studied the body-house for years, say the ear is one of the most
wonderful parts of the body. When boys or girls have two drums, two
hammers, two anvils, and two stirrups in their heads, it is no wonder
that it takes plenty of noise to make them happy.
It makes me think of two little fellows I saw playing with a toy
engine a few days ago. They had their mother’s knitting-needles in the
smoke-stack, and as they dragged the toy over the floor, it made a
fine jingle. The mother, however, wished to talk with a lady friend,
and asked them to take out the needles, so they would not disturb her.
“But it won’t make any n-o-i-s-e then,” said the older boy in a whining
tone. I suppose the noise was a delight to all the tiny hammers and
anvils in his ears; and it is much the same with every boy.
But I forgot to tell you that there is a way to reach the inside of the
ear without going through the ear-drum.
AMY: Please tell us how.
MOTHER: By going the same way that air takes to go to the lungs; you
will find a little door just before you come to the music room, which
leads to the ear.
PERCY: But why should there be _two_ passages to get to the inside?
MOTHER: For the very good reason that air is so heavy; if it should
press against the ear-drum, it would break it, unless there was
something to press just as much against the other side. So some nice,
warm air goes up from the throat, and as it is just as heavy as the air
outside, it makes the weight alike on both sides.
I once heard of a girl who was asked how air could get inside of the
drum of the ear, and she said, “Through the _other_ ear.” Her mates
in school all laughed at such a thoughtless answer. You will now know
better than to make such a statement if the question were asked you.
PERCY: But I would like to know what else a sound finds in the ear
besides hammers, anvils, and stirrups.
MOTHER: I think you can understand what I say better if you look
closely at this picture. This is very much larger than the ear inside
your own head. You will see that there are tiny tunnels running every
way, some shaped like loops, and one of them very much like the inside
of a shell which winds round and round.
[Illustration: Inner ear]
HELEN: And are all these little tunnels empty?
MOTHER: No; they are filled with clear water. If you had a very strong
mi´cro-scope you would see some things in the ear which would fill you
with wonder. First of all we find a little bag floating in the water,
made of fine skin, that just fits into all the loops and tunnels. What
do you suppose is in this tiny bag?
AMY: I’m sure I don’t know. Please tell us.
MOTHER: It is full of water, too, but it takes only a drop to fill it.
Though this dainty bag is so small, yet there is room for some little
stones in it, which we will call ear-stones. The picture shows the road
sound travels, only this is much larger than the ear really is.
PERCY: I should think it would get lost before it finds the end of all
these winding passages.
MOTHER: It has no trouble in finding its way, and finding it quickly,
too. Suppose we start now from the outside porch again, so you will
not forget the road. First, it goes through the ear passage and knocks
against the ear-drum. This makes the handle inside strike the drum, and
the other end hits the anvil; the anvil makes the stirrup tremble; and
as sound passes along, that makes the water with the little ear-stones
in it tremble also.
ELMER: But what I want to know is how the sound gets into the brain so
the master knows what it has to tell him. I don’t see any use of its
going through all those tunnels and staying there.
MOTHER: You may be sure it does not stay there unless there is
something wrong with the ear. One of the wires from your telephone
system, which you call nerves, passes through a little hole in the
skull, and it spreads out on the inside of the tunnels, and all sounds
are carried by these nerves into the brain. As soon as one goes in, the
master knows what kind of sound it is.
AMY: I don’t see why it should go through so many tunnels.
MOTHER: I suppose He that formed the ear knows why, but I don’t. A
very high sound goes through the shell tube. A very loud sound travels
through the loops.
HELEN: I suppose sweet sounds please the master of the house most, such
as good music.
MOTHER: Yes; he does not often like loud, harsh sounds. Pleasant tones
please him so much that he will sometimes sit for hours listening to
them. People talk much about the in´stru-ments of music they have made;
but they are nothing when compared with the in´stru-ment God made for
hearing them.
This shows us that we should be very careful of our ears, that they may
not be injured and we lose our hearing. We should never strike a child
on the head or ears; for it may make him deaf. I know a young man whose
grandfather “boxed his ears” when he was a little child, and from that
time he began to lose his hearing. When we think what the world would
be to us if we were not able to hear the songs of the birds, the voices
of those we love, and all the other sounds which give us pleasure, it
should cause us to guard our ears from the slightest injury.
