17. Law
"If thou well observe
The rule of Not too much; by temperance taught, In what thou eat'st and drink'st; seeking from thence
Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,
Till many years over thy head return:
So mayst thou live; till, like ripe fruit, thou drop
Into thy mother's lap; or be with ease
Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd ; for death mature." - Milton.
"Was there, then, no cure for Delia? Would she submit to no physician ? "Would none offer the right prescription ? Was there no drug in the whole pharmacopoeia which might effect a favorable change in her symptoms? Or, was it true, that no medicine was needed, that relief must be sought in some other way?
One pleasant autumn day, Delia expressed a wish to visit Adelaide. Charles gladly drove her to Captain Wilmot's, in a low, easy chaise, and promised to come for her early in the evening.
During several hours, the young invalid amused herself with listening to the captain's nautical stories, and with the general conversation of the family. In the afternoon, while the sun was yet high, and the earth warm, Adelaide invited her guest to accompany her in a short ramble through the neighboring forest. Delia languidly assented, and, leaning upon the arm of her more robust friend, slowly traversed the road leading to Adelaide's favorite retreat. Her former prejudices against the lady of her brother's choice had long since vanished. Admiration for Adelaide's heroic character had been the germ. This had gradually developed into fervent love. They advanced leisurely, Delia pausing every few moments, and asserting that she could not walk as rapidly as one who had never known ill health. Adelaide carefully checked her own eager footsteps. The trees were now beginning to assume their gorgeous, autumnal hues. The green shades, in their varied beauty, were yet seen, but, occasionally, a branch, decked with bright, golden leaves, met the eye of "the beholder. Then, the brilliant scarlet declared that its turn had come. Anon, the deep, rich purple blushed in the vale. Dappled leaves of surpassing beauty strewed the ground.
"Look, look, Delia!" exclaimed Adelaide, with rapture, as a specimen of uncommon magnificence fluttered in the air.
Delia wearily turned her head, and then sadly rested her glance upon the trees, eloquent in their prophetic beauty. A few tears fell from her eyes. Adelaide did not notice the weakness, but said, with animation, "Has not this well been called 'The coronation of the year?' How exquisite is the scene!"
" Grand as is the view," replied Delia, " it never affords me any pleasure. I think of the dread winter which must so soon follow. I feel fatigued as I anticipate the long months of bitter cold. To me, this season gives nothing to which I can apply the epithet regal. Do not speak of a coronation."
" Let us then view the subject in a different light. Another idea, quite as beautiful, but more tranquil, has been suggested. A certain anonymous writer has, with deep feeling, and the genuine spirit of poetry, styled Autumn, ' The Sabbath of the year.' Do you not remember the lines,
" ' And then the wind ariseth slow,
And giveth out a psalm,
And the organ-pipes begin to blow,
Within the forest calm:
Then all the trees lift up thair hands,
And lift their voices higher,
And sing the notes of spirit-bands,
In full and glorious choir.
" 'Yes ! 'tis the Sabbath of the year,
And it doth surely seem -
(But words of reverence and of fear
Should speak of such a theme),
That the corn is gather'd for the bread,
And the berries for the wine,
And a sacramental feast is spread,
Like the Christian's pardon-sign.
"How truthful are these stanzas! I can even fancy the author standing in this forest, and calmly, but joyously surveying the scene."
Delia was well-nigh faint oil beholding the excess of health and spirits with which Adelaide was overflowing. Such a contrast to her own mournful state ! She threw herself upon the prostrate trunk of an aged oak. Adelaide sat down by her side, casting only one wistful glance into the depths of the forest.
" Adelaide," said Delia, with a trembling voice, " had you quoted the sermon instead of the anthem, you would have more accurately expressed my feelings. I can better respond to the second stanza.
" ' With a deep, earnest voice he saith,
And yet a voice of grief,
Fitting the minister of Death,
So fade all as a leaf;
And your iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken ye away!
