NOVEMBER 15, 1913 



825 



and I do not believe it is well or profitable 

 to have two or more important addresses 

 without some sort of recess between them. 

 Terry alludes to the care of our diet ; and 

 this opens the way for me to repeat that I 

 have never in my life found any thing so 

 beneficial for such troubles as grapefruit. 

 Here in the Xorth it would be rather expen- 

 sive; but in our Florida home we have al- 

 wavs been able to keej^ a supply at so small 

 an expense as to be scarcely worth mention- 

 ing. May God be praised for such a de- 

 licious health-giving medicine as gi'apefruit. 

 Sitting down at a desk reading and answer- 

 ing letters for hours at a time greatly ag- 

 gravates the trouble, and that is what 

 brought back once more friend Teriy's 

 trouble of years ago. I think he is now 

 l^retty well past the difficulty, and I hope 

 his jDrospects are still good that he may live 

 to be a hundred years old. But the matter 

 rests considerably on the shoulders of his 

 good friends scattered far and wide ; and if 

 you want to see liim keep on with his teach- 

 ings for years to come, let me beg of you 

 to be careful about writing him long lettei's ; 

 and whatever you do, inclose an addressed 

 postal card as I desired in my case. I talk- 

 ed with him about it. He said my request 

 was all right ; but as much that he has to 

 say to his friends would hardly be appro- 

 priate on a postal, he urges an addressed 

 stamped envelope. 



In conclusion I begin to tliink that Terry's 

 painful experience during the past few days 

 has really been in one sense providential. 

 It enabled him to form a close acquaintance 

 with one of the best doctors and one of the 

 best trained nurses. I know something 

 about the good woman, because she was em- 

 ployed, years ago, as I understand it, by a 

 member of our family. 



One other thing I said to Mr. Terry : 



" Friend Terry, are you ha\dng outdoor 

 exercise every day of your life, enough to 

 start perspiration? " 



" Mr. Root, I have not had the time. In 

 regard to outdoor air, we have it already. 

 It is right here in this room, as I have ex- 

 plained repeatedly." 



" Yes, my friend, this air is all right. It 

 is delightful. I had not noticed it partic- 

 ularly till just now; but, notwithstanding, 

 I feel quite sure it is not equal to being- 

 outdoors and hard at work at something till 

 the sweat starts." 



I confess it was a little funny, the idea 

 for just a moment, of Terry being a patient 

 and your humble servant the doctor; but I 

 think my good friend agrees with me, even 

 if he did not promise to take " my prescrip- 

 tion." 



Last, but by no means least, besides the 



exercise in the open air, I said sometlung 

 like this: 



'' My good friend, do you ever take a nap 

 during the middle of the day?" 



" I do not need to, Mr. Root. I sleep well 

 and soundly all night; and I do not think 

 that getting into the habit of sleeping in the 

 day time would be any advantage." 



1 do not recall what I said in reply to this 

 matter, but as I deem it of great importance 

 to elderly people I want to go over again 

 what I have been urging repeatedly. 



It was about 35 yeai-s ago that Dr. Salis- 

 buiy warned me against sitting down to 

 dinner or any other meal when tired out. 

 He said my digestive apparatus could not 

 do its work, and do it well, no matter how 

 well the food was prepared, unless I was 

 well rested up before eating. He declared 

 it would add ten years to my life if I would 

 leave my work (then mostly at the desk), go 

 home, and get some sleep. Ten or fifteen 

 minutes' sleep, he said, was better than none 

 at all. Well, it has added certainly ten years 

 to my life, and may be twenty. You re- 

 member how vehemently I have ui'ged it, 

 especiallj' for elderly people. 



Some of our good hard-working mothers 

 have intimated that it was a huge joke to 

 ask the average mother of a family to go 

 and lie down during the very busiest part 

 of the day, just before dinnertime. I think 

 1 realize something of what a task it would 

 be; but could it not be accomplished easier 

 than to have the tired mother go otf to a 

 sanitarium to be doctored, or possibly off 

 into her eternal resting-place before her 

 time? Well, during the past year or two I 

 have found several times that, after this 

 brief nap before dinner, I was not even yet 

 in first-class trim. When I have the use of 

 all my faculties and enthusiasm besides (as 

 I have just now), I can do a lot of work in 

 a little while, and do it well ; but, as I have 

 just said, for the past year or two a good 

 many times a brief nap and a dinner after- 

 ward did not quite get me in " fighting 

 trim." My " storage battery," if you will 

 excuse the illustration, was not even yet well 

 charged ; and half an hour in the garden, so 

 as to start perspiration, did not bring the 

 vim for my work that I usually have. What 

 was the trouble? I told Mrs. Root that I 

 was forced to the conclusion that I had not 

 had sleep enough. 1 often sit up to read as 

 late as ten o'clock, and am often up by half- 

 past four in the morning. 



Now, what I am going to say is for eld- 

 erly people. The younger ones, full of life 

 and vim, may call it nonsense; but after I 

 went back to my comfortable resting-place 

 and slept an hour, sometimes • even more 

 than that, I was ready to swing my hat and 



