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CHAPTER VIII

THE CARE OF THE HAIR

The sun came out after lunch. Grandmother
gave Ann and Paul each a lump of sugar to feed
old Dan, the horse. Uncle John went with the

children to the barn.
Old Dan had just fin-
ished eating his lunch,
too. He ate the sugar
out of the children's
hands.

Ann patted Dan's
glossy mane. " I like
to pat Dan," she
said. " He feels so
smooth and clean."

" That is because I
give his coat of hair a good brushing every day,"
said Uncle John.

" I brush my hair every day, too," said Ann.

DAN'S HAIR Is SMOOTH
AND GLOSSY

THE CARE OF THE HAIR 49

" I brush it in the morning and I brush it at
night before I go to bed."

" So do I," said Paul.

" I brush my doll's hair, too," said Ann. " I
brush it and brush it, but it never looks smooth
and shiny like Dan's hair."

Uncle John laughed. " We will go back
and sit on the porch," he said. " Then I will tell
you about hair."

They went back to the farmhouse and sat on
the porch steps. " You see, Ann," began Uncle
John, " your hair is alive and Dan's hair is alive.
Your doll's hair is dead. Each one of your hairs
grows out of a little pit in the skin. Opening
into this little pit is an oil tube which supplies
the oil to keep your hair soft and moist. If it
were not for the oil, your hair would be dry and
rough just like your doll's hair. Each one of
your hairs, too, must have food, because any-
thing which is alive must be fed. Your blood
carries food to your hair, just as it carries food
to other parts of your body. By brushing your
hair you bring the blood to the little hair roots.

From the collection of the

7 &
•^ . m

o Prelinger h

v Uibrary
t

San Francisco, California
2006

MALDEN HEALTH SERIES

The VOYAGE ./
GROWING UP

C. E. TURNER

PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH, MASSACHUSETTS INSTI-
TUTE OF TECHNOLOGY; ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH
AND HYGIENE, TUFTS COLLEGE MEDICAL AND DENTAL SCHOOLS;
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH EDUCATION STUDIES AT MALDEN,
MASSACHUSETTS; AND CHAIRMAN OF THE HEALTH
SECTION, WORLD FEDERATION OF EDUCATION
ASSOCIATIONS

AND
GRACE T. HALLOCK

AUTHOR OF "DRAMATIZING CHILD HEALTH"; CO-AUTHOR OF "LOUIS

PASTEUR," " EDWARD JENNER," AND " THE LAND OF

HEALTH"; FORMERLY STAFF ASSOCIATE, AMERICAN

CHILD HEALTH ASSOCIATION

D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS

LONDON

PRINTED IN U.S. A.

PREFACE

In grade three the health program should seek to
develop desirable habits and attitudes toward health,
even if it does not give the child a large amount of
specific knowledge. This book presents pleasant ex-
periences of real situations which constitute a natural
approach to the subject of health. Many feel that they
accompany the health training activities set up in the
classroom better than the imaginary or fairy story
approach.

The material in this book has been given a thorough
trial in the classroom during the preparation of the
manuscript.

All teachers will realize the value of adding to the
interest of a book of this type in various ways. We have
found that illustrations of things discussed in the stories
may be brought into the classroom to good advantage.
Pictures of ships illustrate the case in point. Sometimes
materials themselves may be brought into the class-
room. A simple compass is of great interest. A magni-
fying glass will allow the children to examine the skin
as Uncle John did in the story. Most teachers will pre-
fer to discuss the new words in each chapter before the
lesson is developed. Dialogues and informal drama-
tization will help to make the material more real. One

IV PREFACE

teacher allowed children to participate in dramatiza-
tion only after they had learned their own height and
weight. The children may like to keep a log as Paul and
Ann did, putting down the rules of the body ship on the
blackboard or on sheets of paper which may be put to-
gether into a notebook. The notebook may be illus-
trated by pictures which the children have cut and
brought into the classroom. The discoveries which Ann
and Paul made form good subjects for language and
writing lessons. Children enjoy retelling the stories.

C. E. T.

G. T. H.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE FINDING OF THE GOLDEN

FLEECE .... i

II. LITTLE SHIPS . . 8

III. THE LITTLE BOY WHO KNEW

WHAT HE WANTED TO Do . 1 2

IV. THE SHIP'S LOG . 17
V. DRINKING WATER . 24

VI. THE Six LITTLE WATER DROPS
WHO WANTED TO SEE THE

WORLD . . 30

VII. BE CLEAN . 41

VIII. THE CARE OF THE HAIR . . 48

IX. PIRATE PLANTS . . 56
X. GUARDING THE BODY SHIP

AGAINST BIG HURTS . . 67

XI. How PLANTS MAKE FOOD . 73

XII. A GOOD BREAKFAST FOOD . 81

XIII. MILK: THE BEST FOOD OF ALL 88

XIV. THE LITTLE BROWN HEN . . 99

vi CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XV. THE SAD LITTLE APPLE TREE . 106

XVI. PRINCESS GREENLEAF AND

PRINCE GREENLESS . 114

XVII. THE TEETH WORKMEN . 125

XVIII. HELPING ENGINEER DIGESTION 132

XIX. EYES AND EARS . 140

XX. FRESH AIR . 148

XXI. IN THE HARBOR OF SLEEP . 154

XXII. HOLD THE BODY STRAIGHT . 161

XXIII. COMFORTABLE CLOTHES . . 170

XXIV. CLEAN CLOTHES . 177
XXV. THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WAS

NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING . 1 8 1

XXVI. GOING HOME 191

THE VOYAGE OF
GROWING UP

CHAPTER I
THE FINDING OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE

Ann and Paul had always lived in a great city.
Now they had come to spend some time on
Grandmother's farm. They had just had the
measles, and Dr. Allen had said to Father and
Mother, " What these children need is country
life for a while." So Father had taken them to
the farm to stay with Grandmother and Uncle
John.

Uncle John was the doctor on a ship, and he
was having a vacation. He told Father that he
would give the children lessons so that they
would not fall behind in their school work.

The very next day after they had reached the
farm, Father had taken the train back home.
So the children were feeling a tiny bit home-

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

GRANDMOTHER WAS GLAD TO SEE ANN AND PAUL

sick. They were sitting on the porch steps won-
dering what to do when Uncle John came and
sat down beside them. " Would you like me to
tell you a story? " asked Uncle John.

" Oh, yes," cried Ann.

" This story is about a treasure hunt," said
Uncle John.

Long years ago there lived a little boy named
Jason. He was the son of a king. After a time,
Jason's father became tired of ruling. He gave

FINDING THE GOLDEN FLEECE

UNCLE JOHN Is THE DOCTOR ON THIS SHIP

his throne to his brother Pelias. He said that
Pelias could keep the throne until Jason was old
enough to be a king.

When Jason grew up to be a young man he
asked his uncle for the throne. But Uncle
Pelias did not wish to give it to him. He thought
of a way in which he might get rid of Jason. He
knew that the young man liked danger, and so
he asked him to go in search of the Golden
Fleece.

The Golden Fleece was a rich treasure in a
far country. It had once grown on a sheep
which had saved two children from great danger.

4 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

When the sheep died its golden wool was hung
on a tree and guarded by a fire-breathing
dragon. Uncle Pelias said that the Golden
Fleece really belonged to his family because the
sheep had come from his country.

Jason was eager to go in search of the Golden
Fleece. He invited forty-nine other young men
to go with him. He had to build a ship big
enough to hold this crew. In the days when
Jason lived all the boats were very small. He
built the first big ship. He named the ship the
Argo.

There was great excitement on the day that
Jason and his crew of heroes pushed the Argo
into the sea. The young men climbed over the
sides of the ship. Each one seized an oar.
They made the Argo skim over the waves.

The story goes that the sea on whose shores
the Golden Fleece was to be found was guarded
by two small rocky islands. They were called
the " Clashing Islands " because they floated on
top of the ocean and clashed together when any-
thing came between them.

FINDING THE GOLDEN FLEECE 5

Jason learned how to escape the danger of the
Clashing Islands. When the ship reached them
he freed a dove which flew between the rocks.
The rocks clashed together but the dove lost
only a few feathers from her tail. Then the
islands bounded apart and Jason and his men
rowed the ship swiftly between them before
they could come together again. So the heroes
passed safely on.

When the ship came to land in the country of
the Golden Fleece, Jason asked the king of that
country to give him the treasure. The king said
he would give it up if Jason would do something
to win it. He said: " You must hitch my two
fire-breathing oxen to a plow. Then you must
plow a field and afterward plant it with the teeth
of a dragon which were given me as a present.
I warn ycu that a very dangerous crop will
spring from the dragon's teeth."

Jason said, " I will do this deed, O king."

A great many people came to watch Jason
hitch the oxen to the plow. The oxen rushed
toward the hero, breathing fire and smoke from

6 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

their noses. Jason went boldly to meet them.
His friends trembled as they watched him.
Jason spoke gently to the oxen. He patted their
necks and slipped the yokes over their heads.
Then he made them drag the plow back and
forth across the field. The king was surprised,
you may be sure. Jason's friends shouted for
joy.

Then Jason planted the dragon's teeth.
Wonder of wonders! No sooner were they
planted than an army of men sprouted from the
ground. The men had swords in their hands.
They rushed at Jason waving their swords.
Jason fought with them for a while. Then he
threw a stone among them. Each one of the
men thought that his neighbor had thrown the
stone. They began to fight with each other.
They paid no more attention to Jason.

Now Jason had to conquer the dragon which
guarded the Golden Fleece. He sprinkled a few
magic drops over the dragon's head. The great
beast went fast asleep. Then Jason and his
friends seized the Golden Fleece and ran with

FINDING THE GOLDEN FLEECE

JASON PUT THE DRAGON TO SLEEP

it to their ship. They rowed away from the
shore as fast as they could, because they were
afraid that the king might try to stop them. At
last they came safely back to their own country.
Uncle Pelias, who had never expected to see
Jason again, had to give up his throne. The
people of the country were glad to have Jason
for their king. There was great rejoicing when
he showed them the treasure of the Golden
Fleece.

CHAPTER II

LITTLE SHIPS

When Uncle John had finished the story Paul
said, " I wish I had a ship and could have adven-
tures as Jason did."

" So do I," said Ann. " I would go with you."

Uncle John laughed. " Did you ever play at
going to sea? " he asked.

" Oh, yes/7 said Paul, " we make believe hunt
for buried treasure and we play being ship-
wrecked on a desert island like Robinson. Cru-
soe. We play ' Pirates/ too, sometimes. But it
would be much more fun if we had a real ship."

" Of course," said Uncle John. " And now
that I think of it, you do have a little ship. You
live in it all by yourself. It is really the most
complete little ship that any one has ever heard
about. It has an engine to make it go and keep
it warm. It has a pilot house. It has a wonder-
ful crew to carry out your orders. While you
are alive you can never, never leave your ship.

LITTLE SHIPS g

Whatever you do must be done in the ship, and
wherever you go you must go in the ship. So
you must take care of it and try to make it as
comfortable as possible.

" The ship you live in starts out as a very little
ship and grows into a big ship. When it is little,
it has a mother ship and a father ship to take
care of it and see that it does not run into danger
or go too far out to sea. Can you guess the name
of the ship? "

" I can," said Paul.

" It is our body," cried Ann.

" I guessed it too," said Paul.

" I know you did, Paul. So you see you really
have a ship, after all," said Uncle John. " You
can have wonderful adventures in it, but first
you must learn how to take care of it all by
yourself.

" Now suppose we go in and have supper,
and afterward I'll tell you a story about a little
boy who learned how to be a good captain of his
body ship before he started out on a great
adventure."

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

UNCLE JOHN STARTS TO TELL THE STORY

So the children went into the house and had
supper -- lettuce salad and baked potatoes,
brown bread and butter, and milk and apple

LITTLE SHIPS H

sauce. After supper Uncle John said, " I am
going to tell Ann and Paul a story, Grand-
mother, and then they are going to bed."

" May I hear the story too? " asked Grand-
mother.

" Of course," said Ann and Paul. She was a
very nice grandmother, they thought. She had
curly white hair and pink cheeks and her dresses
had little bouquets of flowers printed on them.
They went out on the porch. Uncle John and
Ann and Paul sat on the steps, and Grandmother
sat in a red rocking-chair.

" I like this part of the day the best of all,"
said Ann, spreading out her skirts.

" I do too," said Grandmother. " The world
seems to be holding its breath waiting for some-
thing wonderful to happen."

"It is waiting for the dark so it can go to
sleep," said Uncle John.

" Are you going to tell us the story? " asked
Paul.

" Here it is," said Uncle John.

CHAPTER III

THE LITTLE BOY WHO KNEW WHAT
HE WANTED TO DO

Long ago in a country called Greece there
lived a little boy named Theseus. His father
was a great king who ruled over the city of
Athens. Theseus had never seen his father.
He lived with his mother and grandfather in a
city far away from Athens. His father was too
busy ruling his people to come and see Theseus.

" But, Mother," said Theseus, one day when
the two were sitting on a rock in the woods, " if
Father is too busy to come and see me, why may
I not go and see him? "

" You are too little," said his mother. " Ath-
ens is far away. A great forest where giants
and robbers live lies between our home and your
father's city. You are not big and strong
enough to travel through this forest safely."

BOY WHO KNEW WHAT HE WANTED I3

" But, Mother, when shall I be strong
enough? " asked Theseus.

" Do you see this great rock we are sitting
on? " asked his mother. Theseus looked at it.
It seemed very large to the little boy. " Do you
think you can lift the rock? " asked his mother.

THE ROCK SEEMED VERY LARGE TO LITTLE THESEUS

" I will try, Mother," said little Theseus.
But although he tugged at the rock with all his
might he could not lift it.

" When you are strong enough to lift this
rock," said his mother, " you may go to Athens."

I4 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

Now Theseus knew that he must grow big and
strong so that he could lift the rock. He did so
want to see his father. He wanted to travel
through the great forest and fight the wicked
robbers and giants. He wanted to see the beau-
tiful city of Athens. And so he began to exercise
his muscles to make them strong. He ran races
with other boys on the hills about his home.
He played tug-of-war with them. He tried to
see how far he could throw stones. He went
swimming in the mountain streams. He ate
simple food too — whole-wheat bread and milk
and greens and fruit and honey. He wore loose,
comfortable clothes. He slept long hours in the
open air.

Time and again he tried to move the rock.
But although he grew stronger and stronger he
could never lift it. At last the time came when
he thought that it seemed to move a tiny bit
while he was tugging at it. " Soon I can lift it,"
he said to himself.

And then the day came when Theseus was
strong enough to pull the great rock from its bed

BOY WHO KNEW WHAT HE WANTED

AT LAST THESEUS GREW STRONG AND MOVED THE ROCK

in the earth. He was no longer a little boy. He
had grown up to be a strong young man. Un-
derneath the rock lay a sword and a pair of
shoes. " Your father left them there for you,"
said his mother. " He said that when you were
strong enough to lift the rock, you were to put
on the sword and the shoes and come to him."

So Theseus kissed his mother good-by and
went out into the world to seek his father. He
met with many adventures along the road. He
conquered the robbers and the giants who had

X6 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

made the forest dangerous for travelers. At
last he came to the city where his father ruled.

His father, the king, was very glad to see what
a strong young man his son had grown up to be.
Theseus did many great deeds in his life, and
after his father died he became the king of
Athens.

When Theseus was still a little boy he knew
what he wanted to do when he grew up. He
trained himself to be strong and brave so that
he could conquer the robbers and giants in the
forest which lay between his home and the city
of Athens. He found out all the things he
needed to do to be healthy and strong. Then
he did them.

CHAPTER IV
THE SHIP'S LOG

Grandmother had breakfast all ready for Ann
and Paul when they came downstairs the next
morning. They had
orange juice, oat-
meal, toast, and
milk. Ann found a
little book at her
place. All the pages

.-, -, , ANN FINDS THE LOG BOOK

in the book were

blank except the first and last pages. On the
first page the words " Ship's Log " were printed.
Uncle John smiled when Ann asked him if he
had put the book there. " Yes," he said. " I
thought that you and Paul would like to learn
about your body ships and how to take care of
them. Now aboard ship a log of each voyage is
kept. The ship's log is a story of the voyage. I
thought you would like to keep a Log Book, too,
and write down what you discover about caring

!g VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

for your body ships. You know I told your
father that I would give you lessons. Keeping
the Log Book will take the place of writing and
spelling and English lessons."

" We will give the Log Book to Mother when
we go home," said Ann.

Uncle John turned to the back of the Log
Book. " Here we are," he said, showing to Ann
and Paul the pages he had found. On the pages
were rows and rows of figures. Uncle John said
that from one of the sets of figures he could tell
about how much a boy should weigh for his
height and age. From the other set of figures
he could tell about how much a girl should weigh
for her height and age.

" The captain of a ship," said Uncle John,
" has maps and instruments to guide him on his
voyage. Two of the instruments which boys
and girls can use to make sure that their body
ships are growing properly are the measuring
rod and the scales. The scales tell us how much
we weigh. The measuring rod tells us how tall
we are. The height-weight-age table is the

THE SHIP'S LOG 19

map. If we know what we weigh and how
tall we are and how old we are, we can find out
on the map whether our body ships are on time
in the voyage of growing up.

" Paul, do you know how tall you are? '

" Yes," said Paul. " Father measured us and
weighed us before we left home. I am fifty-two
inches tall."

" How old are you? "

" Nine years old."

" What do you weigh? "

" Sixty pounds."

