547. The most of us wear clothing enough, but many fail to give every part of the body its due proportion. . . . If any part of the body should be favored with extra coverings, it should be the limbs and feet, which are at a distance from the great wheel of life, which sends the blood through the system. The limbs should ever be clothed with a warm covering to protect them from a chill current of air. . . . If the feet are clothed with good-sized, thick-soled, warm boots or shoes, for comfort rather than for fashion, the blood will be induced to circulate freely in the limbs and feet, as well as other portions of the body. . . . If we give the lungs and feet ample room to do the work God designed they should, we shall be rewarded with better health and a clearer conscience.—H. R.
548. There is but one woman in a thousand who clothes her limbs as she should. . . . Women should clothe their limbs as thoroughly as do men. —H. to L., Chap. 6, p. 64.
549. The portions of the body close to the life springs, need less covering than the limbs which are remote from the vital organs. If the limbs and feet could have the extra coverings usually put upon the shoulders, lungs, and heart, and healthy circulation be induced to the extremities, the vital organs would act their part healthfully, with only their share of clothing.—H. to L., Chap. 5, p. 73.
550. The extremities are chilled, and the heart has thrown upon it double labor, to force the blood into these chilled extremities; and when the blood has performed its circuit through the body, and returned125to the heart, it is not the same vigorous, warm current which left it. It has been chilled in its passage through the limbs. The heart, weakened by too great labor and poor circulation of poor blood, is then compelled to still greater exertion, to throw the blood to the extremities which are never as healthfully warm as other parts of the body. The heart fails in its efforts, and the limbs become habitually cold; and the blood, which is chilled away from the extremities, is thrown back upon the lungs and brain, and inflammation and congestion of the lungs or the brain is the result.—H. to L., Chap. 5, p. 72.
551. It is impossible for women to have, habitually, chilled limbs and cold feet, without some of the internal organs’ being congested. . . . The many extra coverings over the chest and back and lower part of the body, induce the blood to these parts, and the animal heat, thus retained, weakens and debilitates the delicate organs, and congestion and inflammation result.—H. R.
552. When the extremities, which are remote from the vital organs, are not properly clad, the blood is driven to the head, causing headache or nosebleed; or there is a sense of fulness about the chest producing cough or palpitation of the heart, on account of too much blood in that locality; or the stomach has too much blood, causing indigestion.—T., V. II, p. 531.
Length of Dress.
553. The length of the fashionable dress is objectionable for several reasons:—
It is extravagant and unnecessary to have a dress of such length that it will sweep the sidewalk and street.
A dress thus long gathers dew from the grass and mud from the streets, and is therefore uncleanly.
In its bedraggled condition it comes in contact with the sensitive ankles, which are not sufficiently protected, quickly chilling them, and thus endangering health and life. This is one of the greatest causes of catarrh and scrofulous swellings.
The unnecessary length is an additional weight upon the hips and bowels.
It hinders the walking, and is also often in other people’s way.— T., V. I, p. 459.
If women would wear their dresses so as to clear the filth of the street an inch or two, their dresses would be modest, and they could be kept clean much more easily, and would wear longer.— Ibid., p. 458.
Too Much Clothing.
554. You have worn too great an amount of clothing, and have debilitated the skin by so doing. You have not given your body a chance to breathe. The pores of the skin, or little mouths through which the body breathes, have become closed, and the system has been filled with impurities.— T., V. III, p. 74.
555. I advise invalid sisters who have accustomed themselves to too great an amount of clothing, to lay it off gradually.— T., V. II, p. 533.
556. Disease of every type is brought upon the body through the unhealthful, fashionable style of dress; and the fact should be made prominent that a reform must take place before treatment will effect a cure.— T., V. IV, p. 582.
CHAPTER XXII.
EXERCISE.
General Statements.
