Children should not be fed more than three times a day. There should be no lunching. The children will get all that is good for them, all they need in three meals. Candy should not be given between meals, and fruit is to be looked upon as a food, not as a dainty to be consumed at all hours of the day. If they are not accustomed to lunching, there will be no craving for lunches. If children are used to four or five meals a day they want them and raise annoying objections when deprived of one or two of them. It is easy to get children into bad habits. We can not blame the average mother for giving her children lunches, for she knows no better and sees other mothers doing the same.

The children who do not get lunches thrive better than those who always have candy, fruit or bread and jam at their command. It is the same with adults. In the Dakotas and Minnesota are many Scandinavians and Germans. During the haying and harvest these people, who are naturally very strong, eat four and five times a day. The heat, the excessive amount of food and the great quantities of coffee consumed cause much sickness during and after the season of hard work and heroic eating. The so-called Americans in these communities are generally satisfied with three meals a day, and they are as well nourished and capable of working as those who eat much more.

Refined sugar made from cane and beets should be given to children sparingly. Refined sugar is the chemical which is largely responsible for the perversion of children's tastes. A normal taste is very desirable, for it protects the possessor. A perverted taste, on the contrary, leads him into trouble. Sugar is not a good food. It is an extract. It is easy to cultivate a desire for sugar, but to people who are not accustomed to it, concentrated sugar has an unpleasant taste.

The perversion of the sense of taste, generally begun with sugar, is made worse by the use of much salt, pepper and various condiments and spices. If the child is fed on unnatural food, highly seasoned, at the age of a few years its taste is so perverted that it does not know how most of the common foods really taste, and refuses to eat the best of them when the health-destroying concoctions to which it has been accustomed can be had.

It is natural for children to relish fruit, but some are so perverted in taste that they object to a meal of it if they can get pancakes or waffles with butter and syrup, mushes with sugar and cream, ham or bacon with fried potatoes, or fresh bread and meat with pickles. Many parents allow their children to live on this class of food to the exclusion of all natural foods. Children need a great deal of the natural salts, and when they live so largely on denatured foods there is always physical deterioration. It is true that to the average eye such children may appear healthy, but they are not in one-half as good physical condition as they could be.

Tea and coffee should never be given to children. They are bad enough for adults. In children they retard bodily development. The stimulation and sedation are bad for the nervous system. Coffee is as harmful as tobacco for the growing child.

To warn against alcohol may seem foolish, but some parents really give beer and whiskey to their infants. The beer is given as a beverage and the whiskey as medicine to kill pain and soothe the children. Those who have not seen children abused in this way may find it difficult to believe that there is such a profundity of ignorance. These children die easily.

Others quiet their children with the various soothing syrups. The last analyses that came under my eyes showed that these remedies contained considerable opium, laudanum, morphine and other deadly poisons. Morphine and opium are not well borne by children and these "mother's friends" have soothed many a baby into the sleep from which there is no waking. Make it a rule to give the children no medicines, either patent or those prescribed by physicians. Please remember that any remedy that quiets a child is poisonous. Children who get proper care require no medical quieting.

Condiments should not be used. Salt is not necessary despite the popular belief to the contrary, though a small amount does no harm. Salt eating is a habit and when carried to excess it is a bad one. Salt is a good preservative, but there is little excuse for our using preserved foods extensively. There are so many foods that can be had without being preserved in this country that it would not be difficult to exclude these inferior foods from the dietary. Children whose foods are not seasoned do not desire seasoning, provided they are fed on natural foods from the start. They want the seasoning because they are taught to eat their food that way. If they are given fresh fruit every day, such as apples, oranges, cherries, grapes and berries, they get all the seasoning they need and they get it in natural form.

The objection is made that such feeding deprives children of many of the good things of life. This is not true. Natural foods taste better than the doctored ones every time. Nature imparts a flavor to food products which man has never been able to equal, to say nothing of surpassing it. Children are taught to like abnormal foods. What is better, to give children good foods upon which they thrive, or denatured foods which taste well to a perverted palate, but are injurious?

Instead of giving sugar or candy, give raisins, figs, dates or sweet prunes. Small children may be given the strained juices of these fruits, obtained either by soaking the raw fruits several hours or by stewing them. Children who are given these fruits do not crave refined sugar. They like these natural sugars better than the artificial extract. These sweet fruits take the place of starchy food.

Very few people know anything definite about food values. Those who have studied foods and their values in order to be able to feed children properly generally make the mistake of believing that they should have all the necessary elements at each meal in about the proper proportion. This is a grave mistake and leads to trouble. The child needs salts, protein, sugar and fat, and in the absence of sugar some starch. Milk contains all these substances except starch. Give one fruit meal and two meals of starch daily. Milk may be given with all the meals or it may be given but once or twice. Do not overfeed on milk, for it is a rich food.

Until the child is two years old, confine it in its starch eating pretty much to the products of whole wheat. Give no white bread. White bread is an unsatisfying form of food. It is so tasteless and insipid and so deprived of the natural wheat salts that too much has to be eaten to satisfy. Children who would be satisfied with a reasonable amount of whole wheat bread eat more white bread and still do not feel satisfied. The same is true of rice, the natural brown rice being so superior to the polished article that there is no comparison.

The bread should be toasted in the oven until it is crisp clear through, or else it should be stale. Let the bread for toast get stale, and then place it in the oven when this is cooling off. Make the slices moderately thin. This is an easy and satisfactory way of making toast. Scorched bread—what is usually called toast—is not fit food for young children.

After the second year is completed gradually increase the variety of starch. Some of the better forms of starch that are easy to obtain are: Puffed rice or puffed wheat; brown, unpolished rice; triscuit or shredded wheat biscuit; the prepared corn and wheat flakes; baked potatoes; occasionally well cooked oatmeal or whole wheatmeal gruel. Mushes are to be given seldom or never. Children seldom chew them well, and they require thorough mastication. The rice is not to be sugared but after the child has had enough, milk may be given. A small amount of butter may be served with either rice or baked potato. The cereal foods should be eaten dry. Let the children masticate them, as they should, and as they will not if the starches are moistened with milk. When they have had sufficient of these starches, and but one kind is to be served at a meal, give milk, if milk is to be a part of the meal. To observe the suggestions here given for the manner of feeding starches to children may mean the difference between success and failure in raising them. It is the little things that are important in the care of children.

The acid fruits should not be given in the meals containing starchy foods. Strong children who have plenty of opportunity to be in the fresh air and who are very active can stand this combination, but it is injurious to the nervous type. It is not a good thing to make such combinations habitually for robust children. A good meal can be made of fruit followed by milk. Do not slice the fruit, sprinkle it with sugar and cover it with cream. Give the child the fruit and nothing else. Neither oranges nor grapefruits are to be sugared. Their flavor is better without. If the children want sweets, give them a meal of sweet fruits.

When the child is eighteen months old it should have learned to masticate well enough to eat various fruits. Apples, oranges, grapefruits, berries, cherries, grapes and melons are among the foods that may be given. If the child does not masticate well, either grind the fruit or scrape it very fine. The sweet fruits require so much mastication that only their juices should be fed until the child is old enough to masticate thoroughly. Bananas should also be withheld until there is no doubt about the mastication. They must be thoroughly ripe, the skin being dark in spots and the flesh firm and sweet. A green banana is very starchy, but a ripe one contains hardly any starch and digests easily.

At first the meal is fruit, followed with milk. Buttermilk or clabbered milk may be substituted for sweet milk. A little later, begin giving cottage cheese occasionally in place of milk, if the child likes it.

The succulent vegetables may be given quite early. At the age of two years stewed onions, green peas, cauliflower, egg plant and summer squash may be given. Gradually increase the variety until all the succulent vegetables are used. At first it may be necessary to mash these vegetables.

The longer children go without meat the better, and if they never acquired the meat-eating habit it would be a blessing. If the parents believe in feeding their children meat, they should wait until the little ones are at least four years old before beginning. Meats are digestible enough, but too stimulating for young people. Chicken and other fowls may be used at first, and it is best to use young birds. Beef and pork should not be on the children's menu. At the age of seven or eight the variety may be increased. However, parents who wish to do the best by their children will give them little or no meat. Many of the sorrows that parents suffer through their wayward children would be done away with if the young people were fed on less stimulating foods.

Eggs are better for children than meat. However, it is not necessary to give them. The children get enough milk to supply all the protein they need. Eggs may be given earlier than meat. At the age of two and one-half years an egg may be given occasionally. At three they may be given every other day, one egg at a meal. At five or six years of age, an egg may be given daily, but not more than one at a time. If they are soft boiled, three and one-half minutes will suffice. If hard boiled, cook them fifteen to twenty minutes. An egg boiled seven or eight minutes is not only hard but tough. Longer boiling makes the albumin mellow. Always prepare eggs simply without using grease.

Eggs may be given in combination with either fruits or vegetables. Milk is not to be taken in the egg meal, for if such combinations are made the child gets more protein than necessary. Eggs are easy to digest and the chief objection to their free use in feeding children is that the protein intake will be too great, which causes disease.

