would
consider a very Insignificant cause.
I refer to the absolute cessation of
the everlasting "fussing' which is
the bane of so many lives. Let us
look at this hobby more closely. One
barbed arrow is but pin-prick to the
bull. But shower of barbed arrows,
persistently hurting against his hide,
diminishes the power of resistance to
the final thrust of the matador. One
nibble from a tree-destroying insect
makes but a pinhole in leaf or bark.
But a thousand insects feeding for
days and weeks denude that tree of
leaves and scalp away the bark. So
it is with the needless worries of man
kind. They dig straight to the core
of the most exuberant vitality when
persisted in. A mother "fusses"
once for fear her boy will not be in
at dark. That will not shape wrin-
kle in her brow. But that habit
formed, and carried over into daily
counsel of thousand nameless fears,
will raise network of wrinkles and
wear the nerves to ribbons.
I knew of a young woman who
con1d never drive in summer time