The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 28, 1906, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. =~ BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES, Steer of doors. Climb the mour % g snting, go fishing, go rowing, g golfing, go = do anyt will ake you breathe deep in the 1 sun- ut of doors. Indian for long centuries many of the things we, in civilization, have forgotten ature teachers are trying learn once more. d the an knows them better than our for he has practical knowl- centuries behind him. So, in the fact that we belong to e “superior race” and the Indian h I am going to let In some of these (and perhaps he knows far owr spite of is terior,” teacher health k other which more we 4 or instance, we are now being urged by physicians East and West to sleep The Indian has done this life. He knows that there but life and healt} the alk about its being injurious he laugt at and sleep on, often throughout the entirely exposed to the se, he tries to shelter rain, and a from exceedingly cold we prefers to be where it is the shelter that a freedom of ity ven the ordinary ght in snow, hardened he 1s ca and sleep on, 50 can show what may be done in this line, et me give a few of my own e perie: 8 Rolled my blankcts I have slept stars with the thermometer 15 degrees to 20 degrees Fahrenheit be- w zero awakene, the morning d bright as a lark. Many a ave been rained on during the several ti soaked through to bedding wet, and, sh a my » folly to deny that was uncomfortable, I have suffered no ili On one occasion I had with me a gen- from New York, who had been ing hemorrhages and was dreadfully 23d_he was nearing death, and who begged me to take him for a couple of months into the deserts and canyons of promised to do so on condi- tion that he would sleep out of doors and Arizona accept my dictum as to what was best for h alth. The very first night out we camped by the side of a snowbank. It was in ebruary. I set him to work to wood, cautioning him to do it easily, the campnre was built and supper <ooked and eaten he asked where he was 1o sleep Pointing to the snowbank, I plied, “There.” “Or snow!” he exclaimed in horror. Why, it wil kill me Well, if it does,” 1 jokingly vesponded, “we’ll bury you securely and give you a e funcral.” (o, seriously dre you going to risk my life sleeping on that snow?” he asked. “Most certainly 1 am!” was my decisive veply . When the hour to retire came I found a good place on the snow, spread out a thick, water-proof canvas and several heavy Navaho blankcts and then bade him retire. I saw that he went to sleep, fully warm and comfortable, with a hot rock at his feet. To his amazement he slept the whole night through and de clared on awaking that his bronchial ubes and lungs felt more comfortable d easy than they had done for year We had over a month of that kind of life, riding over the rough country, sleep- ing out, eating simply and breathing decep of the mountain ana desert, :nd has never been troubled s of his lungs. Another importan matter connected with breathing we can learn from the 1 go through our streets and am to sce the number of children n and women, both young and old, who breathe through the mouth. Thé mouth is not the natural channel for breathing. The nostrils are glven to us for that purpose. The mouth for speak- ing, the mose for breathing. Indian child is allowed to be in the world a withput being taught, if necessary, lesson of mnose breathing. Many a e I have watched the Indian mother intently watching her child, when asleep, if it kept its lips closed and so d through its nostrils, the child’s mouth fell mother gently but firmly closed pressed the lips together. If, for any reason, this occurred regularly, the mother covered the lips with a bandage of buckskin and then with another band of buckskin tied the jaws together and %o comvelled nose breathing. The Indian the pure a and my fr rce with fez open the it needed no scientific teacher to tell him that the nose is the filter of all the air that goes into the lungs. He could see that without much exercise of brains. When he was caught in a sand storm and was half choked he found that with each discharge of mucus from the nostrils there came back a lot of the dust and fine sand, which, had he breathed through the mouth, he would have swallowed, to the great injury and irritation of the bronchial tubes and the lungs. To the white man, living in his artificial civiization, this is of even greater ‘im- portance than it is to the Indian. Living in hou. where curtains and carpets, wallpapers and portieres catch disease germs, walking through streets in which accumulate filth and garbage, breeding disease germs, and where diseased men and women spit out their own loathsome diseases; coming in contact with people who are walking disease-germ factorles, there 1s all-the more need for white peo- ple to breathe through the nostrils than for the Indlan. For the disease germs being caught on the capillaries and mucus of the nose are discharged at each cleans- ing of the nostrils, whereas, in mouth breathing, they are more likely to be harbored in the