974 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



developed into a healthy manhood, had his labors been properly adjusted to his strength and 

 his life been conducted upon hygienic principles. Parents, in choosing a course of life for 

 their children, should consider whether the child can bear the strain of farm life, and 

 whether it coincides with his mental organization, and should so shape his course that he 

 shall leave the farm at a proper age for some other occupation if his constitution so demands, 

 and then the sickly young boy often develops in strength and bodily health. The cry so of ten 

 uttered, &quot;Keep the boys on the farm,&quot; is a senseless one, indiscriminately applied, and cruel 

 in its working; for the boy who is not adapted to that occupation should not be subjected to 

 it, any more than the thin-skinned, delicate-limbed horse should be harnessed down to the 

 plow. 



The salient causes of disease in our country homes have thus been passed in review, in 

 the hope that the attention of the people will be thus in a measure attracted to matters of such 

 vital interest to them and their children.&quot; 



Sleep. Sleep is one of the great restorers of wasted vigor and strength, and is one of 

 the most important requisites in maintaining health and vigor of both mind and body. It 

 has been called &quot;Nature s repair shop,&quot; where all the repairing of the body and mind are 

 secured. There is nothing that can take its place in this respect. One of the leading symp 

 toms that frequently precede insanity is an unnatural wakefulness, and inability to sleep, 

 showing an intense nervous condition. A disordered state of the nerves can best be cured 

 by a full amount of refreshing sleep. Many a man and woman has grown prematurely old, 

 and perhaps broken down and died at middle age, simply from over work and loss of sleep, 

 when if they had taken more time for sleep they might have lived to an advanced age. 

 Farmers and their families, as a rule, do not spend the amount of time in sleep they ought. 

 Professor Chandler, President of the New York Board of Health, states that one-half the 

 deaths that occur are unnecessary. With a view to lessening the rate of mortality, he 

 urges upon every person to apply the best knowledge obtainable to the care of his own 

 human machine. &quot;No board of health or city government,&quot; he says, &quot; can do away with 

 sickness unless each one carefully guards himself.&quot; He dwells at length upon the necessity 

 of pure water, wholesome food, sufficient clothing, sunlight, rest, and recreation as all-import 

 ant if one would possess good health. 



Children are constantly being injured mentally and physically from not having sufficient 

 sleep. They are taught that it is laziness to lie in bed beyond a certain hour in the morning, 

 and that there is great virtue in &quot;early rising,&quot; or are forced to be up early under all circum 

 stances, and are therefore deprived of the full amount of sleep that their constitution requires 

 for a healthy development. One has but to look into the prematurely old faces of little 

 children that work in the factories or shops to notice this, as well as of many boys and girls 

 that are found in farmers households. Some persons require more sleep than others; each 

 one must be a law unto himself in this respect. Children require much more than grown 

 people, and young and middle-aged persons more than old; while in each individual case 

 there will be a great difference in this respect. Some of the greatest workers in the world 

 have been the greatest sleepers, and because one person requires more sleep than another, it 

 is no indication of indolence in the latter, or of great industry in the light sleeper. Many 

 incurable nervous diseases are brought on by a lack of sleep, while on the contrary we have 

 known serious and seemingly incurable difficulties of this kind completely cured by having 

 a full amount of it. A good rule in this respect is to allow a person to sleep as long as he 

 will sleep sound. Idling the tune by lying in bed in an indolent, half -dozing state is not 

 sleep. If parents wish their children to arise early in the morning they should see that they 

 retire early at night in order to have the full amount of rest that their systems require. 



Recreation, Yisiting, etc. Farmers and their families are generally so busily 

 occupied, that they feel unable to take much time for recreation, visiting, entertaining com 

 pany, etc. While labor is a duty as well as a necessity, and the practice of industry a virtue, 

 and the road that leads to health, happiness, and wealth; and while idleness is a vice with its 

 long train of attendant evil consequences, yet there is danger in the majority of cases among 

 farmers of perverting the good that may result from industrious habits into evil, and making 

 life a mere drudgery, with comparatively no recreation, and the almost entirely ignoring of 

 the social relations of life. It should be remembered that every one requires periods of rec 

 reation and rest; the health demands it, besides such periods are bright spots in life that 

 lighten and cheer the days of toil. It is positively injurious to the health of the mind and 

 body to be constantly occupied in one little round of duties, with no change, no variety to 

 give relaxation. If the farmers of our country and their families would work less hard, take 