557. The human body may be compared to nicely adjusted machinery, which needs care to keep it in running order. One part should not be subjected to constant wear and pressure, while another part is rusting from inaction. While the mind is taxed, the muscles also should have their proportion of exercise. Every young person should learn how many hours may be spent in study, and how much time should be given to physical exercise.— S. of T., 1886, No. 33.
There is quite a difference between weariness and exhaustion.— S. A., p. 64.
The compression of the waist will not allow free action of the muscles.— H. R.
Another precious blessing is proper exercise.— T., V. II, p. 528.
They should go out and exercise every day, . . . make it their object to do some good, working to the end of benefiting others.— T., V. II, p. 531.
Varieties of Exercise.
Gymnastics.
562. The exercise of one muscle, while others are left with nothing to do, will not strengthen the inactive ones, any more than the continual exercise of one of the organs of the mind will develop and128strengthen the organs not brought into use. Each faculty of the mind and each muscle has its distinctive office, and all require to be exercised in order to become properly developed and retain healthful vigor. Each organ and muscle has its work to do in the living organism. Every wheel in the machinery must be a living, active, working wheel. Nature’s fine and wonderful works need to be kept in active motion in order to accomplish the object for which they were designed. Each faculty has a bearing upon the others, and all need to be exercised in order to be properly developed. If one muscle of the body is exercised more than another, the one used will become much the larger, and will destroy the harmony and beauty of the development of the system. A variety of exercise will call into use all the muscles of the body.— T., V. III, pp. 77, 78.
563. It is not good policy to give up the use of certain muscles because pain is felt when they are exercised. The pain is frequently caused by the effort of nature to give life and vigor to those parts that have become partially lifeless through inaction. The motion of these long disused muscles will cause pain, because nature is awakening them to life.— T., V. III, p. 78.
564. Exercise, to be of decided advantage to you, should be systematized, and brought to bear upon the debilitated organs that they may become strengthened by use.— T., V. III, p. 76.
Useful Labor.
565. When useful labor is combined with study, there is no need of gymnastic exercises; and much more benefit is derived from work performed in the129open air than from indoor exercise. The farmer and the mechanic each have physical exercise; yet the farmer is much the healthier of the two, for nothing short of the invigorating air and sunshine will fully meet the wants of the system. The former finds in his labor all the movements that were ever practised in the gymnasium. And his movement room is the open fields; the canopy of heaven is its roof, the solid earth is its floor.—S. of T., 1886, No. 33.
566. Brethren, when you take time to cultivate your gardens, thus gaining the exercise needed to keep the system in good working order, you are just as much doing the work of God as in holding meetings.— G. W., p. 174.
567. If work is performed without the heart’s being in it, it is simply drudgery, and the benefit which should result from the exercise is not gained.— H. R.
Passive Exercise
568. The movement cure is a great advantage to a class of patients who are too feeble to exercise. But for all who are sick to rely upon it, making it their dependence, while they neglect to exercise their muscles themselves, is a great mistake.—T., V. III, p. 76.
569. Many who depend on the movement cure could accomplish more for themselves by muscular exercise than the movements can do for them.— T., V. III, p. 78.
Walking.
570. There is no exercise that can take the place of walking. By it the circulation of the blood is greatly improved. . . . Walking, in all cases where it is possible, is the best remedy for diseased bodies,130because in this exercise all of the organs of the body are brought into use.— T., V. III, p. 78.
571. When the weather will permit, all who can possibly do so ought to walk in the open air every day, summer and winter. . . . A walk, even in winter, would be more beneficial to the health than all the medicine the doctors may prescribe. For those who can walk, walking is preferable to riding. The muscles and veins are enabled better to perform their work. There will be increased vitality, which is so necessary to health. The lungs will have needful action; for it is impossible to go out in the bracing air of a winter’s morning without inflating the lungs.— T., V. II, p. 529.
572. There is no exercise that will prove as beneficial to every part of the body as walking. Active walking in the open air will do more for women, to preserve them in health if they are well, than any other means. Walking is also one of the most efficient remedies for the recovery of health of the invalid. The hands and arms are exercised as well as the limbs.— H. R.
