n its
time for rest; and when its time for blooming comes, its action is full
and true and perfect. The grass never pushes itself up in little,
untimely blades through the winter, thus leaving our lawns and fields
full of bare patches in the warmer season. The flowers that close at
night do not half close, folding some petals and letting others stay
wide open. Indeed, so perfectly does Nature rest when it is her time
for resting, that even the suggestion of these abnormal actions seems
absolutely ridiculous. The less we allow ourselves to be controlled by
Nature's laws, the more we ignore their wonderful beauty; and yet there
is that in us which must constantly respond to Nature unconsciously,
else how could we at once feel the absurdity of any disobedience to her
laws, everywhere except with man? And man, who is not only free to
obey, but has exquisite and increasing power to realize and enjoy them
in all their fulness, lives so far out of harmony with these laws as
ever to be blind to his own steady disobedience.

Think of the perfect power for rest in all animals. Lift a cat when she
is quiet, and see how perfectly relaxed she is in every muscle. That is
not only the way she sleeps, but the way she rests; and no matter how
great or how rapid the activity, she drops all tension at once when she
stops. So it is with all animals, except in rare cases where man has
tampered with them in a way to interfere with the true order of their
lives.

Watch a healthy baby sleeping; lift its arm, its leg, or its head
carefully, and you will find each perfectly relaxed and free. You can
even hold it on your outspread hands, and the whole little weight, full
of life and gaining new power through the perfect rest, will give
itself entirely to your hands, without one particle of tension. The
sleep that we get in babyhood is the saving health of many. But, alas!
at a very early age useless tension begins, and goes on increasing; and
if it does not steadily lead to acute "Americanitis," it prevents the
perfect use of all our powers. Mothers, watch your children with a care
which will be all the more effective because they will be unconscious
of it; for a child's attention should seldom be drawn to its own body.
Lead them toward the laws of Nature, that they may grow in harmony with
them, and so be saved the useless suffering, strain, and trouble that
comes to us Americans. If we do not take care, the children will more
and more inherit