ong cramped in a painful
attitude, should be rested as often as may be, by change of posture or by
a few steps around the room.

It is not entirely the amount of work done, but the continuity of
strain that wears upon the body. Even a brief rest interrupts this
strain; it unclogs the wheels of action. Our bodies are not designed for
continuous toil. An alternation of labor and rest diminishes the waste of
life. The benign process of repair cannot go on, to any extent, during
strenuous labor, but by interposing frequent though brief periods of rest,
we lessen the amount of exhaustion, refresh the jaded nerves, and the
remaining labor is more easily endured.

285. Benefits of Rest. There is too little repose in our American
nature and in our modes of life. A sense of fatigue is the mute appeal of
the body for a brief respite from labor, and the appeal should, if
possible, be heeded. If this appeal be not met, the future exertion
exhausts far more than if the body had been even slightly refreshed. If
the appeal be met, the brief mid-labor rest eases the friction of toil,
and the remaining labor is more easily borne. The feeling that a
five-minute rest is so much time lost is quite an error. It is a gain of
physical strength, of mental vigor, and of the total amount of work done.

The merchant burdened with the cares of business life, the soldier on the
long march, the ambitious student over-anxious to win success in his
studies, the housewife wearied with her many hours of exacting toil, each
would make the task lighter, and would get through it with less loss of
vital force, by occasionally devoting a few minutes to absolute rest in
entire relaxation of the strained muscles and overtaxed nerves.

286. The Sabbath as a Day of Physiological Rest. The divine
institution of a Sabbath of rest, one day in seven, is based upon the
highest needs of our nature. Rest, to be most effective, should alternate
in brief periods with labor.

It is sound physiology, as well as good morals and manners, to cease
from the usual routine of six days of mental or physical work, and rest
both the mind and the body on the seventh. Those who have succeeded best
in what they have undertaken, and who have enjoyed sound health during a
long and useful life, have studiously lived up to the mandates of this
great physiological law. It is by no means certain that the tendency
nowadays to devote the Sabbath to long trips on the bicycle, tiresome
exc