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country into thc town and get completely absorbed by intellectual and commercial interests. If they are " fortunate ” enough to become ricb, they are soon involved in a whirl of social functions, high living, and atl sorts of luxury. They then come to look with coutempt on the manuał labour that was the source of their parents’ health and strength and to which they owe it entircly that their own health is not ąuickly wrecked by their one-sided intellectual overculturc. But their offspring even in the lirst generation are delicate and overstrung, whilc their grandchildren stand with one foot in thc grave when they arc bom, or at any ratę, come into the world with a ticket of admission to the lunatic asylum. And all this rnisery might have bccn avoided had they reflectcd in time that the body is not a mere covcring, of itself of no iccount for the soul and ntind, but is the soil wherein all germinating powcr has its birth. So you must not impoverish your body, like a careless man farming rented land. but you should, like a prudetit landowner, make it an object of wise and careful culturc, remembering that this is an invcstment which yields good intercst.
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A body which is not daily excrcised in every part, inside and out, decays, that is to say, grows dccrepit and " old ” bclorc its time. There is, of course, no plcasure oradvantage in growing old in years, if you are broken down, stiff, infirm, and fuli of ailments, with your intciligencc well-nigh extinguished and your interests flcd. Thus it is with no smali number of people who have grown old because of the fact that they have their whole life long pooh-poohcd fresk air, sunlight, water and exeycise. The daily sight of thesc old wrecks has even given many young people a distaste for old age, so that they do not care in the lea. t to do anything which will make them live long. One thus overlooks the fact that it is possible and indeed quite natural to preserve both thc physical and the mental faculties almost unimpaired for at least a hundred years. and that this will mean an enormous addition to thc happiness and wealth—both in money and experience—of the family, the race, and the State.
The chief advantage of rational physical cxercise is thus not so much that the muscles and sinews grow stronger, as that all thc internal organs, includiilg even the brain, heart, and spinał cord. arc daily cleansed in a rejucenating bath. Do you think that a certebral column, for instance, which is daily submitted to as many stretchings, bendings, and twistings to its utmost capucity. as is the case in "ily System," can get stiff and calcinated and possibly impede the efficiency of the chief nerce-fibres which pass through it ? Or that the many deep-breathing exercises will allow the lungs, heart and arteries to losc their elasticity ? This is so far from being thc casc that even you, dear Sir, who are alreadt getting on in years, if you will only begin these exercises now, will be able to grow morę supple, and morę erect and agile, than you werc as a youth ; indeed, you will probably in a few months add a whole inch to your stature, as many others write to me that they hnve done. For this reason I would ask everyone who begins " My System " to have his height accurately measured, and likewisc to measure the circumferencc of his chest, while the lungs are filled with air, and afterwards again when all the air has been exhalcd. They can then see what the diffcrcnce in the two chest measurements is after a space of six monfhs.