7/28/2019 Sanford Bennet ANTI-AGING Article New York NY Sun 1915 Grayscale - 3319

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'' :' THE SUN, SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 1915.^ r a ^ ^ v ^ w ^ ^ - ^ ^.^.ff.

15BY T BEST OF ALL PHYSICAL CULTURE TEACHERS

Sanford Bennett, Wh o Grew Young at70 , Advises All to Imitate Con-tortions of InfancySanford Bennett and some of th e exercises of infancy he advises adults to imitate.

Sanford Bennetts accountof theexercises which made him young-er at 70 than he was at 50 hasbeen printed in THE SUN. Nowhe tells how he came to devisethose exercises.By S . OiF ORD BB S S ET T.

I T is evident that the Jazy Dut logi-cal methods of muscula r activi tyI have so successfully practi sedappeal to a gr^at many otherlaay people, both men and women-,-oldor young; Yet m y simple met hods ofphysical culture, as described in m ylook, "Old AgeIts Cau se and Prer ,vention," are not new. All healthy^babies practise exercise s som ethingiimilar as they He in their cradles,cribs or mothers* arm s.You practised the sa me exercis eswhen you were a baby and babies 'willcontinue to practise this system ofphysical culture as long as humanbeings inhabit this earth, for in thesquirms, contortions and increasingactivity of healthy infants you willtee nature 's meth ods of developingtheir muscular st ructu re. So I willconfess that I simply stole this sys-tem of exercise from th ese imm aturemen and women.Muscular activity-Is nature 's law ofhealth, and it is a good th ing fo r yo uto understand this law, for wlien you

do you "will realize : w h y a n d , h o w Igr e w young a t r TP j a lso . how you toomay improv e .your, physical condition,a nd th is by the -e a s ies t a nd s imple s tme thods o f phys ic a l c u l tu r e o r o f e x-ercise eve r, devised or.-which can bede v ise d . Th is i s t r ue no ma t te rwhet her you are a man. or a womana nd wha te ve r your a ge ma y be .I t i s no t . pbss lb le ' tha t you ; c a n- behealth y, strong : and elastic of -bodywithou t e xe r c ise , f o r th is i s na tu r e ' sme thod of a ss is t ing , the e l imina t ingsystem . in expelling from the body the 'de a d c e l l s / wor n ou t t i s sue a nd o the rde br is r e su l t ing f r om' the p r oc e ss o flife. Me dic ine s c a nnot do th is a nd innine cases out of ten are : of verydoubtful' , value. Diet is- undoub tedlya n impor ta n t f a c to r , bu t e xe r c ise youmust ha ve o r su r e ly your me c ha n isms 'will Commence to clog up, then yourhe a l th w i l l f a i l a nd tha t c ha nge whic h ,we term-old -age will m anifest-itself .

Again I repe at it la nature 's , Iawtha t i f you ' do no t " e xe rc ise ydur m' us- .cula r strttctune. I t ; 5rtJl.4 sur e ly de te r io -r a te . On the . o the r ha nd , a ny musc lewhic h I s sys te ma t ic a l ly a nd pe r s is t -ently exercised, that is alternately,contracted and relaxed, will grow ins iz e , s t r e ng th a nd e la s t ic i ty , a nd i fall muscle 's are exercised there will bea ge ne r a l inc r e a se in the se inva lua b lequalities. Th is i s why a ba by squ i r m? , k ic ksa nd s t r e tc he s i t s l i t t le body , a nd the r e - 'fore if you desire to be healthy and

strong and to prolong your life I ad-vise you-to follow the ' baby's example.I do not mean that you should be ass t r e nuous : ln your e xe r c ise s a s " bab le aa r e ; , f o r your he a r t wo uld- no t - e la n di t, " hype r t r ophy o r e n la r ge me nt- of tha iorgan -.would almo st certain ly ensue;and"- If- ther e -was any tendency toha r de n ing of the a r te r ie s , the in -creased hlood pressurt, "consequent onthe - :c on t inuous . r a p id ' move me nts ,migh t r e su l t da nge r ous ly . The r e f or epractise the exercises I describe, butpr a c t i se the m s lowly .To" unde r s ta nd th is s ta te me nt c on-sider the great difference betweenyour pu lsa t ions a nd those o f a ba by

