The riche-t genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated and permitted to run to waste, shoots

up into the rankest weeds; and instead of vines and olives

HINTS ON THE BENEFITS OF BATHING.

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dred and twenty gallon cask; cut it in the middle, and while one portion would answer as it is for scalding hogs, the other half could be scrubbed up and painted, and thus made into a respectable bathing-tub. The cost of one of these casks is but a small sum, and it would last, with proper usage, for ten years. Another difficulty may present itself; to wit, a convenient location for the tub, when obtained, especially if the dwellinghouse has not a small room that can be permanently appropriated to its use. Every house ought to have such a room. Or there might be a small building erected, at a moderate, expense, in the vicinity of the well, with a kettle set for cooking, at certain seasons of the year, food for farm animals. Here might be the bathing-tub, and the building answer well for both purposes, neither materially interfering with the other; the kettle doing the double duty, heating water for bathing, when warm is wanted; and for cooking, as before mentioned. It would also do well on washing days even, for a third purpose. Here, the tub always filled, the temperature of the water, softened by standing, would always be in readiness for use by all requiring it. When the water had become unfit for further bathing, it could be drawn off into the scalding-tub or some other vessel, for any desired use on the premises, and the bathing-tub filled again with clean water. Thus using the water, after unfit for bathing, for the garden or other agricultural purposes, the tax for labor in the preparation would be next to nothing.

The following good-natured, graphic description, from one of the writers in the Agriculturist alluded to, will show how persons may do, when unable to do as they would do. During my residence in Ohio, he remarks, I knew the wife of a farmer, who with his boys worked his little farm, and lived comfortably, by dint of the most persevering and patient industry. This woman had been born and educated in one of the Atlantic States, and she considered the daily bath of so much importance to health and comfort, that in all her difficulties, it was rarely omitted. Her log house was small and inconvenient, consisting only of two rooms and a wood-shed below, and three small chambers above. The kitchen, as in most farm-houses, was the largest room, and, in one corner of this, she had placed for the winter a hogshead cut down, and screened from sight, when in use, by a bed-cover hung from the joists above. In the summer, it was placed in the wood-shed; and in this primitive kind of bath she dipped, first her children, and then herself, every morning, while the men were feeding the stock, and the kettle on the fire preparing for breakfast. Her neighbors sneered, and wondered

The applause of the mob or multitude is but a poor comfort.

for the pleasure and use of man, produces to its slothful owner the most abundant crop of poisons.

The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas, as those of a fool are by his passions. The time

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of the one is long, because he does not know what to do with

HINTS ON THE BENEFITS OF BATHING.

how she could take so much time, before breakfast, too; but she said, good-naturedly, that in twenty minutes all was finished, and comfort and cleanliness secured for the whole day; and, certainly a more healthful, merry set of children never rewarded a mother's care.

The only objection that can be urged against this healthful practice, is prompted by indolence-a cowardly shrinking from the trouble, and mayhap from the chill of the first plunge; but this grows less and less-habit steps in to aid us, and by rising a few minutes earlier, the busiest man or woman may secure the necessary time. Then the warm glow and brisk, healthful circulation that succeeds the chill, is an ample repayment for all transient discomfort. The unshrinking use of a coarse crash towel-a short, quick walk in the open air, if possible directly after, and our word for it, the most delicate of you all will return with such an appetite as you never know going from chamber to breakfast-room, without the application prescribed above;-a prescription that we would enforce by earnest solici tations, for a trial at least, to those of our readers who wish for a long life and a healthful one.

On entering a cold bath, the head should first come in contact with the water, either by immersion, by being showered upon, or by covering it, a minute or so, with a wet cloth. After this, the bather may plunge into the water headlong. As the immersion will be less felt when it is effected suddenly, and as it is of consequence that the first impression should be uniform over the whole body, the bath ought not to be entered slowly, nor timorously, but with a degree of boldness. A contrary method, in some constitutions, is dangerous, as it has a tendency to propel the blood from the lower to the upper parts of the body, and thus predisposes to a fit of apoplexy. For these reasons, the shower bath is attended with considerable advantage, because it transmits the water quickly over the whole body. Therefore, while in the water, the bather should not remain inactive, but apply brisk and general friction, and move his arms and legs, by swimming, or otherwise, in order to promote the circulation of the blood from the heart to the extremities. For in all cases, it is extremely imprudent to continue in the bath until the body is attacked with a second

chilliness.

The duration of the immersion ought to be short, and must be determined by the bodily constitution and sensation of the individual. In summer, a cold bath may be enjoyed by healthy persons for half an hour or more, while in spring or autumn a few minutes will be sufficient. Under similar circumstances,

He is the only rich man who understands the use of wealth.

it; so is that of the other, because he distinguishes every moment of it with useful or amusing thoughts.

To be ambitious of true honor, of the true glory and perfection of our natures, is the very principle

and incentive of virtue; but to be ambitious of titles, of place,

cold water acts on aged and lean individuals with more violence than on those who are corpulent and young. Hence, an old man of seventy, even in the hottest days of summer, can seldom remain in a cold bath, with safety, longer than ten or fifteen minutes; whereas, the robust young man of twenty may safely sustain its impression for nearly an hour.

It seems not necessary to say that after leaving the bath, the bather should immediately wipe himself dry with a coarse towel or cloth. Nor should he afterward sit inactive; but if the season permit, he ought to take moderate exercise, till the usual circulation, and the customary action of the muscles be restored. Other matters relating to the subject can be determined by each individual as circumstances may arise.

Traverse the desert, and then ye can tell
What treasures exist in the deep cold well;
Sink in despair on the red parch'd earth,

And then ye may reckon what the water is worth.

