HOW TO GET STRONG
man; for wholesome food is plenty; his appetite is sharp; and he eats with relish and zest. One thinks that, when he eats and sleeps well, he is pretty healthy; and so he usually is; but when content with this state of things, he is making some parts of his body strong, and leaving others weak; and the warp he is giving to that body, by twice as much work for the muscles of his back as for those of the front of his chest; while it makes the former large, and even muscle-bound; cramps the latter; and hence gives less room for heart, lungs, stomach, and all the vital organs, than a well-built man would have. If one should tie his left arm; and with his right swing a smith's hammer all day; no doubt he would soon have a keen appetite, and the sweet sleep of the laboring-man. But in what shape would it leave him in a few years; or even in a few months? The work of the farmer also leaves him as one-sided. Less so; but he who looks may see it.
While farm-work makes a man hearty and well, though clumsy, it takes the spring out of him. The merchant is, physically, however, worse off. Getting to his work in boyhood; sticking to it as long as the busiest man in the store; his body often not fit nor ready for even half the strain it bears; he toils on through the boy's work, the clerk's, and the salesman's, till he is a partner; or he starts as entry-clerk; rises to be book-keeper; and then stays there. In many places he has had to stand nearly all day; till his sides and waist could bear it no longer; and he often breaks down under the strain. If his work calls him out much, he finds that to walk with his mind on the stretch, and more or less worried, does not bring him that vigor he looks for from so much exercise; and at night in place of being fresh and hearty, he is jaded and used up. When extra tension
4
