Muscles of the hand.
Mother: That is because the muscles of your arm pull back when you shut your fingers, and stretch out when you open them. They are some like this piece of India rubber. If you pull it out, it gets thinner, and if you let go, it snaps back and becomes short and thick. Perhaps you have seen the leg of a fowl cut off at the joint, and know if you take hold of the strong cords you can move the toes up or down. So the muscles and tendons move in our feet and hands in the same way. Every step we take, one muscle lifts the toes in front, and another pulls up the heel behind.
If a person sits still much of the time, he will have weak, small muscles, because he does not use them. That is one reason why people are so very weak after being ill. When we use our muscles, they grow large and strong. You have seen the blacksmith’s arm and noticed how large and strong it is. To use our muscles does not wear them out, but does them good.
Elmer: I should think the muscles were our servants, to do whatever we wish done.
Mother: Yes; and better servants no person ever had. If the brain says, “I want a book,” the muscles of the legs carry the body where the book is; those of the eye look for it; those in the arm and hand lift it; and the master of the house gets what he wants. We can not move or do anything without these servants to help us.
Amy: It must take a good many to serve one who wants as many things as I do.
Helen: I read not long ago there were about five hundred of them, big and little, and that they have many shapes and sizes.
Mother: That is true; and one who has so many servants as that, ought to be able to wait on himself, and help other people, too. Some of these servants, those in the feet, legs, arms, and hands, wait to be told what to do. Others go to work and keep at it without telling, and they will work even though the one living in the house should tell them to stop. When you wink, you do it without thinking, for the little muscles over the eye know it is their duty to keep the eye clean and bright, and they keep at their work even though you should tell them to keep still. Your heart is a hollow muscle, and it works faithfully night and day as long as you live. The stomach is made of muscles, which take care of your breakfast and dinner without a word from you; and there are many more of these faithful servants who work to keep our house in order.
Percy: But don’t the muscles get tired, mother?