Advice to Young Men - And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life. In a Series of Letters, Addressed to a Youth, a Bachelor, a Lover, a Husband, a Father, a Citizen, or a Subject. by William Cobbett
page 23 of 277 (08%)
page 23 of 277 (08%)
|
_little_, and to drink nothing that _intoxicates_. He that eats till he
is _full_ is little better than a beast; and he that drinks till he is _drunk_ is quite a beast. 31. Before I dismiss this affair of eating and drinking, let me beseech you to resolve to free yourselves from the slavery of the _tea_ and _coffee_ and other _slop-kettle_, if, unhappily, you have been bred up in such slavery. Experience has taught me, that those slops are _injurious to health_: until I left them off (having taken to them at the age of 26), even my habits of sobriety, moderate eating, early rising; even these were not, until I left off the slops, sufficient to give me that complete health which I have since had. I pretend not to be a 'doctor;' but, I assert, that to pour regularly, every day, a pint or two of _warm liquid matter_ down the throat, whether under the name of tea, coffee, soup, grog, or whatever else, is greatly injurious to health. However, at present, what I have to represent to _you is the great deduction, which the use of these slops makes, from your power of being useful_, and also from your _power to husband your income_, whatever it may be, and from whatever source arising. I am to suppose you to be desirous to become a clever and a useful man; a man to be, if not admired and revered, at least to be _respected_. In order to merit respect beyond that which is due to very common men, you must do something more than very common men; and I am now going to show you how your course _must be impeded_ by the use of the _slops_. 32. If the women exclaim, 'Nonsense! come and take a cup,' take it for that once; but hear what I have to say. In answer to my representation regarding the _waste of time_ which is occasioned by the slops, it has been said, that let what may be the nature of the food, there must _be time_ for taking it. Not _so much_ time, however, to eat a bit of meat |
|