23. A lady should walk early in the morning, and not late in the evening. The dews of evening are dangerous, and are apt to give severe colds, fevers, and other diseases. Dew is more likely than rain to give cold "The dews of the evening most carefully shun Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun."-Chesterfield. 24. A breath of wind is not allowed to blow on many a fair face. The consequence is, that her cheek becomes sallow, wan, as wan as clay," and bloodless, or if it have a colour it is the hectic flush, which tells of speedy decay! 25. Sitting over the fire will spoil her complexion, causing it to be muddy, speckled, and sallow. The finest complexion in a lady I ever saw belonged to one who would never go, even in the coldest weather, near the fire: although she was nearly thirty years of age, her cheeks were like roses, and she had the most beautiful red and white I ever beheld; it reminded me of Shakspeare's matchless description of a complexion: ""Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white, Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on." 26. Sitting over the fire will make her chilly, nervous, dyspeptic, and dispirited. It will cause her to be more chilly, and thus will make her more susceptible of catching cold; and it will frequently produce chilblains. If she be cold, the sitting over the fire will only warm her for the time, and will make her feel more starved when she leaves it. Crouching over the fire, as many do, is ruination to health and strength and comeliness! Sitting over the fire will make her nervous; the heat from the fire is weakening beyond measure to the nerves. It will disorder and enfeeble her stomach-for nothing debilitates the stomach like great heat-and thus make her dyspeptic; and if she be dyspeptic, she will, she must be dispirited. The one follows the other as surely as the night follows the day. 27. If sitting over the fire be hurtful, sitting with the back to the fire is still more so. The back to the fire often causes both sickness and faintness, injures the spine, and weakens the spinal marrow, and thus debilitates the whole frame. 28. A walk on a clear, frosty morning is as exhilarating to the spirits as the drinking of champagne with this difference, that on the day following the head is improved by the one, but not always by the other. Simple nature's pleasures are the most desirable-they leave no sting behind them! 29. There is nothing like a long walk to warm the body and to make the blood course merrily through the bloodvessels. I consider it to be a great misfortune that my fair countrywomen do not use their legs more, and their carriages less.. "As to exercise, few women care to take it for mere health's sake. The rich are too apt to think that riding in a close varnish-smelling carriage ought to be a very good substitute for muscular struggles in the open air." * 30. Unfortunately this is an age of luxury. Everything is artificial, and disease and weakness, and even barrenness, follow as a matter of course. In proof of my assertion that this is an age of luxury, look at the present sumptuous style of living: carriages rolling about in every direction; diningtables groaning under the weight of rich dinners, and expensive wines flowing like water: grand dresses sweeping the streets, almost doing away with the necessity for scavengers. I say, advisedly, streets; for green fields are, unfortunately, scarcely ever visited by ladies. We are almost in extravagance, rivalling ancient Rome just before luxury sapped her strength and laid her in ruins! 31. If a lady have to travel half a mile she must have her carriage. Strange infatuation! Is she not aware that she has hundreds of muscles that want exercising? that she has lungs that require expanding? that she has nerves that demand bracing? that she has blood that needs circulating? -And how does she think that the muscles can be exercised, that the lungs can be expanded, that the nerves can be braced, and that the blood can be properly circulated, unless these are all made to perform their proper functions by an abundance of walking exercise? It is utterly impossible! 32. Does she desire to be strong? Then let her take exercise! Does she hope to retain her bloom and her youthful appearance, and still to look charming in the eyes of her husband? Then let her take exercise! Does she wish to banish nervousness and low spirits? Then let her take exercise! There is nothing standing still in Nature: if it were, creation would languish and die. There is a perpetual motion! And so must we be constantly employed (when not asleep), if we are to be healthy and strong! Nature will not be trifled with; * From a notice of this work in The Reader of 14th Feb., 1863. these are her laws-immutable and unchangeable, and we cannot infringe them with impunity "Labour is life! 'Tis the still water faileth; Keep the watch wound, for the dark night assaileth; Only the waving wing changes and brightens; Idle hearts only the dark future frightens; Play the sweet keys, would'st thou keep them in tune!" How graphic and beautiful are the following lines of Cowper: "By ceaseless action all that is subsists. An instant's pause, and lives but while she moves." The word fertility" is most appropriate to our subjectfor how many women does idleness make barren! The number is legion! What a dreadful thing it is for a ladylet her station be ever so exalted-having nothing to do! This is the curse of riches! One of the curses of our favoured land! 33. If a newly-married woman be delicate, as, unfortunately, too many are, she may be made to bear exercise well, provided she begin by taking a short walk at first-be it ever so short-and by gradually increasing it, until she be able to take a tolerably long one. She might find it irksome at the beginning, and might be inclined to give it up in despair; but if she value her health and happiness, let me urge her to persevere, and she may depend upon it that she will be amply rewarded for her trouble. 