give her an extra mile in every five-mile walk. Then
again, the muscles of the throat must help, and more than anywhere else
is force unnecessarily expended in the waist muscles. They can be very
soon felt, pushing with all their might--and it is not a small
might--officiously trying to assist in the action of the legs; whereas
if they would only let go, mind their own business, and let the legs
swing easily as if from the shoulders, they might reflect the rhythmic
motion, and gain in a true freedom and power. Of course all this waste
of force comes from nervous strain and is nervous strain, and a long
walk in the open air, when so much of the new life gained is wrongly
expended, does not begin to do the good work that might be
accomplished. To walk with your muscles and not use superfluous nervous
force is the first thing to be learned, and after or at the same time
to direct your muscles as Nature meant they should be directed,--indeed
we might almost say to let Nature direct them herself, without our
interference. Hurry with your muscles and not with your nerves. This
tells especially in hurrying for a train, where the nervous anxiety in
the fear of losing it wakes all possible unnecessary tension and often
impedes the motion instead of assisting it. The same law applies here
that was mentioned before with regard to the carriage,--only instead of
being quiet and letting the carriage take you, be quiet and let your
walking machine do its work. So in all hurrying, and the warning can
hardly be given too many times, we must use our nerves only as
transmitters--calm, well-balanced transmitters--that our muscles may be
more efficient and more able servants.

The same mistakes of unnecessary tension will be found in running, and,
indeed, in all bodily motion, where the machine is not trained to do
its work with only the nerves and muscles needed for the purpose. We
shall have opportunity to consider these motions in a new light when we
come to the directions for gaining a power of natural motion; now we
are dealing only with mistakes.

VIII.

NERVOUS STRAIN IN PAIN AND SICKNESS

THERE is no way in which superfluous and dangerous tension is so
rapidly increased as in the bearing of pain. The general impression
seems to be that one should brace up to a pain; and very great strength
of will is often shown in the effort made and the success achieved in
bearing severe pain by means of this bracing process. But alas