ADA IN BED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9154, 8 September 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

ADA IN BED.

A true-born Briton hates laziness, wd if he suspects himself of a desire to lounge, he tortures himself into a feverish activity. Everybody believes exercise to be good for them. Yes, it is very good, absolutely essential, when you are in a fit state to undertake it; but that is not when you have already exhausted all your store of energy. Then you want rest, at first as absolute as you can get it, then modified by a gradually increasing activity. At the end of a day or two of idleness you may, without injury, with absolute profit to your whole nature, indulge in that hill climbing, that bicycle ride, that tennis tournament, which, undertaken the day after you left your ordinary routine of work, might possibly strain your heart, overtax your lungs, and wear out your nerves. No, when you feel thoroughly done up, cross, and exhausted, don't go and spur up poor overworked, over-tired nature ; it is a cruelty, and you can hardly blame her if, struggling' along however bravely to do a task she is not fit for, she one day stumbles and throws you. Try a day in bed as a preliminary if you have a few days' holiday before you ; if but one scant twenty-four hours before you must begin work again, you may do worse than spend it all ii» complete rest. A cer tain woman who had led a life of great activity and responsibility attributed the admirable health she enjoyed at SO to the fact that she had habitually spent a day in bed every week. This is more than most of us want; a day every month or six weeks will serve to keep us well and cheerful. And it need not be spent drearily. A novel—not the " book of the season" that everyone is talking of and you must read, but a good old-fashioned romance, by preference, one which you have read before, so that you know what to skip—will help to make your time pass pleasantly between your dreams, and you may be quite sure of having all your womenkind crowding round you with dainties and caresses. All who try it will find, besides the good it will do them, there is a great deal to be said for a day in bed. — The Hospital.