Nuts should not be given until the children are old enough to masticate them thoroughly. The best combination is the same as for eggs. Children under six years of age should not have much more than one-half of an ounce of nut meats at a meal. The pecans are the best. Children rarely chew nuts well enough, so they should seldom be used. They may be ground very fine and made into nut butter, which may be substituted for ordinary butter.

Give no butter until the child has completed his second year. The whole milk contains all the fat necessary. Butter should always be used in moderation, for although it digests easily, it is a very concentrated food.

Again the question will be asked: "How much shall I feed my child?" I do not know, but I do know that most children get at least three times as much food as is good for them. People can establish a toleration to a certain poison, and seemingly take it with impunity for a while. Some arsenic eaters and morphine addicts take enough of their respective drugs daily to kill a dozen normal men. However, the drugs, if not stopped, always ruin the user in the end. It is the same way with food. Children seem to establish a toleration for an excess for a shorter or longer period of time, but the overeating always produces discomfort and disease in the end, and if it is continued it will cause premature death.

About one-third or one-fourth of what children eat is needed to nourish them. The rest makes trouble. Read the chapters in this book on overeating and on normal food intake. They give valuable pointers. Parents know their children best, and the mother can, or should be able to tell when there are signs of impending danger. If there is a decided change in the child's disposition it generally denotes illness. Some children become very sweet when they are about to be ill, but most of them are so cranky that they make life miserable for the family. A foul, feverish breath nearly always comes before the attack. A common danger signal is a white line around the mouth. Another one is a white, pinched appearance of the nose. A flushed face is quite common. The tongue never looks normal. Except the abnormal tongue, these symptoms are not all present before every attack, but one or more of them generally are. No matter what the signs of trouble may be, stop all feeding immediately. If this is done, the disease generally fails to develop, but if feeding is continued there is sure to be illness. These symptoms indicate that the digestion is seriously disturbed. It is folly to feed when there is an acute attack of indigestion. Besides, it is very cruel, for it causes much suffering.

Such symptoms in children are caused by improper eating, and overeating is generally the chief fault. The remedy is very simple: Feed less.

A coated tongue indicates too much food. A clean tongue shows that the digestive organs are working well. If the tongue is not smooth and a pretty pink in color, it means that the child has had too much food and the meals must be reduced in quantity until the tongue does become normal, which may take a few months in chronic cases. Peculiar little protruding spots when red and prominent on the tip and edges of the tongue indicate irritation of the alimentary tract and call for reduction of food intake.

The parents can soon learn how much to feed the children if they will be guided by these hints. Poor health in the children indicates parental failure, and this is one place where they can not afford to fail. Parents must be honest with themselves and not put the blame where the doctors put it—on bacteria, draughts, the weather, etc. Sometimes the climate is very trying on the babies, but it never kills those who have intelligent care.

If it is found that the child next door, of the same age, eats three or four times as much as your child, do not become alarmed about your little one, but give the neighbor's child a little silent sympathy because its parents are ignorant enough to punish the little one so cruelly.

For those who desire more definite hints regarding feeding of children, an outline has been prepared for several days. This is very simple feeding, but it is the kind of feeding that will make a rose bloom in each cheek. The child will be happy and contented and bring joy to the hearts of the parents.

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast, butter and a glass of milk.

Lunch: A baked apple and a dish of cottage cheese.

Supper: Steamed or boiled brown rice and milk.

Breakfast: Puffed wheat and milk.

Lunch: Oranges and milk.

Supper: An egg, parsnips and onions, both stewed.

Breakfast: Oatmeal or whole wheat porridge and milk.

Lunch: Berries and milk.

Supper: Baked potato, spinach and a plate of lettuce.

Breakfast: Shredded wheat biscuit and milk.

Lunch: Stewed prunes and milk or cottage cheese.

Supper: Whole wheat toast and milk.

These are merely hints. Where one juicy fruit is suggested, another may be substituted. In place of the succulent vegetables named, others may be used. Any of the starches may be selected in place of the ones given. However, no mistake will be made in using the whole wheat products as the starch mainstay.

Desserts should not be fed to children often. Rich cakes and all kinds of pies should be omitted from the bill of fare. It is true that some children can take care of them, but what is the use of taking chances? A plain custard, lightly flavored, may be given with toast. If ice cream is above suspicion a moderate dish of this with some form of starch may be given, but milk is not to be taken in the same meal with either ice cream or custard.

At the end of the third year it is time enough to begin to feed the salad vegetables, though they may be given earlier to children who masticate well. The dressing should be very plain, nothing more than a little salt and olive oil, or some clabbered cream. No dressing is necessary. The salad vegetables may be eaten with the meal containing eggs and the stewed succulent vegetables.

At the age of about seven or eight the child may be put on the same diet as the parents, provided they live simply. Otherwise, continue in the old way a little longer. For the best results in raising children, simplicity is absolutely necessary.

Children who are early put on a stimulating diet develop mental and sexual precocity, both of which are detrimental to physical welfare. The first desideratum is to give the children healthy bodies, and then there will be no trouble in giving them what knowledge they need.

In overfed boys the sex urge is so strong that they acquire secret habits, and sometimes commit overt acts. Too much protein is especially to blame. These facts are not understood by many and the result is that the parents fail in their duty to their children.

It is best not to bring young children to the table, if there is anything on it that they should not have, for it nearly always results in improper feeding. The children are curious and they beg for a little of this and a little of that. Unthinkingly the parents give them little tastes and bites and before the meal is over they have had from six to twelve different kinds of food, some of them not fit for adult consumption. If the child understands that it is not to ask for these things and abides by this rule, it is all right, but such children are rare. A child that fretfully begs for this and that at the table upsets itself and the parents.

Make no sudden changes in the manner of feeding, unless the feeding is decidedly wrong.

Active children get all the exercise they need. They should spend a large part of the day in the open, and this is even more important for the delicate ones. The bedroom should be well ventilated, but the children must be kept cozy and warm or they do not sleep well.

After the child is old enough not to soil itself, one or two baths a week are sufficient. There is no virtue in soaking. Swimming is different, for here the child is active in the water and it does not weaken him so. Swimming should be a part of every child's education.

Bed time should be early. The children should be tucked in and the light turned off by 8 o'clock, and 7 o'clock is better for children under five. If they want to get up early in the morning, let them, but put them to bed early at night.

Infants should not be exposed long to the direct rays of the summer sun, for it is liable to cause illness. It upsets the stomach and then there is a feverish spell. If nothing is fed that will generally be all, but it is unnecessary to make babies ill in this way. They should not be chilled either.

Husband and wife do not agree at all times, but they make a mistake when they disagree in the presence of their children. Young people are quick to take advantage of such a state of affairs and they begin to play the parents against each other. When a point comes up where there is a difference of opinion, the decision of the parent who speaks first should stand, at least for the time being. Then when they are by themselves, man and wife can discuss the matter if it is not satisfactory, and even quarrel about it, if that gives them pleasure. Parents who do not control themselves can not long retain the full respect of their children. Lost respect is not very far distant from lost love.

People often object to a change in methods, for, they say, the new plan will cause too much trouble. The plan here outlined causes less trouble than the conventional method of caring for children. It is simpler and gives better results. If it were followed out the mortality of children under ten years of age in this country would be reduced from over 400,000 annually to less than 25,000. In spite of everything, a number of young people will get into fatal pranks.

There are difficulties in the way of raising children properly, but a healthy child is such a great reward that the efforts are paid for a hundred times over. Nothing wears the parents out more quickly than a child who is always fretting and crying, always on the brink of disease or in its grasp. In raising children the best way is the easiest way.

THE CHILD'S MENTAL TRAINING.

A healthy body is the child's first requirement. However, if the mental training is poor, giving wrong views of life, a good physique is of but little service.

It is quite generally agreed among observers that the first seven years of life leave the mental impressions which guide the whole life, and that after the age of fourteen the mental trend rarely changes. There are a few individuals with strength enough to make themselves over mentally after reaching adult life, but these are so few that they are almost negligible, and even they are largely influenced by their youth and infancy. It is as easy to form good mental habits as bad ones. It is within the power of all parents to give their children healthy bodies and healthy minds, and this is a duty, which should prove a pleasure. The reason such heritage is so rare is that it requires considerable self-control and most parents live chaotic lives.

Upon the mentality depends the success in life. "It is the mind that makes the body rich." No matter how great an individual's success may seem in the eyes of the public, if the person lacks the proper perspective, the proper vision and the right understanding, his success is an empty thing. Wealth and success are considered synonymous, but I have found more misery in the homes of the rich than among the poor. Physical wants can be supplied and the suffering is over, but mental wants can only be satisfied through understanding, which should be cultivated in childhood.

"All our problems go back to the child—corrupt politics, dishonesty and greed in commerce, war, anarchism, drunkenness, incompetence and criminality."—Moxom.

Given a healthy body and a good mind, every individual is able to become a useful member of society, and that is all that can be expected of the average individual. All can not be eminent, and it is not necessary.

