Good Health an Element of Success.
It is no exaggeration to say that health is a large ingredient in what the world calls talent. A man without it may be a giant in intellect, but his deeds will be the deeds of a dwarf. On the contrary, let him have a quick circulation, a good digestion, and sinews of a man, and the alacrity, the unthinking confidence inspired by these, and though having but a thimbleful of brains, he will either blunder upon success or set failure at defiance. It is true, especially in this country, that the number of men possessing heroic intellect allied with powerful bodily constitution is small; that in general, a man has reason to think himself well off in the lottery of life if he draws the prize of a healthy stomach with a mind or a healthy stomach without a mind, or a fine intellect with a crazy stomach. But of the two, a weak mind in a herculean frame is better than a giant mind in a crazy constitution. A pound of energy with an ounce of talent will achieve greater results than a pound of talent with an ounce of energy. Wit, judgment, imagination, eloquence, all the qualities of mind, attain with a vigorous constitution a force and splendor impossible without it. A mechanic may have tools of the sharpest edge and highest polish; but what are these without a vigorous arm and hand? Of what use is it that your mind has become a vast granary of knowledge, if you have not strength to turn the key?—Home and Health.