That self-help is the best help is illustrated by the statements of a writer in Health, who says of the muscles:
It is dangerous to assist any muscle of the body. The more a muscle is assisted, the weaker it gets and the less it responds to the motor nerves. If any part of the body is deformed or has become weakened as the result of certain muscles failing to perform their duty, the muscles should be strengthened, not helped. If the abdomen protrudes as the result of the abdominal muscles having become weak, do not support the abdomen with a bandage, thus making the abdominal muscles still weaker. Strengthen the abdominal muscles, thus making a natural bandage. The same is true in reference to other braces and bandages. Never help a muscle, for you only weaken it. Exercise the muscle; it will then help itself.
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SELF-HIDDEN
One way to win success in work and war is to subordinate self to the service, as the following lines suggest:
He held the lamp of truth that day
So low that none could miss the way;
And yet so high to bring in sight
That picture fair—the world’s great Light;
That, gazing up—the lamp between—