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diff --git a/18559.txt b/18559.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a39016 --- /dev/null +++ b/18559.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4460 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Child's Day, by Woods Hutchinson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Child's Day + +Author: Woods Hutchinson + +Release Date: June 11, 2006 [EBook #18559] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILD'S DAY *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + [Illustration: A GOOD SPORT FOR GIRLS AND BOYS] + + + +THE WOODS HUTCHINSON HEALTH SERIES + + + +THE CHILD'S DAY + + +BY + + +WOODS HUTCHINSON, A.M., M.D. + + +Sometime Professor of Anatomy, University of Iowa; Professor of +Comparative Pathology and Methods of Science Teaching, University of +Buffalo; Lecturer, London Medical Graduates' College and University of +London; and State Health Officer of Oregon. Author of "Preventable +Diseases," "Conquest of Consumption," "Instinct and Health," and "A +Handbook of Health." + + + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO + + +COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY WOODS HUTCHINSON + + + + +FOREWORD + + +"If youth only knew, if old age only could!" lamented the philosopher. +What is the use, say some, of putting ideas about disease into +children's heads and making them fussy about their health and anxious +before their time? + +Precisely because ideas about disease are far less hurtful than +disease itself, and because the period for richest returns from +sensible living is childhood--and the earlier the better. + +It is abundantly worth while to teach a child how to protect his +health and build up his strength; too many of us only begin to take +thought of our health when it is too late to do us much good. Almost +everything is possible in childhood. The heaviest life handicaps can +be fed and played and trained out of existence in a child. Even the +most rudimentary knowledge, the simplest and crudest of precautions, +in childhood may make all the difference between misery and happiness, +success and failure in life. + +Our greatest asset for healthful living is that most of the unspoiled +instincts, the primitive likes and dislikes, of the child point in the +right direction. There is no need to tell children to eat, to play, to +sleep, to swim; all that is needed is to point out why they like to do +these things, where to stop, what risks to avoid. The simplest and +most natural method of doing this has seemed to be that of a sketch of +the usual course and activities of a Child's Day, with a running +commentary of explanation, and such outlines of our bodily structure +and needs as are required to make clear why such and such a course is +advisable and such another inadvisable. The greatest problem has been +how to reach and hold the interest of the child; and the lion's share +of such success as may have been achieved in this regard is due to the +cooeperation of my sister, Professor Mabel Hutchinson Douglas of +Whittier College, California. + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + GOOD MORNING + I. Waking Up + II. A Good Start + III. Bathing and Brushing + + BREAKFAST + + GOING TO SCHOOL + I. Getting Ready + II. An Early Romp + III. Fresh Air--Why We Need It + IV. Fresh Air--How We Breathe It + + IN SCHOOL + I. Bringing the Fresh Air In + II. Hearing and Listening + III. Seeing and Reading + IV. A Drink of Water + V. Little Cooks + VI. Tasting and Smelling + VII. Talking and Reciting + VIII. Thinking and Answering + + "ABSENT TO-DAY?" + I. Keeping Well + II. Some Foes to Fight + III. Protecting Our Friends + + WORK AND PLAY + I. Growing Strong + II. Accidents + III. The City Beautiful + + THE EVENING MEAL + + A PLEASANT EVENING + + GOOD NIGHT + I. Getting Ready for Bed + II. The Land of Nod + + QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + + + + +THE CHILD'S DAY + + + + +GOOD MORNING + + +I. WAKING UP + +If there is anything that we all enjoy, it is waking up on a bright +spring morning and seeing the sunlight pouring into the room. You all +know the poem beginning,-- + + "I remember, I remember + The house where I was born; + The little window where the sun + Came peeping in at morn." + +You are feeling fresh and rested and happy after your good night's +sleep and you are eager to be up and out among the birds and the +flowers. + +You are perfectly right in being glad to say "Good morning" to the +sun, for he is one of the best friends you have. Doesn't he make the +flowers blossom, and the trees grow? And he makes the apples redden, +too, and the wheat-ears fill out, and the potatoes grow under the +ground, and the peas and beans and melons and strawberries and +raspberries above it. All these things that feed you and keep you +healthy are grown by the heat of the sun. So if it were not for the +sunlight we should all starve to death. + +While sunlight is pouring down from the sun to the earth, it is +warming and cleaning the air, burning up any poisonous gases, or +germs, that may be in it. By heating the air, it starts it to rising. +If you will watch, you can see the air shimmering and rising from an +open field on a broiling summer day, or wavering and rushing upward +from a hot stove or an open register in winter. Hold a little feather +fluff or blow a puff of flour above a hot stove, and it will go +sailing up toward the ceiling. As the heated air rises, the cooler air +around rushes in to fill the place that it has left, and the outdoor +"drafts" are made that we call _winds_. + +These winds keep the air moving about in all directions constantly, +like water in a boiling pot, and in this way keep it fresh and pure +and clean. If it were not for this, the air would become foul and damp +and stagnant, like the water in a ditch or marshy pool. So the Sun +God, as our ancestors in the Far East used to call him thousands of +years ago, not only gives us our food to eat, but keeps the air fit +for us to breathe. + +In still another way the sun is one of our best friends; for his rays +have the wonderful power, not only of causing plants that supply us +with food--the Green Plants, as we call them--to grow and flourish, +but at the same time of withering and killing certain plants that do +us harm. These plants--the Colorless Plants, we may call them--are the +_molds_, the _fungi_, and the _bacteria_, or _germs_. You know how a +pair of boots put away in a dark, damp closet, or left down in the +cellar, will become covered all over with a coating of gray mold. Mold +grows rapidly in the dark. Just so, these other Colorless Plants, +which include most of our disease germs, grow and flourish in the +dark, and are killed by sunlight. That is why no house, or room, is +fit to live in, into which the sunlight does not pour freely sometime +during the day. The more sunlight you can bring into your bedrooms and +your playrooms and your schoolrooms, except during the heat of the day +in the summer time, the better they will be. The Italians have a very +shrewd and true old proverb about houses and light: "Where the +sunlight never comes, the doctor often does." + +So you see that Nature is guiding you in the right direction when she +makes you love and delight in the bright, warm, golden sunlight; for +it is one of the very best friends that you have--indeed, you couldn't +possibly live without it. + +In one sense, in fact, though this may be a little harder for you to +understand, you are sunlight yourselves; for the power in your muscles +and nerves that makes you able to jump and dance and sing and laugh +and breathe is the sunlight which you have eaten in bread and apples +and potatoes, and which the plants had drunk in through their leaves +in the long, sunny days of spring and summer. + +So throw up your blinds and open your windows wide to the sunlight +every morning; and let the sunlight pour in all day long, except only +while you are reading or studying--when the dazzling light may hurt +your eyes--and for six or seven of the hottest hours of the day in +summer time. Perhaps your mothers will object that the sunlight will +fade the carpets, or spoil the furniture; but it will put far more +color into your faces than it will take out of the carpets. If you are +given the choice of a bedroom, choose a room that faces south or +southeast or southwest, never toward the north. + + +II. A GOOD START + +When you are really awake and have had a good look to see what kind of +morning it is, you will feel like yawning and stretching, and rubbing +your eyes four or five times, before you jump out of bed; and it is a +good plan to take plenty of time to do this, unless you are already +late for breakfast or school. It starts your heart to beating and your +lungs to breathing faster; and it limbers your muscles, so that you +are ready for the harder work they must do as soon as you jump out of +bed and begin to walk about and bathe and dress and run and play. + +When you jump out of bed, throw back the covers and turn them over the +foot of the bed, so that the air and the sunlight can get at every +part of them and make them clean and fresh and sweet to cover you at +night again. Though you may not know it, all night long, while you +have been asleep, your skin has been at work cleaning and purifying +your blood, pouring out gases and a watery vapor that we call +_perspiration_, or _sweat_; and these impurities have been caught by +the sheets and blankets. So after a bed has been slept in for four or +five nights, if it has not been thrown well open in the morning, it +begins to have a stuffy, foul, sourish smell. You can see from this +why it is a bad thing to sleep with your head under the bedclothes, as +people sometimes do, or even to pull the blankets up over your head, +because you are frightened at something or are afraid that your ears +will get cold. Your breath has poisonous gases in it, as well as your +perspiration; and the two together make the air under the bedclothes +very bad. + +Now you are ready to wash and dress. But before you do this, it is a +good thing to take off your nightdress, or turn it down to your waist +and tie it there with the sleeves, and go through some good swinging +and "windmill" movements with your arms and shoulders and back. + +(1) Swing your arms round and round like the sails of a windmill; +first both together, then one in one direction, and the other in the +other. + +(2) Hold your arms straight out in front of you, and swing them +backward until the backs of your hands strike behind your back. + +(3) Hold your arms straight out on each side, clench your fists, and +then smartly bend your elbows so that you almost strike yourself on +both shoulders, and repeat quickly twenty or thirty times. + +(4) Swing your arms, out full length, across your chest five or ten +times. + +(5) Swing forward and down with your arms stretched out, until the +tips of your fingers touch the floor. + +(6) Set your feet a little apart, swing forward and downward again, +until your hands swing back between your ankles. + + [Illustration: STARTING THE DAY] + +When you come back from these down-swings, bend just as far back as +you can without losing your balance, so that you put all the muscles +along the front of your body on the stretch; and then swing down again +between your ankles. This will help to tone up all your muscles, and +limber all your joints, and set your blood to circulating well, and +give you a good start for the day. + + +III. BATHING AND BRUSHING + +Now you are ready to wash and dress. You can easily take off the gown, +or garments, that you have worn during the night; but there is one +coat that you cannot take off--one that is more important and useful +and beautiful than all the rest of your clothes put together, no +matter of how fine material they may be made, or what they have cost. + +Do you remember the old Bible story about Joseph and his "coat of many +colors"? Perhaps you've wished you had one just as nice. Now, the fact +is, your coat is more beautiful even than Joseph's; and, as for its +uses, it is the most wonderful coat ever made! + +This coat of yours changes its color from time to time; sometimes it +is pink, sometimes red, sometimes a soft milky white, and sometimes a +dull dark blue, or purple. I wonder if you guess what it is. Sometimes +it is dry and sometimes wet, sometimes it is hot and sometimes cold, +sometimes rough and sometimes smoother than the softest silk--just run +your hand gently over your cheek! + +Now you have guessed my riddle. This "wonderful coat" is your skin, +which covers you from top to toe. It fits more closely than any glove, +and yet is so easy and comfortable that it never rubs or binds or +hurts you in any way. + + [Illustration: THE SKIN-STRAINER + + The little pores open in furrows of the skin. This drawing is + many hundred times as large as the piece of skin itself.] + +Will the wonderful coat wash? Yes, indeed, and look all the prettier. +In fact, to keep it white and clear you must bathe often, not only +your hands and face, but your whole body. Your skin is a strainer, you +know. It is a "way out" for some of the gases and waste water from the +blood. What will happen, then, if you don't wash your skin? The little +holes, or _pores_, that the sweat comes through may become clogged. +The strainer won't let the poison out, and so it will stay inside your +body. Then, too, if you do not wash the skin, the little scales that +are peeling off the outside coat will not be cleared away. You have +noticed them, haven't you, sometime when you were pulling off black +stockings? You found little white pieces, almost as fine as powder, +clinging to the inside of the stockings. These little scales are +always rubbing off from your skin. + +So every morning it is good to splash the cool water all over +yourself, if you can, as the birds do in the puddles. You don't need a +bathtub for this, though of course it is much pleasanter and more +convenient if you have one. Pour the water into a basin and splash it +with your hands all over your face, neck, chest, and arms. Then rub +your skin well with a rough towel. Next, place the basin on the floor; +put your feet into it and dash the water as quickly as you can over +your legs. Then take another good rub. But you must not do this unless +you keep warm while you are doing it, and your skin must be pink when +you have finished. If you are chilly after rubbing, you should use +tepid, even very hot, water for your morning bath. In summer you can +bathe all over easily; but in winter, unless your room is warm, it is +enough to splash the upper half of your body. Once or twice a week you +should take a good hot bath with soap and then sponge down in cool +water. See how the birds enjoy their bath; and you will, too, if you +once get into the habit of bathing regularly. + +Now let us take a good look at this coat and see if we can find out +what it is like. + +The other day I saw some boys playing basketball. They wore short +sleeves and short trousers. Four were Indians, and five were white +boys, and one was a negro. The skin of the white boys seemed to shine, +it looked so white; and the negro's shone in its blackness; but the +Indian's looked a dull rich dusky brown. + +Yes, you say, they belong to different races. + +But what causes the difference in their color? + +Little specks of coloring matter, or _pigment_, which lie in the outer +layer of the skin. Even white skins contain a little pigment, they are +not a pure white. A Chinaman's skin has a little more of this pigment, +so that it looks yellow; an Indian's has still more; and a negro's has +most of all, making him black. + +Sunlight can increase the amount of pigment in the skin. The people +who live in the torrid zone have much darker skins than those who live +where the days are short and cold. You have noticed, yourself, that +when you expose the skin of your face or arms to the hot sun, you +become freckled, or tanned. This tanning, or browning, of the outer +layer of the skin protects the more delicate coats of skin below from +being scorched or injured by the strong light. + +When you are playing and running with your schoolmates, you see that +their faces grow very red, and even their hands. Why is this? Because +the heart has been pumping hard and has sent the red blood out toward +the skin. The red color shines through the outer part of the skin. The +pigment in the Indian's skin, or the negro's, prevents the red blood +underneath from shining through, as it does through yours. + + [Illustration: THE PARTS OF THE SKIN + + The pore P on the surface of the skin is the end of a tube + through which sweat flows out. At O are the oil sacs that feed + the hair H. At B are the little blood vessels that make the skin + look pink.] + +The skin, you see, is made up of different layers. When you burn +yourself, you can see a layer of skin stand out like a blister. It is +white; but if the blister is broken, underneath you see the coat that +is full of tiny blood vessels, so tiny and so close together that this +whole coat looks red. The skin, like every other part of the body, is +made up of tiny animal cells. In the outer coat they become quite flat +like little scales and then wear off; and their places are taken by +the newer cells that are growing from beneath. The skin grows from +beneath, and bit by bit it sheds its old outer coat. This is how it +keeps itself nice and new on the outside and "grows away" the marks of +cuts and burns. + +Now hold up your hand and look across it toward the light. What do you +see? It looks fuzzy, doesn't it? Ever and ever so many tiny little +hairs are on it. The other day a little boy asked me what made his +skin look so rough? I looked, and saw that all the little hairs were +standing on end, so that his skin looked like "goose-flesh." It was +because he was cold. The muscles at the roots of the hairs had +shortened, so that they pulled the hairs straight up and made the skin +look rough. + +What part of the body has a great deal of hair on it? The head, of +course. Isn't it strange that you have such long hair on the top of +your head and none at all on the soles of your feet or the palms of +your hands? The hair on your head protects you from cold and rain and +the hot sun; but hair on your palms, would only be in the way. + +Now look at the ends of your fingers. There the skin has grown so hard +that it forms _nails_. If you look at your toes, you will see that the +same thing has happened there. These nails are little pink shells to +protect the ends of your fingers and toes. You see what a wonderful +coat it is that you are wearing. + +Does the skin coat keep you warm? Yes, and not only that, but it keeps +you cool, too. You have often seen little drops of water on your skin, +when you were very hot. This sweat, or perspiration, as we call it, +cools the body by making the skin moist. You know how cold it makes +you to be wrapped in a wet sheet. Well, the skin cools you in just the +same way, when it becomes wet with sweat. The sweat comes from the +blood under the skin; so that, as we saw before, by letting this +moisture pass through, the skin acts as a sieve to let out the waste +from the blood. + +Then, too, the skin covers and protects all the other parts. It is +thin where it needs to be thin, so as not to interfere with quick +movements, as on the eyelids and the lips; and thick where it needs to +be thick, to stand wear and tear, as on the soles of the feet and the +palms of the hands. I remember once taking a sliver of shingle out of +the back of a little boy who had been sliding down a roof. I had to +sharpen my knife and press and push and at last get a pair of scissors +to cut out the sliver. It was just like cutting tough leather. But +even if we do sometimes get cuts and burns and bruises, yet our skin +coat protects us far more than we really think. It keeps out all sorts +of poisons and the germs of blood-poisoning and such diseases. These +enemies can attack us only through a scratch or cut in the skin, for +that is the only way they can get into the blood. The skin is better +than any manufactured coat, too, because, if it is torn or scratched, +it can mend itself. + + [Illustration: READING BY TOUCH INSTEAD OF SIGHT + + These boys are blind; their books are printed with raised + letters, which they read by feeling of them.] + +Does your skin ever talk to you? No, of course not; yet it tells you +ever so many things. Shut your eyes and pick up a pencil. As you touch +it, your skin tells you that it is round and smooth, and pointed at +one end. You can feel the soft rubber on the other end, too. Is it +wet? No. Is it hot? Of course not. Now place a book in the palm of +your hand. Is it flat or round, light or heavy, rough or smooth? All +these things your skin tells you through little nerve tips, which are +scattered thickly all over it. Still another thing the skin does; if +you touch anything sharp or hot, it says at once that it hurts. If +your clothes are tight or uncomfortable, the skin soon lets you know. +You see it is always on the lookout, always ready to tell you about +the things around you and to warn you against the things that might +hurt you. The fifth of your "Five Senses," the sense of _touch_, is in +your skin. + +There are some parts of your skin-coat that should have special care. + +I hardly need tell you about washing your face carefully around your +nose and in front of your ears. Sometimes I have seen a "high-water +mark" right down the middle of the cheek or just under the jaws or +chin. + +Of course your mother has told you about washing your hands! You see, +our hands touch so many dirty things, and handle so many things that +other people's hands have touched, that we ought always to wash them +before a meal for fear some of the dirt or germs on them may get into +our mouths and cause disease. + +And we really need to clean our nails as often as we wash our hands, +for that little black rim under the nail is very dangerous. Dust and +disease germs and dirt of all kinds find it a good place in which to +hide. Trim your nails with a file, not a knife; and clean them with a +dull cleaner, for a sharp-pointed one will scrape the nail and roughen +it, or push the nail away from the skin of the finger underneath. + + [Illustration: USEFUL TOOLS] + +Trim and clean the edges of your nails carefully and thoroughly, but +don't fuss much with the roots of them. That little fold of skin there +may strike you as untidy, but it covers the soft growing part of the +nail; and if you push it back with a nail-cleaner, it may cause the +nail to crack and roughen or become inflamed and start a "hang nail" +or "run around." If you push it back at all, do so only with the ball +of your thumb or finger. + +The edges of the nails should be trimmed in a curve to match the curve +of the end of the finger. Of course you know that you should never +bite your nails, not only because it is a bad habit and will bring a +good deal of dirt into your mouth, but because you may bite, or tear +down into, the tender growing part of the nail, sometimes called the +_quick_; and then this part may become inflamed, and you will have a +troublesome sore on the end of your finger. + + [Illustration: DO YOUR NAILS LOOK LIKE THESE?] + +Just as your nails are a part of your skin,--hardened from it and +rooted in it,--so, too, are your teeth; and, like the rest of the +skin, they should be kept thoroughly clean. Every morning and evening +at least they should be carefully brushed. If you take good care of +your first teeth and have them filled when they need it, you will +probably have good permanent teeth, and you won't have to suffer with +toothache. + +The skin of your head, which grows such beautiful hair, and the hair +itself, should be kept clean. There are two things needed for this. + +First, the hair should be brushed and combed night and morning. The +skin of your scalp is shedding tiny thin scales all day and all night, +just as the rest of your skin is doing. Fortunately, your hair is +growing from roots under the skin much in the same way as blades of +grass grow from their roots; and, as it grows, it pushes up these +scales from the surface of the scalp to where you can readily reach +them with a good bristle brush. If they are not well brushed out, the +dust and smoke from the air will mix with them, and the germs in the +dust and smoke will breed in the mixture, and you will soon have +"scurf" or _dandruff_ on your head. So give at least fifteen or twenty +strokes with the brush before you use the comb. It isn't necessary to +brush or scrape the scalp, and a comb should be used only to part the +hair or take out the tangles. + +The second thing is to wash the hair and the scalp. Boys ought to wash +their hair every week; and girls, every two weeks; and girls, +especially, should be careful to dry their hair very thoroughly +afterwards. You will notice after washing your hair that it feels dry +and fluffy, and sometimes rather harsh. This is because the soap and +hot water together have washed out of the hair its natural oil, or +grease, which kept it bright and soft; and this is why it is better +not to wash the hair with soap and hot water oftener than once a week +or so. But it shouldn't be shirked when the time does come. Watch how +hard your kitten works to keep her fur coat glossy, though it must be +tiresome enough to lick, lick, lick. + +Sometimes in cold weather your lips and knuckles crack and bleed. That +is because the skin on those parts is so thin and so often stretched +and bruised. If you will take a little pure olive oil or cold cream +and rub it on your lips and hands, it will make the skin softer and +not so likely to break. + + [Illustration: SHOES THAT SHOW SENSE + + Low heels and plenty of room for the toes.] + +Sometimes your feet tell you that they need better care. Perhaps your +shoes are too tight, or too loose and rub your toes. Soon the skin +becomes very hard in one spot, and you have a "corn" on your toe. You +must be very, very careful how your shoes and stockings fit. If you +should find a corn, or the beginning of one, you had better tell your +mother about it, and let her see that your stockings are not too big, +so that they wrinkle into folds and chafe, or that your shoes are +mended, or that you have a larger pair. And then, if you wash your +feet in cold water every day, and put some vaseline or sweet oil on +the hard spot night or morning, the corn will probably go away. + +Not only your shoes, but all of your clothing must be comfortable if +your skin and the parts under it are to do their work well. Your +clothes as well as your skin must be washed often, because the sweat, +which is oily and greasy as well as watery, soaks into them, and the +little white scales cling to them, and often dust and disease germs, +too. + +One winter a little boy came to my school. The other children told me +they did not like to sit by him, his clothes had such an unpleasant +smell. I talked to him about it, and what do you suppose he said! +"Why, I can't bathe; the creek's too cold in winter." He was waiting +till summer time to take a bath! No wonder the other children did not +like to sit near him. + +Yet, with all the bathing and rubbing and brushing, your skin won't be +clean and beautiful and able to do all that it has to do, unless your +stomach and heart and lungs are in good working order. So you must eat +good food, sleep ten or twelve hours a day, and play out of doors a +great deal, if you expect your skin to be healthy. + + + + +BREAKFAST + + +When you are washed, it doesn't take you long to dress; and before you +have finished brushing your hair, you begin to feel as if you were +ready for breakfast. You know just where the feeling is--an empty +sensation near the pit of your stomach, and you don't have to look at +the clock to know that it is breakfast time. + +About this time something begins to smell very good downstairs; and +down you go, two steps at a time, and out into the dining-room, or +kitchen. You could do it with your eyes shut, just following your +nose; and it is a pretty good guide to follow, too. If you will just +go toward the things that smell good, and keep away from, or refuse to +eat, those that smell bad, you will avoid a great many dangers, not +only to your stomach, but to your general health; for a bad smell is +one of Nature's "black marks," and you know what they are. + +How nice and fresh and appetizing everything looks--the white cloth, +the clean cups and saucers, and the shining spoons and forks. You are +sure that a good breakfast is one of the best things in the world. You +sit down and begin to eat, and everything tastes as good as it looks. + + [Illustration: MILK AND SUNLIGHT DON'T AGREE + + The early riser can help a great deal by taking the milk bottles + in out of the sun. Milk spoils quickly if it is not kept cool.] + +A good breakfast would be an egg, or a slice of bacon or ham, with a +glass of milk,--or two, if you can drink another,--and two or three +slices of bread, or toast, with plenty of butter; and then some cereal +with plenty of cream and sugar, or some fruit, to finish with. A +breakfast like this will give you just about the right amount of +strength for the morning's work. Don't begin with a cereal or +breakfast food; for this will spoil your appetite for your real +breakfast. Cereal has very little nourishment in proportion to its +bulk and the way it "fills you up." Bread or mush or potato alone is +not enough. Any one of these gives you fuel, to be sure; but it gives +you very little with which to build up your body. For that you must +have milk or meat or eggs or fish. + +It is most important that children should eat a good big breakfast. +All the hundred-and-one things that you are going to do during the +day--racing, jumping, shouting, studying--require strength to do; and +that strength can be got only out of the power in your food, which is +really, you remember, the sunlight stored up in it. + +Sometimes, when you come down in the morning, especially if you +haven't had the windows of your bedroom well open so as to get plenty +of air during the night, you may feel that you are not very hungry for +breakfast. Or perhaps, if you have risen late, or are in a great hurry +to get to school in time, you just swallow a cup of coffee or tea, and +a cracker or a little piece of bread, or a small saucer of cereal. +This is a very bad thing to do, because coffee and tea, while they +make you feel warm and comfortable inside, have very little +"strength," or food value, in them, and simply warm you up and stir up +your nerves without doing you any real good at all. A cracker or a +single piece of bread or one large saucer of cereal has only about one +fourth of the strength in it that you will need for playing or +studying until noontime. So after you have started to school with a +breakfast like this, about the middle of the morning you begin to feel +tired and empty and cross, and wonder what is the matter with +yourself. + +Children of your age are growing so fast that they need plenty of +good, wholesome food. They get so hungry that they want to be eating +all the time. For "grown-ups" three times a day is enough; but for you +children, whose bodies use up the food so fast, it is well to take +also a piece of bread and butter, or two or three cookies, or a glass +of milk with some crackers, in the middle of the morning and again +about the middle of the afternoon. It will not hurt your appetite for +dinner or supper, and you won't be wanting to "pick" at cake and candy +and pickles all day long. + +How does eating keep you alive and make you grow? Eating is somewhat +like mending a fire. You put wood or coal on the fire, and it keeps +burning and giving out heat; but if you do not put fresh fuel on, the +fire soon goes out. Just so, putting food into your body feeds the +"body fires" and keeps you warm, and at the same time makes you grow. +Of course the "body fires" are not just like those you see burning in +the stove: there are no flames. But there is burning going on, just +the same. + +The food you put into your body must be made soft and pulpy before it +can burn in your muscles. Now you can guess what your teeth are for. +They chop, crush, and grind the food; and the tongue rolls it over and +over and mixes it with the moisture in your mouth, until it is almost +like very thick soup. Then you make a little motion with your tongue +and throat, and down it goes. + + [Illustration: THE FOOD TUBE + + Note the arrows. This is the trip made by every mouthful of + food.] + +Where does it go? It is passed down a tube that we call the _food +tube_. While I tell you about it, you can look at the picture and then +try to draw it yourself. + +The food goes quickly down the first part of the tube until it comes +to a part much larger than the rest, which we call the _stomach_. Here +it is churned about for a long time, and the meat you have eaten is +melted, or dissolved. Then the food goes on into the next part of the +tube, which has become narrow again. This lower part, which is about +twenty-five feet long, is coiled up just below the waist, between the +large bones that you can feel on each side of your body. These coils +of the food tube, we call the _bowels_. + +Winding all around the stomach and bowels are tiny branching pipes +full of blood. They look somewhat like the creepers on ivy, or the +tendrils on grapevines. These suck out the melted food from the +bowels. They take what the body can use, and carry it away in the +blood to all parts of the body. This is the fuel that keeps the "body +fires" going. The tougher parts of the food, which the body cannot +use, are carried down to the lower end of the bowels and pushed out by +strong muscles. + +This waste should be passed out from the body once every day and at +the same time each day. In the morning after breakfast is perhaps the +best time. If you do not get rid of it every day, it makes poisons, +which go into your blood and soon make you very sick indeed. You must +keep clean inside as well as outside. + + + + +GOING TO SCHOOL + + +I. GETTING READY + +As soon as you have finished breakfast, and brushed your teeth and +gone to the toilet, you are ready to run out of doors to play, if you +have plenty of time, or, if not, to start for school. + +Doesn't it seem a nuisance, in winter time, to have to put on a coat +and overshoes and a cap or a hood, and sometimes leggings and mittens, +too? But your mothers know what is best for you; and when you are +young and growing fast, you have so much more surface in proportion to +your weight than when you are grown up, that you lose heat from the +blood in your skin very fast; and unless you are warmly dressed, you +become chilled. + +When you are chilled, you are using up, in merely trying to keep +yourself warm, some of the energy that ought to be used for growing +and for working. It has been found out by careful tests that children +who are not warmly dressed, and particularly whose arms and legs are +not warmly covered, do not grow so fast as they ought to, and more +easily catch colds and other infections. So take time to put on your +cap and your coat, if the weather is cold; and, if it is snowy, to +button on leggings over your stockings; and then you can play as hard +as you like, and run through the snow, and keep warm and rosy and +comfortable. + +Wool is one of the best stuffs for coats and dresses and stockings and +gloves and caps, not only because it is warm, but also because it is +lighter in weight than anything else you could wear that would be +equally warm, and because it is _porous_; that is, it will let the air +pass through it, and the perspiration from the body escape through it. + +Don't wear any clothes so tight that you cannot run and jump and play +and fling your arms and legs about freely, or so fine and stylish that +you are afraid of getting them soiled by romping and tumbling. + +It is best to wear fairly heavy, comfortable shoes with good thick +soles; then you will not have to wear rubbers, except when it is +actually pouring rain, or when there is melting snow or slush upon the +ground. Felt, or buckskin, or heavy cloth makes very good "uppers" for +children's shoes; but only leather makes good soles. + +It is best not to wear rubbers too much, because the same +waterproofness, which keeps the rain and the snow out, keeps the +perspiration of your feet in, and is likely to make them damp. When +they are damp, they are as easily chilled as if they had been wet +through with rain or puddle water. Always take off your rubbers in the +house or in school, because they are holding in not only the water of +perspiration, but the poisons as well; and these will poison your +entire blood, so that you soon have a headache and feel generally +uncomfortable. + + +II. AN EARLY ROMP + +The minute you are outside the door, the fresh morning air strikes +your face, and you draw four or five big breaths, as if you would like +to fill yourself as full as you could hold. If you have had a good +night's sleep and a good breakfast, the very feel of the outdoor air +will make you want to run and jump and shout and throw your arms +about. This warms you up finely and gives you a good color; but if you +keep it up long, you will notice that two things are happening: one, +that you are breathing faster than you were before; the other, that +your heart is beating harder and faster, so that you can almost feel +it throbbing without putting your hand on your chest. + +If you run too hard, or too far, you begin to be out of breath, and +your heart thumps so hard that it almost hurts. What is your heart +doing? It is pumping; it is trying to pump the blood fast out to your +muscles to give them the strength to run with. + + [Illustration: AN EARLY RUN IS A GOOD PREPARATION FOR THE DAY'S + WORK] + +Of course you have seen a pump? Perhaps some of you have to pump water +every day at home. You take the handle in your hands, lift it up, then +press it down, and out pours the water through the spout; and, as you +keep pumping, the water spurts out every time you press the handle +down. It is hard work, and your arms are soon tired; but, as you +cannot drink the water while it is down in the well, you must pump to +bring it up where you can reach it. + + [Illustration: THE HEART-PUMP + + The big tubes are the arteries and veins.] + +Just so the heart pumps to keep the blood flowing round and round, +through the muscles and all over the body. If you put your finger on +your wrist, or on the side of your neck, you can feel a little throb, +or _pulse_, for every spurt from your heart-pump; and that means for +every heart-beat. + +This heart-pump is made of muscle, and is about the size of your +clenched fist. And just as you can squeeze water from a sponge or out +of a bulb-syringe, by opening and shutting your hand around it, so the +big heart muscle squeezes the blood out of the heart. It squeezes it +out from one side of the heart; and then, when it lets go, the blood +comes rushing in from the other side to fill the heart again. So the +heart goes on squeezing out and sucking in the blood, all day and all +night as long as we live. + +When the blood comes to the muscles, it is a beautiful bright red; but +after the muscles have taken what they want of it for food to burn, +and warm you up, the "ashes" and the "smoke" go back into the blood +and dirty its color from red to purple. Then the blood is carried to +the lungs, where the fresh air you breathe in blows away the "smoke" +and makes the blood red again. + +The blood is pumped all over the body through tubes or pipes, called +_blood vessels_. Those that carry the red blood out from the heart, we +call _arteries_. They are deep down under the skin, and we cannot see +them. The pipes that carry the purple blood from the muscles and other +parts back to the heart again, we call _veins_; and some of these are +so close to the surface that we can easily see them through the skin. +Let your hand hang down a minute or two, then you can see the veins on +the inside of your wrist, or on the back of your hand, if it is not +too fat. + + [Illustration: IT IS GOOD TO PLAY OUT OF DOORS TILL THE BELL + RINGS--EVEN IN WINTER] + +The muscles, the brain, the skin, and other parts of the body get +liquid food from the blood by "sucking" it through the walls of the +smallest of the blood vessels, for these walls are very thin. In the +same way, when waste passes from the muscles or the skin into the +blood, it, too, soaks through the thin walls of the tiniest blood +tubes, called _capillaries_. + +Your heart beats or throbs about seventy-five times in a minute when +you are well. Look at the second hand of a watch, while you count the +beats in your wrist or in your neck. + +Does your heart ever become tired? Not while you keep well, unless you +over-drive it by running or wrestling too hard. It can rest between +the beats. But the heart muscle, like any other muscle, must have +plenty of good red blood to feed on. You put food into the blood by +eating good breakfasts and dinners. The more you run and jump and +play, the more work the heart has to do and the stronger it grows; and +a good morning romp before school will send the blood flowing so +merrily round from top to toe that you will feel fresher and brighter +all the day. + + +III. FRESH AIR--WHY WE NEED IT + +The heart is not the only thing that goes faster and harder when you +run about in the morning and play hard. You are breathing faster and +deeper as well, as if there were something in the air outside that you +needed in your body as much as food. + +But, of course, you know that air is not good to eat. It has no +strength in it, as food has; it isn't even a liquid like milk or +coffee or tea. It is so thin and light that we call it a _gas_. +Indeed, I suppose it is pretty hard for you to believe that air is a +real thing at all. But all outdoors is full of the gas called air, and +everything that seems to be empty, like a room or an empty box, is +full of it. + +You cannot even smell it, as you can that other gas which comes +through pipes into our houses and burns at the gas jets; nor can you +see it like the gas that comes out of a boiling kettle or from the +whistle of a locomotive, and which we call _steam_. This is simply +because air is so pure that it has no smell, and is so perfectly clear +that we can see right through it. Almost the only way that we can +recognize it is by feeling it when it is moving. But it is a very real +thing for all that; and, like sunshine and food, is one of the most +important things in the world for us. + +What is it that air does in the body? We must need it very much, for +we die quickly when we cannot get it: it takes us only about three +minutes to suffocate, or choke to death, if we can't get it. + +You remember that the blood is pumped out from the heart, all through +the body. Everywhere it goes,--to the feet and the hands and the +head,--it is carrying two things: food that it has sucked up from the +food tube, and hundreds and hundreds of tiny red sponges called red +_corpuscles_. These little sponges are full of air which they sucked up +as the blood passed through the lungs. When we stop breathing,--that +is, taking in air,--the little red sponges of course can't get any air +to carry to the different parts of the body. + +The body is made up of millions of tiny, tiny animals, called +_cells_,--so tiny that they can be seen only under a microscope. Each +of these cells must have food and air, just like any other animal. +They eat the food the blood brings to them, and they take the air from +the red corpuscles in the blood. With the air as a "draft," they burn +up the waste scraps, as we burn scraps from the kitchen, in the back +of the stove. + +Suppose you light a candle and place it under a glass jar and watch +what will happen. The flame will become weaker and weaker, and at last +it will quite go out. You might think at first that the wind blew it +out; but how could the wind get through or under the jar? No, the +glass keeps all the outside air away from the flame; and that is just +the reason why it does go out. Unless it has fresh air, it cannot +burn. There is something--a gas--in the air that makes the flame burn, +and when it has used up all this gas inside the glass, and can't get +any more, it stops burning. + +Now you will want to know what this gas in the air is. When we write +about it, we use its nickname, the large capital letter _O_; but its +whole name is _Oxygen_. + +Just as the candle flame must have oxygen to keep it burning, so our +cells must have oxygen to burn their impurities, or waste; and if they +don't get the oxygen, and can't burn their impurities, they are +poisoned by them and "go out," or die. + +You can see the flame when the candle is burning, but you can't see +the fires that burn in our bodies; there are no real flames at all. I +know it is hard for you to believe that there can be any burning when +our bodies are so wet and damp. But if you can't see it, you can +easily feel it. Blow on your hand. How warm your breath is! Touch your +hand to your cheek. It is quite warm, too. If you run or play hard, +you sometimes become so hot that you want to take off your coat. That +is because your fires are burning faster. The muscles are using more +food and making more scraps to be burned. You breathe faster and +faster till at last you are "out of breath" and feel as if you would +smother or choke. The blood has hard work to bring oxygen enough to +keep the fires going. + +After the cells have burned the food scraps, they turn the "ashes" and +"smoke" back into the blood-stream that is always flowing past them. +If the cells did not do this, they would soon smother to death, just +as you could not possibly live in a house without chimneys to carry +off the smoke. And, of course, the blood wants to get rid of this +waste just as quickly as possible. + +Part of the waste in the body is liquid, like water, and can flow away +through the blood pipes without needing to be burned. Some of this +watery waste comes out through the skin and stands in beads or drops +upon it. That is the part we call perspiration, or sweat. The rest of +it goes in the blood to another strainer called the _kidneys_, passes +through this as _urine_, and is carried away from the body as the +waste water from the bathtub and the sink is carried away from a +house. + +For the "smoke" Mother Nature has still another beautiful plan. She +sends the blood-stream flowing through the _lungs_, where it can send +off its "smoke" and then get fresh air to carry to the cells in the +muscles. When you breathe out, you are sending out the "smoke"; and +when you breathe in, you are taking in fresh air. + +Our body "smoke" is not brown or blue, like the smoke from a fire; it +is a clear, odorless gas, called _carbon dioxid_. This is the same gas +that makes the choke-damp of coal mines, which suffocates the miners +if the mine is not well ventilated; and the same gas that sometimes +gathers at the bottom of a well, making it dangerous for anyone to go +down into the well to clean it. And this gas is poisonous in our +bodies just as it is in the mine or the well. + +You see, then, how important it is that we should live much of our +lives in the clear pure air out of doors, and should bring the fresh +air into our houses and schools and shops. "Fill up" with it all you +can on your way to school, for the best of air indoors is never half +so good as the free-blowing breezes outside. + + +IV. FRESH AIR--HOW WE BREATHE IT + +When you are running and breathing hard, and even when you are sitting +still and breathing quietly, air is going into your lungs and then +coming out, going in and coming out, many times every minute. How does +the air get in and out of the lungs? It will not run in of itself; for +it is light and floats about, you know. Here, again, Mother Nature has +planned it all out. She has made us an air bellows, or air pump, to +suck it into the lungs. First we'll see what shape this pump is, and +then how it works. + + [Illustration: THE CHEST THAT HOLDS THE LUNGS + + Back of the lungs is the heart; its position is shown by the + broken line. The black line across the chest shows how high the + diaphragm rises when we breathe out quietly.] + +Stiff rings of bone called _ribs_ run round your body, just like the +hoops in an old hoop skirt, or like the metal rings round a barrel. +Here is a picture of the bones of the chest. Perhaps your teacher can +show you the skeleton of some animal. You will notice how the rings, +or ribs, slant and are joined by hinges behind to the backbone and in +front to the breastbone. It looks somewhat like a cage, doesn't it? +Put your hands on the sides of your chest and you can feel your own +ribs. Do they slant upward or downward? + +This chest-cage is our breathing-machine. Before I tell you how it +pumps, I want you to get a pair of bellows and see how they work. When +you lift up the handle of the bellows, you make the bag of the bellows +larger so that it sucks in air; and when you press the handle down +again, the air puffs out through the nozzle. + +Our air machine, though it is somewhat different from the bellows in +shape, works in exactly the same way. You remember that you found that +the ribs slant down and can be moved on hinges. Suppose, now, you +place your hands against your ribs and feel the ribs lift as you draw +in a long breath. The air will be sucked into your nose just as it was +into the bellows when you raised the handle. By lifting your ribs, you +have made the chest-cage larger; and the air has rushed into your +nose, down your windpipe, and filled your lungs. If you breathe very +deeply, you will find that your stomach, too, swells out. This shows +that the muscular bottom of the cage, called the _diaphragm_, has been +pulled down, making the cage larger still. + +In this chest-cage are millions of tiny air bags that make up the +lungs; and every time you take a breath, the air bags are puffed out +with the fresh air that comes rushing in. By the time you let your +ribs sink again, the air has given its oxygen to the blood, and the +blood has poured its carbon-dioxid smoke into the air bags for you to +breathe out. Nature, with the same bellows, pumps in the oxygen and +pumps out the "smoke." + +Now, we breathe into our lung-bellows whatever air happens to be +around us. So we should take care that the air around us is fresh air. + +Unless the air were kept in motion by the heat of the sun, causing +breezes and winds, it would become stale and wouldn't do at all for +our lung-bellows to use. The air we breathe must be kept moving and +fresh if it is to make us feel bright and strong and happy. Mother +Nature has given us miles upon miles and oceans upon oceans of this +clear, fresh air to breathe--"all outdoors," in fact, as far as we can +see around us and for miles above our heads. She sends the winds to +move the air about and blow away the dust and dirt; and the sunshine, +you remember, not only to warm the air and keep it moving, but to burn +right through it and kill the poisons. But this brings us to something +else. + +You have learned that the air we breathe out would soon smother us, +just as smoke would; and now we will see why. If you blow against the +window pane on a cold day, the glass is no longer clear; and when you +look at it closely, you see that it is covered with tiny drops of +water. This is part of the breath you have just blown out. If the room +is cold enough, you can see your breath in the air; that is, the steam +in your breath becomes cold and appears as tiny water-drops. You have +seen how in the same way, the steam, an inch or so from the spout of +the teakettle, cools, making little water-drops that float in the air +like clouds. Part of the breath, then, is water; but most of it is a +gas, and you can't see it at all as it floats away into the air about +you. + +If your teacher has a glass of limewater, and will let you breathe +into it through a tube, you will see that your breath soon makes the +water look milky. This shows that the gas in your breath is not like +the air about you; because air was all over the top of the limewater, +yet did not change it at all. The milky look is caused by carbon +dioxid, one of the poisons in your breath. + +When some people come close to you, you want to turn away your head, +because you do not like the smell of their breath. Even when one is +quite well, the breath has a queer "mousey" odor, so that we never +like to breathe the breath of another person. This disagreeable odor +comes not only from the lungs but from the teeth. + +We are always breathing out poisons into the air. One of these you can +see in the milky limewater, and others you can smell when you happen +to come close to anyone else. + + [Illustration: PROVING THAT THE BREATH IS NOT LIKE THE AIR] + +If you blow on your fingers, you feel that your breath is much warmer +than the air. If people are crowded together in rooms with doors and +windows shut, their breath soon heats and poisons the air, until they +begin to have headache, and to feel dull and drowsy and uncomfortable. +If they should be shut in too long, without any opening to let in the +fresh air, as in a prison cell, or in the hold of a ship during a +storm, the air would become so poisonous as to make them ill, and +would even suffocate them and kill them outright. Even the bees found +this out thousands of years ago; and in their hives in hot weather +they station lines of worker-bees, one just behind another from the +door right down each of the main passages, whose business it is to do +nothing but keep their wings whirring rapidly, so that they fan a +steady current of fresh air into every part of the hive. + + [Illustration: DUSTING--HOW SHALL WE DO IT?] + +How does Mother Nature get rid of these poisons from our breath? Of +course, you say, "She uses the wind and the sunshine." Yes, the winds +can whisk up the poison and blow it away so fast, and the sunshine can +burn up the horrid smell so quickly, that even the air above big +cities, and in their streets, is quite clean enough for us to breathe, +except where the people are very closely crowded