Uncle John looked at the Boys' Height-
Weight-Age Table. He said: " This map tells
me that a boy of your height and age should
weigh about sixty-four pounds. You are a few
pounds behind in your voyage of growing up."

" The measles made me thin," said Paul.
" The doctor told Mother that there isn't a thing
the matter with me. He said that I just need
lots of sleep and good food and fresh air and
sunshine."

" All right," said Uncle John. " We will write

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

HEIGHT-WEIGHT-AGE TABLE FOR BOYS
By Bird T. Baldwin, Ph.D., and Thomas D. Wood, M.D.

Height
Inches

Av. Wt.
for Ht.
Lbs.

5
Yrs.

Yrs.

7
Yrs.

8
Yrs.

Yrs.

15
Yrs.

16
Yrs.

17
Yrs.

18
Yrs.

—

100

103

106

104

100

101

102

103

104

107

111

116

111

105

106

107

108

110

113

118

123

117

109

111

113

115

117

121

126

123

114

117

118

120

122

127

131

129

119

122

125

128

132

136

133

—

124

128

130

134

136

139

134

137

141

143

144

137

139

143

146

149

147

—

143

144

145

148

Age — years

Average
Height j <
(Inches)

Average
Annual
Gain
(Lbs.)

Short

43
46
49

4
5

45
48
51

4
5

47
50
53

5
6

49
52
55

54
57

5
6

56
59

4
7
8

54
58
61

8
9
12

56
60
64

9
11
16

58
63
67

11
15
11

60
65
70

14
11

62
67

•7

64
68
72

7
4
3

65
69
73

3
3
4

Medium
Till

— Courtesy American Child Health Association

Note: Age is taken at the nearest birthday ; height at the nearest inch; and weight at
the nearest pound.

THE SHIP'S LOG

HEIGHT-WEIGHT-AGE TABLE FOR GIRLS
By Bird T. Baldwin, Ph.D., and Thomas D. Wood, M.D.

Height
Inches

Av. Wt.
for Ht.
Lbs.

Yrs.

6
Yrs.

7
Yrs.

8
Yrs.

9
Yrs.

10
Yrs.

11
Yrs.

12
Yrs.

13
Yrs.

14
Yrs.

15
Yrs.

16
Yrs.

Yrs.

—

101

—

100

103

104

101

—

101

105

108

109

Ill

108

—

100

101

105

108

112

113

116

114

—

104

105

106

109

113

115

117

118

—

110

112

116

117

119

120

121

—

114

115

117

119

120

122

123

125

—

118

120

121

122

123

125

126

129

—

124

125

128

129

130

133

—

128

130

131

133

135

138

—

131

133

135

136

138

142

—

135

137

138

140

142

144

—

— •

136

138

140

142

144

Age — years

Average [ Short —
Height \ Medium
(Inches) [ Tall

Average

Annual

Gain

(Lbs.)

Short —
Medium
Tall —

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

— Courtesy American Child Health Association

Note: Age is taken at the nearest birthday; height at the nearest inch; and weight
at the nearest pound.

22 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

down your height and age and weight in the Log
Book, and then in a month we will see how many
pounds you have been able to make up.

" Now, Ann, it is your turn. How old are
you? "

" Eight years old, Uncle John.'7

" How tall are you? "

" Forty-seven inches. "

" How much do you weigh? "

" Forty-seven pounds."

Uncle John looked at the Girls' Height-
Weight-Age Table. " A girl of your height and
age should weigh about fifty pounds/' said
Uncle John. " You are a little behind too. It
is the measles' fault, I suppose?, "

" Yes," said Ann.

" Did the doctor say the same things about
you that he said about Paul? "

" Yes."

" Very well. We will see how many pounds
you can catch up in a month. You see the first
rule for the body ship to follow is, Try to gain
in weight each month. Later on we are going to
discover what we must do to gain."

THE SHIP'S LOG

" Now can we start learning about our body
ships? " asked Paul, eagerly.

" Not just yet/7 said Uncle John. " We have
to write up the Log Book first. I will help you
this time, but afterward you and Ann must keep
the Log Book by yourselves."

This is what Ann and Paul and Uncle John
wrote in the Log Book about weighing and
measuring.

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Try to gain in weight each
month.

Discoveries

We have discovered that the
scales and the measuring rod
are the instruments which tell
us whether our body ships are
growing properly. The Height-
Weight-Age Table is the map
which tells us whether we are
on time in the voyage of grow-
ing up. We must learn what
to do to gain in weight each
month.

CHAPTER V
DRINKING WATER

When the Log Book had been written, Uncle
John said: " The first thing we must discover
about our body ships is how much water to give
them each day. When a ship goes to sea the
captain must be sure that he has enough water
on board for the sailors to drink. Each day our
body ships go on a voyage through the hours.
At night they go into sleep harbor to rest. We
must find out how much water our body ships
need on their voyage through the day from the
time they leave sleep harbor until they go back
to it again. We can make believe that we are
going on a voyage of discovery."

Before starting on the voyage Ann and Paul
went out into the kitchen to put up a lunch.
Grandmother helped Ann make brown bread
and butter and cream cheese sandwiches.
Uncle John showed Paul where to find apples in
a barrel down in the cellar. Then Uncle John

DRINKING WATER 25

filled three empty fruit jars with milk, and
Grandmother gave him six fat molasses cookies
from the cookie jar.

Uncle John found two canvas knapsacks.
He packed the cookies and sandwiches in one

ANN AND PAUL PUT UP THE LUNCH

and strapped it on Paul's back. In the other he
put the milk and apples, and strapped it on his
own back. Ann carried three little tin cups.

They kissed Grandmother good-by. " We
shall be back for supper," said Uncle John.

" Aye, aye, sir," said Grandmother.

They went down to the brook at the end of

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

ANN AND PAUL AND UNCLE JOHN START ON THE VOYAGE

the yard. The brook was only a foot deep and
not very wide. In the water lay a little flat-
bottomed boat tied to a willow tree. The boat's
name was the Daisy. It was painted green and
had three seats, one at each end and one in the
middle. The brook was not wide enough for
oars, so Uncle John had to shove the boat along
with a pole. When they came to very shallow
places Ann and Paul and Uncle John had to get
out, and Uncle John pulled the boat over by the
tow-rope.

DRINKING WATER 27

Soon they came to a waterfall, and Uncle
John said: " Here is where we leave the boat.
All ashore! " They jumped out and Uncle
John tied the boat to a tree. Then they started
off across a field. At the end of the field was a
stone wall. Beyond this was a wood lot.

They climbed the wall and hopped down on
the other side. Trees grew everywhere in the
wood lot, and the ground was covered with moss
and dried leaves. There were tall ferns, too,
growing in the shade. Ann and Paul went ahead.
They crept from tree to tree and listened behind
each one. They made believe that they were
explorers on a desert island. When they
stopped to listen they heard all sorts of tiny
sounds — the peep-peep of a bird, the plop of
a falling acorn, the rustle of a leaf. The fourth
time they stopped, Uncle John said, " Hark! '
They listened. " Tell me what you hear."

" It sounds like a very little bell ringing," said
Ann.

" It is the song of a brook as it runs down
hill," said Uncle John.

28 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

They went in the direction of the sound.
Soon they came to a small stream. It was about
as wide as Uncle John's hand. It ran over long
grasses. The water had combed the grass
smooth and flat and silvery. The tinkly sound
was made by the water running over a stone.

THEY EACH HAD A DRINK FROM THE SPRING

" We must follow the brook and find out
where it begins," said Uncle John. So they
walked beside the stream up a little hill. After
a short walk they came to a clear pool with
pebbles at the bottom. This was where the
brook began. Uncle John said the pool was a
spring. He said that he knew the water in the

DRINKING WATER 29

spring was pure, and that the children could
drink it. They each had a drink. Then they
sat down on dry stones by the spring and ate
their lunch.

Ann and Paul had never seen a spring before.
At home in the city their water came out of a
faucet, and in school out of a bubble fountain.
They asked Uncle John how the water got into
the spring. While they were eating their lunch
Uncle John told them how, in a story called
" The Six Little Water Drops Who Wanted to
See the World."

CHAPTER VI

THE SIX LITTLE WATER DROPS WHO
WANTED TO SEE THE WORLD

Once upon a time a family of six water drops
lived in a broken saucer in some one's back yard.
A dry leaf lay over the saucer and the water
drops were in the dark. They were not happy
because they wanted to see the world. One
night a wind blew the dry leaf away. In the
morning the sun shone right on the broken
saucer. He heard the water drops talking to-
gether. " Oh, ho! you want to see the world, do
you? " said the sun. " All right, up you go! '

The water drops felt themselves being pulled
up through the air. The sun was lifting them
up into a cloud. They became separated from
one another. But they were not lonesome, for
in the cloud they found hundreds of other little
water drops.

All the water drops thought it was fine to be

in the cloud. They went sailing along in the

SIX LITTLE WATER DROPS

THE FIRST LITTLE RAINDROP FELL INTO THE OCEAN

sky over the world. Down below they saw trees
and mountains and rivers and seas and houses
and people walking about. Everything in the
world looked very small to the water drops away
up there in the sky.

Down on the earth all the people said: " It is
going to rain. See how big and dark that cloud
is! " Soon the little water drops came pattering

3 2 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

down out of the cloud. Now they were called
raindrops.

One little raindrop fell into the deep ocean.
It became part of a big green salty wave. It
beat up against the side of a great black steam-
ship. The little drop heard the people on the
ship say, " How beautiful the sea water is! "
Once the wave ran up on a beach of yellow sand.
A little barefooted boy let the wave ripple over
his feet. The drop heard him say, " I like to feel
the sea tickling my toes."

The second little raindrop of the family fell
into a brook. " To the sea! To the sea! " sang
the brook, and it ran tumbling and laughing
over the stones toward the river which would
carry it to the sea. Once the raindrop fell into
a little pool and whirled round and round. It
heard two boys talking on the bank of the brook.
" I am so thirsty," said one boy. " I think I
will drink out of the brook."

" No, no! " said the other boy. " Don't you
remember? Father told us never to drink water
from brooks. It might make us sick. We are

SIX LITTLE WATER DROPS

THE SECOND LITTLE RAINDROP FELL INTO A BROOK

almost home. Let us wait for a drink until we
get there."

The third raindrop fell on the ground.
Down, down it sank through the soft earth. It

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

met the little white root of a flower. " I need
a drink," said the little white root, and it soaked

up the raindrop. Up,
up the stem of the
flower went the rain-
drop. Now it was a
part of the flower.

The fourth rain-
drop fell on the
ground, too. It went
sinking down so far
into the dark earth
that it thought it
would never stop.
Then it reached hard
rock. It could not
sink through the
rock, so it joined the little stream of water that
was slowly flowing along on top of the rock.
Very soon the rock went up hill. What should
the little raindrop do? It could not go back. It
could not go forward. It could not go down. It
must go up. And up through the earth it went

A FLOWER DRANK THE
THIRD RAINDROP

SIX LITTLE WATER DROPS 35

pushed behind by the little stream running along
the rock. It found itself, at last, in a clear pool
in the sunlight. This
pool was a spring.
Along to the spring
came a creamy white

cow. " I need a
drink of water/' said
the cow. So she took

A Cow DRANK THE FOURTH
RAINDROP

a long drink. The little raindrop was in that
drink. Now it was a part of the cow.

The fifth raindrop also sank down through
the earth until it reached a rock. The rock was
far, far down in the dark earth. The little rain-
drop thought it would never reach the top of
the earth again. But soon it came to a deep
hole that some men had dug down through the
earth to the rock. This hole was a well, and the
raindrop stayed in it with hundreds of other
drops of water. One day the raindrop was
pumped up out of the well into a shiny tin cup.
A little boy drank all the water out of the cup.
Now the raindrop was part of the little boy.

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

A LITTLE BOY DRANK THE FIFTH RAINDROP

The sixth raindrop fell into a big lake. For
a long time it stayed there playing with other
little water drops. Then one day it found itself
at the mouth of a great, round pipe. This pipe

SIX LITTLE WATER DROPS 37

was large enough to hold a railway train. The
little raindrop with many others went plunging
down through the pipe for miles and miles until
it came to a city. There the big pipe branched
out into many smaller ones. It was just as if the
big pipe were the trunk of a tree and the little
pipes were the branches. Through one of these
little pipes the raindrop traveled to the very top

THE SIXTH RAINDROP HELPED TO MAKE A LITTLE GIRL CLEAN

of an apartment house. The next thing it knew
it was tumbling out through a water tap into a
shiny white tub. In the tub was a little girl
taking a bath. What fun she was having! The
little water drop helped to make her clean.

3 8 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

And this is the end of the story about the six
little water drops that wanted to see the world.

" I think I will take another drink," said Ann,
when Uncle John had finished the story. Paul
was thirsty too. They each had another drink
of spring water. " I wonder what makes us
thirsty/' said Ann.

" ' I am thirsty/ is the little message that your
body gives you when it needs water/' said Uncle
John. " You see, we are made mostly of water.
Paul weighs sixty pounds. If he could squeeze
all the water out of himself jis he wrings all the
water out of his bath sponge, he would weigh
only twenty pounds. About forty pounds of
Paul's weight is water.

" People are always losing water from their
bodies in different ways. In the skin are tiny
holes called pores that we can see only through
a magnifying glass. Water is always leaking
out of the body through these pores. On a hot
day, or when we have been playing hard, we can
see it. We call it perspiration.

SIX LITTLE WATER DROPS 39

" Another way that water leaves the body is
in the breath. On a cold day we say that we can
see our breath. What we really see are the fine
drops of water that we have breathed out.
Since we are losing water all the time, what do
you suppose would happen to us if we never
took any water into our bodies? '

" I suppose we should dry up like my primrose
that I forgot to water for a week," said Ann.

" That is it," said Uncle John. " People have
lived as long as a whole month without food, but
no one can get along without water for more
than five days. The food that we eat contains
a great deal of water. But that is not enough.
To keep the body healthy we need to drink at
least four glasses of water a day. This is the
second rule we must remember in learning how
to handle our body ships."

After making the discovery about drinking
water, Uncle John said it was time to go home.
He and Paul threw water from the spring on the
ashes of the fire. Then they went floating home
in the boat.

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

For supper they each had a little brown dish
of spinach with a poached egg on top, and
brown bread and butter, and milk and rice
pudding. After supper Ann and Paul wrote in
the Log Book. Here is what they wrote:

SHIPS

,OG

Rules of the Body Ship
Drink at least four glasses
of water a day.

Discoveries

Today we went exploring in the
wood lot. We found a spring.
We learned how water gets into
the spring and into brooks and
seas and into pipes which carry
it to cities. We learned that it
is very important to drink
enough water. Our body ships
lose water through the breath
and through the skin and in
other ways. So we must drink at
least four glasses of water a day
to give our body ships all the
water they need.

CHAPTER VII
BE CLEAN

The next morning after breakfast Paul, Ann
and Uncle John started out for a walk. They
stopped to look at a bird in a tree near the house.

" Have you ever seen a bird take a bath? '
said Uncle John.

THIS Is How A BIRD TAKES A BATH

" I have," said Ann.

" How does he do it? " asked Uncle John.

" He splashes his wings in the water and
shakes himself all over and pokes his feathers
with his bill. Then he flies up into a tree and
sings and sings and sings."

" Well, an all-over bath and all clean clothes

42 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

make us feel just as the little bird feels/' said
Uncle John. " Perhaps we do not climb into a
tree and sing, but we march down the street
proudly with our heads up, for the joy of being
clean.

" The captain of a ship always keeps his
ship clean. So the third rule for our body ships
is be clean. There are a great many different
parts of a ship to keep clean. The decks,
the brass work, the woodwork, all have to be
scrubbed and polished every day. Then the
machinery of the ship has to be kept oiled
and clean too.

" There are many different parts of our body
ships that must be kept clean. The skin, the
hair, the finger nails, the teeth, all have to be
taken care of if each captain is to be proud of
his ship.

" The first thing we must do to keep our skin
clean is to give it a warm soapy bath at least
once a week. You remember that the body loses
water through the skin. This water is called
sweat or perspiration. It comes from the salty

BE CLEAN 43

water of the blood, and pours out through little
holes in the skin. Perspiration is made of salt
and water. The water dries on the outside of
the skin and the salt is left. We cannot see it
but it is there. Then if you look closely at the
hairs on your arm, you see that each one grows
in a little pit. Into these pits some tiny tubes
empty oil to keep the skin soft and smooth. Oil
catches dust very easily, just as easily as sticky
fly-paper catches a fly.

" Now you see why we should take a warm
soapy bath at least once a week. It washes from
our skins all the dried salt and the dust and dirt
caught in the oil.

" Some parts of our bodies we must wash with
soap and water every day. These are the parts
that are not protected by our clothes from dust
and dirt. Do you know what they are? "

" The face/7 said Paul.

" And hands and neck and ears/' said Ann.

" That is right/' said Uncle John. " Your
face and hands and neck and ears are like the
flags and banners of a ship. We look at the

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

flags on a ship to find out to what country it
belongs. When people look at you they usu-
ally look first at your face. If your face is
clean, they know that you belong to the country

THIS BOY BELONGS TO THE COUNTRY OF CLEANLINESS

of cleanliness. If the teacher in school wants
some one to pass out papers or to take a
message, she picks out a boy or girl with clean
hands to do it. We soap our hands well when
we wash them. After rinsing them we must re-
member to wipe them dry on a clean towel.

BE CLEAN 45

Damp hands sometimes become rough and
chapped.

