CHILD'S HEALTH PRIMER WASTING MONEY. (See page 119.) ST. LOUIS EDITION 
CHILD’S 
-ITT 
HEALTH PRIMER 
FOR PRIMARY CLASSES 
IN 
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS 
Copyright, 1885, 1880 
John L. Boland 
610 AND 612 WASHINGTON AV. 
ST LOUIS, As this little hook goes to press, Massachusetts, by 
an act of its legislature, is made the fourteenth state 
in this country that requires the pupils in the primary, 
as well as in the higher grades of public schools, to 
he taught the effects of alcoholics and other narcotics 
upon the human system, in connection with other 
facts of physiology and hygiene. 
The object of all this legislation is, not that the 
future citizen may know the technical names of 
bones, nerves, and muscles, hut that ho may have a 
timelt/ and forewarnin'7 knowledge of the effects of 
alcohol and narcotics upon the human body, and 
therefore upon life and character. 
With every reason in favor of such education, 
and the law requiring it, its practical tests in the 
school-room will result in failure, unless there shall 
be ready for teacher and scholar, a well-arranged, V REFACE. 
simple, and practical book, bringing tliese truths 
down to the .capacity of the child. 
A few years hence, when the results of this study 
in our Normal Schools shall be realized in the 
preparation of the teacher, we can depend upon her 
adapting oral lessons from advanced works on this 
theme, but now, the average primary teacher brings 
to this study no experience, and limited previous 
study. 
To meet this need, this work has been prepared. 
Technical terms have been avoided, and only such 
facts of physiology developed as are necessary to the 
treatment of the effects of alcohol, tobacco, and 
opium, and of the other truths of hygiene. 
To the children In the Primary Schools of this 
country, for whom it was prepared, this work is 
dedicated. CHAPTER PAGE 
Frontispiece 2 
Title-page 3 
Preface 5 
Contents 7 
I.—Joints and Bones 9 
II.—Muscles 21 
III.—Nerves 27 
IY.—What is Alcohol? 39 
Y.—Grain 45 
YT.—Distilling 49 
YII.—Alcohol 53 
A'III.—Tobacco 55 
IX.—Opium 59 
X.—What are Organs? Cl COX T E X T S. 
CHAPTER • PAGE 
XI.—What does the Body Need for Food?. ... 71 
XII.— How Food Becomes Part of the Body. ... 79 
XIII. —Strength 85 
XIV. —The Heart 91 
XV.—The Lungs 95 
XVI.—The Skin 101 
XVII.—The Senses 107 
XVIII.—Heat and Coed 113 
XIX.—Wasted Money 118 CHAPTER I. 
JOINTS AND BONES. 
,rTA)ITTLE girls like a jointed doll to play 
with., because they can bend sncli a doll 
Jointed dolls. 
in eight or ten places, make it stand or sit, 
or can even play that it is walking. 10 
JOINTS AND BONES. 
As you study your own bodies to-day, you 
wilL find tliat you cacti have better joints 
than any dolls that can be bought at a toy 
shop. 
HINGE-JOINTS. 
Some of your joints work like the hinges 
of a door, and these are called hinge-joints. 
You can find them in your elbows, knees, 
fingers, and toes. 
How many hinge-joints can you find? 
Think how many hinges must be used 
by the boy who takes oft' his hat and makes 
a polite bow to his teacher, when she meets 
him on the street. 
ITow many hinges do you use in running 
up-stairs, opening the door, buttoning your 
coat or your boots, playing ball or digging 
in your garden ? 
You see that we use these hinges nearly 
all the time. We could not do without 
them. 
BALL AND SOCKET JOINTS. 
All our joints are not hinge-joints. 
Your shoulder has a joint that lets your BALL AND SOCKET JOINTS. 
arm swing round and round, as well as move 
up and down. 
Your hip has another that lets your leg 
move in much the same way. 
The hip-joint. 
This kind of joint is the round end or hall 
of a long hone, which moves in a hole, called 
a socket. 
Tour joints do not creak or get out of or- 
der, as those of doors and gates sometimes 
do. A soft, smooth fluid, much like the white 
of an egg, keeps them moist and makes tjiem. 
work easily. 12 
JOINTS AN D BONES. 
BONES. 
What parts of our bodies are jointed to- 
gether so nicely P Our bones. 
How many bones have we ? 
If you should count all your bones, you 
would find that each of you has about two 
hundred. 
Some are large ; and some, very small. 
There are long bones in your legs and 
arms, and many short ones in your fingers 
and toes. The backbone is called the spine. 
Backbone of a Jish. 
If you look at tlie backbone of a fish, you 
can see tbat it is made up of many little 
bones. Your own spine is formed in much 
the same way, of twenty-four small bones. 
An elastic cushion of gristle (grfs'i) fits nicely 
in between each little bone and the next. 
When you bend, these cushions are pressed 
together on one side and stretched on the BONES. 
13 
other, They settle hack into their first shape, 
as soon as yon stand straight again. 
t If yon ever rode in a wheelbarrow, or a 
cart without springs, you know what a jotb 
ing it gave you. These little spring cushions 
keep you from being shaken even more se- 
verely every time you move. 
Twenty-four ribs, twelve on each side, 
curve around from the spine to the front, or 
breast, bone. (See page 88.) 
They are so covered with flesh that per- 
haps you can not feel and count them ; but 
they are there. 
Then you have two flat shoulder-blades, 
and two collar-bones that almost meet in 
front, just where your collar fastens. 
Of what are the bones made ? 
Take two little bones, such as those from 
the legs or wings of a chicken, put one of 
them into the fire, when it is not very hot, 
and leave it there two or three hours. Soak 
the other bone in some weak muriatic 
(mu rl atdk) acid. This acid can be bought of 
any druggist. 
You will have to be careful in taking the 14 
JOINTS AND BONES. 
bone out of the fire, for it is all ready to 
break. If you strike it a quick blow, it will 
crumble to dust. This dust we call lime, and 
it is very much like the lime from which the 
mason makes mortar. 
The acid has taken the lime from the 
other hone, so only the part which is not 
lime is left. You will he surprised to see 
how easily it will "bend. You can twist it 
and tie it into a knot; hut it will not easily 
break. 
You have seen gristle in meat. This soft 
part of the hone is gristle. 
Bone tied in a knot. CARE OF THE SPINE. 
15 
Children’s hones have more gristle than 
those of older people; so children’s hones hend 
easily. 
I know a lady who lias one leg shorter 
than the other. This makes her lame, and 
she has to wear a hoot with iron supports 
three or four inches high, in order to walk 
at all. 
One day she told me how she became lame. 
“I remember,” she said, “when I was be- 
tween three and four years old, sitting one 
day in my high chair at the table, and twist- 
ing one foot under the little step of the chair. 
The next morning I felt lame; but nobody 
could tell what was the matter. At last, the 
doctors found out that the trouble all came 
from that twist. It had gone too far to be 
cured. Before I had this boot, I could only 
walk with a crutch.” 
CARE OF THE SPINE. 
Because the spine is made of little bones 
with cushions between them, it bends easily, 
and children sometimes bend it more than 
they ought. 16 
JOINTS AND BONES. 
If you lean over your book or your writ- 
ing- or any other work, the elastic cushions 
may get so pressed on the inner edge that 
they do not easily spring hack into shape. 
In this way, you may grow round-shouldered 
or liump-hacked. t 
This bending over, also cramps the lungs, 
so that they do not have all the room they 
need for breathing. While you are young, 
your bones are easily bent. One shoulder or 
one hip gets higher than the other, if you 
stand unevenly. This is more serious, because 
you are growing, and you may grow crooked 
before you know it. 
Now that you know how soft your bones 
are, and how easily they bend, you will 
surely be careful to sit and stand erect. Do 
not twist your legs, or arms, or shoulders; 
for you want to grow into straight and grace- 
ful men and women, instead of being round- 
shouldered, or hump-backed, or lame, all your 
lives. 
When people are old, their bones contain 
more lime, and, therefore, break more easily. 
You should be kindly helpful to old peo- OUGHT A BOY TO USE TOBACCO? 
17 
pie, so that they may not fall, and possibly 
break their hones. 
CARE OF THE FEET. 
Healthy children are always out-growing1 
their shoes, and sometimes faster than they 
wear them out. Tight shoes cause corns and 
in-growing nails and other sore places on the 
feet. All of these are very hard to get rid of. 
No one should wear a shoe that pinches or 
hurts the foot. 
OUGHT A BOY TO USE TOBACCO? 
Perhaps some hoy will say : “ Grown peo- 
ple are always telling us, ‘ this will do for 
men, hut it is not good for hoys.’” 
Tobacco is not good for men; hut there 
is a very good reason why it is worse for 
hoys. 
If you were going to build a house, would 
it he wise for you to put into the stone-work 
of the cellar, something that would make it 
less strong ? 
Something into the brick-work or the 
mortar, the wood-work or the nails, the 18 
JOINTS ANI) RONES. 
walls or the chimneys, that would make 
them weak and tottering, instead of strong 
and steady ? 
It would he had enough if you should 
repair your house with poor materials; hut 
surely it must be built in the first place 
with the best you can get. 
You will soon learn that boys and girls 
are building their bodies, day after day, until 
at last they reach full size. 
Afterward, they must be repaired as fast 
as they wear out. 
It would be foolish to build any part in 
a way to make it weaker than need be. 
Wise doctors have said that the boy who 
uses tobacco while he is growing, makes 
every part of his body less strong, than it 
otherwise would be. Even his bones will 
not grow so well. 
Boys who smoke can not become such 
large, fine-looking men as they would if 
they did not smoke. 
Cigarettes are small, but they are very 
poisonous. Chewing tobacco is a worse and 
more filthy habit even than smoking. The OUGHT A HOY TO USE TOBACCO? 
19 
frequent spitting it causes is disgusting to 
otliers and liurts tlie liealtli of tlie cliewer. 
Tobacco in any form is a great enemy to 
youtli. It stunts tlie growth., liurts the 
mind, and cripiiles in every way the hoy oi 
girl who uses it. 
Not that it does all this to every youth 
who smokes, hut it is always true that no 
hoy of seven to fourteen can begin to smoke 
or chew and have so line a body and mind 
when he is twenty-one years old as he would 
have had if he had never used tobacco. If 
you want to be strong and well men and 
women, do not use tobacco in any form. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. What two kinds of joints have you? 
2. Describe each kind. 
3. Find as many of each kind as you can. 
4. How are the joints kept moist? 
5. How many bones are there in your whole body? 
6. Count the bones in your hand. 
7. Of how many bones is your spine made ? 
8. Why could you not use it so well if it were all in one piece? 
9. What is the use of the little cushions between the bones of the 
spine ? 