throat, the bronchial tubes or lungs, or find their way into the stomach and intestines, there to work their deadly injury. There is another phase, however, to this nose breathing with which the Indian has long been familiar and that civilized people ought to learn. That is in breath- ing through the nose one is apt to breathe deeper than when he breathes through the mouth. Deep breathing is as import- ant as nose breathing. The lower part of the lungs neeas to pe filled with air at every respiration just as much as the upper part. More than half of eclivilized peoples fail to breathe deep- 1y, thus weakening the lower lungs and making themselves ready to fall easy prey to pulmonary and other disorders. The Mohaves, Navahoes. Yumas. Zunis. Hopis and several other tribes of the Southwest make nose and deep breathing a natter of religion. And what fine chests they have. Deep and powerful as those oi oxen. When 1 first visited the Hopi I slep: ). oJECOND on o/ TORY RO! T in my blankets in the open air at the foot of the high mera on which they iive, and morning, long before sunrise, 1 used awakened by hearing what seémed a lot of cow bells. 1 thought in every to b to be half awakened condition that the In- ans were driving the cows out lo pas- ture. But when the daylight appeared | could never find either cows or pasture. So one night I rolled into my blankets I resolved that as soon as the cow bells rang in the morning { would jump up and for myself. When [ did so to my amazement I saw that the nolse was caused by eight or ten Hopl youths, run- ning like the wind, cach with a cow bell dependent from a walst belt. The harder they ran the more the bells’ jangled and rattled. As 1 grew to know the Hovis better I found that this was a religious imposed- upon the young men in or- to strengthen the lungs and the mus- cles and make them capable of enduring great hardship. And while it is scarcely believable it is vet strictly true, as many people can tes- tify, that the Hopls can run over the des- ert, in the hot scorching sun, distances that reach as high as eighty or ninety miles in the day. On several occasions I have sent a young Hopi from Orafbi to Kearns Canyon, a distance of scventy- two miles, and he has returned, making the round trip of 144 miies within thirty- six hour: An old friend of mine had a cornfield at Moenkopi, forty miles from Oraibi, where he lived, and it ‘was no uncommon thing for him to run out, hoe his corn and run back, all within the twenty-four hours. And he was over 60 years of age. Decp breathing oxygenates all the blood and thus fills it full of the red corpuscles of life that give vim, energy, vigor, snap and creative power. Not only this, but see d. HAT was a significant remark of Mr. Jerome of New York the other day: “The principal effect of my four years as District Attorney bas been, 1 think, to make me more tender-hearted.” We should hardly expect such a confession from one who has to do so much rough riding poiitically speaking, who has had and still has to contend with that which is lowest and trickiest—In hu- man nature. And yet every true and growing man is a tender man, too, and increasingly tender as he get farther away from the quick, sharp judgments of youth and learns through experi- ence how many complicated threads make up that strange fabric which we . call human life. It would be a fine thing for the world if the quality of tenderness entered more constantly into all personal rela- tlonships. Oh, yes, of course we want justice first of all, the fearless and thorough exposure . of rascality, the swift punishment of miscreants, the ceaseless proclamation of the fact that deviation from the right means trou- ble and only trouble. But all this is compatible with tenderness and the world in its best moods is at heart very tender. Emerson, that splendid op- timist, said that despite all the east winds that chill mankind the world is bathed in kindness. We realize this fact at each recurring Christmastide and never more o than three weeks 1go when the good will of multitudes toward their fellow-creatures, especlal-' / iy toward the unblessed and unfortu- A A AN APAPS Ghimns “107I TOVUN when the blood is thus rich in red cor- puscles it is enabled to withstand the in- sidious onslaughts of disease germs that seek to destroy life. Are these objects not worth striving for? To. feel able to do things that require the expenditure of great physical energy and do them easily with pleasute and sat- isfaction, and also to fecl that, because of the sured condition of your blood and lungs, you can go with impunity even into the nresence of contaglous disease, is to give life added charms. This may be done, and with a healthy body cai be done without any danger whatever. In £pesking of the sleening eustoms of the Indians, and what we learn from nate, found such unprecedented and beautiful expression. But this tender- ness of feeling ought to extend not through a single week only but througi all the fifty-two of the year, so that a man would be just as well disposed . toward his neighbor on the 10th of March or the 15th of October as he is on the 