" The next thing we can do for our body ships
is to take a morning rub-down. If you ever go
on a voyage in a ship, the first thing you will
hear in the morning is the splash, splash of water
thrown on the decks, and the swish, swish of
sailors' mops. The ship is having its morning
rub-down.

" Long years ago in Greece the boys were
trained from babyhood to have strong bodies.
They learned to harden their bodies in every
way possible. One of the things they did was
to take a cold shower every day. The cold water
was placed in a large bowl set on a stand three
feet high. The little Greek boy stood on a flat
stone and dipped water out of the bowl and
poured it over his body. Then he rubbed him-
self briskly. My, how warm and glowing he felt
after his shower! No other boys and girls have
ever been better at games and running races
than the Greek boys and girls. This is because
they took such good care of their bodies.

46 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" When we wake up in the morning we are
still sleepy. We need something to stir us up
and make us ready for the day. So the very
first thing we do is to go to the bathroom. There

THIS Is How A GREEK BOY TOOK A SHOWER BATH

we take a shower, or we rub ourselves all over
with a wet sponge or washcloth. Then we rub
ourselves briskly with a rough towel. This
makes us feel warm all over and wide awake. If

BE CLEAN

we do it every day it helps to make our bodies
strong and our minds alert. It hardens us so
that we do not take cold easily. It makes us
better at games, as it made the Greek boys and
girls in the days of long ago.

" Now suppose you write about keeping clean
in the Ship's Log. You have just time enough
to do it before lunch."

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Keep the skin clean.

Discoveries

This morning we learned that
we must keep our skins clean
if we are to be proud of our
body ships. We must take a
warm soapy bath at least once
a week. We must wash our
faces, necks, ears, and hands
with warm water and soap
every day. In the morning we
must take a rub-down to help
make our bodies strong and our
minds wide awake.

CHAPTER VIII

THE CARE OF THE HAIR

The sun came out after lunch. Grandmother
gave Ann and Paul each a lump of sugar to feed
old Dan, the horse. Uncle John went with the

children to the barn.
Old Dan had just fin-
ished eating his lunch,
too. He ate the sugar
out of the children's
hands.

Ann patted Dan's
glossy mane. " I like
to pat Dan," she
said. " He feels so
smooth and clean."

" That is because I
give his coat of hair a good brushing every day,"
said Uncle John.

" I brush my hair every day, too," said Ann.

DAN'S HAIR Is SMOOTH
AND GLOSSY

THE CARE OF THE HAIR 49

" I brush it in the morning and I brush it at
night before I go to bed."

" So do I," said Paul.

" I brush my doll's hair, too," said Ann. " I
brush it and brush it, but it never looks smooth
and shiny like Dan's hair."

Uncle John laughed. " We will go back
and sit on the porch," he said. " Then I will tell
you about hair."

50 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

You also spread the oil all through your hair.
That is why well-brushed hair always looks so
smooth and shiny and alive.

" At one time people used to wear wigs made
of dead hair over their own hair. Ministers
wore one sort of wig, doctors wore another sort.

ONCE UPON A TIME PEOPLE USED TO WEAR WIGS

Lawyers wore great white curled wigs. Men in
the army and navy had wigs with curls on the
forehead and pigtails behind. Women wore
enormous wigs decorated with great bows, rib-
bons, feathers, and flowers. Sometimes these
great wigs had a ship in full sail or a little garden
set on top of them. The women who wore them
could not go through a doorway without stoop-

THE CARE OF THE HAIR 51

ing. The poor ladies of that time often had
headaches from wearing tight, top-heavy wigs.

" Nowadays people do not wear wigs unless
they have no hair. We think that our own live
hair is much better looking than a wig of dead
hair. But we must take care of our hair if we
are to be proud of it. It is one more little flag
which tells people whether or not our body ships
belong to the country of cleanliness. Our hair is
oily and so it catches dust and dirt very easily.
To keep it clean and healthy we must wash it
about every two weeks. By washing it we get
rid of the waste oil and the dust."

" I think I will wash my hair," said Ann. " It
has not been washed for two whole weeks."

" All right," said Uncle John. " We will do
it right here on the porch. Paul, you ask
Grandmother for a bowl and I will get the
water. Ann must go upstairs and find her comb
and brush and a cake of soap and some towels."

When all these things had been placed on a
table on the porch, Uncle John pinned a towel
about Ann's neck. He told her to comb the

52 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

tangles out of her hair and to give it a good
brushing. Then he poured warm water out of
one pitcher into the bowl and mixed some tiny
pieces of soap with the water until the bowl was
full of soapsuds. He wet Ann's hair with the
warm soapsuds and rubbed her hair and scalp
with the tips of his fingers. Ann looked as if
she had on a little close-fitting wig of curly white
hair. Then Uncle John rinsed her hair by pour-
ing warm water over it. He said that Ann's hair
was especially oily, and so he soaped it and
rinsed it again. He was careful to wash all the
soapsuds out in the second rinsing, because he
said that left-over soap in the hair makes it
sticky. Then he rinsed Ann's hair again with
cool water from another pitcher, and at the very
last he gave it a dash of cold water. He said
that this cold water dash would keep Ann from
taking cold.

Uncle John dried Ann's hair by rubbing it
with towels. It was a warm clear day, and so
after the rubbing Ann finished drying her hair
by shaking it out in the sunshine. " In the

THE CARE OF THE HAIR

ANN HAS HER HAIR WASHED

winter time/' said Uncle John, " we dry hair by
shaking it over a radiator or stove. We must be
careful not to take cold by drying the hair in
drafts."

" Now we must wash the comb and brush/'
said Uncle John. " It would be foolish for Ann
to use a dusty comb and brush on her shiny

54 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

clean hair. Our combs and brushes should be
washed often, just as often as we wash our
hair."

Uncle John went into the kitchen and came
back with a basin of warm water. The water
smelled of ammonia, and Uncle John said he
had put in a whole teaspoonful. He washed
Ann's brush in the water, but he was careful
not to wet the back. The dirt came out of the
brush in two or three minutes. Then he dipped
the brush in clean water to rinse it. He shook
the water out and put it, bristles down, in the
sunshine to dry. Then Ann washed and dried
her comb.

After the porch had been made neat and tidy
once more, Uncle John taught the children this
song:

Twice a day we take great care

To brush our hair, to brush our hair.

Be it black or be it red

We brush our hair from top of head.

Be it yellow, be it brown,

We brush it down, we brush it down.

THE CARE OF THE HAIR 55

Twice a month we take great care

To wash our hair, to wash our hair.

Be it red or be it black

We wash the front, we wash the back.

Be it yellow, be it brown,

We wash it up, we wash it down.

Then Uncle John went out to weed the
garden, and Ann and Paul wrote about the care
of the hair in their Ship's Log.

This is what they wrote:

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Brush the hair at least
twice a day. Wash it at
least twice a month.

Discoveries

Our hair is alive. To keep it
smooth and glossy we must
brush it at least twice a day. To
keep it clean and healthy we
must wash it every two weeks.

CHAPTER IX
PIRATE PLANTS

The children were playing " Pirates " down
by the brook. " Pirates ?: was one of their
favorite games. To be a pirate you had to hide
in the bushes and capture a ship. The ship was
any one who passed by. It might be Dan the
horse, or Ben the dog, or Bill the banty rooster.
This time it was Uncle John.

Paul rushed out and caught him by the coat.
" Surrender! " he shouted, " or we will come
aboard you! "

" I surrender," said Uncle John. " Are you
going to make me walk the plank? "

" Oh, no," said Ann.

" I know," said Paul. " Let's make him take
us for a walk."

" All right," said Uncle John. " Where shall
we go? '

" To the deep dark woods," said Ann.

And so they went walking in the woods.

PIRATE PLANTS

UNCLE JOHN TAKES THE CHILDREN WALKING IN THE WOODS

Uncle John told Ann and Paul the names of all
the trees in the woods. There were maple trees,
oak trees, birch trees, walnut trees, hickory
trees, and cedar trees. Uncle John said they
could tell the trees by their leaves. Each kind
of tree has a different kind of leaf.

They saw a green vine, with clusters of three
leaves, climbing up an oak tree. Uncle John

5g VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

said this was poison ivy. "If you touch poison
ivy leaves/' said Uncle John, " little sore itchy
blisters will come out on the skin."

They saw pretty red toadstools growing in a
shady place, and then they came to a bush
covered all over with berries. The berries were
a lovely deep blue. Ann said they looked good
enough to eat. Uncle John said they would
make her sick if she ate them. He said that in
the country people must learn to know and to
keep away from poisonous plants. They must
never eat fruit or berries unless they already
know that they are good to eat.

" In Swiss Family Robinson/' said Ann,
" whenever the father was not sure that a thing
was good to eat he fed it to an animal. If it did
not hurt the animal he said it would not hurt his
children."

Uncle John said, " Well, we have no animals
to try things on, so you must always ask a
grown-up person about things you are not sure
are good to eat."

" We will," promised Ann.

PIRATE PLANTS 59

" The plants which hurt us if we touch them
or eat them are like pirates," said Uncle John.
" They have to come aboard our body ships to
do us any harm. They are the poisonous mush-
rooms and certain berries that make us sick if
we eat them, and the poison ivy and poison oak
plants that hurt us if we touch them. These
harmful plants are big enough to be seen and we
can keep away from them. But in the world
there are other wicked pirate plants so very tiny
that we cannot see them."

" Then how do we know about them? " asked
Paul.

" For hundreds and hundreds of years people
did not know about them," said Uncle John.
" No one knew that these plants lived in the
world because no one could see them. Then
along came a man who was just like a magician
in a fairy tale. He invented a very powerful
eye. Very tiny things seen through this eye look
like large things. We call this eye a microscope.

" The man who invented the microscope was
the very first person to see things as small as

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

the wicked little pirate plants which make us
sick when they come aboard our body ships."

"Are all tiny
plants wicked? '
asked Ann.

" No, indeed,"
said Uncle John.
" In the world of

NAME THESE PLANTS

tjny plants

are good little plants as well as bad little plants,
just as there are good big plants and bad big
plants. Here in the woods we can see many
different kinds
of plants. Let
us see how
many kinds we
can name."

" Grass," said
Paul.

" Trees," said
Ann.

" Yes," said Uncle John. " And grasses and
trees and vegetables are good big plants which

THESE ARE THE LEAVES OF USEFUL
PLANTS. CAN You NAME THEM?

PIRATE PLANTS

we cannot live without. What
other plants do you see? '

" Flowers," said
Ann.

" Ferns," said
Paul.

" Flowers and
ferns and mosses
are plants which are
pretty to look at,"
said Uncle John.
" They are useful, too, in many ways. Then
there are some plants which bother us when
they grow in our gardens. We call them weeds.
They are troublesome but not harmful."

FERNS AND FLOWERS ARE
GOOD BIG PLANTS

HERE ARE SOME HARMFUL PLANTS. WHAT ARE THEY?

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

Do You KNOW THE NAMES OF THESE TROUBLESOME PLANTS?

" I see poison ivy/' said Paul, " and toad-
stools."

" Those are the big plants which are really
harmful/' said Uncle John. " But just think
how very few of them there are in the world!
We can see a great many more good plants than
we can see bad plants. Now if we could make
ourselves very small and enter the world of tiny
plants which no one can see without the help of
a microscope, we should see a great many good
little plants working busily to help us. We
should see little plants making bread rise. We
should see others helping to make butter and
cheese, and others turning apple juice to vinegar.

PIRATE PLANTS

" Then we should see other tiny plants which
are just nuisances like the weeds. These mis-
chievous little plants make food spoil.

" Last of all we should see the few tiny plants

PIRATES HAD TO COME ABOARD A SHIP TO Do GREAT HARM

which are really wicked. Many people call these
wicked little plants c sickness germs/ but we
shall call them little pirate plants. The little
pirate plants cannot possibly hurt us unless they
enter our body ships. We can keep them out
if we are careful, and so we do not need to be
afraid of them."

A QUARANTINE SIGN MEANS " PIRATES ON BOARD, KEEP OUT "

PIRATE PLANTS

" How can we keep them out? " asked Paul.

" We keep them out/7 said Uncle John, " by
following the common rules of cleanliness. We
wash our hands be-
fore eating. We do
not put anything ex-
cept food and water
and a toothbrush
into our mouths. We
never exchange bites
of fruit or candy, or
drink from a cup or
glass any one else has
used. We use our
own towels and no
one else's. We do
not drink any water
unless we know it is
pure. We wipe the

necks of milk bottles

before pouring out

the milk. We wipe off all fruit covered with

skins which we eat and we never eat any food

Tms GlRL ALWAYS WIPES HER

HANDS ON HER °WN ToWEL

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

which has fallen on the floor or ground. We
stay away from people who have catching sick-
nesses and we stay in quarantine if we have a
catching sickness ourselves or have been ex-
posed to one."

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log:

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Keep the pirate plants
from coming aboard the
body ship.

Discoveries

We have discovered that there
are a great many good plants
and a few bad plants. Some of
the bad big plants are poison
ivy, poison oak, certain kinds
of berries, and poisonous mush-
rooms. We must keep away
from poison ivy and poison oak.
There are many plants so
tiny that we cannot see them
without the help of a micro-
scope. Most of these plants
are good. A few are bad. We
avoid the bad ones by following
the common rules of cleanliness.

CHAPTER X

GUARDING THE BODY SHIP AGAINST
BIG HURTS

Paul and Ann were making a ship. Paul had
a shiny new jack-knife and Uncle John had
given him a piece of soft pine wood. Grand-
mother had given Ann a piece of cloth and a
thread and needle with which to make the sail.
Paul was hollowing out the ship's deck when the
knife slipped and cut his thumb. " Oh! " cried
Paul, " I've cut my thumb! "

" Grandmother/7 called Ann, " Paul has cut
his thumb! "

" Has he? " asked Grandmother. " Let me
see." She looked at the little cut. Then she
brought a basin of warm water with a few drops
of medicine in it. She bathed the cut and put
some medicine on it. Then she bound it up with
a piece of gauze which she took out of a little
package. " There," she said, " it will soon be

well."

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

ANN AND PAUL WERE MAKING A SHIP

Ann and Paul decided not to work on the ship
any more that day. They went to find Uncle
John to tell him about the cut.

" Paul cut his thumb," said Ann, when they
had found Uncle John, who was picking straw-
berries for supper. Paul held up his bandaged
thumb.

" You have it well guarded," said Uncle John.

" Yes," said Ann, " Grandmother washed it
with warm water that had medicine in it and
then she tied it up."

GUARDING AGAINST BIG HURTS 69

" Now the little pirate plants cannot get into
Paul's body ship through the cut," said Uncle
John. " No matter how small a cut or scratch
may be we must remember that the pirate plants
are smaller. The safest plan is to kill any of
them that may have gone into the cut. Iodine
is one of the medicines which can kill the pirate
plants. Then we cover up the cut with a piece
of clean cloth or cotton to keep out the pirate
plants. It is best to let a grown-up person take
care of a cut or scratch as Paul did. Grown-
ups know when cloth and cotton are really clean,
and they know how to use medicines which kill
the pirate plants.

" I knew a little boy once who never told a
grown-up person when he had cut or scratched
himself. Iodine makes a cut smart and this little
boy did not like to be hurt."

" Paul did not mind when Grandmother put
medicine on his cut," said Ann. " He only said
' Oh! ' when he cut himself."

" Good," said Uncle John. " I am proud of
him. You see in the war against the pirate plants

70 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

we must be brave. A little hurt often keeps
away a big hurt. I wonder if you can think of
any little hurts that keep away big hurts."

Ann and Paul thought hard. " I know of
one/' said Ann, at last.

" What is it? " asked Uncle John.

" Last year the doctor put medicine in my arm
three times with a needle. When the needle
went in, it hurt a tiny bit, but I did not cry.
The doctor said that the medicine would pro-
tect me from a sickness called diphtheria."

" Yes," said Uncle John, " and diphtheria is
a very big hurt indeed."

Paul said: " The doctor did the same thing
to me too, and to all the children in our grade.
I've thought of another little hurt," he added
proudly. " It hurts a little to be vaccinated, but
the doctor says that vaccination protects us from
a sickness called smallpox."

" Yes," said Uncle John. " Smallpox is a
very wicked pirate. I'm glad you have been
vaccinated so that he cannot come aboard your
body ship."

GUARDING AGAINST BIG HURTS 71

OUR FRIEND THE DOCTOR LOOKING OVER A BODY SHIP

" I know another way to keep from having big
hurts/' Uncle John went on. " It is to help your
friends, the doctor and the nurse, when they
come to look you over in school. The captain of
a ship is always glad to have his ship looked over.
He wants to know if there is any little leak which
might turn into a big leak when the ship is far
out at sea. He wants to know that his engines
are in good working order. He wants to know
that he has enough fuel on board to last through
the trip.

" The doctor can find out whether there is
anything that needs mending on your body ship.
You can help by doing whatever he asks you

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

to do when he is looking you over. You can help
too by acting as his messenger, and carry home
his report. If he thinks you need to have your
tonsils and adenoids out, or to wear glasses, or to
go to bed earlier, you must be a good captain of
your body ship and cheerfully help your friend,
the doctor, make all the necessary repairs."
This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log:

SHIPS

,OG

Rules of the Body Ship
Help the doctor and the
nurse guard the body ship
against big hurts.

Discoveries

We have discovered that we
must be brave and not mind
the little hurts which protect
our body ships against big
hurts. We must always take
care of little cuts and scratches.
We must cheerfully let the doc-
tor vaccinate us and protect
us against diphtheria. We must
be glad when the doctor and
the nurse look us over. We do
everything they want us to do.