Upon the child's mental impressions and the habits formed in infancy and youth depend the mental workings and the habits of later life. Therefore it is necessary to nurture the little people in the right kind of atmosphere. If the child is trained properly from infancy there will be no serious bad habits to overcome during later years, and, as all know, habits are the hardest of all bonds to break. To overcome the coffee and alcohol habits is hard, but to overcome bad mental habits is even more difficult.

First of all, let the infant alone most of the time. Some mothers are so full of love and nonsense that they take their babies up to cuddle and love them at short intervals, and then there are the admiring relatives who like to flatter the parents by telling them that the baby is the finest one they have seen; it is an exceptional baby. So the relatives have to bother the infant and kiss it. This should not be. The child should be kept in a quiet room and should not be disturbed. There are no exceptional babies. They are all much alike, except that some are a little healthier than others. If they are let alone, they have the best opportunity to develop into exceptional men and women.

Paying too much attention to babies makes them cross and irritable. They soon learn to like and then to demand attention. If they do not get it at once they become ill-tempered and cry until attention is given. Thus the foundation of bad temper is laid in the very cradle. They gain their ends in infancy by crying. Later on they develop the whining habit. When they grow older they fret and worry. Such dispositions are the faults of the parents.

It does not take long for children to learn how to get their way, and if they can do it by being disagreeable, you may be sure that they will develop the worst side of their nature. Let the child understand that being disagreeable buys nothing, and there will soon be an end of it. Children who are well and well cared for are happy. They cause their elders almost no trouble. To lavish an excessive amount of care on a baby may be agreeable to the mother at first, but it is different when it comes to caring for an ill-tempered, spoiled child of eight or nine years.

Many crimes are committed in the name of love. Many babies are killed by love. Unless love is tempered by understanding it is as lethal as poison. Many parents think they are showing love when they indulge their children, but instead they are putting them onto the road that leads to physical and mental decay. True love is helpful, kind and patient. The spurious kind is noisy, demonstrative and impatient.

Do what is necessary for children, but do not allow them to cause unnecessary work. What they can do for themselves they should do. They can be taught to be helpful very early. They should be taught to be neat and tidy. They should learn to dress themselves and how to keep their rooms and personal effects in good order early in life, no matter how many servants there may be. These little things are reflected in their later lives. They help to form the individual's character. It is what we do that largely make us what we are, and every little act and every thought has a little influence in shaping our lives. An orderly body helps to make an orderly mind and vice versa.

Many of the rich children are unfortunate indeed. Some times poor parents have so many children that each one gets scant attention, but the children of many of the rich get no parental attention. The parents are too busy accumulating or preserving a fortune and climbing a social ladder to bother with their children. Their raising is delegated to servants. At times the little ones are put on display for a few minutes and then the parents are as proud of them as they are of the expensive paintings that adorn the walls or the blooded dogs and horses in kennels and stables. No amount of paid service can compensate for the lack of parental love.

The ideal today, especially for female children, seems to be to make ornaments of them, to train them to be useless. Girls, as well as boys, should be taught to be useful. They should be taught that those who do not labor are parasites. If some do not work, others have to work too hard. The story is told of Mark Twain that he dined with an English nobleman who boasted that he was an earl and did not labor. "In our country," said Mark Twain, "we do not call people of your class earls; we call them hoboes."

It does not matter how wealthy parents are, they should teach their children how to earn a living, and they should instill into them the ideal of service, for a life of idleness is a failure. The shirkers and wasters are not happy. The greatest contentment in life comes from the performance of good work. Ecstatic love and riotous pleasure can not last. Work with love and pleasure is good. But love and pleasure without work are corroding.

Children who are waited upon much become selfish. They soon become grafters, expecting and taking everything and giving nothing. This is immoral, for life is a matter of compensation, and consists in giving as well as in taking. Children should be taught consideration for others, and should not be allowed to order the servants around; not that it harms the servants, but it has a bad effect on the children.

Because the child's period of development is so long, it is important to have a proper adjustment in the home between parents and the children. Lack of adjustment wears out the parents, especially the mother, and gives false impressions to the young people. To prevent friction and get good results, children should be taught obedience. Obedience is one of the stepping stones to ability to command.

In those homes where the words of the parents are law there is but little friction. Obedience should be taught from the very start. As soon as the child realizes that the parents mean what they say and that it is useless to fret and complain about a command, that is the end of the matter. How different it is with disobedient children! The parents have to tell them what to do several times and then the bidding often remains undone.

Begin to teach obedience and promptness as soon as the children understand, for it is more difficult later. The older the children the harder it is. Children know so little and are so conceited that they do not realize that because of lack of experience, observation and reflection they can not safely guide themselves at all times. When they are allowed to act so that they are a nuisance to others and harmful to themselves, they do not give up this license with good grace. There are times to be firm and then firmness should be used. It is necessary for the parents to cooperate.

Various parents have different ways of correcting their children, and it is not difficult to make them realize that obedience is a part of the plan of early life. To illustrate: If the children are called for a meal, they should come promptly. If there is a tendency to lag, tell them that if they do not come when called they will get nothing to eat until next mealtime, and act accordingly. This is no cruelty, for no one is harmed by missing a meal. It generally proves very effective.

At the table, serve the children what your experience has told you they can take with benefit, without saying anything about it. If they ask for anything else, give it if you think proper. If not, say no. If they start to beg and whine, tell them that such conduct will result in their being sent away from the table, and if they still continue, do as you have said, and let there be no weakening. This may cause a few very disagreeable experiences at first, but it is much better to have a few of them and be through, than to continue year after year to have such trouble. Some children can eat everything with apparent impunity and their parents usually pay no attention to what they eat. But there are others who become ill if they are improperly fed. Children who are often feverish and take all the diseases peculiar to the young, are maltreated. They are not properly fed. Those who are prone to convulsions must be fed with great care, or there is danger of their becoming epileptics. Firmness in such cases generally means the difference between health and disease or even death.

By all means be firm in such matters. Indulging the children to excess is invariably harmful. When your children become ill and die, you can truly say, "Behold my handiwork."

In the same way teach the children to do promptly whatever they are told to do. If they are told to go to bed, it should be done without delay or protest. All the little duties that fall to their lot should likewise be accomplished promptly. However, the parents should be reasonable and they should avoid bombarding their children with commands to do or not to do a thousand and one things that do not matter at all. Let the children alone except when it is really necessary to direct them.

Unfortunately, most of the parents are blind to their own faults, but see very clearly those of others. The mistakes they make in their own families open their eyes to those of others, and then they are often very impatient. I know one gentleman who has excellent knowledge of the proper training of the young, but as a parent he is a total failure. He is so explosive and lacking in patience and firmness, perhaps also in love, that his knowledge has not helped him. It is not what we know, but what we apply, that makes or mars.

Obedience reduces friction and trains the children into habits of efficiency. It is not only valuable in preserving the health of the parents, but in increasing the child's earning capacity when the time comes to labor in earnest.

Plato said that democracies are governed as well as they deserve to be. Likewise, parents get as much obedience, respect, affection and love as they deserve, and the three latter are largely dependent upon the former. It would be difficult to overemphasize the importance of obedience.

In nature we find that the animals teach their young how to live independently as soon as they have the strength to care for themselves. This is what parents should teach their children. This may cause the mother pain, for many mothers like to keep their children helpless, dependent and away from contact with the world as long as possible. Wise mothers do not handicap their children thus. The best parents are those who teach their children early how to make their own way.

Doubtless the greatest happiness is to be found in a congenial family, where the parents understand and love each other and their children. Those parents who are so busy that they lack the time to become acquainted with their infants and keep up this intimacy, are losing a part of life that neither money nor social position can give them. Many wait until too late to get on intimate terms with their children. When young, the children are naturally loving and then the beautiful ties which neither time nor misfortune can sunder are formed. When the children are grown it is too late to establish such a relation. Then they look at their parents with as critical eyes as they use toward other people, and though they may become very good friends, the tender love is lacking. Love between man and woman is unstable, but the beautiful love that springs from companionship of children and parents lasts until the end.

While some mothers neglect their children, many become too absorbed in them. The children become all of the mother's life. As the young people become older, their horizon naturally widens. During infancy the parents can fill the child's whole life, but soon other interests crave attention. There is always a tragedy in store for the mother who refuses to see that her children, as they grow older, will demand the human experience necessary for individual growth and development. If the mother has no other interest than her children she will one day be left with a heart as empty as the home from which the children are gone. There are so many interesting things in this world, and every mother should have her hobby. She should have at least one hour each day sacred to herself, in which she can relax and cultivate the mind. This will help to fill the coming years, which too often prove barren. Loving parents get all the reward they should expect from the beautiful intimacy that exists between them and their growing children. So-called ungrateful children have incompetent parents. Parents have no right to demand gratitude. They do no more for their children than was done for themselves in the morning of their lives. The right kind of parents never want for rewards. They are repaid every day so long as they live. Children grow under the care of their parents, but the parents also grow and expand in understanding, sympathy and love through association with their children.