10. How many ribs have you ? 
11. Where are they? 
12. Where are the shoulder-blades? 
13. Where are the collar-bones? 20 
JOINTS AND BONES. 
14. What are bones made of? 
15. How can we show this? 
16. What is the difference between the bones of children and the 
bones of old people ? 
17. Why do children’s bones bend easily ? 
18. Tell the story of the lame lady. 
19. What does this story teach you ? 
20. What happens if you lean over your desk or work? 
21. How will this position injure your lungs? 
22. What other bones may be injured by wrong positions? 
28. Why do old people’s bones break easily ? 
24. How should the feet be cared for? 
25. How does tobacco affect the bones? 
26. What do doctors say of its use ? 
27. What is said about cigarettes ? 
28. What about chewing tobacco? 
29. To whom is tobacco a great enemy? Why? 
30. What is always true of its use by youth ? CHAPTER II. 
MUSCLES. 
makes tlie limbs move ? 
Ad You have to take hold of the door 
to move it hack and forth; hut you need not 
take hold of your arm to move that. 
What makes it move ? 
Sometimes a door or gate is made to shut 
itself, if you leave it open. 
This can he done by means of a wide 
rubber strap, one end of which is fastened 
to the frame of the door near the hinge, and 
the other end to the door, out near its edge. 
When we push open the door, the rubber 
strap is stretched; but as soon as we have 
passed through, the strap tightens, draws 
the door back, and shuts it. 
If you stretch out your right arm, and 
clasp the upper part tightly with your left 22 
MUSCLES. 
hand, tlien work tlic elbow joint strongly 
back and fortli, you can feel something under 
your hand draw up, and then lengthen out 
again, each time you bend the joint. 
What you feel, is a muscle (mus'si), and it 
works your joints very much as the rubber 
strap works the hinge of the door. 
One end of the muscle is fastened to the 
bone just below- the elbow joint; and the 
other end, higher up above the joint. 
When it tightens, or contracts, as we say, 
it bends the joint. When the arm is straight- 
ened, the muscle returns to its first shape. 
There is another muscle on the outside 
of the arm which stretches when this one 
shortens, and so helps the working of the 
joint. 
Every joint has two or more muscles ol 
its own to work it. 
Think how many there must be in our 
fingers! 
If we should undertake to count all the 
muscles that move our whole bodies, it would 
need more counting than some of you could 
do. 24 
MUSCL E S. 
TENDONS. 
You can see muscles on tlie dinner table; 
for they are only lean meat. 
They are fastened to the 
bones by strong1 cords, called 
tendons (tsn'dsnz). These 
tendons can be seen in the 
leg of a chicken or turkey. 
They sometimes hold the 
meat so firmly that it is 
hard for you to get it off. 
When you next try to pick 
a “ drum-stick,” remember 
that you are eating the 
strong muscles by which the 
chicken or turkey moved 
his legs as he walked about 
the yard. The parts that 
have the most work to do, 
need the strongest muscles. 
Did you ever see the 
swallows flying about the 
eaves of a barn? 
Do they have very stout legs? No! They 
Tendons of the hand. EXERCISE OF THE MUSCLES. 
25 
have very small legs and feet, because they 
do not need to walk. They need to fly. 
The muscles that move the wings are 
fastened to the breast. These breast muscles 
of the swallow must be large and strong. 
EXERCISE OF THE MUSCLES. 
People who work hard with any part of 
the body make the muscles of that part very 
strong. 
The blacksmith has big, strong muscles 
in Iris arms because he uses them so much. 
You are using your muscles every day, 
and this helps them to grow. 
Once I saAV a little girl who had been 
very sick. She had to lie in bed for many 
weeks. Before her sickness she had plenty 
of stout muscles in her arms and legs and 
was running about the house from morning 
till night, carrying her big doll in her arms. 
After her sickness, she could hardly walk 
ten steps, and would rather sit and look at 
her playthings than try to lift them. She 
had to make new muscles as fast as possible. 
Running, coasting, games of ball, and all M U S C L E S. 
brisk play and work, help to make strong 
muscles. 
Idle liahits make weak muscles. So idle- 
ness is an ' enemy to the muscles. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. How are the joints moved? 
2. Where are the muscles in your arms, which help you to move 
your elbows ? 
3. Show why joints must have muscles? 
4. What do we call the muscles of the lower animals? 
5. What fasten the muscles to the hones? 
6. Why do chickens and tui’keys need strong muscles in their legs ? 
7. Why do swallows need strong breast muscles ? 
8. What makes the muscles of the blacksmith’s arm so strong? 
9. What will make your muscles strong? 
10. What will make them weak ? 
11. Can fatty muscles work well ? 
12. Why does not drinking beer make one stronger? CHAPTER III. 
NERVES. 
T T OW do tlie muscles know when to move P 
You have all seen the telegraph 
wires, hy which messages are sent from one 
town to another, all over the country. 
You are too young to understand how 
this is done, hut you each have something 
inside of you, hy which you arc sending 
messages almost every minute while you are 
awake. 
We will try to learn a little about its 
wonderful way of working. 
In your head is your brain. It is the 
part of you which thinks. 
As you would be very badly off if you 
could not think, the brain is your most 
precious .part, and you have a strong box 
made of bone to keep it in. 28 
NERVES. 
Diagram of the nervous system. NERVES. 
29 
We will call tlie lb rain the central tele- 
graph office. Little white cords, called nerves, 
connect the brain with the rest of the body. 
A large cord called the spinal cord, lies 
safely in a bony case made by the spine, and 
many nerves branch off from this. 
If you put your finger on a hot stove, in 
an instant a message goes on the nerve tele- 
graph to the brain. It tells that wise think- 
ing part that your finger will burn, if it 
stays on the stove. 
In another instant, the brain sends back 
a message to the muscles that move that 
finger, saying: “Contract quickly, bend the 
joint, and take that poor finger away so 
that it will not be burned.” 
You can hardly believe that there was 
time for all this sending of messages; for as 
soon as you felt the hot stove, you pulled 
your finger away. But you really could not 
have pulled it away, unless the brain had 
sent word to the muscles to do it. 
Now, you know what we mean when we 
say, “As quick as thought.” Surely noth- 
ing could be quicker. 30 
NERVES 
Yon see that the hrain has a great deal 
of work to do, for it has to send so many or- 
ders. 
There are some mnscles which are mov- 
ing quietly and steadily all the time, though 
we take no notice of the motion. 
You do not. have to think about breath- 
ing, and yet the muscles work all the time, 
moving your chest. 
If we had to think about it every time 
we breathed, we should have no time to 
think of any thing else. 
There is one part of the brain that takes 
care of such work for us. It sends the mes- 
sages about breathing, and keeps the breath- 
ing muscles and many other muscles faith- 
fully at work. It does all this without our 
needing to know or think about it at all. 
Do you begin to see that your body is a 
busy work-shop, where many kinds of work 
are being done all day and all night ? 
Although we lie still and sleep in the 
night, the breathing must go on, and so must 
the work of those other organs that never 
stop until we die. OTHER WORK OE THE NERVES. 
31 
OTHER WORK OF THE NERVES. 
The little white nerve-tlireads lie smootlily 
side by side, making small white cords. Each 
kind of message goes on its own thread, so 
that the messages need never get mixed or 
confused. 
These nerves are very delicate little mes- 
sengers. They do all the feeling for the whole 
body, and by means of them we have many 
pains and many pleasures. 
If there was no nerve in your tooth it 
could not ache. But if there wore no nerves 
in your mouth and tongue, you could not 
taste your food. 
If there were no nerves in your hands, 
you might cut them and feel no pain. But 
you could not feel your mother’s soft, warm 
hand, as she laid it on yours. 
One of your first duties is the care of your- 
selves. 
Children may say : “My father and mother 
take care of me.” But even while you are 
young, there are some ways in which no one 
can take care of you but yourselves. The 32 
NERVES. 
older you grow, tlie more this care will be- 
long to you, and to no one else. 
Think of the work all the parts of the 
body do for us, and how they help us to be 
well and happy. Certainly the least we can 
do is to take care of them and keep them in 
good order. 
CARE OF THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 
As one part of the brain has to take care of 
all the rest of the body, and keep every organ 
at work, of course it can never go to sleep 
itself. If it did, the heart would stop pump- 
ing, the lungs would leave off breathing, all 
other work would stop, and the body would 
be dead. 
But there is another part of the brain 
which does the thinking, and this part needs 
rest. 
When you are asleep, you are not think- 
ing, but you are breathing and other work of 
the body is going on. 
If the thinking part of the brain does not 
have good quiet sleep, it will soon wear out. 
A worn-out brain is not easy to repair. ALCOHOL AND THE NERVES. 
If well cared for, your brain will do the 
best of work for you for seventy or eighty 
years without complaining. 
The nerves are easily tired out, and they 
need much rest. They get tired if we do one 
thing too long at a time ; they are rested by 
a change of work. 
FOOD FOR THE NERVES AND THE BRAIN. 
Think of the wonderful work the brain is 
all the time doing for you ! 
You ought to give it the best of food to 
keep it in good working order. 
Alcohol is not a food and will not make 
one strong. As has been said of tobacco, it 
stunts the growth of the boy or girl who uses 
it, and likewise affects the nerves, which are 
the sensitive cords that transmit the messages 
from the brain. As the nerves become affected, 
it will readily be seen that the brain also 
suffers. 
Newspapers often tell about people setting 
houses on fire and of men forgetting to turn 
the switch, and so wrecking railroad trains; 
and of men who lie down on the track and 34 
NERVES. 
are run over by tlie cars. These tilings are 
often caused by strong drink. 
People who are thus affected become care- 
less, the brain can not receive the proper mes- 
sages, and the person does not know what he 
is doing; but, as can readily be seen, those 
things are also brought about by other con- 
ditions. 
By not paying strict attention to your 
teacher, you have sometimes forgotten what 
she tried hard to teach you ; and just so the 
switchman, by not being attentive to his 
orders, may have forgotten to turn the switch, 
or the brain may have been affected by some 
disease which destroyed the reason and powers 
of thinking, and thus fatal accidents resulted. 
You may say that all men who drink 
liquor do not do such terrible things. That 
is true; but still if it may lead to that, it is 
best not to drink. A body kept pure and 
strong is of great service to its owner, and 
therefore it is better to abstain from any 
thing that may harm the body, and try to 
do that which will promote its growth and 
healthy development. TOBACCO AND THE NERVES. 
35 
TOBACCO AND THE NERVES. 
Why does any one wish to use tobacco ? 
Because many men say that it helps them, 
and makes them feel better. 
Shall I tell you how it makes them feel 
better ? 
If a man is cold, the tobacco deadens 
his nerves so that he does not feel the 
cold and does not take pains to make himself 
warmer. 
