Better Than Dumbbells

1895

Dyspeptics may be interested in the experiment of a man living on Erie street. Being confined to his office most of the day and having little exercise of any kind, his system got badly out of order. For some two months past he has been spending a half hour every evening in lying on his back on the floor and tossing his lusty 2-year-old son back and forth. He says this exercise beats dumbbells, and that is only after an occasional immoderate meal time he is reminded that he has a stomach. — Chicago Tribune.


A Great Scheme

"I never talk about the club to my wife."
"I do. I speak of it in glowing terms and then stay at home occasionally. So my wife thinks there isn't a more self sacrificing husband in the world." — Kate Field's Washington.


It Was Easy to Live Then

Living was cheap in the old Roman days. A night's lodgings at an inn could be had for about 4 cents. A pound of figs could be bought for 2 cents, and a fine, long cloak was purchasable at the extremely low figure of 20 cents.


Cairo Museum

The Cairo museum has seven brooms used by ancient Egyptian women. They are made of straw and closely resemble the same articles in use today, save that the handles are not long enough for purposes of domestic discipline.

Breathing Deeply

1895

An Exercise Easy to Perform and of Undoubted Value.

With the preliminary but important matter of clothing satisfactorily settled we are ready to breathe. If very weak, lie down on an easy couch — lie flat on the back. See that the air is fresh, but avoid a draft. Draw in a long, slow breath, letting the diaphragm and abdomen expand as fully as possible. Then by a contraction of the diaphragm, a quick drawing in of the muscles of the stomach, force the air into the upper part of the lungs and hold it there a moment or two before allowing it to pass up into the throat. This is done by a contraction of the vocal cords and is not usually difficult. But if the cords will not close and the air is not readily controlled close the lips and hold the nose for a moment, which will prevent the air from all leaving the apex of the lungs. With practice the vocal cords will come under perfect control.

Some have difficulty in establishing the abdominal breathing, especially those who have been in the habit of breathing entirely from the throat. But when the clothing no longer forms an obstruction this will gradually right itself. The natural mode of breathing asserts itself most readily when one is lying down; therefore that position is recommended for the daily practice, which should be persistent, but also very gentle. Do not allow yourself to become really fatigued and be careful not to make the lungs ache. If one deep breath brings weariness or dizziness, stop with the one breath, but try again when fully rested. The upper part of the chest will gradually expand and in time will round out beautifully.

The careful practice of deep breathing will bring new vitality to any organ not incurably diseased. It will enrich the blood more than any preparation of iron or cod liver oil. It has greater power than any anodyne to soothe and restore exhausted nerves. It will round the throat, straighten the shoulders, fill the chest, give a sparkle to the eyes, a color to the cheeks. Those who like to sing will rejoice to find their voice gaining marvelously in strength and purity of tone. — Demorest Magazine.

Aged 72, Cycles 30,000 Miles

1920

Has Just Finished Ride From California to Blair, Neb.

BLAIR, Nebraska. — John Warner, 72 years old, of San Diego, Cal., who is visiting friends here, has just completed a bicycle trip from California.

When he found himself near the 70-year-old mark, and in poor health, he took up bicycling as a recreation and as a restorative of health, and has ridden more than 30,000 miles on the bicycle, on which he made the journey to Blair.

He says he feels younger than he did ten years before he began the practice.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 5.

Limits of Physical Training

1916

The tendency toward physical training, as well as its specialized form, military training, does not aim so much at the increase of the actual physical power as at the increase of the reserve power. The former, no matter how small, is usually sufficient to maintain ordinary bodily needs.

But the ordinary muscular force is wholly inadequate to sustain any unusual demands of the body, whether from disease or otherwise, and against which the body must be prepared. The laity speaks of the increase of reserve force as a "hardening" process. Under this conception it is believed that any hardship or discomfort increases the body reserve, and that the more suffering and hardship the better.

The more comfort and ease under which one lives, the less reserve force there is developed — because not needed — and the "softer" they become. Hardening is exercise of the wholesome kind against resistance. It must, however, be done with an eye on the actual powers of the body, from the standpoint of endurance. The amount of fatigue must never rise beyond a point where the fatigue products can be easily absorbed and the body recuperate.

