SOME WONDERFUL WINDOWS

other: I told you some time ago that the body-house has two windows through which the master looks at what is going on around him; for he never goes outside as long as he lives.

Helen: Oh, I remember! Those are the eyes.

Mother: Yes; and you may be sure that the One who made the house did not forget to make it to enjoy the light. The Bible says, “The light of the body is the eye.” Most dwelling-houses have quite a number of windows, but though ours has but two, they are so made and placed in such a way that the master can see in every direction. Of what shape is the eye?

Amy: It is nearly round, like a ball.

Mother: Now see how many ways you can look without moving your head.

Elmer: Up and down, to either side, and in a circle.

It would not be well to have eyes shaped like these.

Mother: And by turning the body we can look any way we please. There is a fly which is said to have twenty-five thousand eyes, but even with so many it can not see more than we can with two, if we turn the head. Another thing which shows the wisdom of our heavenly Father is the position of our eyes. How strange it would seem if they were in the palms of our hands, or in the side or back of the head, or any other place in the body than just where they are!

Percy: Just think of it! Why, they would get hurt, and how strange we would look!

Mother: But we can see only the front part of the eye. Why would it not be as well to have eyes shaped like these?

Percy: We could not roll them every way, as we can now, and they would not look well.

Mother: Then you think they have the very best shape they could have. I think so, too. Now you may each feel around your eyes and tell what you find.

Amy: There is hard bone all around them.

Helen: They seem to be in a hollow place in the skull.

Mother: Yes; and this hollow place is called a socket. They are placed this way to protect them from harm, as we would place precious jewels in a strong casket. The eye, like a round ball, fills the socket or cave in which it lives and moves, and behind and around it is a soft cushion of fat.

Elmer: A ball hit my eye to-day, and it just seemed to go in, so it didn’t hurt much. This must be because it was resting on such a soft cushion.

Mother: And we see how the eyes are kept from in´ju-ry, too, by the little porches, or eyebrows, above. The stiff hairs, like a hairy arch, keep the sweat from running into them, and they also add beauty to the face. Then there is a pair of curtains for each one.

Amy: I know what they are,—the eyelids.

Mother: And like a double curtain, or shutter, they close to keep the eyes from harm whenever danger is near. Quick as thought they shut tightly together; and each one has a hairy fringe to keep out dust or other objects hurtful to the eyes. Each of these curtains, or awnings, is placed in charge of two servant muscles, one to raise, the other to lower it, and they play up and down without noise or a hitch anywhere.

Helen: And when we go to sleep, they softly close the window until we wake again.

Eye showing tear factory and drain

Mother: These windows in our house also wash and keep themselves clean. There is a tiny factory above the eye, where tears are made. Perhaps you have often wondered where tears came from, and now you know. As the eyelids move up and down, the tears keep running over the eye, which makes it move so easily in the socket that it does not ache or wear out, and they keep it clean and bright. There is a little drain-pipe opening on the inner side of each lower eyelid, which carries away the tears into the nose after they are used. If we are sad or unhappy, sometimes so many tears are made that they can not pass through these drains, and then they run over the eyelids down the cheeks. There are also some little factories in the eyelids which make an oil for the edges of the lids, so they will not stick together, and to keep the tears from running over the face.

This little boy’s tears have “come unfastened.”

Percy: I never knew before where the tears came from, and that they were being made and used all the time.

Helen: Nor I. Not long ago I read about a little girl named Margie who never cried when any small mishap came to her. But one day her best-loved dolly fell and got a dreadful bruise on her nose. Margie winked hard a few minutes, and then buried her face in her mother’s lap, sobbing, “O mama, I don’t want to cry, but all my tears have come unfastened!”

Mother: Poor child! she was nearer the truth than she thought; and no doubt many folks, big and little, would be glad sometimes if they could keep their tears fastened up better. Have you ever thought why your eyes do not fall out when you bend over?

Amy: They must be fastened in tight.

Muscles of the eye.

Mother: That is true; for they are held by six little muscles, whose work it is to keep them in place and move them about.

Elmer: But what is inside of the eye, mother?

Mother: Let us look at the outside a little longer before we talk of the inside. Because the colored part of the eye is round, it is called the eyeball. It is with this part we see. The white part of the eye is filled with a clear substance, quite like jelly, and it has several strong coats or coverings outside. What part of the eye do you think we see through?

Helen: The black spot in the center.

Mother: What is it called?

Percy: The pupil.

Mother: Now look into each other’s eyes. What do you see around the pupil?

Elmer: There is a blue ring in Amy’s eyes.

Mother: This is called the iris, which means a rainbow. You know we all like to see pretty curtains hung before windows, and such beautiful curtains you never saw as these in the eye. They are only half an inch wide, but they open or draw together around the pupil so the eye has just the right amount of light. When you are where it is very light, this wee round curtain draws up very small. If you are in a dark room, it opens wide, so the eye can have all the light there is. Sometimes these curtains are brown, gray, or blue, just the color which will match the outside of the house best.

Amy: But won’t you please tell us, mother, how we see with our eyes.

Eye showing optic nerve, cornea, pupil and iris

Mother: I will try, and perhaps we can find out some things about it. Here is a picture which may help us. You see the front of the eye bulges out like a watch crystal, and it has a strong, glassy covering, called the cornea, which lets the light through. Passing through the pupil we come to the lens, which is shaped as you see in the picture. You have seen old persons wear spec´ta-cles to help them see. The glasses in the frames are lenses; but you must not think from this that the lens in your eye is made of glass. It is because of the shape that it is called a lens. A picture of people, houses, trees, or anything else you look at, is made by the lens on the inner part of the eye, which is called the ret´i-na. It is almost wholly made up of the little branches of the nerve of sight.

Helen: And is that the way we see?

Mother: Partly. The picture passes through the clear, jelly-like substance of the eye to the back, where it is spread out, and the nerves of sight carry it into the brain, for the master to see. We may have perfect eyes, but if anything is wrong with the eye nerve, we can not see; so we really see and hear with our brain instead of our eyes and ears.

Elmer: Isn’t the eye something like the camera used to take photographs?

Mother: Yes, in some ways. One curious thing about it is that it turns its pictures upside down before they strike the nerves of sight, and in this it is like the camera.

Pictures upside down.

Helen: I am so glad that we all have good eyes.

Mother: And well you may be. We should always take the very best care of our eyes. Alcohol makes them red and bloodshot; for it makes too much blood go into them, just as it does all over the surface of the body. Tobacco injures them by making the nerves weak. It is a dreadful thing to be blind or have weak sight, and while we prize our eyes we will never take such poisons to injure them.

Percy: I wish I could get a peep at the master when he looks through the windows.

Mother: You may at any time. We know just how he feels by the “look” of his eyes. When he is displeased and angry, they look so hard that it almost seems as though sparks flew from them. When he is pleased, they light up with kindness and pleasure, and you wish to be near him, he seems so happy, and it makes you glad, too. When he is loving and kind, there is such a tender feeling shines through that it seems like a warm, comforting fire, and you love him better than ever before. So the eyes “speak,” though they never say a word.

MY TWO WINDOWS.

“Two wonderful windows

The Lord gave me;

And through these windows

His wonders I see.

“The beautiful flowers,

The grass and the trees,

The hills and the valleys,

The birds and the bees,

“The faces of parents

So dear to me,

The stars in the sky,

The fish in the sea,—

“All these through my windows

Most gladly I see,

And praise my Creator

For giving them me.”

—C. M. Snow.