So, fading flutterers, weak and blind,
Repent, return, and pray.'
" Oh, Adelaide, I must die. I am doomed, in my youth, to lie down in the dark grave. I can not meet death like the saint or the hero. I have too much faith in eternity to comprehend the tranquillity with which Hume jested of Charon. I have too little to exclaim with the apostle, ' Oh, Death, where is thy sting!' But the decree has gone forth. I must die."
" To what false prophet have yon been listening?" asked Adelaide, endeavoring to infuse a yet higher degree of cheerfulness into her tones.
"To more than one true prophet. Look at my pale face, my hollow eyes. Feel the irregular beating of my pulse. Listen to the throbbing of my heart, which proclaims but too plainly that its movements are not those of health. I can not live. I am not willing to die."
Adelaide mused a moment, as if studying the best course to pursue. At length, she deliberately said, " I should not be willing to die."
Delia raised her eyes in astonishment.
"You expect that heaven will be your home after death!"
"I hope that it will," replied Adelaide, with great seriousness of manner.
" Then, why should you regret leaving earth ?"
"I will tell you. Unnumbered years will be spent in heaven. Every moment will afford happiness. This life, beautiful as it is, can not be compared with that. But, were I immediately transported to the celestial world, my happiness would be less intense, than if I were to remain on earth till the period of old age. I have now reached maturity. I am beginning to have the full exercise of all my powers. If I live fifty years longer, I can accomplish a vast deal of good, the remembrance of which will be a source of happiness even in heaven. "What can not be done in fifty years, by one who is determined to employ all her time and influence for the promotion of the true and the right!"
Delia's thoughts, thus suddenly turned into this new channel, were entirely diverted from her own health.
"Fifty years!" she exclaimed, "what a space of time ! A whole half-century ! How many changes will occur ! I should like to see ' the end of that period. I am five years younger than you. If I had a good constitution, I might hope to live."
Here, Delia looked sorrowfully upon her transparent hands.
"To think," resumed Adelaide, "of the great number of days in all those years ; that on every one of those days, we may both receive and impart happiness ! Daily and hourly may we gain new ideas. Does it not seem, Delia, as if life were indeed a noble boon ? Might we not, at the end of that time, be truly glorious beings?"
Delia sighed. Life was beginning to appear desirable, not merely from the dread of death, but from the objects which might be attained, the felicity which might be enjoyed.
"Oh, that I were well!" she bitterly exclaimed. " Oh, that I could hear of some eminent physician, who might cure my disease !"
Adelaide mentally rejoiced. She now saw that she could proceed with safety.
" Delia," she asked, " why so much confidence in physicians ? One of the most distinguished of their number, James Johnson, of Great Britain, frankly acknowledges that the art practiced by his profession is conjectural, and honestly confesses that the world would do quite as well without medical aid."
" Do you agree with him?"
"Not to the full extent. His remark was occasioned by a contemplation of the evils which result from exclusive dependence upon the skill of the physician. He directly implies that people disregard the laws of life and health, thinking that they can trust to men of his profession, for relief from the disorders which they have brought upon themselves. But I greatly honor physicians. Their services would seldom be needed if the laws of physiology were obeyed. To whom, however, are we indebted for a knowledge of those laws? To those physicians who have studied Nature, and revealed her mysteries. But, when we look abroad over the community, we can not fail to see that the incurable are rarely relieved by medicine, and that the curable would generally be much better without its use. I am not surprised that Grace Aguilar was always suffering, nor that she died at the early age of thirty-one. We read that from the age of three years, she was almost constantly under the care of a physician."
"If you were ill," inquired Delia, "would you not consult a physician ?"