Otherwise, whatever increase of power there is will be actual and needed to drive a less easily running human engine. There may be increased muscular power, but it will be bound — "muscle bound" — to the actual needs of the body. — Medical Record.

Children and Sweet Stuffs

1901

It is necessary to make some kind of stand against the physical demoralization of the rising generation by the inordinate consumption of cheap confectionery.

Mrs. Creighton, the wife of the late bishop of London, has urged again and again the necessity for checking the wholesale consumption of sweet stuff by the children of the poorer classes, and it is admitted by the doctors in poor neighborhoods that it is to the continual eating of lollipops that the wretched digestions, frequent gastric troubles and enfeebled stamina of those who are to form the future backbone of the nation are due.

What the public house is to the father, the sweet stuff shop has become to the child.


Dancing as Exercise

Dancing has lost some of its vogue, but physicians have come to its rescue and are proscribing it as a useful exercise. It is said that dyspeptic and anemic patients, both men and women, have been advised to waltz at a moderate tempo at least 30 minutes a day.

And They Didn't Exercise

1910

William M. Evarts, who lived until he was nearly ninety, said he kept his health by never taking exercise. The celebrated Dr. William George Mead, who lived to the surprising age of 148 years, spent nearly all of his time in the open air and played a little golf. Dr. Mead used to drink two or three quarts of water every day, and perhaps there is a suggestion in that. Old Dubois, who lived in Canada for the better part of 119 years on the north shore of Lake Erie, never worked and never took exercise. He spent seventy-five years of his life fishing with hook and line and ate nothing but baked apples and milk and brown bread and unsalted butter. Perhaps you can live that long if you do nothing but fish and eat what old Dubois did. But take notice that these long livers never exercised. — New York Telegraph.

Greeley's Thoughts on Home Life

1915

Horace Greeley, the noted editor, once wrote, "I think we all, as we grow old, love to feel and know that some spot on earth is peculiarly our own — ours to possess and to enjoy — ours to improve and to transmit to our children. As we realize the steady march of years in the thinning of our blanched locks, the deepening of our wrinkles, we more and more incline to shun travel and crowds and novelties, and concentrate our affections on the few who are infolded by the dear hut, our home."

"The ax is the healthiest implement that man ever handled, and is especially so for habitual writers and other sedentary workers, whose shoulders it throws back, expanding their chests and opening their lungs," Horace Greeley wrote. "If every youth and man, from 15 to 50 years old, could wield an ax two hours a day, dyspepsia would vanish from the earth and rheumatism become decidedly scarce. I am a poor chopper, yet the ax is my doctor and delight."

Horace Greeley said: "I should have been a farmer. All my riper tastes incline to that blessed calling whereby the human family and its humbler auxiliaries are fed. Its quiet, its segregation from strife and brawls and heated rivalries, attract and delight me. I hate to earn my bread in any calling which complicates my prosperity in some sort with others' adversity — my success with others' defeat. The farmer's floors may groan with the weight of his crops, yet no one else deems himself the poorer therefor. He may grow 100 bushels of corn or forty of wheat to every arable acre without arousing jealousy or inciting to detraction."

Daily Exercise

1905

Clerks, bookkeepers and thousands of other indoor workers suffer from the lack of pure air and muscular exercise. If an attempt is made to begin systematic exercise, or an hour or so is spent in digging or chopping wood, undue soreness and fatigue are produced. This disagreeable result often stops the experiment. Instead of discouraging the trial, the very soreness should point out the great need of the body.

If the work were persisted in and gradually increased the stiffness would soon disappear, and leave in its place a general feeling of increased vigor. The nerves are strengthened and the bodily activities quickened. The effect is not alone on the muscles used, but upon each organ. The blood is purified and the digestion strengthened.

The effects of a prolonged sedentary life are overcome only by working off the accumulated poisons and creating an appetite for new pure food. This is built up in the body, and thus the whole man is renewed.

Exercise must be carefully increased and adapted to the individual muscular strength. The weakest muscles must be brought up to the standard of the others.

