HOW TO KEEP THE MUSCLES HEALTHY.
~1. How to Make the Muscles Strong.~--With which hand can you lift the
more? with the right hand or with the left? Why do you think you can
lift more with the right hand than with the left? A blacksmith swings a
heavy hammer with his right arm, and that arm becomes very large and
strong. If we wish our muscles to grow large and strong, so that our
bodies will be healthy and vigorous, we must take plenty of exercise.
~2. Effects of Idleness.~--If a boy should carry one hand in his pocket
all the time, and use only the other hand and arm, the idle arm would
become small and weak, while the other would grow large and strong. Any
part of the body which is not used will after a time become weak. Little
boys and girls who do not take plenty of exercise are likely to be pale
and puny. It is important that we should take the proper amount of
exercise every day, just as we take our food and drink every day.
~3. Healthful Exercise.~--Some kinds of play, and almost all kinds of
work which children have to do, are good ways of taking exercise. A very
good kind of exercise for little boys and girls is that found in running
errands or doing chores about the house.
~4. Food and Strength.~--A great part of our food goes to nourish the
muscles. Some foods make us strong, while others do not. Plain foods,
such as bread, meat, potatoes, and milk, are good for the muscles; but
cakes and pies, and things which are not food, such as mustard, pepper,
and spices, do not give us strength, and are likely to do us harm.
~5. Over-Exertion.~--We ought not to exert ourselves too much in lifting
heavy weights, or trying to do things which are too hard for us.
Sometimes the muscles are permanently injured in this way.
~6. The Clothing.~--We ought not to wear our clothing so tight as to
press hard upon any part of the body. If we do, it will cause the
muscles of that part to become weak. If the clothing is worn tight about
the waist, great mischief is often done. The lungs cannot expand
properly, the stomach and liver are pressed out of shape, and the
internal organs are crowded out of their proper places.
~7. Tight Shoes.~--People are often made very lame from wearing tight
shoes. Their muscles cannot act properly, and their feet grow out of
shape.
~8.~ In China, it is fashionable for rich ladies to have small feet, and
they tie them up in cloths so that they cannot grow. The foot is
squeezed out of shape. Here is a picture of a foot which has been
treated in this way. It does not look much like a human foot, does it? A
woman who has such feet finds it so difficult to walk that she has to be
carried about much of the time. Do you not think it is very wrong and
foolish to treat the feet so badly? You will say, "Yes;" but the Chinese
woman thinks it is a great deal worse to lace the clothing tight about
the body so as to make the waist small.
[Illustration: FOOT OF CHINESE WOMAN.]
~9. Effects of Alcohol upon the Muscles.~--When an intemperate man takes
a glass of strong drink, it makes him feel strong; but when he tries to
lift, or to do any kind of hard work, he cannot lift so much nor work so
hard as he could have done without the liquor. This is because alcohol
poisons the muscles and makes them weak.
~10. Effects of Drunkenness.~--When a man has become addicted to strong
drink, his muscles become partly paralyzed, so that he cannot walk as
steadily or speak as readily or as clearly as before. His fingers are
clumsy, and his movements uncertain. If he is an artist or a jeweller,
he cannot do as fine work as when he is sober. When a man gets very
drunk, he is for a time completely paralyzed, so that he cannot walk or
move, and seems almost like a dead man.
~11.~ If you had a good horse that had carried you a long way in a
carriage, and you wanted to travel farther, what would you do if the
horse were so tired that he kept stopping in the road? Would you let him
rest and give him some water to drink and some nice hay and oats to eat,
or would you strike him hard with a whip to make him go faster? If you
should whip him he would act as though he were not tired at all, but do
you think the whip would make him strong, as rest and hay and oats
would?
~12.~ When a tired man takes alcohol, it acts like a whip; it makes
every part of the body work faster and harder than it ought to work, and
thus wastes the man's strength and makes him weaker, although for a
little while his nerves are made stupid, so that he does not know that
he is tired and ought to rest.
~13.~ When you grow up to be men and women you will want to have strong
muscles. So you must be careful not to give alcohol a chance to injure
them. If you never taste it in any form you will be sure to suffer no
harm from it.
~14. Effects of Tobacco on the Muscles.~--Boys who smoke cigars or
cigarettes, or who chew tobacco, are not likely to grow up to be strong
and healthy men. They do not have plump and rosy cheeks and strong
muscles like other boys.
~15.~ The evil effect of tobacco upon boys is now so well known that in
many countries and in some states of this country laws have been made
which do not allow alcohol or tobacco to be sold or given to boys. In
Switzerland, if a boy is found smoking upon the streets, he is arrested
just as though he had been caught stealing. And is not this really what
a boy does when he smokes? He robs his constitution of its vigor, and
allows tobacco to steal away from him the strength he will need when he
becomes a man.
~16. Tea and Coffee.~--Strong tea and coffee, while by no means so bad
as alcohol and tobacco, may make us weak and sick. A person who drinks
strong tea or coffee feels less tired while at work than if he had not
taken it, but he is more tired afterwards. So you see that tea and
coffee are also whips, small whips we might call them, and yet they
really act in the same way as do other narcotics and stimulants. They
make a person feel stronger than he really is, and thus he is led to use
more strength than he can afford to do.
SUMMARY.
1. We must use the muscles to make them grow large and strong.
2. Exercise should be taken regularly.
3. Exercise makes the muscles strong, the body beautiful, the lungs
active, the heart vigorous, and the whole body healthy.
4. Things we ought not to do: To run or play hard just before or after
eating; to strain our muscles by lifting too heavy weights; to exercise
so violently as to get out of breath; to lie, sit, stand, or walk in a
cramped position, or awkward manner; to wear the clothing so tight as to
press hard upon the muscles.
5. Good food is necessary to make the muscles strong and healthy.
6. Alcohol makes the muscles weak, although at first it makes us feel
stronger.
7. A boy who uses tobacco will not grow as strong and well as one who
does not.
8. The use of strong tea and coffee may injure the muscles.