Confidential Chats with Boys

by William Lee Howard

And the soul-suffering chap needed something more than a slip of paper.

He needs someone to help him unburden his mind; to free him from his worry, to confidentially overhaul his mind and put him to rights again. Some man who was and is a boy, and who can say to him: “Here is the trouble, Harry; it amounts to nothing now; so glad you came to me; for we can show you how to rid yourself of the worry. Now be sure to come again when anything worries you; or you want to know.”

Go to your old doctor and talk to him about what worries you. Most doctors will be pleased to chat with you. The trouble is that you have not been instructed in the fact that what you want from a man of knowledge and kind and appreciative heart, is a good talk, not medicines. Go and have a plain talk with your father first; if he is too busy to give you the time then seek a friend in the physician—the right kind.

Boys, if you are healthy boys, no matter if you haven’t big muscles and strength, all you need for a tonic is fresh air, plenty of sleep and food, and a clear understanding of your body. Not one single portion of it or its uses should be kept from your knowledge, and it shall not in these chats.

Boys often ask me: “Doctor Howard, what shall I eat to make me big and strong? Is underdone meat good? Shall I chew, so many times, all my food?” and many other questions along the same lines.

Eat what you like. In this matter study the healthy animals—for in our bodily living we are simply animals. Let all food fads alone. The only rule to follow is that of common sense. You should be certain that the food is fresh, that you eat at regular intervals and only eat that which you relish. Man, as an animal, needs variety. Sometimes a boy will crave one kind of food, at another time a totally different sort. If he is not suffering from some disease, nature tells him what chemical constituents his body needs and then gives him a craving for the foods containing these materials.

I know of some fathers who wrongly blame a boy because he will not eat fat with his meat. The father likes fat and so unthinkingly, believes that the son should not waste it, but relish it. The full grown and the elderly man needs fat to give him heat; the boy has hot blood coursing in him and besides, exercises; his system does not need fat; so his appetite rebels. If he relishes fatty substances, it shows that his system needs it.

And so on through all foods—eat what you relish if it is fresh. Of course there are a few general principles to be followed. Chewing, for instance. Every animal chews his food according to the nature of its food. Man has teeth to handle all sorts—flesh and vegetable. Watch a good-sized dog eat—not the lap dog brought up on candy and cookies; such is not a regular dog; just an unfortunate, wheezy, overfat, ill-smelling substitute for a little baby—something to fondle. The boy’s dog will bite, grind and then chew his bone or meat. He does not count the number of times his jaws work, just gets the food ground up into small pieces so that the digestive fluids in the stomach can get it ready for further digestion in the intestines. For in reality it is these latter organs which have more to do with digestion than the stomach.

This brings us to a very important subject—the care of the teeth. There is only one thing to say about the teeth—ALWAYS KEEP THEM CLEAN. I know boys are naturally careless in this matter—we all are; but if you commence the habit of always cleaning them after each meal—or whenever they have had work to do, you will be saved much future misery and chagrin. Foul teeth always means foul breath. Decayed teeth means that your muscles can never reach their full development because the food cannot be properly chewed and churned; hence the blood and muscles do not get the benefit of the nourishing elements of the food.