Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1900)
Che Conservative * is fouiid most gratofal. Tlioso at easiest reach will probably receive the prize. Keep them constantly at hand , which ever you like best , so that there will bo 110 danger of swilling them ; drink at the beginnings of thirst , and in no great quantities at once. A whole glass of ice-water at a draft will probably seldom bo desired , by one who has properly studied his true inclinations. In like manner , while ice is the soul of the virtue , while the sight and touch and music of it are very life , it is doubtless most enjoyed in subordinate quantity ; the forties of temperature bettor than the thirties , for its effect. It is drink with ice in it , not ice with a little drink in it , that wo want ; let the waiters and fountaineors bo suggested , not to give us more heaps of cracked ice , which we cau neither drink nor oat , but only mumble in an unsatisfactory way , and which indeed may leave us thirstier than they found. But the quietest of contempt for all pretence that the rational use of ice in drinks is of such effect. This is the more lack of brains , however common it may be , which can not distinguish between the use of a good thing and the abuse. Everything witJi brains ; suppose that ingredient understood from the beginning , and throughout. Replace Coft'ee With Iced-Tea. If at the zenith of the season then , a man at breakfast , instead of customary coffee , take a couple of glasses of iced- tea , he may pass the forenoon in com fort of measurable coolness , with perhaps but sips of water. About noon a bowl of lemonade , distinctly iced , may put him in such condition for the afternoon that he will hardly kno\y by physical sensation what time of the year it is. The day having passed in moderations such as these , of course there is likely to bo increase of thirst toward evening ; best never get far from cold drinking , and on bedtime , have a well iced pitcher , wet-wrapped so as to keep its treasure till morning , set in reach. Avoid Solf-Prlvution. Nothing is here put down except on the basis of direct experience ; the ex perience of near half a century , very carefully noted That space of life has been passed almost without sickness ; csrtaiuly with no sickness which could be referred to such causes as are here indicated. The writer , comfortably situated no doubt , is almost a stranger to the dread of heat , or to suffering from it. These are associated only with the night , not the day ; if any great hot time were to be remembered by date , it would be , for example , not August 5 , but August 5-0. Only where sleep was interfered with he has found trouble ; and not that , if there were any chance of a ground-floor ; the heated air that gathers in upper rooms is sometimes a little beyond comfortable endurance ; this may average once a year. The exemption from usual tribulation he would ascribe in large measure to such practices as described. There is cer tainly not much genius in them , as they consist in doing what one wants to do ; only with consideration and conscience. But there is a curious disposition or sur vival in mankind by which some merit or advantage is supposed to accrue , from torturing others or oneself. Es pecially in any form of sickness or suffering is it supposed , that if only some privation or infliction poignant enough can be devised , the sufferer will bo somehow better off. Privation of course will be keenly felt in proportion to desire. A little child , near of kin to the writer , lay many years ago in burn ing fever. He begged piteously for water ; it was denied him , according to medical ideas of the time. As his tor ment increased , he implored that they would give him warm water if he could not have it cold ; but nurse and family stood over him , like the blest over Dives , except that they were not "com forted , " at the sight. So the poor little fellow agonized to death , where water might have saved him. Exactly so much intelligence and humanity are in the maxims which would refuse to suffering mortals the comforts they naturally crave in hot weather. The case is not so extreme , but as far as it goes , the principle is identical. Bath. Breeze and Diversion. Thus in regard to "stimulants , " also expressly proscribed in these manifestoes. So far as spirituous drinking in general is concerned , I know little good of it at any time , and certainly it would not occur as a remedy for heat. But if a man finds value in his glass of boor or wine , all he is likely to come at by omitting them is loss of a pleasure , and reminder that it is hot. In all things , the nearer he keeps to usual ways the better. It is supposed throughout , that he has ways to go work in the world to do. If not , Heaven keep him ; no sensible writer will try to. Even before all this gospel of comfort , which is certainly the one of health , is that of activity ; protective against cold and heat and all other ills alike. It is bath , breeze and diversion , all in one. If yon can get a machine to fan you , well ; but woe to the man. who fans himself , at least as far as comfort is concerned ; he merely haunts the beholder with a type of imbecile wretchedness. Go straighten on with what you have to do , a little straighter that the glorious world with out does not at the moment draw you away so much. Saint Loyola said that the enemy was essentially a woman , only powerful as allowed so. No ex haustive acquaintance with either Devil or woman is here professed , but it is claimed for certain , that the loss con cession to the canicular demons the loss is to be feared of him. COM. COLORADO GORGE. , , Canon of the Colorado river is twelve miles wide , ono mile deep and nearly two hundred miles long. Very few people have seen it. It is nndispntably the greatest natural won der of the world. Many have an idea that they passed through it on the Den ver & Rio Grande Railroad , which does , not run within 800 miles of it. Thousands of sight-seers will now have an opportunity to witness this I wonderful freak of Nature because of anew now railroad from Williams , Arizona , now completed to within ten miles of the Canon. Those who have seen the Oafion are never tired of telling about it. BRYAN AND THE BOERS. Does any reasonable American believe that , if elected President of the United States next November , Mr. Bryan firmly intends to raise the sword of the repnb lie against England and say , "Restore South Africa as it was ? " By that time the Transvaal will be a British colony. The Orange Free State is already British territory , by right of conquest. Not one government in the world has protested against the annexation of the Orange Free State. It is done. All the world expects that the Transvaal will meet a like fate. Yet , as candidate for president of the United States , Mr. Bryan , in the pres ence of the people and to the Boer en voys uttered language which was mere buncombe , or which meant that , if elec ted , he would interpose the powers of the United States to restore the indepen dence of the South African states. It may be claimed that Mr. Bryan meant that the United States government should formally express sympathy for the defeat of the Boers and enter a pro test against the acts of England. But America would be placed in a ridiculous position by saying to England : "We protest , but , please understand , we mean no threat. We simply wish to go on record , not to fight. " Neither Mr. Bryan himself , nor any other sane American , entertains a belief that the people of the United States will consent to a war with England now , or if Bryan is elected president. But to the Boer envoys did not the words of Mr. Bryan seem to carry a promise of intervention ? Would not these envoys be justified in sending word to their countrymen to keep up the war , to maintain a show of opposition in God's name , until the election of Bryan ? Under the circumstances Mr. Bryan stands convicted of cruelly imposing upon people engaged in a hopeless war , which can bo continued only with the result of needless misery and a wanton sacrifice of life. Kansas City Star.