If a man is tired, or in trouble, tobacco 
will not really rest him or help him out of 
his trouble. 
It only puts his nerves to sleep and helps 
him think that he is not tired, and that 
he does not need to overcome his troubles. 
It puts liis nerves to sleep very much as 
alcohol does, and helps him to be contented 
with what ought not to content him. 
A boy who smokes or chews tobacco, is 
not so good a scholar as if he did not use 
the poison. He can not remember his lessons 
so well. 
Usually, too, he is not so polite, nor so 
good a bo3" as he otherwise would be. 36 
NERVES. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. How do the muscles know when to move ? 
2. What part of you is it that thinks? 
3. What are the nerves? 
4. Where is the spinal cord? 
5. What message goes to the brain when you put your finger on 
a hot stove ? 
6. What message comes hack from the brain to the finger? 
7. What is meant by “As quick as thought"? 
8. Name some of the muscles which work without needing our 
thought. 
9. What keeps them at work? 
10. Why do not the nerve messages get mixed and confused? 
11. Why could you not feel, if you had no nerves? 
12. State some ways in which the nerves give us pain. 
13. State some Avays in which they give us pleasure. 
14. What part of us has the most work to do ? 
15. How must we keep the brain strong and well ? 
16. What does alcohol do to the nerves and brain ? 
17. Why does not a drunken man know what he is about? 
18. What causes many of the accidents we read of? 
19. Why do many men use tobacco ? 
20. How does it make them feel better? 
21. Does it really help a person who uses it? 
22. Does tobacco help a boy to be a good scholar? Bones of the human body. CHAPTER IV. 
WHAT IS ALCOHOL? 
m IPE grapes are fall of juice. 
Tliis juice is mostly water, sweetened 
with, a sugar of its own. It is flavored 
with something which makes ns know, the 
moment we taste it, that it is grape-juice, 
and not cherry-juice or plum-juice. 
Apples also contain water, sugar, and apple 
flavor; and cherries contain water, sugar, and 
cherry flavor. The same is true of other 
fruits. They all, when ripe, have the water 
and the sugar; and each has a flavor of its 
own. 
Ripe grapes are sometimes gathered and 
put into great tubs called vats. In these the 
juice is squeezed out. 
In some countries, this squeezing is done 
by bare-footed men who jump into the vats 
and press the grapes with their feet. 40 
WIIAT IS ALCOHOL? 
The grape-juice is then drawn off from tire 
skins and seeds and left standing in a warm 
place. 
Bubbles soon begin to rise and cover the 
top of it with froth. The juice is all in mo- 
tion. 
Picking grapes and making wine. 
If tlie cook liacl wished to use this grape- 
juice to make jelly, she would say: “Now, I 
can not make my grape-jelly, for the grape- 
juice is spoiled.” WINE. 
41 
WHAT IS THIS CHANGE IN THE GRAPE-JUICE ? 
The sugar in the grape-juice is changing 
into something else. It is turning into 
alcohol and a gas* that moves about in little 
bubbles in the liquid, and rising to the top, 
goes off into the air. The alcohol is a thin 
liquid which, mixed with the water, remains 
in the grape-juice. 
The sugar is gone; alcohol and the bub- 
bles of gas are left in its place. 
This alcohol is a very clear liquid, about 
the color of water. 
Ripe grapes are good food ; but grape-j uice, 
when its sugar has been turned to alcohol, is 
not a good nor a safe drink for a child, for 
reasons which you have already learned in a 
previous chapter. 
WINE. 
This changed grape-juice is called wine. 
It is partly water, partly alcohol, and it still 
has the grape flavor in it. 
* This gas is called car bon' ic acid gas. 42 
WHAT IS ALCOHOL? 
Wine 
is also 
m a cl c 
from currants, 
elderberries, and 
other fruits, in very 
much the same way as 
from grapes. 
People sometimes make 
it at home from the fruits 
that grow in their own gar- 
dens, and think there is no 
alcohol in it, because they do 
not put any in. 
But you know that the alcohol 
is made in the fruit-juice itself 
by the change of the sugar into 
alcohol and the gas. 
It is the nature of alcohol to 
make the man who is fond of it crave 
for more, and when one continues taking 
more and more, he will become a drunkard. 
Every one who takes it, in any form, does 
not, necessarily, become a drunkard; but we 
speak of it to show that this may be the eon- CIDER. 
43 
sequence, and therefore it is best not to 
use it. 
CIDER. 
Cider is made from apples. In a few hours 
after the juice is pressed out of the apples, 
if it is left open to the air the sugar begins 
to change. 
Like the sugar in the grape, it changes 
into alcohol and bubbles of gas. 
At first, there is but little alcohol in 
cider; but more is all the time forming until 
in ten cups of cider there may be one cup 
of alcohol. 
Cider and wine will turn into vinegar if 
left in a warm place long enough. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. What two things are in all fruit-juices? 
2. How can we tell the juice of grapes from that of plums? 
3. How can we tell the juice of apples from that of cherries? 
4. What is often done with ripe grapes? 
5. What happens after the grape-juice has stood a short time? 
6. Why would the changed grape-juice not he good to use in mak- 
ing jelly? 
7. Into what is the sugar in the juice changed? 
8. What becomes of the gas ? 
9. What becomes of the alcohol? 44 
WHAT IS ALCOHOL? 
10. What is gone and what left ? 
11. What is alcohol ? 
12. What does alcohol do to those who drink it ? 
13. When are grapes good food ? 
14. When is grape-juice not a safe drink ? 
15. Why? 
.16. What is this changed grape-juice called? 
17. What is wine? 
18. from what is wine made ? 
19. What do people sometimes think of home-made wines ? 
20. How can alcohol he there when none has been put into it? 
21. What does alcohol make the person who takes it want ? 
22. What is such a one called ? 
23. What has wine done to many persons ? 
24. What does alcohol hurt? 
25. How does it change a person ? 
26. Are you sure you will not become a drunkard if you drink 
wine ? 
27. Why should you not drink it? 
28. What is cider made from ? 
29. What soon happens to apple-juice? 
30. How may vinegar he made ? CHAPTER V. 
GRAIN. 
wheat, rye, and. barley are kinds 
of grain. Grain lias stareli instead of 
sugar. Stareli can be transformed into sugar. 
If tbe stareli in your mother’s starcli-box 
at liome sliould be clianged into sugar, you 
would think it a very strange thing. 
Every year, in the spring-time, many 
thousand pounds of starch arc changed into 
sugar in a hidden, quiet way, so that most 
of us think nothing about it. 
STARCH AND SUGAR. 
All kinds of grain are full of starch. 
If you plant them in the ground, where 
they are kept moist and warm, they begin 
to sprout and grow, to send little roots down 
into the earth, and little stems up into the 
sunshine. 46 
GRAIN. 
These little roots and stems must be fed 
with sugar; thus, in a wise way, which is too 
wonderful for you to understand, as soon 
as the seed begins to sprout, 
its starch begins to turn into 
sugar. 
If you should chew two 
grains of wheat, one before 
sprouting and one after, you 
could tell by the taste that 
this is true. 
Barley is a kind of grain 
from which the brewer 
makes beer. 
He must first turn 
its starch into sugar, so 
he begins by sprouting 
his grain. 
Of course he does not 
jtlant it in the ground, 
because it would need 
to be quickly dug up again. 
He keeps it warm and moist in a place 
where he can watch it, and stop the sprout- 
ing just in time to save the sugar, before it STARCH AND SUGAR. 
is used to feed tlie . root and stem. This 
sprouted grain is called malt. 
The brewer soaks it in plenty of water, 
because the grain has not water in itself, as 
the grape has. 
He puts in some yeast to help start the 
work of changing the sugar into gas* and 
alcohol. 
Sometimes hops are also put in, to give 
it a bitter taste. 
The brewer watches to see the bubbles 
of gas that tell, as plainly as words could, 
that sugar is going and alcohol is coming. 
When the work is finished, the barley has 
been made into beer. 
It might have been ground and made into 
barley-cakes, or into pearl barley to thicken 
our soups, and then it would haim been good 
food. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. Is there sugar in grain? 
2. What is in the grain that can he turned into sugar? 
3. What can you do to a seed that will make its starch turn into 
sugar ? 
* Car bon'ic acid gas. 48 
GRAIN. 
4. What does the brewer do to the harley to make its starch turn 
into sugar. 
5. What is malt ? 
6. What does the brewer put into the malt to start the working ? 
7. What gives the hitter taste to beer? 
8. How does the hrewer know when sugar begins to go and alco- 
hol to come? 
9. Why does he want the starch turned to sugar? 
10. Is barley good for food? CHAPTER YI. 
DISTILLING. 
AA? 
HyalSTILLING (distilVing) may bo a new word 
to yon, but you can easily learn its 
meaning-. 
You have all seen distilling going on in 
the kitchen at home, many a time. When 
the water in the tea-kettle is boiling, what 
comes out at the nose ? Steam. 
What is steam P 
You can find out what it is by catching 
some of it on a cold plate, or tin cover. As 
soon as it touches any thing cold, it turns 
into drops of water. 
When we boil water and turn it into 
steam, and then turn the steam thus made, 
back again into water, we have distilled the 
water. 
We say vapor instead of steam, when we 
talk about the boiling of alcohol. DISTILLING 
Experiment.—You may easily make this experiment 
for yourselves. 
Put some hard cider into a teapot (&), and fasten 
a piece of rubber tubing (e) about two feet long to 
the spout. 
Let the other end of the tubing reach into a 
bottle (d) standing in a pail of cold water or on. a 
block of ice (c). 
Heat the cider by means of the lamp («), being 
careful not to make it hot enough for the water in 
the cider to boil. 
If the cider is not very strong, you may have to 
re-distill it before you find the alcohol is pure 
enough to burn. DISTILLING. 
51 
It takes less heat to turn alcohol to vapor 
than to turn water to steam; so, if we put 
over the fire some liquid that contains alco- 
hol, and begin to collect the vapor as it rises, 
we shall get alcohol first, and then water. 
But the alcohol will not be pure alcohol; 
it will be part water, because it is so ready 
to mix with water that it has to be distilled 
many times to be pure. 
But each time that it is distilled, the 
alcohol will become stronger, because there 
is a little more alcohol and a little less 
water. 
In this way, brandy, rum, whiskey, and 
gin are distilled, from wine, cider, and the 
liquors which have been made from corn, 
rye, or barley. 
The cider, wine, and beer had but little 
alcohol in them. The brandy, rum, whiskey, 
and gin made from them, are nearly one 
half alcohol. 
A glass of strong liquor which has been 
made by distilling, will injure any one more, 
and quicker, than a glass of cider, wine, or 
beer. 52 
DISTILLING. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. Where have you ever seen distilling going on ? 
