Health and Hard Muscles.

Manawatu Herald, 22 November 1898, Page 3

Health and Hard Muscles.

Ir John Simpson were not a blacksmith we might not have occasion to allude to him at the very outset of this writing. But he is a blacksmith and will thus serve an important purpose ; that, too, without having to put on his leather apron to do it. And he will do it by standing in front of his forge for five minutes while we all take a look at him. He is a strong and robust man, as Mr Dickens's Joe Gargery was— as all blacksmiths ought to be. Ought to be, I say. But are they ?— as a matter of fact? No, they are not— not by many a length of nail rod. Now it is somehow a common notion that all men who work bard, especially amid rough surroundings and in the fresh air, are apt to be vigorous healthy fellows ; they are supposed to joke at doctors, to have no use for apothecaries, and even to regard undertakers as the necessity of a distant future. Is this view a true view ? Are health and hard muscles always found together? Take your time to think Meanwhile we will hear what Mr Simpson himself says : — "Up to the spring of 1885," he writes in a letter dated May sth, 1893, "I was strong as most men — perhaps stronger than most. Then I began to suffer from illness. My victual* and I had a falling out. After every meal I had great pain and fulness of the cheßt. Then I got into such a condition that I had these feelings nearly all the whi'e. I tried to avoid them by eating nothing but light food, but the result was just the same. I think a morsel of bread would have hurt me a 1 most as much as a round of beef. Then I began to lost weight, and had all I could do to keep up with my work. The doctor gave me medicine, but I got no help from it. " I was wondering how this would end when I heard of Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup and bought a bottle of it from Mr James Crossley, the grocer at Mile Walk. The effect was speedy. It appeared to go straight to the right spot, and it wasn't long before I was able to eat without an? pain to follow. Then my strength and flesh gradually came back, and ever since I have done my work as easily as I did before the disease, whatever it was, overtook me. (Signed) John Simpson, Cliviger, near Burnley." Now, about that health and hard muscle auestion that I put to the reader; what's lie answer ? Why, of course,, the answer what any intelligent man wonld make who thinks with his eyes open. No; health and hard musoles are not always found together. But let us look sharp and commit no errors. The facts run this way ; While a man cannot grow strong Without a certain degree of health, it is also true that a notable amount of muscular power is consistent with both orgauio and functional trouble of the Btomach, liver, kidneys, or heart. A man may be able to lift 500 poundß, and drop dead within a minute after he does it.

Sailors, farmers, miners, drivers of trams, 'busses, &0., outdoor labourers of different sorts (especially after reaching mid life) nearly all fall victims to rheumatism, nervous debility, or dyspepsia. ¥•8, and do hard work for years just the same.

I Baid "or ' dyspepßia. Leave out the •• or" and say dyspepsia— dyßpapsia only— and you have strode bottom. This produces all the other maladies; they are merely results and symptoms of it. There's no keeping clear of it by' running off to sea, working on a farm, or diving down into a mine. No matter where you go or wha< you do, indoors or out, clerking in the Bank of England, or driving the locomoiive of the Scotch Express- dyspepsia will get hold of you if you give it a chance And most men do that as if they were as eager to be ill as they are to be rich. Which reminds me to tell you in a subsequent article how to avoid- dyspepsia. For this time I can one speak of how to cure it. Imitate John Simpson's example. Do what he did. And remember that stalwart men (all unconscious) often stand nearer a bed of pain, nearer death, than do the feeble women whom they pity.