together and very +dirty. Mother Nature wants all of us to help in keeping the air clean. +This we can do by keeping ourselves and our houses clean, and by being +careful not to leave scraps of waste, or dirty things, in the streets +and cars and parks and other public places. And you children ought to +be very careful about your school yard and the halls and the +classrooms, where you spend so much of your time. + + + + +IN SCHOOL + + +I. BRINGING THE FRESH AIR IN + +The only place where air is absolutely sure to be fresh is out of +doors. There, as we have seen, the sun and the winds keep it so all +the time. But, unluckily, we cannot spend all our time outdoors, +either when we are little or after we have grown up. So we must try in +every way that we can to bring the outdoors indoors--to get plenty of +fresh air and light into the houses that we live in, especially the +bedrooms we sleep in and the schoolrooms we study in when we are +children, and the offices or shops we work in when we are grown up. + +After you have your lungs and your blood well filled with air, either +by walking briskly to school or by chasing one another about the +school playground, you will suddenly hear the bell ring, and you march +indoors and sit down at your desks. Here, of course, the air cannot +blow about freely from every direction, because the walls and doors +and windows are shutting you in on every side. The room, to be sure, +is full of air; but if the doors and windows are shut, this air has no +way of getting outside, nor can the fresh, pure air out of doors--even +though it be moving quite fast, as a wind or a breeze--get inside. + + [Illustration: A CLASSROOM ALMOST AS GOOD AS THE OUT-OF-DOORS + + Notice the windows open top and bottom, and the high windows + under the roof. Why are these good?] + +We must let the fresh air come in and the stale air go out. This is +one of the things that windows are for; and this is why they are hung +upon pulleys and made to slide up and down easily. Of course, even +when the windows are not open, they are letting in light, which, you +remember, is a deadly enemy to germs and poisons. + +Bright sunlight is best for purifying the air of a room, but even +ordinary daylight has a good deal of germ-killing power. Therefore, a +room that is well lighted is not only much pleasanter to live in, but +much healthier, than one that is dull and gloomy. You see why we need +plenty of windows and doors: we must let in the breezes and the +sunshine, and let out the poisons and the dirt. Then, too, we must +make the air in the building move about in order to keep it fresh; for +if the air is not fresh, we soon grow tired and sleepy and have +headaches. That is why your teacher keeps the windows open at the top +a foot or so. You can easily see that when there are twenty or thirty +of you breathing out poisons, and each one of you needing about four +bushels of fresh air every minute, the old air ought to be going out +and the fresh air coming in all the time. + + [Illustration: VENTILATION + + Watch the candle flames. Which way is the air moving, and why?] + +That is also why your teacher gives you a recess, so that you can run +out of doors and get some fresh air. Then she can throw open all the +windows and doors and have the air in the room clean and fresh when +you come back again. So when recess comes, don't hang about in the +hallways or on the stairs or in the basement, but run right out of +doors into the playground and shout and throw your arms about and run +races to fill your lungs full of fresh, sweet air and stretch all your +muscles, after the confinement and sitting still. Don't saunter about +and whisper secrets or tell stories, but get up some lively game that +doesn't take long to play, such as tag or steal-sticks or soak-ball, +or duck-on-a-rock or skipping or hopscotch. These will blow all the +"smoke" out of your lungs and send the hot blood flying all over your +body and make you as "fresh as a daisy" for your next lesson. + +When you come back into the schoolroom after recess, the air will seem +quite fresh and pure; but unless you keep the windows open, it will +not be long before your head begins to be hot, and your eyes heavy, +and you feel like yawning and stretching, and begin to wonder why the +lessons are so long and tiresome. Then, if your teacher will throw +open all the windows and have you stand up, or, better still, march +around the room singing or go through some drill or calisthenic +exercises, you will soon feel quite fresh and rested again. + +In the mild weather of the spring or early fall, all you need to do to +keep the air fresh in the schoolroom is to keep the windows well open +at the top. But in the winter, the air outdoors is so cold that it has +to be heated before it is brought in; and this, in any modern and +properly built schoolhouse, is usually arranged for. The fresh air is +drawn in through an opening in the basement and is either heated, so +that it rises, or is blown by fans all over the building. This sort of +fresh air, however, is never quite so good as that which comes +directly from outdoors; so it is generally best to keep at least two +or three windows in each room opened at the top as well, and never to +depend entirely upon the air that comes through the heating system. + +Sometimes this may mean a little draft, or current of uncomfortably +cool air, for one or two of you who sit nearest the windows; but your +teacher will always allow you to change your seat if this proves very +unpleasant. If you have plenty of warmth in the room you sit in, +unless the air outside is very cold, this "breeze" won't do you any +harm at all; on the contrary, it will be good for you. Instead of +catching cold from a draft like this, it is from foul, stuffy, +poisonous air, loaded with other people's breaths and the germs +contained in them, that you catch cold. + + [Illustration: GARDENS TAKE US OUT OF DOORS] + +In fact, staying indoors is usually the reason why people are sick. +They don't go out into the clean fresh air for fear they'll be too +cold! It seems a pity we can't just live out of doors all the time. +Perhaps we shall some day; for doctors are finding out that fresh +outdoor air and good food are the very best medicines known, and the +only "Sure Cures." They are pleasant to take, too. Many cities are +providing outdoor schools for children who have weak lungs or are not +strong in other ways. Perhaps some day all school children will be +allowed to study in the open air at least part of every school day. + + +II. HEARING AND LISTENING + +Now you are all ready to go to work. What are you going to work with? +Books? pencils? paper? Yes, but you have something better than those +and all ready for use. It is that little kit of tools that are +sometimes called our "Five Senses." You remember that we have already +talked about one of them, the sense of touch in the skin. Now which +one are you going to use first this morning? If your teacher talks to +you, I hope it will be the one we call the sense of hearing. Suppose +we try to find out something about this sense of hearing, and begin +with a little experiment. + +Take a piece of cork in your hand and lift it up high and then let it +drop into a large basin or tub of water. What happens? The cork +strikes and then goes bob-bob-bobbing up and down on its own waves. +Now watch the little waves all around the cork. Where do they stop? +They don't stop until they touch the edge of the pan; and no matter +how big the pan is, the waves go on and on until they reach the edge. + +We can see these waves of water, and so we easily believe that they +are there. Now there are, just as truly, waves of air all around us. +We cannot see the waves, because they are too small and roll too +quickly. But some of these, when they roll against our ears, make us +hear. They make what we call _sound_. You have heard about sending +messages through the air, without telegraph wires. Wireless messages +are often sent to ships out in the middle of the ocean. This is done +by starting tiny electric waves, which travel through the air much as +the waves of water are traveling across the ocean beneath. Of course +there must be a machine, called a _receiver_, to catch the waves and +"hear" the message. + +Mother Nature has given each of you two very delicate little receivers +to catch the sound waves and carry them to your brain. You know what +they are--you can name them. But how are these wonderful little +machines made? + +You have never seen the whole of your ear. The part on the outside of +the head, of course, you can easily see and feel. Sometimes you notice +a deaf person put his hand behind his ear and press it forward so as +to catch the sound waves better. These waves roll in at the little +hole you can see, and travel along a short passage till they come to a +round _drum_, a piece of very thin skin stretched tight like a +drumhead. + +Have you ever beaten a drum with a stick? You felt the drumhead quiver +under the blow, did you not? Well, when the sound waves beat against +the drum in the ear, it quivers and starts little waves inside the +ear. Each little wave in turn beats against a little bone called the +_hammer_; the hammer beats against another called the _anvil_, and +this against a third called the _stirrup_; and the quiver of the +stirrup is passed on to a little window, opening into a little room +with a spiral key-board; and from this, the wave travels along a nerve +to the brain. As the waves reach the brain, the brain hears. In this +way we hear all sorts of sounds, from the tick of a watch to the +whistle of a train. + + [Illustration: THE WAY BY WHICH SOUND WAVES REACH THE BRAIN + + A section through the right ear.] + +There is a sensible old saying, "Never put anything smaller than your +elbow into the inner part of your ear." Now, of course, you can't put +your elbow into such a tiny hole! So the old saying means, never put +anything in. The eardrum is very thin and can easily be broken. Even a +slap on the ear, or a loud sound too close to it, might crack and +spoil the drum and make one deaf. + +The outside ear needs careful washing; there are so many little +creases that gather dirt and dust. The deep crease behind the ear, +too, will become sore if it is not kept clean. + +Besides cleaning your ears, you must train them to listen. Some boys +and girls hear just a word or two of what is said, and then guess at +the rest and think they are listening, or else ask to have it +repeated. We should try to hear exactly what is said; and if we listen +carefully, it will soon be much easier to understand at once. + +Of course, if you really cannot hear, the doctor can tell you what is +the matter, and usually can help you very much. Sometimes people +become deaf simply because the throat is swollen. Indeed, most +deafness comes from colds and catarrhs and other inflammations of the +nose and throat. These spread to the ear through a little tube that +runs up to the drum cavity from the back of the throat. Sometimes, +when you are blowing your nose, you may feel your ear go "pop"; and +that means that you have blown air up into the ear through this little +tube. Be sure to see a doctor if you don't hear well; and be sure, +too, to tell your teacher, so that she may know why it is you do not +hear what she says, and ask her to give you a seat near her, so that +you can hear. + +Then, too, you should learn to notice outdoor sounds--the songs of the +birds, the noises that the animals make, the wind in the trees, and +the patter of the rain. The old Norsemen have a story that their god +Heimdall had such keen ears that he could hear the grass growing in +the meadow and the wool growing on the backs of the sheep! Your ears +can never be so keen as that; but there are many, many happy outdoor +sounds that you should listen for. They will help to make you happy, +too. + +Careful listening may sometime save your life. You can hear the car or +the train coming, and you can learn to tell from which direction a +sound comes. You can learn to tell one sound from another in the midst +of many sounds. In more ways than you can think of now, this habit of +listening will protect you from danger. + +The Germans have a proverb, "Hear much and say little." What does it +mean? + + [Illustration: "DO YOU HEAR IT? CAN YOU SEE IT?"] + + +III. SEEING AND READING + +You can learn a great deal through your ears, but think how much more +you can learn through your eyes. Just count over all the things that +you have had to get your eyes to tell you to-day, and then shut your +eyes for a minute and think what it would mean never to be able to +see. Don't you think you ought to take very good care of your eyes? +You are going to keep them very busy all your life, and they deserve +the very best care you can give them. + + [Illustration: THE LIGHT ON THE PAGE, NOT IN THE EYES] + +Just as soon as lessons begin, you get out your books; and a good +share of the day in school you have a book before you, reading it or +studying it or copying from it. It makes a great difference to your +eyes how you hold the book and how the light falls. In reading, you +should always hold your book so that the light falls upon the page +from behind you, or from over one of your shoulders. In this way, the +brightest light that comes into your eyes is not from the window, but +from the page of your book. + +If the light comes from a window in front of you, or if you sit in the +evening with your face toward the lamp when you read, the light coming +straight from the lamp or the window, as well as the light coming up +from the pages of the book, pours into your eyes; and this dazzles and +confuses your eyes, so that you can't see plainly and comfortably and +are very likely after a while to find that your head aches. At home, +of course, you can seat yourself with your back to the light when you +read; and usually at school your seats are so arranged that the light +falls from behind you or from one side. If not, by turning a little in +your seat, you can get the light from over your shoulder. + +Notice how the light falls upon the blackboard. When the light comes +from the windows behind you, or from one side, you can see what is +written there quite plainly. But if the blackboard happens to be +between two windows, and especially if this is the lightest side of +the room, you will find that the light dazzles you so that you cannot +see the writing clearly. + +You must have noticed, too, that if, after you have been reading from +the blackboard you look down again suddenly to the page of your book, +for an instant you will not see the letters plainly. Then, almost +before you have time to notice it, you feel a little change take place +inside your eyes, and the print upon the page of your book becomes +quite plain. This is because your eye has to change the shape of one +of the parts inside it, called the _lens_, before you can see clearly +the things that are near you. This change, which is called +_accommodation_, is made by a little muscle of the eye; and if you +keep your eyes working at close work, like reading or writing or +fancy-work, too long at a time, or if your eyes need glasses to make +them see clearly, and you haven't them on, this little muscle becomes +tired. Then the print of your book, or your writing, or the stitches +you have taken begin to blur before your eyes. Your eyes begin to feel +tired, and your head begins to ache. This is what we call _eye +strain_. + +Sometimes this eye strain upsets your appetite or your digestion and +makes you sleepless and worried. The trouble may be caused by your own +carelessness: you may have been reading too long, or in a poor light, +or with the light shining right in your face instead of coming over +your shoulder. But sometimes it is caused by the fact that your eyes +are not just the right shape; and then the only way to relieve it is +to have proper glasses, or spectacles, fitted, which will make up for +this too flat or too round shape, or too large or too small size, of +your eyes. + +If you cannot see clearly what is written on the blackboard when the +light falls upon it from behind you, or above; or if, in a good light, +you cannot read the words in your book quite easily, without straining +at all, when you hold the book either at arm's length or a foot from +your face; or if your head aches or your eyes begin to feel tired or +uncomfortable, or the letters begin to blur, after you have read +steadily--say, for half an hour,--it is a pretty sure sign that there +is some trouble with your eyes. Then you had better have them examined +at once by your family doctor or by the school doctor. In many schools +now there are doctors to test the children's eyes, and ears, too, so +that each child may have a chance to see and hear everything that the +other children can see and hear. + +Not very many years ago people thought that glasses were only for old +people, but now we know that many children's eyes need glasses, too. I +knew a little girl whose sight was so poor that when she was standing +and looked down at the grass, she couldn't see the green blades. She +thought that the grass looked like a green blur to everyone, just as +it did to her; and so she never said anything about it. She was twelve +or thirteen years old before she found out that she couldn't see +clearly. Of course, trying hard to see things gave her a headache and +made her tired and cross. So some one took her to a doctor, and he saw +at once what was the matter and fitted her with glasses. Soon she was +quite well and strong; and how glad she was to see the leaves and a +hundred other things she had not seen before! + + [Illustration: THE EYEBALL IN ITS SOCKET + + The muscle from M to M, which helps to turn the eyeball, has + been cut away to show the optic nerve.] + +Here we have a picture of the _eyeball_, as we call it. The little +bands fastened to it are the bands of muscle; and as soon as I say +_muscle_ you know what they are for--to move the eyeball about, up and +down and from side to side. There are muscles outside the eye as well +as inside. Coming out from the back of the eyeball is a pearly white +cord quite different from the muscle bands. This is what we call a +_nerve_. This nerve in your eye carries to your _brain_, or thinking +machine, picture-messages of whatever you look at. + +The nerve in your eye gets messages of light much as the nerve deep in +your ear gets its messages of sound--from tiny waves in the air. The +light waves are smaller and faster even than the sound waves, and the +eye nerve is the only nerve that can get pictures of them. You know +that, for wireless messages, the receiving machines are not all alike +and cannot all take the same messages, if the messages are sent with +different sorts of electric waves; and neither can our receiving +machines. Some get messages of sight, and some of sound, and some of +touch, or taste, or smell. + +Now shut your eyes as quickly as you can. How long did it take you? A +minute? No, not a quarter of a second. It is about the quickest thing +you can think of--"the twinkling of an eye." You shut your eyes "quick +as a wink" whenever anything seems likely to fly or splash into them, +and this is what the eyelids are for. If anything gets into the eye +before the lids can shut, the eye "waters," and _tears_ pour out of +it. These are made by a gland-sponge up under the upper lid, so as to +wash any dust or sand or other harmful speck out of the eye before it +can hurt the sensitive eyeball. + +Now look at some one's eyeball. It is like the picture, isn't +it?--bright white around the edge and then a ring of color, brown or +blue or gray; and inside the color-ring, or _iris_, a little round +black hole that we call the _pupil_. Watch the little hole change as +you turn the face toward the window. It becomes ever so much smaller. +Now turn the face away from the window, back again into the shadow. +How did the pupil change this time? + + [Illustration: EYES PROTECT THEMSELVES AGAINST THE LIGHT] + +The iris, or color-ring, acts like a curtain, like the ring-shutter of +a camera, and closes up the hole, or pupil, when the light is too +bright and would dazzle or burn the inside of the eye; but when the +light is dim, the iris opens again, so as to let in light enough with +which to see. Look at the little window in your kitten's eyes. It is +not the same shape as yours; but when you carry her to the light, you +see how the iris closes in and leaves just a little black slit or +line. + +You remember the blind children? Isn't it wonderful how they can play +games and study, too, even though they are blind! They have to make +their senses of touch and hearing tell them many things that you learn +through your sense of sight. Many of these children _need not have +been blind_, if the nurse who first took care of them when they were +born had known enough to wash their eyes properly, not with soap and +water, of course, but with just one or two drops of a kind of +medicine--an _antiseptic_, as we call it--that makes the eye perfectly +clean. + +But you children who have good eyes that can see, do you really see +things when you look at them? You can train your eyes just as you can +train your ears. You can teach them to read quickly down a page, and +to find things in pictures, and, better still, to see things out of +doors, in the garden and the woods and on the seashore. We hear a +great deal about "sharp eyes," but most of us see very little of all +we might see. Our eyes are on the lookout, too, to protect us from +dangers that may come; with our skin and nose and ears, they are +constantly on the watch; so the better we see the safer we are. + +Even if your eyes are perfect now, you will need to take good care of +them to keep them strong. Don't let any story, no matter how +interesting it is, tempt you to read in a dim light or a light that is +too strong. And if you can't see the blackboard easily, or can't read +big print, like the school calendar, across the room, tell your mother +or your teacher, so that she can ask the doctor to find out what the +matter is. + + +IV. A DRINK OF WATER + +It is astonishing what thirsty work studying is! Scarcely is the +second recitation over before your throat begins to feel dry, and up +goes your hand--"May I get a drink?" + +If anyone even says the word "water," it makes you thirsty. It is so +good that just the thought of it makes you want some. I should like +you to notice how much water you drink every day. Perhaps a glass in +the morning when you get up, and one at night before you go to bed, +and three or four in between. + +Why do we need so much water? Well, how much do you weigh? Perhaps you +will find it hard to believe, but more than half of that weight is +water; and because we are always giving off water from the skin and +from the body, we need plenty more to take its place. + +No living thing can grow without water. Take a bean, for instance, and +put it in an empty glass on the window sill; and even if the sun +shines full upon it, nothing will happen, except that after a few days +it will shrivel and dry up. But fill the glass with water, and in a +few hours the bean will begin to swell; and in a few days it will +burst, and a little shoot will grow out of one end of it and a tiny +root at the other. The water and the warmth together have made it +sprout and grow. + + [Illustration: A DRINKING-CUP EASILY MADE] + +Children at school and people on trains should have their own private +cups, for serious diseases may be caught from the mouths of other +people. You can get a metal pocket folding cup for ten or fifteen +cents, or paper ones for a few cents a dozen. If you don't have your +own cup, I hope you will get one and carry it. Here is a pattern for a +paper cup that you can easily make for yourselves. Try it and see. +When you have once learned how, you can make it very quickly and have +a fresh cup every time you want one; but of course you should be sure +first that the paper itself is clean. + +If you drink milk, this takes the place of some of the water and gives +you food as well. It is both drink and food; and a very good food for +children it is, too. You know, babies can live on it because it has +everything in it to make them grow. + +Do you know why it is that people are so careful nowadays about having +milk and drinking-water very clean? It is because they have found that +the tiny plants, called germs, that make people sick are often carried +about in these drinks. A disease called _typhoid fever_ is carried in +this way. + +Fifty years ago, cities and towns used to be very careless about where +they got their water supply, and would often take it out of streams +into which other cities emptied their sewage. Now, however, they are +much more particular; and the health officers, or Boards of Health, +are insisting that public water supply, such as is brought into our +houses in pipes, shall be taken either from some spring or +deep-flowing well, or from a stream or lake up in the hills, into +which no drainage from houses or farmyards, and no dirty water from +factories, empties. + + [Illustration: A PIPE FOR THE CITY WATER SUPPLY + + This pipe is laid for many miles to bring water from the distant + hills.] + +We are still, however, far from being as careful as we should be about +this; and I am sorry to say that America has had more deaths from +typhoid fever than any other civilized country. Germany, which, of all +countries in the world, is the most particular about keeping its water +supply pure, has the fewest deaths from this cause, in proportion to +its population--scarcely one fifth as many as we have. + +Therefore, by taking proper care, it would be quite possible to +prevent at least two thirds of our nearly 400,000 cases of typhoid +fever and 35,000 deaths from typhoid, every year. + +It is not only cities and towns that ought to be careful of their +water supply. In fact, now, out on the farms and in the healthy +country districts, the death rate from typhoid fever has actually +become higher than it is in our large cities. The main cause of this +is the custom of digging the well in such a place that the waste water +thrown out from the house, or the drainage from the barnyard or the +pigpen or the chicken-house may wash into it, soaking down through the +porous soil. Far more typhoid fever now is spread by means of infected +well water than by any other means. + +Most dangerous of all is the leakage from the privy vault; as, by this +means, the germs of typhoid fever and other diseases that affect the +food tube and digestion may drain through the soil till they reach the +drinking water in the well. These dangers can be avoided either by +having the well dug at some distance from the house and in higher +ground, or by having the drainage from the house, barns, and +out-buildings piped and carried to a safe distance from the well. + +Fortunately, there are only a few kinds of germs that make us sick. +Most germs are helping us all the time; we could not live without +them. Some of them make our butter taste good, and others make our +crops grow, and others eat up the dirt