Minnesota; Its Character and Climate Part 7

This should be easy-fitting and comfortable. Woollen under-clothing is required during nine months of the year in our climate; and, except it should disagree with the person, ought to be worn. It carries off the exhalations better, leaving the skin dryer and less liable to colds. The weight of the material can be varied to suit the changing seasons. For the summer months a mixed article, of wool and cotton, is desirable; but in no case should a change be made from all wool to all cotton. It is better to continue in the use of wool altogether than to commit this error. It is not a hardship to wear woollen through the hottest season of the year. Half of all our seamen do it, even while sailing in the tropics, and both their health and comfort is undoubtedly increased by it. It is, indeed, essential for many patients to wear it as a guard to some extent against summer complaints. If any inconvenience of heat is experienced at mid-day, it is better to change the outside clothing, adjusting that to the thermometer, rather than to disturb one's underwear. There are some sensitive-skinned people whom, we know, cannot endure the contact of flannel; such can, however, usually wear, without inconvenience, the mixed goods--especially if it be washed once or twice before it is used.

It is important that all the clothing worn through the day should at night be laid aside, and a nightdress subst.i.tuted, which should be a flannel wrapper coming nearly or quite to the feet. Changes of underwear ought to be made once each week, and special care taken that it be well aired and dried.

Never go without a chest protector. Considerable relief is afforded by the use of this convenient and inexpensive article. Every old asthmatic appreciates their value, and we have known such people, years ago, who wore them. They warm the chest, and thereby loosen and soothe a cough.

They may be of any woollen material almost, so that it is soft and warm.

The best article is a piece of buckskin, lined upon one side with a single thickness of flannel made in the form and size of a dinner plate, with a piece clipped out to accommodate the throat; and to the corners of the clipping attach pieces of tape. This tied around the neck and over the under-clothing will prove not only a great relief, but will help the system to better resist a cold; and, for gentlemen, it ought to be in constant use, whether well or ill, as it serves to equalize the clothing over the chest, which is now partially exposed by the fashion of their vests. This invaluable little article can be obtained, when there are no loving fingers to make it, at almost any city drug-store.

By wearing it in the manner indicated, it will not require to be washed at all.

The absurdities and crimes of fashion in dress we have discussed elsewhere, and only stop now to say that they should be laid aside by the invalid. Tight lacing, tight collars, knee bands and garters, and thin, tight shoes and boots, are not only foolish, but incompatible with high health. Great good sense has, however, characterized both men and women within the last few years in regard to the covering for the feet.

Every person who has occasion (and all should have) to be out of doors in cold and even wet weather, ought to be provided with strong thick-soled boots or shoes, large enough to admit a patent insole, which will keep the feet dry, and at night this should be removed and dried.

The security from colds is almost a.s.sured whenever this precaution is taken; at least they are a great preventive of colds, and they give, in addition, a sense of solid comfort beyond that which is derived from anything else, save, perhaps, a warm fire on a cold day, or a generous bank account.

They should be an easy fit, as well as thick-soled; and, without this virtue, the other is rendered null. Indeed, better have loose thin boots or shoes, with holes in them even, than _tight_ thick ones. But they can and should possess both of the characteristics named. It is safe to say that any consumptive who has neither courage nor sense enough to adopt the kind recommended, might as well be given over at once, and without further ado.

Persons whose health is so perfect that they can for the time indulge and endure anything, and who cannot be said to have had any experimental knowledge of lame backs, sides, or weak stomachs, and who do not know practically whether they have any such members at all or not, will not be expected, at present, to pay any regard to what we have to offer under the head of

DIET.

The other, and, unfortunately, most numerous cla.s.s, know how sadly they have fallen from their first estate. There was a time with them when they never dreamed that their stomachs were not as strong as a cider-mill, and could grind anything and everything which their greedy natures and careless habits desired. There is no other living animal, except it be the hog, that can eat and tolerate just the same variety of materials, cooked and raw, as man. Their tastes and habits are strikingly alike, it must be confessed, and their ends are not unlike; both die untimely deaths, with this difference, one is in due time killed, while the other, in equally due time, usually kills himself, the advantage being in favor of the porker, since his career, if brief, is, also, to the limit, blissful.

