HEALTH
Health has more to do with our successful employment than most of us have
yet realized. To prove that this is true a woman who is an employment
expert told the following story:
"The other night I was sitting in my office waiting for a girl who could
not come to see me in the daytime. The manager of a business house who
was interested in the girl had asked me if I would advise her how to change
her work from one employment which she liked fairly well to another in
which she was greatly interested. I had formed no particular idea of what
the girl would be like. My day had been full and I had had no time to
consider her case, knowing only that she wanted to change her work, and
that she was a girl who was already earning her living.
"She came in, looked at me with a straight, steady glance and offered me
her hand with a simplicity which took no note of the fact that an older
person is supposed usually to make the first advance. The fact that we
shook hands gave me an opportunity to notice that her hand was neither
nervous nor tremulous. The quality of her handclasp can be summed up in
saying that it was reassuring and agreeable. I wonder if most people know
how all these points are noticed by employment experts and employers.
The way in which the girl looked at me and the way in which she shook
hands told me that she was physically and mentally in good condition.
"She was about five feet ten, and unusually well built and well developed.
She was dressed in noticeably good taste. She was a rather large woman, or
rather girl, for she was only a child in years. She was not what anyone
would call 'a beauty,' but she was so splendidly well and carried herself
so finely that she made an excellent impression. I do not know when I have
been so much attracted by anyone. Almost any employer would have given her
a position if he had had one vacant which she could fill. I wish all girls
could realize what an advantage it is to be well physically and mentally
and to look as well as this girl did.
"When I came to question her I found that her story was unusual from the
point of view of employment. I thought from her appearance that she might
be eighteen or nineteen. But to my astonishment she told me that she was
fifteen and that she had been earning her living for nearly a year.
She was a stenographer and had had three years' training in a high school
of commerce. Her father had died and she was helping to support her mother.
Several factors were against her satisfactory employment. She was under
age and she had not completed her school course when she went to work.
From these two facts it would have been natural to suppose that she would
obtain a poor position, both in the character of the work required and in
payment. She was earning fifteen dollars a week, a rate of payment three
or four dollars a week higher than the average wage paid beginners in the
city where she was employed. It was her splendid health, her look of
substantial character and her good manner which had won this girl
employment when another girl of fifteen, less healthy and less developed,
might have failed to find any satisfactory position at all."
A time is likely to come in the world's history when the laws of right
living are so well understood that poor health will be regarded as
blameworthy. In a number of cases we must regard it as blameworthy now.
To be in the company of a radiantly healthy person is a cheerful blessing.
Let us make up our minds to be this kind of blessing to our friends.
Happily we can do a great deal to make ourselves healthy. We need to eat
wisely, to dress properly and to rest well. Every girl should learn to
regulate these things wisely for herself. Other people can only help to
make us healthy, but the real work of being healthy we must do for
ourselves, and this means daily attention and daily care. A famous doctor
said once that the average baby is meant to live; all the baby asks is to
be given a good chance. In the same way the average human being is meant
to be healthy. Health depends--the statement is so important that it will
bear repeating--on care in eating and resting and on proper clothing.
Health depends also on cleanliness, inside the body and out; this means
cleanliness in every respect. A daily bath and proper attention to one's
body are essential to health.
The girl should learn as soon as possible that her health as well as her
appearance will depend on her taking daily exercise. She may suppose that
exercise is a dull tiresome thing which she is told by other people to
take, but which in itself has no interest for her. Here, as in other
things, the girl must learn to be her own captain, her own commanding
officer. She should give herself orders to take daily exercise. If any of
us needs a lesson in keeping well and beautiful, we can get that lesson
from our little friends the birds. Every creature, wild and tame, winged
and four-footed, takes the most scrupulous care of its physical condition.
They clean, stretch, brush, polish, until every feather or hair, until
every muscle and sinew is in fit condition.
We should think of our bodies as fine instruments which are given into our
keeping. The human body is the finest and most wonderful instrument in
the world, and it is sad and amazing how often we fail to take the most
ordinary care of it. There are different systems of exercise, and the girl
should find one that will bring all her muscles properly into play.
Five or ten minutes' exercise a day is all that is required. There are
many muscles which are not used in walking or ordinary play, and if these
muscles are not exercised regularly then that fine instrument your body
will get out of good condition and will not show correct and beautiful
lines. A girl should train herself to stand properly. A simple test by
which she can tell if she is holding herself rightly is to walk a few
steps on tiptoe. In order to do this she must hold herself correctly.
To have a good body, well shaped and in right proportion, it is necessary
to hold one's self correctly all the time. Habits such as these are not
acquired all at once. It is only by persistence day by day that the girl
will learn to walk and to stand properly and will find that her body is
becoming lithe, strong and healthy, an instrument which it is a joy to
use and which will make her appearance as attractive as it ought to be.
When anything goes wrong which we do not understand, it is generally
necessary to consult a physician. Special care should be taken to see
a good doctor or dentist, if anything is wrong with eyes or teeth.
Other aids to health and happiness are sunshine and fresh air, drinking
plenty of good water, useful work, good temper, and good times. To be
healthy and happy we must also give affection and kind help to other people.
Like everyone else, the girl at work needs holidays. Two weeks in the year
is a usual allowance; but three weeks are better than two. After the girl
has become a responsible and important worker, she will find two holidays
in the year a good investment for health, a short holiday and a longer one
of three or four weeks.
To be angry, bad tempered and to think unkindly are all harmful to one's
health and destroy a great part of one's happiness. No one can be a
successful worker of a high type who is habitually jealous or bad-tempered.
Good thoughts are an aid to both health and happiness. In the same way one
needs what are called "good times." Many girls love walks in the country
with a number of companions. Learning to know birds and flowers by sight,
and keeping a record of those found, and when and where they were found,
is an enjoyable pursuit of endless interest. Learn to keep and cherish all
the festivals of the year--Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and other
holidays. Charades and plays, games and dancing, picnics and excursions,
may be made enjoyable and delightful and should help to keep girls healthy
as well as happy if they are planned with good sense and restricted to
suitable times and places.