WHAT IS MAN? by Aaron Bachelor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 23, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 12.

WHAT IS MAN?

By Aaron Bachelor

MAN is not a mere piece of anatomical mechanism. He is what he is by force of his developmental privileges to the greatest degree, with only a few grand exceptions, where he has gloriously triumphed over his opportunities. The foundation for his success, both mentally and physically, is laid in infancy and childhood, and in the grand climax of his evolution from boyhood to manhood.

The immortal philosopher has wisely said, “A perfect man is the noblest work of God.” Food, air, and sleep are the three all important elements in infancy.

A wise providence in nature has come nobly to the rescue of thousands of helpless infants whom destiny had designed to fill a place in the great evolutionary system. Had this not been so, many an infant life would have been sacrificed from neglect or overdoing with the so-called “soothing sirups.” The wise mother must discard all patent stuffs if she would have her boy grow head and shoulders above others, as Saul of old, whom the prophet chose for his comeliness.

Man is a developed entity, by force of favorable surroundings. The simplicity by which the infant life is started into a healthy growth should be an index to the guide of developing manhood. The old adage, “Show to me a man’s company, and I will tell you his character,” applies equally to the matter of the food he is fed upon. Good, healthy, simple food is all that is required to make good tissue from which may evolve the brain of the statesman, the eye of an artist, or muscular capacity to champion the world. When the people learn the absolute necessity there is in providing good food, we shall have an honest supply, and every person engaged in the preparation of foods of the various kinds, will be jealous as well as zealous in placing on the market the very best.

Our bakeries will be pure and clean—not in damp, dark, musty cellars, as is the case now with more than nine-tenths that supply us with bread for our loved ones. It is a deplorable thing to know that the family supply must come from such sources; that the good old dough tray is banished from almost every household. Count the cost of a sack of flour, knead it into loaves of a given weight, then bake it a good, crisp brown. Mark the difference of your gain in money, then look at the ruddy faces and sparkling eyes of your children, and say if you do not think it pays for the trouble.

When we have learned the importance of pure food, we will have inspectors of our dairies; we will not only have good, clean milk, but will be assured that this life-giving liquid comes to us from healthy cows, which are properly fed and kept in clean places.

Our meat supply will also have to be inspected, not to allow the fatted ox to wade knee deep in its own excrement until every fiber of its tissue is saturated with the poison thus breathed. Our barnyard fowls will not be allowed to be scavengers, and then served up to us as after some French fashion which is objectionable to our sense of smell and repulsive to our taste. The simple things of life are the great things of life.

Undoubtedly, man is the noblest creation, and, realizing this to be true, we should demand laws for protection—laws to protect the youth of our land against all kinds of poisons in foods and drinks; for drink is food, though it come from the babbling brook, or is distilled from the rain cloud, or filtered through innumerable strata of rock and earth.

Let us take a stand for pure food of every kind, and we shall have pure thoughts and pure actions, and not live in fear of our fellow-men, though we walk in the darkest night. —Aaron Bachelor.