1 year old. Iywill assume you arebe twe e n 55 a nd 60 . Your nor ma lpurse at those "ages would rate alongat abou t 75, while baby's norma l heartbeat would be 134; that is during itsinfrequent periods of quiet; and wheni t wa s - In activity, which would benearly all the time, ft would probablyrise to 150 or more. Now if you wereto a sk me to te s t your pu lse a nd Ishou ld f ind a n e xe r c is ing r a te a srapid as "baby's, I would advise you toc a l l a ha l t a t onc e a nd no t to do i tagain, for the reason that if you' didyour sor r owing r e la t ive s migh t soona f te r b6 se le c t ing a su i ta o le e p i ta phde sc r ib ing your unde n ia b ly good qua l -i t ie s , a nd a lo t mor e you ma y no tposse ss .' I commenced to study baby's methodof physical culture, and endeavored toperfect my system of exercising inbedi when I was about 50. M y im-provement was rapid and noticeable,and, being very enthusiastic over- mysuccess. I talked a great deal about it,so muc h so tha t " Be nne t t ' s ba by e x-

e r c ise s" be c a me a s toc k joke - a mongmy friends. Then, as" I wag'c ertain lypr ov ing the t r u th o f a ny the or ie s a ndbecoming physically younger, I becamethe recipient of a lot of presents con-s is t ing ' o f mi lk bo t t le s , ba by g a r me nts ,cradles - and pl easantri es of that na-tu r e .One of. the most pe rsistent of thesejoke r s wa s a ge n t le ma n of a bout myown age, who believed in physical cul-ture but decided to improve upon" Be nne t t ' s s tup id , la z y me thods . " H isimprovement consisted in dilating hislungs to their fullest extent, arid thengoing th r ough a numbe r o f r a p id te ns-ing move me nts . Th is da nge r ous sys-te m wa s ta ught by a pe r ipa te t ic phys-ical culture instructor* who had formeda c la ss f o r tha t pur pose in S a n F r a n -cisco.I warned all of my friends who weremevnbers of that class of the dangerthey were incurring, but was of courselaughed down"Jealousy on. Bennett'spa r t . " The r e su l t wa s tha t the ge n t le -ma n I me nt ion d r oppe d de a d dur ingthe second lesson, and the "Professo r"found- it advisable to leave town i n ahu rry . : * ..- ..... ,"I hadbeen cauUO'tls before/hut 'after. this accident I b ecame doubly so, andin my e xe r c ises I a m c on t inua l ly te s t -ing my pulse; indeed, I have becomeso a c cus tome d to do ing th is tha t atouch of my ringer upon my wrist foronly two or three pulsations is all thatI need to keep well within a safe rate.This pulse testing is easHy acquired;learn exactly where to find the pu lsa-tion in your wrist and the test can bequickly mae. You do not need awatch, as you will speedily determinethe approximate rate by a touch, three

or four pulsations; as I have said, be-ing amply sufficient.About eighty would he a good, slowexercising pulse, but five or six beats faster* under thos e conditions wouldprohaMy be safe enough. You willfind that when y6u awake, and beforeexercising, the rate will be say ten ortwe lve be a ts s lowe r .Re ga r d ing ba by ' s e xe r c ise s . I ha veha d pr e pa r e d twe nty ins ta n ta ne ousphotographs of the different positionsassumed by a healthy 3 weeks oldba by ta ke n dur ing the te n minu te sth is a c t ive l i t t le mi te wa s unde r these ns i t ive e ye o f the c a me r a . Th i r ty -e igh t sna psho ts we r e ma de , bu t a s .