2. How can you distill water? 
3. How can men separate alcohol from wine or from any other 
liquor that contains it ? 
4. Why will not this he pure alcohol? 
5. How is a liquor made stronger? 
6. Name some of the distilled liquors. 
7. How are they made ? 
8. How much of them is alcohol ? 
9. Which is the most harmful—the distilled liquor, or heer, wine, 
or cider ? 
10. Why does the wine, cider, or heer-drinker often get as much 
alcohol ? CHAPTER VII. 
ALCOHOL. 
aLCOHOL looks like water, but it is not 
_ at all like water. 
Alcoliol will take fire, and burn if a lighted 
match is held near it; but you know that 
water will not burn. 
When alcohol burns, the color of the flame 
is blue. It does not give much light: it makes 
no smoke or soot; but it does give a great 
deal of heat. 
A little dead tree-toad was once put into 
a bottle of alcohol. It was years ago, but 
the tree-toad is there still, looking just as it 
did the first day it was put in. What has 
kept it so ? 
It is the alcohol. The tree-toad would 
have soon decayed if it had been put into 
water. So you see that alcohol keeps dead 
bodies from decaying. 54 
ALCOHOL. 
Pure alcohol is not often used as a drink, 
and never should be so used. There is only 
a little alcohol in beer, wine, or cider. 
Brandy, rum, whiskey, or gin are nearly one 
half alcohol. 
People who have a desire for alcoholic 
drinks are apt to find their appetite for them 
grow from day to day. Those who use these 
liquors in large quantities lose their self- 
control and their will power, and so become 
drunkards. 
People who are in the habit of taking 
strong drinks, often care more for them 
than for any thing else, even when they 
know their health will be ruined by their 
use. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. How does alcohol look ? 
2. How does alcohol burn ? 
3. What will alcohol do to a dead body? 
4. What drinks contain a little alcohol ? 
5. What drinks are about one half alcohol ? CHAPTER VIII. 
TOBACCO. 
FARMER who had been in tbe habit of 
planting his fields with corn, wheat, 
and potatoes, once made up his mind to plant 
tobacco instead. 
Let us see whether he did any good to the 
world by the change. 
The tobacco plants grew up as tall as a 
little boy or girl, and spread out broad, green 
leaves. 
By and by he pulled the stalks, and dried 
the leaves. Some of them he pressed into 
cakes of tobacco; some he rolled into cigars; 
and some he ground into snuff. 
If you ask what tobacco is good for, the 
best answer will be, to tell you what it will 
do to a man or boy who uses it, and then let 
you answer the question for yourselves. 
Tobacco contains something called nico- 56 
* TOBACCO. 
tine (nik'otin). This is a strong- poison. One 
drop of it is enough to kill a dog. In one 
cigar there is enough, if taken pure, to injure 
your health. 
Even to work upon 
tobacco, makes some 
people pale and sickly. 
Once I went into a snuff mill, and tlie man 
wlio had tlie care of it showed me how the 
work was done. TOBACCO. 
57 
The mill stood in a pretty place, beside a 
little stream which turned the mill-wheel. 
Tall trees bent over it, and a fresh breeze was 
blowing through the open windows. Yet the 
smell of the tobacco was so strong that I had 
to go to the door many times, for a breath of 
pure air. 
I asked the man if it did not make him 
sick to work there. 
He said: “ It made me very sick for the 
first few weeks. Then I began to get used 
\ 
[to it, and now I don’t mind it.” 
He was like the boys who try to learn to 
.smoke. It almost always makes them sick at 
first; but they think it will be manly to keep 
dm. At last, they get used to it. 
The sickness is really the way in which 
the boy’s body is trying to say to him: 
“There is danger here; you are playing with 
something that will harm you. Let me stop 
you before great harm is done.” 
Perhaps you will say: “I have seen men 
smoke cigars, even four or five in a day, and 
it didn’t kill them.” 
It did not kill them, because they did 58 
TOBACCO. 
not swallow tlie nicotine. They only drew 
in a little with the breath. But taking p 
little in this way, day after day, can not he 
safe, or really helpful to any one. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. What did the farmer plant instead of corn, wheat, and pota- 
toes ? 
2. What was done with the tobacco leaves? 
3. What is the name of the poison which is in tobacco? 
4. How much of it is needed to kill a dog ? 
5. What harm can the nicotine in one cigar do, if taken pure? 
6. Tell the story of the visit to the snuff mill. 
7. Why are boys made sick by their first use of tobacco? 
8. Why does not smoking a cigar kill a man ? 
9. What is said about a little poison? CHAPTER IX. 
OPIUM. 
Ys|\PIUM (o'pi um) and tobacco are called nar- 
cotics (nar kot'iks). This means that they 
have the power of putting- the nerves to 
sleep. 
Opium is a poison made from the juice 
of the poppy, and is used in medicines. 
It is put into soothing-syrups (sir'ups), and 
these are sometimes given to babies to keep 
them from crying. They do this by injur- 
ing the tender nerves and poisoning the 
little body. 
Plow can any one give a baby opium to 
save taking patient care of it? 
Surely the mothers would not do it, if 
they knew that this soothing-syrup that 
appears like a friend, coming to quiet and 
comfort the baby, is really an enemy. 
Sometimes, a child no older than some of 60 
OPIUM 
you are, is left at home with the care of a 
baby brother or sister; so it is best that you 
Don't give soothing-syrup to children. 
should know about this dangerous enemy, 
and never he tempted to quiet the baby by 
giving him a poison, instead of taking your 
best and kindest care of him. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. What is a narcotic? 
2. Name three narcotics? 
3. From what is opium mado ? 
4. For what is it used? 
5. Why is soothing-syrup dan- 
gerous ? CHAPTER X. 
WHAT ARE ORGANS? 
»N organ is a part of tlie body which has 
some special Avork to do. The eye is the 
organ of sight. The stomach (stum'ak) is an 
organ which takes care of the food we eat. 
THE TEETH. 
Your teeth do not look alike, since they 
Different kinds of teeth. 62 
WHAT ARE ORGANS? 
must do different kinds of Avork. Tlie front 
ones eut, tlie back ones grind. 
They are made of a kind of tone covered 
Avitli a hard smooth enamel (Sn&m'ei). If the 
enamel is broken, the teeth soon decay and 
ache, for each tooth is furnished with a nerve 
that very quickly feels pain. 
CARE OF THE TEETH. 
Cracking nuts Avith the teeth, or even 
biting thread, is apt to break the enamel; and 
when once broken, you Avill wish in vain to 
have it mended. The dentist can fill a hole 
in the tooth; but he can not cover the tooth 
Avith neAV enamel. 
Bits of food should be carefully picked 
from betAveen the teeth with a tootli-pick of 
quill or Avood, never Avith a pin or other hard 
and sharp thing which might break the 
enamel. 
The teeth must also be avcII brushed. 
Nothing but perfect cleanliness Avill keep 
them in good order. Always brush them 
before breakfast. Your breakfast Avill taste 
all the better for it. Brush them at night THE CIIEST AND ABDOMEN. 
63 
before you go to bed, lest some food should, 
be decaying in your moutli during the night. 
Take care of these cutters and grinders, 
that they may not decay, and so be unable 
to do their work well. 
THE CHEST AND ABDOMEN. 
You have learned about the twenty-four 
little bones in the spine, and the ribs that 
curve around from the spine to the front, or 
breast-bone. 
These bones, with the shoulder-blades 
and the collar-bones, form a bony case or 
box. 
In it are some of the most useful organs 
of the body. 
This box is divided across the middle by 
a strong muscle, so that we may say it is 
two stories high. 
The upper room is called the chest; the 
lower one, the abdomen (&bdo'mgn\ 
In the chest, are the heart and the lungs. 
In the abdomen, are the stomach, the 
liver, and some other organs. WHAT ARE ORGANS? 
THE STOMACH. 
The stomach is a strong- hag, as wonderful 
a hag as could he made, you will say, when 
I tell you what it can do. 
The outside is made of muscles; the lining 
prepares a juice called gastric (gas'trik) juice, 
and keeps it always ready for use. 
Now, what would you think if a man 
could put into a hag, heef, and apples, and 
potatoes, and bread and milk, and sugar, and 
salt, tie up the hag and lay it away on a 
shelf for a few hours, and then show you that 
the heef had disappeared, so had the apples, 
so had the potatoes, the bread and milk, su- 
gar, and salt, and the hag was filled only 
with a thin, grayish fluid? Would you not 
call it a magical hag ? - 
Now, your stomach and mine are just such 
magical hags. 
We put in our breakfasts, dinners, and 
suppers; and, after a few hours, they are 
changed. The gastric juice has been mixed 
with them. The strong muscles that form 
the outside of the stomach have been squeez- WHY DOES THE FOOD NEED CHANGING? 
65 
ing tlie food, rolling1 it about, and mixing it 
together, until it lias all been changed to a 
thin, grayish fluid. 
HOW DOES ANYBODY KNOW THIS? 
A soldier was once shot in the side in such 
a way that when the wound healed, it left 
an opening with a piece of loose skin over it, 
like a little door leading into his stomach. 
A doctor who wished to learn about the 
stomach, hired him for a servant and used 
to study him every day. 
He would push aside the little flap of skin 
and put into the stomach any kind of food 
that he pleased, and then watch to see what 
happened to it. 
In this way, he learned a great deal and 
wrote it down, so that other people might 
know, too. In other ways, also, which it 
would take too long to tell you here, doctors 
have learned how these magical food-bags 
take care of our food. 
WHY DOES THE FOOD NEED TO BE CHANGED? 
Your mamma tells yon sometimes at 
breakfast that you must eat oat-meal and 66 
WHAT ARE ORGANS? 
milk to make you grow into a big man or 
woman. 
Did you ever wonder wliat part of you is 
made of oat-meal, or wliat part of milk P 
Tliat stout little arm does not look like 
oat-meal; tliose rosy clieeks do not look like 
milk. 
If our food is to make stout arms and 
rosy clieeks, strong bodies and busy brains, 
it must first be cbanged into a form in 
wliicli it can get to each part and feed it. 
When the food in the stomach is mixed 
and prepared, it is ready to be sent through 
the body; some is carried to the bones, some 
to the muscles, some to the nerves and brain, 
some to the skin, and some even to the finger 
nails, the hair, and the eyes. Each part needs 
to be fed in order to grow. 
WHY DO PEOPLE WHO /RE NOT GROWING 
NEED FOOD? 
Children need each day to make larger 
and larger bones, larger muscles, and a larger 
skin to cover the larger body. 
Every day, each part is also wearing out ALCOHOL AND THE STOMACH. 
a little, and needing to be mended by some 
new food. People wlio have grown up, need 
tlieir food for this work of mending. 