"Disease would be so at variance with my constitution," replied Adelaide, smiling, " that I can hardly answer that question. If I should be attacked by any acute malady, such as fever or cholera, I should certainly desire the attendance of one who had made sickness and its remedy his study? that the foe might speedily be expelled from my system. In a chronic complaint, very little can be effected by medical art. If the patient is ignorant, some judicious advice may be given by his physician. But a cure, if it come at all, will be far distant ; and if death must be the termination, not much can be done by drugs to arrest its progress."
Delia shuddered. " Tell me, Adelaide, what will be my fate. Must I die?"
The lips of the young girl quivered as she looked anxiously into the countenance of her friend. Adelaide hastily soothed her.
"Be calm, my dear, while I tell you that restoration to health depends upon your own exertions."
" Only show me how I can be well. I so long for life and health."
"Listen carefully to one explanation. If any organ were radically diseased, no hope of cure could be entertained. But I have reason to believe that your brain, heart, lungs, etc., are in good order."
" I am not sure, Adelaide," answered the invalid, with tremulous accents; "I have a great deal of the headache. My heart often beats with great violence. Occasionally, I have hectic flushes."
"Those symptoms indicate that you are far from well, but they do not positively prove that you are fatally diseased. If you have carefully observed your own ailments, you must remember that every headache was caused by some indiscretion which might have been avoided. Yours is not a very dangerous pain. It may become such, if not judiciously managed. Can you mention one headache, which was not produced by too great indulgence of appetite, by prolonged reading, by exposure to a sun hotter than your constitution could bear, or by remaining in an imperfectly ventilated apartment?"
"Are those the causes of pain in the head?"
"Of such pain as troubles you. Banish the cause, and you will escape the effect."
" But my stomach must be injured by over-eating. "Why should my head suffer ?"
" Because of the connection which exists between the head and the stomach. The pain in the head is sympathetic. Thus it is also with palpitation of the heart. That symptom does, in some cases, evince a diseased state of this grand muscle. But very often, it simply declares, that the heart is sympathizing with some other organ. Nervous and dyspeptic patients frequently suffer from palpitation. Hectic fever is also an attendant of several complaints. But this symptom, although in some states alarming, in others merely shows that the health needs attention in order to prevent any thing of a more serious tendency. Such indications are beacon-lights, warning us of the evil which will ensue if heed is not given to the signals."
For a few moments, Delia was absorbed in thought. She broke silence by saying, " Then a physician would be of no service to me."
" Unless he had the condescension to give you a few lessons in physiology, and to insist upon their practical application. But a physician's province is to cure actual disease. He usually finds so much of this, that he will not pause to enlighten those who might be saved by a little instruction. Call in almost any of the faculty. He would feel as if he were summoned for the purpose of prescribing some drug. This would be injurious rather than beneficial."
"Do you despise all the remedies which have been discovered with so much exertion ?"
" By no means. I agree with the Son of Sirach: ' The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth ; and he that is wise will not abhor them.' It is only the abuse which I condemn. Very little is ever needed. People often make themselves ill by the practice of swallowing medicinal substances."
" But how can I obtain relief if I take nothing to remove my pain and weakness?"
" Did you ever read the anecdote of the purchaser of sanative wisdom ? Notice was given that a late distinguished physician had left a book containing the secret of health. Eager to secure the prize, an invalid felt no hesitation in paying quite a large sum for the valuable manuscript. To his astonishment, he found that the revelation, to which he had looked with so much confidence, consisted of only four simple maxims: 'Rise early; keep the back straight ; the head cool ; the feet warm.' It is not surprising that he was somewhat exasperated. Resolving, however, not to be a loser by his extravagant purchase, he commenced a course of strict conformity to the four rules. In consequence, his health improved to an extent which he had doubtless believed impossible."
"Do you regard that as a true story?" asked Delia, with an earnestness which she seldom manifested.
" I see no reason to doubt its authenticity. It is, at least, probable."
" If I were to observe those rules, do you think that I should regain my health ?"