ma ny se e me d to be bu t r e pe t i t ions o fsome preceding movem ent I have usedonly those which show some variationof position.The r e we r e se ve r a l a t t i tude s inwhich all of the muscles of the littlebody we r e a ppa r e n t ly te nse d , bu t the sewe r e unf or tuna te ly no t ta ke n , a s theope r a to r suppose d the body wa s s im-p ly r e s t ing , though dur ing i t s wa kinghours it never really rested, a state-me nt whic h on ly those who na venur se d o r c a r e d f o r a he a l thy young-ster like this one will appreciate.Af te r wa r d , th r ough the k indne ss o fthe chief nurse of a maternity home,I have had frequent opportunities ofs tudy ing the a c t ions o f ve r y youngbabies and have found that thereseems to he a well defined system intheir muscular activity, all of themwhe n he a l thy p r a c t i s ing the sa mekic ks , squ i r ms a nd c on tor t ions , a ndby these exercises brin ging all of# the i r musc le s sys te ma t ic a l ly in to a c -t iv i ty . F r e que n t ly the y s t r e tc h o r

i's Own Method of Hardeningthe Muscles as It May BePractised by Adultstense every muscle of their littlebodies, which forces the blood to re-mote capillaries, and helps the heartin its pump ing work. I have copiedall of the muscle tensing exerciseswhich I have seen babies practicewith the exception of putting my toesin my mouth, which all babies do, butI can't, and don't believe you could ifyou wa nte d to .As to the time of practicecom-mence as soon as you afe awake, andbefore you rise. If you are unable tosleep, and you toss and tumble, andhear the clock strike all kinds of un-c a nny hour s , don ' t bo the r c ount ingimaginary sheep or employ otherstandard methods of inducing sleep,but select any one of the exercises Idescribe, preferably one of the armexercises which requires as little move-ment as possible.

Practice this very slowly, so slowlythat it may become monotonous, alsos l igh t ly f a t igu ing , a nd c ount the move -ments very deliberately, as in the timehonored practice of counting sheepjumping over a fence; start onetwothree, &c, until you are getting intothe high numbers. You are becominga little tired, for it is awfully monoto-nous, and are getting to be a littlemixe d up a nd don ' t know the ne x tnumber, so while you are foggily tr y-ing to remember it your movement be-comes slower and slower, until someone suddenly says, "Wake up, it's 8

o'clock, breakfast is almos t over."That is the way it works with me,a nd I th ink you wi l l ha ve the sa meexperience, but if you don't your di-gestion, may be wrong. This is veryunusua l w i th me , bu t i t some t ime sdoes occur; so when I f ind difficultyin. putti ng myself to sleep by suchexercises I follow nurse 's methodswi th ba bytha t I s a f te r p r a c t i s ingthem slowly I sip warm milk alsovery slowly, whereupon after a fewmor e ge n t le move me nts t i r e d Na tur e ' ssweet restorer proceeds to "knit upthe ravelled sleave of care."This is one of the best features ofmy lazy man's system of exercise, forI am confident that it is only duringsleep that the repair process of theworn out tissue takes place, and sotha t S a nc ho P a nz a wa s r igh t whe n hesaid, "Blessed be the man who in-ve n te d s le e p . "

Tha t , you ma y induc e th is b le sse dcondition when you toss and tumblea bout a t unc a nny hour s o f the n igh t ,try this remedy. As an easily learnedbut very effective method of exercis-ing, securing bodily elasticity, as wella s ma te r ia l ly p r omot ing your he a l th ,there is not any system of exerciselike it. Countless millions of babieshave successfully practised it. and itis just as m uch in. vogue now as w henthe ins t inc t o f na tu r e p r ompte d thefirst baby to develop Its wonderfuls t r uc tu r e by musc u la r a c t iv i ty .

THE W IFE'S CO FFIN BY GOUVERNEU R MORRISContinued from Fourteenth Page.fly was the first du ty of a return edtraveller, went upstairs and made mymanners to Qrea taun t Po lina, de-scribing for her Charleston a nd thehanging and whatever else I thoughtj!d be pleasant hearing to a person of her years.But by good fortune I had not torecount the hanging m ore than fourtimes in detail before Aun t Polina fellicto one of those little opp ortune flaps*h;ch are the solace and recreationof old ape; and th en I w as free torush off to the burial vault in thechapel yard to see that no one hadtampered with the door and that mytreasure, presumably, had not beenlifted.And whom should I come acrossteurrying in the same direction butU-* Rev. Crowles.'Where are you going, sir?" said I ."My Ix^-." said he , with (but I didcot think so till afterward) a di sin-genuous face, "the key of the vaulthas disappeared."'Does my mother know?" I asked."No." said he, "and no cause tofr;?hten her. T he matt er is best1 - iced nfter by men. My first thought.*as the keynatu rally. And I wentat -ncf to the place where it usuallyl>.ric?. in the closet of y our fath er'sli-rary. It was gone."Who .,n have take n it?** I said-

