I walk alone, so that I may relax and not expend conscious effort as is
the case when I walk with another.
That morning walk prevents me from reading slush and worthless news, and
relieves me of the necessity of talking and using up nerve energy.
I get the worth-while news from my paper by the headlines and by trained
ability to separate the wheat from the chaff.
[Sidenote: Four Great Body-Builders.]
I just feel fine all the time, and it's because I get to bed early,
sleep plenty, exercise naturally, think properly and get the four great
body-builders in plenty: air, water, sunshine, food; and the other four
great health-builders, which are: good thought, good exercise, good
rest, and good cheer.
The great crowd aims at ease, and so the business man sits and loses out
on the exercise his body and mind must have. And therefore the great
crowd pays tribute to doctors, sanitariums, rest cures, fake tonics,
worthless medicines, freakish diet fads, and crazy cults, isms, and
discoveries that claim to bring health by the easy, lazy, comfortable
sitting route.
Believe me, dear reader, it is not in the cards to play the game of
health that way. "There ain't no sich animal" said the ruben as he saw
the giraffe in the circus, and likewise, there "aint no sich thing" as
health and happiness for the man who persistently antagonizes Nature,
and hunts ease where exercise is demanded.
The law of compensation is inexorable in its demand that you have to pay
for what you get and that you can't get worth-while things by worthless
plans.
You must exercise enough to balance things, to clear the system, to
preserve your strength; it doesn't take much time.
33.
This afternoon I am sitting on a glacial rock in the forest at the foot
of Mount Shasta. A beautiful spot in which to rest and a glorious page
from the book of nature to read.
[Sidenote: Back to Nature.]
A canopy of deepest blue sky above, with sunshine unstopped by clouds.
The rays of old Sol pulsate themselves into an endless variety of
flowers, plants and vegetable life which Mother Earth has given birth
to. Glorious trees of magnificent size reach up into the blue and give
us shade. Ozone sweeps gently through the forest, impregnated with the
perfume of fir, balsam, cedar, pine and flowers.
In this spot, nature has thrown up mountains of volcanic rock, which
hold the winter's snow in everlasting supply to quench the thirst of
plant, of animal, and of the millions of humans in the lower country.
The whole hillside around me is a community of springs of crystal water
laden with iron and precious salts. It is the breast of Mother Earth
which nurses her offspring.
Here are no noises of the street; the newsboy's cry of "extra" is not
heard. The raucous voice of the peddler, the din of trucks, the honk of
automobiles, the clatter of the city--all these are absent.
There is no noise here--just the sweet music of falling water, and the
aeolian lullaby made by the breeze playing on the pine needles.
My eyes take in a panorama of beautiful nature in colors and contrasts
that would give stage fright to any artist who tried to paint the scenes
on canvas.
[Sidenote: Gaining Pep.]
I am getting pep. This is my treatment for tired nerves; 'tis the
"medcin' of the hills;" 'tis nature's cure, and how it brings the pill
box and the bottle of tonic into contempt! I'm letting down the high
tension voltage and getting the calm, natural pulsation that nature
intended the human machine to have.
So quiet, so peaceful, so natural is the view that I drink in
inspiration of a worth-while kind. No war news to read, no records of
tragedy, no degrading chronicles of man's passions, of man's meanness
and man's selfishness.
A little chipmunk sits upright on a rock before me wondering at the
movements of my yellow pencil and the black mark it makes on the paper.
A delicate lace-winged insect lights on my tablet, and a saucy "camp
robber," or mutton bird, wonders at the unusual sight of me, the big man
animal brother. A big beetle is getting his provisions for the winter. I
recognize his occupation, for I've read about him in Fabre's wonderful
books on insect life.
[Sidenote: Nature's Lodge.]
Here, in the sanctum sanctorum of the forest, I am made a member of
Nature's lodge, and the ants and bugs and beetles and flowers and plants
and trees are initiating me and telling me the secrets of the order. I
can only tell you, who are in the great busy world outside, the lessons
and morals. The real secrets I must not tell; you will receive them when
you, too, come to the hills and forests, and sit down on a rock alone
and go through the initiation.
You are invited to come in; your application is approved, and you are
eligible to membership.
Come to Nature's lodge-meeting and clear away the cobwebs from your
weary brain; get inspiration and be a man again.
Come--soothe and rest and build up those shredded, weakened, tired,
weary nerves. Let the sun put its coat of health on you, and let the
ozone put the red blood of strength in your veins.
[Sidenote: Rest and Recreate.]
Come and get perfect brain and body-resting sleep. Come to this
wonderful, happy, helpful lodge and get a store of energy, and an
abundance of vital ammunition with which to make the fight, when you go
back to your factory or office. The doctor can lance the carbuncle, but
Nature's outdoor medicine will prevent your having a carbuncle.