# ' * ' 
CARE OF THE STOMACH. 
One way to take care of the stomach is 
to give it only its own work to do. The 
teeth must first do their work faithfully. 
The stomach must have rest, too. I have 
seen some children who want to make their 
poor stomachs work all the time. They are 
always eating apples, or candy, or something, 
so that their stomachs have no chance to 
rest. If the stomach does not rest, it will 
wear out the same as a machine would. 
The stomach can not work well, unless 
it is quite warm. If a person pours ice-water 
into his stomach as he eats, just as the food 
is beginning to change into the gray fluid 
of which you have learned, the work stojDs 
until the stomach gets warm again. 
TOBACCO AND THE MOUTH. 
The saliva in the mouth helps to prepare 
the food, before it goes into the stomach. To- W HAT ARE ORGANS? 
bacco makes the mouth very dry, and more 
saliva lias to flow out to moisten it. 
But the saliva, when it is mixed with 
tobacco juice, must not be *swallowed. It 
must be spit out. In this way, the saliva that 
was needed to help prepare the food for the 
stomach, is lost. 
Tobacco discolors the teeth, makes bad 
sores in the mouth, and often causes a disease 
of the throat. 
The odor of any kind of tobacco is not 
pleasant to some people. Bad tobacco, when 
made into cigars or smoked in a pipe, will 
annoy even tobacco-users. 
As you have already learned, the saliva, 
when mixed with tobacco juice, must not be 
swallowed; chewing tobacco, therefore, is not 
a neat habit, and should not be acquired. 
Many boys learn to smoke by beginning 
with cig ar ettes'. These seem harmless be- 
cause they are so small. They are really one 
of the worst forms of using tobacco. 
The smoke of the paper wrappings is very 
bad for the lungs, and will do more harm 
than a pipe or a cigar would do. TOBACCO AND THE M OUTH. 
Old cigar-stumps are often picked up in 
the streets and made into cigarettes. This 
is worse than disgusting; for in this way, 
diseases may he spread, coming from the 
mouths of the first users. 
These stumps are the “strongest” part of 
the cigars, and contain a great deal of nico- 
tine, which in this way goes into the cigar- 
ettes. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. What are organs? 
2. What work do the front teeth do? the hack teeth? 
8. What are the teeth made of? 
4. What causes the toothache? 
5. How is the enamel often broken? 
6. Why should a tooth-pick be used ? 
7. Why should the teeth be well brushed? 
8. When should they be brushed ? 
9. What bones form a case or box ? 
10. What is the upper room of this box called? the lower room? 
11. What organs are in the chest? the abdomen? 
12. What is the stomach? 
13. What does its lining do? 
14. What do the stomach and the gastric juice do to the food wo 
have eaten ? 
15. How did anybody find out what the stomach could do? 
16. Why must all the food we eat be changed? 
17. Why do you need food? 
18. Why do people who are not growing need food? 
19. What does alcohol do to the gastric juice? to the stomach? 
20. What is the use of the saliva? 70 
W HAT ARE 0 R G A N S ? 
21. How does the habit of spitting injure a person? 
22. How does tobacco affect the teeth? the mouth? 
22. Why should the habit of chewing tobacco not be acquired ? 
24. What form of tobacco is used by many boys when learning to 
smoke ? • 
25. How are cigarettes sometimes made? CHAPTER XI. 
WHAT DOES THE BODY NEED FOR FOOD? 
fOW that you know liow the body is fed, 
you must next learn what to feed it 
with; and what each part needs to make it 
grow and to keep it strong- and well. 
WATER. 
A large part of your body is made of 
water. So you need, of course, to drink 
water, and to have it used in preparing 
your food. 
Water comes from the clouds, and is 
stored up in cisterns or in springs in the 
ground. From these pipes are laid to lead 
the water to our houses. 
Sometimes, men dig down until they reach 
a spring, and so make a well from which 
they can pump the water, or dip it out with 
a bucket.  WHAT DOES THE BODY NEED FOR FOOD? 
Water tliat lias been standing in lead pipes, 
may liave some of tlie lead mixed with it. 
Such water would be very likely to poison 
you, if you drank it. 
Impurities are almost sure to soak into a 
well if it is near a drain or a stable. 
If you drink the ivater from such a well, 
you may be made very sick by it. It is bet- 
ter to go thirsty, until you can get good 
water. 
A sufficient quantity of pure water to 
drink is just as important for us, as good 
food to eat. 
We could not drink all the water that our 
bodies need. We take a large part of it in our 
food, in fruits and vegetables, and even in 
beefsteak and bread. 
LIME. 
Bones need lime. You remember the bone 
that was nothing but crumbling lime after 
it had been in the fire. 
Where shall we get lime for our bones P 
We can not eat lime; but the grass and 
the grains take it out of the earth. Then LIME. 
73 
the cows eat the grass and turn it into milk, 
and in the milk we drink, we get some of the 
lime to feed our bones. 
Lime being prepared for cur use. 
In the same way, the grain growing in 
the field takes up lime and other things that 
we need, bnt could not eat for ourselves. The 
lime that thus becomes a part of the grain, 
we get in our bread, oat-meal porridge, and 
other foods. 74 
WHAT DOES THE BODY NEED FOR FOOD? 
SALT. 
Animals need salt, as children who live 
in the country know very well. They have 
seen how eagerly the cows and the sheep lick 
up the salt that the farmer gives them. 
Even wild cattle and buffaloes seek out 
places where there are salt springs, and go in 
great herds to get the salt. 
We, too, need some salt mixed with our 
food. If we did not put it in, either when 
cooking, or afterward, we should still get a 
little in the food itself. 
FLESH-MAKING FOODS. 
Muscles are lean meat, that is flesh; so 
muscles need flesh-making foods. These are 
milk, and grains like wheat, corn and oats; 
also, meat and eggs. Most of these foods 
really come to us out of the ground. Meat 
and eggs are made from the grain, grass, and 
other vegetables that the cattle and hens eat. 
FAT-MAKING FOODS. 
We need cushions and wrappings of fat, 
here and there in our bodies, to keep us FAT-MAKING FOODS. 
75 
warm and make ns comfortable. So we must 
have certain kinds of food that will make 
fat. 
Esquimaux catching walrus. 
There are right places and wrong places 
for fat, as well as for other things in this 
world. When alcohol puts fat into the mus- 
cles, that is fat hadly made, and in the wrong 
place. 
The good fat made for the parts of the 76 
WHAT DOES THE BODY NEED FOR FOOD? 
body which need it, comes from fat-making 
foods. 
In cold weather, we need more fatty food 
than we do in summer, just as in cold coun- 
tries people need sucli food all the time. 
The Esquimaux, who live in the lands ol 
snow and ice, catch a great many walrus and 
seal, and eat a great deal of fat meat. You 
would not he well unless you ate some fat or 
butter or oil. 
% WHAT WILL MAKE FAT? 
Sugar will make fat, and so will starch, 
cream, rice, butter, and fat meat. As milk 
will make muscle and fat and bones, it is 
the best kind of food. Here, again, it is the 
earth that sends us our food. Fat meat comes 
from animals well fed on grain and grass; 
sugar, from sugar-cane, maple-trees, or beets; 
oil, from olive-trees; butter, from cream; and 
starch, from potatoes, and from corn, rice, and 
other grains. 
Green apples and other unripe fruits are 
not yet ready to be eaten. The starch which 
we take for food has to be changed into sugar, CANDY. 
before it can mix with the blood and help 
feed the body. As the sun ripens fruit, it 
changes its starch to sugar. You can tell 
this by the difference in the taste of ripe and 
unripe ax>ples. 
CANDY. 
Most children like candy so well, that they 
are in danger of eating more sugar than is 
good for them. You would starve if fed only 
on sugar. 
We would not need to be quite so much 
afraid of a little candy if it were not for the 
poison with which it is often colored. 
Even what is called pure, white candy is 
sometimes not really such. There is a simple 
way by which you can And this out for 
yourselves. 
If you put a spoonful of sugar into a 
tumbler of water, it will all dissolve and 
disappear. 3Jut a piece of white candy into a 
tumbler of water; and, if it is made of pure 
sugar only, it will dissolve and disappear. 
If it is not, you will find at tire bottom 
of the tumbler some white earth. This is not 78 
WHAT DOES TI1E BODY NEED FOR FOOD? 
good food for anybody. Candy-makers often 
put it into candy in place of sugar, because 
it is cheaper than sugar. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. Why do we need food ? 
2. How do people get water to drink ? 
3. Why is it not safe to drink water that has been standing in lead 
pipes ? 
4. Why is the water of a well that is near a drain or a stable, not 
fit to drink ? 
5. What food do the bones need? 
G. How do we get lime for our bones ? 
7. What is said about salt ? 
8. What food do the muscles need ? 
9. Name some flesh-making foods. 
10. Why do we need fat in our bodies ? 
11. What is said of the fat made by alcohol ? 
12. What kinds of food will make good fat ? 
13. What do the Esquimaux eat ? 
14. How does the sun change unripe fruits? 
15. Why is colored candy often poisonous? 
16. What is sometimes put into white candy? Why? 
17. How could you show this? CHAPTER XII. 
HOW FOOD BECOMES PART OF THE 
BODY. 
A T ERE, at last, is the bill of fare for our 
dinner: 
Boast beef, 
Potatoes, 
Tomatoes, 
Squash, 
Bread, 
Butter, 
Salt, 
Water, 
Peaches, 
Bananas, 
Oranges, 
Grapes. 
What must be done first, with, the dif- 
ferent hinds of food that are to make up this 
dinner ? 
The meat, vegetables, and bread must be 
eooked. Cooking prepares them to be easily 
worked upon by the mouth and stomach. If 
they were not cooked, this work would be 
very hard. Instead of going on quietly and 
without letting us know any thing about it, 
there would be pains and aches in the over- 
worked stomach. 80 
IIOW FOOD BECOMES PART OF THE BODY. 
Tlie fruit is not cooked "by a lire; but we 
might almost say tlie sun liad cooked it, for 
tire sun lias ripened and sweetened it. 
When you are older, some of you may 
have charge of the cooking in your homes. 
You must then remember that food well 
cooked is worth twice as much as food poorly 
cooked. 
“A good cook has more to do with the 
health of the family, than a good doctor.” 
THE SALIVA. 
Next to the cooking comes the eating. 
As soon as we begin to chew our food, a 
juice in the mouth, called saliva (saii'va), 
moistens and mixes with it. 
Saliva has the wonderful power of turn- 
ing starch into sugar; and the starch in our 
food needs to he turned into sugar, before it 
can he taken into the hlood. 