Today society does not treat the mothers with the proper consideration. The mothers deserve well, for they have to give many of their best years to the children. These are the productive years, and generally unfit the women to go into economic competition with the rest of the world afterwards. Society owes it to the mothers of the race to see that they are not made to suffer for fulfilling their destiny. Motherhood today is as dangerous as the soldier's life, though it ought not to be, and it is more difficult to raise children than to conduct a successful business. However, the financial rewards for motherhood are generally nil. The least society can do is to see that these women do not want for the necessities of life.

Most children are interrogation points. This is well, for they learn through curiosity. The questions should be answered honestly, or not at all. It is common to give untrue answers. This is poor policy, for the answers are a part of the child's education and untruths make the young people ignorant and superstitious. It takes considerable patience to raise a child and he who is unwilling to exercise a little patience has no right to become a parent.

Whether to use corporeal punishment or not is a question that the parents must decide for themselves. Many parents are in the habit of nagging their children. It is, "Don't do this," and "Don't do that," until the little ones feel as exasperated as the Americans in Berlin, where everything that one has an impulse to do is "Verboten." The children have not yet acquired caution, nor are they able to think of more than one or two things at a time. Consequently they forget what they are not to do, and then parental wrath descends upon them. Parents can well afford to be deaf and blind to many things that happen. Those mothers who are ever shouting prohibitions soon cultivate a fretful, irritable tone that is bad for all concerned, and which does not breed respect and obedience. Make it a rule not to interfere with the children except when it is necessary, and tell them to do but one thing at a time.

If too many commands and prohibitions are issued, the children are prone to forget them all. If they are talked to less, what is said is more deeply impressed on their minds, and the chances are that they will remember. Boisterousness is not badness, but indicates a state of well-being, which results in bodily activity, including the use of the vocal cords. It is common to all young animals, and the human animal is the only one that is severely punished for manifesting happiness.

If the parents decide that corporeal punishment is necessary, they should be sure that it has been deserved, for a child resents being punished unjustly, and undeserved punishment is always harmful. Many parents become so angry that they inflict physical punishment to relieve their own feelings, and this is very wrong. If a parent calmly decides that his child needs punishment, perhaps this is the case. The punishment should be given calmly. Nothing can be more cowardly and disgusting than the brutal assault of an angry parent upon a defenseless child, and such parents always regret their actions if they have any conscience, but they are generally of such poor moral fibre and so full of false pride that they fail to apologize to the children for the injustice done. These parents inflict suffering upon their children, but they punish themselves most of all, for they kill filial regard and love. Children have a very keen sense of fair play.

If it is decided to administer corporeal punishment, it should have enough sting to it so that it will be remembered. Parents who temper their justice with patience and love are not compelled to resort to corporeal punishment often.

Children should never be hit on the head. Pulling or boxing the ears should not be recognized as civilized warfare. Blows on the head may partly destroy the hearings and affect the brain.

Another thing that may not come under the head of punishment in the strictest sense, is lifting children by one of the arms. Women are prone to do this. Often it partly dislocates the elbow joint. The children whine and no one knows exactly what is the matter. If one arm is occupied and the child has to be lifted from curb to street or over a puddle, stoop and pass the unoccupied arm about the child's body and no harm will be done.

No one should suggest to the child that it is bad. It is better to dwell upon goodness. If a child is often told that it is bad, it will soon begin to live up to its name and reputation, just as adults often do.

Many parents are in the habit of scaring their children. If the little ones cry or disobey, they are told that the boogy-man is coming after them, or they are threatened with being put out into the dark, or perhaps some animal or bad person is coming to get them. Fear is injurious to everybody, being ruinous to both the body and the mind, and it is especially bad for growing children. The fear instilled in them during childhood remains with some people to the end of life. It is not uncommon to find people who dare not go out alone after dark because they were scared in childhood. Children like exciting stories that would naturally inspire fear, but it is not difficult for the reader or story teller to inform the little ones that there are no big black bears or bold robbers in the neighborhood, and that now there is nothing to fear in the darkness.

Many teach the children to be ashamed of their bodies. Every part of the body has its use and whatever is useful is good. Those who do not abuse their bodies have nothing of which to be ashamed.

The education of children in the past has been along wrong lines. It has been the aim to cram them full of isolated facts, many of them untrue. We are slowly outgrowing this tendency, but too much remains. Thanks largely to Froebel and Doctor Montessori, our methods are growing more natural. The adult learns by doing and so does the child. Doctor Montessori teaches the children to use all their senses. She gives them fabrics of various textures and objects of different shapes and colors. Thus they learn colors, forms, smoothness, roughness, etc. She teaches them how to dress and undress and how to take their baths. She lets them go about the schoolroom instead of compelling them to sit still at their desks in cramped positions. In this way they get knowledge that they never forget. They learn to read and write and figure in playful ways through the proper direction of their curiosity. Little tots of four, or even younger, are often able to read, and there has been no forcing. All has come about through utilizing the child's curiosity.

If children are delicate, they should not be put into a schoolroom with thirty or forty other children. Keep such children outdoors when the weather permits and allow them to become strong. The education will take care of itself later. There is nothing to be gained by overtaxing a delicate child in the schoolroom, which too often is poorly ventilated, and having a funeral a little later.

Children should be taught the few simple fundamental rules of nutrition until they are second nature. A thorough knowledge of the fact that it is very injurious to eat when there is bodily or mental discomfort is worth ten thousand times as much to a child as the ability to extract cube root or glibly recite, "Arma virumque cano Trojae," etc. The realization that underchewing and overeating will cause mental and physical degeneration is much more valuable than the ability to demonstrate that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. This knowledge can be given so unobtrusively that the child does not realize that it is learning, for there are many opportunities.

When a child gets sick and is old enough to understand, instead of sympathizing with it explain how the illness came about, and please remember that in explaining you can leave the germs out of the question, for diseases of childhood are almost entirely due to improper feeding. The value of education like that is beyond any price, for it is a form of health insurance. Reforming the race, means that we must begin with the children.

In parts of Europe cultured people have a working knowledge of two or three languages. This is certainly convenient. Those who wish their children to know one or two tongues beside English should remember that in infancy two tongues are learned as readily as one, if they are spoken. Those who can use three languages when they are four years old are not infant prodigies. They have had the opportunity to learn, and languages are simply absorbed. The language teaching in the public schools is a joke. After taking several years of French or German the school children can not speak about the common things of life in those tongues, though they may know more about the grammar than the natives. In other words, they know the science of the language, but not the language itself.

A time comes when the child wants to know about the origin of life. If the parents have been companions, they can impart this knowledge better than anyone else. If they are unable to explain, the family doctor should be able to impart the knowledge with delicacy. I do not believe that such knowledge should be imparted to mixed classes in the public schools, as advocated by some. If the parents do their duty, there will be no need of public education in sex hygiene.

The doctor should be an educator, so he merits consideration here. Nearly all families have their medical advisers, and these professional people have it in their power to bring more sunshine into the homes than their fees will pay for. On the other hand, they can, and too often do, give both advice and remedies that are harmful They should sow seeds of truth. If the infant is properly cared for, it is never ill. Inasmuch as there are but few families with sufficient knowledge to keep their babies healthy at all times, there are many calls for the doctor. Parents are generally unduly alarmed about their infants. Nearly always the trouble is primarily in the alimentary tract, due to improper feeding, and the doctor with his wide experience can relieve the parental anxiety, and at the same time tell them where they have made their mistakes and how they have brought suffering upon their little ones.

Of course, there should be no dosing with medicine and no injections of foreign matter into the blood stream. Rest, quiet, cleanliness and warmth are what the children need to restore them to health. The right kind of physician when acting as adviser to intelligent parents who wish to do the best by their children will see to it that there is little or no disease.

If the parents do not know what to do, the most economical procedure is to consult a physician who has understanding of and confidence in nature. Pay no attention to the women of many words who give advice "because they have had many children and have buried them all."

It is not as difficult to raise healthy children as sickly ones. It is so simple that it takes many pages to explain it.



CHAPTER XXVIII.

DURATION OF LIFE.

Old age today brings to mind a picture of decrepitude and decay. This is because there is practically no natural old age. Those who live so that they are unhealthy during the early years of life will not be well if they reach advanced years. Old people can be well in body and sound in mind. In order to attain this desirable end, it is necessary to live properly during the first part of life. It is true that people may dissipate and reform and then live long in comfort, but usually those who spend too lavishly destroy their capital and go into physical or mental bankruptcy.

There are many who during their prime say that they do not wish to grow old. Their desire for a short life can easily be satisfied. All that is necessary is to live in the conventional manner and the chance of dying before reaching the age of fifty or sixty is good. A few live to be seventy or more in spite of dissipation, but these are the exceptions. They were endowed with excellent constitutions to begin with, constitutions that were made to last over one hundred years. Where we find one who has lived long in spite of intemperance, thousands have died from it.

