But, suppose you have a cold? Eat nothing but a piece of toast; drink freely of cold water; walk twice a day till you are in a gentle perspiration, and go to bed early. These rules observed, and colds, which produce so much mischief, would be shorn of their power of harm.
FAT AND THIN GIRLS.
Are you too fat? Eat less food, with a larger proportion of meat; rise early in the morning and exercise much. This will reduce your weight. Even diminishing the quantity of food alone, without any other change, will be sure to do it. It is impossible that excessive fat, either in horse or man, can hold out against a persistent reduction in the quantity of food. And if the reduction be gradual and judicious, the strength is not lessened, but is steadily increased, until the excess in fat is all gone.
And I will add, that after two or three days, there will be no sense of hunger until the excess has been removed.
Are you too thin? Sleep more by going to bed earlier; do not overwork; eat freely of oatmeal porridge, Graham mush, cracked wheat, and hulled corn; and all with milk and sugar. Cultivate a cheerful, happy temper.
RECREATION VS. PROPRIETY.
The noblest women I have personally known, were "regular tom-boys" in their girlhood. I have made many inquiries about the women who figured conspicuously in the "Sanitary Commission," the "Christian Commission," and in the hospitals, and so far as I have been able to learn from them, and their friends, not one began with being a "proper" young lady! I venture the opinion that not one of the women who has risen to literary distinction in America, was a "proper" young lady!
In brief, I don't believe proper young ladies amount to much. As with a colt and a boy, neither of which, if quiet and staid, is likely to accomplish anything very grand in this world; so if a girl is prim and nice and proper, it is easy to write out the story of her life in five lines; and without waiting for her to live it.
But, if a young woman, of fair mental capacity, breaks through the trammels of propriety, rides the saddle astride, climbs fences and trees, joins a base-ball club, or acquires distinction in any roystering game which demands pluck and endurance, you may expect something; she possesses the elements of a strong womanhood. I would prefer one such woman, either in the hospitals at Gettysburg, or at the head of a family of children, to a dozen women who were chiefly distinguished in girlhood for immaculate collars and bows.