The habits of men are a curious mixture of sense and the want of it.

Endowed with some of the highest attributes, and yet forgetting that they are anything beyond the veriest machines. They who leap from docks and bridges are not the only suicides. These shock the world, and are not uncommonly denied the last kindly offices of the church, while the slower suicides are borne triumphantly from the chancel within to that without--all turning on methods, and that is, indeed, important. Method in living should receive our earliest and best attention. All need to become good _methodists_, especially in some senses of that word.

The English men and women are the most systematic in their habits of living; and, as a natural result, they are remarkably robust. They take ample time in which to eat. An hour at dinner is as little time as they customarily allow, while those who can, often devote much more. They eat slowly, and talk a great deal, and laugh much, and by the time they have done they are fairly red in the face, and keep so pretty much all the time; and it is as healthy a sign as one can hang out. Good digestion waits on appet.i.te with them, and they grow stout and formidable. They not only eat slow, but they know what to eat and what makes good blood.

Suppose every Englishman could be sent into France and obliged to live on French cooking; does any one suppose they would remain the same people they now are? Not a bit of it. Take from John Bull his roast beef, and mode of eating it, and you change the character of the race inside of a century. They must have their favorite dish, and about as often as a friend of ours, Dr. M----, who, by the way, is a good type of an Englishman, and enjoys the things of this world much more than is common with Americans. On asking M---- how often he indulged in roast beef, he replied, that about three hundred and sixty-five times in the year was his rule! Invalids may be a.s.sured it was not a bad one. Of course, he took a great deal of active exercise, seldom using a horse while engaged in the practice of his profession.

Consumptives, and those who are generally debilitated and who need a fresh stock of good blood, cannot do better than confine themselves, so far as meats are concerned, to beef and mutton. The latter should be well cooked, while the former ought to be eaten rare done. If it is at first distasteful in this manner, proceed by degrees, and by-and-by it will grow in favor; but commence with it rare at the outset, when possible. Whether roasted or broiled, beef should not be cooked as to destroy all its natural color. Let the inside show some of the blood, the more the better, and the quicker it is a.s.similated to the needs of the system. General Rawlins, the late secretary of war, died of consumption, but his life was prolonged many months by the use of rare and even raw beef. He came to like it better raw than in any other way.

Once a day is, perhaps, as often as may be required; much, however, depends on the amount of exercise taken. Wild game is likewise good, especially venison, and where that can be had, beef and mutton may be dispensed with. Fish and eggs furnish a variety to the invalid's diet, and such vegetables as are liked may be indulged, of course. Never eat but of one kind of meat at any one meal, and not over two kinds of vegetables, with wholesome, fresh bread (Graham preferred), and the coa.r.s.er the better. Insist on having coa.r.s.e bread; let it be made of unbolted meal. As for drinks, a single cup of very weak tea or coffee, diluted chiefly with milk, will not harm. A gla.s.s of milk is better in warm weather, if it agrees. Let water alone, except it is that which the system has become familiarized with; then, half a gla.s.s is preferable to a larger quant.i.ty at meals. Sousing the stomach at meal-time with a cold _douche_ is only harmful. After the food has had time to digest and pa.s.s out of the stomach, then, if one is a great water-drinker, take a gla.s.s, or so much of a gla.s.s as you think is required, and it will be of benefit. Make the heartiest meal come at noon, and eat a light supper at night, using bread and b.u.t.ter for the most part.

_Things to be remembered and observed in eating_, are slowness and thorough mastication; never wash your food down with any drink. Talk and laugh, taking as much time to do this as you do to eat. A noted humorist says that "every time a man laughs he takes a kink out of the chain of life, and thus lengthens it." That is true philosophy, and it is little understood by our nervous, rushing people. We grin and snicker enough, at ourselves and others, but downright hearty laughter is a stranger to the most of us. It should be cultivated till, in an honest way, it supplants, at least, the universal snicker. There is both comfort and health in rousing peals of laughter.

