The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-10-28
Health.
ny JOHN D. BARRY.

ny JOHN ID. BARRY.
The other day when | called friend on the
telephone | got the wrong number. Instead Of
the cheerful resolute voice had expected to hear
I was greeted with doleful sound that seemed to
come out of the depths of most lugubrious con-
sciousness, voice that expressed an utterly dis
spirited attitude toward life well, feel sorry
for that woman,"I said to myself. "She must have
a miserable time in her Iife"
Later, when / saw the friend / had tried to
talk with and told her of the incident and of the
difference between that voice and her own and all
the differences in attitude that were suggested, she
remarked: Il know that type very well. There
are altogether too many women Of that kind in
the world. They gradually sink into a state OF
mental torpor that very easily leads into the dis
spirited and whining habit which shows so no.
ticeaby in their voices and is so very conspicuous
on the telephone. Besides being a kind of sick
ness in itself it leads to many kinds of sickness.
| 1t is responsible for neurasthena and all those
nervous disorders that result from self-absorption
and weak yielding to depression and to the petty
trials OF life Often it is the direct soutcome of
idleness. If most of those women had something
to do every day. something really hard, that made
them energize, they would be much better off.
Some time it will be discredit for women to
was reminded of this comment this morning
when saw two women meeting, one rather sick
ly and depressed looking, the other obviously
healthy "Oh, you poor darling, how are you?"
said the healthy woman, evidently taking the
tone of the other. The response was in kind, a
long drawl: "Oh, I'm feeling perfectly wretched."
Then the conversation proceeded, keeping the tone
of weakness and desolaton. The healthy woman
thought she doing the sympathetic thing. So
she was But she was giving the wrong kind Of
sympathy, the kind that did more harm than good.
There are mothers who treat their daughters
in this way, unconsciously encouraging the weak
and fatuous attitude toward life. The moment
they hear a complaint OF pain a wall of debil-
ity they encourage it and make the condition
worse Much of the ill-heath in the world Can be
traced to this false solicitude. When once the
habit OF yielding to it is formed it is hard to de-
velop those habits of vigor and enjoyment OF lv-
ing that do so much to maintain health.
What makes health? Why is it that some pco-
pie are healthy and others who, apparently, take
just as good care of themselves, unhealthy:
For all that the doctors tell us, the answer is still
something of mystery. There are, it is true, the
obvious things to say, references, for example, to
heredity and constitution. But they leave the
problem unsolved. thought l found one clew
few months ago when i asked the most vigorous
man of my acquaintance, the one who seems TO
take the greatest enjoyment out OF mere living II
he could explain to me the reason Tor his own
health. 81 think / know, he replied with
promptness that suggested he had already given
the matter thought. ats because l throw my
chest out"
Then he went on to explain. when was a
boy was puny. They used to think l wouldn't
live through the winter. Every winter Id have
a bad cough and people would come up and ask
me in doleful way how | was feeling today,
hated being sckly. But | didn't see what ! could
do about it except drink cod liver oil, which l
hated, too I also hated cold weather. On the
first cold days I'd feel like staying in the house
and would often have stayed in il hadn't been
afraid of being treated by my elders like an in
valid Well, one day was walking along the
street. shvering and chattering and fearing the
cold and shrinking from it, it suddenly occurred
to me that | ought to throw my chest out. So
did. felt little better; but was still cold The
longer ] kept my chest thrown out, however, the
better | felt. Then the cold seemed to make
big effort to get me again; but fought hard and
| won out. l began to ] took deep breaths.
l felt like laughing. For the first time in my life
I discovered that cold weather was enjoyable. I'd
been treating it like a dog that / was afraid of.
When the dog me running away, he got after
me. When he found that | wasn't afraid he ran
along with me and we had a good time together
Since that day I've been entirely different, and all
on account OF accidental discovery
| liked the story, but didn't agree that the
discovery was accidental In my opinion it re-
suited from the will to live that had been strong
in my friend as boy. Throwing the chest Nout
was an expression OF that will Here is where
many people fail. They don't really prize the in
stitution Of living. They don't show it proper ap
probation. So they sink into apathetic attitude
toward life that is bound to lead to mental or ply
steal weakness or to both.
How is one to cultivate the will to live? One
way is by initiating the example of my healthy
friend by doing just what he did. The mere throw
ing out of the chest will help to open up the way
1t can't be done without the assertion of mental
vigor. 1t will lead to deeper breathing and to
a more vigorous outlook II that woman whose
whining voice | heard the telephone were to
stand up straight and throw back her shoulders
and look life straight in the face she would not
be so easily tempted to whine. For the physical
and mental attitude would make whining difficult.
Before she could whine she would have to collapse
again.
1t is good Tor and then to consider the
tone take toward life and to find out whether
it is like that woman's or not For even while
the physical tone may be clear enough the mental
tone may be fabby. When think that life is
all wrong we would do we'll to take warning What
we need is to be toned up.