CHAPTER XI
HOW PLANTS MAKE FOOD

After breakfast the next day Uncle John said
he had to do a little work. So Paul and Ann
played cowboys and Indians. Later on, Grand-
mother called to Ann and asked her if she would
like to learn how to make baked custard. Ann
said, " Yes." Paul came into the kitchen, too,
to watch.

Grandmother sat down in a chair and told Ann
all the things she needed for the custard. She
had to bring a bottle of milk and four eggs from
the ice-box, and sugar, salt, and nutmeg from
the closet. Then she had to set out six little
glass molds, a yellow bowl, an egg beater, a
saucepan, a baking pan, and a strainer. Grand-
mother told her just what to do as she went along.

She had to measure everything very, very
carefully. When the custards were made
Grandmother put them into the oven to bake.

74 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

ANN MEASURED EVERYTHING VERY CAREFULLY

Then Ann and Paul went out to find Uncle John.
They found him in the vegetable garden pulling
up weeds.

" Uncle John," said Ann, " I have been mak-
ing custard."

" Good," said Uncle John.

" I measured everything very, very carefully,"
said Ann.

" Did you? " said Uncle John. " I can hardly
wait to eat my custard." He wiped his face with
his handkerchief. " My, it is hot," he said.
" Let us go and sit under the apple tree."

From the bench under the apple tree Ann and
Paul could see the rows and rows of green vege-

HOW PLANTS MAKE FOOD

Rows OF GREEN VEGETABLES GREW IN THE GARDEN

tables. Uncle John told them the name of each
vegetable. He said that we can tell the vege-
tables apart by their leaves just as we can tell
the trees apart by the leaves. There were peas
and beans, spinach and lettuce, celery and cab-
bage, carrots, turnips, and potatoes in the
garden.

" The plants are making food, too," said
Uncle John.

" How do they make food? " asked Ann.

" They make food with the help of the sun,"
said Uncle John.

Paul and Ann looked at the shiny yellow face

7 6 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

of the sun winking down at them through the
leaves of the apple tree. " But, Uncle John/'
said Ann, " the sun is far, far away in the sky and
the plants are down here on the earth. How can
the sun help the plants make food? '

Uncle John said, " Look around at all the
plants and tell me in what way they are all
alike."

So Ann and Paul looked around. They
looked at the vegetables and the apple tree, and
the dandelions in the grass, and a white birch
tree at the edge of the garden. Then Paul said,
" The apple tree is round and fat."

Ann said, " The birch tree is little and has a
thin trunk."

Paul said, " The dandelion has yellow flowers
and the bean plant has red flowers."

" But all of the plants," said Ann and Paul
together, " have green leaves."

Uncle John said: " Leaves are green because
they are full of tiny bits of green stuff. This
green stuff soaks up the sunlight just as a sponge
soaks up water. With the help of this sunlight

HOW PLANTS MAKE FOOD 77

the plant makes the food with which it builds its
roots and stems and leaves and seeds. In all the
whole world plants are the only things that can
soak up sunlight and use it to build up fuel
substances.

" The plant makes food out of sunlight, water,
and air, and minerals from the soil. Ann made
her custard out of milk, eggs, sugar, salt, and
nutmeg. Now let us see if we can tell the differ-
ence between the things that Ann used to make
the custard and the things the plant uses to
make food. Where did the milk that Ann used
come from? '

" From a cow," said Paul.

" Where did the eggs come from? "

" From hens," said Ann.

" Where did the sugar come from? "

" I know. From a sugar cane plant," said
Paul.

" And where did the nutmeg come from? "

Ann and Paul did not know.

•

' From a nutmeg tree," said Uncle John. " So

78 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

you see that everything which Ann used to make
her custard, except salt, came from living plants
or animals. If you think of all the different
kinds of foods that you eat, except mineral foods
such as salt, you will see that they, too, were once
part of something alive. The fruit and vege-
tables were once part of living plants. The meat
we eat was once part of a living animal. Our
milk and butter come from cows. Our eggs were
laid by hens. Our bread and our cereals are
made from grain that grew on a living plant.
The bodies of all people and animals are made
of food that was once alive.

" Now think of the things the plant uses to
make food. Are sunlight and air and soil and
water alive? '

" No," said Paul.

" Then you see that the plants do not eat food
that was once alive," said Uncle John. " But
they change the things which they get from the
air and soil and water into living food with the
help of sunlight. People cannot use and store

HOW PLANTS MAKE FOOD 79

up sunlight as the plants do. They must get
their stored sunlight from plants and from ani-
mals that eat plants.

" Our body ships use this stored sunlight as
fuel. You know that to make a real ship go, the
captain must see that the engines are fed with
coal or some other fuel. The heat from burning
fuel turns the water in the ship's boilers into
steam and the steam drives the engines of the
ship. To heat the ship, too, fuel must be burned.
The food we eat is the fuel which keeps our
body ships warm and gives them the power to
move about and to work and play.

" It does something else. It makes our body
ships grow and it mends any part of them that
needs mending. Our bodies are made of the
food we eat, just as Ann's custards were made of
the food which she measured out so carefully.
To make a good body we must be just as par-
ticular about what we eat as Ann was about what
she put in her custard. We must learn which
foods are best to keep the body ship warm, and
to help it work and play, and to grow."

8o VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Ship's
Log about food:

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Give the body ship the
right kind of food.

Discoveries

We have discovered that our
bodies are made of the food we
eat. Food is also the fuel of
the body ship. It keeps us
warm and gives us the power to
move about and to work and
play. This power comes from
the sun. The plants take this
power from the sun through
their green leaves. All other
living things get this sunlight
power by eating plants or the
animals that eat plants.

CHAPTER XII
A GOOD BREAKFAST FOOD

After Uncle John had told Ann and Paul how
the plants make food by using sunlight power
they went into the garden and picked peas for
lunch. While they were picking the peas Uncle
John told them that peas are the seeds of the pea
plant. The plant stores in the seeds all the food
that the little new plants will need to help them
grow roots and leaves for themselves.

Ann and Paul and Uncle John took the peas
out on the shady porch of the farmhouse and
shelled them for lunch. While they were shell-
ing the peas Uncle John told them a story about
little oat grains. This is the story:

" Once upon a time there was a mother oat
plant that had thirty little seed babies," said
Uncle John. " The mother was not like the old
woman who lived in a shoe and had so many
children she did not know what to do. No, in-

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

UNCLE JOHN TOLD A STORY WHILE HE AND THE CHILDREN
SHELLED PEAS

deed! The mother oat plant knew just what to
do. She filled her little seed babies full of good
food and put them all to bed. Each baby had a
cradle and all day and all night they slept in
their cradles while the warm summer winds sang
them lullabies.

" Then one day the mother oat plant whis-
pered, ' Wake up, wake up, my little ones, you
are going out into the world. Good-by, good-
by.' The seed babies were very happy to think
that at last they were going out into the world.
' Good-by, good-by/ they said to the mother
oat plant.

A GOOD BREAKFAST FOOD 83

" ' It is very exciting out in the world/ thought
the seed babies, as they were hustled and jostled
out of their little cradles by the
farmer who owned the oat field.
The first ten little oat grains went
right into one bag; the next ten little
oat grains went right into another
bag; the last ten little oat grains
went right into a third bag. Each
bag was full and running over with
oat grains.

" The oat grains in the first bag
stayed in the barn all winter long.
In the spring they were taken out
into a field by the farmer. My, how
the oat grains enjoyed the warm
clear sunlight after the long winter
dark! But, dear me, no sooner
were they out of the bag than they
felt themselves sinking into the
earth. It was so hard, so hard to part with
the clear beautiful sunlight again.

" But when the earth was packed around the

EACH LITTLE

SEED BABY

HAD A SNUG

CRADLE

g4 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

oat grains each one felt a little stir of new life.
The kind spring rain soaked gently about them.
The sun reached down through the ground and
touched each little oat grain with its warm fin-
gers. Then the tiny bit of life in each oat grain
began to eat and eat. It ate the good food which
the mother oat plant had stored away in it last
summer. Soon the oat grains grew white roots
which went down, down into the earth looking
for more food and water. They poked little
green leaves above the ground into the air and
the sunlight. Now each little oat plant was big
and strong enough to take care of itself. The
seed babies were able to make roots and leaves
for themselves because they had good food to
eat while they were beginning to grow.

" The oat grains in the second bag were put in
the barn too. But one day they were poured out
into a long box in the stall where Dapple-gray,
the horse, lived. Dapple-gray was a great
strong horse. c Crunch, crunch,' Dapple-gray
ate up all the oat grains in the box. Now they
had become part of the horse. Dapple-gray's

A GOOD BREAKFAST FOOD 85

coat was shining silver and his muscles were
strong, because every day he ate some of the
good food which the mother oat plants stored
away in their seed babies.

" The oat grains in the third bag went on a
long railroad journey. ' Bumpity bump/ went
the freight cars over the rails. They were taking
bags and bags of oat grains to the factory to be
made into oatmeal. When the oats arrived at
the factory, what a cleaning and a roasting and
a shaking they were given!

" Each oat grain had a little outside coat. In
the factory these little coats were taken off, be-
cause boys and girls would not like to find the
oat grain's coat in their oatmeal. At last the oat
grains were rolled flat between great rollers and
then packed into cardboard boxes.

" One day a mother went to the grocery store.
She bought a package of oatmeal. In the pack-
age were two of the ten little oat grains that had
gone into the last bag at the farm. For break-
fast next morning her little boy ate one of the
oat grains in his dish of oatmeal and her little

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

THIS BOY Is EATING A GOOD BREAKFAST

girl ate the other. One reason why the boy arid
girl have rosy cheeks and strong muscles is
because every day they eat some oatmeal for
breakfast.

"! Whole-wheat bread is another good food
made of the seeds of a plant/' said Uncle John,
after he had finished telling the story. " When
we eat oatmeal and whole-wheat bread and peas
and beans, it is pleasant to think that we are eat-
ing the food which the mother plant stored
away. It helps us grow strong muscles and rosy
cheeks.

" Here is a good breakfast on which to start

A GOOD BREAKFAST FOOD 87

the day: a hot cereal, milk, fruit, whole-wheat
bread, and perhaps an egg."

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book about breakfast:

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Start the day with a warm
breakfast.

Discoveries

We have discovered that the
seeds of plants are good for the
body ship because they contain
all the good food which the
mother plant stored away for
the baby plants to grow on.
We should eat a hot cereal
every morning for breakfast
because it helps to keep us
warm and makes our body
ships ready for their voyage
through the day. A good
breakfast is made up of a hot
cereal, milk, fruit, whole-wheat
bread, and perhaps an egg.

CHAPTER XIII
MILK: THE BEST FOOD OF ALL

" Ann! Paul! " called Uncle John.

" Here we are, Uncle John! " cried Ann and
Paul. They came running up from the brook.

" I am going to the cow pasture for Butter-
cup," said Uncle John; " would you like to
come? "

" Yes," said Ann and Paul together.

It was lovely walking through the meadows to
the pasture. They had to cross the brook on
stepping stones and almost fell into the water.
In the pasture pink clover blossoms and butter-
cups were growing in the grass.

Uncle John said, " Let me see if you children
like butter." He held a buttercup under Ann's
chin.

" The buttercup makes Ann's chin look yel-
low," said Paul.

" That shows she likes butter," said Uncle
John.

MILK: THE BEST FOOD OF ALL 89

They sat down on a dry rock in the pasture
and watched Buttercup eating clover. " It's
nice to think that cows eat such pleasant things,"
said Uncle John. " Clover blossoms and butter-
cups, and grass — no wonder milk is so good.
It is the best food to make us grow strong.

" Milk is the food which the mother cow
makes for the baby calves to live on until they
are big enough to eat clover and buttercups and
grass. The kind mother cow makes more milk
than the little calf needs. She gives this extra
milk to the babies and the boys and girls who
need it to grow on just as much as the little calf
needs it. Every day we should drink three or
four glasses of the sweet creamy milk which the
kind cow makes for us of clover and buttercups
and grass and water.

" You remember the fable about the hare and
the tortoise. The hare jeered at the tortoise
because he was slow. But the tortoise laughed
and said that he would run a race with the hare
and beat him. i Come on/ said the hare, ' you
shall soon see what my feet are made of.'

go VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" So they agreed to start at once. The tor-
toise went off jogging along, without a mo-
ment's stopping, at his usual steady pace. The
hare dashed off quickly and was soon far ahead
of the tortoise. So he thought he would lie down
and take a little nap. Meanwhile the tortoise
plodded on. The hare overslept himself and

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE RUN A RACE

arrived at the goal only to find that the tortoise
had got in before him.

" Boys and girls who drink tea and coffee in-
stead of milk are like the hare. For a little while
they feel warm and strong. They start the day
feeling that they can beat other boys and girls
at lessons and games. But later on they grow
dull and sleepy. The milk-drinkers steadily
pass them in class and on the playground.

MILK: THE BEST FOOD OF ALL gi

" Every boy and girl should have a quart of
milk a day, but no coffee or tea."

Then Uncle John told Ann and Paul a story
about a boy named Peterkin and a girl named
Sally who went in search of buried treasure.
This is the story:

A little girl named Sally found an old boat
floating on a brook. She went on board, and
then

She looked within the darkish hold
For jewels fine or shiny gold;
But empty was each tiny bin,
And so she went to Peterkin.

Now Peterkin, you must know, was a sailor
bold. He said to Sally:

" Since you have found the sailing ship
I'll find a crew to make the trip."
And so he brought old Pussy Cat,
All soft and furry, gray and fat.

92 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

Pussy Cat licked her whiskers and said that she
knew where to find buried treasure. " Where? '
asked Peterkin.

" You'll find it in the pasture, sir,"
Said Pussy, with a creamy purr.

Peterkin said that Pussy Cat could steer the
ship. They sailed and they sailed for an hour
and a minute. Then Pussy Cat shouted, " Land
ahead! " The land was the pasture in which
Pussy Cat said treasure was to be found.

" Now what do we do? " said Peterkin, after
the boat had been safely landed and tied to an
old tree stump. He started unloading pick-axes
and shovels and trowels and canvas bags and
yardsticks from the ship.

" We do not need any of these things," said
Pussy Cat. " All we need is a pail."

" A pail? " said Peterkin. " How can we dig
for treasure with a pail? '

" We do not dig for it," said Pussy Cat.

" How do we find it, then? " said Peterkin.

MILK: THE BEST FOOD OF ALL 93

" There is nothing in this old pasture except a

cow.':

" That is where the treasure is," said Pussy
Cat.

At that very minute a man let down the bars
of the pasture fence and went toward the cow.
He carried a shiny tin pail and a little three-
legged stool. Peterkin and Pussy Cat and Sally
crept toward him through the grass.

When the man with the tin pail reached the
cow he sat down on his little three-legged stool
and began to milk her. Peterkin and Sally
watched him from behind a bush. " We must
not let him get away with the treasure," whis-
pered Pussy Cat. So when the man had finished
milking the cow, Peterkin stepped out from be-
hind the bush. He was frowning tremendously
and he had his arms crossed over his breast.

" Hands up! " said Peterkin.

The man was very much surprised. " Who
are you? "he said.

" I am the sailor, Peterkin."

" Well, Peterkin, what do you wish? "

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

PETERKIN AND PUSSY CAT AND SALLY FIND THE TREASURE

'Treasure!' said Peterkin. 'Pussy Cat
said there was treasure in the cow."

" Pussy Cat is right/' said the man, laughing.
" Milk is one of the greatest treasures in the
world. Have you ever seen milk churned into
butter? "

" No," said Peterkin.

" Well, you just bring your crew along, and
we will go up to the farmhouse." So Sally and
Pussy Cat came out from their hiding place
and the whole crew followed the man. Soon they
came to a farmhouse. It had a pretty red roof,

MILK: THE BEST FOOD OF ALL 95

and smoke was coming out of the chimney.
The farmer's wife was sitting on the porch.
" Hello, Mother," said the farmer, " I found a
ship's crew in the meadow. They are in search
of gold. Pussy Cat, here, told them it was to
be found in our cow. She is a wise cat. I've
brought the crew up here to watch you make
gold come in the milk."

The farmer's wife smiled and led the crew to
a little room all lined with stone at one end of
the house. On shelves about the room were
pans full of cream. The cream was yellow and
wrinkly. Pussy Cat licked her whiskers.

The farmer lifted the pans from the shelves
and poured out the cream into a blue churn.
The churn looked like a little barrel with a cover.
When the cream was in the churn the farmer's
wife put a long stick with a round board at one
end into it. The farmer said that this was
called a dasher. Then he put the cover on
the churn. The stick came up through a hole
in the cover. The farmer's wife took hold of the
dasher and worked it up and down, up and

96 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

down. When she was tired the farmer worked
the dasher up and down, up and down. He
allowed Peterkin and Sally to take turns at
working the dasher too.

It became harder and harder to work the
dasher. " The butter is coming/ ' said the
farmer's wife. At last she lifted the cover from
the churn and looked in.