SOME WONDERFUL WINDOWS
MOTHER: I told you some time ago that the body-house has two windows
through which the master looks at what is going on around him; for he
never goes outside as long as he lives.
HELEN: Oh, I remember! Those are the eyes.
MOTHER: Yes; and you may be sure that the One who made the house did
not forget to make it to enjoy the light. The Bible says, “The light
of the body is the eye.” Most dwelling-houses have quite a number of
windows, but though ours has but two, they are so made and placed in
such a way that the master can see in every direction. Of what shape is
the eye?
AMY: It is nearly round, like a ball.
[Illustration: An eye]
MOTHER: Now see how many ways you can look without moving your head.
ELMER: Up and down, to either side, and in a circle.
MOTHER: And by turning the body we can look any way we please. There is
a fly which is said to have twenty-five thousand eyes, but even with
so many it can not see more than we can with two, if we turn the head.
Another thing which shows the wisdom of our heavenly Father is the
position of our eyes. How strange it would seem if they were in the
palms of our hands, or in the side or back of the head, or any other
place in the body than just where they are!
[Illustration: _It would not be well to have eyes shaped like these._]
PERCY: Just think of it! Why, they would get hurt, and how strange we
would look!
MOTHER: But we can see only the front part of the eye. Why would it not
be as well to have eyes shaped like these?
PERCY: We could not roll them every way, as we can now, and they would
not look well.
MOTHER: Then you think they have the very best shape they could have. I
think so, too. Now you may each feel around your eyes and tell what you
find.
AMY: There is hard bone all around them.
HELEN: They seem to be in a hollow place in the skull.
MOTHER: Yes; and this hollow place is called a socket. They are placed
this way to protect them from harm, as we would place precious jewels
in a strong casket. The eye, like a round ball, fills the socket or
cave in which it lives and moves, and behind and around it is a soft
cushion of fat.
ELMER: A ball hit my eye to-day, and it just seemed to go in, so it
didn’t hurt much. This must be because it was resting on such a soft
cushion.
MOTHER: And we see how the eyes are kept from in´ju-ry, too, by the
little porches, or eyebrows, above. The stiff hairs, like a hairy arch,
keep the sweat from running into them, and they also add beauty to the
face. Then there is a pair of curtains for each one.
AMY: I know what they are,--the eyelids.
MOTHER: And like a double curtain, or shutter, they close to keep the
eyes from harm whenever danger is near. Quick as thought they shut
tightly together; and each one has a hairy fringe to keep out dust or
other objects hurtful to the eyes. Each of these curtains, or awnings,
is placed in charge of two servant muscles, one to raise, the other to
lower it, and they play up and down without noise or a hitch anywhere.
HELEN: And when we go to sleep, they softly close the window until we
wake again.
[Illustration: An eye]
MOTHER: These windows in our house also wash and keep themselves clean.
There is a tiny factory above the eye, where tears are made. Perhaps
you have often wondered where tears came from, and now you know. As the
eyelids move up and down, the tears keep running over the eye, which
makes it move so easily in the socket that it does not ache or wear
out, and they keep it clean and bright. There is a little drain-pipe
opening on the inner side of each lower eyelid, which carries away the
tears into the nose after they are used. If we are sad or unhappy,
sometimes so many tears are made that they can not pass through these
drains, and then they run over the eyelids down the cheeks. There are
also some little factories in the eyelids which make an oil for the
edges of the lids, so they will not stick together, and to keep the
tears from running over the face.
[Illustration: _This little boy’s tears have “come unfastened.”_]
PERCY: I never knew before where the tears came from, and that they
were being made and used all the time.
HELEN: Nor I. Not long ago I read about a little girl named Margie
who never cried when any small mishap came to her. But one day her
best-loved dolly fell and got a dreadful bruise on her nose. Margie
winked hard a few minutes, and then buried her face in her mother’s
lap, sobbing, “O mama, I don’t _want_ to cry, but _all my tears have
come unfastened!_”
MOTHER: Poor child! she was nearer the truth than she thought; and no
doubt many folks, big and little, would be glad sometimes if they could
keep their tears fastened up better. Have you ever thought why your
eyes do not fall out when you bend over?
AMY: They must be fastened in tight.
[Illustration: _Muscles of the eye._]
MOTHER: That is true; for they are held by six little muscles, whose
work it is to keep them in place and move them about.
ELMER: But what is inside of the eye, mother?