For feeble persons who are not able to do the desired work, massage, Swedish movements and mechanical exercises should be employed. For more robust persons, walking, horseback riding, rowing, bicycle riding and especially swimming are to be recommended.

Good Exercise Needed for Body and Spirit

1896

A Vexed Question

The great problem is how to train and keep the physical system at the top of its capacity for work and enjoyment all the time. Those who do not get an abundant of outdoor exercise in their regular avocations must secure its equivalent in some other way, or suffer the consequences.

The more exacting the work of the brain, the more needful is it to keep the whole system toned to the highest degree of endurance and vitality. How to do this each must settle for himself as best he can, with such professional advice as he can command; but to do it in some way is both an interest and a duty.

There is a religion of the body as well as of the spirit; indeed, true religion includes both body and mind. It is not a crusade on calisthenics and the other methods of physical training that is wanted, but a wiser and more general use of them. We have mastered the art of making a perfect tree, and persuading a rose to bloom in any color we may choose; we know exactly how to rear just such a horse or dog as we desire; but who shall tell us how to develop and train the human body to perfection?

When we go back and study the old Greek and Roman models, our pride oozes out and we are inclined to question whether we have not lost in one way quite as much as we have gained in another by this intangible something we call civilization.

An Actress Tells About Health and Good Looks

1900

Something Useful May Be Learned From Her Experience

One of the most admired of American actresses, both for her grace and comeliness, has been divulging some of the secrets by which she has preserved her beauty.

"Vigilance," she says, "is the first requisite. I am ever on the alert and when I discover traces of fatigue or any other beauty-destroying symptoms in my face or figure I set about remedying it at once. I don't attempt to be anything but a professional woman during the theatrical season. I don't receive and I don't go to other people's houses, I simply haven't time, and I don't make it.

"My mode of life is very simple. I sleep nine or ten hours as a rule — never less than eight. I eat regularly and heartily, and avoid everything that would be apt to give me indigestion. Indigestion is a powerful foe to beauty, a greater foe than age, as great even as worry. I walk every day, rain or shine, and I wear a corded corset waist and stout flat-heeled boots. I try not to worry, no matter what happens, and I never tire myself unnecessarily.

"My method is so very simple few women would care to try it. It has no balms or diets, and I don't even go in for fancy baths. A warm bath at night and a cold bath in the morning are good enough for me. On Sundays I don't have to go to the theater, but I don't devote it to lolling or receiving visitors. I have my usual amount of exercise and then devote most of the day to manicure and hairdresser. When one's hair is five feet long and very thick it is not an easy task to have it shampooed.

"How do I keep the same weight all the time? Why, by vigilance and determination. If I gain a pound I immediately stop drinking water at meals and give up sugar for a while. If the bones in my neck begin to show I eat bananas and cream and put an extra spoonful of oil in my salad. It's so simple, but, of course, it precludes much pleasure."

Help for Nervous Women

1901

How Rest and Relaxation May Be Gained for Tired Bodies

Dr. John Mitchell, in Harper's Bazar: When you are asleep, it is to be hoped that you are still. Few people are when they are awake. If one observes the crowd in the streets, it is curious and most disagreeable to see how small the number is who are not constantly making grimaces and working their faces or jaws in some manner. I have heard it said it was bashfulness that caused this, but it has not been my observation that bashfulness was so widely distributed an American trait; besides, how does twisting the face help to keep one in countenance? No, it is not bashfulness; it is misdirected nervous energy, which ought to be aiding the movements of their legs or getting stored up somewhere in the central nervous reservoirs for future use.

Learn to keep still when you rest; when you move, move with the part of the body needed; do not waste your force by walking with your arms and face, as well as with your legs. If circumstances force an unusual and fatiguing amount of exertion upon you, break it down and then by periods of absolute rest. No matter how brief they are, they will be useful if you make them complete and perfect, as well as bodily exertion. A minute or two minutes of quiet, with closed eyes if possible, with your tension relaxed and the gearing of the machinery thrown off for the moment, will help and refresh you greatly. Here, again, more may be gained if the ability to relax mentally can be secured, in a fashion similar to the withdrawing of muscular tension. Learn to empty your mind when not using it.