that would make us sick. But +since disease germs are so tiny that we cannot possibly see them with +the naked eye, we must know where the water and milk that we use come +from, and whether or not they are perfectly clean. Boiling the water +will kill these germs and make the water pure. It is better not to +boil milk if it can be had from a dairy where the stable and the cows +and the milkmen and the pails and bottles are quite clean. + +The fruits and fruit juices--lemon and orange and raspberry and lime +and grape--give nice wholesome drinks. Home-made juices are much +better than those you buy; you can be sure that they are pure and +really made from fruit. And just here I want to caution you against +buying "pink lemonade" or soda water or any other drink of that sort +from the penny venders and open stalls on the street. The drinks they +sell are not made from pure fruit juices, but from different flavoring +extracts that are made to taste like the fruit and are colored with +cheap dyes. Even the sweetening in them is not pure sugar, and they +are often made or handled in a careless, dirty manner, or exposed to +the dust of the street, and to flies. + +Not long ago I was at the home of a friend where for supper we had the +nicest grape juice I ever tasted. When I said, "How good it is!" one +of the little girls piped up, "Billy and I picked the grapes, and +sister made it all by herself. She learned how at cooking school." + +When I was packing my suitcase to leave, this little girl brought out +a big bottle of grape juice and wanted me to take it with me to +remember her by. It was all beautifully sealed with wax, and even this +she had done by herself! Do you think I could have kept it that way +very long? Perhaps not, it was so good; but if I had wanted it for a +keepsake, I could have kept it, sealed as it was, for years and years, +and it would have been just as sweet and fresh as when it was given to +me. + +Suppose, instead of keeping it in its bottle, I had poured it out into +a glass. Can you tell me what would have happened to it then? + +In a few days little bubbles would have come, one after another, up to +the top of the juice; and soon it would have been all full of bubbles. +What causes the bubbles? Floating all about in the air and sunshine +are tiny specks called _spores_. These are to the tiny _yeast_ plants +what seeds are to other plants. Seeds fall into the ground and grow, +but these yeast spores fall into the grape juice and grow. While they +are growing in the grape juice, they eat what they want from the +juice; and, as they eat, they make bubbles of carbon dioxid,--which, +you remember, forms in our lungs and looks like air,--and of another +substance called _alcohol_. Of course, when they have changed the +juice in this way, it tastes very different. It is then what we call +_fermented_. + +_Fermented drinks are harmful_; but some people like bubbling drinks +so much that they leave good fresh grape juice open on purpose to let +the little yeast plants get into it and make it into what we call +_wine_. They treat apple juice in just the same way to make _cider_; +and they even take fresh rye and barley and corn, and mash them up, +and put yeast plants into the mash to ferment them and make them into +_whiskey_ and _beer_. It does seem a pity, doesn't it, to take good +foods like wheat and apples and grapes and make them into these things +that really do us harm if we drink them. + +A very wise man named Solomon, who lived thousands of years ago, +warned people not to drink wine, not even to look at it when it +sparkled in the cup. He said no really wise man would drink it. Of +course not; the wise man uses the food and drink that make his body +grow strong and his brain work true, and no fermented drink can do +that. + +There is no better drink for anyone than clear pure water, and no +better food and drink in one than pure fresh milk. + + [Illustration: A SCHOOL KITCHEN WHERE BOTH BOYS AND GIRLS LEARN + TO COOK] + + +V. LITTLE COOKS + +If you have to come so far to school that you cannot go back to dinner +and so must bring a luncheon with you, be sure to take plenty of time +to sit down and eat it slowly and chew every piece of food thoroughly. +Many children who bring luncheons to school just grab a piece of food +in each hand and "bolt" it down as fast as they can possibly bite it +off and swallow it, and then rush out to play. + +Play is good and very important, but you had better spare ten or +fifteen minutes of it in order to chew your lunch thoroughly and +swallow it slowly, and then to sit or move about quietly for a few +minutes before starting to play hard. This will give your stomach a +chance to get all the blood it wants to use in digesting the food; +for, you remember, when you romp and play, your blood moves outward +toward your skin and away from your stomach. Don't think that, just +because you "picnic" at lunch, it is not as important as any other +meal. + +I hope, however, that it will not be long before almost every school +will have a school kitchen and a lunch room; first, so that every girl +at least can learn to cook. It is well worth while being able to do; +indeed, no girl ought to be considered properly educated until she has +learned to cook, and no boy either, for that matter. Then, if the +school has this kitchen, it can be used to furnish hot luncheons, or +dinners, for those children who cannot conveniently go home in the +noon recess. Hot lunches are much more digestible than cold ones, and +they taste much better, and are much less likely to be eaten in a +hurry. + +But why should we learn to cook? Why shouldn't we eat our food raw +instead of taking all this trouble and pains to cook it? + +I know of a boy--a big lazy fellow--who is always forgetting to do +things. He used to go away in the morning without leaving wood enough +for the kitchen fire. So his mother said to herself one day, "I'll +teach him to remember." The next morning he went off again and left no +wood. At noon he came back "hungry as a hunter." She called him in to +dinner; and in he came, sat down, picked up the carving knife--then he +stopped! What do you suppose was the matter? The beef was raw! Then he +lifted the cover of the potato dish, and there lay the potatoes raw! +Then he tried another dish and found nice green peas, but hard as +little bullets. They were raw, too! Not even the bread had been +cooked; it was a soft, sticky mass of dough. His mother, who is a +jolly old lady, fairly shook with laughter when she told me about it. +She said she never again had to tell him to split wood. + +Now that boy didn't need to be told one reason for cooking. We don't +like our food raw; it doesn't taste so good. At first, perhaps, that +doesn't sound like a very good reason; but it is more important than +you think. For it is a fact that, just as soon as you smell food, your +stomach begins to get ready the juice that is to digest it. If this +very first juice, which is called the _appetite juice_, is not poured +out, then the food may lie in the stomach some little time before it +begins to be digested at all. So it is quite important that our food +should smell and taste and look good, as well as have plenty of +strength and nourishment in it. + +Another reason for cooking is that it either softens or crisps our +food so that we can chew it better and digest it more readily. You +know what a difference there is between trying to eat a raw potato and +a nice, mealy, well-baked one, or trying to eat popcorn before it is +popped and after. + +Another good thing, too, cooking does, which is very important. It +kills any disease germs, or germs of decay, that may happen to have +got upon the food from dust or flies, or from careless, dirty +handling. + +Of course, some of our food, such as apples and other ripe fruits, and +celery and lettuce and other green vegetables, we can eat raw and +digest quite well; but we should be careful to see that they have been +thoroughly washed with water that we know to be pure. Grocers often +have a careless way of putting fruit and vegetables out upon open +stands in front of the shop, or in open boxes or baskets inside the +store, and leaving them there all day. This is very dangerous, because +dust from the street, which contains horse manure and all sorts of +germs, may blow in upon them; flies, which have been eating garbage or +feeding at the mouths of sewers, may come in and crawl over them. You +ought to be very sure that anything that you are going to eat raw, or +without thorough cooking, has been well washed. And you ought to ask +your mother to speak to your grocer, if he is careless in this way, +and have him keep his fruit and vegetables, as well as sugar and +crackers and beans and dried fruit, either under glass or well +screened from flies and dust. + +More important than almost anything else in good cookery is to keep +the food and the kitchen and the dishes and your hands perfectly clean +all the way through, so that nothing that will upset your digestion +can get into the food. After things are well cooked, it is very +important that they should be nicely served on clean dishes, on a +clean table cloth, with polished knives and shining spoons and forks. +This means not only that everything about the table and the food will +be perfectly clean and wholesome, but that you will enjoy eating it a +great deal more. And when you enjoy your food, you remember, your +stomach can _secrete_ the juice that is needed to digest it, very much +faster and better than when, as you say, you are just "poking it +down." + +If you have a school kitchen and a lunch room, you can learn the best +way of cooking and serving things; and then, perhaps, you can do these +same things at home and be a real help. Most children are fond of +trying to cook, and I am glad that they are. Everyone, boys and girls +both, should know how to cook simple things. Perhaps some day you will +be stranded, like Robinson Crusoe, on a desert island! Perhaps the +rest of the family may be sick. How nice it would be for you to be +able to prepare breakfast for them. I know a family where the youngest +boy often rises early and gets breakfast for five. He can fry the +bacon and boil the eggs and make the coffee and mush and biscuit just +as nicely as his mother can; and he takes pride in it and enjoys it. + +Cooking is what we call an art. Everyone, of course, can learn to do +it; but some people can do it much better than others, just as some +boys and girls can draw better than others. I hope some of you will be +what we might call "artist cooks." Take pride in the art and learn all +that you can about it. There are so many things a cook should know. + +A great deal of good food is spoiled by bad cookery, particularly by +frying slowly in tepid grease, or fat, so that it becomes soaked with +grease. You should have the frying pan just as hot as possible before +you begin to fry; and then the meat or potatoes or cakes will be +seared, or coated over, on the outside, so that the fat cannot soak +into them, and they will not only taste better, but will be much more +digestible. + +In baking you will have to be careful not to let the oven become too +hot, or else the meat or bread will be burned or scorched. Even if the +heat does not do this, it may harden and toughen the outside of the +meat so that it is almost impossible either to chew or digest. + +Sugar is really a very good food if you do not eat too much at once, +and so pure candy is good for you if you do not eat too much. The very +best time to eat it is at the end of a meal. If you learn to make it +at school or at home, you can always have some to eat after your +luncheon without having to buy it. If you do buy candy, don't get the +bright colored kind; it looks pretty, but it may hurt you. And be sure +to see that it has been kept under a cover, where the dust and flies +could not get at it. Dust is dirty, and flies don't wipe their feet. +You want clean, pure candy. + +Of course, after cooking, you will always be very careful to wash up +all the pots and pans and dishes that you have used. Food and scraps +that are left sticking to dishes and cooking utensils very quickly +turn sour and decay; and then the next time the dishes are used, you +will perhaps have an attack of indigestion, and wonder why. + +There are two things you should always notice: Whether the bread you +eat is sweet and thoroughly baked; if it is soggy and sour, it will +make trouble in your stomach. Whether all your food is clean and fresh +before it is cooked; this you can tell by your eyes and nose. + + +VI. TASTING AND SMELLING + +When, at home, you give the baby a ball or a key or a watch to play +with, what does he do with it the very first thing? He is never quite +happy, is he, until he has put it into his mouth? Does he want to eat +it? No, he wants to feel it; and he has not yet learned to feel very +carefully with his hands, as you do. + +Can you feel with your mouth? If you have the least little hole in one +of your teeth, you know it as soon as you rub your tongue against it. +How big it feels and how rough the edges seem! If you take a +looking-glass, you find, if you can see the hole at all, that it is +just a tiny, tiny hole. + +Your tongue and lips, like the rest of your skin, are always touching +and feeling things for you and sending messages to the brain. They say +whether your milk is hot or cold, and whether the food you eat is soft +enough and quite right in other ways. Your tongue is a very busy +little "waiter": he passes the food about in your mouth for the teeth +to chew, and he rolls it about at a great rate. But he does more than +this; he tells you something about how it tastes--not everything, as +you may think, but only whether it is _bitter_, _sweet_, _sour_, or +_salty_. Queer as it may seem, your nose tells you the other "tastes," +which are really smells. It is your nose that says whether you have a +strawberry or a piece of onion in your mouth, whether it is coffee or +cocoa that you are drinking. + +Of what other use is your nose?--for only a little patch in the upper +part is for smelling and tasting. The greater part of the nose is to +breathe through. You see, your nose warms and moistens the outside air +that you take in, so that, by the time it reaches your throat, it is +as warm as your body and does not hurt your throat. Your nose also +strains, or filters, out of the air the dust, lint, and germs that may +be floating in it. + +You should always keep your lips closed and breathe through your nose. +Whenever you cannot breathe through your nose, there is something the +matter. It may be that your nose is swollen shut with a "cold"; but +that will last only a few days. If, however, your nose often feels +"stuffed up," there is probably something in it or behind it, that +ought to be taken away. A throat doctor can easily cure you; and, when +he has, you'll be surprised how much better you feel and how much +faster you grow. + + [Illustration: A CLEAR PASSAGE TO THE LUNGS + + (Follow the arrows.)] + +I once knew a little girl whose nose was always blocked up. She had +headache and felt tired most of the time and was behind in her +classes. The doctor told her what was the matter, but her father and +mother were afraid that it might hurt her to have the doctor take out +what was clogging her nose. Well, what did she do? Instead of crying +and being afraid, one day she walked right into the doctor's office +and asked him to take out the _adenoids_, as we call these growths +that block up the nose. And after the doctor had taken them out, she +began to grow well and fat and strong so fast that she soon "caught +up" in her classes. + + [Illustration: A PASSAGE BLOCKED BY ADENOIDS] + +When you breathe well through your nose, you can smell and taste +better, too. In fact, when your nose is clogged, you cannot smell at +all. + +How does this sense of smell help us? You say we can smell the flowers +and the fresh air after the rain, and cookies baking, and all the +things that we like so well. Yes, and these give us pleasure; but how +about the bad smells? The bad smells are warnings. If there is a dead +mouse or rat about, we smell it; and that leads us to look for it and +take it away. We smell the dirt and get rid of it, and thus keep away +sickness. When we walk into a room, if the air is bad we smell it at +once and open a window or a door, and so save ourselves from being +poisoned. + +Some people hurt their noses by smoking tobacco. The inside skin of +the nose is very delicate, and the smoke going back and forth through +the nose and the throat keeps them from doing their work properly. It +is very bad for little children even to smell tobacco smoke. It seems +in some way to keep them from growing as they would in clear fresh +air. What a silly habit smoking is! It does no one any good. It hurts +not only the people who make the smoke, but the people who have to +smell it. Most of the people who smoke tobacco have to learn to like +it. It almost always makes them very sick when they first begin. + +Sir Walter Raleigh, or the men he sent to America, first taught our +great-great-great-grandfathers to smoke. His men bought tobacco of the +Indians here and took it back to England; and Sir Walter himself +learned to smoke and made smoking fashionable. The first time that Sir +Walter's servant saw him smoking, he thought his master was on fire; +so what did he do but bring a big bucket of water and throw it all +over him! I wish that that bucket of water had settled the matter, so +that Sir Walter had stopped smoking and had never taught anyone else +to smoke. If it had, think how much money might have been put to +better use, for smoking is a very costly habit. And it is not only +wasteful of money, but, worse still, of health; for it is the cause of +a great deal of poor health and disease. + +Remember that you want the air you breathe perfectly fresh and clean +and not spoiled and poisoned by tobacco smoke. + + +VII. TALKING AND RECITING + +When I was little and playing with my brothers, I did not always do +what they wanted. So they'd sometimes say, "We'll put him in Coventry, +then he'll do it." They did not really _put_ me anywhere. They simply +would not speak to me or answer anything I said. It was just as if I +were entirely alone. Of course it was a quick way to make me ready to +take my part in the game again. + +How do you think you would feel if you never, never could speak to +anyone, and no one could speak to you? What a quiet world we'd have! +Almost every day I meet a boy who can't hear and can't speak. How does +he ask for things? He makes letters and spells words with his fingers, +and his friends watch his fingers and read what he says. Is that the +way you do? "No, indeed," you say, "I talk." "What do you talk with?" +"I talk with my mouth." Yes, that's true enough; but if you did not +use something besides your mouth, you'd never make a sound. + +Where does the sound come from? Feel gently with your finger and thumb +along the front of your neck. Do you find something harder than the +rest of your throat? That is the large tube called your _windpipe_. Do +you feel a ridge sticking out from this? Now sing or talk a little. +You can feel the ridge move up and down, and the sound thrill in it. +That is where the sound comes from. That is your voice-and-music box, +or _larynx_. + +You have seen the little red rubber balloons, haven't you? You blow +into them until they are big and round; and then, when you take your +mouth away, out comes the air, making a squawking or whistling sound. +Now, if you look closely at the mouthpiece, you see a tiny piece of +rubber tied across it. The air rushing past this rubber is what makes +your balloon sing. + +Your own music box is made on the same plan. When you breathe out, the +air is pushed from your lungs up the pipe that we call the windpipe. +In the upper part of this is the little box, a corner of which you can +feel with your thumb and finger. Across the box, inside, are stretched +two folds of skin and muscle, just as the rubber is stretched across +the opening of the balloon. Whenever you like, you can blow out your +breath between these folds of skin in your voice box. Blow it out in +one way, and what happens? You are singing. Blow it out in another +way, and you are talking; in still another way, and you are just +making a noise--perhaps mewing like a kitten, or neighing like a +horse. If you pull these folds of skin close together, you can close +your windpipe and "hold your breath." A cough is made by filling your +chest with air, holding the folds close shut, and then suddenly +"letting go." How many sounds you can make from one tiny music box! Of +course the muscles of the mouth and throat, and the teeth and the +tongue all help the voice box as much as they can. + +One of the best ways to keep your voice clear and strong is to dash +cold water every morning on your throat and chest, then to rub with a +coarse towel till your skin is pink and warm. Gargle your throat with +cold water if your voice is husky. Singing is very good for you, too; +but don't try to sing too hard. Sing easily and gently, and see how +many words you can sing without taking a breath. That is good for the +lung-bellows as well as the voice box. Always sing in fresh air, but +not in cold air. + +When you talk, try to make all the words clear and distinct; open your +mouth and let the sound out. Once I had a big grown boy in one of my +classes who did not open his lips properly when he spoke. So I asked +him to prop his mouth open with a piece of stick and then talk. I made +him do it until he learned to speak much more clearly. A famous Greek +orator, named Demosthenes, who had a habit of mumbling his words, +trained himself to speak clearly by putting pebbles in his mouth and +then reciting in a loud voice. + +When you want your voices to sound pleasant,--and that is always, of +course,--you must call on your brain to help. That is your thinking +machine. Always think twice before you let anything unpleasant or +unkind come out of your voice box. How happy we could make everyone +about us if we followed this rule! + + +VIII. THINKING AND ANSWERING + +Suppose, as you are walking home from school to-day, you are about to +cross the street when you see an automobile coming very fast. What do +you do? You stop, of course; wait for it to go by, and then start on +again. Why do you stop? "Why," you say, "if I didn't, the automobile +might run over me." Something of that sort would just flash through +your mind, wouldn't it, in the very same second that you first saw the +automobile coming. Now, as you know, you think with your brain. But +what was it this time that set your brain to thinking? "Nothing," you +say, "I just saw the automobile coming." And that is true in a way: +you didn't need anything more than your eyes to tell you. + +But how did your eyes get the message to your brain, and how did your +brain tell your legs to stop walking? We must have in our bodies a +kind of telephone system. And that is, in fact, just what we have. Our +_brain_ is our "central office"; and our _nerves_ are the wires, +running from all parts of our body to the brain, carrying messages +back and forth. + +An old man and an old woman lived out on the very edge of a little +town. One day their house caught fire and was blazing away before they +noticed it. They rushed to their neighbor's telephone and rang up +"Central" to tell her to "phone" for the firemen and hose cart. _Kling +a-ling-a-ling!