MOTHER: Let us look at the outside a little longer before we talk of
the inside. Because the colored part of the eye is round, it is called
the eyeball. It is with this part we see. The white part of the eye is
filled with a clear substance, quite like jelly, and it has several
strong coats or coverings outside. What part of the eye do you think we
see through?
HELEN: The black spot in the center.
MOTHER: What is it called?
PERCY: The pupil.
MOTHER: Now look into each other’s eyes. What do you see around the
pupil?
ELMER: There is a blue ring in Amy’s eyes.
MOTHER: This is called the iris, which means a rainbow. You know we all
like to see pretty curtains hung before windows, and such beautiful
curtains you never saw as these in the eye. They are only half an inch
wide, but they open or draw together around the pupil so the eye has
just the right amount of light. When you are where it is very light,
this wee round curtain draws up very small. If you are in a dark room,
it opens wide, so the eye can have all the light there is. Sometimes
these curtains are brown, gray, or blue, just the color which will
match the outside of the house best.
AMY: But won’t you please tell us, mother, how we see with our eyes.
[Illustration: Section through eye]
MOTHER: I will try, and perhaps we can find out some things about it.
Here is a picture which may help us. You see the front of the eye
bulges out like a watch crystal, and it has a strong, glassy covering,
called the cornea, which lets the light through. Passing through the
pupil we come to the lens, which is shaped as you see in the picture.
You have seen old persons wear spec´ta-cles to help them see. The
glasses in the frames are lenses; but you must not think from this that
the lens in your eye is made of glass. It is because of the shape that
it is called a lens. A picture of people, houses, trees, or anything
else you look at, is made by the lens on the inner part of the eye,
which is called the ret´i-na. It is almost wholly made up of the little
branches of the nerve of sight.
HELEN: And is that the way we see?
MOTHER: Partly. The picture passes through the clear, jelly-like
substance of the eye to the back, where it is spread out, and the
nerves of sight carry it into the brain, for the master to see. We may
have perfect eyes, but if anything is wrong with the eye nerve, we can
not see; so we really see and hear with our brain instead of our eyes
and ears.
ELMER: Isn’t the eye something like the camera used to take photographs?
MOTHER: Yes, in some ways. One curious thing about it is that it turns
its pictures upside down before they strike the nerves of sight, and in
this it is like the camera.
[Illustration: _Pictures upside down._]
HELEN: I am so glad that we all have good eyes.
MOTHER: And well you may be. We should always take the very best care
of our eyes. Alcohol makes them red and bloodshot; for it makes too
much blood go into them, just as it does all over the surface of the
body. Tobacco injures them by making the nerves weak. It is a dreadful
thing to be blind or have weak sight, and while we prize our eyes we
will never take such poisons to injure them.
PERCY: I wish I could get a peep at the master when he looks through
the windows.
MOTHER: You may at any time. We know just how he feels by the “look”
of his eyes. When he is displeased and angry, they look so hard that
it almost seems as though sparks flew from them. When he is pleased,
they light up with kindness and pleasure, and you wish to be near him,
he seems so happy, and it makes you glad, too. When he is loving and
kind, there is such a tender feeling shines through that it seems like
a warm, comforting fire, and you love him better than ever before. So
the eyes “speak,” though they never say a word.
MY TWO WINDOWS.
“Two wonderful windows
The Lord gave me;
And through these windows
His wonders I see.
“The beautiful flowers,
The grass and the trees,
The hills and the valleys,
The birds and the bees,
“The faces of parents
So dear to me,
The stars in the sky,
The fish in the sea,—
“All these through my windows
Most gladly I see,
And praise my Creator
For giving them me.”
—_C. M. Snow._
A GOOD SERVANT
MOTHER: A little boy was once asked to repeat his Bible verse, and he
said, “I don’t remember just what the words are, but it is the one
where Paul said he _kept his soul on top_.”
ELMER: I think this must have been the one he meant, “But I keep under
my body, and bring it into sub-jec´tion.”
MOTHER: Yes, and the child no doubt thought if his body was “_under_,”
his soul must be “_on top_.” I think it means that the mind should be
the master of the body, doing only that which will be for its good. The
master, when he knows what is best, will not let one of his servants
be master instead of himself.
HELEN: I should think every one would want to do what is best to keep
the body well.