" I firmly believe that such would be the result. Those four rules are very comprehensive. They form a good abstract of the whole science of physiology. God has revealed the laws of health to those who have made the subject their study. We learn that disease is caused by a violation of those laws. If we disobey, we must expect to suffer the penalty."
" Then you do not concur with those who maintain that disease is sent as a judgment for sin?"
Adelaide glanced a moment at her companion, and carefully repressed her inclination to smile.
"Explain your meaning, Delia."
" I have heard people speak of sickness as if it were the consecpience of some sin which the suffercr had committed. When our neighbor, Mr. Wilson, died of the liver complaint, it was more than intimated by some, that the disorder was a judgment of Heaven sent because of the man's dishonesty."
Adelaide laughed, but, immediately after, replied, with great seriousness, "God has given various codes of laws. The penalties attached to one class should not be confounded with those of another. By his dishonesty, Mr. Wilson sinned against the requirements of pure morals. The punishment was, of course, adapted to the offense. He lost peace of conscience, and the esteem of his fellowmen. The liver complaint was one of the penalties annexed to the transgression of a law belonging to a different code. It has been clearly established, that exercise is a positive demand of our nature, which can not be neglected with impunity. Your neighbor led a sedentary life. Its effects were visible in his painful disease. If bodily ailments were the result of a violation of the moral law, we should find that the most virtuous people enjoyed the best health. Whereas, we know that the openly wicked are sometimes remarkably free from disease, while the good are constant sufferers. They should not, however, be called good, if they adhere only to one class of laws. By disregarding the rules discovered for the preservation of health, they disobey the Author of all law, as much as if they slighted the commands of the decalogue."
' Delia nervously tore in fragments tITe blue gentians which she had culled from the brink of the rivulet meandering through the wood. She was more deeply agitated than she chose to express. In a low tone, she said, "Those rules do not appear difficult. Could I keep them ?"
" Certainly. No commands impossible of observance are imposed by the Creator. But they are not so easy as you seem to imagine. Let us think, for a moment, of the invalid who purchased them at so high a price. Let us fancy him considering those maxims with the intention of strict obedience. The first one enjoined upon him the virtue of early rising. Is that easy?"
Delia shook her head. "Every evening, I resolve that on the next morning I will rise at dawn, but I am seldom up till the sun is high in the heavens. Do you suppose that the invalid was in the habit of lying in bed late ?"
"Probably, for morning slumbers are a very prolific source of invalidism. But he was compelled to reform, in order to adhere closely to his new code of laws. "
" To rise early now appears to me a very simple achievement, but I know that when the morrow comes, I shall feel as if it were impossible. I resemble the man who spent all the morning arguing whether it were better to rise or to remain in bed. By noon, he determined that the advantages were on the side of rising."
" He should have made his decision the previous evening. On awaking, he should have executed it without pausing for a reconsideration."
" It is very difficult for me to rise."
" You have the full use of your limbs."
" Yes, but the bed is so comfortable."
"But, having enjoyed its comfort for several hours, you might surely desire a different kind of pleasure."
" But rising requires such an effort, especially of a cold morning."
" The effort must, however, be made in the course of the day."
" How is it, Adelaide, that you are always up in good season?"
" Simply, by rising the moment that I awake, if I see that daylight is beginning to enter my room. Nothing can be easier. The misery of dreading to rise is thus felt only for an instant."
" As you have always been accustomed to early rising, you do not know the pain which it costs."
"Indeed I do. If parents did as they ought, children would not suffer from the necessity of conquering bad habits, or of enduring the evil attendant upon their retention during life. All might be trained to virtue. But as they are not, they should destroy the effects of their imperfect education by themselves forming good habits. In childhood I was accustomed to late rising. I was therefore obliged to overcome the evil by my own exertion. At fifteen it required a great effort. But, do you truly purpose to observe these four rules ?"
" Yes ; you have given me new motives for action. I know, however, that firm as may be my resolution, this first rule will be very difficult."