You can prove for yourselves that saliva 
can turn starch into sugar. Chew slowly a 
piece of dry cracker. The cracker is made 
mostly of starch, because wheat is full of 
starch. At first, the cracker is dry and s W A L L 0 WI X G . 
81 
tasteless. Soon, however, you find it tastes 
sweet; the saliva is changing the starch into 
sugar. 
All your food should he eaten slowly and 
chewed well, so that the saliva may he ahle 
to mix with it. Otherwise, the starch may 
not he changed; and if one part of your hody 
neglects its work, another part will have 
more than its share to do. That is hardly 
fair. 
If you swallow your food in a hurry and 
do not let the saliva do its work, the stomach 
will have extra work. But it will find it 
hard to do more than its own part, and, 
perhaps, will complain. 
It can not speak in words; hut will 
hy aching, and that is almost as plain as 
words. 
SWALLOWING. 
Next to the chewing, comes the swallow- 
ing. Is there any thing wonderful about 
that ? 
We have two passages leading down our 
throats. One is to the lungs, for hreath- 82 
HOW FOOD BECOMES PART OF THE BODY. 
mg-; tlie other, to the stomach, for swal- 
lowing. 
Do you wonder why the food does not 
sometimes go down the wrong way ? 
The windpipe leading to the lungs is in 
front of the other tuhe. It has at its top a 
little trap-door. This opens when we hreathe 
and shuts when we swallow, so that the food 
slips over it safely into the passage behind, 
which leads to the stomach. 
If you try to speak while you have food 
in your mouth, this little door has to open, 
and some hit of food may slip in. The 
windpipe will not pass it to the lungs, 
hut tries to force it hack. Then we say the 
food chokes us. If the windpipe can not 
succeed in forcing hack the food, the person 
will die. 
HOW THE FOOD IS CARRIED THROUGH THE 
BODY. 
But we will suppose that the food of our 
dinner has gone safely down into the stomach. 
There the stomach works it over, and mixes 
in gastric juice, until it is all a gray fluid. HOW THE FOOD IS CARRIED, ETC. 
83 
Now it is ready to go into tlie intestines,— 
a long*, eoiled tube which, leads out of the 
'stomach,— from which the prepared food is 
taken into the hlood. 
The hlood carries it to the heart. The 
heart pumps it out with the hlood into the 
lungs, and then all through the hody, to 
make hone, and muscle, and skin, and hair, 
and eyes, and hrain. 
Besides feeding all these parts, this dinner 
can help to mend any parts that may he 
broken. 
Suppose a hoy should break one of the 
hones of his arm, how could it he mended ? 
If you should hind together the two parts 
of a broken stick and leave them a while, do 
you think they would grow together? 
No, indeed! 
But the doctor could carefully hind to- 
gether the ends of the broken hone in the 
hoy’s arm and leave it for awhile, and the 
hlood would bring it hone food every day, 
until it had grown together again. 
So a dinner can both make and mend the 
different parts of the hody. 84 
HOW FOOD BECOMES PART OF THE BODY. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. What shall we have for dinner? 
2. What is the first thing to do to our food? 
3. Why do we cook meat and vegetables? 
-1. Why do not ripe fruits need cooking? 
5. What is said about a good cook? 
6. What is the first thing to do after taking the food into your 
mouth ? 
7. Why must you chew it ? 
8. What does the saliva do to the food? 
9. How can you prove that saliva turns starch into sugar? 
10. What happens if the food is not chewed and mixed with the 
saliva ? 
11. What comes next to the chewing? 
12. What is there wonderful about swallowing? 
13. What must you he careful about, when you are swallowing? 
14. What happens to the food after it is swallowed? 
15. How is it changed in the stomach? 
16. What carries the food to every part of the body? 
17. How can food mend a bone? CHAPTER XIII. 
STRENGTH. 
SERE are the names of some of the dif- 
ferent kinds of food. If you write them 
on the blackboard or on your slates, it will 
help you to remember them. 
Water. Salt. Lime. 
Meat, 
Milk, 
Eggs, 
Wheat, 
Corn, 
Oats, 
Sugar, 
Starch, 
Fat, 
Cream, 
Oil, 
for muscles. 
for fat and heat. 
Perhaps some of you noticed that we had 
no wine, heer, nor any drink that had alcohol 
in it, on our hill of fare for dinner. We had 
no cigars, either, to he smoked after dinner. 
If these are good things, we ought to have 
had them. Why did we leave them out P 
We should eat in order to grow strong and keep 
strong. 86 
S T R E N G T H . 
STRENGTH OF BODY. 
If you wanted to measure your strength, 
one way of doing so would he to fasten a 
heavy weight to one end of a rope and pass 
the rope over a pulley. 
Then you might take hold at the other 
end of the rope and pull as hard and 
steadily as you could, marking the place to 
which you raised the weight. 
By trying this once a week, or once a 
month, you would he ahle to tell hy the 
marks, whether you were gaining strength, 
and about how much. 
But how can we gain strength ? 
We must exercise in the open air, and 
take pure air into our lungs to help purify 
our blood, and plenty oh exercise to make 
our muscles grow. 
Gentle exercise does the most good, while 
violent exercise is likely to make us too 
tired and so do harm. 
Exercise should be taken every day, and 
not once in two or three days. Growth of 
the muscles depends upon steady use. STRENGTH OF BODY. 
87 
All tlie pleasant games that do not fatigue, 
afford the hest exercise. We need different 
kinds of exercise, so that all parts of the 
body may have their share. 
We should not exercise just before we eat. 
Neither is it well to exercise after we have 
taken a full meal. 
We must eat good and simple food, that 
the blood may have supplies to take to every 
part of the body. 
People used to think that alcohol made 
them strong. 
Can alcohol make good muscles, or bone, 
or nerve, or brain? 
You have already answered “No!” to each 
of these questions. 
If it can not make muscles, nor bone, nor 
nerve, nor brain, it can not give you any 
strength. 
Some people may tell you that drinking 
beer will make you strong. 
The grain from which the beer is made, 
would have given you strength. , If you 
should measure your strength before and 
after you had been drinking beer, you would 88 
STRENGT II. 
find tliat you iiad not gained any. Most of 
the food part of the grain has heen turned 
into alcohol. 
The juice of crushed apples, you know, is 
called cider. As soon as the cider begins to 
turn sour, or “hard,” as people say, alcohol 
begins to form in it. 
Pure water is good, and apples are good. 
But the apple-juice begins to he harmful as 
soon as there is the least drop of alcohol in it. 
In cider-making, the alcohol forms in the 
juice, you know, in a few hours after it is 
pressed out of the apples. 
None of the drinks in which there is alco- 
hol, can give you real strength. 
Then why do people think they can ? 
Because they put the nerves to sleep, the 
nerves can not, truly, tell the brain how hard 
the work is, or how heavy the weight to 
be lifted. 
In this way, men are cheated into think- 
ing they can do more than they really can. 
This false feeling of strength lasts only 
a little while. When it has passed, men feel 
weaker than before. STRENGTH OF MINI). 
89 
STRENGTH OF MIND. 
We have been talking- about tlie strength 
of muscles; but the very best kind of strength 
we have is brain strength, or strength of 
mind. 
Drunkenness deadens the nerves, so that 
they can not carry their messages correctly. 
Then the brain can not think well. 
Some have little or no money, and 
no houses or lands; but every person ought 
to own a body and a mind that can work for 
him, and make him useful and happy. 
Suppose you have a strong, healthy body, 
hands that are well-trained to work, and a 
clear, thinking brain to be master of the 
whole. 
Would you be willing to change places 
with a man whose body and mind have been 
poisoned by alcohol, tobacco, and opium, even 
though he lived in a palace, and had a 
million of dollars ? 
If you want a mind that can study, under- 
stand, and think well, do not let any thing 
interfere with its proper action. STRENGTH. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. What things were left out of our bill of fare? 
2. How could you measure your strength? 
3. How can you gain strength ? 
4. What kind of exercise is the best? 
5. Why do we need different kinds of exercise? 
6. At what times should we not exercise ? 
7. What is the best kind of strength to have? CHAPTER XIV. 
THE HEART. 
SHE Heart is in tlie chest, the upper part 
of the strong hox which the ribs, spine, 
shoulder-blades, and collar-bones make for 
each of us. 
It is made of very thick, strong muscles, 
as you can see by looking at a beef’s heart, 
which is much like a man’s, but larger. 
HOW THE HEART WORKS. 
Probably some of you have seen a fire- 
engine throwing a stream of water through 
a hose upon a burning building. 
As the engine forces the water through 
the hose, so the heart, by the working of its 
strong muscles, pumps the blood through 
tubes, shaped like hose, which lead by thou- 
sands of little branches all through the body. 
These tubes are called arteries (ar'tgr iz). 92 
THE HEART. 
Those tubes which bring the blood back 
again to the heart, are called veins (vanz). You 
can see some of the smaller veins in your 
wrist. 
If you press your linger upon an artery in 
your wrist, you can feel the steady beating of 
the pulse. This tells just how fast the heart 
is pumping and the blood flowing. 
The doctor feels your pulse when you are 
sick, to find out whether the heart is working 
too fast, or too slowly, or just right. 
Some way is needed to send the gray fluid 
that is made from the food we eat and 
drink, to every part of the body. 
To send the food with the blood is a sure 
way of making it reach every part. 
So, when the stomach has prepared the 
food, the blood takes it up and carries it to 
every part of the body. It then leaves with 
each part, just what it needs. 
THE BLOOD AND THE BRAIN. 
As the brain has so much work to attend 
to, it must have very pure, good blood sent 
to it, to keep it strong. Good blood is made DOES ALCOHOL DO ANY HARM? 
93 
from good food. It can not toe good if it lias 
toeen poisoned. 
We must also rememtoer tliat tlie torain 
needs a great deal of tolood. If we take alco- 
liol into onr tolood, mncli of it goes to the 
torain. Tliere it affects tlie nerves, and makes 
a man lose control over Iris actions. 
EXERCISE. 
Wlien you run, you can feel your lieart 
toeating. It gets an instant of rest toetween 
tlie toeats. 
Good exercise in tlie fresh, air makes the 
lieart work well and warms the "body better 
tlian a fire could do. 
HEART TROUBLE. 
Your heart is made of muscle. You know 
what harm alcohol does to the muscles. 
Could a fatty heart work as well as a mus- 
cular heart? No more than a fatty arm could 
do the work of a muscular arm. Besides, alco- 
hol makes the heart "beat too fast, and so it 
gets too tired. THE HEART. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. Where is the heart placed? 
