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Chapter 22—Temperance and Dietetics
Every student needs to understand the relation between plain
living and high thinking. It rests with us individually to decide
whether our lives shall be controlled by the mind or by the body.
Each one makes the choice that shapes the life, and no pains should
be spared to understand the forces with which we have to deal, and
the influences that mold character and destiny.
Intemperance is an enemy against which all need to be guarded.
The rapid increase of this terrible evil should arouse everyone to
warfare against it. Instruction on temperance topics should be given
in every school and in every home. Young people should understand
the effect of alcohol, tobacco, and like poisons in breaking down the
body, beclouding the mind, and sensualizing the soul. It should be
made plain that those who use these things cannot long possess the
full strength of their physical, mental, or moral faculties.
But in order to reach the root of intemperance we must go deeper
than the use of alcohol or tobacco. Idleness, evil associations, or
lack of aim, may be the predisposing cause. Often the cause is
found at the home table, in families that consider themselves strictly
temperate. Anything that disorders digestion, that creates undue
mental excitement, or in any way enfeebles the system, disturbing
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the balance of the mental and physical powers, weakens the control
of the mind over the body, and thus tends toward intemperance.
The downfall of many a promising young person might be traced to
unnatural appetites created by an unwholesome diet.
Tea and coffee, condiments, confectionery, and pastries, all are
active causes of indigestion. Flesh food also is harmful. Its naturally
stimulating effect should be a sufficient argument against its use,
and the almost universally diseased condition of animals makes it
doubly objectionable. It tends to irritate the nerves and excite the
passions, thus giving the balance of power to the lower propensities.
Those who accustom themselves to a rich, stimulating diet, find
after a time that the stomach is not satisfied with simple food. It
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