MOTHER: We would all think so, but there is one of the servants who
often gets control of the master and coaxes him till he gets his own
way. But, though he may be a good servant, he is a very bad master, and
the body has a sorry time when this servant has his own way.
AMY: What is the servant’s name?
[Illustration: _The tongue._]
MOTHER: He is called Taste. His room is the passage where we found so
many servants dressed in white. He wears a pink dress, and stays in the
house most of the time, but once in a while he peeps out between the
folding doors.
AMY: That is the tongue, I know.
MOTHER: Yes, that is where we find Taste at home. Sometimes when he has
his own way, his dress becomes a dirty yellow or brown color, and if
the master finds himself quite ill, he sends for a doctor, who comes,
and about the first thing he does is to ask the tongue to step outside
a moment, and as soon as the wise man looks at its dress, he knows
whether Taste has been doing his duty or not.
PERCY: But what is his duty?
MOTHER: To tell the master what is good to build and mend the body, and
to help him enjoy his food. If some good whole-wheat bread, oatmeal,
or some fresh fruit passes the guards, Taste rolls it over and over
and sends word to the master through some of the little telephone
wires: “This is very good. I think we will have more of this.” Then the
servants in the kitchen are pleased, and all goes well. You have heard
that
“Little Jack Horner sat in a corner,
Eating a Christmas pie,”
but I have read of another boy, who bore the same name, and this is
what is said of him:—
“Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating a morsel of nice brown-bread.
‘Have some pie or some cake?’
‘Nay, not I,’ with a shake
And a toss of his wise little head;
‘For this bread will make bone,
And teeth white as a stone,
That neither grow soft nor decay;
But rich cake and rich pie
Sure will break by and by
My good health, and that never will pay.’”
HELEN: But does Taste not ask for more than the body needs sometimes?
MOTHER: Yes, very often; and that is one of the times when he needs a
firm master. At other times he gets in such a hurry that he lets the
food go down to the kitchen before it is half ready.
[Illustration: WHETHER THEREFORE YE EAT OR DRINK OR WHATSOEVER YE
DO, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD. 1 COR. 10:31]
ELMER: But does Taste ever want things which are not good for the body?
MOTHER: Yes, many, many times. He coaxes so hard that I have seen some
boys and girls even cry for that which would make them ill. If given
a good piece of bread, they wanted pie or cake or some other hurtful
thing. One thing I must tell you about Taste: If he has nothing at all
given him when he gets the sulks, after a while he is very well pleased
to get even plain food, and as he rolls it over and over, he says by
his actions, “It tastes much better than I thought it did.”
AMY: A lady once asked me if I had a sugar tooth, mother. What did she
mean?
MOTHER: When one’s taste calls for a great many sweet things, people
sometimes say of such a person that they have a “sugar tooth,” but it
is Taste, and not the teeth, who wants to be pleased that way. Candies,
lollies, and sweet foods are bad for the teeth as well as the stomach;
but Taste often begs for them, even though they do harm in the body. He
sometimes learns to like what he dislikes very much at first, so you
see it is the master’s duty to give him only that which he knows is
best.
He often does great harm by asking the master for things to taste when
the kitchen is full and the cook does not wish to be disturbed in her
work. Really I think you will agree with me that he is a very selfish
fellow, and cares more for his own pleasure than for the comfort of
others or the welfare of his master. If he has his own way, it makes
the master cross, and everything seems to go wrong.
[Illustration: BLESSED ART THOU, O LAND, WHEN THY KING IS THE SON OF
NOBLES, AND THY PRINCES EAT IN DUE SEASON, FOR STRENGTH, AND NOT FOR
DRUNKENNESS. ECC. 10:17.]
HELEN: I shall try to teach my Taste to call for only those things that
will make my body well.
MOTHER: If you do, you will sometimes have a quarrel with him, but
all the other servants will be glad that you do not let him master
you. That is one way the Bible means we should keep our bodies under.
Sometimes we have to take Taste by the throat, as it were, and when we
have him down, let him know that we are his master, and that we intend
to rule our own house.
PERCY: Isn’t that the way people do when they leave off drinking wine
and beer, and stop using tobacco?
MOTHER: Yes; and sometimes they have a terrible fight with Taste
before they convince him that they intend to be master. Sometimes he
gets them down, and again they put him under; many have fought the
battle for weeks, it may be for months, night and day, and at last
Taste gives up and the master wins.
