The House We Live In; or, The Making of the Body

by Vesta J. Farnsworth

A GOOD SERVANT

A GOOD SERVANT

OTHER: A little boy was once asked to repeat his Bible verse, and he said, “I don’t remember just what the words are, but it is the one where Paul said he kept his soul on top.”

Elmer: I think this must have been the one he meant, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into sub-jec´tion.”

Mother: Yes, and the child no doubt thought if his body was “under,” his soul must be “on top.” I think it means that the mind should be the master of the body, doing only that which will be for its good. The master, when he knows what is best, will not let one of his servants be master instead of himself.

Helen: I should think every one would want to do what is best to keep the body well.

Mother: We would all think so, but there is one of the servants who often gets control of the master and coaxes him till he gets his own way. But, though he may be a good servant, he is a very bad master, and the body has a sorry time when this servant has his own way.

Amy: What is the servant’s name?

The tongue.

Mother: He is called Taste. His room is the passage where we found so many servants dressed in white. He wears a pink dress, and stays in the house most of the time, but once in a while he peeps out between the folding doors.

Amy: That is the tongue, I know.

Mother: Yes, that is where we find Taste at home. Sometimes when he has his own way, his dress becomes a dirty yellow or brown color, and if the master finds himself quite ill, he sends for a doctor, who comes, and about the first thing he does is to ask the tongue to step outside a moment, and as soon as the wise man looks at its dress, he knows whether Taste has been doing his duty or not.

Percy: But what is his duty?

Mother: To tell the master what is good to build and mend the body, and to help him enjoy his food. If some good whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, or some fresh fruit passes the guards, Taste rolls it over and over and sends word to the master through some of the little telephone wires: “This is very good. I think we will have more of this.” Then the servants in the kitchen are pleased, and all goes well. You have heard that

“Little Jack Horner sat in a corner,

Eating a Christmas pie,”

but I have read of another boy, who bore the same name, and this is what is said of him:—

“Little Jack Horner

Sat in a corner,

Eating a morsel of nice brown-bread.

‘Have some pie or some cake?’

‘Nay, not I,’ with a shake

And a toss of his wise little head;

‘For this bread will make bone,

And teeth white as a stone,

That neither grow soft nor decay;

But rich cake and rich pie

Sure will break by and by

My good health, and that never will pay.’”

Helen: But does Taste not ask for more than the body needs sometimes?

Mother: Yes, very often; and that is one of the times when he needs a firm master. At other times he gets in such a hurry that he lets the food go down to the kitchen before it is half ready.

Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of god.
1 COR. 10:31

Elmer: But does Taste ever want things which are not good for the body?

Mother: Yes, many, many times. He coaxes so hard that I have seen some boys and girls even cry for that which would make them ill. If given a good piece of bread, they wanted pie or cake or some other hurtful thing. One thing I must tell you about Taste: If he has nothing at all given him when he gets the sulks, after a while he is very well pleased to get even plain food, and as he rolls it over and over, he says by his actions, “It tastes much better than I thought it did.”

Amy: A lady once asked me if I had a sugar tooth, mother. What did she mean?

Mother: When one’s taste calls for a great many sweet things, people sometimes say of such a person that they have a “sugar tooth,” but it is Taste, and not the teeth, who wants to be pleased that way. Candies, lollies, and sweet foods are bad for the teeth as well as the stomach; but Taste often begs for them, even though they do harm in the body. He sometimes learns to like what he dislikes very much at first, so you see it is the master’s duty to give him only that which he knows is best.

He often does great harm by asking the master for things to taste when the kitchen is full and the cook does not wish to be disturbed in her work. Really I think you will agree with me that he is a very selfish fellow, and cares more for his own pleasure than for the comfort of others or the welfare of his master. If he has his own way, it makes the master cross, and everything seems to go wrong.

Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness.
ECC. 10:17.

Helen: I shall try to teach my Taste to call for only those things that will make my body well.

Mother: If you do, you will sometimes have a quarrel with him, but all the other servants will be glad that you do not let him master you. That is one way the Bible means we should keep our bodies under. Sometimes we have to take Taste by the throat, as it were, and when we have him down, let him know that we are his master, and that we intend to rule our own house.

Percy: Isn’t that the way people do when they leave off drinking wine and beer, and stop using tobacco?

Mother: Yes; and sometimes they have a terrible fight with Taste before they convince him that they intend to be master. Sometimes he gets them down, and again they put him under; many have fought the battle for weeks, it may be for months, night and day, and at last Taste gives up and the master wins.

Helen: Wouldn’t it be better if they did not let him have his own way at first?

Mother: Surely it would. That is why I wish you, while children, to train your Taste, or appetite, so he will only call for the things which are best for your bodies, and so you will form no bad habits of eating and drinking. Then you will not have the battles of which we have been speaking; for, as I have said, Taste is a good servant. All he needs is to be taught that he must keep his proper place, and that he is not to rule the house. If boys and girls begin to eat between meals; if their Taste calls for rich food and sweetmeats; if they want spices, pepper, mustard, and hot sauces with their food, they are letting Taste become their master, and it will be easy for them to begin to use cigarettes and to drink beer. When they open the gate for Taste to become master, they know not where they will end. They have entered the path to death and ruin.

Elmer: I should think that this servant has more power to do harm than any of the others.

“The bits turn the horse.”

Mother: He has. Next to the master himself, he holds the most important position of all. Not only does Taste live in the tongue, but it is with the tongue that we talk. It is such an unruly fellow that it is fastened to the floor so that it can not get away; there are strong walls all around it; a double row of servants stand in front to guard it; and the double doors are made to shut closely, to keep out anything that should not go in, and to keep back anything that should not come out. Yet for all that it is so unruly that it often puts the master to shame, and wounds his best friends. The Bible says that if any one can control the tongue, which means, I suppose, their taste and talk, he can govern his whole body.

Amy: Who would think that such a little fellow could do so much harm!

Mother: Little things may do much good or evil. A bridle is a small thing, yet the bits turn the horse any way we wish him to go. I was once on a great ship at sea. There was a fearful storm. In the ship there was a little helm, which turned it any way the captain wished it to go. So it is with the tongue; life and death are in its power.

“A great ship at sea.”

Percy: But isn’t it a good thing to taste and talk, mother?

Mother: Yes, indeed. Animals can taste, but they can not talk, or laugh. This is one thing that makes us of a higher order of beings than they. What a blessing kind, gentle words are! How thankful we should be for a keen Taste, which helps us to enjoy our food! On the other hand, what pain and sorrow come when angry words are spoken, and how much sickness and death are the result of letting Taste have his own way! What we want is that the master of the body-house should keep this servant as with a bit and bridle; for he will obey if he must.

Helen: I shall be more careful of my tongue after this.

Mother: But the Bible says again, “The tongue can no man tame.” We can never master it in our own strength. We must ask God to help us; for we can never control our Taste or our talk without His aid.