To reduce to Method what has been here said concerning Diet, I must observe, that next to the proper kind of Food, nothing is more conducive to Health than a Habit of eating Meals regularly. Children accustomed to eat all Day long are seldom healthy; besides, that it makes them disorderly, and often throws a Family into Confusion to gratify all their little Humours. The proper Breakfast has been already pointed out; their Dinner should be made of one Dish, only, unless by great Chance a passing Taste of a second; they should either eat a great deal of Bread, or blend their Meat with Greens, Turnips, or other Garden Stuff; Pickles and all high Sauces should not be touch’d by them; and their Meal should be washed down with Water or light Small Beer. Their Supper may, like their Breakfast, sometimes be vary’d, as to the Auxiliary; Bread is to be the Repast; yet a small Portion of Butter, Cheese, Fruit, or Tart, may in their Turn accompany it: the Vehicle the same as at Dinner. But should a Child at intermediate Times, especially before Dinner, complain of Hunger, and fasting long might make it’s Stomach ach; in that Case nothing so good as a bit of Bread; and if used to it, it will eat it as eagerly as the greatest Dainty; but to see Children walk about a House with Tarts or Bread and Butter in their Hands, daubing every thing and every body they touch, is certainly wrong; being not only detrimental to their Health, but to their Manners too, as it is inexpressibly vulgar.
The Ideas of Parents may perhaps confine these Rules to the first Septenary of a Child’s Life; but I must here observe, that no essential Difference, no very material Changes can be made from this, even in the second and third Stages, without some Degree of Error. Eating and Drinking are made too much the Business and the Pleasure of Life, to be consistent with either our Health or our Reason: Parents therefore who aim at acting on right Principles, must for the sake of these, teach their Children to be regular and temperate in the use of those. It is right that they begin early, that they set out well; but it is doubly so, that they keep them in the same Road; and as their Childrens Reason gathers Strength, convince them that they must never quit it, if they wish to live a long or happy Life: and that, of all human Gratifications, an inordinate Attachment to Eating and Drinking is the meanest, and most unworthy a Man.
Mr. Locke proposes, as a great Means of preserving Health, that Boys (for it is for them only that he writes) have Holes made in their Shoes on purpose to let in the Wet; which (says he) being rendered familiar to them, will prevent their catching Cold. It is certain this Gentleman acts here upon a right Principle; but whether the Practice be altogether eligible, is a Doubt. Nothing is so hurtful to the Head, the Eyes, and the Breast, as catching Cold in the Feet; and therefore I cannot but concur with this ingenious Writer, in recommending the Use of cold Water in order to make Children hardy. I have before advised, that young Children have their Limbs washed daily with cold Water; now as many things may be rendered familiar and easy by Custom, if, as they advance, their Feet were daily immersed in cold Water too, it would undoubtedly be of vast Service, and greatly tend to confirm their Health. But if this be never practised, or the Practice set aside, which is nearly the same thing, it demands double Care of the Parents to prevent their being liable to Colds.
To this End, Children’s Feet should be washed in Water a little warm’d; for it is extremely dangerous to make a sudden Derivation of the Blood up to the Lungs or Head, which is the natural Effect of cold Water. And it is for this Reason that People are never suffered to walk into a cold Bath, but are thrown forwards, that the Immersion may be total at the same instant. Nay, Mr. Locke himself was so sensible of this, that tho’ he advises washing the Feet daily in cold Water, he would have it begun with in the Spring, and the Water luke-warm, and made colder and colder by Degrees: “For (says he) it is to be observ’d in this, as in all other Alterations from our ordinary Way of living, the Changes must be made by gentle and insensible Degrees.”
The next Mean is, that Children have always dry Shoes. There is a great deal of Mischief attends the mistaken Delicacy of Shoes. Those who always tread on Carpets, who never go abroad without a Coach or a Chair, may perhaps wear with Safety the thinnest that can be made; but to see People in inferior Life, or those engaged in real Business, trampling thro’ dirty Streets, and soaking their Paper-soals in continual Puddles, is surely every way absurd: but as this Practice is evidently detrimental to Health, as it frequently occasions Coughs, sore Eyes, Head-ach, Rheumatism, and other Disorders, it is highly incumbent on Parents to keep Children free from these Dangers by using them, in Winter especially, to such Shoes as will keep them dry. On this Head it will not be amiss to give a Caution against Shoes that pinch. Parents must be attentive to this both in Boys and Girls, for many by this Means are made so tender-footed, and have such painful Corns, that they are a kind of Cripples their whole Lives: and are not only very uncomfortable to themselves, but are often thereby greatly disabled from doing their necessary Business.
I must not here omit, so far as relates to Health, to mention Sleeping, and the Circumstances attending it. “Of all (says Mr. Locke) which looks soft and effeminate, nothing is more to be indulged Children than Sleep. In this alone they are to be permitted to have their full Satisfaction, nothing contributing more to the Growth and Health of Children than Sleep.” I have already with regard to Infants shewn, that they ought not to be disturbed from their Rest; and even past that Age Sleep affords them great Nourishment. Nothing certainly is more injudicious and unnatural than the Custom many Parents have of keeping their Children up late. If they wish them to be healthy, temperate, or wise, they must create in them a Habit of early going to Bed and early rising. As the many Conditions in Life oblige, or at least lead People to act differently, so it is extremely hard to fix precise Rules herein; but in general, ’till Children approach nearly to Men and Women, they would do best not to sit up to see, much less to eat, a Family-supper at nine o’Clock.
Lying on soft Beds is undoubtedly wrong; the French have a good Custom of putting a Matrass above the Feather-bed, which prevents their sinking into a Softness very prejudicial to Health. Soft Beds absorb too much of our Juices, cause a greater Waste than we can spare, enfeeble our whole Frame, and have a remarkable Tendency to give a Pain of Weakness in the Small of the Back, by heating the Reins.
Mr. Locke, amidst great good Sense, has some Notions a little rigorous, which probably are never followed, nor do they seem altogether needful. He proposes that a Child’s Bed be designedly ill made; that is, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes rough, sometimes smooth; for my part, I am desirous to banish every ill-judged Tenderness, every false Fondness; but as I write for the Use of both Sexes, and all Conditions, I cannot confine my Ideas to a Tent or a Cabin. Let Children by all Means lie on Matrasses instead of Beds, for the Reasons already given; let them lie with a Bolster only, and no Pillow, for it is not good for them to have the Head high; let them lie either on one Side or the other, and not on the Back; and let them lie pretty straight in the Bed, yet not fully stretched out, for that would impede the due Action of the animal Functions, and render Sleep less profitable to them. With regard to the Form of their Beds, I think, Decency requires that they be orderly and regular; nor is there any Fear that a Change of Bed will affect them, for most young People sleep sound wherever they are laid.
It has been generally said, that we should keep our Heads cool; and many on that Principle, even tho’ their Heads are shaved, lie without a Night-cap. I will not take upon me to determine the Matter, but observe, that the Night-air seems to require some Guard; and many are of Opinion, that lying with the Head warm is most healthful; and particularly good for the Hair, the Eyes, and the Teeth.