Norwich bulletin., 1920-07-31
THE MAN WHO TALKS

dE
 from it. It is perfectly clear that a
 demonstration of that chararter and on
 that day gives a wholesome tonic to the community spirit It shows still fur
 ther what a community can do when
 all are actuated by the same. spirit and
 all are working for the same purpose.
 to have a successful celebration a place
 doesn't have to be as big as New York.
 The smallest hamlet that works as one person and is sufficiently enthused can come across with successful under taking every time. Nothing brings a community nearer together than keeping
 step with one another in parade. It is something that everybody enjoys and IS willing to support. Any community that works together as Greeneville did in it's Fourth of July celebration has in- creased it's orgahie strength that is bound to reveal itself along other lines. We are also getting some distance away from the two great national con- ventions. Both of them failed in some important particulars. The nation at large would have been better pleased if they had displayed broader spirit and had taken an advanced step. If she will America is in a position to assume
 the moral leadership of the world. Why is it in these conventions they spen,i
 most of their precious time in pottering over platforms that mean nothing when tay are drawn, and so little time in se- lecting the nominees? After all it is the man rather than the platform that will add to the nations glory or shame. A mighty man will smash every rotten plank in platform that oftentimes is meaningless. The safety of the country lies in the character of it's men and not | rJo Ttzxr does a convention wait till it's dele gates are all worn out before they be- gin to vote for the nominee. Is it be- cause the party lash is more effective when men are exhausted? Do we not need some radical changes in this direc- ton?
 We are now in the very height of the growing season and one can hardly Ob- serve the flowers bloom and vegetables grow without raising the age-long ques- tion What is growth?" The answer, however is not forthcoming, as it has been one of the apparently simple ques- tions that has puzzled the wisest men in all the ages The old Greek philoso- phers including such minds as Plato and Aristotle gave up the question in despair The modern biologist with his vastly more extensive scientific knowl-
 
 lem We simply know that forces de-
 rived from soil, sunshine and air are
 transformed into vegetable matter and
 that is about as far as we can explain growth But vegetable growth can
 hardly fail to bring us face to face with our individual problems. The parallel between our growth and that of vegeta- bles stops at certain point. Bodily
 growth always reaches its limits but not the mental-at least not with the
 majority Sometimes we meet with
 men and women whose minds must have
 stopped growing before they entered
 their teSns. It is important to know if we are taking steps to develop the mind constantly; to expand our moral
 purposes. and to increase our humani- tartan impulses.
 This is the age of entlronement of fresh air. Science has told us that colds come from infection and that dead, foul air is the cultural ground. Fresh air, far from giving or agra vating a cold, is it's greatest combat
 ant. The college lads and lasses are right in sleeping with windows wid open even in mid-winter. We can hard ly repress the smile when We think that people. not so very long ago, used to fear the night air" What sort of air
 did they expect after nightfall but night air?" Acting on this belief how care fully they kept their little ones when sleeping from it's baneful effect have been in homes where I was not particularly reminded of fresh air or even night air,s but rather Hast years air" There are plenty oi houses that haven't been aired" since the last funeral If we fully realized l the close connection between fresh air
 and good red blood we would lair" this l subject more than we do.
 Closely allied to fresh air in the mat. 1 ter of physical health is that of regular i bodily exercise-outdoor exercise. Ii 1 stands to reason that even vigorous ex. ercise in close, stuffy room is of little avail. The object of exercise is to pu the blood into active circulation, and the i best results are achieved only as the l best quality of blood is made to function with energy--the very kind of blood | that fresh air stimulates. Every outdoor game, if ones strength is not overtax 1 ed, accomplishes the desired result, ant
 the best form of exercise very naturally l is that which calls the greatest number | of muscles into play. All games of ball l tennis, gon, boating, swimming, fish 1 ing, hunting, walking, in fact every thing reefeational, contributes to the de | sired result. Orientals are strangely
 averse to physical exertion, which i. 1 partly due to the enervating torrid hea | in which they live. Sir John Lubbocl 1 tells of an Oriental who, having beer 1 taken to watch a game of cricket, wa, 1 astonished at hearing that many of then
 playing were rich men. He asked why they did not pay some poor people tt T f1 '. 1 joy in exertion.
 i Nothing separates modern from Puri 1 tan times more completely than in tn, | value we now put upon the body. Is i | not something a good deal more thai the house of clay, or the mortal coil
 that Cotton Mather used to call it? Tn, 1 old time divines taught that we ough
 to hail with pleasure the time when W, would "shuffle it off" because it wa, 1 only clog to the real life. Epictetus | who was far-famed for his wise say 1 ings, went so far as to assert that n, ! was a spirit bearing about corpse. | Modern phyiology has done much tt dissipate false notions about the body 1 When the body is scientifically studied
 we must exciaim with the poet Strange that a harp of thousand
 strings should keep in tune so long. When we consider how wonderfully l complex the human frame is, the req miracle is that we should live at all rather than why we do not live longer
 Is it not equally amazing that thesl numerous organs should function st
 regularly?a Is 1t not clear that thu
 body is something more than the tene ! ment of clay?
 Why is it that death has claimed 8, l