The doctor can stop a pain with a poison drug, but Nature's outdoor
medicine will prevent your having the disorder which makes the pain.
No, brother, you can't get health out of a bottle or a pill box. But you
_can_ get it from Mother Nature's laboratory, where she compounds air,
water, sunshine, beauty, music, thought; where she gives you exercise
and rest, health, happiness, all summed up into cashable assets for the
human in the shape of poise, efficiency and peace.
34.
[Sidenote: Mother.]
Mother, you are the one person in all the world whose kindness was never
the preface to a request. That's the sweetest tribute we can pay you,
and the most truthful one. It covers devotion, love, sentiment,
motherhood, and all the noble attributes that go to make the word
"Mother" the most hallowed, most sacred, most beautiful word in the
English language.
There are not words or sentences that can express to you what we think
of you or convey our appreciation of you.
You want our love; you have it. You should be told of our love; we tell
you. Appreciation and gratitude are payments on account, but with all
our appreciation and with our whole life's gratitude, the debt we are
under can never be paid.
"We have careful words for the stranger,
And smiles for the some-time guest--
But oft to our own the bitter tone,
Though we love our own the best."
We've hurt you, Mother, many times, by our thoughtlessness and by the
resentment we felt over your plans and your views about the things we
did, and you have had heartaches because of such actions of ours.
[Sidenote: The Mother Love.]
Forgive us, Mother, we're sorry. And there you are, dear; the moment we
ask your forgiveness, your great, tender, loving heart has forgiven us
and erased the marks of transgression. Always thinking of us, always
excusing us, always doing for us, always watching us and always loving
us in the most unselfish way.
We love you, Mother; we appreciate you. We are going to show our
appreciation and love so much more from now on. We have just come to our
senses and realized what a wonderful, necessary, helpful being you are.
Your sweetness, your gentleness, your goodness, your love, are parts of
you. They all go to make up that word "Mother."
Your life, your acts, your example, your Motherhood, have all helped the
world so much more than you will ever know.
In the everlasting record of good deeds, your name is in gold.
In the everlasting memory of those who appreciate you, your face, your
life, is a sacred, helpful picture that grows more beautiful as the days
pass.
In tenderness, in appreciation, in love, let us dedicate these thoughts
and voice these expressions to Mother, who gives her life by inches, and
who would give it all on the instant for her children, if necessity
called for the sacrifice.
How feeble are words when we try to describe Mother!
35.
This is your inning, Dad.
[Sidenote: Just Dad.]
There have been so many beautiful things written about Mother and all
the rest of the family that it is high time we should tell you how much
we love you and how much we appreciate you.
You've worked so hard; you've been so ambitious to do things for your
loved ones, and they have accepted your sacrifice and work and
watchfulness as matter of fact.
You've had dreams of a some day when you would relax and play and enjoy,
but you have set that some day too far ahead. You consider yourself only
after all your loved ones are comfortable and happy, and time is
passing, Dad.
You are too unselfish, too much centered in that some day. Let's change
things a bit, Dad. Sometimes the "some day" doesn't come.
You are entitled to happiness and pleasure and health and joy right
here, now, to-day. It's your duty to have them.
Your loved ones do not want you to spend your health in getting wealth.
They don't want to see you worn-out, tired, weary and unhappy, in the
evening of your life. Besides it's your duty to let them share the
responsibility, and work out their own problems. They will be better
equipped for life after you are gone if you let them gain knowledge by
practical experience.
[Sidenote: Keep Alive the Spirit of Youth.]
Come on, Dad; get in the group and enjoy things now and you will live
longer, and get more out of life, and give more pleasure to your loved
ones. Get in the game, Dad; let's see the old light and twinkle in your
eyes; let's have the sunshine on your face; the love-light on your lips,
and the happiness in your heart.
Leave your cares at the office; prepare your mind for play, and you will
feel so much better and stronger and so much more successful in your
business.
We don't want to hear any more sh-h-h--sh-h-h--or whispers when you come
home. We don't want to feel that uncomfortable feeling of restraint;
let's laugh and sing and love and play--let's make your home-coming a
joyous event.
We all love you, Dad, but you haven't made it as comfortable as you
might for us when we try to express our love. You've been too tired,
too busy, too much occupied with those business thoughts.
Don't you see how we love you and how we appreciate you? Don't you know
that there is no one in the world who can take the place of Dad?
Keep your heart young, Dad; we will help if you only say, "Come on." We
are waiting for the signal. Let's start the new schedule tonight. Come
on, Dad, what do you say?
36.
[Sidenote: What Our Bodies are Composed Of.]
We speak of the three kingdoms: the animal, the vegetable and the
mineral kingdoms, and every substance is classified into one of these.
