Beacon Villages
Under Cosdon Beacon Dartmoor Devon UK
| This page started when Andy White had been doing a bit of clearing up and came across some old photos and parish magazines. The articles have now been used up and I would be grateful if anyone has any old local papers or magazines from which to obtain more. |
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MIDDLE AGE AND IT'S EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS 279 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SHOULD I MARRY MY SWEETHEART OF TWENTY YEARS AGO? For two years before the war I courted a girl and we corresponded while I was in the army. In 1916 I was wounded in the foot, and somehow a report reached home that my leg had been amputated. Despite my frequent letters to her I got no reply, and I learned later that she had been heard to say she had no use for a man with one leg. Hearing she had married another man, I secured a berth in the north where I am still living. A few years ago I visited the old spot and ran across my old love. Despite the passage of years she was embarrassed in telling me of her marriage. It had not been happy, and she confessed that if she had known the truth she would not have been faithless to me. A year ago her husband died and she wrote asking me to resume the old courtship. But I have the care of an old mother and although I feel sorry for this middle-aged widow who is still e attractive, I told her I could not marry her. I hear she has taken to drink and doubtful company. Do you think I am to blame? And should I reconsider my refusal?
No blame attaches to you whatever. And, unless you are very deeply in love with your old sweetheart, and feel that life would be happier with her, you should think carefully before changing your mind. Her character does not appear to be very stable. It seems strange that she should ignore your letters after you were wounded, and marry another man. Possibly she did not want to "know the truth ", which you had already told her, but at this time was infatuated by a new-comer on the scene. Drink and doubtful company are weak ways of reacting to a disappointment. Should you marry this widow, and keep your old mother in your home, reasons for disputes might soon arise. You would also have the task of reforming her from a liking for dubious pleasures. Finally, the reasons which made you fall in love as a youth with a young girl might not hold good once you really became intimate again. Twenty years or more is a sufficient time to change some characters almost beyond knowledge. But you alone are capable of making a decision.
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PROBLEM OF MAINTAINING HEALTH Thomas Parr, the Englishman who lived to be one hundred and fifty, was not killed by his years, but by the rich and unaccustomed food given him when he was feasted at the court in London. With advancing age, habits should be greatly simplified. Old people who are still partial to rich and heavy foods throw a heavy tax upon their digestive organs, and occasionally raise their blood pressure seriously. It is rare that a heavy eater lives to a really old age, unless he lives such an active life that it uses up all his surplus store of energy. If he or she lives a sedentary life, an old man or woman would be wise to cut down eating considerably and to choose a diet with care, making it well balanced but not faddy. Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman, nearly died at forty as a result of intemperate living. Then he reduced his diet to twelve ounces of solid food a day and fourteen ounces of wine. He recovered his health and lived to be ninety-eight, remaining healthy and cheerful almost to the last. Most old people eat from three to four times this amount and, as a consequence, overstrain their digestion. Prescribing diets is more interesting than following them. People begin well on Monday and get bored before the week is out. But it is well for aged people to reduce the quantity of solid food, and the number of the meals, at least, the substantial ones. A glass of hot water two or three times a day is not only a tonic, but also helps to cleanse the system. Taken the last thing at night and in the early morning, hot water can often do more than any drug or medicine. An occasional mild saline purge is also of benefit. Little flesh food is needed, but more of the kind of fresh fruit and vegetables which help digestion. A glass of good red wine is often valuable as an occasional pick-me-up, except when expressly forbidden by the doctor.
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| Mum in Girl Guides 1927 | rear of photo left | Girl Guides (not their car) 1927 |
If any visitor to this site has any scraps of history - old magazines, papers or photographs - we would be delighted to scan them, tidy them up and publish them and return them to you with copies of the 'tidied up' versions if you would like them. |
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