When to Exercise.
573. Exercise will aid the work of digestion. To walk out after a meal, hold the head erect, put back the shoulders, and exercise moderately, will be a great benefit. The mind will be diverted from self to the beauties of nature. The less the attention is called to the stomach after a meal, the better.— T., V. II, p. 530.
574. Morning exercise, in walking in the free, invigorating air of heaven, or cultivating flowers, small fruits, and vegetables, is necessary to a healthful circulation of the blood.131It is the surest safeguard against colds, coughs, congestions of the brain and lungs, inflammation of the liver, the kidneys, and the lungs, and a hundred other diseases.— H. R.
575. A large class of women are content to hover over the stove, breathing impure air for one half or three fourths of the time, until the brain is heated and half benumbed. They should go out and exercise every day, even though some things indoors have to be neglected. They need the cool air to quiet distracted brains.— T., V. II, p. 531.
576. Neither study nor violent exercise should be engaged in immediately after a full meal; this would be a violation of the laws of the system. Immediately after eating there is a strong draught upon the nervous energy. The brain force is called into active exercise to assist the stomach; therefore, when mind or body is taxed heavily after eating, the process of digestion is hindered. The vitality of the system, which is needed to carry on the work in one direction, is called away and set to work in another.— T., V. II, p. 413.
Benefits Derived from Exercise.
577. God designed that the living machinery should be in daily activity; for in this activity or motion is its preserving power.— H. R.
578. By active exercise in the open air every day the liver, kidneys, and lungs also will be strengthened to perform their work.— T., V. II, p. 533.
579. If invalids who can would engage in light, useful labor in the open air a portion of each day, they would find physical exercise one of God’s appointed agents for the benefit of man.— H. R.
580. If they worked intelligently, giving both mind and body a due share of exercise, ministers would not so readily succumb to disease.—G. W., p. 173.
581. Healthy, active exercise is what you need. This will invigorate the mind.—T., V. II, p. 413.
582. There will be increased vitality, which is so necessary to health.—T., V. II, p. 529.
583. Not only will the organs of the body be strengthened by exercise, but the mind also will acquire strength and knowledge through the action of these organs.—T., V. III, p. 77.
584. The more we exercise, the better will be the circulation of the blood.—T., V. II, p. 525.
585. If physical exercise were combined with mental exertion, the blood would be quickened in its circulation, the action of the heart would be more perfect, impure matter would be thrown off, and new life and vigor would be experienced in every part of the body.—T., V. III, p. 490.
586. The proper use of their physical strength, as well as of the mental powers, will equalize the circulation of the blood, and keep every organ of the living machinery in running order.—S. T. on E., p. 352.
587. Judicious exercise will induce the blood to the surface, and thus relieve the internal organs. Brisk, yet not violent, exercise in the open air, with cheerfulness of spirits, will promote the circulation, giving a healthful glow to the skin, and sending the blood, vitalized by the pure air, to the extremities.
—T., V. II, p. 530.
588. By judicious exercise they may expand the chest and strengthen the muscles. . . . By giving heed to proper instruction, by following health principles in regard to the expansion of the lungs and culture of the voice, our young men and women may become speakers that can be heard, and the exercise necessary to this accomplishment will prolong life.—C. E., p. 132.
589. A farmer who is temperate in all his habits usually enjoys good health. His work is pleasant; and his vigorous exercise causes full, deep, and strong inspirations and exhalations, which expand the lungs and purify the blood, sending the warm current of life bounding through arteries and veins. . . . The student sits day after day in a close room, bending over his desk or table, his chest contracted, his lungs crowded. His brain is taxed to the utmost, while his body is inactive. He cannot take full, deep inspirations; his blood moves sluggishly; his feet are cold, his head hot. . . . Let them take regular exercise that will cause them to breathe deep and full, and they will soon feel that they have a new hold on life.—S. of T., 1886, No. 33.