" Let me look too/' said Sally. She and
Peterkin looked into the churn. Lumps of
golden butter were floating about in the milk.
The farmer's wife took two big wooden spoons
and lifted the butter out of the churn. She put
it in a wooden bowl. The milk left in the churn
was full of tiny golden specks. " That is butter-
milk," said the farmer. " Would you like a
drink? "

" Yes/' said Peterkin. So he and Sally each
had a tall glassful of buttermilk to drink. It
was very good. Pussy Cat had a saucerful of
creamy milk. Then the farmer's wife mixed
and patted the butter into little cakes with the
wooden spoons. With a wooden stamp she

MILK: THE BEST FOOD OF ALL 97

printed a clover blossom on top of each cake.
Then she gave one butter pat to Peterkin and
one to Sally. " Here is your gold/' she said.

" Thank you," said Sally and Peterkin.

" Now we can go home/' said Peterkin.
" We have found the treasure."

" Good-by," said the farmer.

On the way back to the ship Pussy Cat sang
this little song:

"Yo, ho, yo, ho, you sailors bold,
Milk is full of magic gold.
Creamy milk is spilling over
With a treasure made of clover,
Made of grass and violets,
Buttercups and bouncing bets,
Flowery sweet and smooth as silk
Is a brimming glass of milk."

When the story was ended Paul and Ann
learned Pussy Cat's song. Then they helped
Uncle John drive the cow home. Uncle John
went into the house and washed his hands with

98 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

hot water and soap. He took the shiny tin pail
that Grandmother had ready for him and milked
the cow. The children watched him. They
each had a glassful of milk for supper. They
had baked potatoes, too, with plenty of butter,
and water cress salad and brown bread and
butter and Ann's custards. They were very
good custards. Uncle John said they were, and
so did Paul and Grandmother.

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Ship's
Log about milk:

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Drink three or four glasses
of milk a day, but no coffee
or tea.

Discoveries

We have discovered that milk
is the food which the mother
cow makes for the baby calf to
grow on. It is the best food of
all for growing boys and girls.
We must each have a quart of
milk a day to grow well and
strong.

CHAPTER XIV
THE LITTLE BROWN HEN

The next morning for breakfast Ann and Paul
each had oatmeal, a soft-boiled egg, toast,
orange juice, and milk. After breakfast Grand-
mother said, " John, I wish you and Paul and
Ann would go exploring in the henhouse some-
time this morning; I need some eggs."

So before lunch Uncle John and Ann and
Paul went to the henhouse to explore for eggs.
Inside there were ten boxes nailed up against the
wall. They found eggs in the straw in each box.
They put the eggs in Uncle John's egg basket
and took them in to Grandmother. Then they
sat on the porch and Uncle John told them this
story:

Once upon a time there was a little brown hen
who lived in a small house in a back yard. This
little hen was very happy. All day long she
walked about and said, " Cluck, cluck, cluck."

100

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

UNCLE JOHN AND THE CHILDREN EXPLORE FOR EGGS

She ate bugs and worms and the corn that a little
girl threw to her every afternoon.

Every day the little brown hen laid a pretty
brown egg in a box of straw. After she had laid
the egg she sang, " Kut-kut-kut-ka-daw-kit."
The little girl's mother always took the egg
away, and boiled it for the little girl's supper.
The brown hen did not mind having her egg
taken away. She liked the little girl and her
mother because they gave her nice yellow corn
to eat.

THE LITTLE BROWN HEN IOI

But one day in the spring the little brown hen
was cross when the little girPs mother took her
egg away. She scolded and fluffed out her
feathers and made a dreadful fuss. All the rest
of the day she kept thinking about that egg.
She wondered and wondered how she could keep
the little girl's mother from taking her egg.
Suddenly she had a wonderful idea. She
thought: " Tomorrow I will not lay my egg in
the boxful of straw. I will hunt around and find
a place that the little girl's mother can never
find. Then I can have my eggs all to myself."

So the little brown hen hunted around until
she found a hollow full of dead leaves out in the
deep woods. The next morning when she heard
the old rooster up on the fence-post call:

" Cock a doodle doo!
The sun is up, are you, are you?
Cock a doodle doo! '

the brown hen hopped down from her perch, oh,
so quietly, and went tippy-toes to the deep
woods. There she made a nest of the dead

102 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

leaves and laid her pretty brown egg. Every
day for twelve days the brown hen laid an egg
in her own little nest. The little girPs mother
wondered and wondered where the brown hen
was laying her eggs. But although the little girl
hunted and hunted, she could not find the
hidden nest.

There were twelve eggs in the nest now and
the brown hen said to herself, " I will sit on the
eggs and hatch out some little baby chickens.''
So for three whole weeks the brown hen sat on
her eggs in the deep woods. She only got off
the nest long enough to eat bugs and seeds and
to take a drink from the brook.

The little girl and her mother wondered what
had become of their little brown hen. They
thought that perhaps the bad fox who lived
away off in the deep woods had eaten her.

Then one day, three weeks after the brown
hen had started sitting on her eggs, the little
girl went hunting wild flowers in the woods.
She was poking among the dead leaves with an
old stick when all at once she heard a little noise.

THE LITTLE BROWN HEN IO3

" Cluck, cluck, cluck." " Why, it sounds just
like our lost brown hen," said the little girl.

She looked around and there she saw the little
brown hen cluck, clucking, beside a nestful of
brown eggs. But what do you suppose was hap-
pening to those brown eggs? The little girl
could hardly believe her eyes. A bright yellow
bill was poking out of each eggshell. " Tap,
tap, tap," went the yellow bills. " Crack,
crack," went the shells, and out of each one of
those eggs rolled a fluffy yellow chick. " Cluck,
cluck," said the brown hen, " come with me, my
children." Away they went marching back to
the little house in the back yard - - the proud
mother hen and the little yellow chicks.

When Uncle John had finished the story, he
said: "Just think how much good food there
must have been in those eggs to make the little
chickens strong enough to pick their way out
of hard shells. Eggs are good for boys and girls
because in them is stored all the food which the
mother hen has made for the baby chickens to

IO4

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

THE FOOD IN THE EGGS MADE THE BABY CHICKENS STRONG

live on while they are in their shells. Eggs make
boys and girls grow.

" No wonder a hen is so proud after she has
laid an egg. No wonder she sings, ' Kut-kut-
kut-ka-daw-kit/ and struts up and down.

" Eggs are a good food for breakfast. They
should always be soft-boiled or poached, never
fried. It is hard for our body ships to use fried
eggs."

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book about eggs:

THE LITTLE BROWN HEN

105

,OG

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Give the body ship an egg
to grow on now and then.

Discoveries

We have discovered that the
mother hen stores good food in
her eggs so that the baby chick-
ens will have food to grow on
before they come out of their
shells. Eggs are good to eat at
breakfast now and then. They
should always be soft-boiled or
poached, never fried.

CHAPTER XV
THE SAD LITTLE APPLE TREE

In the afternoon Ann and Paul went to the
apple orchard with Uncle John to see how the
apples were getting along. They took some
ripe apples with them to eat. It was cool and
still in the orchard. In one of the trees the chil-
dren saw a robin's nest, but the baby robins
had all flown away.

Uncle John looked at the little green apples
growing on the trees. He said, " There will be
a fine apple crop this year." Then Ann and
Paul sat on the stonewall to rest while Uncle
John told them the story about the sad little
apple tree. This is the story:

In a forgotten meadow at the edge of a forest
there grew a little apple tree. It had grown
from one of the seeds in an apple core which a

boy had thrown on the ground. The little apple

106

THE SAD LITTLE TREE 107

tree used to listen to all the great trees in the
forest talking to each other. The proud oak
tree said: " I am the king of the forest. See my
great trunk and my branches which almost

touch the sky. If I am
ever cut down, my wood
will be used to build great
ships which will sail over
the blue sea to a far
country."

The pine tree said:
" My crown, too, reaches
up toward the sky. If I
am ever cut down, my trunk will be used as a
mast. I will hold up the white sails which carry
the ship swiftly through the tossing waves."

The maple tree shook its pretty, scalloped
leaves, and said: " In summer my leaves throw
a wide shadow on the ground. People are
happy to sit under me in the cool shade. If I
am ever cut down, my wood will be burned to
make houses warm when the cold winter comes
creeping from the North Pole."

THE FORGOTTEN APPLE
TREE

108 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

The pointed spruce tree said: " In the winter
little snowbirds warm themselves among my
branches. If I am ever cut down I shall be a
Christmas tree. People will hang pretty balls
on my branches. I shall be lighted with little
colored candles. The children will join hands
and dance about me singing Christmas songs. "

It made the apple tree very sad to hear all the
forest trees talking about how great they were.
" Of what use am I in the world? " she whis-
pered. But no one heard her except the wind
who sometimes nestled in her branches.

" Never mind, little apple tree/' said the
wind. " Some day you will learn what you
have to give."

The apple tree was not quite so sad in the
spring. She woke up one morning to find that
she had on a lovely new pink and white dress.
A fussy pair of robins built a nest in her
branches. Soon there were pretty blue eggs in
the nest, and then one day the eggs hatched out
into baby robins. The apple tree was so inter-
ested in the robins that she forgot all about her-

JACK AND JANE FIND THAT THE APPLES ARE GOOD TO EAT

HO VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

self. Her pink and white dress was blown away
by the wind and soon her branches were hung
with green balls that grew larger and larger.
But this had happened other years, and no one
had paid any attention. So the apple tree
thought nothing of it. And then the green balls
began to turn red. There was no pool of water
close by in which the apple tree could look at
herself. She did not know how pretty she
looked with the red balls shining through her
green leaves.

One day the apple tree heard voices at the
edge of the meadow. A boy and girl were com-
ing toward her carrying a basket. They were
on the way to the woods to hunt for hickory
nuts. The boy saw the apple tree. " Look,
Jane! " he cried. " There is an apple tree, right
at the edge of the woods ! I wonder if the apples
are good to eat."

" I am going to eat one and see," said Jane.
She came close to the tree and pulled down a
branch. She picked one of the red apples and
took a big bite out of it. " It is good, Jack," she

THE SAD LITTLE TREE HI

said to the boy. Jack picked an apple, too, and
ate it.

"We will tell father about the tree," said
Jane. " Then he can pick all the apples, and we
shall have them to eat this winter."

" Now you see of what use you are in the
world," said the wind to the little apple tree
after the children had gone. " Every year red
juicy apples grow on your branches. The sun
and the rain and the air and the good brown
earth help you make them grow. The children
who eat your fruit are eating the sunlight and
the rain and the good food of Mother Earth
which you stored away inside of the apples.
And so you really help children grow."

When Uncle John had finished the story he
cut an apple in half and gave one piece to Paul
and one to Ann. He showed them the brown
shiny seeds inside of the apple. Uncle John said
that when Mother Nature first made the fruit
trees she thought to herself: " How shall I make
sure that the seeds of the fruit trees are scattered

112 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

all over the earth? If they all fall on the ground
under the mother trees and sprout there, they
will be so crowded that none of them can grow
big and strong. / know. I will wrap the seeds
up in bright-colored packages.
Then the birds and the animals
and the boys and girls and their
fathers and mothers will pick
the packages and eat them and throw the seeds
down on the ground far away from the mother
trees where there will be plenty of room for them
to grow."

So Mother Nature made bright golden pack-
ages for the seeds of the orange tree, and red
and yellow and green packages for the seeds of
the apple tree. For the seeds of each kind of
fruit she made a special kind of package.

Mother Nature rewards the birds and animals
and people who help her scatter the seeds of the
fruit trees over the earth by filling the fruit
packages with sweetness and juice and with a
special kind of food which helps make bodies
grow.

THE SAD LITTLE TREE

Uncle John said: " Is it not pleasant to think
that fruit is a reward which Mother Nature
gives us because we help her scatter her seeds?
Every day we should eat some fruit because it
helps us grow."

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book about fruit:

SHIPS

,OG

Rules of the Body Ship
Eat some fruit every day.

Discoveries

We have discovered that fruit
trees wrap their seeds in pack-
ages. They are really surprise
packages because they contain
good food. Every day we
should eat some fruit.

CHAPTER XVI

PRINCESS GREENLEAF AND PRINCE
GREENLESS

This is the story that Uncle John told Ann
and Paul before they went to bed:

Once upon a time there was a prince named
Greenless who lived in a country called Far-
away. This country is not in the geography
books, so there is no use hunting for it. The
prince was very fond of eating. At every meal
his table was loaded down with meats and pies
and puddings and cakes and candy. He had
wonderful cooks who could make castles and
ships out of cake and candy, and birds and
beasts out of sugar. When they sent a little pig
roasted whole to the prince's table, it had
bristles made of brown sugar and red candies
for eyes and a gilded corncob in its mouth.

Now you must know that vegetables grew in
the country of Greenless, but no one ate them.

PRINCESS GREENLEAF AND PRINCE GREENLESS 115

The people there had never heard of eating
cabbage and lettuce and peas and turnips and
carrots. But they grew these vegetables in their
gardens because they were pretty to look at.

Just lately a traveler from a far country had
brought the prince a new kind of vegetable. It
had dark green crinkly leaves and the prince
had it planted in his garden next to the lovely
blue-green cabbages.

Now a little way from the country of Green-
less lay another kingdom. The king of that
country had a daughter named Princess Green-
leaf. This princess was very pretty. She had a
little garden all her own in which she grew
flowers and vegetables. Every day she gathered
some of these vegetables and took them into
the castle kitchen. The royal cook made them
into delicious dishes for the princess and the
king.

One day the princess said to her father,
" Father, I think it would be nice for you to in-
vite Prince Greenless here for a visit."

" Do you? " said the king.

Il6 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" Yes, Father," said Princess Greenleaf. And
as she always had her way, sooner or later, the
king sent his herald with a letter of invitation
to Prince Greenless. The letter was written on
fair white paper with gold edges, because the
king was rich and could afford it.

When Prince Greenless had read the letter he
said, " Thank you," and the herald rode home
with a message that the prince would come.

Prince Greenless washed to show his gratitude
for the kind invitation and so he sent a present
to Princess Greenleaf. He decided to send her
some of the plants with the dark green crinkly
leaves and a little basket of their seeds.

In the king's castle there was now a great fix-
ing up, the equal of which had never been seen
before. As every one knew that Prince Green-
less was fond of eating, the king had to hire
another cook. The whole court was obliged to
help in the kitchen. Wherever the princess
stepped, she was sure to stumble over a noble-
man in a velvet suit shelling peas or a lady in a
silken gown peeling potatoes.

PRINCESS GREENLEAF AND PRINCE GREENLESS

One dish after another was filled with the
most delicious foods — custards, chocolate milk
shakes, chopped fruit for salads, and every sort
of vegetable that had ever been heard of. Yes,
it was such delicious food that the crows licked
their bills a mile away from the kitchen chim-
neys.

THE MESSENGER ARRIVES WITH THE PRINCE'S PRESENT

" Ta, ra, ta, ta, ra! " sounded from the court-
yard. It was a bugle and now every one ran
about so fast that their slippers hopped into the
air because, of course, they thought that Prince

Il8 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

Greenless had arrived. It was not he but one of
his messengers who had arrived with the prince's
present for Princess Greenleaf .

" What is it, Father? " asked the princess
when the messenger with a deep bow presented
her with the beautiful crinkly-leaved plant and
the seeds.

" IT Is A NEW KIND OF VEGETABLE," SAID THE COOK

" Yes, indeed, what is it? " asked the king.
The whole court looked at the plant but they
could not tell what it was because no one there
had ever seen anything like it before.

The royal cook was sent for. He was old and

PRINCESS GREENLEAF AND PRINCE GREENLESS

sensible and he had served the king for a long
time. He looked at the plant and then he said,
" Why, that is a new kind of vegetable! "

" Of course it is! I thought so at once! " said
the king, and he looked extremely wise.

" Yes," said Princess Greenleaf. " It is a
vegetable. How kind of Prince Greenless to
send me what I like most! "

The old cook set to work. He washed the
new vegetable and boiled it and chopped it up
fine.

The next day a bugle sounded once more in
the courtyard, " Ta, ra, ta, ta, ra, ta! " This
time it really was Prince Greenless coming with
his men. The prince was fat and pale and puffy
looking and the princess was a little disap-
pointed in him, but she had been too well
brought up to show it.

The king entertained the prince before din-
ner by taking him about the palace grounds.
" That is my daughter's favorite cow," said the
king, pointing to a little white cow with a blue
ribbon tied about her neck. " And this is my

120 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

daughter's garden/' said the king, pointing to a
garden patch bordered with pinks and daisies
and roses and with green vegetables growing in
the center.

" Very pretty/' said Prince Greenless. He
looked about to see if his gift had been planted
in the garden, but it was nowhere to be seen.
He looked in the parlors, too, to see what had
become of his beautiful plant, but it was not
there.

At last dinner was ready. The whole com-
pany sat down at the table. The prince thought
surely that his plant would be on the table as
a centerpiece; but no, it was not there. He be-
gan to feel very sad, because he had fallen in
love with the princess at first sight and he was
afraid that she had not liked his present. And
now the waiters began to serve the dinner.
But, dear me, such a dinner! The prince was
very hungry, and as course after course was
brought in he looked about for the great roasts
of meat, pies, cakes, and rich puddings that he
liked to eat. Instead there were fruits and

PRINCESS GREENLEAF AND PRINCE GREENLESS I2i

salads and custards, and, strangest of all, green
vegetables which the prince had never eaten in
his whole life. To be sure, there were broiled
lamb chops, and the prince ate four of these, but
oh, how he longed for just one little roast pig!

Princess Greenleaf noticed how unhappy
the prince looked, and she said to herself, " It
will be different when the vegetable comes."
And then the vegetable came!

The king rose and made a long speech in
which he thanked the prince for the rare gift,
the splendid new vegetable.