25th of December. - Enduring tenderness is rooted in an appreciation of the fact that the ma- terial out of which humanity is made Is such delicate and sensitive stuff that it can easily be warped and marred. A parent by his harshness may close up FINE ART OF THE HUMAN TENDERNESS O O] the avenues that lead to his child’s in- most heart, may nip in the bud its desire to make the parent the trusted sharer of all its little secrets. You can’t deal with plastic impressionable natures in the same rough and ready fashion in which you handle dry goeds and groceries. So swith children of a larger growth, so with our employers and our employes, so with all our kin- dred, so with the generality of men about us to a greater or less degree they are bundles of sensitive, quivering: nerves, to whom we owe because of thelr very make-up a constant meas- MA S HONG NAV . capable of fortitude and éndurance, any _ HAVASUPAL where, so long as it Is dry and free from rocks, makes a good sleeping place. My own experience has again and again demonstrated that the hard ground is better than the softest bed. While at first the ground seems unsympathetic to one’s hip bones, when one wishes to lie on his side, it t¢ not long before the ground sleeper becomes accustomed to this, and then, to his surprise, he finds that he awakes in the morning with firmer muscles, his whole body better rested, his nerves in finer condition than 1f he had slept in the most elaborate bed of civilization. Indeed I am satisfied that there is more in the name ‘“Mother Nature” than mere sentiment. Life, energy, power are rames for wonderful things. We don't know where any of them come from, but 1 am willing to believe, after my experi- T them, I should have referred to the use ence, that in some way added life and of hard beds. No soft matiress for an power and energy come to the man who Indian; fcathers would be an abomina- gets as ¢l to earth—Mother” Nature— as he can. 7The clectric power is imme- dlately communicated to him from the earth itself, flows into him, and becomes a part of him. 1 can do with five to six how sleen when 1 rest on the ground, and feel stronger and better abie to en- dure hard physical labor than when 1 get cight or nine hours indoors. I believe the time will come, especially in a country like California, where every house will be provided with an open-air porch (I mean absolutely open to the air and sky), where, during the most of the vear, lts residents may sleep out of doors. AnG, if they add a hard mattress to their equipment. aun_added health advantage will be gained. The no-breakfast idea has some founda- tlon in the habits of the mormal Indian. He seldom thinks of eating breakfast un- til he has worked for several hours. He will go out and trail his horses or cattle, run (as many of the young Hopis do) a number of miles. work in the corn fleld. fetch in a burro-load of wood, or do any of a score hard jobs that require the ex- ercise of a good deal of physical energy— and 21l before he eats a mouthful. He knows that the stomach needs plenty of rest. He has learned that it is not neces- sary to “have a cup of coffee in bed,” or directly he gets up, in order to sustain him through the day. Think of the “civilization” that has to be maintained and sustained by ‘a eup of coffee direct!ly when 1 get up.” The brain of a healthy man is never so ciear as when his stomach is healthfully empty. There is no time like the early morning for hard work whether of brain or bedy. Both are refreshed after a night's rest. and bath respond readily to all rcasonable demands, Another thing a'l civilized people need to learn, and that is to eat slowly. To masticate thoroughly is an essential con- dition of perfzct nutrition. While Indians feast and stuff and gorge at times to re- petion, these times dre comparatively rare. Their universal hablt before being cursed by learning how to use white men's foods—and by cursed I mean lit- erally what I say, for rank coffee, vile baking powder, chemically flavored canned goods and the like have proved an unmitigated curse to them—I say, their habit psed to be to chew all food for a long long time before swallowing it. In tion. During. the greater part of the year the Hopls sleen on the roofs of their plc- turesque, houses. The tarraced step-like arrangement of the architecture allows the people who live in the second story to use the roof of the first story, and those in the third story can not only use thelr own roof, but also that of the sec- ond story dwellers. With » blanket fhrown on the hard floor, the Indian, wnether man or woman, is content and restful, peacsful, recuper- ative sleed comes easy. When on the march, camping out, it is u matter of indifference where they stop, for any= urc of tenderness. We are not to slash at them as though they were weeds or brambies. And tenderness is also called for because the time is relatively short when we are able to extend it. We all recall the little poem representing a vearning for kindness while one is In a position to appreciate it and includ- ing the verse beginning Keep not your kisses for my pale, diad brow. The