"Wi. .:- said h e. "Why. it was inlh-

end of the key into his mouth he drewthe "twine backward over his ear s andthe n attem pted to talk . ' The effectwas indescribably droll, I thought. Myrespected tutor could emit nothing buta ve r y f a in t sound tha t r e se mble dnoth ing mor e tha n the sy l la b le s " Og-gleoggleoggie."Then he removed the key from hismouth a nd , ha v ing wipe d i t upon h ishandkerchief, asked me if I did notwish to know how it felt' to be gagged.I wa s a la c r i tous to know a nd pr e s -e n t ly , the ke y pr e ss ing downwa r d onmy tong ue and paralyzi ng all power ofarticulat ion, I found myself trying tosay: "Don't pull the twine so tight."But all I got out was "Oggleoggle-oggle."The Rev. Crowles had drawn thestring much too tight for comfort;it cut sharply into the corners of mymouth and I realized suddenly that hewas "not holding the two loose ends,but had tied them at the back of myhead. I put my fingers to the knot,but could make nothing of it. ThenI tu r ne d a nd sa w tha t my tu to r wa sla ughingbut ne r vous ly , r a . the r tha nwith amusement. I tr ied to say, "TakeIt off, it hurts me." And" what I saidwas "Oggleoggle.""Jack' ," jaid the Rev. Crowles. andin no way could I account for hismanifest nervousness? of voice andexpression, "you have learned whatit is to be gagged. I am now goingto teach you what It is to *>e bound."And although I began to kick andfight, he so twisted his hand into thecollar of my coat that I was soonchoked to passivity.Then still holding me by the collarhe wa lke d me h i the r a nd th i the rthrough his little house, while helooked for something with which totie me. The waistcord of an old dress-ing gown was finally made to answer,and having dragged me into the garrethe bound me hand and foot and laidme on the floor."And now." said he, and the nervouslook in his eyes had given place to akind of evil, greedy light, "you willlearn what !t feels like to **> a. pris-oner."He left me, and I heard th e atticand the bolt that held itshoot home.It would have been a? hard to be-lieve that one of the great live oaksthat. stood about the Mansion Househad gone for a walk as that Rev.Crowles had turned villain. The manhad been with us, you might say, foryears, with no greate r fault than tha tslightly unmanly civility that so oftenKoes with dependent poverty. Youwould never hav e dubbed him "saint,being too fond of his bottle and hiswhist, and too overwhelmingly longfaced and pious when he read the ser-vices in the chapel. But "you hadthought h im ^s good or be t te r tha nthe general run of respecte.! men. and

a.~ K.. . *~ , - ^ f ^ - 7 1 - , . u H i r u .

he ha d p la ye d a sor r y p r a c t ic a l j ikeupon me ; bu t a s t ime pa sse d a nd thec or d c u t in to my a r ms a nd le gs a ndthe tw ine in to the c or ne r s o f mymouth so as to cause bleeding. I began,to think the truth. And then I passedfrom rage against the individual to averitable passion of rage against fate.o u u X C A I i a u o i c u U l j o c i k n , 4 , *- 5 & lU lle ss s t r ugg le s .My one c ha nc e , I a r gue d , wa s toshow myself at the little square ofg la ss tha t l igh te d the a t t ic a nd bese e n . But g r a n t ing tha t I c ou ld ge tto my feet and look out, who was topass, looking up, and see me, unlessthe Rew Crowles himself? Well, Idid get to my feet, God only knnwshow, for I was mightily bound,and by a series of Jumps of a fewinches* each got to the window andlooked out.F or a n hour I s tood a nd sa w nol iv ing th ing , though now a nd the nI heard far off V-s!-*** And th enit began to get dark and. rrha?