590. The diseased stomach will find relief by exercise.—T., V. II, p. 530.
591. Exercise is important to digestion, and to a healthy condition of body and mind.—T., V. II, p. 413.
592. Digestion will be promoted by physical exercise.—T., V. II, p. 569.
593. Useful employment would bring into exercise the enfeebled muscles, enliven the stagnant blood in the system, and arouse the torpid liver to perform its work. The circulation of the blood would be equalized, and the entire system invigorated to overcome bad conditions.—H. R.
Results of Lack of Exercise.
594. I frequently turn from the bedside of these self-made invalids, saying to myself, “Dying by inches, dying of indolence, a disease which no one but themselves can cure.”— H. R.
595. Neglecting to exercise the entire body, or a portion of it, will bring on morbid conditions.—T., V. III, p. 76.
596. The bloom of health fades from their cheeks, and disease fastens upon them, because they are robbed of physical exercise, and their habits are perverted generally.— T., V. III, p. 158.
597. Continued inactivity is one of the greatest causes of debility of body and feebleness of mind.—T., V. II, p. 524.
598. Inaction of any of the organs of the body will be followed by decrease in size and strength of the muscles, and will cause the blood to flow sluggishly through the blood-vessels.—T., V. III, p. 76.
599. In what contrast to the habits of the active farmer are those of the student who neglects physical exercise. . . . His blood moves sluggishly; his feet are cold; his head hot. How can such a person have health?—S. of T., 1886, No. 33.
600. The studied habit of shunning the air and avoiding exercise, closes the pores,—the little mouths through which the body breathes,—making it impossible135to throw off impurities through that channel. The burden of labor is thrown upon the liver, lungs, kidneys, etc., and these internal organs are compelled to do the work of the skin.—T., V. II, p. 524.
601. The blood is not enabled to expel the impurities as it would if active circulation were induced by exercise.—T., V. II, p. 529.
602. In some cases, want of exercise causes the muscles of the bowels to become enfeebled and shrunken, and these organs that have become enfeebled for want of use will be strengthened by exercise.—T., V. III, p. 78.
603. Moderate exercise every day will impart strength to the muscles, which without exercise become flabby and enfeebled.—T., V. II, p. 533.
604. If invalids would recover health, they should not discontinue physical exercise; for they will thus increase muscular weakness and general debility. Bind up the arm, and permit it to remain useless, even for a few weeks, then free it from its bondage, and you will discover that it is weaker than the one you had been using moderately during the same time. Inactivity produces the same effect upon the whole muscular system.—T., V. II, p. 529.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MANUAL TRAINING.
605. If all our workers were so situated that they could spend a few hours each day in outdoor labor, and feel free to do this, it would be a blessing to them; they would be able to discharge more successfully the duties of their calling.—G. W., p. 173.
606. Manual occupation for the youth is essential. . . . The proper exercise of mind and body will develop and strengthen all the powers. Both mind and body will be preserved, and will be capable of doing a variety of work. Ministers and teachers need to learn in regard to these things, and they need to practise as well.—Sp. Inst. on Ed. Work, p. 14.
607. The people of this country have so little appreciation of the importance of industrious habits that the children are not educated to do real, earnest work. This must be a part of the education given to the youth. . . . We need schools to educate children and youth that they may be masters of labor, and not slaves of labor. Ignorance and idleness will not elevate one member of the human family. Ignorance will not lighten the lot of the hard toiler. Let the worker see what advantage he may gain in the humblest occupation, by using the ability God has given him as an endowment. Thus he can become137an educator, teaching others the art of doing work intelligently. . . . The Lord wants the physical strength; and you can reveal your love for him by the right use of your physical powers, doing the very work which needs to be done. . . . There is science in the humblest kind of work, and if all would thus regard it, they would see nobility in labor. . . . Let the educated ability be employed in devising improved methods of work. This is just what the Lord wants. There is honor in any class of work that is essential to be done. Let the law of God be made the standard of action, and it ennobles and sanctifies all labor. . . . We are not to be dwarfed in any kind of service for God. Whatever he has lent us is to be used intelligently for him. The man who exercises his faculties will surely strengthen them; but he must seek to do his best. There is need of intelligence and educated ability to devise the best methods in farming, in building, and in every other department, that the worker may not labor in vain.—Sp. Inst. on Ed. Work, p. 5.
