Another assistant that the stomach has is the intestines or bowels, which not only help to digest the food but also carry off the waste material. The bowels are very good, and will tell us when they have waste material to be disposed of, but sometimes people are too busy and do not pay attention. If we neglect them many times the bowels get tired of telling us, and then their work is not done. We think they are lazy and so we try to whip them up by taking a laxative. This seems to help at first, but we soon find we have to do the same thing every day. All this time the fault was our own, for we did not understand. The best way is to have a regular time of going to the toilet, say, right after breakfast. If we always go at the same time the bowels will remember it. Then we need have no trouble with constipation nor take any horrid medicine to whip the bowels. A regular daily action of the bowels is necessary to health. Constipation often may be relieved by drinking a glass of cold water upon rising, at intervals during the day, and upon retiring. Fruit at breakfast or figs taken after meals often will relieve a tendency to constipation. Regularity in going to the toilet is one of the most important measures in treating constipation. Laxatives or cathartics should not be taken except for an occasional dose or during illness, upon the advice of a physician. So common is the practice of taking daily laxatives that it has become a "national curse." People do not realize that they are slaves to this habit. So cleverly worded are the advertisements of many of the laxatives that people are led to believe that if they drink certain "waters" or "teas" they are avoiding medicine, while often these same teas and waters contain drugs more powerful and harmful than any pill. The bowels have some one to assist them, too, for the kidneys carry off much of the waste material of the body. Indeed, they carry off so much that they sometimes are called the sewers. It often is necessary to flush the sewers of the city, that is, to send quantities of water through them to clean the system. In the same way it is necessary to flush the kidneys. We do this by drinking plenty of water. Every one should drink about two quarts of water a day. There is another worker that helps both the kidneys and the bowels. This is the skin, which sends off waste material through the tiny pores or openings. If dirt accumulates on the skin, it clogs the pores so the skin cannot use them. So you see how necessary it is to take frequent baths to keep the pores open.