2. Of what is it made ? 
3. What work does it do ? 
4. What are arteries and veins ? 
5. What does the pulse tell us? 
6. How does the food we eat reach all parts of the body? 
7. When does the heart rest? 
8. How does exercise in the fresh air help the heart ? CHAPTER XT. 
THE LUNGS. ' 
SHE blood flows all through the body, car- 
_ rying good food to every part. It also 
gathers up from every part the worn-out 
matter that can no longer be used. By the 
time it is ready to be sent back by the veins, 
the blood is no longer pure and red. It is 
dull and bluish in color, because it is full of 
impurities. 
If you look at the veins in your wrist, you 
will see that they look blue. 
If all this bad blood goes back to the 
heart, will the heart have to pump out bad 
blood next time? No, for the heart has neigh- 
bors very near at hand, ready to change the 
bad blood to pure, red blood again. 
THE LUNGS. 
These neighbors are the lungs. They are 96 
THE LUNGS. 
in the chest on each side of the heart. When 
you breathe, their little air-cells swell out, or 
expand, to take in the air Then they con- 
The lungs, heart, and air-passages. 
tract again, and the air passes out through 
your mouth or nose. The lungs must have 
* 
plenty of fresh air, and plenty of room to 
work in. 
If your clothes are too tight and the lungs 
do not have room to expand, they can not 
take in so much air as they should. Then CARE OF THE LUNGS. 
the blood can not be made pure, and the 
whole body will suffer. 
For every good breath of fresh air, the 
lungs take in, they send out one of impure 
air. 
In this way, by taking out what is bad, 
they prepare the blood to go back to the heart 
pure and red, and to be pumped out through 
the body again. 
How the lungs can use the fresh air for 
doing this good work, you can not yet under- 
stand. By and by, when you are older, you 
will learn more about it. 
CARE OF THE LUNGS. 
Do the lungs ever rest ? 
You never stop breathing, not even in the 
night. But if you watch your own breath- 
ing you will notice a little pause between 
the breaths. Each pause is a rest. But the 
lungs are very steady workers, both by night 
and by day. The least we can do for them, 
is to give them fresh air and plenty of room 
to work in. 
You may say: “We can’t give them more THE LUNGS. 
98 
room than tliey have. They are shut up in 
our chests.” 
I have seen people who wore such tight 
clothes that their lungs did not have room 
to take a full breath. If any part of the 
lungs can not expand, it will become useless. 
If your lungs can not take in air enough to 
purify the blood, you can not be so well 
and strong as God intended, and your life 
will be shortened. 
If some one was sewing for you, you would 
f 
not think of shutting her up in a little place 
where she could not move her hands freely. 
The lungs are breathing for you, and need 
room enough to do tlieir work. 
THE AIR. 
The lungs breathe out the waste matter 
that they have taken from the blood. This 
waste matter poisons the air. If we should 
close all the doors and windows, and the fire- 
place or opening into the chimney, and leave 
not even a crack by which the fresh air could 
come in, we would die simply from staying in 
such a room. The lungs could not do their THE AIR 
99 
work for the blood, and the blood could not 
do its work for the body. 
Impure air will poison you. You should 
not breathe it. If your head aches, and you 
feel dull and sleepy from being in a close 
room, a run in the fresh air will make you 
feel better. 
The good, pure air makes your blood pure; 
and the blood then flows quickly through 
your whole body and refreshes every part. 
We must be careful not to stay in close 
rooms in the day-time, nor sleep in close 
rooms at night. We must not keep out the 
fresh air that our bodies so much need. 
It is better to breathe through the nose 
than through the mouth. You can soon 
learn to do so, if you try to keep your mouth 
shut when Avalking„or running. 
If you keep the mouth shut and breathe 
through the nose, the little hairs on the in- 
side of the nose will catch the dust or other 
impurities that are floating in the air, and so 
save their going to the lungs. You will get 
out of breath less quickly when running if 
you keep your mouth shut. 100 
THE LUNGS. 
DOES ALCOHOL DO ANY HARM TO THE LUNGS? 
The little air-cells of tlie lungs liave very 
delicate imisciilar (mUs' ku lar) walls. Every 
time we breathe, these walls have to move. 
The muscles of the chest must also move, as 
you can all notice in yourselves, as you breathe. 
All this muscular work, as well as that of 
the stomach and heart, is directed by the 
nerves. 
You have learned already what alcohol 
will do to muscles and nerves, so you are 
ready to answer for stomach, for heart, and 
for lungs. Is alcohol a help to them ? 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. Besides carrying food all over the body, what other work does 
the blood do ? 
2. Why does the blood in the veins look blue? 
3. Where is the blood made pure and red again? 
4. Where is it sent, from the lungs? 
5. What must the lungs have in order to do this work ? 
6. When do the lungs rest? 
7. Why should we not wear tight clothes? 
8. How does the air in a room become spoiled? 
9. How can we keep it fresh and pure? 
10. How should we breathe ? 
11. Why is it better to breathe through the nose than through the 
mouth ? 
12. Why is alcohol not good for the lungs ? CHAPTER XVI. 
THE SKIN. 
SHERE is anotlier part of your body car- 
rying away waste matter all the time— 
it is the skin. 
The body is covered with skin. It is also 
lined with a more delicate kind of skin. You 
can see where the outside skin and the lining 
skin meet at your lips. 
There is a thin outside layer of skin 
which we can pull off without hurting 
ourselves; but I advise you not to do so. 
Because under the outside skin is the true 
skin, which is so full of little nerves that it 
will feel the least touch as pain. When the 
outer skin, which protects it, is torn away, 
we must cover the true skin to keep it from 
harm. 
In hot weather, or when any one has been 
working or playing hard, the face, and some- 102 
T H E SKIN. 
times the whole body, is covered with little 
drops of water. We call these drops perspi- 
ration (per spi ra'shian). 
Where does it come 
from ? It comes throng’ll 
many tiny holes in the 
skin, called pores (porz). 
Every pore is the month 
of a tiny tnbe which is car- 
rying off waste matter and 
water from your body. If 
yon could piece together 
all these little perspiration 
tubes that are in the skin 
of one person, they would 
make a line more than 
three miles long. 
Sometimes, you can not 
see the perspiration, be- 
cause there is not enough 
of it to form drops. But it is always coming 
out through your skin, both in winter and 
summer. Your body is kept healthy by hav- 
ing its worn-out matter carried off in this 
way, as well as in other ways. 
l‘e spiratory tube. CARE OF THE SKIN. 
103 
THE NAILS. 
Tlie nails grow from the skin. 
The finger nails are little shields to pro- 
tect the ends of your fingers from getting 
hurt. These finger ends are full of tiny 
nerves, and would he hadly off’ without such 
shields. No one likes to see nails that have 
been hitten. 
CARE OF THE SKIN. 
Waste matter is all the time passing out 
through the perspiration tubes in the skin. 
This waste matter must not be left to clog up 
the little openings of the tubes. It should be 
washed off with soap and water. 
When children have been playing out-of- 
doors, they often have very dirty hands and 
faces. Any one can see, then, that they need 
to be washed. But even if they had been in 
the cleanest place all day and had not 
touched any thing dirty, they would still 
need the washing; for the waste matter that 
comes from the inside of the body is just as 
hurtful as the mud or dust of the street. You 104 
THE SKIN. 
do not see it so plainly, because it comes out 
very little at a time. Wash it off well, and 
your skin will he fresli and healthy, and able 
to do its work. If the skin could not do its 
work, you would die. 
Do not keep on your rubber boots or 
shoes all through school-time. Rubber will 
not let the perspiration pass off, so the little 
pores get clogged and your feet begin to feel 
uncomfortable, or your head may ache. No 
part can fail to do its work without causing 
trouble to the rest of the body. But you 
should always wear rubbers out-of-doors 
when the ground is wet. Certainly, they 
are very useful then. 
When you are out in the fresh air, you are 
giving the other parts of your body such a 
good chance to perspire, that your feet can 
bear a little shutting up. But as soon as you 
come into the house, take the rubbers off. 
Now that you know what the skin is do- 
ing all the time, you will understand that 
the clothes worn next to your skin are full 
of little worn-out partieles, brought out by 
the perspiration. AVdien these clothes are WORK OF THE BODY. 
105 
taken off at nigiit, they should he so spread 
out, that they will air well before morn- 
ing1. Never wear any of the clothes through 
the night, that you have worn during the 
day. 
Do not roll up your night-dress in the 
morning and put it under your pillow. Give 
it first a good airing at the window and then 
hang it where the air can reach it all day. 
By so doing, you will have sweeter sleep at 
night. 
You are old enough to throw the bed- 
clothes off from the bed, before leaving your 
rooms in the morning. In this way, the bed 
and bed-clothes may have a good airing. Be 
sure to give them time enough for this. 
WORK OF THE BODY. 
You have now learned about four impor- 
tant kinds of work :— 
1st. The stomach prepares the food for the 
blood to take. 
2d. The blood is pumped out of the heart 
to carry food to every part of the body, and 
to take away worn-out matter. 106 
THE SKIN. 
3d. The lungs use fresli air in making the 
dark, impure hlood, bright and pure again. 
4tli. The skin carries away waste matter 
through the little perspiration tubes. 
All this work goes on, day and night, 
without our needing to think about it at all; 
for messages are sent to the muscles by the 
nerves which keep them faithfully at work, 
whether we know it or not. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. What covers the body? 
2. What lines the body? 
3. "Where are the nerves of the skin ? 
4. What is perspiration? What is the common name for it? 
5. What are the pores of the skin? 
0. How does the perspiration help to keep you well? 
7. Of what use are the nails? 
8. How should they be kept ? 
9. What care should be taken of the skin? 
10. Why should you not wear rubber boots or overshoes in the 
house ? 
11. Why should you change under-clothing night and morning? 
12. Where should the night-dress be placed in the morning? 
13. What should be done with the bed-clothes ? Why ? 
14. Name the four kinds of work about which you have learned. 
15. How are the organs of the body kept at work? CHAPTER XVII. 
THE SENSES. 
have live ways of learning about all 
AzT tilings around us. We can see them, 
touch them, taste them, smell them, or hear 
them. Sight, touch, taste, smell, and hear- 
ing, are called the live senses. 
You already know something about them, 
for you are using them all the time. 
In this lesson, you will learn a little more 
about seeing and hearing. 
THE EYES. 
In the middle of your eye is a round, 
black spot, called the pupil. This pupil is 
only a hole with a muscle around it. When 
you are in the light, the muscle draws up, 
and makes the pupil small, because you can 
get all the light you need through a small 
opening. When you are in the dark, the 108 
THE SENSES. 
muscle stretch.es, and opens the pupil wide to 
let in more light. 
The pupils of the cat’s eyes are very large 
in the dark. They 
want all the light 
they can get, to see 
if there are any mice 
about. 