"Resolve, then, not to argue the subject in the morning, but, remembering your plans, abide by the decision previously made."
" But, if I linger one moment, I can not summon courage to rise."
"Do not linger. If you should be so unfortunate, rouse yourself without further delay. Repeat Longfellow's ' Psalm of Life,' or Mrs. Osgood's lines on 'Labor,' or Tupper's ode to 'Activity.' You will spring from your couch before reaching the last stanza of any one of these soul-stirring lyrics."
" Alas ! to me Tupper's poem on ' Sloth' would be more appropriate !"
"To you, in your present stage of moral progress, but not in that which you intend to attain. Regard it as an axiom, that you can not be well with late rising, and recollect, that unless } t ou wish to die in youth, with this sin unconquered, you must make strenuous exertion for its defeat.
"The next rule for the invalid was, that he should maintain an erect position. You must abandon the rocking-chair, Delia."
" But I am too weak to sit long in a common chair."
" When you are too weak to sit with your head erect, your chest expanded, and your spine so that it shall not curve, you need a change of position. Take a short walk, or a few moments of repose upon your bed. The former will soon be more refreshing than the latter. This second direction to the invalid was rational. A large proportion of disease and debility is the result of actual spinal curvature. Sit and stand upright, that your figure may not become distorted. Throw your shoulders back, that your lungs may not suffer compression. But attention to position alone will not prevent deformity. Exercise, as you will soon see, was also required of the invalid.
"The two remaining rules of that expensive series demanded that the head should be kept cool, and the feet warm. If one of these were observed, the other would demand little care. But, how do you suppose that he obeyed the direction relating to the feet?"
" By wearing warm shoes and stockings."
" You are not like many girls, who persist in slippers and cotton through the winter ; but will the warm coverings alone be sufficient ?"
" No ; for in cold weather I am compelled to sit with my feet before the fire a good part of the day."
" A habit highly destructive to health. The invalid would never have been well if he had thus tried to produce permanent warmth. We should depend very little upon artificial heat. Warmth is indispensable to health, but it should not be exclusively sought from coals and clothing. The fire within should be kept burning. Muscular exercise causes the blood to circulate through the system, so that warmth reaches every part. Those who use their hands and feet a great deal seldom complain of cold. Their blood neither oppresses the internal organs nor rushes to the head in a feverish torrent.
" Another method of securing warmth is the daily use of the cold bath. This is most excellent."
" A cold bath in winter, Adelaide ! I should be in danger of freezing."
" Do not incur the risk of such a catastrophe. Avoid bathing in icy water. In severe weather, take the chill from the water, that it may be of the temperature which you would use in summer. The circulation of the blood once regulated, the head may be kept cool and the feet warm, with great ease.
"The invalid was obliged, also, to attend to his diet, and to his literary pleasures. Intemperance in eating or reading causes the head to burn with temporary fever."
" I should not have believed that those four rules were so comprehensive,"
"The invalid found that they were not so simple as he had imagined."
" How much exercise ought I to take?"
" Sufficient to promote the due circulation of the blood, and to invigorate you for mental effort. That is a sad state of society, in which laborers are compelled to exert all their power in the use of the muscles, without leaving time or strength for intellectual culture. Take a good walk every day, and spend also a part of your hours for exercise in the vigorous use of your hands and arms. But do you really intend to observe these rules ?"
" I do. I will obtain the boon of health, if it is yet within my reach."
" This resolution being made, I believe that you will succeed. Health is greatly influenced by the will. A person of little courage, and of feeble volition, will soon sink under a disease, which would be kept at bay by a spirit of iron determination. [ was very much impressed when reading a letter written during the Hungarian strife for liberty. In speaking of Kossuth, the writer says, ' He will not be sick, and he is not.' Resolve that your mind shall triumph, that you will not yield to pain and weakness, and you do very much toward acquiring strength. To this, add a religious compliance with the laws of health, and we shall yet see you well, and even robust. In order that you may fully understand the doctrines upon which I have so lightly touched, you should read some volumes which I have found more fascinating than the most gorgeous romances, namely, the works of Johnson, and of George and Andrew Combe. In various ways will tho study of these aid in your recovery. The brain should be exercised as well as the muscles. I do not wish you to attend to the art of curing serious disease, unless, indeed, you would like to become a physician ; but every one should be acquainted with the philosophy of health."