_Things to be avoided in eating_, are hot, fresh baked breads of all kinds; also avoid all manner of pies as you would a pestilence, likewise cakes, of every description; they are the crowning curse. Women will make it and children will cry for it, probably, for all the generations to come, as they have in the past. But more truthful epitaphs should be inscribed over them than is now done. It is strange how fashion rules in diet as in dress. Why, the Koohinoor diamond of Victoria is not more valued than is a steady supply of poundcake by most of women and children. We know of a family who make it a boast that _they_, when young, had _all they wanted_; which either implies their mother to have been unwisely indulgent, or else the children to have been over-clamorous. It certainly does not imply wealth, and, least of all, culture, for the poorest families have usually the largest display of these things, while those with enlarged means and sense dispense with them out of good judgment.

Travelling on the cars, a short time since, we had for a companion a shrewd Yankee who had the honor to be postmaster of his city, and at the same time was engaged in the boot and shoe trade; one of those stirring men who, if he did not possess genius, had its nearest kin--activity, and ill.u.s.trated the fact that a man _might_ do two things well at one and the same time. He gave us samples of human nature which is quite apropos to the general subject. In discussing the eccentricities of merchandising, he said that usually wealthy customers entering his store would ask to see his cheaper cla.s.s of boots, such as would do service, "honest material, but not the most expensive," and from that cla.s.s would make their selections; but, whenever parties entered whose means were known to him to be limited, and yet whose "pride of family" and personal vanity were in increased ratio to their decreased capital, he never ventured even to suggest the cla.s.s of goods taken by the wealthy, lest offense be given. His rule was to show to such his very best goods first. They wished to display "a notch above their betters." And so with the cake question. Some of even the poorest families of New Englanders doubtless eat more of this material than does the Royal family of England, if it could but be known.

There remains yet another article of food to be proscribed. We refer to the pork question. All ought to be good Jews on this subject. Their prohibition is, we believe, founded on the intrinsic unhealthfulness of the thing itself. Its use is universal in this country, and in the South it forms the chief meat diet. This latter fact comes of their mode of agriculture more than original preference. They devoted all labor to cotton growing, and had their meat and grain to buy. The question with the planter in laying in his supplies was what would go farthest, at a given price, as food for his slaves. Bacon and flour were always found to answer the economic query best. The West furnished bountiful supplies, and readily floated these products to a market, where compet.i.tion was not only not thought of, but entirely out of the question. Cattle and sheep raising (outside of Texas) had no growth or encouragement among them. The planters soon fell into the habit of using bacon on their own tables, and the result is, it has continued to form the staple article for all cla.s.ses there for several generations. The darkies have rather flourished upon it, while the whites have suffered greatly in consequence.

Its use undeniably produces scrofula, salt-rheum, tetter, ringworm, humors in the blood, rheumed eyes, enlarged glands, sore eyes, and lastly, cancer. Almost any community in the South will afford several examples of one or all of these diseases, and all directly traceable to the excessive use of salt pork. In a somewhat spa.r.s.ely settled neighborhood near Central Georgia, known as Social Circle, a dozen cases of cancer alone can, in one form or another, be found, and that is one of the most salubrious sections in all the southern country.

They have become so enamored of "hog and hominy," that they are fairly superst.i.tious or foolish regarding the use of some other kinds of meat.

For instance, mutton, in any form, they are disgusted with as a rule. We tried to get at the reason while sojourning there, but never fairly succeeded, though the impression was, plainly, that they did not think it proper food for white people anyway, and then the "odor was so disgusting," and altogether it was only fit for "trash folks." We scarce hope to be believed when we state, that we have seen young ladies refuse to sit at the table where this dish was served, and served, too, out of compliment to their guests from the North.

