ONAN ESCHEWED - Rick Grunder

character that she need not in the end regret the bitter experience through which
she has passed.
In the first place, she should not condemn herself too severely, looking upon
herself as an utter outcast from society. She is not alone in this experience.
[pp. 254-55]
The text naturally reflects many misconceptions against which most modern
readers would recoil, but progress is effected one small step at a time. If
Macfadden's remedies are not far beyond the abstemious diets and regimens
seen in earlier works of this kind, he yet unfailingly takes a positive tack.
The condition of worry is very depressing and debilitating, and it makes you fall
an easier victim to all sorts of wrong suggestions. Never mind what you have
done in the past; the important thing is what you are doing today. [p. 262]
You must not be disappointed if you fail time and again to master your wrong
impulses at the beginning of your struggle. Never let such a failure put you
permanently into a mood of depression. Say to yourself each time, "Never mind!
I will conquer," and go at it again. . . . Learn to use the laws of mental
suggestion, and see in all of these but an opportunity for developing your own
hidden and probably hitherto neglected powers. Look forward to the day when
you can make your struggle a means of enabling you to help others . . . [p. 263]
Finally, stay positive, think good thoughts, occupy your mind with the right
things, and seek out good company. And don't spend too much time reading,
writing, embroidering, etc., but find a good gymnasium and outdoor sports
(pp. 264-65).
71 MATTESON, Antonette. THE OCCULT FAMILY PHYSICIAN, AND BOTANIC
GUIDE TO HEALTH: Comprising a Description of Many American and Foreign
Plants, and their Medical Virtues; with the Cause, Cure, and Prevention of Disease: To
Which is Added, An Explanation of the Hidden Forces in Nature; with a Large Number
of Valuable Receipts[,] the Experience of Twenty Years' Practice. By Mrs. Antonette
Matteson, Trance and Healing Medium. This is the Medicine of Nature. Buffalo, N.Y.:
Published by the Author, 248 North Division Street, First Edition, G. Sutton,
Printer, Buffalo, N.Y., 1894.
21 cm. 317, [5 ("To the Author"; Table of Contents)] pp. + frontispiece portrait of
the author. Orig. cloth faded and worn; front joint strengthened with some
glossy product. Foxed, endleaves brittle with front free endpaper detached but
present, etc. Sadly, I paid $180 (discounted dealer price) for this book in 1999
based on then-available information showing only two locations in the National
Union Catalog. I see a slightly more worn copy currently offered on the Internet
(October 19, 2010) for $60 by a fellow ABAA bookseller. $85
73