I caught one glimpse of Miles's aston-ished face turned up to mine, andthen the blood from my slashed headran into my eyes and I staggered andfell o\;er backward.I had always looked up to Miles *.to the most serious minded and vir-tuous of my brothers. There was akind of precise niceness about him inword and deed that was ve ry ^taking.I had never known the shadow of anoath nor of any coarse expression topass his lips; but when he had untiedme and taken the gag from my mouthand heard all that I had to tell, he

accustomed precise and well bred way."Baby," said he. for so I was stillcalled by rc^t of the family, "do youwant to leave the Rev. Crowles en-tirely to me? If so 1 will f irst takeyou to mother and then shoot himlike a dog. But if you would ratherhave a hand in it yourse ' . f ""I would. Miles," I blubbered, "Iwould r a the r . ""Very well, then," said he. "andI 'm glad you feel that way. But'you'll have to stay h ere till night;because he ' ll be coming back to havea look at . you "

By a series of jumpsof a few Jnches each Igot to the window.

with fatigue and nain and despair,I began to grow dizzy and to swayupon my tethered feet. T hen sud-denly, as the moon comes from un dera cloud or as the sun clears the rimof the world there came, into view,and near at hand, my brother Miles,walking briskly and whistling in apr e te r na tur a l ly h igh ke y .1 tapped upon the window with myforehead, but he did not hear. Amome nt mor e a nd he would ha vepassed out of sight . Then I drewback ray head and furiously buttedthe g la ss , a nd ou t I t bur s t f r om thefeaah with a fine smash a nd shive r.

proved himself a veritable glossaryof unexpected language.With me upon his knee, snuggledclose to him and blubbering, he de-livered himself of tho longest streamof blood curdling oaths and threatsas T believed them and do still thathad ever flowed in this world. I thinkif Empero r Nero had heard he wouldhave run off howling on his bowlegs.Hut as even the most beautiful musi-cal pieces must come to an end, 06with Miles's comforting and incom-parable soliloquy. He stopped shortIn the m!d3t of a hair raising expres-sion and began then to speak in his

"But Miles * I began,a gha s t a t the p r opos i t ion ."He will come about sup-per time," said Miles; "atsupper you will be missed.Every one of us will beturned out to look for you.See? Crowles will give ailthe directions. Well, whenwe are all well scattered,about eleven or midnight,he will go to the vault andmake off with the treasure.""I don't want blm to," I said."Prr rt!" paid Mi!e?. "you and T willbe waiting for him in the vault.""But he has the. key." ' 1 objected."There 's another way in."" saidMiles. "Vou don't remember mytame fox. Baby, do yon? WeH, 1 hadone and he had a burrow in theearth that's banked over the vault.Yoii can't i*ee it because of the honey-fftioklo. Well, this old burrow's stillthere and it goes right back to themasonry. And that part of the ma-sonry was laid without cement andall wTeH have to do Is to pull outa few stonesand I 've done it twoor three timesand crawl into thevault. You come in just betwee ngr a n ' pa a nd Unc le P h i l ipa nd wewill wait there till Crowles comes,and, believe me, the surprise willdo him a world of good." 'Weii, it ended with Miles tying . .no

up , but loosely, and gagging me again,but not so that it hurt, and then hekissed me and said I was Ms ownbrave brother and went away.A long time after I was awakenedby the opening of the attic trapand I heard the voice of Crowles."Are you all r iglil?" lie said sharply."Oggleoggle," said I .He laughed in a kind of wild, ex-cited way and 1 heard the trap doo rclose and the bolt shoot.The next thing I remember I wasr unning th r ough the n igh t , ha nd I nhand with Miles, and at our sideslx>unded and gamholW-d .Juno, ourgr e a t mastiff. The r e we r e mur kyclouds racing across tl>^ heavens andnow and then flashed forth the moon.Here and there, far off. shone bobbinglights, which wrf ti nt horns in thehands of those who were searchingfor me. But no one saw us and wereached the vault and crawled In by