608. Your means could not be used to better advantage than in providing a workshop furnished with tools for your boys, and equal facilities for your girls. They can be taught to love labor.—H. R.
609. Agriculture will open resources for self-support, and various other trades also could be learned. This real, earnest work calls for a strength of intellect as well as of muscle. Method and tact are required even to raise fruits and vegetables successfully. And habits of industry will be found an138important aid to the youth in resisting temptation. Here is opened a field to give vent to their pent-up energies, that, if not expended in useful employment, will be a continual source of trial to themselves and to their teachers. Many kinds of labor adapted to different persons may be devised. But the working of the land will be a special blessing to the worker. . . . This knowledge will not be a hindrance to the education essential for business or for usefulness in any line. To develop the capacity of the soil requires thought and intelligence.—Sp. Inst. on Ed. Work, p. 15.
610. Agriculture should be advanced by scientific knowledge.—S. of T., 1896, No. 32.
611. Students sent to school to prepare to become evangelists, ministers, and missionaries to foreign countries, have received the idea that amusements are essential to keep them in physical health, when the Lord has presented it before them that the better way is to embrace in their education manual labor in place of amusement. . . . The education to be obtained in felling trees, tilling the soil, as well as in literature, is the education our youth should seek to obtain. Farther on printing-presses should be connected with our schools. Tent making also should be taken hold of. Buildings should be erected, and masonry should be learned.
There are also many things which the lady students may engage in. There is cooking, dressmaking, and gardening to be done. Strawberries should be planted, and plants and flowers cultivated.
Bookbinding also and a variety of trades should139be taken up. Thus the student will be putting into exercise bone, brain, and muscle, and will also be gaining knowledge. The greatest curse of our schools is idleness. It leads to amusements merely to please and gratify self. The students have had a superabundance of this way of passing their time. They are not prepared to go forth from the school with an all-round education.
The proper cooking of food is a most essential requirement. Something must be prepared to take the place of meat, and so well prepared that meat will not be desired. Culture on all points of life will make the youth useful after they shall leave the school to go to foreign countries. They will not then have to depend upon the people to whom they go to cook and sew for them, or to build their habitations; and they will have much more influence if they show that they know how to do work by the best methods and to produce the best results. This will be appreciated where means are difficult to obtain. Missionaries can thus teach others how to labor. A much smaller fund will be required to sustain such missionaries, and wherever they may go, all that they have gained in this line will give them standing.
It is also essential to understand the philosophy of medical missionary work. Wherever the students may go, they need education in the science of how to treat the sick. This will give them a welcome in any place, because there is suffering of every kind in every part of the world. Education, true education, means much.—U. T., Dec. 20, 1896.
CHAPTER XXIV.
HYGIENE.
Hygiene of the Home and Premises.
612. Dwellings, if possible, should be built upon high and dry ground. If a house be built where water settles around it, remaining for a time and then drying away, a poisonous miasma arises, and fever and ague, sore throat, lung diseases, and fevers will be the result.—H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 64.
613. If every family realized the beneficial results of thorough cleanliness, they would make special efforts to remove every impurity from their persons and from their houses, and would extend their efforts to their premises. Many suffer decayed vegetable matter to remain about their premises. They are not awake to the influence of these things. There is constantly arising from the decayed substances an effluvium that is poisoning the air. By inhaling the impure air, the blood is poisoned, the lungs become affected, and the whole system is diseased.—H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 60.
