Sympathy at Home
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lips that they speak no guile: let him eschew evil, and do good; let
him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the
righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the
Lord is against them that do evil.” A contented mind, a cheerful spirit,
is health to the body and strength to the soul. Nothing is so fruitful
a cause of disease as depression, gloominess, and sadness. Mental
depression is terrible. You all suffer from it. The daughter is fretful,
partaking of the spirit of the father; and then the heated, oppressed
atmosphere, deprived of vitality, benumbs the sensitive brain. The
lungs contract, the liver is inactive.
Air, air, the precious boon of heaven which all may have, will bless
you with its invigorating influence if you will not refuse it entrance.
Welcome it, cultivate a love for it, and it will prove a precious soother
of the nerves. Air must be in constant circulation to be kept pure. The
influence of pure, fresh air is to cause the blood to circulate healthfully
through the system. It refreshes the body and tends to render it strong
and healthy, while at the same time its influence is decidedly felt upon
the mind, imparting a degree of composure and serenity. It excites the
appetite, and renders the digestion of food more perfect, and induces
sound and sweet sleep.
The effects produced by living in close, ill-ventilated rooms are
these: The system becomes weak and unhealthy, the circulation is
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depressed, the blood moves sluggishly through the system because it is
not purified and vitalized by the pure, invigorating air of heaven. The
mind becomes depressed and gloomy, while the whole system is ener-
vated; and fevers and other acute diseases are liable to be generated.
Your careful exclusion of external air and fear of free ventilation leave
you to breathe the corrupt, unwholesome air which is exhaled from the
lungs of those staying in these rooms, and which is poisonous, unfit
for the support of life. The body becomes relaxed, the skin becomes
sallow, digestion is retarded, and the system is peculiarly sensitive to
the influence of cold. A slight exposure produces serious diseases.
Great care should be exercised not to sit in a draft or in a cold room
when weary, or when in a perspiration. You should so accustom your-
self to the air that you will not be under the necessity of having the
mercury higher than sixty-five degrees.
You can be a happy family if you will do what God has given you
to do and has enjoined upon you as a duty. But the Lord will not