The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-08
well-being Is actually to minister d.
rectly to a wholesome spirituality.


rectly to a wholesome spirituality.
few weeks ago 1 was permitted to
look into the faces Of Ave hundred col
lege girls. in attendance upon the Stu
dent Young Woman's Christian As
ISOLATION Conference at Silver Bay.
New York. There was nothing about
the gathering to suggest nunnery,
or the stereotyped. unthinking concep-
ton of Christianity. The young wo-
men typified American life at it's best
sane, wholesome unpriggish. unartl-
fetal, sunny young womanhood. They
entered into prayer-meetings with the
same zest and naturalness with which
they entered into athletic tournaments.
or college frolics. The whole affair to
me was novel; and 1 regarded it with
journalists critical eye, yet 1 could
not discover trace of hysteria, Sentl-
mentality or aught else that might be
classed by the most fastidious as 'un-
womanly." And it all advertised the
religion of the out-of-doors, the relig-
ion of good health; even. one might
say, the righteousness of athleticism
In their splendid healthfulness those
young women exhibited a type OF
saintliness that is very much more to
modern taste than the anaemic spirit
uelle female figure of the sacred art OF
few centuries past.
1t is more important to keep ones
health than to make ones accustomed
living. Anybody with courage and en-
terprise enough can live somewhere
for very little money and grow health
Ter while doing it; but whoever ruins
his health in order to maintain GER
tain position and standard of living Is
infiicting a wicked burden upon him.
self, upon his family, and upon society.
The first contribution to the cause of
patriotism is to give to the state d
healthy body, equipped to fulfill the
duties OF a normal life.
AS these words are written I see out
of my window a small boy turning
somersaults, forward and backward.
down a terraced lawn, in the sheer ex-
uberance of good health and animal
spirits. He is enjoying his muscles.
Simple exercise Is to him such a de-
lightful thing that he retires at night
by diving and jumping on to his bed.
and wakes up in the morning to skin
the cat" or perform other feats on the
person of the nearest relative who will
share his frolics. Is 1t any wonder that
he is sunny, merry and magnetic. 50
that the whole world upon which he
smiles smiles back at him. The buoy
ancy of life should stay with persons
until the end; instead, many of us are
semi-invalids before we are well out of
our teens. All because we do not re-
RarO EenSlDly the SdCreOneSS OIL Tic
body which the Creator has given us
as the tool with which to serve him.
One who has Travelled among the I'M
clothed, or very slightly clad, natives OF
the tropics must pronounce the human
form the most beautiful of all temples
In all the Orient I saw no temple to
compare in grace and seemliness, with,
say, the glistening naked bodies of
gang of street laborers in Singapore.
The more we know of physiology the
more we admire the skill of the archi-
tect who has built this most wondrous
temple for his own indwelling.
When God wanted to show himself
at the best that it was. possible for
mortal to understand, he took the
form of a healthy workingman.
Everything that one is or does de-
ponds upon the health of the body; to
ignore this is to disregard the charac-
ter of the foundation of ones house.
The preservation Of ones health is a
more sacred duty. than the holding of
ones job.
The man who takes time to keep well
can always find time to do the other
things that he ought to do.
No doubt there is danger of making
fad of athletics. We may easily run
to the excess of cultivating the purely,
expense of the intellectual and the spir-
itual. There are some communities
where the people have run mad over
sports: thew have failed to maintain