But when Prince Greenless heard that they
had actually cooked his beautiful plant he could
not stand it. He rose, thanked the king and
the princess politely for their hospitality, and
begged to be excused. He had just thought of
something very important that needed to be at-
tended to at once, he said. Then he and his men
went out into the courtyard, jumped on their
horses, and galloped away.

" What do you suppose was the matter?" said
the princess to her father.

122 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" I'm sure I do not know/' said the king.
" Surely the food was very fine. I never tasted
better spring peas."

" O me, O my! " said the old cook, throwing
up his hands. " Have mercy on me, O king!
He left because I forgot to put hard-boiled eggs
about the new vegetable."

" Yes, that must have been it," said the king.
But although he and the princess peeped out of
the garden gate to see if the prince was coming
back, he never came. No, indeed, he went back
to his own country of Faraway where he got
fatter and fatter, and paler and paler, and puf-
fier and puffier because of eating too much rich
food. Indeed he became so very fat that he
had to be carried about in a chair for the rest
"of his life.

As for the princess and the king and the court,
they went back to the dining room and ate up
the new vegetable and wished for more. But
of course there was no more. At least not until
the seeds which the princess had planted in
her garden had grown into new plants. They

PRINCESS GREENLEAF AND PRINCE GREENLESS 123

named the new vegetable spinach, and if they
did not like it better than any of the other vege-
tables they liked it as well. And the princess
grew prettier and prettier and her cheeks grew
pinker and pinker. At last she married a beau-
tiful young prince and lived happily ever after.

After the story Uncle John told Ann and Paul
that every day they should eat some plant
leaves. They help protect the body ship from
harm and they help it to grow. He said that
they could write in their Log Book the names
of all the leaves of plants good to eat and the
names of all the roots of plants good to eat.

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book next morning:

124

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

SHIPS

,OG

Rules of the Body Ship
Eat some plant leaves
every day.

Discoveries

We have discovered that the
leaves of some plants help pro-
tect the health of the body.
They also help us to grow. The
roots of some plants are good
to eat, too. Here are all the
leaves of plants that we can
think of which are good to eat
— lettuce, spinach, water cress,
beet tops, turnip tops, cabbage.
Here are all the roots of plants
that we can think of which are
good to eat — beets, carrots,
turnips, parsnips, sweet pota-
toes, and white potatoes. We
call plants whose leaves or
roots are good to eat vegetables.
We should eat some every day.

CHAPTER XVII
THE TEETH WORKMEN

The next morning Ann and Paul and Uncle
John went fishing. Before they went they fed
the chickens. The chickens swallowed the corn
without chewing it.

" Haven't chickens any teeth? " asked Ann.

" No/' said Uncle John. " A chicken chews
its food in a part of its stomach called the giz-
zard."

" How? " asked Paul.

" The gizzard is full of fine pieces of gravel,"
said Uncle John. " The gravel grinds the food
just as our teeth grind the food we eat."

Grandmother put up a lunch for Ann and
Paul and Uncle John to take fishing. They
went to the mill pond. Ann had caught a sun-
fish and Paul had caught two perch before it
was time for lunch. Uncle John had not caught
anything.

126

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

THE CHICKENS SWALLOWED THEIR FOOD WITHOUT CHEWING IT

" My," said Paul, when Uncle John opened
the lunch basket, " I wish I had a gizzard in-
stead of teeth. I'm so hungry I feel like swal-
lowing everything whole."

Uncle John laughed. " You would be sorry
if you did," he said. " Food doesn't taste half
so nice if it is not chewed. Sometimes boys and
girls do forget they are not like chickens and
swallow their food without chewing it well.
But, dear me, they have no gizzards in their
stomachs to chew it for them as the chicken has.
So what happens? "

THE TEETH WORKMEN I2j

" They have stomach aches," said Ann.

" Yes, sometimes they have stomach aches,"
said Uncle John. " Their food does not do them
as much good, either. It is hard to digest badly
chewed food.

" The teeth are very important workers on
the body ships. They stand in two shining rows
at the entrance of the little red lane which leads
to the stomach. During our lives we have two
armies of teeth workmen. The first army starts
to come on duty when we are babies. Two at
a time the teeth come marching out until by
the time we are three years old we have an army
of twenty. We usually call this first tooth army
our ' milk teeth/ They stay on duty until we
are five or six years old. Then we discharge
them one by one to make room for a new army
of teeth workmen. When all the teeth in the
second army have reported for duty we have
thirty-two — sixteen on the upper jaw and six-
teen on the lower jaw. We never have another
army of teeth and so we must take great care of
the second.

128 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" Now how do you suppose that we discharge
our first army of teeth workmen? "

" We pull them out," said Ann.

" Sometimes/' said Uncle John. " But when
we pull them out, they are usually so wobbly
that they almost fall out of line by themselves.
This is because the teeth in the second army
cut off the food supply of the first. Beneath
the hard white cap of each tooth is a little
hollow which contains blood vessels and nerves.
The blood vessels carry the food to feed the
teeth workmen. It is very important to see that
the teeth workmen have the proper kind of food.
Milk, fresh vegetables, fruits, and cereals are
the best foods for the teeth workmen. Milk is
the best of all because it contains a great deal of
lime. Teeth and bones are made mostly of lime.
Then we should give the teeth workmen some-
thing hard to chew on to keep them in good
health. Raw apples, raw vegetables, hard
breads, and toast give the teeth exercise and
help to keep them clean.

" But we must not give them things which

THE TEETH WORKMEN 129

are too hard. If we bite nutshells, thread, or
hard candy we may crack through the hard
white caps of the teeth. Then the nerves inside
will give us a toothache very quickly.

" We need to keep our teeth workmen clean
as well as properly fed. When they are well
cared for, they have snow-white caps which
make them a joy to behold. When they are not
well cared for, we know that their owner is care-
less or else that he does not realize that a dirty
workman is usually a bad workman.

"If we clean our teeth every single day we
are not so apt to get holes in them. The tooth-
brush is the drill master of the tooth army. We
are the captains. Every morning and every
night the captain orders the brush to put the
teeth through the toothbrush drill. The captain
says, 'Attention! ' to the teeth. Then tooth-
brush starts the drill. He brushes down on the
upper teeth and up on the lower teeth. ' Down,
up, down, up/ goes the toothbrush. Then he
brushes the gums and the tongue and the roof
of the mouth.

130 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" Toothbrush is such a good friend of the
teeth that we must see that he is well taken care
of. We must never lend him to any one else.
We must give him a hot bath after he has
done his duty. Then
we must hang him up to
dry in the sunlight and
fresh air.

" Sometimes tiny holes
form in the teeth no
matter how well we
brush them. This is
why we should have
a dentist look over our teeth twice a year.
The dentist is the general of the tooth army.
He can find tiny holes and fill them without
hurting the teeth. But he cannot do it with-
out hurting unless we go to him twice a year so
that he can discover the tiny holes before they
become big holes. The dentist usually gives the
tooth army a good scouring too. This helps to
prevent the little holes and it keeps the caps
looking white and shiny. You see the dentist

DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP "
GOES THE TOOTHBRUSH

THE TEETH WORKMEN 131

can help us keep our teeth nice-looking as well
as nice-feeling."

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Brush the teeth every day.
Visit a dentist twice a year.
Eat the foods which build
strong teeth.

Discoveries

We have discovered that the
teeth are important workmen
on the body ship. To keep their
caps snow-white and to help
prevent tiny holes from forming
in the teeth we must brush them
every day. We must take care
of the toothbrush drill master.
We must visit a dentist twice a
year. The dentist keeps tiny
holes from becoming big holes.
We must drink milk and eat
green vegetables, fruits, and
grains so that the teeth will
have plenty of good food to use.
We must eat hard foods like
toast and raw fruit and vege-
tables to exercise the teeth.
We must never bite on anything
hard enough to crack the white
caps of the tooth army.

CHAPTER XVIII
HELPING ENGINEER DIGESTION

Paul had finished his ship. He was sailing it
on the brook. Ann and Uncle John sat on the
bank and watched him. Soon the wind died
down, so Paul could not sail his boat any longer.

" I wish I had a steamboat," said Paul. He
came up to sit on the bank beside Uncle John
and Ann.

" To make a steamboat you would have to
build a furnace in your boat and a boiler and an
engine and propellers/' said Uncle John. " It
would be hard to do that on such a little boat."

" I know/' said Paul.

" Your body ship is like a steamboat/' said
Uncle John. " It has an engineer, too, to help
keep it going."

" Tell us about him," said Ann.

" The engineer is called Digestion," said

132

THIS MAN Is FEEDING THE FIRES
ON A REAL SHIP

HELPING ENGINEER DIGESTION 133

Uncle John. " On a real ship the engineer has
many workrooms and many helpers. The
helpers keep the fires going so that the water

in the boilers may
be turned into the
steam which drives
the ship through the
water. On our body
ships Engineer Di-
gestion has many
workmen and many
helpers to make the food we eat ready for the
body ship to use in growing and moving about
and keeping warm.

" As the captains of our body ships, we can
assist Engineer Digestion by training his helpers
and by not bothering them when they are at
work. We can also help Engineer Digestion by
giving him the right sort of food at the proper
times. You see each part of our body ships has
something important to do. If one part does
not do its share, then all the other parts must
suffer. There is a fable about this which was

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

written a long time ago. It is called ' The
Stomach and Its Members.'

" In the old days when all the parts of the
body did not work together as well as they do
now, but each had a will and a way of its own,
various parts of the body began to find fault
with the stomach. They said that it spent an
idle, pleasant life while they had to work to sup-
port it and supply its wants and pleasures. So
they planned to cut off all supplies from the
stomach in the future. The hands were no
longer to carry food to the mouth, nor the mouth
to receive the food, nor the teeth to chew it.

" It was not long, however, before all the parts
of the body began one by one to fail and flag,
and the whole body to pine away. Then the
various parts of the body saw that the stomach,
too, had an important work to do. They saw
that they could no more do without it than it
could do without them. They realized at last
that if they would have the body healthy they
must work together, each in his proper place,
for the common good of all.

HELPING ENGINEER DIGESTION 135

" Now let us see which of Engineer Diges-
tion's helpers we can train. Can you think of
any? "

" We can train our teeth to chew our food
well/' said Ann.

" Yes," said Uncle John. " We know it is
hard for Engineer Digestion to use badly
chewed food. There are other helpers in the
mouth beside the teeth. Some of these helpers
are the tasters. The tasters tell us whether or
not we like the food we eat. We can train our
tasters to like the food which is best for the body
ships. If we eat too many sweets and spicy
foods, like pickles, we train our tasters to like
these foods so well that they do not like whole-
some foods like milk and vegetables and fruits
and cereals.

" When a mouthful of well-chewed food has
gone down the little red lane to the stomach, we
can help Engineer Digestion by not bothering
his helpers. Can you think of any ways in
which we can keep from bothering Engineer
Digestion? "

136

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

CHEERFULNESS AND POLITENESS AT MEALS HELP
ENGINEER DIGESTION

" Mother says that if we are polite and cheer-
ful at table and eat slowly, our food digests
better/' said Paul.

" It certainly does," said Uncle John. " It
bothers Engineer Digestion's helpers dreadfully
to have higgledy-piggledy meals."

" In school the teacher says that we should
rest or play quiet games after eating," said Ann.

" Yes," said Uncle John. " You see one of
Engineer Digestion's helpers is the blood. The
blood helps Engineer Digestion by carrying the
digested food around to every part of the body.

" If we play baseball or run races or jump rope

HELPING ENGINEER DIGESTION 137

just after eating, poor Engineer Digestion has
to share some of the blood he needs with the
muscles. Then he has to work more slowly.
Sometimes he is not able to get one meal cleared
away before he has to start on another. And
that makes me think of another way to help
Engineer Digestion. We should eat three
regular meals a day and never eat between
meals.

" Let us make believe that it is one of Ann's
duties to put the food away and keep the kitchen
looking tidy."

" It really and truly is," interrupted Ann.

" Well, Ann, suppose you have put the food
away after breakfast, and then Paul comes in
and makes a bread and butter and brown sugar
sandwich. Suppose he forgets to put the bread
and butter and the brown sugar box away and
leaves crumbs and a sticky knife lying about.
You clear that away and then he comes back and
gets a cookie out of the cookie jar and forgets
to put the jar back in the pantry. You put that
back. Then pretty soon he comes in for a pickle

13 8 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

and leaves the pickle jar on the table. How
would you feel? '

" I would feel angry! " said Ann. " I would
tell Mother to make him stop."

" Poor Engineer Digestion cannot tell us to
stop when we keep giving him food to clear away
between meals/' said Uncle John. " But some-
times he gets angry and gives us pains or head-
aches. Three regular meals a day are enough
for Engineer Digestion to manage without get-
ting tired and cross. He does not mind a glass
of milk or some fruit now and then. But he
does not like candy and cakes between meals at
all. The only time we should eat sweets is after
a regular meal.

" The last way of all in which we can help
Engineer Digestion is to be sure that his waste
pipe is cleared out every day. On a real ship
the ashes left over from burning coal are thrown
overboard every morning. If they were left in
the furnace they would soon clog it up.

" Part of the food we eat Engineer Digestion
cannot use. This waste is like the ashes left

HELPING ENGINEER DIGESTION 139

over from burning coal. It must be sent out of
the body every day if we are to feel well."

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Help Engineer Digestion
make the food we eat
ready for the body ship to
use.

Discoveries

We have discovered that Engi-
neer Digestion makes the food
we eat ready to be used by the
body ship. We can help Engi-
neer Digestion by chewing our
food well. We can train our
tasters to like the simple food
which Engineer Digestion can
best handle. We can keep
from bothering Engineer Di-
gestion in his work by mak-
ing mealtime a pleasant quiet
time; by keeping quiet for a
half hour after meals; and by
eating three regular meals a
day and never eating between
meals. The last thing we can
do is to have a bowel movement
every morning to get rid of the
waste food which Engineer
Digestion cannot use.

CHAPTER XIX
EYES AND EARS

It was a rainy day, and Ann and Paul and
Grandmother were in the living room listening
to the radio. Uncle John was there, too, read-
ing a book.

Grandmother said: " Isn't the radio wonder-
ful? Just think, we can sit here and hear music
hundreds of miles away! '

Uncle John said: " Yes, and if we think it is
wonderful, what do you suppose the sailors on
a ship think of it? We are here on land safe
and sound, with neighbors all about us. But
the ship is alone on the wide ocean. The only
way the ship can keep in touch with other ships
is through the radio."

Ann and Paul came over to sit by Uncle John.
Whenever he started to talk about ships they
thought he was going to tell them more about
their body ships.

140

EYES AND EARS

141

" ISN'T THE RADIO WONDERFUL? " SAID GRANDMOTHER

" I know what you are thinking about/' said
Uncle John, pinching Ann's ear. " Yes, the
body ship has a radio too. You see it must have
some way of keeping in touch with the outside
world. The radio of a body ship has five receiv-
ing sets. They are the eyes, the ears, the skin,
the tongue, and the nose.

" The tongue receives taste messages. The
nose receives smell messages. The tongue or
the nose examines everything which comes into
the body ship. They tell us whether or not to
allow it to enter. The skin receives touch mes-

142 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

sages. Touch tells us whether things are hot or
cold, rough or smooth, hard or soft. We learn
a great deal about the outside world through
the skin receiving set.

" The most important receiving sets are the
eyes and ears. If we had no eye and ear receiv-
ing sets on our body ships, we should have to
live in i darkness and stillness.'

" There was once a little girl who lost her eye-
sight, her hearing, and her power of speech
when she was only eighteen months old. This
little girl is now grown up. Her name is Helen
Keller. She has written books to tell us how it
felt to be cut off from the outside world.

" The wonderful part of Helen Keller's story
is that she trained her touch to take the place of
her eyes and ears. She learned to read by touch.
She learned to write on the typewriter. She
learned to talk with her fingers. Best of all, by
placing her fingers on the lips and throat of her
teachers, she learned how to hear them speak
through her fingers, and how to speak herself.

" The story of Helen Keller makes us realize

EYES AND EARS 143

how very precious our eye and ear receiving sets
are. If anything happens to them, we must
overcome great difficulties in order to get in
touch with the outside world again. We think
of sight and hearing as such ordinary everyday
things that we are often careless of the way we
treat our eyes and ears.

" One of the most important rules for the
body ship is to protect and care for our eye re-
ceiving sets so that they may serve us faithfully
our whole lives long. The first way to do this is
to read only in a good light. We should never
strain our eyes by reading fine print and by read-
ing in the twilight. A good reading light should
not be strong enough to make a glare or weak
enough to be dim. We should always sit when
writing so that the light comes over the left
shoulder. We should hold a reading book about
fourteen inches from the eyes.

" If we have to hold it closer in order to see
fairly large print, this means that we should visit
an oculist. An oculist is an eye doctor. He can

144

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

tell us whether or not we need to wear glasses in
order to see better. We should visit an oculist,
too, if our eyes hurt or if we feel like rubbing
them all the time.

" Another way to care
for the eyes is to keep
them clean. If we rub
them with dirty hands
or with a soiled hand-
kerchief or towel, little
pirate plants may get
into our eyes and make
them sick. Rubbing
makes them red and
smarty, too. Have you
ever rubbed your eyes when they felt itchy? '

" Sometimes," said Paul.

" Did it make them feel better? "

" No," said Paul. " It made them itchier than
ever."

" It is hard not to rub our eyes when they itch,
but we must remember that rubbing will not do

THIS BOY KNOWS How TO
TAKE CARE OF His EYE
RECEIVING SET .

