Christian Education
271
They should be taught dressmaking and gardening. Flowers should
be cultivated and strawberries planted. Thus, while being educated in
useful labor, they will have healthful outdoor exercise
The influence of the mind on the body, as well as of the body
on the mind, should be emphasized. The electric power of the brain,
promoted by mental activity, vitalizes the whole system, and is thus
an invaluable aid in resisting disease.
There is a physiological truth—truth that we need to consider—in
the scripture, “A merry [rejoicing] heart doeth good like a medicine.”
Proverbs 17:22
In order for children and youth to have health, cheerfulness, vi-
vacity, and well-developed muscles and brains, they should be much
in the open air, and have well-regulated employment and amusement.
Children and youth who are kept at school and confined to books
cannot have sound physical constitutions. The exercise of the brain
in study, without corresponding physical exercise, has a tendency to
attract the blood to the brain, and the circulation of the blood through
the system becomes unbalanced. The brain has too much blood, and
the extremities too little. There should be rules regulating the studies
of children and youth to certain hours, and then a portion of their
time should be spent in physical labor. And if their habits of eating,
dressing, and sleeping are in accordance with physical law, they can
obtain an education without sacrificing physical and mental health
The Dignity of Labor
The youth should be led to see the true dignity of labor. Show them
that God is a constant worker. All things in nature do their allotted
work. Action pervades the whole creation, and in order to fulfill our
mission we, too, must be active
Physical labor that is combined with mental taxation for usefulness,
is a discipline in practical life, sweetened always by the reflection that
348
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 307-312
349
Education, 197
350
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 83
351
Education, 214