" Have not many lost their health in consequence of hard study ?"
" Very little danger would ever ensue if students would remember the motto, ' Be temperate in all things,' and if they would persevere in taking vigorous exercise. Study is essential to the health of the brain. Scholars are injured not so much by their mental activity, as by the anti-physiological habits attendant upon their mode of life. If they would give heed to attitude, pure air, cold bathing, muscular exercise, and seasonable hours, we should not so frequently hear of their loss of health. I fully believe, that in your case a course of moderate study would be highly beneficial."
" Ought I to study any thing besides physiology?" " Not at present. After a while I hope that you will resume your singing and playing. You must be aware that you have great musical talent. Cultivate it, and you may rival our distinguished performers."
After a few moments, during which Delia's countenance was quite sanguine, it suddenly changed its expression, as she said, " But I am afraid that I have not a good constitution. My efforts will be useless."
"Were your constitution indeed feeble, still more assiduous should be your care. It must, however, possess some vigor, or it would not have endured so many abuses without giving more serious evidence of injury."
"Adelaide, very healthy people sometimes die after a short illness."
" So much the more do they deserve censure. With an iron constitution and good habits they might have had a long and useful life. What are acute diseases? How are they produced? Fevers and inflammations do not come unsolicited. How common is it to trace even a cold to its source ! Carelessness or intemperance of some kind is the cause of such an attack."
" How do you explain hereditary diseases ? One can not always guard against those."
"I explain them as my teacher, Combe, has done. The malady was, in the first instance, caused by some violation of law. It then descended from the sinning individual to his posterity. Strict obedience for several generations would insure a healthy race. We are less robust than if all our ancestors had obeyed the laws of health. But, however feeble we are born, if not radically diseased, we can, by our own exertions, obtain a good measure of health. We may, indeed, counteract the tendency to hereditary disease."
"I will begin this evening," said Delia, after a pause of deep reflection. " I will note the date, and see how soon I effect a cure."
" Now, I am confident of your success, but I will give you one caution. Kemember your rules, execute your plans, but bestow upon them only so much thought as is requisite for full comprehension. Do not constantly analyze your feelings, and examine your symptoms, or you may become like Miss Leslie's Mr. Gutheridge, who ' attended to no other business than the care of preserving his life by studying to guard himself from all possible maladies and accidents. Therefore, he died of no particular disease, at the age of thirty-four.' "
Delia smiled as she recalled the pleasant story of " The Reading Parties," which had once served to enliven her, when suffering from a tedious sickheadache, and then asked, " Is it not singular that some who are always ill reach advanced age V
"Thus it appears at the first view. Hannah More was frequently under the dominion of headache, yet she had a very long as well as a useful life. When we see an instance of that kind, we must consider that the disease does not seriously affect any organ. The patient had sufficient vitality long to preserve life, although on very hard terms. When we subtract the numerous days passed in pain and comparative inefficiency, we can not say that such a life is truly long. If Miss More, in her weakness, labored so much and so well, how much more might she have accomplished had she possessed health and vigor ! Both may yet be yours."
Delia's eyes were now bright with anticipation. "I will try to be well," she observed, " that I may fill some noble sphere."
" That is a good motive. Allowing for rest and recreation, which all need more or less, we should exercise body and mind to the full extent of which they are capable. Do you not remember those beautiful lines in ' Festus ? "
" ' There is a fire-fly in the southern clime
Which shineth only when upon the wing;
So is it with the mind: when once we rest,
We darken.' "