Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-06-21
By WOODS HUTCHINSON, M. D.

We see and hear so much Of the
virtue of self-denial, the value of dis
cipline and repression, and the
necessity for keeping ourselves hard
and fit, that we are apt to overlook
the other side Of the shield.
Our earlier preachers Of health laid
powerful emphasis on the stern and
unrelenting cultivation of the dis
agreeable-cold baths, plain food,
loathsome exercise-and come peril
ously near making hygienic virtue re-
pulsive and the cult of health a gos-
pei of discomfort.
Most of the things you like to do
were bad for you, and almost every
thing specially recommended as
health-giving-cold air, early rising
and work between meals-was an
abomination to the natural man.
The most important equipment,
next to a poor. memory, for living
to be a hundred is, in the archaic
vernacular, "a calm sough,' a capac-
ity for taking things more or less
silently, easily, and philosophically.
There are times, and frequently, when
a mastery inactivity is the best road
to success, even in war.
Yet we often hear this policy of
taking things easy, being good to
yourself" denounced as self-indulgent
and softening, and also as stupid and
not specially tending to develop the
intelligence. And, of course, as an
exclusive policy, or carried TO ex-
tremes, there may be truth in this.
At any rate, indulgence needs to
be mixed with frequent bouts of
strenuousness and hardening and
fighting, but life and the struggle
for existence will usually provide
most of us with plenty of this sort of
experience for corrective purposes,
and there is no need for US to go out
of our way to hunt this or any other
kind of trouble.
As to the charge that being good
to oneself" weakens the intelligence,
now that we know how to do it scien-
tifically, there is nothing that calls
for more brains and good sense, to
say nothing of tact and diplomacy,
than to adjust and condition our sur
roundings to our requirements, by
cutting out Friction, worry, waste
fatigue and Improbable discomfort.
There is no better time of year to
begin this intelligent campaign for
keeping cool and comfortable" en-
ternally, bodily and mentally, than in
the early summer If there be any
time in the year when one ought to
be comfortable without an effort or
a thought, it is on "a day in June"
| June time is the time of peace in
which to prepare for war. Don't
wait until you are sweating and gasp
ing and heat-prostrated and mos
quito bitten; beat the enemy to it.
As first step toward making your
self comfortable for the summer, il
goes without saying that you will put
screens over all the windows and
doors Of your house, and screen in at
least one wide porch.
Since we discovered that malaria is
carried by mosquitoes and by no other
means, and that flies carry typhoid,
summer dysentery and other infec-
tious diseases, screens have been lift
ed out of the class of mere comforts
and luxuries and have become ne
cessities of life and health.
If you have not wire screens and
can't afford them, or your landlord
thinks he can't afford them, cotton
mosquito-bar screens will serve ad-
mirably for one season.
i Next to fresh air in the campaign
for GOODNESS and comfort comes the
necessity for abundant bathing and
splashing and sponging with cool wa
ter.
In hot weather the bathroom be-
comes one of the most importan,