Title page of “The Aristocracy of Health.”
“The new blood cell will be red of color and round of form.” (9) With these words, Mary Newton Foote Henderson exhorts the readers of her 1904 The Aristocracy of Health; a study of physical culture, our favorite poisons, and a national and international league for the advancement of physical culture to work towards a holistic vision of physical culture.
Henderson was a well-known figure in late nineteenth century Washington, D.C. She and her husband, John Henderson, bought land in the city that was later converted into the Meridian Hill Park. The Hendersons also constructed buildings on other plots of land they owned and sold them as ambassadorial residences.
Mary Henderson was also a noted figure in the early suffrage and temperance movements. She was the author of several books including Practical Cooking and Dinner-giving and Diet for the Sick as well as The Aristocracy of Health.
In her 1904 work, Henderson urges her readers to pursue a way of life that will lead to physical, mental, and spiritual health. Her advice includes avoiding all “poisons” and she quotes extensively from Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson and Dr. Felix Oswald: “The boy who begins with ginger beer ends with ginger rum. …the coffee cup leads to the pipe, and the pipe to the pothouse.” (25) Condiments of any kind are also to be avoided. While the modern reader may be disinclined to follow Henderson’s culinary advice, her writing about the physiological effects of stays and corsets sounds much more reasonable and familar.
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