Most people desire to remain on earth long and they can have their wish. They can advance in years healthy in body and with growing serenity of mind. Physical and mental well-being are necessary to attain one's life's expectancy. Old age should not be considered as apart from the rest of life. It is but one of the natural phases. Those who do not live to be old have failed to live completely.

Those who express their desire to die young generally change their mind when they face death. Man clings to life.

Old age is a desirable condition. The physical tempests have been subdued, if the life has been well spent. On the other hand, the faults and foibles of the self-indulgent are accentuated and in such cases old age is a misfortune.

No one knows what man's natural length of life is. Anatomists and physiologists compare the human body with the bodies of various animals. In this they are justified, for we all develop according to the same laws. Most of the animals, when allowed to live as nature intended them to live, reach an age of from five to six times the length of the period of their growth. Human beings, with their ability to control their environment, should be able to do even better than that. Man reaches physical maturity between twenty and twenty-five years of age. This would make his natural age one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty years. There are cases on record that have lived longer and it may be that if man would cease going in the way of self-destruction and spend more thought and time on the welfare of the race, life would be prolonged beyond even one hundred and fifty years. R. T. Trall, M. D., thought that man should live to be two hundred years old.

"What man has done man can do." If long life is worth while, doubtless a time will come when long life will be enjoyed. The worry, fretting and foolish haste of today will doubtless be partly done away with some time. Then men and women will have time to live, instead of merely existing, as most people do today. Men have lived long and found life good. Long life for its own sake is perhaps not to be desired, but the benefit that can be bestowed upon the race by those advanced in years is desirable. Occasionally a brilliant individual appears on the scene, doing superior work in life's morning, but most of the work that has been found worthy of the consideration of the ages has been done by men of mature years.

Galen, the famous physician, is said to have lived to a great age. It is hard to tell exactly how old he was, but he was probably well past the century mark at his death. His long life gave him time to do work that is appreciated after the lapse of eighteen centuries. For many hundred years after his death he dominated the practice of medicine and he is today spoken of as often as any living medical man.

Thomas Parr, an Englishman, died at the age of one hundred and fifty-two. He was hale and hearty to the very end. Unfortunately, his reputation traveled far. He was brought to the English court, where he was wined and dined, and as a consequence he died. Before this he had always led the simple life. An autopsy was performed and the physicians found his organs in excellent condition. The only reason they could give for his death was his departure from the simple life which he had led in his home.

Henry Jenkins, also an Englishman, lived to the age of one hundred and sixty-nine years. He lived very frugally and was always on friendly terms with nature. His favorite drink was water, though he partook in moderation of "hop bitters." He was moderate in all things, and it is said that he was never really ill until near the end of life. He was not shriveled and shrunken, but a wholesome looking man. King Charles II. sent a carriage to bring Mr. Jenkins to London, when he was one hundred and sixty years old. The old gentleman declined to ride and walked the two hundred miles to the metropolis. The king questioned him regarding his life and desired to know the reason for his longevity. Mr. Jenkins replied that he had always been sober and temperate and that this was the reason for his many years. The Merry Monarch was neither sober nor temperate, and you may be sure that this reply did not please him. Mr. Jenkins was wiser than Mr. Parr had been, refusing to dissipate, even though he was old. Consequently he returned to his home to enjoy life nine years longer.

These two cases are authentic.

All are familiar with the records given in the Bible. Whether they are figurative or not it is hard to tell. However, so many cases of longevity are recorded that they in all probability have a basis in fact. The Hebrews of old must have been a long-lived people. One hundred and twenty years was not an extreme age. In Genesis is the record of many over five hundred years old, and a few over nine hundred years of age. At the time of the apostles the life span of the Hebrews had grown shorter and hence the dictum of three score years and ten. Between the time of Moses and that of the apostles the Hebrews had advanced—or shall we say degenerated?—from a semi-barbarous people to one that had the graces and also the vices of a higher civilization. The Hebrews of old were husbandmen, who lived simply and got their vigor from the soil.

The cause of so much unnecessary suffering and of the premature deaths has been discussed elsewhere in this book. In short, it is wrong living and wrong thinking. Impure air and bad food kill no more surely than does worry.

The bodies of children are composed largely of water. The structures are flexible and elastic. The bones are made up mostly of cartilaginous structure. As the children grow older more solids are deposited in the body and the proportion of solid matter to water grows greater. Lime is deposited in the bones. When they are limy throughout they are said to be ossified. After this process is complete no more growth can take place. Bone formation continues until about the age of twenty-five. At this age the body is efficient. The fluids circulate without obstruction. Could this condition be maintained, there would be no decay.

During the early years of life the food intake in proportion to the weight of the body is great. The child is active and uses much fuel to produce power and to repair the waste. Considerable food is required for body building. At this time a broken bone mends quickly and cuts heal in a short time. With advancing years come slowness and sluggishness of the various vital activities. The slowing up can be retarded almost indefinitely by proper care of the body.

If the circulation could be maintained and the purity of the blood stream guarded, old age would be warded off. A healthy body is able to cleanse itself under favorable conditions and so long as the body is clean through and through there is no opportunity for disease to take place and there can be no aging. By aging I mean not so much the number of years one has lived as the amount of hardening and degeneration of the body that take place.

Some are as old at forty as others are at seventy.

When people have reached physical maturity they should begin to reduce their food intake. There is no need for building material then. All that is necessary is enough to repair the waste and to keep up the temperature. The individual at twenty-seven should eat a little less than when he was twenty and by the age of thirty-five he should have reduced his food still more and made his meals very simple. Children enjoy the gratification of the sense of taste, but at the age of thirty-five a man has lived enough and experienced enough so that he should know that the overgratification of appetites is an evanescent and unprofitable pleasure, always costing more than it is worth. It is best to grow into good habits while young, for it is difficult to do so after one has grown old. The man who reforms after fifty is the exception.

Children are fond of cereal foods and sugars. They can eat these foods two or three times a day and thrive. A man of thirty-five should make it a general rule to limit his starch eating to once a day. Various physiologists say that as much as sixteen ounces of dry starch (equivalent to about thirty ounces of ordinary bread) are necessary each day. This is entirely too much. Very few people can profitably eat more than four ounces of dry starch a day, and for many this is too much. Through eating as much as is popularly and professionally advocated, early decay and death result.

The arteries are normally pliable and elastic. When too much food is taken, the system is unable to cleanse itself. Debris is left at various points. One of the favorite lodging places is in the coats of the arteries. After considerable deposits have been formed the arteries lose their elasticity. They become hard and unyielding. A normal radial artery can easily be compressed with one finger. Sometimes the radial artery becomes so hard that it is difficult to compress it with three fingers. As the arteries grow harder they become more brittle and sometimes they break, often a fatal accident.

This hardness of the arteries impedes the circulation, for the tone and natural elasticity of the vessel walls is one of the aids to a normal circulation.

So long as the arteries are normal all parts of the body are bathed in a constantly changing stream of blood. The muscles, the nerves, the bones, in fact all parts of the body, remove from the blood stream those elements that are necessary for repairing or building the various tissues. They also throw into the blood stream the refuse and waste due to the constant repair and combustion going on all over the body. The blood then leaves this refuse with the skin, lungs, kidneys and bowels, which throw it out of the body.

So long as there are enough fuel and food, but not too much, and so long as all the debris is carried away, there is health. But let this process be thrown out of balance and there will be disease. The food intake is seldom too small, though the digestion is frequently so poor that not enough good food gets into the blood. Old age is largely due to overeating and eating the wrong kinds of food. This is how overeating causes premature aging, when it does not kill more quickly: When too much food is taken, too much is absorbed into the blood, provided the nutritive processes are active. Then all the food in the blood can not be used for repair and fuel. The balance must either be excreted or stored away in the body as deposits. If this storing takes place in the joints, the result may be rheumatism or gout and at times even a complete locking of the joints (anchylosis). If it is stored in the walls of the blood-vessels they become hard and unyielding. No matter where deposits take place, some of them will be found in the walls of the blood-vessels. When these vessels grow hard they decrease in caliber. The result is that the heart is compelled to work very hard, but even then enough blood is not forced through the vessels. The circulation becomes sluggish. The blood in the various parts becomes stagnant.

Then insufficient good oxygen and first-class nourishment are brought to the parts and not enough waste is carried away. Now the billions of cells of which the body is composed are constantly bathed in poisonous blood. The result is lowering of physical tone, or degeneration, of the whole body. The hands and the feet suffer most at first from the poor blood supply and become cold easily. Those who suffer constantly from cold hands and feet should know that they are aging, although they may be but twenty years old.

Such a condition as this often gives rise to varicose veins in the legs. The feet are so far away from the heart, and it is such a long upgrade return of the blood, that the circulation in the lower extremities easily becomes sluggish. The flabby, relaxed tissues and the hardened blood-vessels allow the blood to stagnate. This is why senile gangrene is so common in the feet and so often fatal.

