The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1903-11-27
HELPED BY SIMPLE HABITS.
Some Worlds Great Men Won Success
Partly Through Their
Plain Living.

Benjamin Franklin, who is famed for
his discovery that lightning is electric
ity, and who introduced the American
eolonial postal system, and who fur
thermore, as will be remembered,
served America at the court of France
as minister plenipotentiary, was one
of the leaders of early modern times
in the study of nature and natures
laws. and not the least in domestic
science. His first maxim was: Eat
not to dizziness; drink not to eleva-
ton Even in his youth his mind was
filled with schemes for self-regulation
and guidance, and he set before him
the task of acquiring the habitude of
certain cardinal virtues based upon
simple living and habits of thought.
His constant effort was to better the
condition of mankind, and his methods
were intensely practical, says the Lon
don Catering World
Since the early times, simplicity of
preaching, teaching and eating has
been the great factor in the worlds
advancement The great mass of man
kind do not Understand, nor care for,
abstruse reasoning.
The record of the life of Abraham
Lincoln is traced back to that time
when he was seen sitting on rail
fence in one of Americas small west
ern Villages with a law book in one
hand and a piece of maize bread in
the other. Abraham Lincoln was a
man of simple habits, and his great
ness was to no small extent depend
ent upon that early simplicity and
goodness which gave strength to con-
science. mind and body.
Frederick the Great fostered above
all agriculture and the cultivation Of
fruits and vegetables. His endeavor to
benefit his people was based upon the
natural laws pertaining to their health
and simple happiness. He recognized
the fact, ever since clear to the minds
of the leaders of the Germans, that the
body is the basis and must be simple
and completely nourished in order to
perfect the soldier, statesman or the
peasant.
Bismarck's great work had for it's
basis the recognition of the simple
laws of nature. He followed them, and,
as result, there came about a new
manhood and a new womanhood, first
in Prussia and later in the empire.
Bismarck's natural and acquired as
tuteness taught him, as similar per-
ception and reasoning had taught Fred
erick the Great, that political economy
rural economy and domestic economy
are, as sciences, closely interlinked and
interdependent in their relations to the
state
While in France as United States
minister Thomas Jefferson wrote re-
Specting the education of daughter.
who was with him In Paris: "Of do
nestle economy she can learn moth
ing here, yet she must learn it some
where, as it is of more solid value
than anything else" To his friend
Peter Carr he said: "a strong body
makes a strong mind" Jefferson prac-
ticed his preaching by subsisting main
ly upon simple natural foods. and he
labored zealously all through his busy
life for the upbuilding of an American
system of education which should
teach men how to live in accordance
with the laws of nature He died at
the age of eighty-four, and he had not
lost tooth. nor was one of them de-
fective.
1t will be recollected that the laws
of Moses are replete with instructions
regarding the care of the body in sani-
tation and in diet, as well as in fasting
and religious duties. 1t is due to these
laws that the health of the Jews when
in reasonable conditions is so univer-
sally superior to that of the average
of other peoples.