THE ART OF SWIMMING.

There was one did battle with the storm

With careless, desperate force; full many times
His life was won and lost, as though he reck'd not-
No hand did aid him, and he aided none-
Alone he breasted the broad wave, alone

That man was sav'd.

THE art of swimming is important to young men in rural life as well as to all others. And the frequency with which it is needful for them to bathe renders it especially desirable, where water is of sufficient depth, that they should not be unskilled in this fascinating and healthful exercise. While to the person unaccustomed to manual labor it gives vigor and strength of limb and muscle, to the laboring man agility of muscular action not otherwise acquired. And, it has this advantage over other athletic exercises: under judicious management, it is never attended with personal injury; while on the other hand, the lives of thousands, it may be presumed, are annually saved from accidental drowning by the exercise of it.

To heap kindnesses upon the ungrateful is the wisest and most cruel revenge.

13

of ceremonial respects and civil pageantry, is as vain and little as the things are which we court.

I can readily conceive of a man without hands or feet; and I could conceive of him without a head, if experience had not taught me that by this

he thinks, Thought, then, is the essence of man, and without this we

Let a man once thus preserve his own life, the life of a companion, of a helpless child or woman, and it will be a subject of complacent reflection forever afterward, as well as a sufficient consideration for the trouble a thousand persons may have had in acquiring the art. Girls, as well as boys, ought to be systematically taught to swim, thus rendering them more hardy, and taking care of themselves when in the water, instead of their present fashionable state of dependence on the other sex; and, in cases of emergency, such as frequently occurring, making them instrumental in saving instead of endangering the lives of their fellow-creatures. On these accounts, here and there may be found one of our most accomplished ladies an adept in the delightful amusement.

It is unfortunate that prejudice has so generally excluded females from an exercise so healthful to body and mind, so useful in times of danger, and so easily acquired, particularly as they would learn it more easily than males, and as the exercise of swimming, as said by medical men, would be peculiarly useful to certain functions peculiar to females. In exposed situations, a loose dress from the neck to the ankles, would satisfy all claims of propriety. It would by no means give them a masculine air; but, it would give them that kind of confidence in an element, for which the human figure and organs are not adapted, that would render them greatly attractive to persons of the best taste.

One of the first things a person is to learn on entering the water is to breathe through the nose, as soon as the head rises above the surface, instead of opening the mouth, as all are inclined to do after a suspension of breath. This is to prevent the water from getting into the throat, which not only produces an unpleasant sensation-a tendency to suffocation; and to keep the specific gravity of the body lighter than water, as it naturally is; whereas, if water were admitted freely into the lungs, it would not be lighter. Of course the natural tendency of the body would then be to sink. All that would prevent it from sinking is that peculiar motion of the arms and legs in which consists the art of swimming; this motion is striking the water alternately with the hands and feet-which, like oars, row a person forward-the body being kept a little oblique, the more easily to preserve the head erect and the mouth above the surface. The art of swimming is easily learnt, if the person is calm and collected. There are but few rules to be observed. The process is perfectly simple. But if there is any trepidation or alarm, or confusion of mind, the chance is that these directions There is no more faithful or pleasant friend than a good book.

cannot conceive of him. What is it in us that feels pleasure or pain? Not the hand or arin-the flesh or blood; but something immaterial.

True courage has so little to do with anger, that there lies always the strongest suspicion against it, where this passion

is highest. The true courage is cool and calm. The bravest

will be disregarded, and that failure will be the consequence. But as soon as the mind is relieved from fear, and one feels himself safe, no more difficulty will be experienced in swimming than in walking. The operation of fear upon our muscular action is most extraordinary. It is well known that one on the upper cliffs of a high mountain precipice, or walking on the roof of a high edifice along the edge, if he gaze downward, will be liable to fall. But were it not for fear, or a peculiar sensation in the head called dizziness, he would be no more liable to fall than if he were walking along at the base of these elevations. It is much the same in the water. Other land animals, when cast into the water, swim naturally-much as they walk; seldom is one drowned, unless under the pressure of a strong current, or from exhaustion. True, man in swimming requires a different position, and a different action of the limbs, from that in walking, but both are acquired without difficulty, and in a very short period. It may be done half a dozen times over while the habit is acquired of riding on horseback with grace and ease.

Many of the advantages derived from swimming are the same as those received in bathing, without a knowledge of this art. But it is apparent that the pleasure in bathing would be far greater could there be an indulgence in the other at the same time. In bathing upon the sea-shore, or upon the margin of rivers, lakes, or ponds, without a knowledge of it, there is certainly a degree of hazard to life, which cannot fail, in a measure, to be viewed with unpleasant apprehensions. This must in all situations be the case, where there is not a consciousness of exemption from all danger. Even the possibility of peril to timid minds will be a perpetual source of disquietude. To thousands of persons there would be no satisfaction on board a steamboat or in a locomotive railroad car; indeed, there would be a perpetual sensation of alarm, till familiarized to the power that may be exercised over steam. So it is to persons in the water unable to swim. And how anxious parents are for the safety of their children, unable to do it, when in the act of bathing! Besides, those who can swim may remain in the water longer than those who cannot. The exercise afforded in swimming, together with the mental excitement, produces an animal warmth, that prevents for a long period all liability to chills. And there is a correspondingly increased advantage to health, not to be overlooked. But, as swimming calls into violent action a greater number of muscles than almost any other kind of labor, it quickly induces fatigue, and should therefore not be continued too long. Each individual, according to his age or He who loves to employ himself well can never want something to do.

of men have the least brutal insolence; and, in the very time of danger, are found the most pleasant, calm, and serene.