_ went their bell, but no "Central" answered; and while +a man was running to town to get the firemen, the fire got such a good +start that the house burned down. + +You can see from this why we need a central office in good working +order, when we use the "phone." All the wires run into the one +building, and there must be some one there to receive calls and see +that they are sent out to their proper places. In this case, you see, +"Central" should have been at her post to see that the message went on +to the engine house, and then the fire would have been put out +"double-quick." + +The "central office" of our Body Telephone System is just as important +and just as necessary to keep in good working order. It would be very +little use to have even the keenest of eyes and the sharpest of ears, +with the readiest of nerve wires to carry their messages into the +center of the body, unless we had some _organ_, or headquarters, there +for switching the messages over to the nerves running to the right +muscles to tell them what to do. If the brain-"Central" should fail in +its duty, or get out of order, then the body would be in serious +trouble at once. + +Every day we read in the papers of accidents because somebody didn't +think, as well as see or hear. People see cars and automobiles coming, +but don't give them a thought and so are run down and hurt. They hear +the whistle of the engine at the crossing, but drive on just the same, +without seeming to have heard it at all. They are absent-minded; the +operator in the "central office" seems to be off duty, or busy about +something else. But if we are going to get on in this world of cars +and automobiles and all sorts of unexpected things, we must always +"have our wits about us," as the saying goes, ready to send the +messages out to the muscles in our legs and arms and fingers just as +soon as any one of our "Five Senses" "rings up" the "Central" in our +brain. + +Our body wires do not look at all like telephone wires; and the brain, +if you could see it, would never suggest to you a central office. + +The nerves are fine white cords, the smallest ones finer than a hair, +and the largest so big and strong that you could lift the body by it; +and their branches run all over the body, to the muscles and the blood +tubes and the skin and all the other parts, as the picture shows. You +have already read how the skin can tell you when you feel warm and +when you feel cold and when something hurts you. + +The brain is a soft wrinkled mass, partly gray and partly white. It is +in the head; and because it is very soft and easily hurt, Mother +Nature has put around it a strong wall, or shell, of bone--the +_skull_, or brain box. Feel your head and see how very hard this bone +is. Solomon, the Hebrew poet-king, called it the "golden bowl." I +suppose he called it a "bowl" because it is round like one, and +"golden" because it is so precious. People do not often grow well +again if the "golden bowl" is broken or even cracked. + + [Illustration: THE NERVOUS SYSTEM--OUR BODY TELEPHONE + + The picture shows the brain, or "Central," and the thick nerve + cord that runs down through the backbone, and the principal + nerves of the back and the arms.] + +The big _nerve cable_, called the _spinal cord_, that connects the +brain with the rest of the body, and carries all the messages backward +and forward, runs down the back and is protected by the backbone, or +_spine_, which is hollow, so that the cord can run down through it. +This backbone is jointed together so beautifully, too, that you can +bend your back about and stoop over, and carry heavy weights on your +back, and yet the bony tube still protects the cord inside. Solomon +calls this the "silver cord," because it is so white and shiny that it +looks like silver. You see, our bodies are full of beautiful as well +as wonderful things. + +Probably sometime when your teacher has asked you to recite a poem you +have all learned, someone in the class has answered, "I don't remember +it," or has stood up and recited the first few lines and then stopped, +and thought, and finally had to say, "I can't go on." + +Now what is the matter with this boy, or girl? He looks bright enough, +and you will probably remember that he was in the class when you +learned the poem. "Oh," you say, "the poem didn't stay in his head." +No, it didn't "stick" in his memory; but why didn't it? + +Some of the messages that the Five Senses carry to the brain are +answered at once, as when we move away from danger, or reach out our +hands and help ourselves to butter, or take off a shoe to shake out a +pebble. But there are other messages that do not call for an immediate +reply, and are just stored away for future use in the big "central +office" of our Body Telephone, in what we call our _memory_. And +later, when the proper message is sent in by our eyes or ears, or +other sense organs, which reminds us of this message which they sent +before, perhaps several weeks, months, or even years ago, it wakes up +the old message stored away in the memory, and we say we "remember" +what happened to us, or what we learned at that time. + +So, when your teacher asks you to recite a certain poem, and your ears +hear the title or the first line, you recall the rest of the verses +and the lesson about it. How many things does the word "Christmas" +wake up out of your memory? or the sight of soldiers marching? or the +first taste of strawberries in May? + +You think about a great many things that you never _do_. Really you +are thinking almost all the time you are awake. And besides the +messages that "Central" just stores away for future use, there are a +great many messages being carried back and forth along the "telephone +system" all the time, that you don't keep track of at all--the +messages that keep the stomach and the heart and the lungs and +everything in your body working together properly. + +How are we to take care of the telephone lines and "Central" of our +_nervous system_? Whatever you do to build up and help the other parts +of the body will help your brain to _feel_ and _think_ and _remember_; +and will help your muscles and nerves to answer promptly and truly +whatever the message may be. Plenty of good food, plenty of sleep and +fresh air, plenty of play, will keep your nerves and brain healthy and +growing. + + + + +"ABSENT TO-DAY?" + + +I. KEEPING WELL + +How many times have you been absent this term? No oftener than you +were obliged to be, I am sure; for it's almost as bad as being "put in +Coventry" to come back and hear about the good time the rest of the +class have been having, and feel that you "weren't in it." Of course, +sometimes, when you are not well, you have to be absent; it is best +that you should be. But it is better still to know how to keep well, +so you won't have to be absent, and won't have to miss any good times +in work or play all your life. + +You remember that all the parts of your body are fed and ventilated by +the blood, which is pumped to them from the heart. So long as this +blood is pure and has plenty of oxygen in it, it does good to every +part of the body to which it comes. But the moment that poisons and +dirt and waste begin to pile up in the blood, then the blood that +comes to the different parts of the body may be poisonous to them, +instead of helpful. + +Such poisons in the blood are particularly harmful to the nerves and +the brain, because these are among the most delicate and sensitive of +all the structures in the body. + +Often we think of the body as a beautiful house. Now a house does not +look very beautiful when it has dust and crumbs on the floor, buckets +of greasy dishwater in the kitchen, and smoke from the furnace in the +air! You could not live in such a place. No, the smoke must go out up +the chimney, the dust and crumbs must be swept away, the dirty water +must be drained off in pipes; the house must be not only cleaned, but +kept clean all the time. This is true of your body, too. + +Now Mother Nature sends the smoke from the body out through the lungs, +and the crumbs and solid dirt down and out by means of the food tube. +But the waste water--how does she get rid of that? The waste water, +you remember, is in the blood vessels, mixed with the blood. How does +she get it out of the blood? She sends it through three magic +cleaners, or strainers,--the _skin_, the _liver_, the _kidneys_. + +That the skin is a strainer, you already know; for you know how the +skin lets out the waste water in perspiration, or sweat, and how +important it is that we keep the little holes of the strainer open and +clean. And you know, too, that most of the water that passes out of +the body goes first to the kidneys. + +The liver, however, is the largest cleaning machine of all and has to +work very hard. The blood comes to it full of foods and poisons. This +wonderful cleaner picks out the food it needs and takes up many of the +poisons, too. "What does it do with the poisons?" you ask. Some of +them it changes into good food, and others it makes harmless and sends +away down the food tube in a fluid called _bile_. If we are strong and +healthy, the liver has the power to kill many of the disease germs +that get into the body. That is why sometimes, when you have had a +chance to take mumps or grippe or some other "catching" disease, you +don't take it. Your liver kills the germs, or seeds. See how carefully +Mother Nature has planned that we may be clean inside as well as +outside. + + [Illustration: THE POSITION OF THE LIVER + + Compare this with the diagram on page 26, and see how the liver + partly overlaps the stomach.] + +But you must not over-work your liver. If you do, it may become too +tired to do anything at all. Then all these poisons will spread +through the body; the skin and the whites of the eyes will grow +yellow, and you will be what is called "bilious." When this happens, +the poisons go to your brain, too, and make you feel sad; your tongue +looks white instead of pink, and you have a disagreeable taste in your +mouth. Your happiness depends very much on your liver. + +"How shall I keep my liver rested and in good working order?" By +eating only sound, wholesome, pure food, and avoiding dirty milk; by +going to the toilet regularly every morning after breakfast; by +keeping your windows open and avoiding the poisons and disease germs +in foul air. Then, if you run and play and work out of doors, so that +the muscles move a great deal and you breathe in plenty of oxygen to +keep the body fires burning briskly, that will help a great deal. + +Last summer up in the mountains I saw a big log close by the path. It +had been sawed across so that the end was smooth. It was brown and +weather-stained, so of course I knew that it had lain there a long +time. How surprised I was to see a pile of fine fresh sawdust on the +ground beside it. As I came nearer, I saw piece after piece of sawdust +dropping, dropping, dropping, one after the other, from a hole in the +log. I looked into the hole, and what do you think I saw? Hundreds of +little brown ants, busy as could be carrying the sawdust, throwing it +out, and then scurrying back to get some more. Several feet inside the +log, other ants were cutting the sawdust, hollowing out the rooms of +their house; and in another part others were getting food for the +workers, and still others taking care of the baby ants. They were all +helping one another, and whatever one ant did helped all the rest. +That is the way with the parts, or organs, of the body. When one part +works well, it helps all the rest; when one squad of tiny cells in the +muscles or liver or heart is doing its duty, like the little ants, it +helps all the other cell-workers in the body to keep healthy. + +If you eat proper food, you help not only your stomach but your liver, +too; for it has not so many poisons to get rid of. While you are +helping your stomach and your liver, you are helping your heart and +your brain, and so on. So what you do to help one helps all. + +There are, however, some poisons that the liver cannot get rid of; but +these the skin or the kidneys carry away. Have you ever seen kidney +beans? The bean is the shape of a kidney. The kidneys are in the +middle of your back, packed close to your backbone, on a line with +your waist. This is a picture of them. Do you see the little tubes +leading down from the kidneys, carrying the waste water and poison +down into a kind of bag? The walls of this bag, called the _bladder_, +will stretch, and it will hold about a pint of waste water. From the +bladder a tube carries the water down out of the body. + + [Illustration: THE KIDNEYS AND THE BLADDER + + The large tubes are the artery and the vein that carry blood to + and from this part of the body.] + +You can help your kidney-strainers by emptying your bladder at certain +times each day. Some children have to empty the bladder much oftener +than others, but most children can form what we call _regular habits_ +about it, by trying to do it at the same times each day. If you are +quite strong, five times a day is often enough: when you first get up, +at recess, at noon, at four o'clock, and at bedtime. Many children do +it much oftener than this; but as they grow older and the muscles grow +stronger, they slowly outgrow this trouble, if they try to form the +right habits. + +There are many diseases of the kidneys; for, like the liver, they are +sometimes over-worked and do not carry the poisons from the body. You +are helping your kidneys when you drink plenty of fresh clean water +every day, and also when you play or work hard enough to get into a +good perspiration; for, as perspiring carries out some of the poisons, +it leaves less for the kidneys to pour out. You ought to get into a +good perspiration at least once every day, or better, three or four +times, if you wish to keep healthy. The Bible says, "In the sweat of +thy brow shalt thou eat bread"; and you must earn health and happiness +at the same price. + + +II. SOME FOES TO FIGHT + +You have seen that sitting or sleeping in rooms where the air is bad, +or eating the wrong kind of food, or working after you are badly +tired, will poison your blood and hinder the proper working of that +beautiful machine, your body. These poisons are made inside your body, +and you can prevent them by living healthfully and wholesomely. But +there are other poisons, which may get into the blood from outside the +body; and while it is best for you not to think too much about these, +or to worry over dangers that may never come, yet it is well to know +just enough about some of them to be able to keep out of their way, as +far as possible. + +The most dangerous form of poisons from outside the body are those +made by the germs of some rather common diseases, which, because you +can "catch" them from some one else who has them, are called +"catching," or _infectious_, or _contagious_. + +Some of the germs of these "catching" diseases, like the germs of +typhoid fever, of which we have spoken in connection with our drinking +water, are carried in the water or milk that we drink, or upon the +food that we eat; and one of the worst carriers of germs is the +ordinary household fly. + +Not so very many years ago, people did not know that _dirt makes +people sick_. You see, they did not know anything about the disease +seeds (germs) that grow so fast in dirt. They did not like to have +flies about, because flies look so dirty and bite people and crawl +over things and spot them. But nowadays, we will not have flies about +because we know that they have been in dirty places where disease +germs live, and that one little fly can carry thousands and thousands +of these germs on his feet. + +Have you ever looked at a fly through a magnifying glass or under a +microscope? If you haven't, try it sometime. You will see that his +legs are covered with little hairs; and it is on these little hairs +that the germs lodge. They are too small for you to see except with a +very powerful glass; but scientists have proved that they are there, +and they have found that there are always typhoid germs among them. + + [Illustration: THE COMMON HOUSE FLY + + As he appears through a magnifying glass.] + +Did you ever see a fly wipe his feet before he came into the house? +No, indeed; and he goes anywhere he pleases, over the bread and into +the cream. Yet he was born in dirt and bred in dirt, and he lives in +dirty places all the time he is not crawling over your clean things +and spoiling them. + +Flies are hatched from eggs; and these eggs can hatch only in piles of +dirt, such as heaps of manure, or places where garbage and scraps from +the house are dumped or thrown. We call the common fly the "domestic" +or "house" fly, because he lives only in the neighborhood of houses +and barnyards where heaps of manure and piles of dirt are allowed to +gather. + +When the fly first hatches from the egg, it is a little white, +wriggling worm called a _maggot_, like those that some of you may have +seen in decaying meat or fish or cheese. The maggots must have +decaying substances to eat and live upon while they are growing, and +this is why the eggs are laid in manure heaps and garbage piles. + + [Illustration: A MAGGOT HATCHING FROM THE EGG + + (Greatly magnified.)] + +It takes the maggot about five days to grow to its full size, and then +it turns into a _chrysalis_. That is, it is shut up in a kind of case +that it has spun for itself, like the cocoon of the silkworm or the +caterpillar. In about five days more it breaks out of this cocoon and +appears as a fly with wings. + +So, you see, the eggs must stay in that manure heap about two weeks if +they are to hatch. If, within that time, the manure is carted away and +thrown out somewhere where it will dry, the little unhatched flies +will be killed, or prevented from hatching. All we have to do, then, +to be entirely rid of flies about our houses is to see that the heaps +of manure and all piles of cans and garbage are taken away at least +once a week. + + [Illustration: FLY MAGGOTS ON OLD NEWSPAPER + + Note the size of the maggot compared with the newspaper type.] + +If manure heaps or piles of dirt cannot, for any reason, be carried +away as often as this, then they can be sprinkled with something that +is poisonous to flies, such as arsenic or kerosene. This will kill the +maggots. If we keep every kind of waste and scraps from the house, and +all the manure from the barn and the pig-pen and the hen-house +carefully cleaned up, or sprinkled with some poison, we shall get rid +of flies entirely and never need to use screens at the doors and +windows. Until we do this, it is best to put screens at the doors and +windows in the summer time, and particularly to screen carefully any +place where food is kept or cooked; for we know that a great many +cases of typhoid and of other diseases of the stomach and bowels, such +as _summer sickness_, or summer _diarrhea_, and _cholera morbus_, are +carried to our food by the dirty feet of flies. + +Many of the germs of "catching" diseases--most of them, in fact--are +carried in the air, in scales that have rubbed off the skin of the +persons sick with them, or in spray that they have coughed into the +air, or in saliva that they have spit upon the floor. + +There is one sickness of this kind that I ought to tell you about, +because it kills so many thousand people here in our own country every +year. We sometimes call it the "Great White Plague." Its common name +is _consumption_, and the doctors call it _tuberculosis_. I dare say +you have heard of it and wondered what it meant. + +A few years ago people thought it could not be cured. They thought +that children had it because their parents had had it before them. But +now, the cheering thing about it is that we have found that Mother +Nature herself can cure it with fresh air and sunshine and wholesome +food. We have found, too, that people catch it from others who are +sick with it, and need not have it just because their parents did. + + [Illustration: FRESH AIR AND SUNLIGHT ARE GOOD DOCTORS] + +This means, then, that thousands of people who have it need not die, +but can be cured simply by living and sleeping out of doors and eating +plenty of milk, eggs, and meat, nuts and fruit. There are camps for +them in almost every state in the Union now. The fresh air gives them +such a big appetite that they can eat more than most healthy people, +and they soon get strong and well. + +If all the people who now have consumption were taken out into the +country and cured, there would be no one left for the rest of us to +catch it from, and the disease would soon die. Some day our Boards of +Health will decide to do this, and then consumption will become as +rare as smallpox is now, and will kill only a few hundred people a +year in the United States instead of 150,000 every year, as it does +now. + +People and governments are giving great sums of money, not only to +cure the people who now have consumption, but to do something towards +stopping the disease by keeping things so clean and people so strong +that no one will ever have it. Even little children can help to fight +and kill this "Great White Plague," and I'll tell you how. + +We know that, when people have consumption in their lungs, what they +cough and spit out of their mouths and blow out of their noses (we +call it _sputum_) has the germs, or seeds, of the disease in it. So, +to keep other people from catching the disease, they must hold +something before the face when they cough, and they must catch the +sputum in paper (newspapers or paper napkins are very good for this) +and burn it, for burning kills the germs. Then, too, they must not +kiss other people on the mouth, and others must not kiss them. They +must use their own drinking-cups, and never lend or borrow a cup. You +see, you can look out for these things, yourselves. When grown people +kiss you, just turn your cheek to them, instead of your mouth. Your +cheek will not carry anything to your windpipe and lungs. And be sure +to carry your own drinking-cup, or, better still, make the one for +which you already have the pattern, every time you need one. + + [Illustration: HIS OWN CUP AND TOWEL] + +This sounds easy enough; and it is, too. But sometimes people don't +know when they have this "plague," and of course they do not feel that +they must be careful. What is to be done, then? + +If people won't take care of themselves, then the government has to +make health laws to protect them, and the health officers have to see +that the laws are obeyed. In many of the states and cities, laws have +been made so that nobody is allowed to spit on the sidewalk or in the +cars or in any other public place; and common drinking-cups are +forbidden at all park fountains and at the water-coolers in schools +and trains and stations and other public places. + +You ought to know about these things, because, as I have just said, +other sicknesses, too, are carried about in the nose and mouth. +_Grippe_, _pneumonia_ or lung fever, and what we call _colds_ are +caught in exactly the same way. We used to think we caught them by +being chilled; but we are much more likely to take them by being shut +up in a hot, stuffy room with other people who already have them. +Mother Nature never gave us such things in her beautiful, clean +outdoors. We must wear clothes enough to keep us warm when we go out, +and have bedclothes enough to keep us warm while we sleep; but we need +not be afraid of catching any sickness from the clean outside air, +either by day or by night. Drafts are not dangerous, except when our +blood is already full of poisons and germs from foul air. + +Of course it is foolish even for strong, healthy people to run any +risks that can be avoided, and there is one other thing that you +should keep on the watch against doing; and that is, touching or +kissing or playing with other children who may be sick. It is better +not even to sit in the same room with them if you can avoid it. + +Many of the infectious diseases--and nearly three fourths of all the +diseases that children have are infectious--are caught, as we have +seen, from germs that are carried in the air. That is one reason why +so many infectious diseases are likely to begin with running at the +nose, or sneezing, or cold in the head, or sore throat. The germs, +having been breathed in with the air, catch on the sides of the +nostrils or at the back of the throat, and start inflammation and +soreness wherever they land. This is just the way that _measles_, +_scarlet fever_, _chicken pox_, _whooping cough_, and _diphtheria_ +begin. Nearly all colds in the head, and sore throats with coughing, +are infectious; so the best thing to do whenever you have a bad cold +in the head, or a sore throat, is to keep out in the open air as much +as you can, until it is better. Of course, a cold is not such a +serious thing in itself; but, if it is neglected, it may lead to some +very dangerous troubles, particularly to inflammation of the lungs, +and sometimes even of the kidneys or the liver or the heart. Several +of these infectious diseases--measles, chicken pox, and scarlet fever, +for instance--have a rash, or breaking-out, called an _eruption_, upon +the skin. This is another thing easy to look out for; and if you see +anyone with a rash upon his face and hands, it is a good thing to keep +away from him and not let him touch you. Even if he should not have +measles or scarlet fever or chicken pox, but only a disease of the +skin itself, he still might spread the infection of that; for most +diseases that cause a breaking-out upon the surface of the skin are +infectious. + +Some of these infectious diseases are so common among children that +they are called _Children's Diseases_, or the _Diseases of Infancy_, +just as if it were natural for you to have them while you are +children, and as if they were something that you have to have as a +matter of course, before you grow up. + +But it isn't necessary at all to have them, if you will take care of +yourselves and help your doctors and the Board of Health of your +county or town or city to prevent their spreading. These diseases, +although usually very mild, never do anyone any good whatever, and may +do serious harm; for their poisons may stay in the blood and injure +the heart or the kidneys or the nerves. + +One thing I should like to urge you to do if you happen to get one of +these "children's diseases"; and that is, to stay in bed or out of +school or away from work just as long as your doctor tells you to. +This is important, because it is very dangerous indeed to become +over-tired or overheated or chilled, or to get your feet wet or romp +too hard or sit up too late, before you have fully recovered; and you +will not have fully recovered until at least three or four weeks after +you are able to be out of bed. But if you take good care of yourselves +for three or four weeks after measles or chicken pox or whooping cough +or a very bad cold, you will avoid almost all danger of their poisons +injuring your heart or kidneys or nerves, and causing chronic +diseases, like Bright's disease or heart disease, later in life. + +Perhaps now I have told you enough about poisons and sickness. You +must not be frightened about them. I have told you these things so +that you may understand why you must bathe, and brush your teeth, and +wash your face and hands, and wear clean clothes, and breathe fresh +air, and keep your windows open, and play out of doors--in fact, keep +your bodies clean inside and out. I know you will be glad enough to do +these things, troublesome though some of them may be, if you know the +reason why. The best of it is that when you keep perfectly clean and +healthy, not even the "Great White Plague" and cold seeds, or germs, +can hurt you, even though they get into your mouth or nose; for Mother +Nature gives healthy bodies the power to kill germs, and quite without +our knowing it. + + [Illustration: ENJOYING "ALL OUTDOORS" + + Very discouraging to disease germs!] + + +III. PROTECTING OUR FRIENDS + +If you knew that some of your little friends were sick with an +infectious disease like measles or scarlet fever, of course you would +keep away from them, so as to avoid catching the disease. And if they +knew that they had a disease that was infectious, of course they would +want to let all their friends know of it, so as to prevent them from +coming and catching it. But how can they let all their friends know? +Sick people don't feel like writing letters; and, even if they did, +some diseases can be carried in letters. So that might not be at all a +friendly thing to do. + +This has always been the greatest difficulty in preventing the spread +of infectious diseases--how to let other people know. So about fifty +or sixty years ago, people got together and decided that the best +thing to do was to appoint an officer known as a _Health Officer_, or +a committee known as a _Board of Health_, in each town and in each +county, whose business it should be to find out cases of infectious +disease, and to warn other people against them. + +These officers first ask all the doctors in the town to report to this +Central Health Office, or Board of Health, every case of a patient +with an infectious disease. Then, when the case has been reported, +that office sends some one with a card on which the name of the +disease is printed in large letters, and he tacks the card upon the +front of the house or upon the fence around the lot, so that everyone +who goes near the house may know that there is danger, and keep away +from it. Then, sometimes, a messenger from the Board of Health goes +into the house and talks to the family, and tells them how they can +keep the patient in a room by himself, so as to prevent the rest of +the family from catching the disease; and how they can best take care +of the patient, and keep from carrying the infection through clothing +or food or anything else. + + [Illustration: ONE WAY IN WHICH THE BOARD OF HEALTH PROTECTS US] + +Then, because anyone who has been sick with an infectious disease will +still be shedding the germs of the disease and spitting or coughing, +not only as long as he is sick, but for two or three weeks after he is +beginning to feel better, the messenger will tell the family that the +patient must stay either in his own room or within his own house or +yard, for so many days or weeks. This is called keeping _quarantine_. +The word comes from the Italian word _quaranta_, "forty"; because in +the early days when the practice was first begun, the patients used to +be kept by themselves in this way for forty days. While sometimes this +is very inconvenient and hard and troublesome, it is really the only +safe way of stopping the spread of these diseases; and I am sure +anyone