The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-22
entury

Century,
Or course, everyone admits at one
that the man or woman Of sedartary
occupations and indoor habits Of work
needs a liberal allowance of outdoor
exercise to keep in health. But it is
not SO generally recognized that the
hard working day laborer and artisan.
the man in the blacksmith shop, the
blast furnace. h quarry. or the saw
mill. Is equally in need of a great deal
OF muscular exercise in the open air,
In spite of the tremendous horse pow
err expended by his muscles every day
In his regular toll. Yet, paradoxical
as 1t may seem. those who work hard
est are most in need of exercise.
Some of hardest working occu-
pations show a very high mortality
unmanageable and rapidly fatal cases
of this disease that l have ever seen
We're in a frontier mail carrier who
rode forty miles on horseback every
day. swimming from two to Ave
streams cnroute whenever they hap
pened to be In flood. and a timber
cruiser. or field surveyor for a big
lumber company. who was perpetually
taking months-long trips through the
otonous and often scanty food supply.
Neither of them could get any vaca-
ton, and they had almost forgotten
the meaning Of the word amusement.
"All work and no play" makes Jack
not only a dull boy. but a sickly and
short lived one as we'll. It is hard to
say which is the most powerful factor
in producing a. high death rate-ex-
cessive muscular York or over-con-
tnement. Certainly, occupations for
both men and women. which combine
tho fnsn-N~ ~ nat{o oANsyat N~l y~
skilled laborers-show the shortest
life and the heaviest death rate of
all.
II a man wishes q long life and.
what is much more important. a happy
one, he must plan to spend at least
two, and better three, hours a day in
the open air. in some light active ex-
ercise Of the nature of a game or
sport, that gives him enjoyment. If
he would plan for four. he would find
the additional hour anything but vast
ed. The same is equally true to
women.
am on my feet constantly every hour
Of the working day. either standing,
walking about, running upstairs,
handling books or goods. and when
night comes 1 feel as if the last thing
that ] wanted was n more exercise"
LUIS 40 particularly apt 10 UG tue dLIl-
tude of busy housewives. who declare
that long before the end Of the day
every muscle in their body aches till
they are ready to cry and resent, as
arrant nonsense, any suggestion that
more exercise would be of the slight.
est benefit to them.
OF course. in some Of these cases,
the best thing t o do is to lake the
first ten or fifteen minutes Of exercise
On a lounge. or bed. SO as to give all
poisoning themselves. But. after that,
the apparent paradox il true. that the
remedy for too much exercise Of any
kind is more exercise of another sort
The hardest and most wearing exer-
else that the body can take is to stand
still, and the next most trying is to
sit still. Light. rhythmic, natural ex-
ercise is literally play by comparison
with either Of these wearing and un.
natural strains.
The older physicians believed that
the natural condition Of matter vas
rest. Now We know that its natural
state is motion In a right line and that
it will p~erpetually continue in this,
unless forcibly brought to a standstill.
Something the same curious reverse
of apparent conditions Is true of mus
Gle. Its natural state Is movement.
not rest. Usually when 1t seems to be
at rest 1t is pulling against, or being
pulled to a s%tandstill by some other
muscle. When it is really at rest II
is neutralized chemically. or inhibited
n%ervously.
We have all smiled over the man
who rested SO hard that 1t tired him,