Year: 1879

Those who are personally acquainted
with Henry Ward Beecher, and know his
remarkable vigor and good spirits, not
withstanding he has been through so
much during the last thirty or forty years.
will appreciate the following rules for
promoting health, as contributed by him
to the Christian Union. While his expe-
rence in health matters would not be en-
dorsed by every reader, yet much is con-
tanned in the details given below Of inter-
est to all:


First. being born with a good body, re-
gard it as machine, and keep it in per-
feet order by the same methods by which
YOU would keep any other machine in or
der. The body is an engine; food is the
fuel; blood is the steam the head is the
cylinder where the steam works. One
must not create by too much fuel an excess
of steam; that will strain the engine and
make poor work. You must not let the
fuel get out. and the fire get low, then the
engine will not work at all. Most men
eat because their food tastes good. These
are two respectable facts; nevertheless,
man who is working ought to eat rather
with reference to what he has to do, de-
termining both quality and vuantity by
that consideration. He should sort his
food as an engineer does his coal and wood.
| If have to do a pretty sharp mornings
work eat egg, toasted bread and coffee.
which combine a great deal of nourish-
ment with little weight and are easily
| dgested. On the yolSs of two boiled eggs
slice of toast. and cup of coffee can
work from eight till two without break.
do not eat the white of the egg. Rice,
white of eggs and cotton wood are alike
to me- In summer | generally make my
breakfast on bread and fruits. The best
breakfast ever ate in my life was at Ven-
| ice. We were in one of the old ducal
palaces, which was converted into hotel.
1t took n ore steering to reach the break
fast room from your chamber than it does
to bring ship into New York Harbor;
but it was charming room when we
reached it. Our breakfast was delicate
bit OF ham. with eggs, which we do not
care ANYTHING for: but there were white
| figs, purple and white grapes and melons,
| with good cup Of coffee. | breakfasted
on such fruits all the time was there. A
| light breakfast suits. 1t may not an
other. know persons who need an ample
breakfast before they can preach or write.
1t agrees with their habits. need but lit
tie food can eat all things eatable pro-
vided do not fill.


Next to firing up comes clearing out the
ashes. What is called being tired is moth
| ing in the world but the ashes in the body.
For every vital act involves consumption
of fibre or nerve material, and the con-
sumed material collects. When a man
has been working all day. whether with his
brain or muscle. his body is full Of waste
material which has not yet been carried
off. When he goes to sleep the whole
system recuperates itself; the brain re-
covers; the various eapilaries and exc
cretive organs take up the waste and clean
out the system. In the morning every man
ought to give nature an opportunity to
complete this cleansing operation, and he
ought not to begin work till tits completed.
1t is fully as important as morning prayers.
If a man is costive. his brain will be mud
died


In this connection comes the morning
bath great deal of waste should pass
through the skin, and it is of the utmost
importance that its pores should be kept
open, that they may do their work well.
| have been accustomed most of my life to
take cold bath in the morning when
get out of bed. That, however, is an ex.
pertinent which every man must try for
|
and the cold water turns his lips blue,
he must modify it. But recommend a
daily bath in one form or another.


Sleep is great restOrer of nervous en-
ergy. and it ought to be taken regularly
and Systematically. A recent paragraph
in a New York paper reports German
professor as saying that the most people
who have reached the age of eighty have
worked till the small hours of the morning
and slept till noon We shall next have
him reporting that the man who daily
drinks eight gallons of Bavarian beer out
lives anybody else. Eight hours is a fair
amount of sleep. Where man lives un-
der pressure, where his employment
necessitates incessant brain work of an ex-
citing kind. more sleep may be necessary.
Asa rule | allot the early morning to
study, the afternoon to social work, and
the evening to social recreation. General.
lv, break my day into two parts, the great
err and the lesser day. Besides my sleep
at night, have my afternoon nap after
dinner-and some cannot without injury
to their digestion-sit up in your chair and
fall asleep for ten minutes before dinner;
it will make man of you


Fuel, well adjusted to the capacities of
your machine and the work il has to do, an
engine kept clean inside and out. and sleep
enough, constituates the essential and
physical conditions of health. There is
one other condition. quite as important
refuse to he unhappy. The man who
sleeps we'll, keeps himself clean. feeds
we'll and then refuses to be unhappy-whO
makes account with himself that unhappi-
ness is wrong Ohough exceptions force
themselves upon him), and ought to be
thrust out who believes that he ought to
maintain atrustful, cheerful frame ofmind.
and does tiff he has had fairly good
body to start with ought to be able. acci-
, dents excepted, to keep it in good, vigor-
Gus. working condition up to the end, or
nearly. to the end.