Howard, the Philanthropist.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 553, 2 August 1851, Page 3

Howard, the Philanthropist.

He was a singular being in many of the common habits of life : lie bathed daily in cold water ; and, both on rising and going to bed, swathed himself in coarse towels, wet with the coHest water : in that state he remained half an hour or more, and then threw them oft', freshened and invigorated, as he said, beyoud measure. He never put on a great-coat in the coldest countries ; nor was ever a minute under or over the time of an appointment for twenty-six years. He never continued at a place or with a person, a single day beyond the period prefixed for going, in his life ; and he had not, for the last ten years of hia existence, ate any fish, flesh, or fowl, nor sat down to his simple fare of tea, milk, and rusks, all that time. His journeys were continued from prison to prison ; from one group of wretched beings to another, night and day ; and when he could not go in a carriage, he Tvould walk. Such a thing as an obstruction was out of the question. Some days after his first return from an attempt to mitigate the plague at Constantinople, he favoured me with a morning visit to London. The weather was so very terrific, tbat I had forgot his inveterate exactness, and had yielded up the hope of expecting him. Twelve at noon was the hour ; and exactly as the clock struck he entered my room ; the wet— for it rained in torrents —dripping from every part of his dress, like water from a sheep just landed from its washing. He would not have attended to his situation, having sat himself down with the utsaost composure, and begun conveisation, had I not made an offer of dry clothes. " Yes, 3aid he, smiling, "I had my feara, as I knocked at your door, that we should go over the old business of apprehension about a little rain-water, v/hich, though, it does not run off my back as it does from that of a duck, dops me aa little injury, and after a long drought is scarcely less refreshing. The coat that 1 have on has been as often wetted through as any duck's in the world, and, indeed, gets no other cleaning. I assure you, a good soaking shower is the best brush for broad-cloth. You, like the rest of my friends, throwaway your pity upon my supposed hardships with ju6t aa much reason as you commiserate the common beggars, who, being familiar with storms, necessity, and nakedness, are a thousand times (so forcible i* habit) less to he compassioned than the sons and daughters of cate and luxury, who, accustomed to all the enfeebling refinements of feathers by night and fires by day, are taught to ahiver at a breeze. All this is the work of art, my good friend : natuie is intrepid, hardy, and advuuturous ; but it is a practice to spoil her with indulgences from the moment we come into the world. A soft dress and a soft cradle begin our education in luxury, and we do not grow more manly the more we are gratified ; on the contrary, our feet must be wrapped in wool or silk ; we must tread upon carpets ; breathe, as it were, in fire ; and fear the least change in the weather. You smile," said Mr. Howard, after a pause, " but I am a living instance of the truths I insist on, A more puny youngster than myself was never seen. If I wet my feet I was sure to take cold. I could not put on my shirt without its being aired. To be serious, I am convinced, that what emasculates the body, debilitates the mind, and renders both unfit for those exertions which aio of such use to us social beings. I therefoio entei ed upon a reform of my constitution, and have succeeded in such a degree tbat 1 have neither had a cough, cold, the vapours, nor any more alarming disorder, since I surmounted the seasoning. Formerly, mulled wines, and spirits, and gieat fires, were to comfort me, and to keep out the cold, as it is called; the penis of the day were to be baffled by something taken hot on going to bed ; and before I pursued my journey the next morning, a diam was to be swallowed, to fortify the stomach'! Believe me," said Mr. Howard, " we are too apt to Invert the remedies which we ought to prescribe for ourselves. Thus we are for ever giving hot things, when we should administer cold. We bathe in hot instead of cold water ; we use a dry bandage when wo should use a wet one ; and we increase our food and clothing- when we should, by degrees, diminish both. If we would trust more to nature, and suffer her to apply her own remedies io cure her own diseases, the formidable catalogue of maladies would be reduced to one-half, at least, of their present number."— Pratfs Gleanings.

A Damng Dog. — A large dog, not acquainted with tlia appearance of the railway trains that now pass through the links of Montrose, had tho daring audacity not only to baric, but even to spring over the paling and attack the iron bor&e. Alter doing so, only one bowwow waa beanl, and when the guard looked down the poor dog was literally divided in two, a half of him being on each side of the rail in two pools of blood.