n which will greatly increase your usefulness in life. It is
a great mistake to suppose that exposure to a damp, vapory atmosphere is
injurious to health. The danger lies in exposing yourself when the
system is in a relaxed state, as it is during rest, after exercise. But,
while a general action is kept up, by vigorous exercise, nature itself
will resist the most unfriendly vapors of the atmosphere. There is a
great and growing evil in the education of ladies of the middling and
higher classes, at the present day. The tender and delicate manner in
which they are bred, enfeebles their constitutions, and greatly
diminishes their usefulness, in every station of life. Many of them are
sickly, and few of them are able to endure the slightest hardships. To
show that this is the fault of their education, we need only to refer to
the condition of those young women whose circumstances in life render it
necessary for them to labor. In most cases they possess hale and
vigorous constitutions, and are even more capable of enduring hardships
than most men of sedentary habits. There may be some exceptions to this
remark; but if these cases were examined, we should doubtless find that
the laws of nature have been, in some other respects, transgressed. I do
not see how this delicate training can be reconciled with Christian
principle. If we have devoted ourselves to the Lord, it is our duty not
only to do all the good we can in this world, but to make ourselves
_capable_ of doing as much as possible. The man in the parable was
condemned for not _improving_ and _increasing_ his talent. Anything,
then, which has a tendency to diminish our usefulness, should be
regarded as _sin_.

Exposure to all kinds of weather has this advantage also. It renders a
person much less likely to take cold; and, of course, less subject to
sickness. For a great proportion of diseases owe their origin to common
colds.

No part of a code of health is of more importance than exercise. Without
it, everything else will fail. And it is as necessary that it should be
_regular_ every day, and at nearly the same hours every day, as it is
that meals should be regular. We might as well omit eating for a day, as
to neglect exercise. The one is as necessary as the other, to promote
the regular operations of the animal functions.

But, when your situation will admit of it, I would advise you to take a
portion of your exercise in those domestic employments which require
v