The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1910-06-23

" l4i perhaps see. tnat Il cnaIEe OueIS
now that i have pointed / Out. 1t is GER
tain.y one which any wife who wants to
be happy, but isn't. will he foolish to
mlss.-Harriett Prescott Spafford, III
Pittsburg Leader.
-o.:.o-
a Woman Lawmaker.
In Indiana lives a woman who does
not write plays. or poetry, or novels, but
who as an author is fast coming abreast
on fames patch with that states best
literary pioneers" says "A writer IN
Hampton's Magazine. "She has written
only one work, but that has placed her
housing bill that is revolutionizing tene-
ment conditions in Indiana.
Mrs. Albion Fellows Bacon is little
slip OF a woman, the mother of four chill
dren-with one daughter inches taller
than herself-who lives quietly at Evans
vile. Some years ago, she came to the
conclusion that in many cities. the tene-
ment conditions were just as Impossible
as in New York. This, and that four
walls never make home, she discovered
by friendly visits to her native town.
The slum conditions of the smaller cities
were, she found, deplorable. And then,
being a woman of sincerity and energy.
she set about building up.
With her, charity began al LONE.
terested her townspeOple by personal ap
peal, and with the Monday Night club at
her elbow, engineered city ordinance to
do away with Slum conditions in Evans
vile. With alacrity the city council
pigeonholed it. Mrs. Bacon rescued 1t,
and finally it was made part OF the city
building law. Then she began to look
around; she began to write letters to
everybody who could help, from the $50
secretaries of associated state charities
to Jacob A. Riis. All this in her own
home, and with a family to care for. At
last her labor lowered; in January, 1909,
her bill to alleviate tenement conditions
was presented in the Indiana Legislature.
It attracted little attention, and was
about to be shelved quietly when Mrs.
Bacon appeared in person before the
Legislature, and made such an eloquent
plea for it that the bill was passed. One
of her sentences became a battle cry:
We protect men in mines and in rail-
roads, and in factories, but we do not
protect them in the homes
''The bill covers the tenement question
in a remarkable way. The tenement
problem in city of $4,000 demands en-
tirely different handling from the tene-
ment problem in a large city. Mrs.
Bacon's bill declares, for instance, that
no tenement hereafter shall occupy more
than IS per cent. of a lot or more than
must not be higher than once and
half the width of the street on which it
stands. 1t also provides that the build
ing must have a rear yard at least 10
feet deep, and that no rear tenements
shall be erected. In the future in every
tenement erected in Indiana there must
be one room of 120 square feet, while
other rooms must contain at least ~
square feet of floor area, and must not
be less than 9 feet high. Sanitary pro-
visions are also arranged for.
Work and Health.
Among the many methods which have
been suggested from time to time, by
which an individual may get and keep
health and strength, there is one, which,
it seems to me. has not been sufficiently
emphasized. My own experience is that
one of the best means for preserving the
mind and body in sound and healthful
condition is some definite form of labor.
As rule. 1 think it will be found that
the people who are constantly sick i'll
body, just as the people who are sick
in mind and weak in morals, are the
people who have little or nothing to do.
l never remember of seeing a pro-
fessional tramp or loafer who seemed to
me to be in thoroughly good condition
physically, and | have noticed that among
the weather. classes of people those who
are constantly complaining, who break
down nervously and have to be con-
stantly travelling about from one place TO
another lii search of health. are usually
people who have nothing to absorb their
thought and attention; Il short, they
have no work.
l never knew or heard of a case Of
neuraSthenla among people who worked
with their hands, and particularly not
among those who worked In the open
air.
do not overlook the fact that under
the new and complex conditions OF mod
ern life there have sprung up kinds of
labor that are specially dangerous to hu
man life. 1t is the duty of the public
and Of the government to perceive these
dangers and improve these conditions.
But aside from Improvements and safe
guards the man who works has in MINI
self a means of overcoming these dam
gers and difficulties; men who labor
show a marvellous ability to adapt them
selves to new conditions, TO make them
selves strong enough to resist these adj
verse conditions and overcome them. The
very effort that is put forth to do a
piece of work gives the strength and
vigor to withstand hardships and resist
diseases.
There is one kind of disease, if | may
refer to it in that way, which rarely at
tackS the man who works, no matter
whether his labor is with the head or
with the hand. The disease I refer to is
pesslmism. So long as a man has some
thing to do which absorbs all his thought
and attention, he remains hopeful and,
as a whole, contented. If he sees evils.
no matter how great they seem, he is
pretty likely to be reasonably happy if
he fndS he is overcoming them, no mat
ter how slowly.
1t is when the laboring man goes on a
strike or gets out of a Job that he be-
comes dangerous to himself and to So
ciety.
In my opinion there is nothing that is
so certain to make a man ,or woman
healthy in body, in mind, and in spirit.
as to find somewhere in the world a kind
Of work that he or she can do, something
by which to make himself or herself use
full to the people around.
The ordinary daily tasks are, under
normal conditions, the great source of
contentment and happiness, :and as such
are symptoms of sound minds and healthy
bodies. The best insurance against
disease and death is a good job, one that
taxes all the individual strength of body,
mind and purpose.
A great task is an inspiration, and the
man or woman who has the good fortune
TO be connected with some part of the
worlds wock has. in my opinion, found
Tile secret, uOl OILY W uedllu Out TO nap
piness as well.ZBooker T. Washington,
in Good Health.
>Os-O~
Ones Own Way.
At first thought, it would seem as i'm
practicable to get out Of ones own way
as to pull oneself up by ones boot straps.
Yet it is always more or less practicable,
and always makes for success. The wom-
an who learns to look at life imperson-
ally, for example, is the one who sees