The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-14

the body three things are necessa r-v,
First, food sufficient in quantity and
proper in quality to insure growth until
maturity and health afterwards At pres
ent We have at one extreme those who
suffer from lack of nourishing food and
at the opposite extreme those who ruin
their health with high living. Second, the
body needs exercise sufficient in quantity
and kind to keep it in good working or
der At present large number young
and old, work too long, while, on the
other hand, many do not work at all.
Third, the body needs rest sufficient for
recuperation. Today a portion of the
population have too little opportunity for
rest while others rest until they become
weary of resting.
But man must be more than a perfect
animal; he does not rise above the level
OF the beast If he permits his thoughts
to rest entirely upon blood, and bone and
muscle. The prolongation of life would
scarcely be worth the effort or the ward
ing off of disease reward the care, if
there were not more in human life than
food, toll and rest.
Those who are foolish enough to ex-
change the permanent advantage of an
education for the temporary gain of re-
munerative employment have; as a rule,
protracted season of repentance As
the workman gains rather than loses by
the time employed in sharpening his
tools. so the student accumulates more
capital by careful preparation than he
can by too early an entrance upon money
making. There is in some quarters dis
position to regard what is contemptuous-
ly called 'book-learning'' as of little
value except in the professions. No error
can be more harmful, and it arises from
a miseonception of the purpose of educa-
ton. Books are not to be despised; they
and these best thoughts are again sifted
by time. While one should know people
as well as the written page. still books
are faithful friends.
Where an education has seemed to be
a detriment in business or has yielded a
less dividend than might properly be ex-
pected. it can be traced to a deficit in
purpose rather than to surplus of learn
ing.
And this leads us to the consideration of
the necessity for a moral development to
accompany mental training. An athlete
bent on mischief can do more harm than
a dwarf or an invalid and so a well dis
ciplined mind. misdirected. Is capable of
doing more serious damage than an igs
norant mind. Society is poorly repaid
for the money spent upon education if
the one who profits by the expenditure
feels ashamed to cooperate with those
whose toll supplies him with food and
clothing That labor is dignified, that
work is honorable, is truth that needs
to be impressed upon every young man
and upon every young woman. 1t is
worthier by far to add something to the
worlds store of wealth than to spend the
money that others have earned We
must have food, and clothing and shelter.
and we must earn these things or some
one must give them to us. young mans
self-respect ought to make him ashamed
to sponge upon the world for living
he ought to insist upon repaying with in
terest the service which society renders
him; and this rule applies to young wom-
en- as we'll as to the young men, for the
forms of service are infinite and the re-