Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-12-09
CHAPTER VI.
THE SIMPLE NEEDS.

When one buys a bird of the bird
seller the good man tells US briefly
what we must do for our new pen
sioner and all that, hygiene, food and
the rest, is contained in a few words.
To sum up in the same way the essen
tial needs of the greater part Of be-
ings a few summary indications will
suffice. Their rule is in general of an
extreme simplicity and SO long as
they follow it they keep in good
health, like children who obey Moth
er Nature. Let them step aside and
complications arrive, the health suf-
fers, gayety disappears. Simple and
natural life alone can maintain an or
ganism in its fullest vigor. By failing
to remember this elementary princi-
pie We fall into strange alterations.
What does a man need for his ma
terial life in the best possible condi-
tons? A healthy diet, simple gar
ments, salubrious dwelling and air
and movement. l shall not enter into
the details Of hygiene, nor compose
menus nor indicate what kind of
house he should occupy nor the cut of
rection and to say what advantage
there is for each one to order his life
in a spirit Of simplicity. To assure
ourselves that this spirit does not
reign enough in our social life, it suf-
fees to see how men of all classes
live. Ask different individuals from
distinct classes of life this question:
what do you need to live?" You will
hear what they answer There is no.
thing more instructive than that.
For some, autochtones Of Partisan
asphalt, there is no life possible out
side a certain region circumscribed
by a few boulevards. There the air
is breathable, the light bright, the
temperature normal, the classic kitch-
en- and all one desires of so many
othes things without which 1t would
be scarcely worth while to promenade
on this round machine of ours-the
world.
To the different rungs on the lad
der of bourgeois life, they answer to
the question of what they need to live,
by cipher, varying according to the
degree of ambition or education, and
by education one understands most
often the external habits Of life, the
way they are lodged, fed and clothed
an education all on the surface
Understood a certain income, OF pro
fit or salary, life becomes possible
Below that 1t is impossible. We have
seen people commit suicide because
their means have fallen below Ger
tain minimum. They preferred tc
disappear rather than to restrain
themselves. Note that this minimum
the cause of their despair, would have
been very acceptable to others OF lesi
exacting needs, and enviable for PEG
pie of modest tastes.
In the mountains the fora chang
according to the altitude There II
the region of ordinary cultivation
that of forests, that Of pasturages
and that of bare rocks and glaciers
After leaving a certain zone we fin'
no more wheat, while the vine pros
pers. The oak ceases to grow In
comparatively low plane, and the pin
Is pleased with considerable alt
tudes. Human life with its needs re
calls those phenomena Of vegetation
At a certain altitude OF fortune W
see the fnancier succeed. the clu
man, the worldlings, and In short a
those for whom strict necessity III
derstands a certain number of Sc
wants, and equipages, as well as sevel
al domiciles In and out Of the cit!
Next we find the burgesses. goo
citizens with their clean manners an
habits. We see, fourishing In othe
regions, comfortable ease, middling
modest and of categories Of exactior
very unequal Then come the sma
people, the artisans. the laborers, tn
peasants, the mass in fact who liv
hard. and scantily like the fine gra'