Page:Guide to health.djvu/73

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to which we deviate from these natural conditions, must we suffer in health. From the farmer's life we learn that we should work for at least 8 hours a day, and it should involve mental work as well.

Merchants and others leading a sedentary life have indeed, to do some mental work, but their work is too one-sided and too inadequate to be called exercise.

For such people the wise men of the West have devised games like cricket and football, and such minor games as are played at parties and festive gatherings. As for mental work the reading of such books as involve no mental strain is prescribed. No doubt these games do give exercise to the body, but it is a question if they are equally beneficial to the mind. How many of the best players of football and cricket are men of superior mental powers? What have we seen of the mental equipment of those Indian Princes who have earned a distinction as players? On the other hand, how many of the ablest men care to play these games? We can affirm from our experience that there are very few players among those who are gifted with great mental powers. The people of England are extremely fond of games, but their own poet, Kipling, speaks very disparagingly of the mental capacity of the players.

Here in India, however, we have chosen quite a