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    [Illustration: A GOOD SPORT FOR GIRLS AND BOYS]



THE WOODS HUTCHINSON HEALTH SERIES



THE CHILD'S DAY


BY


WOODS HUTCHINSON, A.M., M.D.


Sometime Professor of Anatomy, University of Iowa; Professor of
Comparative Pathology and Methods of Science Teaching, University of
Buffalo; Lecturer, London Medical Graduates' College and University of
London; and State Health Officer of Oregon. Author of "Preventable
Diseases," "Conquest of Consumption," "Instinct and Health," and "A
Handbook of Health."



HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON   NEW YORK    CHICAGO


COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY WOODS HUTCHINSON




FOREWORD


"If youth only knew, if old age only could!" lamented the philosopher.
What is the use, say some, of putting ideas about disease into
children's heads and making them fussy about their health and anxious
before their time?

Precisely because ideas about disease are far less hurtful than
disease itself, and because the period for richest returns from
sensible living is childhood--and the earlier the better.

It is abundantly worth while to teach a child how to protect his
health and build up his strength; too many of us only begin to take
thought of our health when it is too late to do us much good. Almost
everything is possible in childhood. The heaviest life handicaps can
be fed and played and trained out of existence in a child. Even the
most rudimentary knowledge, the simplest and crudest of precautions,
in childhood may make all the difference between misery and happiness,
success and failure in life.

Our greatest asset for healthful living is that most of the unspoiled
instincts, the primitive likes and dislikes, of the child point in the
right direction. There is no need to tell children to eat, to play, to
sleep, to swim; all that is needed is to point out why they like to do
these things, where to stop, what risks to avoid. The simplest and
most natural method of doing this has seemed to be that of a sketch of
the usual course and activities of a Child's Day, with a running
commentary of explanation, and such outlines of our bodily structure
and needs as are required to make clear why such and such a course is
advisable and such another inadvisable. The greatest problem has been
how to reach and hold the interest of the child; and the lion's share
of such success as may have been achieved in this regard is due to the
cooeperation of my sister, Professor Mabel Hutchinson Douglas of
Whittier College, California.

THE AUTHOR.




CONTENTS


  GOOD MORNING
      I. Waking Up
     II. A Good Start
    III. Bathing and Brushing

  BREAKFAST

  GOING TO SCHOOL
      I. Getting Ready
     II. An Early Romp
    III. Fresh Air--Why We Need It
     IV. Fresh Air--How We Breathe It

  IN SCHOOL
       I. Bringing the Fresh Air In
      II. Hearing and Listening
     III. Seeing and Reading
      IV. A Drink of Water
       V. Little Cooks
      VI. Tasting and Smelling
     VII. Talking and Reciting
    VIII. Thinking and Answering

  "ABSENT TO-DAY?"
      I. Keeping Well
     II. Some Foes to Fight
    III. Protecting Our Friends

  WORK AND PLAY
      I. Growing Strong
     II. Accidents
    III. The City Beautiful

  THE EVENING MEAL

  A PLEASANT EVENING

  GOOD NIGHT
      I. Getting Ready for Bed
     II. The Land of Nod

  QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES




THE CHILD'S DAY




GOOD MORNING


I. WAKING UP

If there is anything that we all enjoy, it is waking up on a bright
spring morning and seeing the sunlight pouring into the room. You all
know the poem beginning,--

  "I remember, I remember
  The house where I was born;
  The little window where the sun
  Came peeping in at morn."

You are feeling fresh and rested and happy after your good night's
sleep and you are eager to be up and out among the birds and the
flowers.

You are perfectly right in being glad to say "Good morning" to the
sun, for he is one of the best friends you have. Doesn't he make the
flowers blossom, and the trees grow? And he makes the apples redden,
too, and the wheat-ears fill out, and the potatoes grow under the
ground, and the peas and beans and melons and strawberries and
raspberries above it. All these things that feed you and keep you
healthy are grown