HELEN: Wouldn’t it be better if they did not let him have his own way
at first?
MOTHER: Surely it would. That is why I wish you, while children, to
train your Taste, or appetite, so he will only call for the things
which are best for your bodies, and so you will form no bad habits of
eating and drinking. Then you will not have the battles of which we
have been speaking; for, as I have said, Taste is a good servant. All
he needs is to be taught that he must keep his proper place, and that
he is not to rule the house. If boys and girls begin to eat between
meals; if their Taste calls for rich food and sweetmeats; if they want
spices, pepper, mustard, and hot sauces with their food, they are
letting Taste become their master, and it will be easy for them to
begin to use cigarettes and to drink beer. When they open the gate for
Taste to become master, they know not where they will end. They have
entered the path to death and ruin.
ELMER: I should think that this servant has more power to do harm than
any of the others.
MOTHER: He has. Next to the master himself, he holds the most important
position of all. Not only does Taste live in the tongue, but it is
with the tongue that we talk. It is such an unruly fellow that it is
fastened to the floor so that it can not get away; there are strong
walls all around it; a double row of servants stand in front to guard
it; and the double doors are made to shut closely, to keep out anything
that should not go in, and to keep back anything that should not come
out. Yet for all that it is so unruly that it often puts the master to
shame, and wounds his best friends. The Bible says that if any one can
control the tongue, which means, I suppose, their taste and talk, he
can govern his whole body.
AMY: Who would think that such a little fellow could do so much harm!
MOTHER: Little things may do much good or evil. A bridle is a small
thing, yet the bits turn the horse any way we wish him to go. I was
once on a great ship at sea. There was a fearful storm. In the ship
there was a little helm, which turned it any way the captain wished it
to go. So it is with the tongue; life and death are in its power.
[Illustration: “_The bits turn the horse._”]
[Illustration: _A great ship at sea._]
PERCY: But isn’t it a good thing to taste and talk, mother?
MOTHER: Yes, indeed. Animals can taste, but they can not talk, or
laugh. This is one thing that makes us of a higher order of beings
than they. What a blessing kind, gentle words are! How thankful we
should be for a keen Taste, which helps us to enjoy our food! On the
other hand, what pain and sorrow come when angry words are spoken, and
how much sickness and death are the result of letting Taste have his
own way! What we want is that the master of the body-house should keep
this servant as with a bit and bridle; for he will obey if he must.
HELEN: I shall be more careful of my tongue after this.
MOTHER: But the Bible says again, “The tongue can no man tame.” We can
never master it in our own strength. We must ask God to help us; for we
can never control our Taste or our talk without His aid.
A FAITHFUL WATCHMAN
AMY: Here are some violets for you, mother. I just gathered them in the
garden. See how fragrant they are.
MOTHER: They are indeed, and I thank the little girl who was so kind
and thoughtful. Did you ever think of the sense which makes us enjoy
the flowers and all pleasant perfumes?
AMY: Why, yes; we smell them, do we not?
MOTHER: Yes; and now let us see if we can learn a few things about this
sense which gives us so much pleasure. You may each take a few of these
violets. How shall we find out where Smell lives?
PERCY: He must be in the nose.
MOTHER: I suppose you think so because you do not put the violets to
your ears, eyes, or mouth to enjoy their odor, but hold them near your
nose. Now hold them quite close to it and breathe out.
ELMER: But we can’t smell anything when we do that way.
MOTHER: No; then when we enjoy the sweet flowers, we place them near
the nostrils and draw a deep breath, and we say, “Ah, how sweet!” We do
this so that more air will touch the nerves of Smell, which are in the
upper part of the nose. These little nerves form the tiniest branches
you can think of, and all unite in one large nerve, which goes to the
brain. They quickly tell us about things we can neither taste nor see.
They are thickly spread over this room of Smell, which is indeed a
wonderful place. Here is a picture of the nerves of which I have been
telling you.
PERCY: I think in a dog Smell must have good nerves.
[Illustration: _Nerves of Smell_]
MOTHER: Yes; for some dogs will follow the footsteps of their master,
though he has been out of sight for hours, and Smell is so keen that
they use him in tracking game while hunting. Some Indians in South
America can tell if a stranger comes near them, even in a dark night,
by the use of Smell alone. They can also tell if a stranger is black or
white. In some people Smell is much keener than in others.
ELMER: When I had a cold last week, I couldn’t smell at all.