Evening star., 1922-07-31
Another Side of the Rainbow.

Here's letter from a California
seaside town:
Having read your health letters
for two years and enjoyed them. l
want to ask your advice. l have
q daughter twenty-seven years old
who has developed lung trouble tTB
as you call iD in the last year, from
4 cold, as, we say.
Il am told this is a very bad climate
for people with weak lungs. Our
doctors advice is to send her away,
where he does not say. butjust away
from III" damp sea air. We have
home and n good living made by my
husbands labor She is inclined TO
get blue and desperate and should
notSbe alone. She has sMtf girl
four years old who lives with us, she
being widow.
Il think eggs. milk. good meat and
plenty of fruit to eat, and as much
sleep and rest as one can get, are
the important things.
And there are still a great many
persons in the eastern coast or
mountain country who cite the same
authority, the indefatigable Ben Told.
for their belief that one with tuber-
Culosis should go away, nowhere IN
particular, just anywhere far, far
away where the rainbow is. 1 nave
had a great number of letters from
neople residing in the southern part
of the country who have consulted
Ben Told and are convinced that their
"catarrh." bronchial trouble, tuber-
culosis or asthma would be better
if they could get away from the
home climate and into Nthe climate
where the rainbow is, way up north
And. as everybody knows, nearly
every victim of a chronic respiratory
disease up north yearns to live some
where far off in the ideal climate OF
the south where the rainbow is. In
the east invalidS cherish the deluslon
that they will be better off out west,
and out west they feel they should
go east where the rainbow is.
Shame on the doctor who puts this
rainbow chasing notion in the head
of the invalid without giving definite
advice as to the place the Invalid
should go 1t is an old dodge.
surely rIgefeosas and as quickly at sea level,
north or south. east or west, as 1T is
in any well advertised altitude.
Dampness of the air or fogs have
no bearing on the question of curabil-
ity. True, tlmid persons venture TO
remain in the open air more or the
time if they believe the air is not too
damp or too cold or too hot for their
welfare But it would be silly TO
leave home for a mere whim or
phobia With proper treatment this
Young woman is quite as likely to
get well in California as she would
be in Minnesota or New Jersey or
Quebec Proper treatment is not the
glib formula which her mother sug-
gestS.
Proper treatment compasses these
essentials:
1. The regular attendance and su-
pervision in all matters of diet, air.
sunlight. rest. medication and hygiene
in general, of an educated physician.
2 Prolonged rest in bed until there
is no rfiore fever and the physician
deems it safe for the patient to
venture out of bed.
3. Keep out the female buzzards
who cali to tell Of sure cures and
tragic denouements in similar cases.
4. Intelligent feeding according to
the doctors advice. not stuffing with
any particular Strengthening food
5. Freedom from worry and anxiety
about the expense of treatment and
care, and freedom from the handicap
of homesickness-facto which mill
tate against recovery in many a case
in which the victim has pnwisely
elected to chase the rainbow.