f
enjoyment.

*Influences at School.*--School life is necessarily a great strain upon the
child. Night study added to the work of the day makes a heavy burden for
elementary pupils to bear. Though the legal school age is usually fixed at
six years, delicate children should be kept out of school until they are
seven or eight years old, provided they have good homes. In addition to
the excitation incident to studying and reciting lessons, conditions
frequently arise both in the schoolroom and upon the playground that
create a feeling of fear or dread in the minds of children. Quarrels and
feuds among the children and the bullying of big boys on the playground
may work untold harm. All conditions tending to develop fear, uneasiness,
or undue excitement on the part of children should receive the attention
of those in authority.

*Excessive Reading* is a frequent cause of injury to the nervous systems
of children. This has a bad effect, both on account of too many
impressions being made upon the mind and also on account of the strain to
the eyes. Then if the reading consists mostly of light fiction, the mind
is directed away from the really important things of life. The reading of
children should be thoughtfully controlled, both as to quality and
quantity. Exciting stories should, as a rule, be excluded, but a taste for
biography, historical and scientific writings, and for the great works of
literature should be cultivated. Simple fairy tales which have a
recognized value in developing the imagination of the child need not be
omitted, but it is of vital importance that the "story-reading habit" be
not formed.

*Effects of Drugs.*--Because of its delicacy of structure a number of
chemical compounds, or drugs, are able to produce injurious effects upon
the nervous system. Some of these are violent poisons, while others, in
small quantities, are mild in their action. Certain drugs, in addition to
their immediate effects, bring about changes in the nervous system which
cause an unnatural appetite, or craving, that leads to their continued
use. This is the case with alcohol, the intoxicating substance in the
usual saloon drinks, and with nicotine, the stimulating drug in tobacco.
The same is also true of morphine, chloral, and several other drugs used
as medicines. The _danger of becoming a slave_ to some useless and
pernicious habit should dissuade one from the use of drugs except in cases
of positive emergency.

*Alcohol