Spare diet and constant exercise in the keen morning air helped to endow Wesley with that amazing physical toughness which enabled him, when eighty-five years old, to walk six miles to a preaching appointment, and declare that the only sign of old age he felt was that "he could not walk nor run quite so fast as he once did."—W. H. Fitchett, "Wesley and His Century."
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HEALTH, ECONOMICS OF
Samuel Hopkins Adams writes of the economic value of pure food as follows:
Sterilization was tried in Rochester. It
did not work well. The milk was not
nutritious. Then Dr. Goler hit upon what
seems to me the centrally important truth
in the milk problem; that not the milk itself,
but everything with which it comes in contact,
should be made germ-proof. And as
the basis upon which it all rests, stands the
vital lesson of hygienic economics which this
country is learning with appreciably growing
enlightenment; that bad air, bad water, bad
housing, bad sewering, dirty streets, and poor
or impure food of whatever sort, cheaper
tho they may be in the immediate expense,
come back upon a community or a nation,
in the long run, with a bill of arrears upon
which the not-to-be-avoided percentage is
appallingly exorbitant. (Text.)—McClure's Magazine.
(1364)
Health in Large Cities—See Improved Conditions.
HEALTH, REGAINING AND MAINTAINING
That is a remarkable record Colonel
Roosevelt made in going through equatorial
Africa for so many months in the jungle
and in the swamp and yet never suffering any
kind of ill-health for an hour of the whole
time.
It would be a remarkable record for any white man, and is particularly so in the case of Mr. Roosevelt. As a youngster it was a question in his own family whether he would ever arrive at maturity. He was a sickly child.
The family, instead of coddling the youth, sent him out to the plains in the great Northwest to rough it on a cattle ranch. There he lived on plain fare, in poorly constructed houses, and rode a bronco from sunrise until dark, often before the sun rose and often after darkness set in. He returned to the house tired and slept soundly until the morning call came again. This was just what made the robust man of Mr. Roosevelt that he is.
Plain fare, plenty of outdoor life, with exercise, is the natural condition for man to pass his life in. Civilization, unless guarded against, levies a terrible tax upon human life. Fine houses, too comfortable clothing, a table too liberally supplied, make direct attacks upon man's physical health. Late hours, irregular hours, overpacked rooms, with their fetid atmosphere, levy a still heavier tax.
(1365)
Hearers—See Sympathy, Lack of.
HEART-HUNGER, SATISFYING
The successful treatment of tuberculosis is
psychic, as well as physiologic. So, too, must
the treatment of juvenile delinquency be
considered. The physician impresses the
patient with faith in his recovery. So, too,
must the teacher impress the child. She must
have faith in him, a faith so wholesome that
he will learn to have faith in himself. She
must encourage so that her encouragement
will spur the weakest to effort. Oh, the effect
of a tender word on a parched and
starving little heart! Cases of individual
rescues effected by a kind word crowd upon
me.
Dominick, the little Italian, the terror of three successive schools, who to-day is not only a fine lad, but who has reformed several other boys, changed from a lawless, defiant misdemeanant to the pride of the class—how? By a teacher who said to him, "I think you are trying to-day, dear." Poor little chap! He told his teacher frankly that it was her calling him "dear" which developed in him a determination to please her.
The insolent, defiant Irish boy, driven from room to room, who to-day is working steadily—respectful, law-abiding, ambitious—what worked his reform? A teacher, who in reply to the principal's question, "Well, how is Tom doing in here?" looked at the class in line and noticing that Tom was standing up straight, said: "Oh, he's going to be all right. He's the best stander in the class." And Tom, poor Tom, the first time he had ever been the best anything, took heart, and worked for further commendation.
Ikey, the little Russian boy, in rags which almost fell from his poor, thin, little legs, what changed him from an ugly little out-
