[Methodist Essays] A Man, by Rev. J. D. Bell (1860)

Bell, J. D. A Man. Philadelphia: James Challen & Son, 1860. First Edition. [8442]

Maroon publisher's cloth faded to brown, 5 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches, binding good with headband frayed, rest intact. 462 pp. with light foxing, 6 pp. publisher's catalogue, tight. Very good. Hardcover.

A collection of essays on a wide variety of topics, held together by a general outline of the life of a man. Topics begin with The Senses, The Student, The Intellectual Side of Love, The Thinker, &c. and continue with The Thinker, Conversation, Wit and Laughter, Tears, Aspiration, Genius, The Discoverer, The Inventor, The Writer, and The Three Inspirations (Poet, Orator, Hero).

The thoughts and advice given is quite practical and reasonable, and well-written.

"It is better to be poor from loss of property, than to be poor from loss of health. Man was described by one of the Grecian philosophers, as 'a two-legged animal without feathers.' May I not describe a dyspeptic bookworm, as a two-legged animal without feathers, having a frame of bones covered with a pale, cold skin; suffering from room-atism, almost continually; and passing most of its time in a chair, with its spinal column bent badly out of shape? Alas! for that deluded youth whose passion for study is taking the color out of his cheeks, the elasticity out of his limbs, the music out of his voice, and the beauty out of his eyes, and is fitting him for an early ride in grim Charon's boat! There should be no such students in any of our schools. Among their first scholastic lessons, students should learn how important it is to preserve the soundness and vigor of their bodies." - p. 70, on Health.

Rev. John Dempster Bell (1831-1886), b. Weedsport, New York; d. Denver, Colorado. He graduated at Amherst College (1855) and was a minister with the East Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving congregations at Wellsboro, Pa. and Dansville, NY.