The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-16

In few weeks you will be back
IN school; and, no doubt, you will
consider the time that you spend in
the schoolroom as so much time lost,
so far as bodily strength is concerned.
So 1t will be, if you make up your
mind that way. But If you keep your
self braced up mentally and physically
while you are in the classroom, you
will be able to make 1t no small part
of your physical training.
AS has been said in these articles,
muscular strength is worth nothing
without healthy organs behind it, The
real value of muscular exercise is not
to make muscular strength, desirable
as 1t is; but, to make strong heart and
lungs, and to keep the liver, spleen
and kidneys working actively to throw
off the waste products of the body.
This part of the work of becoming
strong and healthy can be kept up
thoroughly well in the schoolroom;
and it will not interfere In the least
with your studies but, on the con-
trary, Will help you in them, because
after a few days your head will be
the clearer for It and your energy
will be greater.
The schoolroom part of the work
is extremely simple. and consists of
only one thing. But simple as it Is,
1t is one of the hardest things for the
majority of boys to do, because 1t
requires steady attention until il be-
comes a habit.
Ii is merely to "sit straight
Every boy has been preached at
about this. Every boy knows, in a
general way that sitting in a SLOUGH
ing way is bad for the chest" and
will produce a rounded back. But
few boys Cor men, either) know that
Incorrect sitting will make them feel
tired and 'logy' and unable to do
more than to drag through their work.
1t is like everything else in the line
OF work. person who begins
task wrong, who goes at 1t indolently
and with a weary feeling, makes his
work hard Immediately and it grows
harder the longer he dawdles over 1t.
A person who is so lazy or Indifferent
that he will sit down slouchily and
Imply to begin his work makes the
work harder by that very act. For
an Incorrect posture in sitting imme-
diately affects the brain.
The moment you sit all huddled up
you squeeze your lungs, stomach,
liver, spleen, kidneys, and even the
heart, forcing them more or less out
OF position, and crowding them so
much that they cannot act freely.
Now, since your body is like a
great, swiftly working, never resting
engine, every time you impede the
action of any of these organs, even in
the least, it is just as If an engineer
were to let the ashes clog UP the
draughts of his furnace.
Your heart, which is the motor part
of the engine. is strong enough to
fight against the conditions longer
than the other organs. So 1t contin-
ues TO feed the brain with blood.
The brain, being called on for work.
takes the blood as fast as 1t is sent
to 1t. much as the roaring furnaces of
racing STEAMSHIP or locomotive eat
up the coal that is piled into them by
busy stokars.
And just as more and more ashes
are produced by those furnaces the
more they are fed with coal. so more
and more waste material is manufac-
tured in the body the more the brain
or any other laboring organ is fed
with blood.
Now, if this waste material Is man.
ufactured during the course of ply
steal exercise In the open air 1t Is
thrown off quickly, because stomach.
liver and kidneys are being stimulated
to do their best work and. in addition,
the process of perspiration opens up
mass Of extra apertures that provide
exits for the surplus waste products.
But when you are sitting stil1 in a
room, with no part of the body doing
active work except the brain, the
"ashes" are hard TO handle under the
best circumstances. and If, In addi-
tion, you sit so carelessly as to ham
per those stokers, the liver and kid
neys, they cannot keep up with their
labor.
II you want to know just what will
happen then inside of your body, you
can form a good idea of imagining
what would happen to ship under
the same circumstances.
Suppose that its furnaces were be-
ing fed fast and ever faster by a crew
of immensely powerful stokers. And
suppose that the men who were trying
to handle the ashes were only one
half as numerous and strong so that
every minute more ashes would pile
UP. Within few minutes the
draught would become less, and the
result would be that the ship would
make less speed. The captain would
signal for More steam! More steam!"
and the stokers would force more coz
on. The ashes would grow in volume,
the drauaht would lessen still more,
the fires would choke, and at last The
great machines would stop still and
dead, merely because the rushing fab
ric had manufactured more waste
products than it could throw away.
So. with your brain. As soon as the
cramped position of the lower organs
of the body makes them unable TO get
rid of all the ashes" which--in the