The brain gets a copious blood supply, yet the hardening of the arteries often deprives this organ of its necessary nourishment. Then the higher faculties begin to abdicate. If the hardening is extensive senile softening of the brain may take place. This is always due to a lack of pure blood. Sometimes the arteries are brittle enough to break. Baldness is another symptom of physical decay. The hair follicles are not properly nourished, for the arteries have become so contracted and the tissues of the scalp so hardened that there is not enough blood to feed the hair roots. Baldness begins on top of the head, generally the only part affected, because it is farthest away from the blood supply. Baldness is also partly due to man's headwear. Women are rarely bald. There is a saying that there are no bald men in the poorhouse. Even if this were true, it would not be very consoling, for the bald heads on the street cleaning forces are numerous.

Overeating also causes premature aging because if results in fermentation in the alimentary tract. The acids produced cause degeneration of various tissues, having an especially bad effect on the nervous system, which reflects the evil to other parts of the body.

It is well to bear in mind how this comes about: First there is overeating; too much food improperly prepared is taken into the blood stream; this makes the blood impure; deposits, causing hardening of the tissues and reduction of the lumen of the vessels, are formed; the blood grows more impure and the circulation sluggish; the tissues are constantly bathed in impure blood, causing further degeneration. When a certain point is reached nature can tolerate no more and life flits away.

Those who wish to remain young must give some thought to the selection of their food, especially if they are hearty eaters. If only sufficient food is taken to keep the body well nourished it does not make much difference what is eaten, provided it contains sufficient of fresh foods, for when only enough food is taken to supply fuel and repairing material, the food will all be used and none is left to ferment in the digestive tract and form deposits in the body. The body will then keep itself clean, or at least the formation of deposits takes place so slowly that it is hardly perceptible. This can be compared with the process taking place in the flues of a boiler. Stoke properly and they remain clean. Choke the firebox with an excess of coal and the combustion is so incomplete that the flues are soon filled up and the grates are often burned out. Just so with the body: Feed too heavily and the digestive organs are burned by the abnormal amount of acid produced and the blood-vessels are filled with debris.

As most people lack the self-control to eat a normal amount of food, they should select foods that are compatible and that are not too concentrated. Too much meat causes degeneration of all parts of the body and hardening. Too much starch causes acidity and hardening. The fruits and the light vegetables have a tendency to overcome these degenerating processes.

Starch is surely the chief offender in aging people. It is such a concentrated food that overeating is easy, especially when it is taken in the soft forms, such as mushes, fresh bread, griddle cakes and mashed potatoes. If people would masticate their starchy foods thoroughly it would greatly reduce the danger of overeating. It is common to eat bread three times a day and in addition to take potatoes once or twice a day. Those who consume so much starch carry into the system more food than can be used and more of the mineral salts than can be excreted. The result is the formation of deposits, chiefly of lime carbonate and lime phosphate; fatty deposits are also common.

In order to live long and comfortably it would be well to reduce the starch intake to once a day. The meats also are objectionable when taken in excess. To them can be attributed the chief blame for the formation of gelatinous deposits in the body. However, they do not carry so much earthy matter into the blood stream as do the starches. It is best to partake of meat but once a day, or even more seldom. Meat should certainly not be taken more than twice a day even by those who are advanced in years. People who care enough for starch to take it three times a day, or are compelled to live chiefly upon it, grow old and homely more quickly than do those who are able to partake more plentifully of the more expensive proteins. The flesh obtained from young animals and birds is not so heavily charged with earthy matters as is that which is obtained from old animals and birds.

Fruits and nuts do not carry so much earthy matter as do the starches and meats. The sweet fruits could with profit partly take the place of the starchy foods. The sugar they contain, which has the same nutritive value as starches, needs very little preparation before entering the blood stream. Thus a large part of the energy required for starch digestion is saved. On the other hand, the use of too much refined sugar is even worse than an excessive intake of starch. Nuts are not difficult to digest if they are well masticated..

The objection to acid fruits during the latter years of life is that they thin the blood and cause chilliness. This is true if they are partaken of too liberally. It is not necessary to refrain from eating acid fruits, but they should be taken in moderation and the mild ones should be selected. Pears, mild apples and grapes are better than oranges, grapefruits and apricots. Those who have learned moderation can eat all the fruit desired, for they will not be harmed by what a normal appetite craves.

Vegetables carry considerable earthy matter, but on account of their helpfulness in keeping the blood sweet they should be eaten several times a week.

Those who think that overeating of starch is too harshly condemned are referred to the horse. When he is allowed to roam about and partake of his natural food, grass, he stays well and lives to be forty or more years old. When compelled to eat great quantities of corn and oats, which are very rich in starch, the horse becomes listless and slow at an early age. He is old at fifteen and before twenty he is generally dead. When horses suffer from stiffness in the joints a few weeks spent in pasture, where they have nothing but green grass and water, remove the stiffness and make them younger. This shows what partaking of nature's green salad does for them. Any good stock man will tell you that feeding too much grain "burns a cow out." It does exactly the same for a human being, burns him out and fills him with clinkers. Many people think that it is a hardship to be moderate in eating and drinking, but it is not. It brings such a feeling of well-being and comfort that it is unbelievable to those who have not experienced it.

Many envy the rich, thinking that they can and do live riotously. Rich men must live as simply as though they were poor or else they soon lose the mental efficiency that brought them their fortunes, for when health is gone mental power is reduced.

According to information in the Saturday Evening Post, the eating habits of many of our most influential business men are very simple and the amount of food partaken of small. John D. Rockefeller could hardly live more simply and plainly than he does. William Rockefeller, George F. Baker, James Stillman, Otto H. Kahn, Thomas Fortune Ryan, George W. Perkins, J. Ogden Armour, John H. Patterson, Jacob H. Schiff and Andrew Carnegie, all business giants with money enough to subsist on the most expensive delicacies, are said to live more plainly than does the average American who is complaining of the high cost of living. It is the price they have had to pay for success and it is the price that you and I will have to pay to live successfully, though our success may not take the form of financial power.

The one conspicuous exception among the financially great to the rule of simplicity was J. P. Morgan. His eating habits were somewhat gross, but on account of his rugged constitution he lived to be more than seventy-five years old. If he had given himself just a little more care he would be alive today. They say that his strong black cigars did him no apparent harm, but those who read of his last illness understandingly cannot agree to that statement. Mr. Morgan started with enough vitality to live and work far beyond the century mark. John D. Rockefeller was not physically strong when young. He has been compelled to take good care of himself and to be moderate. Now he is past seventy and enjoying good health.

John W. Gates died a martyr to excess, partly excess of food. He lacked balance. His son followed in his footsteps and died young.

Frank A. Vanderlip, who is looming large on the financial horizon takes but two meals a day, from which he gets enough sustenance to do good work and he says that this plan makes for efficiency. Perhaps now that such men as Mr. Vanderlip live well on two meals a day, it is time to cease calling those who live thus faddists. Eating three meals a day is a habit and many can and do get along very well on two meals, and a few take only one meal daily.

E. H. Harriman also lived simply. He illustrates the evil of a poorly controlled mind. He died when but little past sixty, probably because his frail body was too weak to harbor his great ambition. He took his business wherever he went. When ill and business was forbidden by his physician, Mr. Harriman had a telephone concealed in his bedroom and as soon as the doctor was gone, he was on the wire.

Another cause of premature aging is the drinking of very hard water. The earthy matter is absorbed into the blood stream with the water, and a part of it is deposited in the various tissues. People beyond middle age should drink water containing only a small portion of salts. Those who partake of fresh fruits or fresh vegetables daily get all the salts that the system needs. Even the young should not drink water that is exceedingly hard. We can well illustrate the harm that comes from the excessively hard water by referring to the disease known as cretinism. This disease is quite prevalent in some parts of Europe. They say that the disease is hereditary, which is questionable. What is inherited is the environment and the habits of the parents. The chief cause is without doubt the superabundance of earthy matter in the drinking water. The cretins are ill-favored in face and figure. They do not reach normal mental or physical maturity. They are old long before the normal person has reached his prime. They die young, rarely living to be over thirty years old. The bones are completely ossified early, which is the cause of their small stature and their stupidity. The bones of the skull harden so early that the brain has no room to expand.

There is no need of suffering, even in a mild degree, from the disease of cretinism. If the water is very hard it is easy to distill what is needed for drinking purposes. Such water should at least be boiled. It is much better to have a teakettle lined with earthy matters than to have such a lining in our arteries.

The excessive use of table salt is another cause of early aging. It is a good preservative and pickles meat very well. People have long used salt as a preservative and perhaps they got the salt-eating habit in this way, first using it on the foods to be preserved, and then on nearly all foods. Salts to excess, especially table salt, help to mummify or pickle those who partake of them too liberally. The addition of sodium chloride to foods is unnecessary. We get all we need of this salt in our fruits, vegetables and cereals. Salt should be used in moderation.

Alcohol, tobacco and coffee are harmful. However, it will be found that most of the old people have used one or more of these drugs for many years and this is often largely responsible for their reaching old age. Overeating causes more deaths than any other single factor. The use of tobacco, coffee or alcohol has a tendency to reduce the desire for food and thus these drugs at times prove to be conservers of individual lives, though they are undoubted racial evils. They never can or will take the place of self-control. The senses were given us to use for our protection, but most people abuse them for temporary gratification, and thus they go in the way of self-destruction.

