302 WlSCONSII{ STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
tages have attained for us commercial, inventive and manufacturing 
preeminence; because of the noble manhood builded on this con¬ 
tinent, in token of our thankfulness to Almighty God for the man¬ 
ifold blessings v^herewith He has surrounded this nation. 
MENTAL HYGIENE. 
BY JOHN FAVILL, MADISON, 
Member of the State Board of Health. 
What shall we eat, what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall 
we be clothed? are fundamental questions which must be rightly 
answered in providing for the body. Fortunately, in the large 
sense, nature suggests answers. 
But when we set about providing aliment for the mind, the prob¬ 
lem becomes exceedingly complex. How much, what k’nd, and 
how to be administered, are among the leading questions of the age. 
It is not easy to know how to grow strong, long-abiding bodies. It 
is much more difficult to know how to grow strong, enduring, use¬ 
ful minds. 
On the whole, bodies are underfed. On the whole, minds are in 
a state of starvation. The reason both are not in a state of starva¬ 
tion is, that the body when hungry, cries out for food, and will have 
it by means fair or foul; while the mind, without food, becomes 
torpid, and freezes to death without knowing it. 
It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the essence of mind, 
nor its relations to matter, except through the more common or 
coarser analogies. 
When shall we begin to feed the mind of a child? Obviously, 
when it begins to show signs of capacity to digest ideas or notions. 
This digestive capacity may appear very early, or it may be delayed. 
Doubtless most children may be taught many useful things, at six 
months, especially may they be taught obedience. Woe to the 
poor mother who postpones such teaching too long; contempt, ca¬ 
price, and slavery are her inevitable doom. Few young children 
are ungovernable, ifj’udiciously handled; but if contests become 
frequent — if force has often to be met by force; if will has often 