EYES AND EARS

any good. If a bit of dust or a cinder flies into
your eyes, it is best to let a grown-up get it out.

" The ears are another important receiving
set. One way in which we can take care of the
ears is to avoid colds as much as possible. Some-
times when we have a cold, the pirate plants
which caused it travel along a little path which
connects the ear with the throat. Then we have
earache. One reason why we should learn to
blow our noses properly is to keep from forcing
the pirate plants along the path to the ears. This
is the way to blow your nose." Uncle John took
a clean handkerchief out of his pocket. " First
of all/7 he said, " you must use a clean handker-
chief."

" Paul and I take clean handkerchiefs to
school every single day," interrupted Ann.

" Good," said Uncle John. " Then you cover
your nose with the handkerchief, like this," he
went on, holding the handkerchief to his nose.
" First you close the right nostril and blow the
left nostril gently. When the left nostril is clear,
you close it and blow the right nostril gently.

146 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

Now suppose you try it." Ann and Paul blew
their noses in the way Uncle John had shown
them.

" Another way to take care of the ears is never
to poke inside them with sharp things. You see
the ear is very delicate. The part which shows is
only the outside of the receiving set. We can
keep that clean with a washcloth every morning,
just as Grandmother dusts off the radio case
every day. But Grandmother would never
poke the inside of the radio with hairpins or
toothpicks or pencils. If she did, it would
stop working. If anything falls into the ear
from the outside, the doctor is the one to re-
move it.

" These are the ways to take care of the receiv-
ing sets of our body ships. We have a sending
set too. This sending set is the voice and the
expression of the face. Other people judge us
very often by our voices. This is why we should
train our voices to be clear and pleasant. No
one likes to hear a voice which sounds cross and
whiny. If we have pleasant voices and smiling

EYES AND EARS 147

faces, other people will always be glad to have
us around."

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book about the radio of their body ships:

SHIPS

,OG

Rules of the Body Ship
Take care of the eye and
ear receiving sets.

Discoveries

We have discovered that the
body ship has five receiving
sets: the eyes, the ears, the
skin, the tongue, and the nose.
They keep us in touch with the
outside world. To take care of
the eye receiving sets we must
read always in a good light.
We must never rub our eyes.
If our eyes hurt or if we can-
not see well, we should go to an
eye doctor and do what he tells
us to do. To take care of our
ear receiving sets we must avoid
colds. We must learn to blow
our noses properly in a clean
handkerchief. We must never
poke things into our ears.

CHAPTER XX
FRESH AIR

Ann and Paul sat under the apple tree holding
their noses. " What in the world are you do-
ing? " asked a voice just behind them. The
children jumped. Their hands flew away from
their noses and each one took a great breath of
air. " We are trying to beat each other holding
our breaths/' said Paul.

" Well, which one wins? " asked Uncle John.

" Paul does," said Ann. " He can hold his
breath while he counts fifteen and I have to give
up at twelve."

" Now is the time to have our lesson about
air," said Uncle John. " You have learned al-
ready that your bodies cannot do without air for
more than a few seconds. We can live without
food for forty days. We can live without water

for five days. But we can live only a minute or

148

FRESH AIR 149

two without air. All animals and plants must
have air to live.

" On shipboard there are pipes with great
wide openings which scoop up the air. These
pipes are called ventilators. They make it possi-
ble for men to live and work in the lowest part
of the ship.

" The ventilators of our body ships are our
noses and windpipes and lungs. Our noses
scoop up the air. We breathe it down our wind-
pipes into little reception rooms called the lungs.
There the blood meets it. In the little reception
rooms where the blood meets the air, each one
gives something to the other. The air gives the
blood a precious gift called oxygen. The blood
carries the oxygen to every part of the body,
even to the tips of the fingers and toes, because
every part of the body needs oxygen on which
to live and work.

" The blood gives the air something to take
out of the body on the outgoing breath. This is
waste which the blood collects from all the work-
ing parts of the body. Each time the air leaves

1 50 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

our bodies it carries a load of this waste. Each
time it enters our bodies it carries a load of
oxygen.

" Moving air is the best air to live in. We can
always have moving air in our houses and
schoolrooms if we see that the windows are
open at the top and the bottom. Fresh air full
of oxygen from out of doors enters at the bottom
of the window. As it becomes heated it rises.
The warm stale air goes out at the top of the win-
dow. Air never has a chance to become stale if
we keep the windows in a room open at the top
and bottom.

" When air moves in and out of the room so
fast that it makes a little wind, we call it a draft.
People who sit in drafts sometimes take cold.
We can keep drafts from blowing on people in
the room by putting a window-board on the
lower part of the window.

" We have a way of testing the air in a room
to make sure that it is comfortable for our body
ships. The heat of a room is called the tempera-
ture of the room. We measure the temperature

FRESH AIR 151

of a room with an instrument called the ther-
mometer."

"I know/' said Paul. " We . have a ther-
mometer in our room at school.
The teacher taught us how to
read it last year."

" Did she tell you at what line
the little pointer in the thermome-
ter should rest? '

" Yes," said Paul. " It should
rest at the line which marks 68
degrees."

"That is right," said Uncle
John. " The best temperature
for a room in which people are sit-
ting in their indoor clothes is 68
degrees. If the air is always kept
WHAT DOES THIS at this temperature or a little be-

THERMOMETER

TELL YOU ABOUT low, and if it is always moving,

THE HEAT OF THE , , . .

ROOM IN WHICH we are sure that we are giving our

IT HANGS? body shjps ^ begt kjn(j of

" The home of fresh air is out of doors. Fresh
air visits us in our houses when we leave the win-

152

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

dows open and we visit it when we go out of
doors. Fresh air's home is very pretty. It has
the blue sky for a ceiling. It has the sun for a
light in the daytime and the stars and moon for

FRESH AIR'S HOME Is OUT OF DOORS

lamps at night. It has grass and flowers and
trees for decorations. It has birds for an orches-
tra. We should spend as much time as possible
in fresh air's home."

FRESH AIR

153

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book about air:

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Always breathe fresh air.

Discoveries

We have discovered that we
must have air in order to live at
all. Air gives our body ships a
precious gift called oxygen.
The best air to live in is mov-
ing air. We can keep the air
moving in our houses and
schoolrooms by opening the
windows at the top and bottom.
We must be careful about
drafts. We must be able to read
a thermometer so that we can be
sure that the temperature of
the room in which we are sit-
ting is not more than 68 de-
grees. We must spend a part
of each day in fresh air's out-
door home.

CHAPTER XXI
IN THE HARBOR OF SLEEP

Ann and Paul were going to bed. Each had
had a nice warm bath and they were now tucked
up in their little white beds. Uncle John came
up to say good-night.

" Uncle John/' said Ann, " where do we go
when we are asleep? '

" Your body ship goes into port to rest," said
Uncle John. " You must go to sleep now, but
tomorrow I will tell you about sleep.7'

This is what Uncle John told Ann and Paul
the next morning:

" When we go to sleep the brain rests from
many of its duties. The brain is the pilot house
of the body ship. Here you sit, the captain of
the ship, with telephone lines running to every
part of your body. These telephone lines are
the nerves. Around you in the pilot house sit
your telephone operators. Some of the opera-

154

IN THE HARBOR OF SLEEP 155

tors take care of incoming calls. They give you
all messages from the receiving sets - - eyes, ears,
tongue, skin, and nose. They take down, too,
the little pain messages which tell you that some
part of your body ship is not working properly.
Near by are your telephone operators who send
out all outgoing messages along the nerve tele-
phone wires. They control the speech and the
movements of your arms and legs and all other
parts of the body.

" The captain of a ship is very important. He
leaves many of the duties of running the ship to
his officers. On your body ship you leave the
tasks of running the heart and lungs and stomach
and other important duties to your helpers.
Other duties you attend to yourself.

" Now, Paul, suppose you are walking along
the street and you meet your friend, Peter
Green. He says, ' Hello, Paul.' You stop and
say, ' Hello, Peter,' and smile and shake hands.
What happens in your pilot house in the few
seconds from the time you see Peter to the time
you shake hands?

156 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" In the twinkling of a second your receiving
set, the eyes, flashes a picture of Peter to you in
the pilot house. Your receiving set, the ears,
reports the sound ' Hello, Paul.' As quick as
lightning a little cabin boy named ' Memory '
tells you that the face and the voice of Peter are
the face and the voice of a friend. At once you
give orders over the outgoing telephone wires:
Tell the speech operator to order my voice to
say ' Hello, Peter/ for me. Tell the leg operator
to order the muscles of my legs to stop moving.
Tell the arm operator to order the muscles of
my arm to put out my hand and shake Peter's
hand. Tell the face and lip operator to order a
smile.

" In less than half a second your orders are
carried out, although it takes five minutes to
tell what happened. Remember that all this
takes only half a second and then think how
hard the brain must work all day long. When
our body ships go into sleep harbor at night our
brains rest. While the brain is resting only the
most necessary work is carried on in the body

IN THE HARBOR OF SLEEP 157

ship. Even this necessary work is done more
slowly.

" We breathe more slowly, our hearts beat
more slowly. If there is food to be digested,
Engineer Digestion works more slowly. The
hardest workers on our body ships during sleep
are the repair men.

" They must mend the muscles, the nerves,
and the brain, which are all worn out after the
work of the day. It is very important that your
brain and nerves and muscles should stop work-
ing for rest and repairs.

" Children grow mostly when their body ships
are in sleep harbor. This is why children need
more sleep than grown-up people. Ann, you
are eight years old and Paul is nine years old.
You need about eleven hours of sleep each night
to grow and to be well and strong. The scales
tell us very quickly whether or not we have
enough sleep. Boys and girls who go to the
movies at night or who read or play late are apt
to be thin and pale and nervous. This means
that they are not giving the repair men of their

158 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

body ships enough time to make their brains
and nerves and muscles ready for the day.

" Now we must think of all the ways in which
we can make sleep harbor a restful place.

OUR BODY SHIPS Go INTO SLEEP HARBOR FOR REST AND REPAIRS

" The first thing we can do is to eat a simple
meal at night. Cereals and fruit and brown
bread and milk are good foods for supper. If
we eat a heavy meal at night, Engineer Digestion
needs so much help that the brain is kept
awake sending messages to Engineer Digestion's
helpers.

IN THE HARBOR OF SLEEP I59

" The second thing we can do is to rest or play
quiet games before going to bed. A ship always
has to slow down when it enters a harbor. If
we do not slow down our body ships before we
go to bed, then we must slow them down when
we are in bed. Then we lie awake and wonder
why we cannot get to sleep.

" The third thing we can do is to go to bed at
the same time each night. A body ship works
much better if the captain owns a timetable and
follows it. If the captain has regular times for
meals and a regular time for going to bed, all
the officers on the ship know what to expect and
get ready for it.

" The fourth thing we can do is to have a good
anchorage for our ships in sleep harbor. An
anchorage is where the captain of a real ship
stops the ship and lets down the anchor. The
anchorage of our body ships is a bed. The beds
we sleep in should be comfortable. The bed-
clothes should be clean and sweet. We need just
enough light covers to keep us warm. Our body
ships do not like too many bed covers. Our

160 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

pillows should be low. It is really better not to
have a pillow at all. The room should be dark
and the windows open at top and bottom."

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book about sleep:

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Sleep at least eleven hours
every night.

Discoveries

We have discovered that the
brain directs the work of the
body ship. Our brains work so
hard that they need plenty of
rest. They rest when we are
asleep. All the parts of our
body ships which need mending
are repaired when we are in
sleep harbor. We grow best
in sleep harbor too. To make
sleep harbor a restful place we
must eat a light supper. We
must be as quiet as possible be-
fore going to bed. We must
have clean, comfortable beds
and plenty of fresh air in the
room.

CHAPTER XXII
HOLD THE BODY STRAIGHT

Paul and Ann and Uncle John were picking
cherries. Once in a while they popped cherries
into their mouths instead of into the pail. Sud-
denly Ann began to laugh. She almost choked
on a cherry pit.

" What are you laughing about? " demanded
Paul.

" I was thinking about a girl in school/' said
Ann. " She thought that her bones were all in
one piece like a cherry pit. She called a cherry
pit a ' cherry bone.'

" Well," said Uncle John, " in one way she
was right. Our bones are fitted together but
they are fitted in such a way that they can be
moved at the joints. We move our bones with
the help of the muscles which are fastened to
them. Muscles work like elastic bands. They
move the bones by becoming shorter.

161

1 62 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" We must train the muscles to hold the
bones of our bodies straight. You see, the
bones are the framework of out body ships, and
if the framework of a
ship is crooked then
the inside is crooked
too/'

Ann and Paul and
Uncle John climbed
down out of the
cherry tree and sat
on a bench under it.
Then Uncle John told
them about holding
the body straight.
First he told them a
story, and here it is:

WHEN ULYSSES SAID GOOD-
BYE TO His WIFE AND SON
HE STOOD STRAIGHT
AND TALL

Once upon a time
there was a Greek king
named Ulysses. He went to the Trojan war,
leaving his wife Penelope and his son at home.
He was away for twenty years and most people

HOLD THE BODY STRAIGHT ^3

in his home country believed him to be dead.
There were many men who wished to marry
Penelope and they begged her to choose one of
them. At last they became very insolent in
their demands. But Penelope still hoped that
Ulysses would return, so she thought of a trick
to fool her suitors. She said that before she
made her choice she must weave a piece of cloth.
But the cloth never grew in length because
Penelope unraveled by night all that which she
had woven in the daytime.

After three years the suitors discovered the
trick. Then they became more insolent than
ever. They demanded that Penelope make her
choice at once. But the day of reckoning came
at last. Ulysses, after many years of wandering,
came safely back to his homeland. He had to
come in secret, however, because he had been
told of the suitors who would kill him if they
could.

Now Ulysses was a fine upstanding man like
all the Greeks. In order to disguise himself he
had to think of some way to hide the strength

1 64 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

and straightness of his body. So he made be-
lieve that he was an old beggar. He dressed
himself in rags. He stooped his shoulders and
let his arms dangle helplessly at his sides.
He walked with a slow,
scuffing step. No one
would recognize the tall,
straight, commanding fig-
ure of Ulysses in this
stoop-shouldered old beg-
gar.

When he came into the
hall of his own home no
man knew him except his
son, to whom he had made -

himself known before- ULYSSES AS A BEGGAR

hand. The suitors treated the old beggar with
scorn. They beat him and insulted him.

On the next day Penelope said that at last
she would choose one of the suitors as her hus-
band. She said that she would marry the one
who could bend the great bow of Ulysses which
hung in the hall, and send an arrow through

HOLD THE BODY STRAIGHT 165

twelve rings arranged in a line. One by one the
suitors came forward to bend the bow. One by
one they failed.

Then the old beggar said: " Let me try.
Beggar as I am, I was once a soldier and there
is still some strength in these old limbs of mine."
The suitors hooted at him, and ordered him
turned out of the hall. But the son of Ulysses
said, " Let him try."

Then Ulysses threw off his rags. He stood
up straight and tall. He seized the bow and
bent it easily. He sent an arrow whizzing from
the string through all the twelve rings. Now
all men knew that Ulysses had come home.

Uncle John said: " Ulysses was able to dis-
guise himself so well because no one dreamed
that a stoop-shouldered man could possibly be
a king used to command.

" In story books and plays the hero always
stands up straight and tall. He looks other
people fearlessly in the eye. In real life it is a
pleasure to look at boys and girls who hold their

i66

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

bodies straight. We think of them as captains
who are proud of their body ships.

" The time to train the body to stand and sit
properly is when we are young. A little tree
that starts out growing straight grows up to be
straight.

" Now suppose we see if we can discover all
the ways in which we can help our bones and
muscles in their work on the body
ship," continued Uncle John.

" First of all, we must give
them the right kind of food.
Bones are mostly made of lime so
we must give our bones milk and
green vegetables and fruit and
cereals to grow on.

" Then we must learn how to
stand properly. The best way to
do this is always to ' stand tall.'
If we stretch our bodies to make
them as tall as possible, the bones and muscles
fall into line like good soldiers. In the army
two commands are given to make the men stand

STANDING TALL

HOLD THE BODY STRAIGHT 167

properly. The first one is, ' abdomen in, hips
flat '; the second, ' chest up, chin in.'

" Next we learn to sit properly. To do this
we sit with our hips pushed against the back of
the chair. We hold our heads
and trunks erect and we place
our feet flat on the floor.
When we lean forward we
lean from the hips. We never
sit humped up over a desk in
school."

" In OUr School," said Paul, THIS Is THE WAY TO
.. ... ^ r j i SIT WHEN WRITING

the teacher fixes our desks
every term so that our seats are the right
height."

" Then we must learn to walk properly," said
Uncle John. " We hold our bodies tall in walk-
ing just as we do in standing. We point our toes
straight ahead and lift our feet from the ground
at each step. We never go slouching and scuff-
ing along the street.

" These are the ways in which we can help
our muscles to hold our bodies straight.

1 68 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" You see the bones of the head and the trunk
are like the boxes in which we pack our most
precious possessions. The bones of the head
hold the brain. The bony framework of the
trunk holds the lungs, the heart, and the
stomach. These three organs and others are
packed in very neatly so that each one has just
enough room in which to work and no more. If
we stoop our shoulders and slump forward from
the hips, the organs in the trunk are all crowded
together and cannot work well. Is it any wonder
that the boy or girl who holds the body straight
feels better and looks better than the boy or girl
who slouches along?