of you would be willing to take this extra trouble sooner than +let any of your friends catch a disease from you, and perhaps die of +it. Quarantine is also the best and safest thing for the patient, +because it keeps him quiet and at rest until he has completely +recovered, and until all danger that the poison of the disease will +attack his lungs or heart or kidneys is over. + +In some of the best schools now there is an examination of all the +children every morning, by a visiting doctor sent by the Board of +Health. If the doctor finds any child that has red and watery eyes, or +is running at the nose, or sneezing, or coughing, or has a sore +throat, he usually sends him home at once, so that the other children +will not catch the infection. The school doctor is not thinking only +about what seems to be a cold, although, as you know, it is very +important that anyone with a cold should take good care of himself and +should not let others catch it from him. The doctor sends the child +home because this is just the way in which several other infectious +diseases may begin--_measles_, _scarlet fever_, _chicken pox_, +_whooping cough_, and _diphtheria_. For most infectious diseases, as +you will remember, are caught from germs floating in the air and +breathed into the nose and throat. + +The Board of Health takes care of the public in many ways besides +these. It keeps a very careful watch upon the water supply of the +town, or city, so as to keep the houses and factories from running +their drainage, or _sewage_, into it; for this, as you already know, +might cause the spread of typhoid fever and of other diseases of the +bowels and stomach. + +The Board of Health sends men to examine, or inspect, the milk the +dairymen bring, to see that it is sweet and pure, and that there are +no infectious germs in it. And it sends men out into the country to +examine the dairy farms and see that the cows are properly fed, and +that the barns in which they are milked are kept clean; and that the +water in which the milk pans and bottles are washed comes from clean, +pure wells or springs. + + [Illustration: WHAT MILK INSPECTION MEANS + + Clean barns, cows, pails, and milkers mean clean milk. The cows + here stand in fresh, clean sawdust.] + +Another thing that the Board of Health does is to send an inspector +round to look very carefully at all the meat that is sold in the +butcher shops, and at all the fruits and vegetables at the grocers'. +If he finds any meat that is diseased or tainted or bad, or any fruit +or vegetables that are beginning to spoil, or any flour, sugar, or +canned goods that have been mixed with cheaper stuffs that are not +good to eat,--in fact, are what the law calls _adulterated_,--he may +seize the bad and dangerous foods and destroy them, and summon to +court the dealers who are trying to sell them. Then the dealers are +fined or perhaps sent to prison. + +So, you see, the Board of Health is one of the very best friends that +you have, trying to keep your food pure and good, the water that you +drink clean and wholesome, and the milk sweet and free from dirt or +disease germs. You ought to help these officers and their inspectors +in every way that you can. I know that it is sometimes troublesome to +obey all their rules; and perhaps when you don't know what the dangers +are which they are trying to guard you against, it seems to you that +they are too particular about a great many things. But just see what +they have done already to make our cities and houses healthier and +pleasanter places to live in. + +Only one hundred and fifty years ago, for instance, that terrible +disease called _smallpox_ killed hundreds of thousands of people every +year in Europe; and it attacked the eyes and blinded so many of those +who recovered from it, that nearly half the poor blind people in the +blind asylums had had their sight destroyed by it. In smallpox there +is a terrible eruption, or breaking out, upon the skin, which is +likely to leave it pitted and scarred; and even fifty years ago it was +exceedingly common to see people who had been pitted by smallpox, or, +as the expression was, "pock-marked." + +Cows have a disease somewhat like this, but much less dangerous, +called cow-pox. Years ago, before dairies were inspected as they are +now, dairy maids often caught this disease from the cows they milked, +so that their hands would break out with pock-marks. + +About a hundred years ago, a Dr. Richard Jenner discovered that the +dairy maids in the country district in which he lived, who had caught +this mild infection from the cows they milked, never caught smallpox +even when they were exposed to it. So after studying over the subject +for some years, he took a little of the matter, or pus, from the +eruption on the udder of a cow that had cow-pox, scratched the arm of +a little patient of his, and rubbed some of the pus into it. Only a +short time after, the family of this little boy was exposed to +smallpox, and all the other children took it badly, but he escaped. + +This was the beginning of what we call _vaccination_; and as soon as +it was found that this scratching of the arm and putting a little of +this _vaccine_ matter into it would cause only a few days of +feverishness, and then after that give complete protection against +smallpox, the Boards of Health all over the civilized world took it up +and insisted upon everybody's being vaccinated when a baby. + +As a result, smallpox has become one of the rarest, instead of the +commonest, of our infectious diseases. Only a few dozen people die of +it each year in Europe, instead of several hundred thousands; scarcely +one one-hundredth of the people now in our blind asylums have been +sent there by smallpox, and I dare say that many of you have never +even seen a pock-marked person. + +Another disease that used to be very dangerous to little children is +_diphtheria_. It was not only very infectious, but very deadly; and +nearly half of the children who took it died of it, and the doctors +didn't know anything that would cure it. About twenty years ago, two +great scientists, one a Frenchman named Roux--a student of the great +Professor Louis Pasteur, of whom I am sure you have heard--and the +other, a German, named Behring, discovered an _antitoxin_ for +diphtheria; that is, something to defeat the poison of the diphtheria +germ. When this antitoxin is injected into the blood, it will cure +diphtheria. + +The doctors and the Boards of Health took this up too, and insisted +upon its being used in all cases; with the result that where the +antitoxin is used early, scarcely one in twenty of the patients dies, +instead of eight or ten out of twenty, as before. + +You know how careful we are all trying to be not to let consumption +spread. By insisting that all houses shall be built so as to give +plenty of light and fresh air to everyone; and by forbidding spitting +upon the streets; and by insisting that food to be sold, especially +milk, shall be clean,--by preventing the spread of the disease in +every way, our Boards of Health have cut down the number of deaths +from this disease nearly one half; and people in the United States, +for instance, or in England, where these health laws are enforced, +live now almost exactly twice as long on the average as they did one +hundred years ago, or as they do now in India and in Turkey, for +instance, where the people are ignorant and dirty and careless. + +So you see that even if some of the health regulations do seem rather +troublesome and fussy, it is well worth while to try to follow them +and help the health inspectors in every way. Even little children can +help very much in keeping the houses and the cities in which they live +clean and healthful and beautiful. + + + + +WORK AND PLAY + + +I. GROWING STRONG + +When school is over, out you go with a rush, into the open air. You +have worked hard all day, and now you have two hours before supper to +do just as you like. + +Perhaps you will play tag, or prisoner's base, or stealing sticks, or +town ball. They are all fine fun, and they exercise every muscle in +your body and make your lungs breathe deeper and your heart beat +faster, and make every part of you grow stronger. + + [Illustration: BETTER TO TAKE THAN MEDICINE] + +Perhaps you have a few chores to do or errands to run; but even these +are almost as much fun as play and give you good exercise in the open +air and, what is better still, a feeling that you are being of some +use in the world, which is one of the happiest and most satisfactory +feelings that you will ever have, if you live to be a hundred years +old. + + [Illustration: OUT FOR AN AFTERNOON IN THE PARK] + +But when you have finished your work, you must not forget to play +real, lively, jolly games out of doors--ball and tag and +hide-and-seek, and all those games that children love. + +Hide-and-seek is a good game, because, when you are caught, you can +stand still a few minutes and rest. When you are hiding, you can take +a good breath for the home-run you have to make. Most games, in fact, +are planned like this--a run and a rest, and then another run. While +you rest, some one else is taking his turn at the bat, or at being +"It," or whatever is the hardest part of the work. This is one reason +why games are so good for you to play. + +You see, when you run, you are working your muscles and heart-pump +very hard; and if you kept running all the time, you would burn up so +much food in the muscles that the heart couldn't pump blood fast +enough to wash away all the waste, and would just chug-chug-chug till +it tired itself out. When you are tired, it is time to stop and rest; +for being tired means that the poisons are not being carried away from +the muscles fast enough, and that your heart is working too hard. + +What is it in your body that gives it stiffening to stand upright, and +makes levers in your legs and arms to move it about? When you feel +your body and arms and head with your fingers, what are they like? +Isn't there something hard and then a soft kind of pad over it? We +call the hard things _bones_. Your teacher will show you some. These +are white and chalky looking; but when they were alive, they were a +beautiful pinkish white color. + + [Illustration: SKELETON OF A MAN] + +So you have a pretty pearl-colored framework, the shape of your body. +This, which is called your _skeleton_, makes you stiff enough to stand +up and walk about. Now bend your arm and turn your wrist and open and +close your hand. You find that your frame-work is jointed. When you +are tired standing, you can bend your joints and sit down. If you want +an apple, you can close your fingers and pick it up. + + [Illustration: THE MUSCLES OF THE ARM] + + [Illustration: WHEN THE MUSCLES SHORTEN] + +What are the soft pads that you felt over the bones of your arms and +legs? Stretch your right arm straight out in front of you and take +hold of the upper part of it with your left hand. Now clench your +right fist and bring it toward your shoulder. Can you feel the elastic +pads, or bands, moving? What are they doing? They are pulling your +hand up to your shoulder. When you walk, you can feel the elastic +bands moving your legs along. So every move we make, these elastic +ropes are at work pulling us about and letting us sit down and making +us run and jump. We call them _muscles_. + +You have perhaps seen jointed dolls. The strings and rubber bands on +their joints help to make them move; but the dolls don't act as if +they were alive. They have no telephone system to tell their bodies +how to move. + +If you will stop and think how many "moves" you make in a day, you'll +know how hard your muscles have to work. They'd be quite tired out if +they did not have plenty to feed on all the time and did not rest at +least nine hours a day. I told you how the food is melted and carried +about in the blood. It is the blood that brings the muscles their food +and keeps them alive and makes them strong enough to move the joints +and the bones. + +What does all this playing do for you? It makes you grow not only big, +but strong, too. What puny little things you'd be if you couldn't get +out and run and play and make your muscles strong and your nerves do +just what you tell them to do. + +I know of ten or twelve little chickens that hatched a few weeks ago. +There are so many cats about, that the poor little chicks have to be +shut up in the barn all day. At first they ran and played and jumped +on their mother's back, but now they hump their shoulders and hang +their heads and don't seem hungry and look sad and sick. They are not +so big as some that hatched later. Can you tell me why? Of course you +can. You know that it is outdoor exercise and play that chickens need, +and that you need to make you grow big and strong, too. Of course, you +will have to keep your backbone straight and your chest out and your +head up; but all these things will be easy for you if you are +perfectly well and strong. + +The school tries to take just as good care of your health and growth +as it can. Your lessons are short, and you change from one to another +frequently, with perhaps drills or calisthenic exercises between, so +that you need not sit still too long at a time; and the seats and +desks are of different sizes so that you need not sit at a desk that +does not fit you. When your teacher urges you to go out of doors and +play at recess time, even if you do not want to, you must think to +yourself, "It will rest me and make me grow big and straight and +strong." + +When you come home from school, go out of doors and stay out just as +long as you can. Don't let dolls or toys or picture books tempt you to +stay in the house. The pictures out of doors are ever so much +prettier, as soon as you learn to see them. But some of you live in +crowded cities. I hope you are near a park or a playground, where you +can have a good romp with other children, and use the swings and +see-saws and bars, and the skating pond in winter, and the swimming +pool in summer. + + [Illustration: A SKATING POND MADE OUT OF A GARDEN + + The school garden is flooded in winter--a fine place to skate + right after school.] + +What fun swimming is! You can learn easily if you have a safe place +and an older person to teach you the stroke. You can roll over on your +back in the water, and float, and dive; but you must not stay in +longer than twenty minutes, and not so long as that sometimes. As soon +as you begin to feel chilly, come out. Swimming not only cleans your +skin, but is splendid exercise for your lungs and muscles. + +All this play out of doors will help your appetite, and that will make +you ready to eat the right kind of food, and this food will get into +your blood and keep your muscles firm and strong. + + [Illustration: SPLENDID EXERCISE FOR LUNGS AND MUSCLES] + + +II. ACCIDENTS + +I am going to tell you what to do in the case of some of the little +accidents that may happen to anyone, and especially of the kind that +children meet with in playing; but I don't want you to stop playing +for fear you'll be hurt. Mother Nature can usually heal all the bumps +and cuts and scratches that come from wholesome play. + +You can, however, help her very much by keeping the _scratch_ or _cut +perfectly clean_. This is the chief thing to remember. Wash it +thoroughly in clean water. Hold it under the pump, or faucet, and let +the water pour down on it. + +If you can, pour some _antiseptic_, or germ killer, over the cut, and +wrap it up in a clean cloth. There is a medicine called _peroxid of +hydrogen_, which is good for cuts and wounds, but an older person will +have to put it on for you. + +If the scratch is from a finger nail or the claw of a cat, or if the +wound is the bite of some animal, you must be sure to have your mother +or a doctor clean the wound with strong medicine. You see, nails and +claws and teeth are, as a rule, dirty, and have on them germs that +will get into the cut and make it swell and be very sore indeed. + + [Illustration: THE TIGHT BANDAGE HIGHER THAN THE CUT] + +Sometime you may have a cut that is deep. You will see the bright red +blood spurt from it. This means that you have cut one of the blood +pipes called arteries. If the cut is on the arm or the leg, you should +take a cloth or bandage and tie it tightly around the arm or leg +_above_ the cut; and if that does not check the blood, put a piece of +stick under the cloth and twist the stick, as in the picture. For a +cut like this you must get help as soon as possible, and keep quiet, +or else you will increase the flow of blood. + +If you get anything in your eye, be sure not to rub the eye; don't +even wink hard if you can help it. You will only make the pain worse, +because you will scratch the eyeball. Let some one take out the bit of +dust or the cinder or the fly, or whatever it is, as quickly as +possible. Often, if you close the lids gently and hold them so, the +tears will wash the speck down for you. + +If you should bruise yourself, the best way to treat the bruise is to +pour either quite cold or quite warm water over it, and keep this up +for several minutes; or to put it into a bowl of hot water. Then tie +it up in a bandage of soft cotton cloth or gauze and pour over it a +lotion containing a little alcohol--about one sixth or one fourth. +This, by evaporating, cools off the bruise and relieves the pain. + +If your ear, or nose, or a finger should happen to be frozen or frost +bitten, the best thing to do is to rub it hard with snow until it +thaws out and becomes pink again. Above all, don't go too near the +fire, and don't go into a very warm room too soon. + +If you get one of those uncomfortable itchy swellings on your feet +called _chilblains_, which come from cold floors in your houses, or +from wet feet, or from wearing too thin shoes and stockings, don't put +your feet too near the fire, but rub them well with turpentine just +before going to bed at night. This will often take all the pain and +itching out of them. + +Sometimes people make the mistake of drinking something that is +poisonous. Of course, one good way to prevent this is to have _every +bottle in the house carefully marked_ and never to take anything from +a bottle without reading the mark, or label. Another good way is _not +to have poisons about_ any more than we actually need to. + +Still, even so, sometimes a mistake is made. If you ever make such a +mistake, the best thing to do is to drink as much warm water as you +can, and into the second cupful to put a tablespoonful of dry mustard +or two heaping tablespoonfuls of salt. This will make you vomit, and +up will come the poison. The water makes the poison weaker. If this +doesn't make you throw up the poison, have some one tickle the back of +your throat with a feather. There are a great many kinds of poison and +as many things to take to cure them; but this is the only remedy I +shall tell you about, because, by the time you have tried this, some +older person will probably have come to help you. + +All the medicines that you see advertised as "Headache Cures" are +dangerous poisons if taken in too large doses; and most of them in +small doses weaken the heart. They are what we call narcotics; they +just deaden the nerves to pain without doing anything whatever to +relieve or remove the cause. + +If you have a headache, the best thing to do is to go and lie down +quietly and rest or sleep, until it goes away. A headache always means +that something is wrong; it is one of Nature's most valuable danger +signals. When your head aches, Nature is telling you that you have +been over-straining your eyes, or breathing foul air, or eating some +food that does not agree with you, or forgetting to go to the toilet +regularly, or not getting sleep enough. The sensible thing to do is +not to swallow some medicine to deaden your nerves to the pain, but to +find out what you have been doing that is unhealthful for you, and +then stop it. + +Most of the medicines called "patent medicines," which are advertised +to "cure" all sorts of pains and troubles, contain poisons, and are +particularly dangerous because they easily lead one to form the habit +of taking them. Nine tenths of them are either absolute frauds,--of no +strength or use whatever,--or else they contain alcohol, or opium, or +some of the dangerous drugs made out of coal tar. + +Now about _burns_. You need not wash them, because the heat has killed +the troublesome germs. They need to be covered from the air, if the +blister is broken. Cover them thickly with olive oil or vaseline, or +common baking soda mixed with a few drops of water. This makes a good +paste to put over them, and it will ease the pain. (This is the way to +treat a _wasp_ or _bee sting_, too, after you have pulled out the +"stinger.") If the blister of the burn is not broken, just keep +putting vaseline or sweet oil on it every half hour or so, and the +blister won't break; for the oil will make it limber and prevent it +from bursting. + +If ever your clothes should catch fire, _do not run_; the wind you +make will only fan the flames, so that they burn faster. _Lie down and +roll over and over_, as fast as you can. If there is a rug or a quilt +handy, wrap yourself up tight in it. My youngest brother once saved a +little child's life this way. He was not very old, but he remembered +to put the child on the floor and roll him up in a rug. + +However, the best way to prevent accidents with fire is to let fire +and lamps and matches and kerosene and sparklers and firecrackers +alone. + +I am so glad that people are becoming sensible about keeping our +nation's birthday, the Fourth of July, and are doing away with the +firecrackers that have killed so many thousands of children. The burns +you get from firecrackers are much more dangerous than other burns. A +dirt-germ often gets into them that may cause _lockjaw_. The name +tells what it is: it locks the jaws together so that its victim cannot +eat; and, of course, if he cannot eat, he cannot live very long. Next +Fourth of July try getting flags and bunting and drums and horns, if +you like, instead of these dangerous fireworks. + +In keeping the Fourth one year not long ago, one hundred and +seventy-one children lost one or more fingers; forty-one lost a leg, +an arm, or a hand; thirty-six lost one eye, and sixteen lost both +eyes; and two hundred and fifteen children were killed! This accounts +for only the children; counting everybody, five thousand three hundred +and seven people were killed or hurt. No wonder we begin to think that +we ought to keep the Fourth in some other way. + +In the City of Washington, on one Fourth of July, one hundred and four +people were taken to the hospital; but the following year when no +fireworks were allowed to be sold, the hospitals did not have a single +patient from the accidents of the day. + + [Illustration: A RESULT OF CELEBRATING THE FOURTH IN THE OLD WAY] + +Water, as well as fire, has its dangers. If you ever fall into the +water, _be sure to keep your mouth shut and your hands below your +chin_. Then paddle with your hands gently, and you'll swim, just as +any other young animal does when first thrown into the water. Even +your cat, who hates water, can swim easily when she falls in. If you +keep your wits as she does, you will get along as well. Some people +learn to swim just by trying by themselves. + + [Illustration: WORKING TO START HIS BREATHING AGAIN] + +If anyone in your party, when you are out boating or swimming, should +be nearly drowned, the best way to revive him is to lay him, as +quickly as possible, flat on his face on level ground, just turning +his head a little to one side so that his nose and mouth will not be +blocked. Then, kneeling astride of his legs, put both your hands on +the small of his back and press downward with all your weight while +you count three. This squeezes the abdomen and the lower part of the +chest so as to drive the air out of the lungs. Then swing backward so +as to take the weight off your hands, while you count three again; and +then swing forward again and press down, again forcing the air out of +the lungs. Keep up this swing-pumping about ten or fifteen times a +minute for at least ten or fifteen minutes, unless the person begins +to breathe of himself before this. Don't waste any time trying to hold +him up by the feet, or roll him over a barrel so as to get the water +out of his lungs. Just turn him over on his face as quickly as +possible and get to work making a weight-pump of yourself on his back. + +If there is any life left in the body at all when it is taken out of +the water, you will succeed in saving it. It is very seldom, however, +that anyone who has been under water more than five minutes can be +revived. + +And now the thing that I want you to be sure to remember, I have saved +for the last. No matter what kind of accident happens, keep your wits +about you and keep cool. Be calm and _think_ what it is best to do, +instead of letting yourself be frightened. Of course, get some one to +help you as soon as you can and, if need be, call for help as loud as +your lungs will let you. But use that wonderful "phone" system to send +in and out the messages that will help you to help yourself by telling +your muscles what to do. + + +III. THE CITY BEAUTIFUL + +One morning I stopped a moment on the street to speak to a friend. Her +little nephew had just finished eating some candy, and down went his +candy-bag on the pavement. His aunt happened to see it. "Oh, no, +Claude," she said, "don't you see the big green can there? Better put +it into that." But Claude was only three years old; and the can was so +tall that he could not tell what it was, till we led him up to it. + +Do you have cans like these in your town, too? It is good to think +that every one of us, even such little fellows as Claude, can help to +keep the city beautiful. But it is not simply to make things look nice +that we have so many cans--cans for ashes, cans for papers, cans for +food scraps. No indeed, it is to keep the city clean and make it fit +for people to live in; for if dirty papers and scraps were left to +blow about the streets, they would fill the air with germs and filth. + +Any dust that blows about the streets is likely to be carrying disease +germs with it. That is why we have sprinklers driven through the +streets to wet them and to keep down the dust; and why, in large +cities, the streets are thoroughly flooded at night. If the streets +are kept damp and clean, then the air above them is cool and fresh and +pure. + +How does the city get rid of all the dirt and waste? From every house +there are two kinds of waste. Some is taken away in pipes from the +sink and bathroom out into pipes that run under the street, and these +carry it away from the city to some stream or deep water that takes it +entirely away from the town. + +The waste stuffs that are not watery, but solid--cabbage leaves, apple +cores, potato parings, and other scraps from the kitchen are carted +away and burned or fed to pigs. The ashes and tin cans are carted +away, also, and used in making new land or filling up hollow places. + +Besides taking away the