The training of the voice has an important place in physical culture,
since it tends to expand and strengthen the lungs, and thus to ward off
disease. To insure correct delivery in reading and speaking, see that
the abdominal muscles have full play in breathing, and that the
respiratory organs are unrestricted. Let the strain come on the muscles
of the abdomen, rather than on those of the throat. Great weariness and
serious disease of the throat and lungs may thus be prevented. Careful
attention should be given to securing distinct articulation, smooth,
well-modulated tones, and a not-too-rapid delivery. This will not only
promote health, but will add greatly to the agreeableness and efficiency
of the student’s work.
[Sidenote: _Healthful Dress_]
In teaching these things a golden opportunity is afforded for showing
the folly and wickedness of tight-lacing, and every other practise that
restricts vital action. An almost endless train of disease results from
unhealthful modes of dress, and careful instruction on this point should
be given. Impress upon the pupils the danger of allowing the clothing to
weigh on the hips or to compress any organ of the body. The dress should
be so arranged that a full respiration can be taken, and the arms be
raised above the head without difficulty. The cramping of the lungs not
only prevents their development, but hinders the processes of digestion
and circulation, and thus weakens the whole body. All such practises
lessen both physical and mental power, thus hindering the student’s
advancement, and often preventing his success.
[Sidenote: _Cleanliness, Sunlight, Ventilation_]
In the study of hygiene the earnest teacher will improve every
opportunity to show the necessity of perfect cleanliness both in
personal habits and in all one’s surroundings. The value of the daily
bath in promoting health and in stimulating mental action, should be
emphasized. Attention should be given also to sunlight and ventilation,
the hygiene of the sleeping-room and the kitchen. Teach the pupils that
a healthful sleeping-room, a thoroughly clean kitchen, and a tastefully
arranged, wholesomely supplied table, will go farther toward securing
the happiness of the family and the regard of every sensible visitor
than any amount of expensive furnishing in the drawing-room. That “the
life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment,”[323] is a
lesson no less needed now than when given by the divine Teacher eighteen
hundred years ago.
[Sidenote: _Knowledge Put to Use_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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