This same feeling was largely shared by the colored people, and, while it was no infrequent thing for the "smoke-house"--where the bacon was kept--to be broken open in ante-war times, taking the risk of detection and dogs, it was almost an unheard-of occurrence that a sheep was stolen. They roamed, what few there were, at will and unharmed, except by dogs and wild beasts--the special benefit accruing to their owners being simply the wool. During and since the war, matters have been undergoing a change, and sheep raising is receiving more attention, and beginning to be valued as an article of food. Still, during weeks last winter, the Atlanta markets did not show a single carca.s.s of mutton, notwithstanding the great extent of country tributary to it by means of her railways.

This change above referred to, while of slow growth, is, in part, owing to the example our troops set, the experience of their prisoners, their straitened circ.u.mstances, and lastly, to the infusion of Northern society among them.

While there are undoubtedly tenfold more of those diseases in the South consequent on the use of pork, than what there is at the North, yet its consumption is vastly in excess with us of what it should be. There is no doubt of this. Scrofula, salt-rheum, and ophthalmia, are among the chief developments at the North. At the North greater and better variety of food among all cla.s.ses is in use, to say nothing of better cooking, which wards off some of the worst results.

The natural tendency is to greater use of pork in the more northern than in the Southern States, since the climate would seem to call for it; but we have shown its use at the South to be the result of circ.u.mstances more than of _original_ preference and probable inclination, since all peoples of low lat.i.tudes, of a high standard of civilization, elect a lighter diet than those of cooler climates.

There are some who declaim against the use of any and all kinds of meat for food, and advocate a purely vegetable diet. There is much that can be said in its favor, and it ought, with fruits, to form at least two of the three daily meals. The system would be in better tone, and the mind as well. But there are extremes in all things, and these sometimes govern the conduct of men. A happy medium is usually the best, and for our climate, we believe the use of the right kinds of meat to be not only healthful but eminently proper. The natural law aids to this conclusion. We see the people of the tropics indulging largely in fruit, which an allwise Providence has placed there and adapted to their wants; again, at the poles the inhabitants live almost wholly on the fat of animals--a half-dozen tallow candles being eaten at a meal, when supplied by strangers. The intense cold requires this heavy fuel to supply the needed heat and comfort. What would an exclusive vegetable diet be worth to them, exposed as they are? With us, lying between the two extremes, with a climate and country abounding in both fruits and animals, with seasons of cold and heat in nearly equal extremes, it seems quite rational that a mixed diet, regulated by common-sense rules, is the best. Certainly the highest civilization to which man has yet attained is found in the temperate zones, where neither the one nor the other extreme in diet has obtained.

A manifest advantage and improvement in general health can, however, be effected by paying a more enlightened regard to those things whereof we dine. People with gluttonish inclinations can easily and do make themselves sick while subsisting on an entirely fruit diet; hence, if discretion is needed in the use of the simplest articles of food, of course it cannot be dispensed with while indulging in other sorts.

But, in a volume of this character, we cannot amplify the details of this very interesting and important topic to that extent we could wish.

Suffice it to say, that so far as pork is concerned, we abjure all to leave it severely alone. There is a variety of other meats great enough, from which all may choose, and there are no good elements inherent in pork which cannot be supplied in other meats, or by the free use of good fresh b.u.t.ter, which is at all times a much better _fuel_ for the system than pork.

Regularity in eating is highly essential, and too much stress cannot be placed upon this injunction to the sick. It is quite as important to those in health who would remain so; but then, few in health believe that, or if they do, their habits do not conform to their belief. The duties of life should conform to the laws of health, and where there is any conflict, shove duties overboard always.

Indigestion is the result of irregular, hasty, or unwholesome meals, and likewise meals in quant.i.ty beyond that required by genuine hunger and health. It is the mother of many evils, some one of which will be sure to visit, in time, all who violate themselves as above indicated.

Many there are who, troubled with a cough, sore throat, and general debility, think they have the consumption, whereas it is, at the outset, nothing but indigestion. They will go on eating heartily, and continue their pie and cake, these being so pleasant to the palate; they say, "one piece will not do harm," "one swallow never made a summer," and thus they continue till complete prostration takes possession of them.

The use of stimulants at or after a meal may be done with advantage in some cases, but it should only be taken when the physician so advises.