dirt, cities are careful to get clear, pure +drinking water. They are very, very careful about this; and they +usually have the water tested often, because, as you have learned, +even water that looks perfectly pure may give people typhoid fever. +That is why, when you are out in the country, on a picnic perhaps, you +must not drink from the streams. They may receive the drainage from a +farmer's barnyard, or the sewage from some house. + +The more we all learn about these things, the more careful will the +city be to protect her people. To be sure, most cities now have Boards +of Health who employ men and women to go about and see that the food +in the stores is clean--no flies, no dust, and no tobacco smoke on it. +They have laws, too, about keeping milk clean; and in New York alone +these laws have saved the lives of thousands of babies. And they have +laws about the care of streets and buildings and cars and parks and a +great many other things. + +In all these things we have been talking about, I want you to be +thinking how you can help. For a city is made up of people--boys and +girls and men and women. The city is what its people make it; and +everyone must help, even the smallest children, no older than little +Claude. + +The first and most important thing for you to do is to keep yourself +clean and tidy. And the next thing is for you to keep your back yard +as well as your front yard and the school yard and the street free +from papers and sticks and cans and old playthings. You can put away +your things when you are through playing; or, if you are making a +railroad or a town or a playhouse, you can leave it looking nice and +tidy. You can help chiefly by putting away your own things. You know +the old saying, "A workman is known by his chips"; and a good workman +always works in an orderly way. + +When you eat apples or bananas or oranges, don't throw the skins or +peelings about, but put them in a garbage can or swill bucket or cover +them with soft dirt in the garden or stable yard; and don't throw +peanut shells, or scraps of paper and the like, about the streets or +parks. You should begin to notice all these things and talk about +them, and that will make other people begin to think about them, too. + +Then you can make gardens instead of leaving bare, untidy back yards. +I think that nicely kept vegetable gardens are almost as pretty as +flower gardens. If you cannot mow the lawn, you can at least cut the +long grass on the edges; and that makes such a difference! It is +wonderful how much boys and girls can do in making and keeping a city +really beautiful. + +I hope that you have plenty of room to play in now. Of course, when +you grow up, you will see that there are plenty of playgrounds and +parks for the children. We are beginning to find out that the richest +and the most beautiful city is the one whose streets are lined with +families of happy, rosy-cheeked children. So, you see, the "City +Beautiful" is the one that takes best care of her children, and she +can do this only by keeping her streets and houses perfectly clean and +seeing that the food her people get is fresh and good, and their +drinking water pure. If the city or town you live in is not like this, +be sure you do your very best to make it better. + + [Illustration: WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A BACK YARD LIKE THIS?] + + [Illustration: OR LIKE THIS?] + +There is one great evil that for hundreds and hundreds of years has +been known wherever people are crowded together, and even in the open +country, too; and which has been the cause of more untidiness and +uncleanliness and unhappiness and disease than any other evil ever +known. And that is the drinking of alcohol. People don't drink clear +alcohol, but they can get a great deal of it--enough to poison them +badly--in the fermented drinks you learned about some time ago. + +In the days when your grandfather was a little boy, every man thought +that ale and wine and whiskey were good foods for him when he was +well; and good medicine when he was sick. He believed that they gave +him an appetite, and increased his strength. But now we have found, by +carefully studying the effects of alcohol, in laboratories and in +hospitals, that these beliefs were almost entirely mistaken. We know +that all that wine, beer, and whiskey do is to make people feel better +for a little while, without making them actually stronger or better in +any way. In fact, in most respects these drinks make them weaker and +worse instead. + +Perhaps you will ask, "How do whiskey and wine and beer do us harm?" +And here is only part of the answer: (1) They tire the heart and, by +enlarging the blood pipes in the skin, make the heart pump too much of +the blood out to the skin. In this way they make a person feel warmer +when he really is not any warmer. (2) They make the liver work too +hard. (3) They dull the brain, so that it cannot think so clearly or +so well. (4) If one drinks them frequently, it is harder for him to +get well when he is sick; more people die out of those who drink +alcohol than out of those who do not. + +Alcohol is a _narcotic_; that is, it deadens our nerves, for the time +being, to any sensations of pain or discomfort, much in the same way +that a very small dose of _morphine_ or _opium_ would. We may imagine +it does us good because, for a little while after drinking it, we may +cease to feel pain or fatigue or cold; but, instead of making us +really better and able to do more work, it is dulling our nerves so +that we work more slowly and more clumsily. Men who have carefully +measured the amount of work that they do have found that they do less +work on days when they take one or two glasses of beer or wine than +they do on days when they drink only water. + +The great insurance companies have found that those of their policy +holders who drink no alcohol at all live nearly one fourth longer and +have nearly one third fewer sicknesses than those who drink alcohol +even in moderate amounts. + +Indeed, so strong is the evidence as to the bad effects of alcohol, +and so steadily is it increasing, that it will probably not be very +many years more before the drinking of wine or beer by intelligent, +thoughtful people will have become less than half as common as it is +now. + +Strong, healthy men may be able for a long time to drink small amounts +of liquor without noticing any harmful effects; but all the time the +alcohol may be doing serious harm to their nerves and brain and +kidneys and liver and blood vessels, which they will not find out +until it is too late to stop the trouble. + +Useless and bad as alcohol is for full-grown men and women, it is even +worse for young and growing children; and no child, and no boy or girl +under the age of twenty-one, should ever touch a drop of it, except in +those rare instances where it may be prescribed as a medicine by a +doctor, just as many other drugs are, which in larger doses would be +poisons. + +Fortunately, it will be no trouble for you children to let it alone +entirely; for not one of you would like the taste of it the first +time--or, indeed, for the matter of that, for the first ten or twelve +times--that you tried to drink it, if you should be so foolish. This +is one striking difference between alcohol and all other foods and +drinks. Children have absolutely no natural liking, or taste, for the +drinks that contain it, as they have for meat, milk, sugar, apples, +and the other real foods. This is Nature's way of telling them that it +is not a real food, and not needed in any way for their growth and +health. Let it alone absolutely, until you are at least twenty-one +years old; and by that time you will probably have become so convinced +of the harm that it is doing that you will never begin using it at +all. + +What we have been saying so far applies, of course, only to the +moderate use of alcohol. How terrible the effects of the long or +excessive use of alcohol are, you don't need to learn from a book. All +you have to do is to keep your eyes open on the streets, and see the +drunken men reeling along the sidewalk, and the wrecks of men that +hang around the saloons. The poorhouses and the jails and the insane +asylums are filled with them. The most terrible thing that can happen +to anyone is to become a drunkard. The best and safest and only +sensible thing to do is to keep away from the only stuff that makes +drunkards. It may do you the most terrible harm, and it cannot do you +the slightest good. + +Your city can never become the "City Beautiful" so long as this evil +mars it; and, as you grow up, I hope you will do all you can toward +making the right kind of city and home. + + + + +THE EVENING MEAL + + +When you have had some good games of play after school, and have +finished whatever errands you may have to run, or have done the chores +about the barn or the garden or the house, you will begin to feel as +if there were something missing somewhere. It won't take you very long +to discover where that missing feeling is; and when you hear a call +from the house, or a ring of the bell in the hall, you come running in +for supper. If you have worked well in school and played hard and done +your chores well, you will have a splendid appetite. In fact, you will +think there is no other meal in the day that tastes quite so good. + +Is your evening meal supper or dinner? If you have had a hot dinner at +noon, you probably do not want anything more than a good supper. But +if you had only luncheon, then you are ready to eat something hot and +hearty about six o'clock. + +What are some of the things that you like for dinner? Meat and eggs +and bread and butter and jam and rice and potatoes and onions and +celery and cookies and apples and oranges and oh, so many, many other +things! Mother Nature has given us all these good things, that we may +have not only enough to eat but plenty of different kinds. We soon +grow tired of one kind, and that is how she tells us that we need many +kinds. + +When I was little, oranges were not so common as they are now; and I +never but once had as many as I wanted. That once, my father told me +to eat all I liked, and I did; but for weeks afterwards I didn't want +even to see an orange! Did you ever feel that way too, though perhaps +not about oranges? Nature sometimes has to teach us not to eat too +much of one kind at a time. + +Some people like one thing, and some another. Do all of you like +onions? I think not; but those who do, like them very much. The same +thing is true of tomatoes and sweet potatoes and red raspberries and +oysters and many other things. But there are some things that almost +everybody likes; and our grandfathers and great-grandfathers and +great-great-grandfathers ate them. One of them is called the "staff of +life" because we lean, or depend, on it so much; we have it for +breakfast, dinner, and supper. That is bread, of course. Meat and eggs +and milk and butter, too, are among the foods that we all like. + +These might be called our "main foods," and we should eat one or two +or even three of them at each meal. Meat and milk and eggs and butter, +animals give us. But these are not enough; we need besides some of the +foods that plants give us, because, as I have told you, we need +different kinds of food at one time to keep the body fires going +briskly. + +What are some of the foods that plants give us? Bread is made from a +plant--from wheat. Oatmeal comes from the oat plant; and hominy, from +corn. Some of our plant foods, such as potatoes, turnips, onions, +sweet potatoes, parsnips, and radishes, grow under ground. Some, such +as peas and beans, grow on vines. Then there are lettuce and cabbage +and celery. And there are fruits--cherries, apples, peaches, plums, +pears, melons, tomatoes, berries. + +Nature has given us all these foods, and many more; and she wants us +to use them all. She wants us to use, every day and every meal, some +foods that come from plants and some that come from animals. + +A good dinner would be a slice of roast beef or mutton, a potato, a +helping of some sort of vegetable like peas or beans or onions or +tomatoes or celery; and a dish of milk pudding or apple dumpling, or +stewed fruit with bread and butter, or pie that has only an upper +crust or its under crust very well baked. When you are eating bread, +remember that the crusts are the very best part, because they are well +cooked and really taste the best. They are good for your teeth, too. + + [Illustration: ONE OF THE HAPPIEST TIMES OF THE DAY] + +Perhaps, while I am talking about a good meal, I ought to talk a +little about the way to eat and how to make mealtime pleasant. + +Of course, to make our food soft, we must take little bites, eat +slowly, and chew each mouthful a long time. Be sure to remember this. +So many of the children I know eat so fast that you'd think they had +to catch a train! Did you ever see anyone try to talk and chew at the +same time or forget to shut his mouth while he was chewing? Wasn't it +a very awkward, disagreeable sight? Think a moment, if you are tempted +to talk with your mouth full, or put your knife into your mouth, or +make a noise while you are eating, that these things are not pleasant +for your neighbors. + +Do you tell funny stories at the table and talk about happy tramps you +have taken or games you have played, or about your pets or your books? +If you do, your food will do you more good, and you will be helping +the other people at the table, too. Mealtimes should be the happiest +times in the day. + + + + +A PLEASANT EVENING + + +When the supper things have been cleared away, you have two hours or +so before going to bed, and I dare say you look forward to these as +one of the pleasantest parts of the day. + +It is always best for you to take things rather easily and quietly and +pleasantly for at least fifteen or twenty minutes after every meal; +and after the heaviest meal of the day, whether this comes at noon or +in the evening, it is better to stretch the time to half or three +quarters of an hour. If you try to work or play hard right after a +hearty meal, you will be drawing away to your brain or to your +muscles, the blood that the stomach is trying to get for the digesting +and melting of your food. I suppose that you have all found this out +for yourselves; for, if you run and play too hard right after dinner, +you are very soon out of breath, and if you keep up the exercise, you +are quite likely to have an attack of indigestion or stomach ache. If +you sit down to study directly after a meal, you soon feel heavy and +lazy, and what you read doesn't seem clear to you, and in a little +while you probably have a headache and an unpleasant taste in your +mouth. If you try to do two important things like digestion and hard +work with your brain or the muscles of your arms and legs at the same +time, you will be very likely to do both of them badly. + +Even if you have studying to do at night, it will be much better for +you to spend half an hour or an hour in laughing and chatting, or in +reading some good story, or in playing some of the many pleasant +parlor games that rest you instead of tiring you, before you settle +down to your books. You will find that when you do start to work, you +get your lessons much more quickly and easily than if you had started +in after eating. + +Perhaps your sister is just waiting to show you that girls can play +checkers better than boys can--"So there!" Or some of your friends +have come in for a game of dominoes or authors or snap or parcheesi or +stage coach or pussy-wants-a-corner, or to try that new song you +learned last week; and you will be surprised how quickly the time +flies away and bedtime or study hour comes. + +Most evenings, however, you will probably get out your favorite +magazine, or that good story that you are reading, and you will all +sit around the big lamp on the center table and go off on adventures +to the uttermost parts of the earth, with the best and most lasting +friends that you will ever make--friends who will never grow tired of +you and will always come when you want them and are always willing to +talk or play--the people that live in books. Be sure to pick out the +best of them for your chums--the bravest and the kindest and the most +courteous, and the cleanest and the most honorable. You have the whole +world to choose from; and it is never worth your while to get +acquainted with cheap, badly behaved, second-rate people when you can +have your pick of the best. Your mother and your father and your +teacher will help you to choose, and you will soon find that what they +call "good literature" is good stories, and about the right sort of +men and women and boys and girls--the kind that you would like to +know, and that you would want to be like. Once try it, and you find +that you like that kind of reading better than you do the cheap, +slangy, trashy stuff, just as you like, and never get tired of, good +bread and butter and roast beef and apples and milk and cream and +pudding and pie. Good sound stories of home life and adventure and +travel are just as important in making your minds wholesome and happy +as these good foods are in keeping your bodies strong and healthy. + +Be sure that the paper of the books and magazines you read is white +and _not_ glossy, and is fairly thick and firm; for this makes them +much easier to read and strains your eyes less. See, too, that the +type is large and clear; for small, close type and yellow or shiny +paper are very hard on the eyes. + +Be sure, of course, when you sit down to read _not_ to sit with your +face to the lamp and your head bending forward; but settle yourself in +a comfortable chair with your back to the light, and hold your book so +that you can keep your chin up and your head erect while you read. You +can breathe better, and read better, and enjoy what you read better in +this position than in any other. + +Even if you have sums or writing to do, it is better to sit with your +back, or at least your left side, toward the light; and often you will +find it a great help to sit down with your back to the light in a +large easy chair and do your writing on a big, thin book, or light +piece of board, on a cushion on your knee. + +In winter, you will find that for the first half hour or so that you +are reading after supper, you will want to keep fairly near the fire, +because the blood is being drawn in from your skin to your stomach for +purposes of digestion; but be sure to see that at least one, and +better two, windows in the room are open six inches or so at the top, +so that there is plenty of fresh air pouring into the room. + + [Illustration: A COZY NOOK WHEN EVENING COMES] + +When study hour comes, take up your books and go briskly to work, +forgetting that there is anything else in the world, and you will be +astonished how quickly you will learn your lessons. Besides, you will +be learning one of the most valuable lessons in life--to do with your +might whatever your hands, or minds, find to do. + + + + +GOOD NIGHT + + +I. GETTING READY FOR BED + +By and by the clock strikes eight or nine, and your mother says, +"Children, time to go to bed!" + +Sometimes you will have just come to the interesting point in the +story, and would give anything to go on and finish it. But often you +will be just nodding over your book, or beginning to wonder why the +story is not quite so interesting as it was, or why the lines seem to +be running into one another, and the book inclined to swing up and +bump your nose. + +If you have had a lively, busy, happy day, you are quite sleepy enough +to be ready for bed--that is, if you could drop into it with all your +clothes on, without all the bother and fuss of undressing. So you pull +yourself together bravely and answer, "All right, mother," and say +"Good night" to everybody, and upstairs you go. + +Of course, you must take off your clothes, because you would find them +most uncomfortable to sleep in. Besides, the little pores all over +your skin have been pouring out perspiration all day long; and a great +deal of this has been caught by your clothes, just as it is caught by +the bedclothes while you sleep. + +So it is a good thing to take off your clothes, and let your skin be +well aired and cooled. Don't leave your clothes all in a heap on the +floor just where you happen to shed them, but hang them up over the +back of a chair or on pegs, so that the air can blow through them all +night long and sweeten and clean and dry them. Clothes that are worn +continuously become sour with perspiration, and for this same reason +your mother gives you regularly, once or twice a week, clean underwear +and clean shirts or dresses. + +After you have undressed for bed, wash your face and neck and hands; +and if you have a nice warm room or bathroom, take a quick splash, or +sponge bath, all over, before you put on your nightgown. This will +wash away from your skin everything that the perspiration has been +leaving on it all day long, as well as any dust, or dirt, that may +have got on it during the day. + +If the room is not warm enough for you to do this, it is a good thing +for you to strip to your waist and then to swing your arms about, much +as you did in the morning, only not quite so long, and to rub your +arms and neck and shoulders all over with your hands. This gives them +an _air bath_, and rubs off any of the little scales of skin that may +be ready to be shed, and gives you a sort of dry wash, which is next +best to a wet one. + +Then, when you have put on your nightdress, give your hair a thorough +brushing. This is the best time of the day to do it. Dust, smoke, +soot, and germs have been blowing into your hair all day long, and a +thoroughly good brushing will not only get these out of it before they +have had time to work their way in and lodge on the scalp, but will +keep the hair bright and healthy. + +Before you get into bed, give your nails a quick scrub with a nail +brush and hot water and soap, and go over them with a _blunt_-pointed +nail cleaner, cleaning out any dirt that may be under their edges, and +rounding off any ragged or broken points with the file. Once a week or +so, when you take your hot bath, it is a good thing to go over your +toe nails in the same way, trimming them and cleaning them. Remember, +however, not to round off your toe nails at the corners, but to leave +them square, as in this way you will prevent them from ingrowing under +the pressure of your shoes. + +There is one thing that you should be very sure of before you get into +bed, and that is that your teeth are as clean as it is possible for +you to make them. If you attended to this also directly after supper, +so much the better; for just as it is important to clean the dishes +and knives and forks that you have been using, so it is important to +thoroughly clean the ivory knives and forks that grow in your mouth. +Talk about being "born with a silver spoon in your mouth"! You were +born with something much prettier and far more valuable. + +Even though your teeth make a firm and even line in front and on their +cutting edges, yet there are many little gaps and spaces between their +roots, where bits of food can stick. If these scraps of food are not +thoroughly and carefully removed after each meal, the warmth and +moisture in the mouth makes them begin to decay. The acids from this +decay will be likely not only to upset your stomach and digestion, but +to act upon the glassy coating of your teeth. After a little while, +spots will begin to form on the surface of your teeth; they will lose +their bright, shiny, pearly look; the acids will eat further into the +teeth, and very soon there will be holes, or _cavities_. + +Though your teeth are very hard and glassy looking on the surface, +they are much softer and chalkier inside; this glassy coating covers +only the _crown_, or free part, of the tooth, which you can see. It +leaves the softer inside part of the tooth bare just at the edge of +the gums, and particularly between the roots of the teeth, where +little scraps of food lodge and decay. When the acids that are formed +by the decaying food have eaten away a good deal of the inside of the +tooth, the hard, shiny surface is left just like a thin shell; and one +day you happen to bite down upon a piece of bone in your food, or try +to crack a nut with your teeth, and "crack" goes this brittle shell of +your hollow tooth. + + [Illustration: HEALTHY GUMS MEAN HEALTHY TEETH + + If the gums are not kept clean and healthy, the second teeth + that are getting ready to push out the first teeth will not come + in strong and good, nor will the teeth remain good. This picture + shows how the teeth grow. Notice the gaps between the teeth, + where food may lodge.] + +Right in the middle of each tooth is a tiny hollow, or cavity, filled +with a soft, living pulp containing one or two very sensitive nerves; +and when the decay has eaten into the tooth far enough to reach this +nerve pulp, it makes it ache, and then you have _toothache_. + +The one and only thing that is necessary in order to avoid all this +decay and breaking away of your teeth, and throbbing toothache, is to +keep the surface of your teeth, and particularly the sides where they +are next one another, clean and smooth and unbroken. And all that is +needed to keep your teeth perfectly clean and smooth is to use your +toothbrush thoroughly after every meal and at bedtime; and then, if +there are any little scraps of food between the teeth that have not +been brushed away, to pick them out gently with a quill toothpick, or +take a piece of silk or linen thread, push it up between the teeth, +and gently saw backward and forward until you have cleaned out the +space between the roots. You should take at least three to five +minutes after every meal and before you go to bed at night to brush +your teeth; and you should brush not only your teeth, but the whole +surface of your gums close up to where they join the lips. + +It is almost as important to keep your gums pink and hard and healthy +as it is to keep your teeth clean; and the same thorough brushing will +do both. If the gums are perfectly healthy, they will come well down +over the roots of the teeth, and keep them safely covered right down +to where the glassy outer coating begins, and so leave no gap where +the acids of decay can attack the teeth. Be sure to brush your teeth, +not merely straight backward and forward, but up and down and round +and round as well, both to clean out thoroughly all the grooves and +openings between them and to brush the gums well down over the teeth. + +It may seem strange, but one of the best ways to keep your teeth from +growing crooked and irregular is to keep your nose clear and healthy, +so that you can breathe through it freely at all times, both day and +night. Crooked jaws and irregular teeth are more often caused by mouth +breathing than by any other one thing. + +You can see why it is best to be careful not to get grit or dirt or +bits of bone in your food, and not to crack nuts or hard candy with +your teeth. If you do, you may crack or scratch the delicate glassy +coating of your teeth. But, on