DO WE INHERIT SHAPELY BODIES?
build the idle parts of the man's body; it would add years to his life and usefulness.
But how is it with the sturdy laborer? He cannot have the same defects. His work must call into play every muscle of his body.
Well, watch him and see. Try the coal-heaver. His is heavy, hard work; and must make him exert himself all over. But does it? While it keeps his knees bent, his back is all the while over his task. The tons of coal he lifts daily with his shovel leave his back bent, when his work for the time is done. A year at such labor gives his back a curve that lasts. While his back gets broad and strong, the front of his chest has less to do; so he is soon round-shouldered. As he does not hold his chest out; nor his neck and head erect; he cramps his lung-room; as well, indeed, as his whole vital room. Scarce any man so soon grows muscle-bound; for few backs do so much hard work. Let him stand erect, and try and slap the backs of his hands together behind his shoulders; now he will find what muscle-bound means. It will be odd if he can get his hands within a foot of each other.
The navvy is no better. The gardener's helper stoops much. So do track-hands; stone-breakers; truckmen; porters; longshoremen; and all the rest. Day-laborers, whose tools are spade, pick, and bar, take poor care of their skin; are exposed to dust and dirt; are coarsely shod; and are apt to have bad feet. As they eat and sleep well; they give their bodies no thought; and so often, like their teeth, they decay before their time; and cut down their usefulness and their days.
Here, then, we see that most of our men are born of fathers but partly developed, and of inerect carriage.
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