Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-04-13
a Few Words on Habit.

l WISH to speak to you about habit, for
it is a sort of account-book or register
within US that puts down every word and
thought and deed we do, and means to tell
on us in the Judgment Day." to say
nothing of the time coming when every
person will understand phrenology, Ind
will be able to read in our faces and fig
ures all our habits as in an open book. Il
will not be pleasant then to have anything
wicked or ugly or silly in our account
book; and [ will tell you something about
keeping this register straight It is
much easier than one would suppose, a
deal easier than getting it wrong, for
when child does badly everybody dis
likes him, and he gets all in a tangle
But if he is the right sort of a child, every
body loves him, and his life is plain sail
ing.
Just being accustomed to doing
thing, whether it is right or wrong, makes
it easier to do; so do not be discouraged
when you try to exchange naughty hab-
it for good one; the oneyou give up you
will learn to dislike, the one you try to
adopt will grow easier all the time, until
you cannot tell it from your nature; it
will seem part Of you, while the same
is true Of an evil habit. If you should to-
day pick up storytelling, stealing, irrita-
bility, or any bad way of acting, and per-
severe in it, it would soon be so easy to
do that you could scarcely keep from it
but how dangerous and disgraceful!
will give you some instances of hand
some boys and girls who spoiled their
good looks just through habits. I knew
pretty little girl who had rose bud of
mouth, but who formed a habit of
twisting and pulling at her lower lip.
The more her mamma checked her about
it, the more she seemed to persist in it.
She is just grown now, and people often
say, "She would be a handsome girl if
she had not such q thick loaoer lip" You
see there are little muscles about the
mouth that grow larger with use; if you
continue to use the mouth or any other
feature-the eyes or nose-in a wrong
way while you are young, it will become
distorted and out of shape.
once saw boy of about eleven COM
ing toward me on the sidewalk, and he
had most horrid nose. The tip of his
nose had gone up and the bridge of it in,
so that the entire nostrils showed as plain
ly as his eyes; and though he had good
eyes and mouth, he was very ugly. Twas
just wondering if he did not have some
habit that had ruined that nose. While I
was bordering he, meaning to wipe his
nose, took swipe-I cannot call it any
thing else--right up his nose with such force
it would have laid respectable nose for
the time being in the same shape as his.
Now, if he had had that habit for even q
few years, as | have no doubt he did, it
was enough to account for the ugliness Of
that feature; for remember, the nose is
mostly of gristle, or very tender bone, and
can be spoiled with rude way of hand
ling it. Many children have some ugly
practices with the nose, which thickens
it, turns it up, or spreads the nostrils.
Holding the face habitually in a sullen,
pouty, logged or spiteful way will throw
that cast over the countenance, and it is
decidedly ugly. But sullen, pouty,
logged, or spiteful habits make one that
has them show themselves in his counte-
nance before body knows it, and | don I
know of any way of getting rid OF these
bad expressions in the face except by lay
ing aside the disagreeable ways that make
them, and taking in place of them cheer
full obedience and respect to parents and
teachers, even if we cannot see the good
of it. My word for it you will see the
good Of it when you arc grown, and be a
happier, more pIeasant-faced boy or girl
all through childhood.
| We cannot put on a sweet face when