Joel Dorman Steele

“ Here lay the shaggy continent from Florida to the Pole, outstretched in savage slumber. On the bank of the James River was a nest of woebegone Englishmen, a handful of fur-traders at the mouth of the Hudson, and a few shivering Frenchmen among the snowdrifts of Acadia; while amid still wilder desolation Champlain upheld the banner of France over the icy rock of Quebec. These were the advance guard of civilization, the messengers of promise to a desert continent. ”

“ The most tireless of organs while life exists, it is one of the last to yield when life expires. So long as a flutter lingers at the heart, we know the spark of being is not quite extinguished, and there is hope of restoration. During a life such as we sometimes see, it has propelled half a million tons of blood, yet repaired itself as it has wasted, during its patient, unfaltering labor. The play of its valves and the rhythm of its throb have never failed until, at the command of the great Master Workman, the "wheels of life have stood still." ”

“ Then the cannonade lulled, and out of the woods swept the Confederate double battle-line, over a mile long, and preceded by a cloud of skirmishers. A thrill of admiration ran along the Union ranks, as, silently and with disciplined steadiness, that magnificent column of eighteen thousand men moved up the slope of Cemetery Ridge. A hundred guns tore great gaps in their front. Infantry volleys smote their ranks. ”

“ You creep part way down the cellar stairs with only the light of a single tallow candle, and behold by its dim glimmer an expanse of dark water, boundless as the sea. On its surface, in dire confusion, float barrels and boxes, butter firkins and washtubs, boards, planks, hoops, and staves without number, interspersed with apples, turnips, and cabbages, while half-drowned rats and mice, scrambling up the stairway for dear life, drive you affrighted back to the kitchen....Now consider the case of one of these old farmhouse cellars that has been in use fifty years or more. ”

“ They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind—enemies in war; in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States ”

“ POPE. HEALTH AND DISEASE.—DEATH AND DECAY. VALUE OF HEALTH.—The body is the instrument which the mind uses. If it be dulled or nicked, the effect of the best labor will be impaired. The grandest gifts of mind or fortune are comparatively valueless unless there be a healthy body to use and enjoy them. The beggar, sturdy and brave with his outdoor life, is really happier than the rich man in his palace with the gout to twinge him amid his pleasures. The day has gone by when delicacy is considered an element of beauty. Weakness is timid and irresolute; strength is full of force and energy. ”

“ Our brain is thus emancipated from the petty detail of life. If we were obliged to attend to every breath, every pulsation of the heart, every wink of the eye, our time would be wasted in keeping alive. ”

“ Every boy old enough to use a rifle hurried to avenge the death of his countrymen, From behind trees, fences, buildings, and rocks, in front, flank and rear, so galling a fire was poured, that but for reinforcements from Boston, none of the British would have reached the city alive. ”

“ LIFE BY DEATH.—The body is being incessantly corroded, and portions borne away by the tireless oxygen. The scales of the epidermis are constantly falling off and being replaced by secretion from the cutis. The disks of the blood die, and new ones spring into being. On the continuance of this interchange depend our health and vigor. Every act is a destructive one. Not a bend of the finger, not a wink of the eye, not a thought of the brain but is at some expense of the machine itself. Every process of life is thus a process of death. ”

“ Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. ”

“ Some silly feat of strength may produce an irreparable injury. A thoughtless hour of reading by twilight may impair the sight for life. A terrible accident may happen, and a dear friend perish before our eyes, while we stand by powerless to render the assistance we could so easily give did we "only know what to do." The thousand little hints which may save or lengthen life, may repel or abate disease, and the simple laws which regulate our bodily vigor, should be so familiar that we may be quick to apply them in an emergency. The preservation of health is easier than the cure of disease. ”

“ As President, he carefully weighed his decisions, but, his policy once settled, pursued it with steadiness and dignity, however great the opposition. As an officer, he was brave, enterprising, and cautious. His campaigns were rarely startling, but always judicious. He was capable of great endurance. Calm in defeat, sober in victory, commanding at all times, and irresistible when aroused, he exercised equal authority over himself and his army. His last illness was brief, and his closing hours were marked by his usual calmness and dignity. "I die hard," said he, "but I am not afraid to go." ”