the other hand, it is a good thing to +give the teeth plenty to do, and particularly to eat the crusts of +bread, and some of the tougher parts of meat, and parched corn or +other grains, and to eat celery, apples, and other foods that take a +great deal of chewing. The teeth are like everything else in the +body--they need plenty of vigorous work in order to keep them healthy. + +Be very careful, though, to keep out of your mouth anything that might +possibly crack or scratch the glassy coating, such as pins, pennies, +pieces of wire, or slate pencils. It is best not even to try to bite +off threads or pieces of string. There is, of course, another reason +for not putting pencils and pennies and such things into your mouth: +they may have dirt, or germs, on them and infect you with disease or +at least upset your digestion. + + +II. THE LAND OF NOD + +Now you are all ready for bed; and the white pillow and the nice, +clean sheets and the warm blankets look very good to you, and you are +ready to go to the "Land of Nod." + +You need not be afraid of the cold at night. Open your bedroom +windows. Have plenty of light-weight, warm covers; then the cold +breezes won't hurt you, but will make you strong. Just think how many +hours you are in bed,--nearly half of your life,--and you need fresh, +moving air all the time. Be sure to open your windows from the top as +well as from the bottom. You know why: your breath is warm so that it +floats and rises like smoke; and if you open the window only at the +bottom, this bad air, which rises to the top of the room, can't get +out. It is best to have windows on two sides of a bedroom, so that the +air can be kept moving through it all night long. If you don't breathe +fresh air while you sleep, you will feel dull and stupid in the +morning and perhaps have a headache. + +So run your window shades right up to the top and throw your curtains, +or shutters, back, as well as open the windows. If you don't, the +fresh air cannot blow through the room properly. Even if this does let +more light or noise into the room, this is of no importance whatever +compared with abundance of fresh air. If you have played long enough +out of doors in the daytime and have eaten a good supper and not +stayed up too late, you will sleep soundly without being bothered at +all by either lights or noises coming in through the windows. And no +matter how cold or how light it is, don't put your head under the +bedclothes. Why? + +It is best for you to close your mouth while you are going to sleep, +and breathe through your nose, so that the air will be properly +purified and warmed before it reaches your lungs. If you can't do +this, your mother can perhaps give you something to wash out your +nose, so that you can breathe freely. If that does not help, you had +better see a doctor, and he will find some way to clear your head so +that you can use your nose comfortably. + +Suppose you take a pencil and paper and write down all you did +yesterday. Wasn't it enough to make you tired and sleepy and want a +chance to rest? Even while you sleep, your heart keeps beating, and +you don't stop breathing, of course. But your muscles are quiet, and +your food tube rests. Your brain rests, too,--better in sleep than at +any other time,--so that when morning comes you are as "lively as a +cricket" and quite ready for the new day. + +Yet even in sleep your brain does not stop working entirely, but goes +on receiving messages from the stomach and the skin and the memory, +and mixing them up together in the strangest fashion, so that you +_dream_, as you say. You ought not to dream very much if you are +perfectly well; but as long as your dreams are pleasant or amusing, +you need not pay any attention to them. But if you have had bad +dreams, or you dream so hard all night long that you don't feel rested +in the morning, then you had better speak to your mother about it, and +let her see what is the matter with your digestion or your nerves, or +take you to a doctor. Bad dreams are always a sign of ill health and +are a very disagreeable thing, from which there is no need that you +should suffer any more than from headache or indigestion or colic. +Dreams, of course, do not mean or foretell anything whatever, except +simply how bad, or good, the state of your digestion and your nerves +is. + +Now, how much time should you spend in bed? Well, I think at your age +nearly half the time. Ten or eleven hours of sleep make you ready for +all the hours of work and play, and you don't become cross and tired +half so easily if you have plenty of sleep. Though you are lying so +quietly, you are not by any means wasting your time, for you probably +are growing faster when you are asleep than when awake. Babies, who +are growing very fast, you know, sleep nearly all the time. + +So after you have opened all the windows wide, put out the light and +jump into bed and lie down for a good night's rest without thinking +about anything except how comfortable the bed feels when you are +tired. + + + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + + +GOOD MORNING + +I. WAKING UP. 1. If you were choosing a bedroom, on which side of the +house--facing which direction--would you choose it, and why? 2. How +does the air "down cellar" feel? 3. Why do people often keep fresh +fruit and vegetables there? 4. What are _bacteria_? 5. How can we +prevent bacteria that cause disease from growing in our houses? 6. How +would you know, without being told, that sunshine is good for you? 7. +What does this book mean by saying that we are made of sunshine? + +II. A GOOD START. 1. When you jump out of bed in the morning, what do +you do with the bedclothes? Why? 2. Stand in front of the class and +show them the exercises that are good to do every morning. 3. Tell the +class why they are good. 4. Do them every morning for a week, and then +tell the class how you feel about keeping them up. + +III. BATHING AND BRUSHING. 1. If you grow very warm exercising, what +change do you notice in your skin? What makes it turn pink? Where does +the moisture come from? 2. What kind of bathing do you like best? 3. +What do we wash off besides perspiration and dust? 4. If a scab forms +over a scratch or cut in your skin, what should you do to it? Why? +When will the scab come off of itself? 5. What makes the skin freckle +or tan? 6. Could your face stand the same hard rubbing as your hands? +Why not? 7. How do you take care of your hair? 8. What other parts of +the skin can you tell about? 9. Look at your nails; which of the +"tools" on p. 17 do they need now? 10. How, and when, do you care for +your teeth? Why is this brushing very necessary? 11. Why must our +clothes be washed every week? Name each of your _Five Senses_. 12. +What can your skin tell you that your eyes and ears cannot? 13. Do you +know of any trade or occupation in which it is necessary to train +one's sense of touch? Tell about it. 14. What are the blind children +in the picture doing? (Their alphabet does not look like yours, for +the letters are represented by groups of raised dots or dashes or +curves, which are more easily and quickly felt.) 15. What must you do +besides washing and brushing to keep your skin in good order and +looking well? + + +BREAKFAST + +1. Why do we need to eat? 2. Do you like the breakfast suggested here? +Why do you need so much? 3. Which of these foods come from animals? +Which from plants? Which of them are the best "to grow on"? 4. How +much milk is there in the two bottles in the picture on p. 23? What is +the difference between milk and cream? Why is it better to buy bottled +milk than milk dipped out of a can? 5. Suppose that you are going to +get the breakfast in this house; how will you use some of the milk in +preparing it? How will you take care of what is left? 6. Why is milk +much better for you than coffee or tea? Where does the food strength +in the milk come from? 7. Suppose that you have just bitten off a +mouthful of food; what is the story of this mouthful before it is +taken into your blood? Where does most of it enter the blood? What +becomes of the part that the blood cannot use? Why is it very +necessary that this be disposed of regularly? + + +GOING TO SCHOOL + +I. GETTING READY. 1. How is it best to dress in winter? Why? (If this +is hard to understand, think which would cool faster--hot soup in a +deep cup or the same soup poured out into a plate? In which dish would +the soup have the larger surface from which to let off the heat? You +may now weigh only half as much as you will when you are fully grown, +but you already have much more than half as much size or surface.) 2. +What quality should all clothing material have, and why? + +II. AN EARLY ROMP. 1. Which makes you more tired, to walk slowly, just +"lagging along," for about twenty minutes, or to walk briskly for the +same time? Why? 2. How do you make your muscles strong? What is your +heart made of? How can you make your heart strong? 3. Why do you need +a heart? 4. What is your _pulse_? Where can you easily feel a pulse? +Count the pulse of someone else for half a minute by a watch. Do this +accurately. How many beats would there be in a minute? Try this with +different classmates. 5. What do we call the tubes through which the +blood flows away from the heart? The tubes through which it flows back +to the heart? 6. What is happening to the blood on its "round trip"? +Where does it get the liquid food that it delivers to the muscles? Why +must the blood be carried away from the muscles? + +III. FRESH AIR--WHY WE NEED IT. 1. If you were asked how we can tell +that air is everywhere, what could you say? 2. What do we call a thin +light substance like air? 3. What proof have we that the body needs +it? How does it get around to the different parts of the body? 4. What +is the body--its muscle, bone, skin, and all--made up of? How do these +cells use the air? Why do you need to breathe so often? 5. In the +candle experiment, is all the air under the glass used up? What is +used up? How can we compare a person in a closed room to the burning +candle under the glass? 6. What is the gas that we breathe out? 7. In +what three ways does the body "clean house"? + +IV. FRESH AIR--HOW WE BREATHE IT. 1. Where are your lungs? 2. Draw a +picture of the ribs. 3. In what position are they when the lungs are +filled with air? In what position is the diaphragm then? 4. What are +the lungs giving off in the breath besides carbon dioxid? How can you +prove this? 5. How can you prove that the gas in your breath is not +like the gas in the fresh air around you? 6. Why does a room with +people in it grow very warm if the doors and windows are kept closed? +7. How does Nature keep the outdoor air clean? What makes the winds? +8. Are you careful to keep your breath as clean as possible? How? How +do you help keep the air in your house clean? + + +IN SCHOOL + +I. BRINGING THE FRESH AIR IN. 1. What do we mean by fresh air? Why +must the air we breathe have oxygen in it? 2. Is the air in the room +now the best you can have in it? How is the air moving? 3. Is there +always the same amount of air in the room? Then, if there is more +fresh air, there must be--bad air? If there is less fresh air, there +must be--bad air? What is the quickest way to let the bad air out and +the fresh air in? Why are you given recess? 4. What is a draft? Are +drafts dangerous? 5. Will night air hurt you? What air can you have in +the house at night except night air? + +II. HEARING AND LISTENING. 1. Have you ever slept in a house close to +a railway? What did you notice whenever a heavy train went by? What +made the bed tremble? 2. If you have stood very near a moving train, +how did your ears feel? Why? 3. How far do sound waves travel after +they enter the ear? Could a person be deaf who had two perfect ears? +Where would the trouble be? 4. Draw a picture to show the parts of +your _left_ ear, and name each part. 5. How do you take care of your +ears? 6. Comment on doing each of these things:--firing a bean shooter +at anyone; throwing gravel or sand; firing off a cap or torpedo close +to some one's head; boxing a person on the ear; running a nail cleaner +or pencil point into your ear; putting on the baby's cap so that the +ears are folded forward; asking your teacher to repeat her question. +7. Have you tried to train your ears? How?--and why? 8. Find out about +some business, or occupation, in which it is necessary to have very +keen hearing, and write a little story about it. + +III. SEEING AND READING. 1. Are you seated now in the best way for +reading or not? Why? 2. Why is it well to look up often, as you read? +3. How far from your eyes ought you to be able to hold this book to +read it easily? If you cannot, what should you do? 4. Draw a picture +of someone's eye, as you see it, naming the parts. 5. Draw a picture +of your eye as it would look if you could see the eyeball from the +_left_ side, and name the parts. 6. What takes the sight message to +the brain? 7. How does the nerve of the eye (the _optic nerve_) get +its messages? What, then, is _light_? If the light waves enter the +ear, can they make you hear? Why not? 8. When a baby is born, what +care should be taken of its eyes immediately, and why? 9. Have you +ever played any games in which the sharpest eyes won? What were they? +10. Write a little story about the picture on p. 59. + +IV. A DRINK OF WATER. 1. Why do we want to drink water? How would you +know that your body must have a great deal of liquid in it? 2. Do you +know where the water you drink at school comes from? If you don't, try +to find out; and find out also just how it is brought to the school +and why it flows up to the faucets. 3. If you get drinking water from +a well, either at home or at school, tell where this well is--how near +the house or the out-buildings. Do you think that any waste from these +buildings could drain into the well? Why? 4. At your sand table or +from a sandpile in the yard, lay out a farmyard, showing where the +house, the barn, the chicken yard, and the pig-sty, also the privy +vault, are. Now locate the well so that it cannot receive drainage +from any of these places. 5. What is the danger in using drinking +water from a stream? 6. How could the germs of typhoid fever get into +the milk we drink? 7. What do we mean by _fermented_ drinks? Name +some. What is in these drinks that is so very harmful? + +V. LITTLE COOKS. 1. Do you bring luncheon to school? What do you like +to have for your luncheon? Talk about this in class with your teacher, +and find out what things are best for school luncheons. 2. How is your +luncheon packed? Why ought it to be neatly done? 3. How long do you +take for luncheon, or for dinner at home? Is this time enough? 4. What +do you do right after eating? Is this what you ought to do? Why? 5. +What foods do you know how to cook? Write out the recipe for something +you have made, showing what you mixed and how you did it; and in what, +and how long, you cooked it. 6. Give three reasons for cooking food. +7. How is fried food so often made indigestible? 8. Are sweet foods +good or harmful? What does sugar come from? How is it made? 9. Write a +little story about one of these things: My First Lesson in Cooking; +Our Taffy Party; How I Kept Flies out of the Kitchen; How We Boys +Cooked Breakfast (or Supper); My Marketing. + +VI. TASTING AND SMELLING. 1. If anyone asked you how a lemon tastes, +what would you say? What would you say about sugar? Salt? Pepper? +Pickles? Strawberries? Cheese? Onions? Radishes? How did you learn +about each of these? 2. What does your tongue do besides receiving +tastes? Note in the picture (p. 86) how strongly your tongue is +rooted; point to the tip of it in the picture. 3. How does your nose +help your throat and your lungs? How else may it help you? 4. Draw a +picture to show how air reaches the lungs. 5. What are _adenoids_? How +may you know if you have adenoids? If you have, what ought you to do? +Why? 6. Where do the men who want to smoke in the open trolley car +have to sit? Why? If children breathe tobacco smoke, what effect will +it have on them? Why is smoking a foolish habit? How is it often +harmful? + +VII. TALKING AND RECITING. 1. When you are reciting in class, do you +think how your voice and the words sound to the other people in the +room? Show the class how you can make your speech sound just as you +want it to. 2. Give three ways in which you can take care of your +throat and voice. Put your hand on the place where your voice is made. +How is it made? 3. On your own picture of the throat, show where those +little folds of skin are (the picture on p. 86 shows, of course, only +the fold of skin, or _vocal cord_, on the right half of the windpipe). + +VIII. THINKING AND ANSWERING. 1. With two or three of your classmates, +play telephone;--one must be "Central" and one "Information" at the +central office, and one must receive your message and answer it. A +number of the other children may join hands to make a long "wire" on +each side of "Central"; they will repeat the message softly from one +to another all down their "wire." 2. Now, suppose that you all +represent the telephone system in the body. Could you act out this +"Body-Telephone" call:--The eye sees a burning match on the floor, and +sends the message to its center in the brain; this center consults the +memory ("Information") as to what to do. Memory recalls that burning +matches are likely to set fire to other things and ought to be put +out. So the brain sends a message to the muscles of the foot to get to +work and stamp out the flame. In this play, what will you each call +yourselves? 3. Make up some other "Body-Telephone" plays. 4. What are +some of the messages that are being carried by your nerves, that you +know nothing about? 5. Think how many messages a baby stores away +before he is ready to answer them; what are some of these? Why can he +not answer them at once? What makes his brain and nerves and muscles +grow? How can you take the best care of yours? 6. In the picture on p. +96, point to the brain; to the spinal cord. How near the surface of +your back is your spinal cord? What keeps it from being easily +injured? + + +"ABSENT TO-DAY?" + +I. KEEPING WELL. 1. Why do our bodies need "housecleaning"? How do we +get rid of the waste part that is a gas? Of the part that is water? +What carries the carbon dioxid to the lungs? What carries the waste +water to the sweat tubes and the kidneys? What other waste is there to +be gotten rid of? 2. Suppose that you and your chum each have an equal +chance to take a bad cold from someone else; your chum catches it, and +you don't. What might be one reason why you don't? Place your hand +over your liver. How can you keep it in good working order? 3. What is +the bladder? Why is it so very necessary to empty the bladder +regularly? When you perspire freely, how does that help the kidneys? + +II. SOME FOES TO FIGHT. 1. You have seen moldy bread? What is, the +mold? What makes it spread? 2. Suppose you take some pieces of moldy +bread or potato and turn a glass jar or bowl over them. Catch a few +flies and put them under the glass, and leave them to crawl over the +moldy food. After a day, put the flies under another glass with some +pieces of fresh bread or potato. If you find that the fresh food +quickly becomes moldy, how will you think that the mold germs came to +it? (If you keep the jars in a warm place, the germs will grow faster, +and you won't have so long to wait before you can see the mold.) 3. +What other kinds of germs do flies carry? How do they carry them? 4. A +Board of Health caused a liveryman to be fined because he allowed a +manure pile to remain behind his stable. Why was his act a +misdemeanor? From what do flies come, and how do they grow? 5. On your +way to and from school, what have you noticed that could breed or +attract flies? How could these things have been avoided? 6. The next +time you go into a butcher shop or grocery store, notice how the +things are kept and be ready to tell the class what you think about +it. 7. In what ways may germs be carried, besides by flies? 8. What do +we mean by the "Great White Plague"? Why is it called this? What are +people doing to try to cure it? 9. What can you do to help prevent it? +10. Why ought you to stay away from other people when you have a cold? +What do you need most in order to get well? 11. Do you always have +your own towel to use? Why should you? 12. Write a little story about +the picture on p. 112. + +III. PROTECTING OUR FRIENDS. 1. Is there a Board of Health in your +town? If not, what takes its place? See if you can find out some of +the things that the Board or the Officers have done for the town. 2. +What do we mean by _quarantine_? What is the _quarantine station_ in +ports where passenger steamers land? See if you can find out about any +time when a city or port was guarding its people against an infectious +disease. 3. Have you been vaccinated? How was it done? Why was it +done? How do we all know that it is a very wise thing to have done? 4. +How can you help the Health Officers to keep your town a healthful +place? + + +WORK AND PLAY + +I. GROWING STRONG. 1. When you play out of doors, what do you +exercise? What do you exercise when you study? How ought you to play +and study so as to get the most good from each? Why is it good to +play, and work too, out of doors? 2. What games have you played in the +last day or two? How did the players divide the muscle exercise of the +game? Did they divide up the thinking part, too? 3. Why must the blood +be sent to the muscles? Why must it be carried away again? When you +feel tired, what is happening in your body? 4. What are muscles like? +Show how the elastic bands of your legs work when you sit on your +heels. What makes the muscles at the back of your legs feel thicker? +5. What bones of your body can you feel? Put your hands on them, as +you tell what you can about each. 6. Why do we need bones? What do we +call our whole framework of bones? 7. Have you ever seen anyone who +had to stay all the time in bed or sit in a wheeled chair? How did +this person show the lack of exercise? 8. What is the meaning of the +picture on p. 129? 9. Choose one of the other pictures in this chapter +and write a story about it to show how to grow strong. + +II. ACCIDENTS. 1. When you hear the word _accident_, what do you think +of? What have you to help you to prevent accidents? If you have used +your "look-out department" as well as you can, and still the accident +happens, what will you do then? 2. Show the class how to care for a +very deep cut. What do we call a medicine that kills disease germs? 3. +How would you treat a bruise? A burn? Frost-bitten ears? Chilblains? A +bee sting? 4. If you are told to take some medicine from a certain +bottle or box, do you always look at the label? Why is it dangerous +not to? What do you think of having medicines about not labeled or +poured into old bottles with wrong labels? 5. If you should happen to +swallow something poisonous, what ought you to do right away? 6. +Suppose your clothes or your hair should catch fire; what would you +do? 7. How did you celebrate last Fourth of July? Write a short story +about the picture on p. 144. 8. With one of your classmates, show how +you would try to restore a person who had just been saved from +drowning. How can you try to save yourself if you fall into the water? + +III. THE CITY BEAUTIFUL. 1. Have you a park near your home? When the +people leave at the end of the day, how do the lawns and paths look? +Are there cans in the park to hold the papers and scraps? 2. How are +the streets in your town cleaned in winter? In summer? 3. How do the +houses get rid of their waste? 4. If the waste goes into a river, is +the river water used for drinking? Who decides where the drinking +water for the town shall come from? 5. Why are drinks containing +alcohol harmful to take (give four reasons)? What is a _narcotic_? How +does drinking alcohol lead to crime? 6. Write down five ways in which +you can help to keep your town or city beautiful. Five ways in which +you can help to keep your own home beautiful. 7. Why should every city +have parks for the children? + + +THE EVENING MEAL + +1. Play housekeeping, and order the dinner. 2. Write down a list of +things for a good supper. 3. Why does Nature give us so many different +kinds of food? How does she teach us not to eat too much of one kind +at a time? 4. Write down on the board as many of each of these kinds +of food as you can:--meats; vegetables; fruits; breads; sweet foods; +fish; grains; food (not fruit) that does not need cooking; food to +drink. 5. How do you help to make meal times pleasant? Make up a story +about the picture on p. 159, and tell it in class. + + +A PLEASANT EVENING + +1. Just after a meal, what is your stomach doing? How can you help +your digestion? 2. Have you played any of the games mentioned here? +How did you play them? 3. Look at the picture on p. 165; why is this a +good after-supper corner? How do you sit and hold your book when you +read in the evening? 4. What parts of your body are you exercising and +taking care of when you read? Of what use is a healthy, vigorous body +without a healthy, vigorous mind? How can you keep your mind healthy? +How can you keep it vigorous? 5. What kind of books do you like best +to read? Tell the class the names of some good ones. + + +GOOD NIGHT + +I. GETTING READY FOR BED. 1. At what hour do you go to bed? When do +you get up? How many hours' sleep does this give you? Is this enough? +Why do you need so much sleep? 2. As you undress, what do you do with +the clothes you take off? Why should you air your clothes every night? +How can you take an air bath? Is this as good as a wash? 3. How do you +care for your hair at night? 4. Do you ever go to bed without brushing +your teeth? If you do, what happens all night long to the food scraps +that were left around and between your teeth? As these scraps decay, +what harm do they do? What makes a tooth ache? 5. Draw a little +picture of your own teeth as you see them in a looking-glass. Are +there any spaces that you can see where food might lodge and stay? How +can you keep your teeth quite free from scraps of food? 6. Why are +teeth necessary? How must they grow to make good cutting tools? If +they are not straight or sound, what can you do about it? 7. Why ought +children's first teeth to be thoroughly brushed every day? + +II. THE LAND OF NOD. 1. When you are ready for bed, how do you +fix your windows? Why is it even more necessary to have the air +blowing through the room at night than in the daytime? 2. How else is +your body being purified at night? Does your body do any work while +you are sleeping? What work? 3. What kind of sleep should you have if +you are perfectly well? + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Child's Day, by Woods Hutchinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILD'S DAY *** + +***** This file should be named 18559.txt or 18559.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/5/5/18559/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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