The exact truth is there is but one kingdom, which is the mineral. The
vegetable substances and animal combinations are made of mineral
elements.
In a rough way we distinguish the mineral kingdom as those substances
called elements, such as iron, sulphur, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, sodium
and the like.
These elements are unchangeable in themselves; they do not grow. The
animal is made of mineral elements associated in certain proportions,
such as albumin, carbon, lime, water, salt and the like. The vegetable
kingdom also consists of these various chemical combinations.
Seed, when planted, extracts the minerals from the air and the earth and
combines them into a plant, which grows and has for its object the
making of seeds to reproduce and perpetuate itself.
The plant has life, but it has no spiritual or mental equipment, and
therein vegetable life differs from the animal life. The animal eats
vegetable and animal flesh. Through the vegetable he gets the mineral
matter necessary for body-building. He also gets a plentiful supply of
mineral from the flesh he eats, which flesh was first built up through
the vegetables the animal ate.
These are definite facts.
The human body may be analyzed and separated into something like a dozen
substances, among which are water, which is three-fourths of the body's
structure, carbon, lime, phosphorus, iron, potassium, salt and so on.
By reading a book on anatomy you can learn just exactly the proportions
of the substances in the human body.
All these chemicals are formed in the shape of little cells, myriads of
which are in the body. These cells are constantly being destroyed and
new ones made to take their place.
Parts of the body are replaced every twenty-four hours; other parts less
often.
[Sidenote: What Our Bodies Need.]
Scientists tell us that the whole body is replaced every seven years.
Every move you make destroys cells which nature has to replace. Isn't it
reasonable then to conclude that if a man should fail to eat enough
lime for his body-building, his bones would suffer? If he does not get
enough iron, his blood will suffer, and so on. I am convinced that most
physical ailments are caused by a deficiency of the mineral elements in
the body.
Phosphorus and potash are necessary to human welfare. These elements are
in the husk of the wheat, and when the husk is taken off in making
flour, the resulting product is mostly starch. The person who lives
mostly on white bread will suffer from lack of phosphorus and potash.
Nothing could be better for the health of the American people than the
nation-wide food campaigns the government is conducting. The educational
value of these campaigns is enormous.
Eat less wheat! White bread is unessential. Bran, or whole wheat bread,
is far more healthful and nourishing, and contains more of the elements
the human body needs.
Eat more fruit. People do not eat enough fruit. Every year thousands of
bushels of peaches and grapes and other fruit go to waste because the
demand is not great enough to ship the entire output to the great
consuming centers.
Study your body's needs. Health is maintained at its proper level only
so long as you eat carefully and wisely.
37.
The practice of medicine in the past has been directed towards the
curing of disease and physical ailments already developed. The practice
of medicine in the future is to be along preventive lines. Science is
showing us how to prevent infection. Science is fighting the deadly
microbe which comes to us in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and
the food we eat, and the infected things we touch.
[Sidenote: The "Why" of Disease.]
Nature has supplied the human body with a home guard of necessary
bacteria, and in the circulation system are phagocytes which fight the
invading microbes and generally destroy them. When the system is
weakened through disease, through lack of exercise, or through improper
food, disease has an easy time.
I want you to remember this golden prescription. It is composed of the
following: Good Air, Good Water, Good Sunshine, Good Food, Good
Exercise, Good Cheer, Good Rest and Good Thought. If you take this
golden prescription, you will make of yourself a giant in brain and
brawn strength.
You can't get health out of a bottle. You can't get the system to absorb
iron if you take it in the form of tincture of iron. You can eat a pound
of rust, which is oxide of iron, and none of that iron will be absorbed
in the system.
[Sidenote: What to Eat.]
As I have explained in another chapter, you must take the mineral in the
system through the vegetable route. You will get iron that will be
assimilated when you eat beefsteak. Beefsteak has blood; the blood has
iron. You will also get iron when you eat spinach.
Every element necessary for your body is found in some vegetable or
animal food; therefore, you should refrain from confining yourself to a
very few articles of food.
[Sidenote: Fads, Cults, Isms.]
Don't pay any attention to the faddist who gives you a rigorous diet or
unpalatable food. You simply make yourself miserable, and you generate
more worry and unhappiness by your discipline than the good you get from
these freak fads. There are a thousand different fads and cults and
isms, each one claiming to be right. Probably each one contains a small
portion of right. But it is a sure thing that The Right is too big a
thing to be confined within narrow formulae and creeds.
We all eat too much meat, but that a strict vegetarian diet is the
necessary thing for good health I deny. The sheep, the cow, and horse
are vegetarians, and they are short lived. The eagle, the lion, the man,
eat animal food, and they are long lived.
