Some of the messages that the Five Senses carry to the brain are answered at once, as when we move away from danger, or reach out our hands and help ourselves to butter, or take off a shoe to shake out a pebble. But there are other messages that do not call for an immediate reply, and are just stored away for future use in the big “central office” of our Body Telephone, in what we call our memory. And later, when the proper message is sent in by our eyes or ears, or other sense organs, which reminds us of this message which they sent before, perhaps several weeks, months, or even years ago, it wakes up the old message stored away in the memory, and we say we “remember” what happened to us, or what we learned at that time.
So, when your teacher asks you to recite a certain poem, and your ears hear the title or the first line, you recall the rest of the verses and the lesson about it. How many things does the word “Christmas” wake up out of your memory? or the sight of soldiers marching? or the first taste of strawberries in May?
You think about a great many things that you never do. Really you are thinking almost all the time you are awake. And besides the messages that “Central” just stores away for future use, there are a great many messages being carried back and forth along the “telephone system” all the time, that you don’t keep track of at all—the messages that keep the stomach and the heart and the lungs and everything in your body working together properly.
How are we to take care of the telephone lines and “Central” of our nervous system? Whatever you do to build up and help the other parts of the body will help your brain to feel and think and remember; and will help your muscles and nerves to answer promptly and truly whatever the message may be. Plenty of good food, plenty of sleep and fresh air, plenty of play, will keep your nerves and brain healthy and growing.
“ABSENT TO-DAY?”
I. KEEPING WELL
How many times have you been absent this term? No oftener than you were obliged to be, I am sure; for it’s almost as bad as being “put in Coventry” to come back and hear about the good time the rest of the class have been having, and feel that you “weren’t in it.” Of course, sometimes, when you are not well, you have to be absent; it is best that you should be. But it is better still to know how to keep well, so you won’t have to be absent, and won’t have to miss any good times in work or play all your life.
You remember that all the parts of your body are fed and ventilated by the blood, which is pumped to them from the heart. So long as this blood is pure and has plenty of oxygen in it, it does good to every part of the body to which it comes. But the moment that poisons and dirt and waste begin to pile up in the blood, then the blood that comes to the different parts of the body may be poisonous to them, instead of helpful.
Such poisons in the blood are particularly harmful to the nerves and the brain, because these are among the most delicate and sensitive of all the structures in the body.