Why the Bicycle Persists

1904

Prophets are the great speculators in "futures," and in that sort of gambling the "bears," who see calamities ahead, are usually losers. Nothing has been the subject of more pessimistic forebodings during the last few years than the bicycle, yet this spring the wheel comes out again, almost as numerous and as popular as ever.

Automobiles, it is true, have greatly increased in numbers, and they have been looked upon as the supplanter and successor of the bicycle. "Americans like to travel fast," said a man, recently, "but they don't want to work for it. That is why the automobile appeals to them." There is some truth in the remark, but the fact remains that most of us must "work for it."

The bicycle is the poor man's automobile, and a good one. It does not bother him about starting or stopping, does not often get out of repair, requires no outlay for fuel; yet it makes him master of a wider circle of country than he could possibly command without it, and pays him handsome dividends in health and strength for every pound of energy he spends in propelling it.

The time of the "scorcher" and the "century run" is past, and the era of sensible wheeling has come in. Those who own and buy bicycles now are those who use their wheels for exercise; for recreation and as practical vehicles. They would cling to their hobby tenaciously even if their own experience had not been enforced by medical approval, which is now overwhelmingly with them. The bicyclists for years to come will continue to outnumber, as they have in the past, the devotees of every other pastime. — Youth's Companion.

Hold Up Your Head, For Mental, Physical Stimulation

1916

HOLD UP YOUR HEAD.

It Will Stimulate You Mentally as Well as Physically.

In a letter to Robert Grimshaw of the New York University William Muldoon gives advice that it would be well for every man and woman, boy and girl in America to take to heart. He says:

"I was taught in early manhood not to throw my shoulders back, stick my chest out, draw my stomach in or hold my chin down like a goat preparing to butt, but to always try and touch some imaginary thing with the crown of my head. If one tries to do that — first understands how to try and then tries — he doesn't have to pay any attention to the rest of his physical being. That effort to touch something above him not with his forehead, but with the crown of his head, will keep every particle of his body in the position that nature intended it should be.

"And as a boy I was advised to frequently back up against the wall and make the back of my head, my shoulders, hips, heels all press against the wall at the same time, and in that way get an idea of what was straight, or, in other words, how crooked I was becoming by drooping."

Both to young and old Mr. Muldoon's "hold your head up" suggestion is inspiriting. Try it. The effect physically and mentally is immediate. When the head goes higher the impulse is to deeper breathing. A man finds more elasticity in his limbs. He steps out with more ease. There is more spring to his gait. He isn't a lumbering, shambling creature, but a man alive. With the elevation of the crown of the head there seems to come clearer thinking, a more buoyant feeling and a brighter outlook. — Commerce and Finance.

The Romans the First to Use Shorthand

1920

Roman Shorthand

The Romans were the first to use shorthand. They used it throughout the first century, B. C., continuing its practice for at least four centuries. Marcus Tulllus Tiro, the secretary and librarian for Cicero, was the pioneer of Roman shorthand.


Better Than Medicine

Remember that medicine is, for most part, nothing but the substitute of exercise and right thinking. And it does not take a great deal of either right thinking or fresh air to enable you to throw off any ordinary symptom of illness. All that is necessary is for you to hold in your mind the thought that you are both healthy and cheerful.


Watch the Exhaust

A government bulletin is authority for the statement that the greatest single factor in the operation of the steam plant is the way in which the exhaust steam problem is handled.


Bonaparte's Short Career

In 1802, on August 2, Napoleon Bonaparte was declared consul of France for life. Thirteen years to the day, the convention between the representatives of Great Britain, Prussia, Austria and Russia declared Bonaparte, then emperor of the French, to be a prisoner of the allies and entrusted Great Britain with his custody.


Of Course Paul Wasn't Mad

Paul and Billy live in the country. There are two girls in the family also. Their aunts in town are fond of sending them things. One package contained nothing for Paul or Billy. Paul wrote to his grandmother: "What's the matter with my aunts? They sent a package out here and there wasn't a thing for Billy or me in it, and Billy's pretty mad about it."

—Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1920, page 7.