I may be prejudiced, but it does seem to me that the strict vegetarians
are a skinny, sallow-looking lot of humans, speaking generally. I do
find that the healthier specimens of vegetarians are those who eat
plenty of eggs and drink plenty of milk, both of which are animal food,
and both of which have nearly all the elements necessary to sustain
life.
I don't like fads in the matter of eating. The amount a person consumes
should be in exact accord with the body's requirements--neither more nor
less.
The human body is a machine from a food standpoint. It is an engine that
has work to do, and accordingly the amount of fuel necessary for the
engine should be in proportion to the amount of work that the engine is
called on to perform.
[Sidenote: Eat Less, Exercise More.]
The majority of city-dwelling people eat too much. This is especially
true of men in sedentary occupations, and women whose household
duties are light. If your engine needs twenty pounds of steam,
how foolish it is to keep up a hundred pounds pressure! If you had
five-horsepower work to perform, how foolish it would be to install
a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound engine!
Eat less of everything. Fat and flabbiness and over-feeding is a
national vice with us. The fashionable cafes and restaurants are
thronged with puffy, heavy-jowled men and women, eating and drinking.
Hotels and food-purveyors are constantly inventing new palate-tickling
dishes to tempt your appetite. Orchestras and dramatic troupes are
engaged to entertain and amuse you while you overload your stomach, take
on fat, and lay the foundation for future cases of indigestion or
dyspepsia.
There is no escaping a day of reckoning for such mistreatment of
yourself. If you would keep yourself fit, it is important that you eat
only what is necessary to maintain yourself at normal weight and
strength.
You do not often find dyspepsia or indigestion among men or women who
work hard physically. Isn't it reasonable to suppose that this is
because they work hard?
You who work indoors, with little physical exercise, will find wonderful
benefits if you will cut down the fuel.
Much of the physical trouble comes from filling up the boiler too much.
Cut down the food and you will feel better.
38.
Anger and revenge are great pull-backs to health.
Anger makes the blood rush to the head, weakens the body, and distorts
the vision.
When a woman gets angry, she quarrels with her lover, her husband or her
children. Any one of these things is a calamity.
When a man gets angry, he is a wild man. His eyes glitter, his mouth is
cruel, his fists clinch, his body trembles, his blood veins strain, and
he does more harm to his system in five minutes of anger than nature can
repair in a day.
[Sidenote: Anger and Poise.]
Anger makes weak stomachs, dizzy heads, poor judgment, lost friends,
despair and sickness, and if the habit becomes confirmed, will likely
lead to apoplexy. When two men have differences, watch the cool man
finish victor; the angry man always loses. Keep your head; let the other
fellow fret and fume.
He will tie himself up in a knot, and when the gong is rung, he will be
the loser.
Serenity is one of God's blessings. Fortunate is the man who can hold
his serenity.
When you get a letter that stirs you to anger, don't answer that letter
for forty-eight hours, then write a moderately vitriolic letter--and
then tear it up.
[Sidenote: The Futility of Revenge.]
I know you are tempted and goaded, and your limit of endurance is
sometimes reached. But I know that revenge is sweet only in
anticipation. I know that revenge by anger and by the cruel "eye for an
eye" measure is never, never sweet.
I have been the victim of imposition, ingratitude and insincerity, and
advantage has been taken of me because I kept my poise and serenity.
I have been called easy, and soft, and friends have shown me where I was
imposed upon, but I was stooping to conquer. I kept my reserve, my
resistance, and my power ready until time, place, and preparedness let
me spring my coup, and then I cashed in beautifully in principal and
interest for those acts and hurts.
I have power now in my hands to make others suffer keenly and deeply for
wrongs they have done me. Yet I do not exercise that power to revenge.
I have been misjudged and misunderstood, because cowardly persons have
lied and villified me, and have accused me of motives and acts of which
I was innocent.
I am well hated now by one person in particular, who blames me for
things another is guilty of. A word from me would clear myself, but it
would bring gloom and despair to that person and would not make me any
more cognizant of my innocence.
[Sidenote: Time, the Arbiter.]
Time somehow will bring out the truth; the cowardly, guilty individual
who basks in the favor of the one who is angry at me will surely pay for
his wrong. This I know, and I am satisfied with the ultimate result.
My former friend, who is angry at me, would simply switch the anger
current to the guilty one if I told the facts; the guilty person
couldn't stand that anger like I can. My act would break up a home and
bring misery. The satisfaction I would receive would not equal the
sorrow my act would cause to others.
I am far removed from the location where these people live, and I can
stand the anger of the one who puts the blame on me by accepting the
lies of another as truth.
I have the documents in black and white, yet I don't use them because I
have poise and the consciousness of knowing I am right, and those who
are dear to me know it, too.
I've tried both plans, the plan of anger and the plan of poise, and I
like poise better.
I believe I hear more birds, I believe I get more pleasure out of life
and living than the man who gets angry and loves revenge.