186
Counsels on Diet and Foods
This exhibition of passion was the result of the mother’s course
of indulgence. The quality of food she provided for her child was a
continual tax to the digestive organs. The blood was impure, and the
child sickly and irritable. The quality of food given daily to this child
was of that nature to excite the lower order of passions, and depress
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the moral and intellectual. The parents were forming the habits of
their child. They were making her selfish and unloving. They did not
restrain her desires, or control her passions. What can they expect
of such a child, should she come to maturity? Many do not seem to
understand the relation the mind sustains to the body. If the system is
deranged by improper food, the brain and nerves are affected, and the
passions are easily excited.
A child of about ten years was afflicted with chills and fever, and
was disinclined to eat. The mother urged her: “Eat a little of this
sponge cake. Here is some nice chicken. Won’t you have a taste of
these preserves?” The child finally ate a large meal for a well person.
The food urged upon her was not proper for the stomach in health, and
should in no case be taken while sick. The mother, in about two hours,
was bathing the head of the child, saying she could not understand
why she should have such a burning fever. She had added fuel to the
fire, and wondered that the fire burned. Had that child been left to let
nature take her course, and the stomach take the rest so necessary for
it, her sufferings might have been far less. These mothers were not
prepared to bring up children. The greatest cause of human suffering
is ignorance on the subject of how to treat our own bodies.
The inquiry with many is, What shall I eat, and how shall I live,
to best enjoy the present time? Duty and principle are laid aside for
present gratification. If we would have health, we must live for it. If we
perfect Christian character, we must live for it. Parents are, in a great
degree, responsible for the physical health and morals of their children.
They should instruct their children and urge them to conform to the
laws of health for their own sake, to save themselves unhappiness and
suffering. How strange that mothers should indulge their children to
the ruin of their physical, mental, and moral health! What can be the
character of such fondness! These mothers make their children unfit
for happiness in this life, and render the prospect of the future life very
uncertain.—
The Health Reformer, December, 1870
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