614. Stubborn fevers and violent diseases have prevailed in neighborhoods and towns that had formerly been considered healthy, and some have died, while others have been left with broken constitutions to be crippled with disease for life. In many141instances their own yards contained the agent of destruction, which sent forth deadly poison into the atmosphere to be inhaled by the family and the neighborhood. The slackness and recklessness sometimes witnessed is beastly, and the ignorance of the results of such things upon health is astonishing. Such places should be purified, especially in summer, by lime or ashes, or by a daily burial with earth.—H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 61.
615. Shade-trees and shrubbery too close and dense around a house are unhealthful; for they prevent a free circulation of air, and prevent the rays of the sun from shining through sufficiently. In consequence of this a dampness gathers in the house. Especially in wet seasons the sleeping-rooms become damp, and those who sleep in the beds are troubled with rheumatism, neuralgia, and lung complaints, which generally end in consumption. Numerous shade-trees cast off many leaves, which, if not immediately removed, decay, and poison the atmosphere. A yard, beautiful with scattering trees, and some shrubbery at a proper distance from the house, has a happy, cheerful influence upon the family, and if well taken care of, will prove no injury to health.—H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 64.
616. Rooms that are not exposed to light and air become damp. Beds and bedding gather dampness, and the atmosphere in these rooms is poisonous, because it has not been purified by light and air. Various diseases have been brought on by sleeping in these fashionable, health-destroying apartments. . . . Sleeping-rooms especially should be well ventilated,142and the atmosphere made healthful by light and air. Blinds should be left open several hours each day, the curtains put aside, and the room thoroughly aired; nothing should remain, even for a short time, which would destroy the purity of the atmosphere.—H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 62.
617. Sleeping apartments should be large and so arranged as to have a circulation of air through them day and night.—H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 63.
618. Rooms that are not freely ventilated daily, and bedding that has not been thoroughly dried and aired, are not fit for use. We feel confident that disease and great suffering are brought on by sleeping in rooms with closed and curtained windows, not admitting pure air and the rays of the sun. . . . The room may not have had an airing for months, nor the advantages of a fire for weeks, if at all. It is dangerous to health and life to sleep in these rooms until the outside air shall have circulated through them for several hours and the bedding shall have been dried by the fire. Unless this precaution is taken, the rooms and bedding will be damp. Every room in the house should be thoroughly ventilated every day, and in damp weather should be warmed by fires. . . . Every room in your dwelling should be daily thrown open to the healthful rays of the sun, and the purifying air should be invited in. This will be a preventive of disease. . . . If all would appreciate the sunshine, and expose every article of clothing to its drying, purifying rays, mildew and mold would be prevented. The confined air of unventilated rooms meets us with sickening odors of mildew and143mold, and the impurities exhaled by its inmates. . . . The emanations from damp, moldy rooms and clothing are poisonous to the system.—H. R.
Hygiene of the Person.
619. Strict habits of cleanliness should be observed. Many, while well, will not take the trouble to keep in a healthy condition. They neglect personal cleanliness, and are not careful to keep their clothing pure. Impurities are constantly and imperceptibly passing from the body, through the pores, and if the surface of the skin is not kept in a healthy condition, the system is burdened with impure matter. If the clothing worn is not often washed, and frequently aired, it becomes filthy with impurities which are thrown off from the body by sensible and insensible perspiration. And if the garments worn are not frequently cleansed from these impurities, the pores of the skin absorb again the waste matter thrown off. The impurities of the body, if not allowed to escape, are taken back into the blood, and forced upon the internal organs.—H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 60.
620. In regard to cleanliness, God requires no less of his people now than he did of ancient Israel. A neglect of cleanliness will induce disease.—H. to L., Chap. 4, p. 61.