The pupil of the 
eye opens into a 
little, round room 
where the nerve of 
sight is. This is a 
safe place for this delicate nerve, which can 
not bear too much light. It carries to the 
brain an account of every thing we see. 
We might say the eye is taking • pictures 
for us all day long, and that the nerve of 
sight is describing these pictures to the brain. 
CARE OF THE EYES. 
The nerves of sight need great care, for 
they are very delicate. 
Do not face a bright light when you are 
reading or studying. While writing, you 
The eyelashes and the tear-glands. CARE OF THE EYES. 
109 
should sit so that the light will come from 
the left side; then the shadow of your hand 
will not fall upon your work. 
One or two true stories may help you to 
remember that you must take good care of 
your eyes. 
The nerve of sight can not hear too bright 
a light. It asks to have the pupil made 
small, and even the eyelid curtains put down, 
when the light is too strong. 
Once, there was a hoy who said boastfully 
to his playmates: “Let us see which of us 
can look straight at the sun for the longest 
time.” 
Then they foolishly began to look at the 
sun. The delicate nerves of sight felt a sharp 
pain, and begged to have the pupils made as 
small as possible and the eyelid curtains put 
down. 
But the foolish boys said “No.” They were 
trying to see which would bear it the longest. 
Great harm was done to the brains as well 
as eyes of both these boys. The one who 
looked longest at the sun died in conse- 
quence of his foolish act. 110 
THE SENSES. 
The second story is about a little boy who 
tried to turn his eyes to imitate a school- 
mate who was cross-eyed. He turned them; 
but he could not turn them back again. 
Although he is now a gentleman more than 
fifty years old and has had much painful 
work done upon his eyes, the doctors have 
never been able to set them quite right. 
You see from the first story, that you 
must be careful not to give your eyes too 
much light. But you must also be sure to 
give them light enough. 
When one tries to read in the twilight, 
the little nerve of sight says: “Give me more 
light; I am hurt, by trying to see in the 
dark.” 
If you should kill these delicate nerves, no 
others would ever grow in place of them, and 
you would never be able to see again. 
THE EARS. 
What you call your ears are only pieces of 
gristle, so curved as to catch the sounds and 
pass them along to the true ears. These are 
deeper in the head, where the nerve of hear- CARE OF THE EARS 
mg is waiting to send an account of cacti 
sound to tile drain. 
CARE OF THE EARS. 
The ear nerve is in less danger than that 
of the eye. Careless children sometimes put 
pins into their ears and so break the “drum.” 
That is a very "bad thing to do. Use only a 
soft towel in washing your ears. You should 
never put any thing hard or sharp into them. 
I must tell you a short ear story, about 
my father, when he was a small boy. 
One day, when playing on the floor, he 
laid his ear to the crack of the door, to feel 
the wind blow into it. lie was so young that 
he did not know it was wrong; but the next 
day he had the earache severely. Although 
he lived to be an old man, he often had 
the earache. He thought it began from the 
time when the wind blew into his ear from 
under that door. 
* THE SENSES. 
All this fine work of touching, tasting, see- 
ing, smelling, and hearing, is nerve work. 112 
THE - SENSES. 
Tlie man who is in the habit of using alco- 
liolic drinks to excess can not touch, taste, 
see, smell, or hear so well as he ought. His 
hands tremble, his speech is sometimes thick, 
and often he can not walk straight. Some- 
times, he thinks he sees things when he 
does not, because' his poor nerves are so con- 
fused by alcohol that they can not do their 
work. 
Answer now for your taste, smell, and 
touch, and also for your sight and hearing; 
should their beautiful work be spoiled by 
injurious habits ? 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. Name the live senses. 
2. What is the pupil of the eye ? 
3. How is it made larger or smaller? 
4. Why does it change in size? 
5. What can a cat’s eyes do? 
0. Where is the nerve of the eye? 
7. Wrhat work does it do? 
8. Why must one be careful of his eyes ? 
9. Where should the light be for reading or studying1? 
10. Tell the story of the boys who looked at the sun. 
11. Tell the story of the boy who made himself cross-eyed. 
12. Why should you not read in the twilight ? 
13. What would be the result, if you should kill the nerves of sight ? 
14. Where are the true ears? 
15. How may the nerves of hearing be injured? 
16. Tell the story of the hoy who injured his ear. 
17. How is the work of the senses affected by excessive drinking ? CHAPTER X VI r T . 
HEAT AND COLD. 
WHAT MAKES US WARM? 
thick, warm clothes make me warm,” 
says some child. 
Xo! Your thick, warm clothes keep you 
warm. They do not make you warm. 
Take a hrisk run, and your blood will flow 
faster and you will he warm very quickly. 
On a cold day, the teamster claps his 
hands and swings his arms to make his blood 
flow quickly and warm him. 
Every child knows that he is warm inside; 
for if his fingers are cold, he puts them into 
his mouth to warm them. 
If you should put a little thermometer 
into your mouth, or under your tongue, the 
mercury (mer'kury) would rise as high as it 
does out of doors on a hot, summer day. 114 
HEAT AND COLD. 
This would he the same in summer or 
winter, in a warm country or a cold one, if 
you were well and the work of your body was 
going on steadily. 
WHERE DOES THIS HEAT COME FROM? 
Some of the work which is all the time 
going on inside your body, makes this heat. 
The blood is thus warmed, and then it 
carries the heat to every part of the body. 
The faster the blood flows, the more heat it 
brings, and the warmer we feel. 
In children, the heart pumps from eighty 
to ninety times a minute. 
This is faster than it works in old people, 
and this is one reason why children are gen- 
erally much warmer than old people. 
But we are losing heat all the time. 
You may breathe in cold air; but that 
which you breathe out is warm. A great deal 
of heat from your warm body is all the time 
passing off through your skin, into the cooler 
air about you. For this reason, a room full 
of people is much warmer than the same 
room when empty. CLOTHING. 
115 
CLOTHING. 
We put on clot lies to keep in the heat 
which we already have, and to prevent the 
cold air from reaching- our skins and carry- 
ing off too much heat in that way. 
Most of you children are too young to 
choose what clothes you will wear. Others 
decide for you. You know, however, that 
woolen under-garments keep you warm in 
winter, and that thick hoots and stockings 
should he worn in cold weather. Thin dresses 
or hoots may look pretty; hut they are not 
safe for winter wear, even at a party. 
A healthy, happy child, dressed in clothes 
which are suitable for the season, is pleas- 
anter to look at than one whose dress, though 
rich and handsome, is not warm enough for 
health or comfort. 
When you feel cold, take exercise, if pos- 
sible. This will make the hot blood flow all 
througli your body and warm it. If you can 
not, you should put on more clothes, go to 
a warm room, in some way get warm and 
keep Warm, or the cold will make you sick. 116 
HEAT AND COLD. 
TAKING COLD. 
If your skin is drilled, tire tiny mouths 
of the perspiration tubes are sometimes closed 
and can not throw out the waste matter. 
Then, if one part fails to do its work, other- 
parts must puffer. Perhaps the inside skin 
becomes inflamed, or the throat and lungs, 
and you have a cold, or a cough. 
ALCOHOL AND COLD. 
People used to think that nothing would 
warm one so well on a cold day, as a glass 
of whiskey, or other alcoholic drink. 
It is true that, if a person drinks a little 
alcohol, he will feel a burning in the throat, 
and presently a glowing heat on the skin. 
The alcohol has made the hot blood rush 
into the tiny tubes near the skin, and he 
thinks it has warmed him. 
But if all this heat comes to the skin, the 
cold air has a chance to carry away more 
than usual. In a very little time, the 
drinker will be colder than before. Perhaps 
he will not know it; for the cheating alcohol ALCOHOL AND COLD. 
117 
will have deadened his nerves so tliat they 
send no message to the hrain. Then he may 
not have sense enough to put on more cloth- 
ing and may freeze. He may even, if it is 
very cold, freeze to death. 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. Why do you wear thick clothes in cold weather? 
2. How can you prove that you are warm inside ? 
3. What makes this heat ? 
4. What carries this heat through your body? 
5. How rapidly does your heart beat? * 
6. How are you losing heat all the time? 
7. How can you warm yourself without going to the fire ? 
8. Will alcohol make you warmer, or colder? 
9. How does it cheat you into thinking that you will be warmer 
for drinking it ? CHAPTER XIX. 
WASTED MONEY. 
COST OF ALCOHOL. 
SOW tliat you Rave learned about your 
bodies, and what aleobol will do to 
them, you ought also to know that alcohol 
costs a great deal of money. Money spent for 
that which will do no good, but only harm, 
is certainly wasted, and worse than wasted. 
If a boy or a girl save ten cents a week, 
it will take ten weeks to save a dollar. 
You can all think of many good and pleas- 
ant ways to spend a dollar. What would the 
beer-drinker do with it ? If he takes two 
mugs of beer a day, the dollar will be used 
up in ten days. But we ought not to say 
used, because that word will make us think 
it was spent usefully. We will say, instead, 
the dollar will be wasted, in ten days. COST OF TOBACCO. 
119 
If lie spends it for whiskey, it will go 
sooner, as these cost more. If no money was 
spent for liqnor in this country, people would 
not so often he sick, or poor, or had, or 
wretched. We should not need so many po- 
licemen, and jails, and prisons, as we have 
now. If no liquor was drunk, men, women, 
and children would he "better and happier. 
COST OF TOBACCO. 
Most of you have a little money of your 
own. Perhaps you earned a part, or the 
whole of it, yourselves. You are planning 
what to do with it, and that is a very pleasant 
kind of planning. 
Do you think it would he wise to make 
a dollar hill into a tight little roll, light one 
end of it with a match, and then let it 
slowly turn up ? That would he wasting it, 
you say! (See Frontispiece.) 
Yes! it would he wasted, if thus burned. 
It would he worse than wasted, if, while burn- 
ing, it should also hurt the person who held 
it. If you should buy cigars or tobacco with 
your dollar, and smoke them, you could soon 120 
WASTED MONEY. 
burn up tlie dollar and hurt yourselves 
besides. 
Can you count a million ? Can you count 
a liundred millions P Try some day to do tliis 
counting-. Then, .when you begin to have 
some idea how much six hundred millions is, 
remember that six hundred million dollars 
are spent in this country every year for to- 
bacco—burned up—wasted—worse than wasted. 
Do you think the farmer who planted to- 
bacco instead of corn, did any good to the 
world by the change ? 
REVIEW QUESTIONS. 
1. How may one waste money? 
2. Name some good ways for spending money. 
8. How does the liquor-drinker spend his money? 
4. What could we do, if no money was spent for liquor? 
5. Tell two ways in which you could burn up a dollar hill. 
6. Which would he the safer way ? 
7. How much money is spent for tobacco, yearly, in this country ?