At the age of six, when the average child first goes to school,
practically everything he sees is new and interesting, and worthy of
deep consideration. His brain gets no rest from the time he wakes until
he goes to sleep at night.
To do its work, the brain needs a full and active blood supply, and this
it will take often at the expense of leaving an inadequate amount for
the demands of the rest of the body.
Curiously enough, excessive mental activity seems to have no stunting
effect on the growth in the way of height. It is in breadth and
thickness that the body suffers. Everyone is familiar with the tall,
lanky boy or girl in the early teens who is said not to care much for
games and exercise, and is, unfortunately, “rather delicate.” This
youngster is almost certain to be pointed out by the proud parents as
being extremely well up in his studies.
Short of encouraging laziness or indolence at school, it really makes
very little difference to the ordinary man or woman, so far as their
adult mental attainments go, whether they were ranked as fairly good
scholars or fairly poor ones when they were young children. On the other
hand, the effort necessary to be made by a sensitive, not over-brilliant
child to keep a good place among its fellows may have a serious physical
effect that will hamper him or her throughout life.
[Illustration: =WHAT NATURE’S DOCTORS PRESCRIBE FOR CHILDREN=