How have you managed to live such a healthy life?
Well, I had to learn that lesson the hard way. I nearly exhausted myself early in my career. I traveled nonstop for months at at time and didn't pay attention to what I ate. I then spent two months at a water-cure sanatorium where I rested, bathed, and exercised while eating a diet of vegetables, grains, and not much meat. When I left I knew what I would need to do to stay physically and mentally healthy so as to keep up with the work for woman's rights, temperance, and anti-slavery causes. Of course, I never drank alcohol.
Like most women of our time, I was called to care for others through childbirth, sickness, and their final illnesses. My sisters Guelma and Hannah both suffered from what we called consumption. Sister Mary and I took turns nursing our dear mother through her long last days. I can't forget caring for my cousin Margaret when I was 29, teaching school, and living with her young family. I attended the birth of her third child and took over care when she became ill in the days and weeks following. In the end she simply wasted away. As I wrote to mother, "It's a rather tough business, is it not."
RECIPE: Homeopathic foods, Spinach Soup
Return to Overview Essay
No comments:
Post a Comment