The House We Live in

Part 1

Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and spelling and punctuation remain unchanged.

Italics are represented thus italic.

All Chapter headings are within illustrations in the original. This has been ignored.

In The vegetarian song, (page 93) each verse is accompanied with a small relevant illustration. These have been ignored.

Standalone illustrations have either been accompanied by their caption (if any) in italics, or a brief description by the transcriber (in plain text).

THE HOUSE WE LIVE IN

THE HOUSE WE LIVE IN

The Making of the Body

A Book for Home Reading, intended to Assist Mothers in Teaching their Children How to Care for their Bodies, and the Evil Effects of Narcotics and Stimulants.

VESTA J. FARNSWORTH

“For we know that if our earthly house ... were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Cor. 5:1

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, ... and ye are not your own?” 1 Cor. 6:19

Pacific Press Publishing Company

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO KANSAS CITY NEW YORK

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1900, by PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington

Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London, England

MY DEAR FRIENDS THE CHILDREN

and

To All Who See the Creator in His Creative Work

CONTENTS

PAGE

HOUSES AND TEMPLES 11

THE OUTSIDE OF THE BODY 17

SUBSTANCES IN THE BODY 23

OUR FRAME 27

PROPER CARE OF THE BONES 35

THE WALLS OF OUR HOUSE 40

Part 2

WEATHERBOARDS AND ROOFING 49

THE CUPOLA 57

OUR TELEPHONE SYSTEM 63

THE HALL OR PASSAGE 71

OUR KITCHEN 77

THE EATING ROOM 84

FOOD AND FUEL 89

A PUMPING ENGINE 109

THE CARETAKER 118

THE BATH ROOM 129

HOW THE HOUSE IS HEATED 138

THE MUSIC ROOM 147

THE HEARING PASSAGE 151

SOME WONDERFUL WINDOWS 157

A GOOD SERVANT 165

A FAITHFUL WATCHMAN 173

A GENTLE NURSE 178

A WICKED THIEF 183

A CRUEL MURDERER 195

CHARACTER OF THE MASTER 207

THE HOUSE WE LIVE IN

HOUSES AND TEMPLES

HELEN: See this picture, mother. How pretty the house looks, with its wide windows and porches!

MOTHER: Yes, it is a fine picture, and such a house would make a lovely home. Men build better dwellings now than they did many years ago.

PERCY: Do people build the same kind of houses in all countries?

MOTHER: Oh, no! If we should visit the Indians, we would find them living in rude tents called wigwams, or teepees, made of mats and the bark of trees. In some countries people live in tents. Where it is very warm they build so they may keep cool. In cold climates they make their houses warm. Can you tell me some things which are used in building houses?

ELMER: Stone, brick, iron, wood, paper, earth, and straw. The Esquimau lives in a house made of large blocks of snow and ice.

MOTHER: You would not think such a house very warm, but it is the best he can make. Perhaps you have noticed that some houses are large and some are small. Some have many rooms, others but few. They are made in many shapes and colors, and in some countries there are hardly two which look alike.

Part 3

AMY: Here is another picture. What kind of a house is this, mother?

MOTHER: That is called a temple. It is built for the purpose of worship.

HELEN: Is a meeting-house a temple?

MOTHER: It might be called by that name, for it is the house of God, where His people worship Him. But as we were looking at these pictures I have been thinking of another kind of house in which we all live, which is more wonderful than any building ever made by men. There are a great number of these houses. All are made of the same things, all have the same kind of frame, all have the same number of rooms, and, though there are thousands of them in every country, they are all lighted, heated, finished, and furnished the same way.

PERCY: Oh, I know what you mean! You are thinking of our bodies.

MOTHER: Yes; and if you study this house God made for you to live in, you will be ready to say, with King David, “I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” The more men study this body of ours, the more they find to make them wonder at the wisdom of its Maker. If a man invents a useful machine, such as a watch or an engine, he is praised and called a great man. But how few ever praise and thank the Lord for the body He has given them, and try to learn the best way to care for it!

HELEN: I should like to know how to care for mine, but I never thought of my body as a house before.

MOTHER: We may call it a house, because the Bible calls it so; and, more than that, it says it is a temple. Listen to this verse: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

AMY: Then this house or temple of the body does not belong to us, mother, for it says, “Ye are not your own.”

PERCY: I see how it is. You know people sometimes build houses to rent, and the One who made the house we live in gives it to us for a home as long as we live, and He wants us to take good care of it.

MOTHER: That is right. The house is loaned or “rented” to us, as Percy says, for us to live in and care for. God cares for it too, and if it wasn’t for that it would have been destroyed long ago. Before any of us were old enough to know we had such a gift as our bodies, kind friends cared for them for us, and every moment our heavenly Father watches over us, for “in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” When we go to sleep He still keeps the heart engine pumping, and the parts which become worn out during the day are nicely mended without our thought or care.

ELMER: I want the house I live in to be like that pretty temple we saw in the picture.

MOTHER: Then my boy must be very careful to keep it clean, not only outside but inside as well. You know we sometimes see houses painted nicely outside, and we think what good homes they would make; but when once inside we find the rooms so dirty we want to get away. So boys and girls may be nicely dressed and look well outside, but if they do not eat good food and have good habits, their body-house is not fit to live in.

PERCY: Adam and Eve must have had fine, large houses.

HELEN: And they lasted a long time, too. Adam lived in his for over nine hundred years.

MOTHER: It is said that men keep building better houses all the time, but the first body-house God made was the best ever seen in this world.

AMY: But why are they not made good and lasting now, mother?

MOTHER: One reason is because we do not use them well. Many persons would do better in caring for themselves if they knew better how to do it. If I gave you a costly watch, Percy, what is the first thing you would want to know about it?

PERCY: How to take care of it.

MOTHER: Yes, you would find out how and when to wind it, and just how to use it so it would keep good time. We should be even more careful to learn all we can about our bodies. We should learn for what each part was made, and how to keep it in good order. Men have taken bodies like ours apart, just as a watchmaker takes out all the wheels of a watch, and they have found out many things about them in this way. We should learn all we can about how to keep well and strong. If we are ill we make much trouble for others, and must suffer ourselves. If we are well we shall be a help and blessing to all around us. Not long ago I read this prayer of a little girl for her body:—

“Dear God, bless my two little eyes, and make them twinkle happy. Bless my two ears, and help me to hear mother call me. Bless my two lips, and make them speak kind and true. Bless my two hands, and make them good and not touch what they mustn’t. Bless my two feet, and make them go where they ought to. Bless my heart, and make it love God and my father and mother and everybody. Please let ugly sin never get hold of me--never, never!”

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