Other things being equal, a healthy child will live longer than a weakly one. But other things are not equal, so it often happens that a weakling has as much chance to survive as a healthy person. Strong people frequently squander their inheritance by the time they are forty or fifty years old. Healthy people are very imprudent. They are well so they think they will always remain well. What a surprise it is when after thirty they discover that they cannot do with impunity what they could do before with apparently no bad results! When warned about their eating habits they boast that they can "eat tacks". Smoking and drinking are harmless, they say! But the day of reckoning always comes and the account is often so great that under the conventional treatment of today they die.

The weakling has been compelled to be careful. Habits of moderation grew upon him in youth, and his health has improved as he has advanced in years. He may never be strong, but great physical strength is not essential to health. Thus the strong often perish and the weak survive. If both classes lived with equal care the strong would outlive and outwork the weak every time.

It is necessary to give the skin some care if continued good health is desired during the latter part of life. The skin has a tendency to grow hard, which should not be allowed. It will always remain soft if it is properly cared for. When our ancestors roved forests and plains with scarcely any attire, the skin exposed to the rain and the sunshine, there was no need to give it special care. It served its purpose of protecting their bodies and was exercised through its immediate contact with the elements in all kinds of weather. Now the skin has little opportunity to exercise its protective function and the result is that it is not as active as it should be. The skin must be active to rid itself of the waste that the blood-vessels leave with it. The best exercise for this important organ is rubbing. The whole body should be rubbed every day and it would be well to do this twice a day. An occasional olive oil rub is also good. The rubbings make the body hardier. They also help to keep the circulation active and the skin smooth and soft. The blood is brought near the surface. The tendency as we grow older is for the circulation to grow less and less near the surface and in the extremities. This is slow death.

The daily rub is more important than the daily bath. If we have enough rubbing very little bathing is necessary, for an active skin cleans itself.

There are many men who have lived in the conventional way until the age of forty, fifty or sixty. They have been healthy, which means that they have been able to work most of the time, but have had their share of ills, which have incapacitated them for work or business at various times. They find after reaching a certain age that they are surely going down hill physically and that they are not as active mentally as previously. The question is, can anything be done under the circumstances? Very few of these people are in such a bad physical state that death is inevitable within the next few years. If they seek the right advice and follow it, they can generally continue to live in improved health for thirty to sixty years more.

A celebrated case in point is that of Louis Cornaro, an Italian, who died in the year 1566 at the age of one hundred and two years. In his youth he was very indiscreet and dissipated. He lived riotously until he was forty years old, and then he found himself in such poor physical condition that it was only a question of a few months until the end would come. He had everything to make life worth living, except health, so he decided to attempt to regain health and prolong his life. He quit his old life, began to live simply and instead of being a waster he became a useful citizen. We are unable to get much definite information about his habits from what he wrote but we learn that he reduced the quantity of food taken and used fewer varieties. Also, he drank sparingly of wine. He did not have any definite ideas regarding diet except that it is best to eat moderately and avoid the foods that disagree with one. In his own words: "Little by little I began to draw myself away from my disorderly life, and, little by little, to embrace the orderly one. In this manner I gave myself up to the temperate life, which has not since been wearisome to me; although, on account of the weakness of my constitution, I was compelled to be extremely careful with regard to the quality and quantity of my food and drink. However, those persons who are blessed with strong constitutions may make use of many other kinds and qualities of food and drink, and partake of them, in greater quantities, than I do; so that, even though the life they follow be the temperate one, it need not be as strict as mine, but much freer."

These sentences were written fifty or sixty years after he changed his mode of life, and show how well Mr. Cornaro realized the important fact that all people need not be treated alike. They also show that after making the change, Mr. Cornaro did not find it difficult to live simply enough to enjoy health. In nearly every instance it is temporarily disagreeable to forsake the path that is leading to death and take the one that leads to life, but after one gets used to the new way, it appears more beautiful and is more pleasant than the old.

If Cornaro had died at forty, as nearly every person situated as he was would have done, his life would have been a total loss. A few of those who were his boon companions and dissipated with him would have thought of him for a few years and regretted his early passing, for "he was a jolly good fellow." He lived a useful life, for over sixty years thereafter, and has left us in his debt for his beautiful exhortations to be temperate.

Many of the physical wrecks we meet, who will probably live from a few months to a few years more, if they continue in the old way, are in the same boat as Mr. Cornaro was at forty. They have had enough experience to begin to do good work, to be of some benefit to humanity. Instead of living and giving the world their best, they die. The world has had to educate these people, and it is expensive. Instead of living on and doing their work, they leave us when they ought to begin to repay us for what we have done for them. They are quitters.

Suppose Andrew Carnegie had died at the time he sold out his steel business. To most people he would have left an unsavory memory, for though we should have considered him successful from the business standpoint, many of us would say that the means were not justified by the end. However, Mr. Carnegie has spent many years since in furthering the cause of the spread of knowledge and in working for universal peace. Perhaps when Carnegie, the man of business, is well nigh forgotten, Carnegie, the educator, will be held in tender and thankful memory. He is now influencing the times for good and this influence will go down the ages.

A man has no right to say that he is weary of life and that he wants to die. The race has a claim on him. We learn through our mistakes. The race in general has to pay and suffer for every individual's education. When a man has acquired a measure of wisdom through experience, we have a right to claim it as our own.

Many men are wise in their own lines, but they have been so busy attending to the affairs that brought them success that they have omitted to learn how to have health. These people owe it to themselves and to humanity to take enough time to learn how to live so that they can work in health. The better the health the finer their product. Health and efficiency go hand in hand.

What is a man to do when he has reached middle age and finds himself degenerating? A man ought to know how to live at forty, but if he does not he should immediately learn. It may be true that "a man is a fool or a physician at forty," yet there is time and if a man lacks wisdom at forty he should immediately acquire some. Such an individual should get the best health adviser possible, avoiding any man who would have him take drugs. What he needs is not medicine, but to learn how to live. I am confident that the careful reader will find enough knowledge in this book to give him the key to the situation.

If the sufferer uses narcotics and stimulants, they must be stopped immediately. Even the least harmful of these, such as beer and light wine, should be avoided until good health has been won. These beverages need never be used. If they are taken rarely and in moderation they do no harm.

In every case that has come under my observation it has been necessary to simplify the food intake, that is, to reduce the quantity and the number of articles of food taken at each meal, also to simplify the cooking. The result is that the individual gets less food, but it is of better quality, for the conventional cooking spoils much of the food.

Most of these men neglect to exercise. It is necessary to be active and in the open, also to take good care of that important organ, the skin. Constipation is common, and it is a very annoying symptom, which disappears in time under proper living. The absorption of poisons from a constipated lower bowel is one of the factors that causes premature aging. When the constipation is overcome there are a feeling of physical well-being and a mental clearness which are impossible in the presence of constipation.

The treatment of such a condition is very much the same as the treatment of catarrh or any other curable disease, that is, find the errors of living and correct them.

It is really surprising how little food people need after they are fifty or sixty years old. If such people eat enough to be well nourished, but not enough to produce any bad feelings there will be no disease. People who die from disease are physical failures, for the natural end does not come in a physical upheaval. Those who live as they should will pass away without any pain. The organism simply grows weary and goes into the last sleep.

There are people who say that there needs be no physical death. Harry Gaze wrote an entertaining book on the subject some years ago and gave lectures in this country. It will not convince the average student of nature that people can live forever, for in nature there is constant change. The order of life is birth, development, reproduction, decline and death. It is not likely that man is an exception.

It is believed that in olden times men were larger and lived longer than they do today. There is not much foundation for such a belief to rest upon, except in a few cases. The last census shows that there are several thousand centennarians in the United States. In the Technical World for March, 1914, appeared an article by Byron C. Utecht, entitled, "When is Man Old?" This magazine is careful in gathering its facts. I shall quote a few paragraphs:

"Abraham Wilcox, of Fort Worth, Texas, is one hundred and twelve years old, but he takes keen enjoyment in life. He walks two miles or more every day as a constitutional and, occasionally, he even takes a small glass of beer. He looks forward with all the enthusiasm of a boy to a visit to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Mr. Wilcox reads the newspapers every day and is interested in everything about him, from the food being prepared for his dinner to the latest feats by aeroplanes. This aged man looks forty or fifty years younger than he really is. His skin is white but not deeply lined. His vision is excellent and he walks nearly erect. Thirty years ago he gave up smoking, as his doctors warned him he was near death from old age and that the use of tobacco would only hasten the end."

