are sadly mistaken. Nothing is gained by the practice. On the
contrary, much is lost by it. The bow cannot always remain bent,
without injury. Neither can the mind always be kept 'toned' to a high
pitch. _Mind_ and _body_ must and will have their relaxations.

I am not an advocate for _wasting time_ or for _eating more_ than is
necessary. Nay, I even believe, on the contrary, with most _medical_
men, that we generally eat about twice as much as nature requires. But
I do say, and with emphasis, that food must be _masticated_.

Before I dismiss the subject of temperance, let me beseech you to
resolve to free yourselves from slavery to _tea_ and _coffee_.
Experience has taught me, that they are _injurious to health_. Even my
habits of sobriety, moderate eating, and early rising, were not, until
I left off using them, sufficient to give me that complete health which
I have since had.

I do not undertake to prescribe for others exactly; but, I do say, that
to pour down regularly, every day, a quart or two of _warm liquid_,
whether under the name of tea, coffee, soup, grog, or any thing else,
is greatly injurious to health. However, at present, what I have to
represent to _you, is the great deduction which they make, from your
power of being useful_, and also from your _power to husband your
income_, whatever it may be, and from whatever source arising. These
things _cost_ something; and wo to him who forgets, or never knows,
till he pays it, how large a bill they make--in the course of a year.

How much to be desired is it, that mankind would return once more, to
the use of no other drink than that pure beverage which nature prepared
for the sole drink of man! So long as we are in health, we need no
other; nay, we have no right to any other. It is the testimony of all,
or almost all whose testimony is worth having, that water is the best
known drink. But if water is _better_ than all others, _all others
are_, of course, _worse than water_.

As to food and drink _generally_, let me say in conclusion, that
_simplicity_ is the grand point to aim at. Water, we have seen, is the
sole drink of man; but there is a great variety of food provided for
his sustenance. He is allowed to select from this immense variety,
those kinds, which the experience of mankind generally, combined and
compared with his own, show to be _most useful_. He can _live_ on
almost any thing. Still there is a _choice_ to be observed, and so far
as his cir