STRENGTH.
[Illustration: H]ERE are the names of some of the different 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, } Sugar, }
Milk, } Starch, }
Eggs, } Fat, } for fat and heat.
Wheat, } for muscles. Cream, }
Corn, } Oil, }
Oats, }
Perhaps some of you noticed that we had no wine, beer, nor any drink
that had alcohol in it, on our bill of fare for dinner. We had no
cigars, either, to be smoked after dinner. If these are good things, we
ought to have had them. Why did we leave them out?
_We should eat in order to grow strong and keep
strong._
STRENGTH OF BODY.
If you wanted to measure your strength, one way of doing so would be 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 could tell
by the marks, whether you were gaining strength.
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 of exercise to make our muscles grow.
We must eat good and simple food, that the blood may have supplies to
take to every part of the body.
ALCOHOL AND STRENGTH.
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.
BEER.
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 drinking beer, you
would find that you had not gained any. Most of the food part of the
grain has been turned into alcohol.
CIDER.
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
be a poison 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 alcohol, can give you real
strength.
Then why do people think they can?
Because alcohol puts the nerves to sleep, they can not, truly, tell the
brain how hard the work is, or how heavy the weight to be lifted.
The alcohol has in this way cheated men into thinking 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.
A story which shows that alcohol does not give strength, was told me by
the captain of a ship, who sailed to China and other distant places.
Many years ago, when people thought a little alcohol was good, it was
the custom to carry in every ship, a great deal of rum. This liquor is
distilled from molasses and contains about one half alcohol. This rum
was given to the sailors every day to drink; and, if there was a great
storm, and they had very hard work to do, it was the custom to give
them twice as much rum as usual.
[Illustration]
The captain watched his men and saw that they were really made no
stronger by drinking the rum; but that, after a little while, they felt
weaker. So he determined to go to sea with no rum in his ship. Once out
on the ocean, of course the men could not get any.
At first, they did not like it; but the captain was very careful to have
their food good and plentiful; and, when a storm came, and they were wet
and cold and tired, he gave them hot coffee to drink. By the time they
had crossed the ocean, the men said: "The captain is right. We have
worked better, and we feel stronger, for going without the rum."
STRENGTH OF MIND.
We have been talking about the strength of muscles; but the very best
kind of strength we have is brain strength, or strength of mind.
Alcohol makes the head ache and deadens the nerves, so that they can
not carry their messages correctly. Then the brain can not think well.
Alcohol does not strengthen the mind.
Some people 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 had 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, understand, and think well, do not
let alcohol and tobacco have a chance to reach it.
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. Why does drinking beer not make you strong?
5. Show why drinking wine or any other alcoholic
drink will not make you strong.
6. Why do people imagine that they feel strong
after taking these drinks?
7. Tell the story which shows that alcohol does
not help sailors do their work.
8. What is the best kind of strength to have?
9. How does alcohol affect the strength of the
mind?