34. A delicate lady frequently complains of cold feet; she has neither sufficient food nor sufficient exercise to keep them warm. Walking and plenty of nourishment are the best remedies she can use to warm them. If they be cold before retiring to rest- -a frequent cause of keeping her awake-let her walk briskly for half an hour, before undressing for the night, about either the hall, or the landing, or a large room; or what is better still, let her have a dance with her husband, or a romp with her children, if she have any. 35. Some ladies declare that they are always cold, their feet especially, which are as cold as ice! The fact is, they not only do not take exercise enough, but they do not take nourishment enough — breakfast especially to keep them warm. Many ladies really and truly half starve themselves; they consider it to be vulgar to eat much, and to satisfy their appetite; they deem it low to take a long walk; every poor woman can do that! it is much more easy and pleasant to loll back in an easy carriage, and to be rolled along! Truly; but if carriage exercise be more agreeable, is it as healthful? Certainly not; there is very little exercise in riding in a carriage, but every organ, muscle, nerve, and blood-vessel of the body is put into beneficial action by walking. Walking is essential to health, and if to health, to happiness; there is no substitute for it; there certainly is no perfect health nor perfect happiness without it. 36. The reason why my fair countrywomen take so much opening medicine is the want of exercise. How truly it has been said that "physic, for the most part, is nothing else than the substitute of exercise or temperance." I consider it to be a grievous misfortune for any one-man, woman, or childwho cannot, without the frequent taking of physic, keep their bowels regular. When such is the case there is something wrong, very wrong, about her system and about her proceedings, and the sooner the matter is inquired into and rectified the better. The necessity of a constant swallowing of opening medicine is a proof of chronic ill-health, and will in time injure her constitution beyond remedy. I cannot speak too strongly on this subject; I have, in my professional experience, seen so much mischief and misery caused by the frequent swallowing of opening pills, that I should not do my duty if I did not raise my voice against the abominable custom. Why, many ladies makes a practice, during the whole of their lives, of taking two or three times a week opening pills! The bowels, they say, will not act without them; but I maintain that if they would resolutely refrain from swallowing them, and adopt the rules of health laid down in these pages, they would be able altogether to dispense with them, to their great benefit and delectation. But then the rules of health require trouble and perseverance-(and what that is worth having does not?)—while the swallowing of a couple of pills might be done quickly, and with very little trouble; but although the frequent taking of pills gives at the time but little trouble, they cause much trouble afterwards! Look then, at the results of each system, and decide accordingly! It has been said that "gluttony kills more than the sword; my conviction is, that the constant taking of opening medicine kills more than gluttony and the sword combined! The abuse of aperients is one of the crying evils of the day, and who so proper as a medical man to raise his voice to suppress, or at all events to lessen, the evil? 37. If a lady be costive, and is in consequence inclined to take a dose of physic, let me advise her to take instead a long walk, which will in the majority of cases do her vastly more good; and if requiring repetition, the one is far more agreeable, and the effects are much more likely to be lasting than the other. Exercise, I am quite sure, is, as a rule, in the long run much more effectual and beneficial and agreeable than opening physic! 38. A newly married wife ought to be cautious in the taking of horse-exercise. As long as she be not pregnant, horse-exercise is very beneficial to health, and is a great enjoyment; but the moment symptoms of pregnancy develope themselves, she must instantly give it up, or it will very probably cause her to miscarry. 39. Let her breathe the pure air of heaven, rather than the close contaminated air either of an assembly or a concert room. The air of an assembly or of a concert room is contaminated with carbonic acid gas. The gas-lights and the respiration of numbers of persons give off carbonic acid gas, which gas is highly poisonous. The truth of this assertion is patent to every one who will observe the effects that a large assembly, more especially in the evening, when the gas or candles are flaring away, has on the system: the headache, the oppression, the confusion of ideas, the loss of appetite, the tired feeling, followed by a restless night-all tell a tale, and loudly proclaim that either an assembly or a concert room is not a fit place for a young wife desirous of having a family. 40. Let a young married lady attend well to the ventilation of her house. She may depend upon it that ventilation, thorough ventilation, will prove one of the best friends she has in the world. Let her give directions to her servant to have early every morning every window in the house opened, as the morning air is fresher and sweeter than it is later in the day. "For ventilation open your windows both at top and bottom. The fresh air rushes in one way while the foul makes its exit the other. This is letting in your friend and expelling your enemy."* This opening of the window, top *The Family Friend, vol. i. London: Houlston & Stoneman. |