“ Too much shade, on the contrary, and too near the house, is equally of ill import; it keeps things damp, and dampness is a breeder of pestilence. An atmosphere confined about a house by too dense foliage is, like the air of an unventilated room, not fit for practical purposes. The sporadic poisons have an intimate relationship with dampness; miasm lives in it as does a snail in his shell. Besides this, it shuts out the cool breath of the summer nights, and makes restless swelterers where even a blanket might be enjoyed.—DR. JOHN DARBY, Odd Hours of a Physician. ”

“ Who is so foolish as to believe that there are people on the other side of the world, walking with their heels upward, and their heads hanging down? And then, how can a ship get there? The torrid zone, through which they must pass, is a region of fire, where the very waves boil. ”

“ Modern science teaches us that disease is not a thing, but a state. When our food is properly assimilated, the waste matter promptly excreted, and all the organs work in harmony, we are well; when any derangement of these functions occurs, we are sick. Sickness is discord, as health is concord. If we abuse or misuse any instrument, we impair its ability to produce a perfect harmony. A suffering body is simply the penalty of violated law. ”

“ The Southern people believed the North to be so engrossed in money-making and so enfeebled by luxury that it could send to the field only mercenary soldiers, who would easily be beaten by the patriotic Southerners. They said, "Cotton is King;" and believed that England and France were so dependent upon them for that staple, that their republic would be recognized and defended by those European powers. On the other hand, the Northern people did not believe that the South would dare to fight for slavery when it had 4,000,000 slaves exposed to the chances of war. ”

“ The water rushes upward and sideways into the cellar, forming, with the savory ingredients at which we have delicately hinted, a sort of broth, quite thin and watery at first, but growing thicker as the water slowly subsides and leaves its grosser parts pervading the surface of the earth, walls, and partitions. All this time the air rushes in at the openings of the cellar, and presses constantly upward, often lifting the carpets from the floors, and is breathed day and night by all who dwell in the house. ”

“ In all this there is exhilaration, but no nourishment; there is animation, but no permanent power conferred on brain or muscle. Alcohol may cheer for the moment. It may set the sluggish blood in motion, start the flow of thought, and excite a temporary gayety. "It may enable a wearied or feeble organism to do brisk work for a short time. It may make the brain briefly brilliant. It may excite muscle to quick action, but it does nothing at its own cost, fills up nothing it has destroyed, and itself leads to destruction." ”

“ Kentucky, like Missouri, had tried to remain neutral, but was unsuccessful. Soon both Confederate and Union troops were encamped on her soil, and the State was ravaged by hostile armies. In all the border States affairs were in a most lamentable condition. The people were divided in opinion, and enlisted in both armies. As the tide of war surged to and fro, armed bands swept through the country, plundering and murdering those who favored the opposite party. ”

“ Putting food into our bodies is like placing a tense spring within a watch; every motion of the body is only a new direction given to this food force, as every movement of the hand on the dial is but the manifestation of the power of the bent spring in the watch. ”

“ Every physical sin subtracts from the sum and strength of our years. We may cure a disease, but it never leaves us as it found us. We may heal a wound, but the scar still shows. We reap as we sow, and we may either gather in the thorns, one by one, to torment and destroy, or we may rejoice in the happy harvest of a hale old age. ”

“ We are quick to feel the need of food, but not so ready to perceive the danger of an excess. A lack of air drives us at once to secure a supply; foul air is as fatal, but it gives us no warning.
Nature provides a little training for us at the outset of life, but leaves the most for us to learn by bitter experience. So in youth we throw away our strength as if it were a burden of which we desire to be rid. We eat anything, and at any time; do anything we please, and sit up any number of nights with little or no sleep. ”

“ But these and other views are not as yet fully understood; while they utterly fail to tell us how a collection of simple cells, filled merely with a semifluid mass of matter, can contract and set free muscular power. The commonness of this act hides from us its wonderful nature. But here, hidden in the cell—Nature's tiny laboratory—lies the mystery of life. Before its closed door we ponder in vain, confessing the unskillfulness of our labor, and fearing all the while lest the Secret of the Cell will always elude our search. ”

“ WONDERS OF RESPIRATION.—The perfection of the organs of respiration challenges our admiration. So delicate are they that the least pressure would cause exquisite pain, yet tons of air surge to and fro through their intricate passages, and bathe their innermost cells. We yearly perform at least seven million acts of breathing, inhaling one hundred thousand cubic feet of air, and purifying over three thousand five hundred tons of blood. This gigantic process goes on constantly, never wearies or worries us, and we wonder at it only when science reveals to us its magnitude. ”