Year: 1876

A Few Words on Habit.


| WISH to speak to you about habit, for
it is 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, and
| will be able to read in our faces and fig
ures all our habits as in an open book. 1t
| 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 g register" straight. 1t 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 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 a
| thing, whether it is right or wrong, makes
it easier to Go; so do not be discouraged
when you try to exchange naughty hah-
it for a 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 story telling, stealing, irrita-
bility, or any bad way Of acting, and per
severe in it, it would soon be 50 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. | knew
pretty little girl who had rose bud of
a 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 a thick loecer Hp.' 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
| " 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 |
was pondering he, meaning to wipe his
nose, took a swipc-I- cannot call it any
thing else--right up his nose with such force
it would have laid a respectable nose for
the time being in the same shape as his.
Now, if he had had that habit for even a
few years, as l 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, dogged or spiteful way will throw
that cast over the countenance, and it is
decidedly ugly. But sullen, pouty
dogged or spiteful habits make one that
has them show themselves in his counte-
nance before body knows it, and dom
know of any way of getting rid of these
bad expressions in the face except by lay
ing aside the dsagreeable 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 gooC
of it. My word for it you will see the
good of it when you are grown, and be s
happier, more pleasant-faced boy Or CIR


all through childhood.
We cannot put on a sweet face wher


there is bad, wilful heart behind it, o.


hypocrisy; a still worse expression comes
through.


In this paper l want to speak of some


habits that spoil the figure. How we al


admire boy or girl, gentleman or lady


with straight figure, broad chest, erect


head, graceful walk, and the health tina


accompanies these! Now, let me tell yor


what will prevent you from acquiring


them, or spoil them even if you already


have them. Children in town are not 81


liable to spoil them as country children


because their teachers remind them abou
it so often but whenever / have been il


the country this is more or less what I SCI
among nine tenths of the children; shoul


der blades out at the back, was going tt
say like wings; hollow where the ches


ought to be; chin nearly on the breast
and the stomach thus thrown out so as tt


make hustle before them. This posi-


ton, of course, puts the limbs away-iI
fact, they are generally carried too fa


apart, and their toes in. Could you i'm
. agine any attitude more uneasy and un


graceful! and yet they have really held
SO long that it is easier to them than


change. But teacher can soon drill


them into shape by initiating it, and show


ing how ugly it is, and then by remind


ing them constantly to straighten tn
shoulders, hold the chin up, toes out


etc., until they outgrow the habit, ant
look as nice as other children. Simply
STOPPING posture, that is, bending for
ward at tue shoulders, throws the figur
out of shape from head to feet, and, con


tinuing the practice, makes the muscle
, and bones grow in that shape until it i
/ very difficult to overcome it.-Kate Kar
anagh, in Phrenolo9ical Journal
-Simpkins rang the servants bell vic


lently few mornings since, and calle'


Bridget TO explain why the hot water TO