The Grit-advocate., 1905-09-22

1
as, for instance, that an
egg is equivalent in nutritive value
10 pound of meat; that the various
mysteries sold in the drug stores as
Deer extracts are sufficient by the
teaspoonful to sustain n famished in
valid or cOnvalescent for twenty four
hours, more or less. and that milk is
tue one grand. important, absolute and
universal food for every breathing
thing; if hygiene could only restrict
itself to such things, it would occupy
us to the very full while the world
Shall last, but there are many other
errors almost as widespread and more
fatal in their consequences. 1t is al
most incomprehensible to the thought
ful physician why the atrocious vice
OF wedding tours has not been utterly
stamped out. No matter how robust,
how tenacious of life, how full of
energy, how many times the four hun
dred years. which the good DR.. Holmes
insists should be the time of prepara-
ton for the newborn infant: no mat
ter what adjuncts to ease of wealth.
of education, of refinement not one
of them can stand safely the dread
full physical and mental exactions of
the prolonged and. too often, dele
terious excitement of the engaged.
| The constant strain to keep up that
somewhat unnatural front" which
has attracted and which continues to
attract the betrothed together with the
I=- months siege, more or less, of
the most laborious exertion in the
preparation of trousseau, the exactions,
| impositions and fatigues of the dress
| maker, the same to a lesser degree
of the milliner, and to crown all the
dreadful hurry and vigils which at
tend the few weeks Immediately pre-
| ceding the ceremony.
With the bridegroom it is scarcely
less exacting. Whether in business or
whether of leisure, and like all the
strictly leisure class, driven by the
lash of necessity for amusement, his
attention divided. his entire habit of.
| life. so far as it is then formed COM
pletely subverted his hurried and fire.
| quently frenzied attempts to regulate
his business affairs in order that he
may have nothing ON his hands to
interfere; these combined produce
condition Of the system, both mental
and physical, of both the high con-
tracing parties, which peculiarly and
positively unfit them for the dreadful
| exactions of honeymoon trip. ~. -.
Immediately upon the conclusion of
the ceremony the youthful couple pro-
ceed with the utmost dispatch to the
train, and then begins the most tire
some episode which human beings
with all the varied Ills of life are sub
jected to. To the sensitive, modest
young woman, the mental disquiet of
appearing to the world in the MOTTO
Oe-concealed role of bride is in itself
sufficient, but this must be supple
| mented by the discomforts Of that Pro-
crustean travesty, the modern, much
over-decorated sleeping car. The over
studied Indifference of the bridegroom
needs no mention here, as this is not
intended MS a humorous sketch. Ar
riying, not at their destination, for
their proper destination will probably
be a sanitarium, but at the city which
they have chosen to honor with their
incognito. they begin a life BURDEN
some from the very strangeness of
the room. of the furniture. of the sur
roundings and the unfamiliar and too
| often indigestible, if not absolutely
hurtful, menu. -'4s~--
This, however, does not suffice with
the great majority of them. Hardly
have they swallowed an early break
fast before they are off sightseeing
and visiting every celebrity within
twenty miles Of the city, too often in
inclemcnt weather, and too often in
the reaction brought about by the
| months of strenuous endeavor which
| have preceded the trip. 1t does suffice
that they should thus drag themselves
| from post to pillar ostensibly enjoying
| these various sights and landscapes
in each others society, which, as Lord
| Allcash says in Fra Diavolo." leach
| longs for his or her sleep all the day.
well-meaning, misguided friends, who
| have been apprised Of their arrival,
visit the newly lymarried couple at their
| hotel in the afternoon and evening.
Thus in the very critical time of a
woman's life, when above all she needs
| the quiet seclusion and comfort of the
home which she has been accustomed
to since her girlhood, she is exposed
to a series of laboriOus mental and
physical efforts which might we'll
break down the strongest and most
robust man. Is it any wonder that the
wedding trip is the first and most
powerful factor in the wretched health
for many years for young American
matrons?
No mention is made here Of the abb
surd vulgarities of the would-be witty
sol dasant friends of the couple, who
signaliZe themselves by throwing old
shoes and rice or in spirit Of gum
my pleasantly paste or tie various