Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-10-30
DYSPEPSIA AND DESTINY.


Men Who Neglected Their bodies
Faiied When Success Was Nigh.
Man has a machine. an apparatus OF
aeiicate adjustment, but of great pow.
er--his body-but too often he neglect.
10 use 1t, says the Boston Globe. He
lets 1t rest In ease or sIumber In sloth
de coddles it. He arrays 1t in fine lin
en- and purple, bedizens 1t with jewel.
and pampers 1t with indigestible foods
OFTEN sparlng 1t the arduous labor oil
mastication. He permits it to sit awk
wardly with crossed legs or stopped
shoulders, as If the. trunk was toe
Fragile to hold up its limbs, or the
weight of the atmosphere was an Alta.
load for its back.
And what reward hath the mind 70,
this indulgence granted the sybaritt
flesh? lngratitude and complaining nc
companled by accusations. The poor
debilltated muscles and nerves Justly
charge that the overseer mind has been
neslectful of Its duties and, desplsins
so weak and ignorant foreman, desert
or rebel, and leave their should-be boss
impotent to carry out the true work OF
man.
The marvellous mind of Alexander
which ruled world, had no discipline
for Its body after 1t became acquainted
with oriental pomp and seriousness
and disregarded the stalwart yirillty
With which In other days 1t tanned
Bucephalus.
Napoleon, busy with rearranging the
map of Europe, did not properly mas,
ticate his chicken Ia Marengo and
allowed 1t to pass In the rough into the
spoiled child of stomach. trusting to
the liver-a weak one inherited from
his father-to complete the lack of
mastication.
Probably the great disaster of Lem
zig was due to his careless eating.
Noltalre has said the fate of ma
ton often depended on the good or bad
digestion of prime minister, and Mot
ley declares that the govt of Charles
v. changes the destinies of the world.
Balzac. incompatible novelist, died
at 80 when he had planned for a life
OF rural rest. died because he allowed
the craving stomach to have coffee at
all hours and in great quantities: and
While his mind sauntered In nil the
highways, lanes and alleys of human
society, his body, cabined In monks
robe, took no exercise. but stuck to a
garrett, except when sheriff's an.
proach made flight n thing desired by
the agile mind
In that delightful essay, saints and
Their Bodies" Colonel Higginson saws !:
Three of the four Greek fathers ruin
ed their health early and were lnyalids
for the rest of their days. Three only
of the whole eight were able.bod,ad
men-Ambrose, Augustine and Athan-
asius-and the permanent Influence of
these three has been far greater than
that of all the others put together"
He is born for a minister" New
England parents once said of the puny
twigs of the family tree, while they
deputed the lusty limbs to bear tbe
Bullets of secular storms.
Luther scoffed at Juvenal's axiom of
"A healthy mind in a healthy body
IN axiom commended to the degenerate
Romans-but other religious leaders
have welcomed and needed the warn
ing contained In the saying of the great
satlrist. IL Calvin was an Invalid NIL
the days of his life, George, Michael
and Martin were robust. If some noted
prelates have not treated their bodies
as they ought, we have seen even a
delicate Leo XIII. illustrate to the let
Ter, mems sana in corpore sano."