Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1889 — Where the Trouble Began. [ARTICLE]

Where the Trouble Began.

The question, “At what period should the training of the child begin?” has recently been generally published by the press, accompanied by the answer, “"With its great-grandparents.” I Perhaps this theory furnishes thn clew to a reason for the ill-health prevailing among the present generation. Against it will no doubt be urged thefact that the grandmothers were generally strong, industrious, long-lived-persons, who washed, wove, and worked to supply the necessities of pioneer life. Exactly; they were capable of doing all these things, but possibly not able to« endure this steady, heavy, indoor labor, and also give strong constitutions to large families of children. Lycurgus, wishing to insure a fine race of sons for Lacedaemon, provided that Spartan maidens, clad in one scant, robe should participate in the exercises of the gymnasia, and engage in some of the athletic contests at Olympia. In many instances the English nobility has for generations retained a remarkable degree of physical and mental vigor, and the health of English women, as compared with that of our countrywomen, is proverbial. The arrangements of the English domestic life secure to the young simple aud natural habits, out-door exercise, particularly long walks regardless of weather, being; the rule. Another theory, supported by scientific research, is, that persons who indulge to excess in alcoholic beverages can never transmit perfectly nonnaLca*--ganizations to-iaa«fre' to appear evei> down to the third and fourth generations. Perhaps, therefore, when fathers are free from vice' and mothers have learned to choose out-door occupations and recreations, the term ill will cease to apply to the health of our daughters.— The Voice.