MELL O W ENGLAND. 



iS3 



rare-bit he devours annually would send the best of us 

 to his grave in half that time. We have not enough 

 constitutional inertia and stolidity; our climate gives us 

 no rest, but goads us day and night, and the consequent 

 wear and tear of life is no doubt greater in this coun- 

 try than in any other on the globe. We are playing 

 the game more rapidly, and I fear less thoroughly and 

 sincerely than the mother country. 



The more uniform good health of English women is 

 thought to be a matter of exercise in the open air, as 

 walking, riding, etc., but the prime reason is mainly a 

 climatic one, uniform habits of exercise being more 

 easily kept up in that climate than in this and being 

 less exhaustive, one day with another. You can walk 

 there every day in the year without much discomfort, 

 and the stimulus is about the same. Here it is too 

 hot in summer and too cold in winter, or else it keys 

 you up too tight one day and unstrings you the next ; 

 all fire and motion in the morning and all listlessness 

 and ennui in the afternoon ; a spur one hour and a 

 sedative the next. 



A watch will not keep as steady time here as in 

 Britain and the human clock-work is more liable to 

 get out of repair for the same reason. Our women, 

 especially, break down prematurely, and the decay of 

 maternity in this country is no doubt greater than in 

 any of the oldest civilized communities. One reason, 

 doubtless, is that our women are the greatest slaves of 

 fashion in the whole world, and in following the whims 