We have heard of consumption being cured by the free use of whisky; but should the habit of using it become an uncontrolled one, we question whether the life of the individual is worth the saving at this cost to community and friends. Some of the most eminent among the faculty recommend it, while others do not. When cod-liver oil is freely used, a spoonful of whisky ought, perhaps, to accompany it. If cream, b.u.t.ter, or the fat of mutton or beef be freely eaten at the noon or morning meal, and they are about as useful as the oil itself, stimulants are not so much needed, except that of

EXERCISE,

which is really one of the medicines most needed by consumptives, dyspeptics, and hosts of others who are complaining. A daily dose of the saw-horse or wash-tub isn't bad for weak lungs and bodies, or for strong ones who wish to continue thus. Take a thoroughly well person, accustomed to an active, out-of-door life, shut them up and confine them to a bed, and a tolerable invalid will soon be the result. The converse of this holds good, namely, take an invalid who is able to walk about the house, but feeble in spirit and body, if exercised daily out of doors, a gradual return to health is apt to follow. The strong, to continue the growth of their powers, must give themselves constant practice. The story of the man who commenced to lift the calf, and continued the task daily till after it had grown to be an ox, ill.u.s.trates this. Moderate and constant labor is the law of both life and health.

There are two cla.s.ses who need counselling--those who overwork either mind or body or both, and there are many such, especially among those who conduct the mult.i.tude of our public journals. No profession is so exacting or exhausting as is theirs, or so generally thankless, and none so greatly influential for good or evil. These cla.s.ses are, however, small compared with those who die for the want of a proper amount of physical exercise.

The weak-lunged portion of the world must have physical exercise out of doors, or they must die. There is hope for them if they will but consent to labor in the open air. Those who cannot hold a plow and hoe corn, should jolt themselves on the back of a horse at a good round trot. If that is too much, in their debilitated condition, canter the animal; but if only a walking gait can be endured, why, hitch the horse in the stall and go on foot. Go briskly--get some errands to do which require to be done daily; take a contract to drive the mail out into the country, or, if no business can be had, ride on horseback to the mountains, spending the whole season in the going and returning. Do no studying or letter-writing by the way, and especially none to lady-loves. It will do little good to send the body off on a health trip, and have, meanwhile, the mental arm around your sweetheart. And it works against your recovery even worse when you are situated so as to subst.i.tute these mental for real flirtations. This does not so much apply to married men.

They who have wives or husbands would be the better of their company and care.

Invalids who cannot travel, either at home or elsewhere, in consequence of weakness, should sit in the open air in some sheltered corner of the verandah, or of their room, and bathe in the light and sunshine, being careful to avoid all draughts.

A young man was just starting out in business. He was to leave his home in New England to engage in active life in one of the large cities situate on Lake Erie. He had bidden his childhood's home his first adieu, and meeting with a friend, sought some counsel; this friend, at the close of a somewhat lengthy interview, and as the sum of all he had uttered, said: that he should remember to practice three things, if he would have his efforts crowned with success, namely, the first was _Perseverance_,--the second was _Perseverance_, and the third was _Perseverance_. So it is with pulmonic patients: if they would recover, aside from the aids of diet, dress, and all the other etceteras, they must first and all the time continue to _Exercise_--EXERCISE--EXERCISE the body in the open air.

The distinguished Dr. Willard Parker once said to us that he put a consumptive on the back of a horse at his office-door in New York, and told him to ride for his life. He did ride for his life, and, after a six months' journey of about two thousand miles, having traversed the Central States, he returned with the a.s.surance of his physician that he had overcome his disease.

There is often criminal fault in parents about the matter of exercise.

They who are in affluent circ.u.mstances, and others who would be thought affluent; and again, that cla.s.s (and, we are sorry to say, it is a large one) who are so very tender of their children, and whose mothers do all their own household labor, only so that their daughters may be the admiration of a ball-room, or else through fear they will "get sick" if they put their hands to anything which has kept their mothers so strong and well.