"In the Ozark Mountains of Marion County, Arkansas, just across the Missouri line, lives Mrs. Elmyra Wagoner. She, too, is one hundred and twelve years old. There are a thousand wrinkles in her face and she looks her age, but in her actions she is sixty. Up until a very few years ago, when still past the hundred-year mark, Mrs. Wagoner kept a large garden and was able to work in the fields. While she has given up outdoor work, she is still active. On inclement days she sits by the fireplace in her mountain home and spins. On pleasant days she may be found walking about the yard. Recently her great-great-granddaughter was married at Protein, Missouri, six miles from the Wagoner home. This woman of one hundred and twelve years walked to the wedding, enjoyed it, and then walked back home, a distance that would tire many persons half that age. There are scores of persons at Protein who vouch for this and they tell of similar feats by Mrs. Wagoner showing remarkable physical power.

"Asked to give the causes of her longevity, the aged woman smiled and said that she hated to admit she was getting old. 'Clean, honest living, plenty of work, plenty of good food, and a desire to help others when sick or in trouble, I think gave me my long lease of life. I was always so busy caring for others and thinking of them that I never had time to worry whether I was getting old or not.'"

"Asa Goodwin, of Serrett, Alabama, is one hundred and six years old. His endurance powers are even more remarkable than those of Mrs. Wagoner or Abraham Wilcox. He walks five miles every day. He works several hours daily in his garden, eats anything he likes, and reads without glasses. His family is probably the largest in the United States. A reunion recently held in his honor was attended by eight hundred and fifty persons, three hundred and fifty being blood relatives. Goodwin has been a hunter all his life and he frequently takes down his rifle and proves that his aim is still good. He ascribes his length of life and vitality to his great interest in outdoor sport and hunting, when a young man, developing a rugged constitution that lasted him many years after he was forced to quit strenuous work because of 'old age.' He asserts that he was so busy living that he reached one hundred and six years before he realized it and wants to live fifty years more if possible. 'I feel as if I could do it, too,' he declares. 'I now can take my ease and comfort and the world looks good to me. I have always lived a temperate life, never drank, never kept late hours, and still have had as much or more fun than the average man, I think. It is only now when I have nothing to do that I get to worrying and when I find myself in that condition I take a walk or weed the garden and then feel better.'"

These people are not in what some call the higher walks of life, but they have succeeded in living, where almost all fail. They have been useful members of society, satisfied to take life as it comes, and thus they have gathered much of the sweet. They have enjoyed life, and those who enjoy give enjoyment to others. It takes an audience to make even the best of plays.

Mrs. Wagoner is not rich, but she has a philosophy that is riches enough. She knows that she receives through giving. She has lived this knowledge, which has brought blessings upon her.

These people have all led simple lives and they have worked. There is no secret about growing old gracefully. It means self-control, simple living, work for body and mind, cleanliness of body and mind, and the most important part of physical cleanliness is a clean colon. It is necessary to have a tranquil mind most of the time, for anger and worry are injurious to health.

The average span of life is lengthening. In the sixteenth century the average European did not live to be twenty years old. Now he lives to be about forty. The same increase has taken place in America. In India and China the average of life is still below twenty-four years. As civilization advances the tendency is for the average of life to lengthen, provided life does not grow so complex that knowledge is antidoted by too great artificiality.

However, it is well to note that it is not the last part of life that is being lengthened. We are allowing less and less infants to die as the years roll on. The proportion of the adult population that reaches advanced age is no greater than in the past. Our mode of life is so wrong that tuberculosis, typhoid fever, cancer, kidney diseases, pneumonia and circulatory degeneration carry off immense numbers of those whom we call middle aged, but who are really young people. These are diseases of degeneration. It is to our interest to reduce these diseases. Proper living will do it.

The life expectancy of people over fifty is even less than it was thirty years ago. Middle aged people die from diseases caused by bad habits, extended over a period of years. Therefore, these people should learn to live well if they would live longer.

The diet of the old can be about the same as that of an adult in the prime of life, except that less should be eaten. Those who live correctly have no digestive disturbances. It will be noted by those who are normal that there is not a desire for as much food as earlier in life, and this should be a guide. Old people get all the nourishment they need in two moderate meals a day. If the three-meal-a-day plan is preferred, it is all right, but then less should be taken at each meal.

White flour products are easier to digest than the whole wheat products, but normal people can digest the latter very well and it is a better food than white flour. I know one gentleman in his eighth decade of life who has grown stronger and younger by abandoning the conventional eating habits and living mostly on moderate meals of milk and whole wheat biscuits. As Cornaro said, some need more than others, but all should be moderate.

One meal a day of milk and biscuits is all right. These biscuits should be well baked and well masticated. The milk should be taken slowly.

Another meal can be meat or eggs or fish with some of the cooked and raw succulent vegetables.

If a third meal is taken, it may consist of clabbered milk or buttermilk; or of one of the sweet fruits, and the sweet fruits may be used any time in place of bread or biscuits. Cottage cheese is a good food at any time, and may be taken with fruits, either acid or sweet.

As often as desired, in summer, take fruit. Because the very acid, juicy fruits have a tendency to cause chilliness and to thin the blood, it is well to take them in moderation during advanced years, but that does not mean that those who like them should avoid them. In winter time the sweet fruit is best. Mild apples and bananas may be used as often as there is a desire for them. Oranges should be taken more rarely, as well as grapefruit, pineapples and other fruits that are heavily charged with acid.

As a general rule, the starchy foods should be eaten but once a day, but those who are very moderate may take them twice a day without bad results. Vegetarians have eggs and milk to take the place of flesh foods. They also have lentils, peas, beans and the protein in the whole wheat and other cereals. Lentils, peas and beans must be taken in moderation, for they are rich in nutriment and if too much is eaten they soon cause disease. Nuts, if well masticated, are also all right.

The general basis of feeding should be starch once a day and protein once a day in moderation. All kinds of starch and all kinds of protein may be used. Fruits more moderately than during the earlier years of life is best. All the succulent vegetables that are desired may be partaken of. By cooking the foods simply, as recommended in this book, they are rendered easier to digest than under the conventional manner of cooking. Simple cooking will help to preserve health and prolong life.

Work is one of the greatest blessings of life. Those who would live long and be useful must exercise both body and mind. Like all other blessings, if it is carried to excess it is injurious. It is unfortunate that some people must work too hard because there is a class of people who do nothing useful, being content to be wasters.

Work has been looked upon as a curse. This is a mistake. Those who live in the hope and expectation that they may some day cease working in order to enjoy life, will find when they reach the goal that life without work is not worth while. Those who can afford it can with benefit lessen the amount of productive work they do and evolve more into cultural lines, but it is dangerous to cease working. The human being is so constituted that without activity of body and mind there is degeneration. What is sadder than to see a capable individual who has won a competence and then has retired to enjoy it! He does not enjoy it. Either he has to get into some line of work, physical or mental, or he soon dies. We must have a lively interest in something or there is stagnation.

There are many beautiful things in life, and we should cultivate them while we are young enough to be able to learn to enjoy them. The loftiest spirits of the ages have left their inspirations and their aspirations with us in poetry, prose, music, painting, statuary and in other forms. We should try to cultivate understanding of these subjects, not necessarily all of them, but of one or more, for with understanding come the elevation and broadening of mind that are always present when there is sympathy, and sympathy is closely related to understanding. Culture along one or more lines broadens the mind and makes a person more worth while not only to himself, but to others. We can not estimate the value of the beauty in life in dollars and cents, but he is poor indeed who is rich in worldly goods alone.

It is necessary to be interested in the activities about us. Those who think of nothing or no one except themselves are almost dead to the world, even though they go through the same physical activities as other people. The tendency is to get into a rut with advancing years and remain there. It is easy to keep both a pliable mind and a pliable body in spite of age, and this can be done by intelligent use. A short time daily should be spent in becoming informed of what is happening throughout the world and thinking it over. A mental hobby is most excellent. A garden or a few birds can furnish an almost inexhaustible source of interest. Those who doubt this should read of the comedy and tragedy among such humble beings as the spider, the fly and the beetle. J. H. Fabre has written charmingly about these, investing them with an interest rarely to be found in good fiction. This naturalist is a good example of what can be accomplished when one has years to do it in and is content to labor along from day to day without giving too much thought for the morrow. At fifty Mr. Fabre was practically unknown. Now, at about ninety, he is one of the most admired and best loved of men. His recognition came late and he has done much of his best work during his later years. If Mr. Fabre had died at the average age of forty, the world would have been deprived of his beautiful insight.

Another cause of old age is getting mentally old. An individual begins to grow old by dwelling on the subject. The girl of thirteen must cease romping and racing about because it is not lady-like. At twenty-five it is very, very undignified to run a little. At forty a woman must be rather sedate, for being natural would mean frivolity. People are continually growing too old to do this and that, not because they have lost the desire and the ability, but because it is unbecoming at their age. This is folly. Keep a young heart all through life. A heartfelt laugh is one of nature's best tonics. There is no more harm in dancing at fifty than at fifteen and not so much danger.

The relaxation of muscles and sagging of the face are as much the result of mental attitude as of loss of tonicity. Thinking young and associating with children are helpful and healthful. People who are very stiff and dignified are mentally sterile. The charming people are the ones who are willing and able to understand and sympathize with the aims and aspirations of others, and in order to do so it is necessary to thaw out.