The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-05-22
A Middle-Aged Business
Man S Health
Rv woods Hutchinson NJ D. in Saturday Evening Post

A man OF fifty should be just entering
upon his harvest. The years from for
ty to sixty are the dominant decade
| of life. the ages of the rulers of th'
world.
The "Wanderjahren," the years O
struggle and stress, Of painful prepare
ton and laborious training, are over
the fields are white before his sickle
How can he best preserve his vigol
and conserve his capital? Conditions
have changed, and he must adjust
| himself to them.
First let him recognize the advan-
! tages of his position. He has gradual
ed from the school of Life, has earned
the right to let his degrees of skill and
! experience work for him. What his
muscles have los: In elasticity they
have gained In pFactised smoothness
| of action and massive strength. His
heart has lost the bounding leap of the
deer, but has gained the tireless swing
OF the swift arragansett PAGER that
eats up the long miles like fire" His
thought-engine throbs with less violent
pulsations, but has gained immensely
in cool, orderly, harmonious vibrations.
What we once could do only by labor
ious effort and constant attention we
now do unconsciously and with the
easy dizziness of instinct, or second
nature.
Let the young men blaze the trails
and clear the forests. The man of the
dominant decades, in our expressive
Western idiom, don't have to-" He
has qualified for something better. Let
him clearly see this and bank on it,
and he has solved two-thirds of the
problem of preserving his vigor till old
age. Sound maturity is more efficient
and quite as enjoyable as youth. Don't
sigh for the days that were, or count
yourself inferior to the callow stripping.
You are a better motor than he is, OF
higher horsepower, greater endurance
and less friction-waste. Besides, he
may be laid on the scrap-heap before
he reaches your age.
The glory and triumphs of manhood
are yours. Enjoy them without regrets
for the past or fears for the future.
Live at concert pitch, and plan to die
suddenly.
Don't begin to cut down on things
until they cut down on you. Keep on
full steam ahead until you feel a
bump, or at least a distinct grating.
You'll go further and happier and far
more useful1y than by anxious strain
ing on the lookout for rocks and shoals
which often don't exist, though they
may be down on the charts. There are
plenty such.
DON'T DROP YOUR REcREATIONS.
First and most vital, keep up your
exercise and recreations, especially the
latter. Don't drop any of your outdoor
interests unless you can acquire new
ones in their places. Change your
sports in quality if you must tbut not
till them, but never in quantity, ex-
cept to increase. Drop tennis when
you find it exhausts you, or hurries
your heart afterward or disturbs your
sleep, but take an hour a day more
golf in its place. IF the rife with it's
long, Notwithstanding tramps over
and dead-fall tires you, so
that you don't rest from the trip, +
take to the shotgun and the stubble-
fields and copses. If the gun becomes
too strenuous, fall back on the rod, but
don't give up your outdoor life on any
account.
There is no need to take too much
anxious thought about these problems.
Nature has guiding instinct for mid
die age and declining yigor, just as
she has for youth and growing powers.
AS long as you like to take active exer-
else and sport, and feel exhilarated and
refreshed (even if a little stiffened) by
them, keep them up; they are doing
you good. When you feel that they
are getting a little too much for you,
when you don't feel fresher for them
next day, cut down on them a little in
In short, be guided by an in
telligent study of your own feelings
and preferences. They are your guide.
Let your motto be the advice of the
Quaker apostle, George Fox, to William
Penn, in regard to the wearing of the
Wear it as long as thou
canst."
Indoor gymnastics are really of Sec
ondary Importance. First. because
they lack the chief benefits of exercise,
the open air and sunshine. Second, be-
cause they almost invariably become
and uninteresting, and are
soon discontinued. For these reasons
lIiOSI physicians OF experience regard
them as practically little better than
a farce. Certainly the claims made
for them by highly advertised systems
of physical culture are of this charac-
ter. A good five-minutes' arm-swing-
ing, back-bending, side stretching, |
with accompanying deep breathing, |
just after the morning bath, and be-
fore going to bed at night, form a USE
full tonic. This should be gone through |
enpty-handed, for dumb-bells and |
club are useless, and practically do |
more harm than good, especially of the |
weights selected by both amateurs and |
professors.
Work in regular gymnasium is of |
doubtful value for the middle-aged |
man, as, unless he be already an ex- |
pert, or is constantly under the eye
of judicious trainer, he is apt to over
do, or use apparatus like the horizon |
tai bar, trapeze or rings, which sub
1ect him to the risk of strains. lars
and falls, dangerous to his stiffening
muscles and joints. The great danger !
of gymnasium is that the average
man is firmly convinced that the more
violent the exercise the more 9ood it I