621. The ten commandments spoken by Jehovah from Sinai cannot live in the hearts of persons of disorderly, filthy habits. If ancient Israel could not so much as listen to the proclamation of that holy law, unless they had obeyed the injunction of Jehovah,144and had cleansed their clothing, how can that sacred law be written upon the hearts of persons who are not cleanly in person, in clothing, or in their houses? It is impossible. Their profession may be as high as heaven, yet it is not worth a straw. . . . All who meet upon the Sabbath to worship God should, if possible, have a neat, well-fitting, comely suit to wear in the house of worship. It is a dishonor to the Sabbath, and to God and his house, for those who profess that the Sabbath is the holy of the Lord, and honorable, to wear the same clothing upon the Sabbath that they have worn through the week while laboring upon their farms, when they can obtain other.—H. to L., Chap. 6, p. 59.
Hygiene for Children.
General Statements.
622. Several instances have come under my notice where children are being murdered by inches by the mistaken kindness of parents.— H. R.
623. The calm, self-possessed course the mother pursues in the treatment of her child has very much to do in molding the mind of the infant. If it is nervous and easily agitated, the mother’s careful, unhurried manner will have a soothing and correcting influence, and the health of the infant can be very much improved.— H. to L., Chap. 2, p. 39.
Diet.
624. It ever has appeared to me to be cold, heartless business for mothers who can nurse their children to turn them from the maternal breast to the bottle. But in case that is necessary, the greatest care must be exercised to have the milk from a healthy cow, and to have the bottle, as well as the145milk, perfectly sweet. This is frequently neglected, and as the result, the infant is made to suffer needlessly. Disturbances of the stomach and bowels are liable to occur, and the much-to-be-pitied infant becomes diseased, if it were healthy when born.— H. R.
Hired Nurses.
625. Mothers sometimes depend upon a hireling. . . . A stranger performs the duties of the mother, and gives from her breast the food to sustain life. Nor is this all. She also imparts her temper and her temperament to the nursing child. The child’s life is linked to hers. If the hireling is a coarse type of woman, passionate and unreasonable; if she is not careful in her morals, the nursling will be, in all probability, of the same or similar type. The same quality of blood coursing in the veins of the hireling nurse is in that of the child.— H. R.
Frequent Feeding.
626. Children are also fed too frequently, which produces feverishness and suffering in various ways. The stomach should not be kept constantly at work, but should have its periods of rest. Without it children will be peevish and irritable and frequently sick.— H. R.
627. The first education that children should receive from the mother in infancy should be in regard to their physical health. They should be allowed only plain food, of that quality that would preserve to them the best condition of health, and that should be partaken of only at regular periods, not oftener than three times a day, and two meals would be better than three. If children are disciplined aright, they will soon learn they can receive nothing by crying and fretting.146A judicious mother will act in training her children, not merely in regard to her own present comfort, but for their future good. And to this end she will teach her children the important lesson of controlling the appetite, and of self-denial, that they should eat, drink, and dress in reference to health.—H. to L., Chap. 2, p. 47.
628. It is much easier to create an unnatural appetite than to correct and reform it after it has become second nature. . . . Meat given to children is not the best thing to insure success. . . . To educate your children to subsist upon a meat diet would be harmful to them. . . . Highly seasoned meats, followed by rich pastry, is wearing out the vital organs of the digestion of children. Had they been accustomed to plain, wholesome food, their appetites would not have craved unnatural luxuries and mixed preparations.—U. T., Nov. 5, 1896.
Fresh Air.
Fresh Air. 629. One great error of the mother in the treatment of her infant is, she deprives it very much of fresh air, that which it ought to have to make it strong. It is a practise of many mothers to cover their infant’s head while sleeping, and this, too, in a warm room, which is seldom ventilated as it should be. This alone is sufficient to greatly enfeeble the action of the heart and lungs, thereby affecting the whole system. While care may be needful to protect the infant from a draught of air or from any sudden and too great change, especial care should be taken to have the child breathe a pure, invigorating atmosphere. No disagreeable odor should remain in the147nursery or about the child; such things are more dangerous to the feeble infant than to grown persons.—H. to L., Chap. 5, p. 66.