If parents did their whole duty, they would place the boys upon the farm, where they might grow strong and lay well the foundations of life, while the girls should bear a hand at making as well as eating bread.

The art of cooking is a science, by the way, very little understood, and there is scope and verge enough for any ordinary genius, and as n.o.ble a service to mankind may be accomplished by its mastery as any that comes within the pale of human life.

Health seems almost ignored in these later days by parents, so far as the training of their children is concerned. Their overweening pride and love blinds them to what is their true duty. They feel it would be so trying for their "dear boy" to do any kind of manual labor, and it is so bad that his delicate hands should be soiled and hardened by any toil, that they would deny themselves of even the necessaries of life in order their fair-haired boy may be thought such a "nice young man," and so "genteel." Their judgment, however, is never in error with regard to some of the neighborhood "rapscallions." Their heads are perfectly level on the question of "those rowdy boys." Their advice is as sound as it is free. They can predict with greater accuracy than can any of the second-sightseers as to the ultimate end of these embryo ladies' men, good-for-nothings, sharpers, spendthrifts, and paupers. They know the process full well whereby these boys can be transformed into strong, honest, enterprising, and useful citizens. They do not forget, either, though many would but for an occasional gibe from some envious Mrs.

Grundy, that both they and their husbands were the children of obscurity and poverty; which, rather than being any dishonor, as it is often thought, particularly by the vainer s.e.x, is a badge of genuine honor and royal patent of the man's energy and industry.

Witness the n.o.ble example set Republicans by the head of the most ill.u.s.trious empire in the world, and consider how wise a Queen and mother may be, while her love for her family is not excelled by that of any other true and devoted mother. She realizes the necessity and value of sound health, if long and useful lives are to be attained. We see her sons doing duty for years in the ranks of the common sailor and soldier, enduring the privations and hardships incident to such service, and they thus secure not only health, but an insight into human life and thought and nature more valuable than any of the lessons learned from books.

All excesses in labor are to be reprehended, and not uncommon is it that we hear of health ruined and even life jeopardized by some foolish or thoughtless effort. Young men ought to guard against strife in labor, which usually accompanies an ambition to excel. We know of an instance where a company of boys, by lifting against each other, one was ruptured. And again, an "itinerant" came along with a machine known as a lung-tester; one fair-haired, slender youth, having fears he would fall below the average, made so great an effort as seriously to impair his health for the time. Another case of a boy, who was frequently into some daring scheme of house-climbing or leaping, sought the crest of a cliff, some thirty feet, and, to astonish his companions, essayed the feat of flying; and, though he flew well enough, the lighting proved too much, since, as he struck the ground, both his legs were broken short off. We cite these various instances, coming within the range of boys' sports, for the purpose of warning others from attempting excesses. Leaping, running, climbing, are well enough in their way, and may be practiced in perfect safety, as millions of boys have practiced them with no detriment, but absolute advantage. Care should be exercised, and counsel given, to beware of the danger of going to extremes. The race over the meadows for the cows; hoeing in the garden or field; sawing or cutting wood for the fire; riding the horse to mill; a walk to the village post-office; holding plow; raking hay; the most of which are charming things to do, and just what boys should do to become strong and capable men.

The renowned of any age usually come from humble life, in which character, both physical and mental, has had opportunity for development. Washington was a farmer's boy; so were Adams, Jefferson, Putnam, Jackson, Webster, Clay, Douglas, Lincoln, and Raymond, of the past; and Grant, Sherman, Trumbull, Emerson, Bryant, Buckingham, and Greeley, of the present; while nine out of every ten of successful lives in any department of labor have come from the fields of country life.

Gymnasiums offer a very good subst.i.tute for outdoor exercise; and if practice in them is at all times controlled by a careful judgment, the result is undoubted benefit. Indeed, the lung power of an individual can be more rapidly enlarged here than elsewhere, since exercise is here adapted and may be directed solely to that end. However, one may not require for this purpose anything beyond a simple and inexpensive apparatus, consisting of a cross-bar and a pair of rings attached to some point above, with just room enough to swing the person clear of the floor.