" Playing every day out of doors is one way in
which the American boys and girls of today can
make their muscles strong.

" Another way is to rest the muscles at regular
times each day. When we rest the muscles we
say that we are relaxing. For a few minutes we
let our bodies go limp. Sometimes during an
army drill, the drill master calls out, ' At ease! '
Then the soldiers lower their guns and let their

HOLD THE BODY STRAIGHT 169

bodies take the positions in which they can best
rest. When we relax, the brain sends out the
order ' at ease ' to all the muscles."

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book about bones and muscles:

SHPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Train the muscles to hold
the body straight. Exer-
cise the muscles out of
doors every day.

Discoveries

We have discovered that the
bones form the framework of
our body ships. The muscles
move the bones and all the
other moving parts of our body
ships. We must train our mus-
cles to hold the body straight.
We can do this by " standing
tall " and by learning to sit and
walk properly. We need good
strong muscles to help us work
and play. We can make them
strong by exercising them every
day out of doors.

CHAPTER XXIII
COMFORTABLE CLOTHES

It was Ann's birthday. Uncle John and
Grandmother gave her a set of little dolls. Uncle
John had bought the dolls and Grandmother had
dressed them. The Eskimo doll was dressed in

THIS Is ANN'S BIRTHDAY PRESENT

furs. The African boy doll had only a piece of
cloth tied about his waist. A Japanese doll was
dressed in a kimono. A Dutch doll had tiny
wooden shoes. An Indian doll wore a tunic of
soft buckskin. A Greek doll and a Roman doll

were dressed in the clothes of long ago. An

170

COMFORTABLE CLOTHES 171

American boy and girl doll wore the same kind
of clothes that Ann and Paul wore.

Ann played a long time with her dolls, dress-
ing and undressing them. Paul sat on the floor
near by working on the doll house which he had
hoped to have ready for Ann's birthday. Uncle
John was helping him finish it.

" Uncle John," said Ann at last, " why does
not every one in the whole world dress alike? '

Uncle John laid down his hammer. " That is
a good question," he said, laughing. " People
usually dress in clothes suited to the weather and
to the work which they have to do. Would you
like me to tell you more about clothes? r

" Yes," said Ann.

" It is very cold where the Eskimos live," said
Uncle John, " and so they keep warm by wear-
ing the furs of animals. Many wild animals
wear coats suited to the weather too. Animals
like wolves and foxes grow heavy winter coats
of fur.

" It is very hot where the Africans live. Their

I72 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

skins are used to the hot rays of the sun. They
do not need to wear clothes to keep warm, and so
they wear as few clothes as possible. People who
go from a cool climate to a hot one must wear
clothes to protect their skins from the heat of the
sun. The clothes they wear are loose and light-
weight so that air can reach the skin and cool
it off.

" In most parts of our country we have both
cold and hot weather, and so we must dress to
suit each kind when it comes. Another rule for
you and me is to wear clothes suited to the
weather. In the winter time when we go out of
doors we wear outdoor clothes made of wool or
fur to keep our bodies warm. In the summer
time we wear loose, lightweight clothes of linen,
cotton, or silk so that the air can reach our skins
easily.

" In rainy or snowy weather we put on rub-
bers and carry umbrellas, or wear waterproofs to
protect our bodies from the wet. Wet clothes
chill our bodies and make us more apt to catch

COMFORTABLE CLOTHES 173

cold. We should always take off wet shoes and
stockings and put on dry ones as soon as we come
into the house.

" Outdoor clothes are to keep us warm and
dry out of doors in cold or wet weather. Inside

WE TAKE OFF OUR OUTDOOR CLOTHES WHEN WE
COME INSIDE

of our houses and schoolrooms we have furnaces
or stoves to keep us warm in cold weather. And
so we put outdoor clothes on when we go out and
take them off when we come in. If we wear over-
coats or heavy sweaters and overshoes in the
house or schoolroom, we may take cold when we
go out. We feel much better and work much

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

better, too, if we remember to take off outdoor
wraps in the house. It is very important to
wear loose clothes in any kind of weather. Loose
clothes let the air reach every part of our bodies.

" The body cannot work well in too tight
clothes. When the lungs are filled with air they
stretch two inches or more. The lungs go down
almost to the waistline and so the clothes on the
upper part of our bodies should be loose enough
to give the lungs plenty of room in which to hold
a deep breath.

" Our clothes should be warm enough to pro-
tect us from the weather, but they should not be
too heavy. It tires us out to carry a load of
heavy clothes around. Our shoulders are the
parts of our bodies best able to carry burdens
and so the weight of our clothes should hang
from our shoulders and not from our hips. We
should not wear tight garters or tight waist bands
or tight collars or cuffs. They hold up the blood
on its journey through the body.

" Our feet are busy workmen. They live most
of the time in shoes. How would you like to live

COMFORTABLE CLOTHES 1:75

in a house that pinched you on one side and
squeezed you on the other? Our feet do not like
it, you may be sure. They have so much to do
that they need plenty of room in which to work.
" Good shoes for growing children should be
one inch longer and a half inch wider than the
foot. The toes should be
broad and square. The heels
should be very low.

" Two of the most active
peoples that the world has
ever known were the ancient
Greeks and the Indians. The
Greeks were always playing
games and running races and
exercising in the gymnasium. The Indians
hunted and fished and went on long tramps
through the wilderness. Now, Ann, if you look
at the clothes on your Greek doll and your
Indian doll, you will see that they are very loose.
They are made to hang from the shoulders.
There are no tight bands anywhere. The Greek
doll wears sandals, and the Indian doll has soft

i76

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

moccasins on his feet. Loose, comfortable
clothes helped give the Greeks and the Indians
strong, trim bodies.

" You never saw an animal, either, who had
too tight a coat. The dog can run and jump and
play without having his coat pinch him any-
where.

" Now suppose you write in the Log Book
what you have learned about clothes, and then I
will tell you how clothes can tell us something
about the wearer."

SHIPS

,OG

Rules of the Body Ship
Always wear clothes which
are suited to the weather.
Make sure that the clothes
are loose and comfortable.

Discoveries

We have learned that we must
protect our body ships by al-
ways dressing to suit the
weather. We should always
take off outdoor clothes when
we are inside. We must never
sit in the house in wet clothes.

CHAPTER XXIV
CLEAN CLOTHES

" Clothes, too, tell us something about the
wearer," said Uncle John. " Do you see the pur-
ple stripe on the dress of your Roman doll? '

" Yes," said Ann. " I wondered what it was
for."

" In ancient Rome, the dress of the men citi-
zens was called a toga. A purple stripe on a
toga meant that the wearer was under sixteen
years of age. The Emperor wore a purple toga
to distinguish himself from the ordinary citizens
who always wore white. All through history,
clothes told people something about the position
of the wearer. In the Middle Ages the knight
wore armor. A person who had been to the Holy
Land wore cockle shells in his hat.

" In many countries nowadays clothes do not
tell us the position of the wearer. The King and

Queen of England usually dress like the other

177

1 78 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

people in their kingdom. The President of the
United States wears the same sort of clothes as
a business man.

" But clothes still tell us something about the
wearer. They tell us whether or not a person is

WE SHOULD WASH OUR UNDERCLOTHES OFTEN

proud of his appearance. Boys and girls who
are careful of their appearance wear clothes that
are clean and neat.

" Our underclothes soak up the perspiration
which is always flowing out of the pores of the
skin. We should wash them often to keep them
clean and sweet-smelling. You children are old

CLEAN CLOTHES

179

enough to learn how to wash your own under-
clothes. They should be washed first with warm
water and soap and then rinsed in clear water.
It is best to hang them up to dry in the sun and
wind.

" You can keep your buttons sewed on, too,
and even learn to darn your stockings and sew
on patches.

" Outside clothes are always picking up dust
and dirt. Dirty clothes are not pleasant to look
at, and they are good hiding places, too, for the
little pirate plants. Your
outside clothes should be
made very simply and of
washable material so that
they can be washed often.
Clothes that will not wash
should be brushed and aired
often.

" You should learn to dress
tidily, too. Every morning
before you come downstairs you, as the captain
of your body ship, should have a dress in-

OUR CLOTHES NEED A
GOOD AIRING AT NIGHT

l8o VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

spection. This means that you see that your
shoes are clean, your stockings fastened, your
shoe laces tied, and all your buttons buttoned.
On board ship the captain always has morning
inspection. Then woe to the sailor whose ap-
pearance is not clean and neat!

" At night you should take off all your day
clothes and wear night clothes in bed. You
should shake each garment as you take it off and
hang it up where it will get a good airing."

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Wear clean clothes.

Discoveries

We have discovered that clothes
tell people whether or not we
are proud of how we look. Our
clothes must always be clean
and tidy. We must wash our
underclothes often. We must
try to wear clothes which are
simple and easy to keep clean,
and hang them up to air at
night.

CHAPTER XXV

THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WAS NOT
AFRAID OF ANYTHING

One day Uncle John told the story of the
little mouse who was not afraid of anything.
This is the story :

Once upon a time there was a little mouse
named Fitter who lived in Mouse City. All the
houses were built of cardboard boxes, and
cheese was sold in all the grocery shops. This
little mouse was not afraid of anything. He was
always saying to his mouse friends, " I dare you
to jump on the back of that truck," or " I dare
you to jump off that wall," or " I dare you to
climb that tree." He did not like to have his
mouse mother say, when she sent him to the
grocery store for cheese, " Be careful how you
cross the street, Fitter." He did not like to have
his mouse father say, as he started for school,
" Run fast if you hear Mrs. Cat coming."

181

-1 82

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

FITTER DID NOT LIKE TO HAVE His MOTHER
TELL HIM TO BE CAREFUL

" Oh, pooh, I'm not afraid of Mrs. Cat/' said
Fitter to his friends on the way to school. Fitter
had never seen a cat. But one day as he turned
a street corner Fitter met Mrs. Cat face to face.
Fitter caught just one glimpse of gleaming eyes
and sharp white teeth. Then he started to run
and Mrs. Cat ran after him. Just in the nick
of time Fitter reached a hole in the street pav-
ing. The hole had been put there for just such
a happening as this. It was called a cat escape.
Fitter sat in the hole trembling with fright until

THE LITTLE MOUSE 183

Mrs. Cat went away. Then he crept out and
ran home.

Poor little Fitter had been scared almost to
death. Every night he had bad dreams in which
he saw Mrs. Cat's gleaming eyes and ferocious
whiskers. He grew thin and pale. At last
Mother Mouse said to Father Mouse: " I think
we had better send Fitter to the country. He
can stay with Cousin Patter until he has for-
gotten his fright."

And so Fitter was sent to the country. He
lived in a hole in a cornfield with Patter, who
was a field mouse. Patter took him on long
walks through the country. Fitter was not at
all like the little mouse he had been before he
met Mrs. Cat. Now he was afraid of everything.
He was even afraid of his own shadow. He was
afraid when he heard the cornstalks rustling in
the wind. The barking of a dog in Mr. Man's
back yard almost scared him into fits.

One day Patter took Fitter for a walk in the
woods in search of nuts. Fitter started to pick

1 84 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

up a hazel nut. Then he jumped back with his
teeth chattering. " What is the matter? " said
Cousin Patter. Fitter pointed to a little lizard
which was crawling over the brown leaves.

" What is it? " asked Fitter, shaking all over.

" What am I? " asked the lizard. " I am a
chameleon, that is what I am. Watch me." Mr.
Chameleon reached a patch of green grass and
stayed there. He had been gray-brown before,
but now he was turning green to match the grass.

" What makes you turn green, Mr. Chame-
leon? " asked Fitter, politely.

" I make myself/' said Mr. Chameleon. " I
can change myself into other colors, too. It all
depends on which color I am sitting on. If I am
sitting on black dirt I can change into a black
suit with small yellow polka dots. At night I
usually wear a pale yellow suit. I do it to pro-
tect myself. If I keep very still no one can tell
me from the grass when I am in my green suit
or from the bark of a tree when I am in my gray-
brown suit. You would never have seen me if
you had not made me jump when you touched

THE LITTLE MOUSE

185

me. I can do something else, too, to protect
myself."

" What? " asked Fitter.

" Watch my eyes," said Mr. Chameleon.
Fitter looked closely at Mr. Chameleon's eyes.

"WATCH MY EYES," SAID MR. CHAMELEON

They were rolling about every way. Then one
eye looked at Fitter and the other eye looked at
Patter. " I can keep my eye on a fly that I am
trying to catch for my dinner," said Mr. Chame-
leon, " while the other eye is on the watch for
danger. You see, I protect myself well."

186 . VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" I wish I could change color to protect my-
self," said Fitter.

" Ha, ha/' said a voice overhead, " I never
change my color. I do not have to."

" Who are you? " squeaked Fitter.

" Mr. Squirrel! Try and see me."

Fitter looked up into the tree but he could
not see Mr. Squirrel.

" Where are you, Mr. Squirrel? " said Fitter.

" I knew you could not see me," said Mr.
Squirrel, running out on a branch directly over
Fitter's head. " You see, my fur is colored
black and brown and gray and those are the
colors of the ground and the trees. As I live
mostly in trees, it is very hard for a man with a
gun to see me long enough to shoot at me." Mr.
Squirrel jumped to the ground and scuttled off
through the woods.

Fitter and Patter said good-by to Mr.
Chameleon and went home with their load of
nuts. That evening as they sat about the little
straw fire in the cosy sitting room, Patter told
his little cousin more about the colors of animals.

THE LITTLE MOUSE 187

He told him of the fish far away in the seas of
the south which are colored blue and green and
red and yellow to match the beautiful colors of
the sea plants. He told of fish in the pond near
by which were speckled on top to match the
little shadows on the water and white under-
neath to match the water itself. In this way the
fish protect themselves from the larger fish in
the water and from the birds and other animals
above the water. Some tiny fish are so trans-
parent that it is hard to tell them from the water
in which they swim. If they were not the color
of water, they would soon be eaten up by larger
fish.

Then Patter told Fitter of frogs and snakes
and turtles and birds and grasshoppers and
katydids who are the color of the places in which
they live. A mother bird sitting on her eggs in
her nest keeps very still and looks very much
like the leaves of the tree.

Color is not the only way in which animals
protect themselves. The skunk keeps harm
away by its bad smell. The wasps and bees

I gg VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

have stings. The kangaroo can jump right over
a man on horseback. The cuttlefish can throw
out a fluid which makes the water around it as
black as ink so that it can escape from danger.

" But what can the poor little mice do to be
safe? " said Fitter.

THE KANGAROO CAN JUMP RIGHT
OVER A MAN ON HORSEBACK

" We can run fast/' said Patter, " and we can
disappear down a hole when Mrs. Cat is after us.
Another thing we can do if we are wise is to keep
away from danger. It is very, very foolish to
play with danger. It is silly for little mice to

THE LITTLE MOUSE 189

dare each other to do dangerous things just for
fun. If it is our duty to do a dangerous thing
then we should do it, and we may risk our lives
to save another mouse's life. These are the only
two excuses for putting our lives in danger.
Isn't it wonderful to be alive, to be able to see
and run and jump? Think, then, how foolish
we are to risk losing our lives, or our limbs, by
doing silly things that will never help any one.

" It is no disgrace to be afraid of real danger.
The very bravest mice are afraid of a mousetrap
or of Mrs. Cat.

" But if you learn to know what is really
dangerous, then you need not be afraid of
everything. Just because Mrs. Cat scared you
is no reason why you should jump at your
shadow or be afraid of the dark, or the rustle of
leaves in the wind. A wise little mouse learns
to know what is dangerous and keeps away from
it. He is not afraid of anything else."

From that time on Fitter began to get well.
When he came back to Mouse City he was no
longer afraid of everything. He was only afraid

VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

of real danger. When the other little mice
laughed at him and called him " 'fraid cat " be-
cause he would not catch rides on trucks or go
roller-skating in traffic, he only smiled. And so
he lived to a good old mouse age.

This is what Ann and Paul wrote in the Log
Book about carefulness.

SHIPS

Rules of the Body Ship
Never play with danger.

Discoveries

We have learned that it is fool-
ish to play with danger any-
where. The only reasons for
running our body ships into
danger are in doing our duty
or in saving some one's life. We
must never take foolish dares.
It is so wonderful to be alive, to
be able to see and run and
jump, that we must never risk
our lives and limbs by doing
silly things which will never
help any one.

CHAPTER XXVI
GOING HOME

Father was coming to take Ann and Paul
home. They could hardly wait to see him.
They wanted to show him the Log Book. Best
of all, they wanted him to see how well they
looked. Their cheeks were rosy. Their legs
and arms were sturdy and brown. Uncle John
had weighed them on the bathroom scales and
they found that they had each gained four
whole pounds.

" Do you know why you have gained? " asked
Uncle John.

" Yes/' said Ann and Paul together.

" Tell me," said Uncle John.

" We gained because we drank lots of the milk
that Buttercup gave us/' said Ann.

" We gained because we ateva warm break-
fast every morning/' said Paul.

" We ate fruit and vegetables every day/'
said Ann, " and helped Engineer Digestion."

191

I92 VOYAGE OF GROWING UP

" We did not eat between meals, either/' said
Paul, " except for a glass of milk in the morning,
and an apple in the afternoon."

" We slept eleven whole hours every night,"
said Ann, " and we rested in the daytime, too."

" We played outdoors all day," ended Paul.

" Good," said Uncle John. " I am proud of
you both. Some day when your little ships have
become big ships and you go sailing out into the
world, I know that you will have wonderful
adventures because you have learned how to be
good captains."

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