Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-20
SIMPLE HABITS
OF Great Men Contributed Greatly to
Their Success in Life.

OF Great Men Contributed Greatly TO
Their Success in Life.
| From the London Catering World.
Benjamin Franklin. who is famed for his
discovery that lightning is electricity. and
| who introduced the American colonial pos
| tai system, and who furthermore. 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 dull
ness; drink not to elevation" 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 hab-
itude 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
Since the early times simplicity OF
prea aching, teaching and eating has been the
great factor in the worlds advancement.
The great mass of mankind do not under
stand, nor care for abstruse reasoning.
The record of the life of Abraham Lin
coin is traced back to that time when he
was seen sitting on a rail fence in one OF
Americas small western villages, with
law book in one hand and with a piece OF
maize bread in the other. Abraham Lin
coin was a man of simple habits. and his
greatness was to no small extent depend
ent upon that early simplicity and good
ness which gave strength to conscience.
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 hap
piness. 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.
Bismarcks great work had for its basis
the recognition of the simple laws of ma
ture. He followed them. and. as result,
there came about new manhood and Il
new womanhood. first in Prussia. and later
in the empire. Birmarck's natural and ac-
quired astuteness taught him, as similar
perception and reasoning had taught Fred
erick the Great, that political economy,
rural economy and domestic economy are,
as sciences. closely interlnked and interde-
pendent in their relations to the state.
While in France as United States min
lister Thomas Jefferson wrote respecting the
education of a daughter who was with him
in Paris: "Of domestic economy she car
learn nothing here, yet she must learn it
somewhere as it IS of more solid value
than anything else To his friend Peter
Carr he said: "a strong body makes
strong mind" Jefferson practiced his
preaching by subsisting mainly upon sini-
pie natural foods. and he labored jealousy
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 losc a
tooth, nor was one of them defective.
1t will be recollected that the laws of
Moses are replete with Instructions regar1-
Ing the care of the body in sanitation 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 con-
ditions is so universally superior to that of
the average of other peoples.