The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-16
HOW BOYS CAN
BECOME STRONG
Vacation Talks About Simple Ways to Be-
come Athletic

case of a human body are the waste
products from the blood-the brain
whips itself up to work still harder.
More blood is sent TO 1t BY the heart.
And still it calls for More blood!
More blood"
The head throbs; IL grows heavy"
and the harder 1t becomes for the
brain to do its work the more blood it
needs and the more blood comes to it,
the farther behind will the other or
gans be IN their work of expelling the
ashes.
At last the engine stops; the body
gets sick" There is headache and
the boy says that he Is played out"
He is. He is overcome with fatigue.
Fatigue is nothing except the piling
up of waste products in the body.
How does a slouching position in
sitting affect the vital organs?
The body is divided into two great
hollow parts by a curtain of muscle.
The upper part contains the heart and
lungs. The lower part contains the
stomach. liver. kidneys spleen and the
intestines
The stomach lies over toward the
left side of the abdomen and Is half
covered by the lower ribs. Drop into
a seat so that your abdomen sinks in,
and by that same motion you force
ward on top of It,
Now 1t requires at least two hours
for the stomach to digest the most
simple food and five hours for COM
pick foods Consequently, all the time
while you are In the school room your
stomach is busiy grinding away. How
much do you suppose that you help
1t by crushing 1t with your wrtnkled
abdomen and your contracted lower
ribs?
Under the lowest ribs on the right
side lies O firm, dark, red thing. II
Is the liver. Look at the boy photo
graphed in the typical lazy sitting at
| titude and imagine for yourself what
! the effect must be on that organ which
is one of the most important MEM
bers of the human body. 1t carries
off the waste products that are being
sucked up by millions of ducts and
poured into 1t In a steady stream. The
| liver transforms the matter into bile
and feeds 1t into the intestines. What
! ever you do TO check that process
means that you are poisoning the body
with massedup waste materials.
Bilious headache" is the least trou-
BILE that comes from 1t. Persist in
hampering the liver and 1t will work
until 1t is sick itself. The "sicker" 1t
gets the more will the waste poison
! the body, until at last II poisons the
| liver itself, Just as the piled-up ashes
on a ship, If they kept piling up, would
finally smother the stokers under their
own weight.
SO, too, II Is with the kidneys. They
adhere so intimately TO muscular struc-
ture of the body that a cramped po-
! sition forces them at once into an un-
/ natural location, where they work un-
der great advantage.
So you not only make passing trou-
BILE for yourself every day while you
| sit carelessly and lazily, but you may
be laying the foundation for serious
organic trouble In after life, that may
make you q sufferer from diseases such
as liver and kidney diseases, which
| are among the most painful and dis
tressing ailments that affiict human
beings.
The same boy who posed for the,
photograph that shows the wrong way
to sit also posed for the picture show
ing the right way. The two pictures
preach sermon that should be con-
Vincing in itself even to persons who
know nothing at all about the human
! body.
sit erect, holding yourself up not
by leaning against the back of the
| chair, but by means of your own back
bone A backbone is something to
be proud of and to use. Use 1t. The
1
Two short sentences will tell you
all there is to know about sitting
properly. They are:
First Always sit in a chair as If 1t
| didn't have any back at all.
Second. Keep your chest out and
your abdomen in.
! II you observe these two short rules
you cannot fail to sit right. And then
your lungs will simply have to take
| in more air than they do under other
circumstances. They can't help It.
That means fresh blood all the time.
Fresh blood means az sparkling
brain.
The free and uncramped organs in
the lower part of the body will be
able to do their share with a rush.
You can help this work even In
your sleep.
Don't roll up when you go to sleep.
A boy isn't hedgehog or a porcupine.
launching up" in bed has just the
same effect on the organs that "hunch-
ing up in a chair has, only they have
not 80 much work to do while you
sleep, and consequently the injury is
| not so great.
But 1t doesn't do them any good.
| Stretch OUT Lie in bed extended
as much as possible. Stretch so that
you can feel your bones creak. Keep
your chest free and let your abdomen
have play so that nothing shall force
any weight on any organ.
You wouldn't think Of putting a
machine Into a room so small that its
wheels would strike the walls every
time they moved. Well have at least
| as much respect for your own mt
chine as you would have for an iron
and steel one.
CThs End.