children grow up fast, the col- lege years speed by, as if winged, the friend of to-day is gone to-morrow and the time to be tender is this very mo- ment. But tendern 1t does not bet: Ah, no: The. strongest are the tenderesi, The bravest are the lovins. Is‘a mother any less firm, any less is not a mushy affair. en absence of strength. less willing -and qualitied to pour out her last drop of blood for her dwn be- cause when she .caresses the brow of her babv &s 4t an angel's hand were outstretched? Is a surgeon’s touch any less firm or &killful because he is scrup- ulously .careful to lacerate the flesh as litile as possible, to treat the hurt mem- ber with: the utmost tenderness? Woa- derful -indeed is the power of tender- ness. “He put his hand on my brow,’” said a sin-troubléd youth referring to a gracious personality, “and I told him all that was in my poor heart.” Shall we not while this new year is still new resolve that we will be more tender of the rights and . feelings of ‘others all/ this coming year? MOTHER om2 PAPY ° this om of health an Horace Fletcher has merely represent: to us the facts known to Carnero, G ham, Nichols and others. who preached what the Indians had practiced for coun less ecenturic And ot Indians alone, but aberiginal people; the civilized white man who is In such a ing is the main secret longevity the rush to scrape together ail the d ., who has to shovel in h it down with some ki pays t ized white man who annually sands of millions of dollars for the a vertising alone of patent nostrums and humbuge indigestion stomach and other complaints, ch and all the product ¢f insufficient mastication. 1f [ were an Indian and wanted to be little American civilization [ would “ko- dak" the hidecus billboards and signs that deface Go beautt landscapes., and [ would have lantern slides made of them and then lecture throughout the ized world and tell the people—the es—that this self-opinionated and proud race. who regard themselves as so superior to * know so little of na- ture’s - processes that they spend more than enough to support in comfort all the aborigines of North and South America fn buying pills and potions, tablets and powders to correct their evil dletetic habits. 1 wou'd show them the vast es- tablishments for the manufacture of this person’'s nestrum and that sun's nostrum, and I would say: kold the glories of the white man civilization. Arise, ye black-faced wretches,. Work harder and longer in order that ye may have q time to chew your food propert so that you will earn money enough to ‘become civilized and keep your- selves althy with these deliclous tia-bits.” We wonder at the hardihood of the Japs: and the stories of the doings of an Indian trailler on the desert read more like romance and fictlon than truth. Yet it is easy to understand how it is done. I have seen a band of In- dians start out for a week's hard rid- ing. each with all the food he needed for the seven days tled in a sack on the back of saddle. A handful of parched corn will keep an Indlan chew- ing nearly all day, but he will extract enough nourishment out of it to keep him in perfect health. What is the secret? Perfect mastication, perfect assimilation, perfect digestion. ¥at slowly, therefore. Chew each mouthful long and well. Make all food perfectly fluid with the natural saliva before allowed. Drink little or nothing ils, and be sure never to allow érinking at meals for the purpose “weashing down” each mouthful of It civilized men would learn this thing they would add new health, one life and power to the nation. Still another t ing about an Indian’s we might learn. > not rigid vege- tarians, they are largely so. The oynt of meat they eat in a year is ingly small. They have found t they do not need meat thra a day. They are perfectly vigorous and strong without it, as we should be. I myself cat but not as most Americans do. When at home meat twice or thrice a week suffices for my needs. And I am never so well eat very little meat. and. abstain from it altogether, better still. But [ am not cating vegetarianism. I only wish to protest against the idea that we so generally find held by people that meat eating is necessary. It is not' We can eat far less meat than we do. and be far better ia health. When the Apaches were on the warpath, led by stern old Ceronime, their main food was parched corn, and yet these men rede theusands of miles over the hot. sandy plains and mountains of Arlzonu and kept 2 United States army two years hunting them. Simpie food, per- fectly masticated, and sleeping out of doors on the hard ground made those Indians men of steel. They were never tired, and performed feats that astounded all who knew of them. So with Dewet and his Boers during their war. Tt was the same ~stern simolicity of 1ife that made uis wonderful raids possible. Let us xet back to a greater sim- plicity. Wa cun keen all the best thi of our civilization. We cannot spa one: but when we find that with civl zation we lose our natiemal health, vigor and powew, it is well for us to “go back to Nature,” even though we have to learn from an Indlan. even meat advo- now s 4 7