id="Page_14" class="x-ebookmaker-pageno" title="[14]"/> bone out of the fire, for it is all ready to break. If you strike it a quick blow, it will crumble to dust. This dust we call lime, and it is very much like the lime from which the mason makes mortar.

Bone tied to a knot.

The acid has taken the lime from the other bone, so only the part which is not lime is left. You will be surprised to see how easily it will bend. You can twist it and tie it into a knot; but it will not easily break.

You have seen gristle in meat. This soft part of the bone is gristle.

Children's bones have more gristle than those of older people; so children's bones bend easily.

I know a lady who has one leg shorter than the other. This makes her lame, and she has to wear a boot with iron supports three or four inches high, in order to walk at all.

One day she told me how she became lame.

"I remember," she said, "when I was between three and four years old, sitting one day in my high chair at the table, and twisting one foot under the little step of the chair. The next morning I felt lame; but nobody could tell what was the matter. At last, the doctors found out that the trouble all came from that twist. It had gone too far to be cured. Before I had this boot, I could only walk with a crutch."

CARE OF THE SPINE.

Because the spine is made of little bones with cushions between them, it bends easily, and children sometimes bend it more than they ought.

If you lean over your book or your writing or any other work, the elastic cushions may get so pressed on the inner edge that they do not easily spring back into shape. In this way, you may grow round-shouldered or hump-backed.

This bending over, also cramps the lungs, so that they do not have all the room they need for breathing. While you are young, your bones are easily bent. One shoulder or one hip gets higher than the other, if you stand unevenly. This is more serious, because you are growing, and you may grow crooked before you know it.

Now that you know how soft your bones are, and how easily they bend, you will surely be careful to sit and stand erect. Do not twist your legs, or arms, or shoulders; for you want to grow into straight and graceful men and women, instead of being round-shouldered, or hump-backed, or lame, all your lives.

When people are old, their bones contain more lime, and, therefore, break more easily.

You should be kindly helpful to old people, so that they may not fall, and possibly break their bones.

CARE OF THE FEET.

Healthy children are always out-growing their shoes, and sometimes faster than they wear them out. Tight shoes cause corns and in-growing nails and other sore places on the feet. All of these are very hard to get rid of. No one should wear a shoe that pinches or hurts the foot.

OUGHT A BOY TO USE TOBACCO?

Perhaps some boy will say: "Grown people are always telling us, 'this will do for men, but it is not good for boys.'"

Tobacco is not good for men; but there is a very good reason why it is worse for boys.

If you were going to build a house, would it be wise for you to put into the stone-work of the cellar something that would make it less strong?

Something into the brick-work or the mortar, the wood-work or the nails, the walls or the chimneys, that would make them weak and tottering, instead of strong and steady?

It would he had enough if you should repair your house with