Our houses have electric washers, electric irons and many other
labor-saving devices.
Even the farmer has his telephone, his auto, his riding plow, his
milking machine and his cream separator.
In the stores, the cash boy has disappeared. The cash carrier takes the
money to a girl who sits in the office, a machine makes the change, and
another machine does her mathematics.
[Sidenote: Perils of Inactivity.]
The modern idea of efficiency puts a premium on the sedentary feature of
occupations, and employees are frequently automatons that sit. The
business man sits at his desk, sits in a comfortable automobile as he
goes home, sits at the dinner table and sits all evening at the theater,
or at the card table. It is sit, sit, sit until he gets a big abdomen, a
puffy skin and a bad liver.
He tries to counteract this with forced exercise in a gymnasium or a
couple of hours golfing a week. Very likely, his golfing is more
interesting because of the side bets than because of the exercise.
We are losing out on the natural, pleasurable, and practical exercises,
mixed in the right proportions to promote physical poise and health.
Things are too easy, luxury and comfort too teasing, for the ordinary
mortal to resist, and the great mob sits or rides hundreds of times when
they should stand or walk.
When my objective point is five or six blocks, I walk, and I think on
the way. I probably get in from two to four miles of walking every day,
which my friends would save by riding in the street cars or autos.