After they had dined, Mrs. Teachum told them she thought it proper that they should use some exercise in the cooler part of the day, lest, by sitting too much, they should injure their health. – Sarah Fielding (1710–1768), “The Governess, or The Little Female Academy,”

Reginald was nearly all day at his office, and half the night at his stand-up desk in his room. – Henry Kingsley, “Reginald Hetherege,” 1874

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live! – Henry David Thoreau, journal, 1851 August 19th

[T]hey marched and counter-marched, clapped their hands, stamped hard upon the floor, and performed various evolutions for the purpose of circulating the blood, which by sitting too long is apt to stagnate, and render them, particularly in this climate, dull and sleepy. – Joseph Holt Ingraham, South-West, 1835 [Originally published anonymously, “By a