630. But there is an evil greater than those already named. The infant is exposed to a vitiated air caused by many breaths, some of which are very offensive and injurious to the strong lungs of older people. The infant lungs suffer and become diseased by inhaling the atmosphere of a room poisoned by the tobacco user’s tainted breath. Many infants are poisoned beyond remedy by sleeping in beds with their tobacco-using fathers. By inhaling the poisonous tobacco effluvium, which is thrown from the lungs and the pores of the skin, the system of the infant is filled with the poison. While it acts upon some as a slow poison, and affects the brain, heart, liver, and lungs, and they waste away and fade gradually, upon others it has a more direct influence, causing spasms, fits, paralysis, palsy, and sudden death.—H. to L., Chap. 5, p. 68.
Dress of the Infant.
631. The garments are made extravagantly long, and in order to keep them up on the infant, its body is girded with tight bands, or waists, which hinder the free action of the heart and lungs. Infants are compelled to bear a needless weight because of the length of their garments, and thus clothed, they do not have free use of their muscles and limbs. Mothers have thought it necessary to compress the bodies of their infant children to keep them in shape, as if fearful that without tight bandages they would fall in pieces or become deformed. Do the animal creation become deformed because nature148is left to do her own work? Do the little lambs become deformed because they are not girded about with bands to give them shape? They are delicately and beautifully formed. Human infants are the most perfect, and yet the most helpless, of all the Creator’s handiwork, and therefore their mothers should be instructed in regard to physical laws, so as to be capable of rearing them with physical, mental, and moral health. Mothers, nature has given your infants forms which need no girts or bands to perfect them. God has supplied them with bones and muscles sufficient for their support, and to guard nature’s fine machinery within, before committing it to your care. The dress of the infant should be so arranged that its body will not be in the least compressed after taking a full meal. . . . Another great cause of mortality among infants and youth, is the custom of leaving their arms and shoulders naked. This fashion cannot be too severely censured. It has cost the lives of thousands. The air, bathing the arms and limbs and circulating about the armpits, chills these sensitive portions of the body so near the vitals, hinders the healthy circulation of the blood, and induces disease, especially of the lungs and brain.—H. to L., Chap. 5, pp. 67–69.
632. Mothers who dress their children in accordance with fashion, endanger their health and life. Fashion leaves the limbs of children unclad, save with one covering, or, at most, two. If they are exposed to the chill autumn, spring, or winter weather, their limbs are bathed in a current of cold air. Over149the heart, where is the greatest amount of vitality, there are from four to eight coverings. These unclad limbs and feet become habitually cold. While traveling, it is customary to see little girls dressed fashionably, but not healthfully. The upper portions of the body are abundantly clothed with warm cloaks, and over these are furs, while the limbs are scarcely covered. . . . Christian mother, why not clothe your daughter as comfortably and as properly as you do your son? . . . His limbs are protected by from three to five thicknesses; hers by only one. Is she feebler? Then she needs the greater care. Is she indoors more, and therefore less protected against cold and storm? Then she needs double care.—H. R.
633. Societies are formed in our cities for the prevention of cruelty to dumb animals. It would be well to go still further, and, inasmuch as accountable intelligences, capable of obtaining life eternal, are of more value than the dumb beasts, there is greater need of societies to prevent the cruelty of mothers in dressing their darling little girls in a manner to sacrifice them at the shrine of cruel fashion.
— H. R.
634. There is a disposition with many parents to dose children perpetually with medicine. They always have a supply on hand, and when any slight indisposition is manifested, caused by overeating or exhaustion, the medicine is poured down their throats, and if that does not satisfy them, they send for the doctor. . . . The child is drugged to death, and the parents console themselves that they150have done all they could for their children, and wonder why they must die when they did so much to save them. . . . Upon the gravestones of such children should be written, “Died of Drug Medication.”
— H. R.