the secret entrance and rested awhile,pa n t ing a mong the de a d .But Miles had already been in, a31 knew, when, after some fumbling,he found and lighu-d a lanthorn.In the centre of the vault, being a3it wore but a transient Kuest. therer e s t ' d upon the r e c e iv ing t r e s t ie s thecoffin supposed to contain the fcody ofCapt. Thorn's wife.Miles set the lanthorn square uponthe lid and fell to undoing the preatthumbsc r e ws ."His first surprise," ^*iid he, "shallbe ! ' f ind the treasure gone. Now.Baby, take the lanthorn and, as I. lif t the lid, you look in. I t's yourright to look in first, so I ' ll shut myeyes."But if I expected (and I did) to bedaxz'.ed by an Ali Rahan display ofsold and diamonds I was disappointed.The roffin was full to the brim of littlele a the r n pa c ke ts ; some l igh t a nd someas heavy as lead, some of old wormyleather anS some of new and yellow.But at that time we opened none.Kay, we worked like a pair of bea-vers to remove them all end bide themabout the vault, between coffins, be-hind coffins and wherever the lightof a lanthorn from a central positioncould not penerate and we had the.coffin nearly emptied and most of thet r - ns i ' - ^ h id . whe n suddc t ty " S shh! "raid Miles.W e ha d he a r d e ve n th r ough theheavy door the sound as of a troddentwig breaking."Baby," Miles whispered with asudden insplratidn, "let him find you."And before I could have said JackRobinson Miles had me in the coffinand the lid on. B ut one of the screw sheld the lid ajar, sa that I knew theprecise moment when Miles blew outthe la n thor n . Himself, he told meafter, then lay down, fowling nieceCocked and ready, between gran' pa

a nd Unc le P h i l ip . And wi th h im,bristlin g horribly, but forbidden tobudge or speak, crouched Juno trem-bling.I heard the key thrust into the lockand turned and then the heavy creak-ing of the vault door and a momentlater the slight concussion caused byits being warily closed. Th en 1 hearda lanthorn being lit and a yellowbeam of light reached me in the cof-fin. At the same instant a spasmof acute fear jerked me from headto foot. Then I heard th e voice ofthe Rev. Crowles pitched in a toneof dismay. For he must have seen,at that instant, that the lid of thecoffin had been unscrewed.The lid was sna tched off. and T sawbonding over m e. not the face ofCrowles alone, but throe faces: hisand those of the two pirates who hadcome to my mot her for the coffin. How-he had got into communication withthem will never be known. i>et itsuffice that ho had and was In coKab-\ration with th m. at that for him illome ne d mome nt .You must not think that the throestared down at me and I up at themfor an unconscionable time. D uringthe brief moment th. it it takes to winkperhaps , but not longer. In truth, theawful yell that was torn from mythr oa t mus t ha ve be e n a lmost s imul-taneous with the snatching off of thecoffin lid. And hard upon my yellthere came the detonation of Miles'sfowling pierc and the horrible attack-ing roar of the mistiff.There wv^s no time for the ili fatedp i r a te a ga ins t whom she spr a ng toopen the heavy door of the vault andescape her. even for a moment. Indeedand I must have sat up in the coffin,for I saw it allhe did not so muchas reaeh the door or try to. He leapedupward and backward upon a coffin,screaming, and from that slight eleva-tion she pulled him downward andforward by t he thro at, and the n up. . nthe mouldy floor killed him as if hehad been a rat.Miles with his fowling piece hadnr-r-Aitn^^d for the Other r>irat'.'% b u t ^ for the Rev. Crowies. though he wasdead as a stone, there was not a markon him. and it was not until the morn-ing when they laid him out for burialthat any one noticed that the most ofhis hair had turned white.It remains only to say that thetreasur e footed 30.000. a huge sumin those days, and that at no timewas there any talk of turning it overto the heathen . Indeed, only one thinpnot delightful came of the night'swork, and this was that at least oncea week until her death two years later.at the age of 104. Qreata unt Polinamade me gag myself with a greatbrass key and thus cater to her senilesense of humor.

(Copyright by Tke North AmericanCow pam/.)

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