is called _sending nerves_ because the brain and cord send orders
over them to make the organs act. The other kind carries messages to
the brain from the eyes, ears, skin, or other organs of sense, telling
it how they feel. On this account these are named _receiving nerves_.

When we wish to catch a ball, the brain sends an order along the nerve
threads down the spinal cord and out through the nerves of the arm to
the fingers to get ready to seize a ball. The fingers are spread to
grasp the ball, but they do not close until a message goes from the
skin of the finger tips to the spinal cord, telling it that the ball
is in the hand.

=The Work of the Brain.=--The brain is not only the chief manager of
the body, but the home of the mind. The mind acts through the brain.
The mind receives through the brain what the eye sees, the ear hears,
the nose smells, and the fingers feel. All this knowledge is stored up
in the mind and called _memory_. These facts and others learned later
are worked over by the mind. This is called _thought_.

The mind rules and becomes good or bad according to whether it
contains good thoughts or bad thoughts. _It is wrong to read books and
papers about robberies and murders or to tell or to listen to bad
stories_, because in this way evil thoughts get into the mind. The
best way of keeping badness out of the mind is to fill it with
goodness. It is said that Lincoln was so busy thinking how he could
help others that there was no room in his mind for a bad thought.
Doing some kindness every day helps much in the making of a good mind.

=Habit.=--The doing of anything over and over again until the body
goes through the same motions without any or very little thought is
called _habit_. The brain and nerves are so formed that when they get
used to obeying the same order of the mind again and again, they will
carry out these orders when the mind no longer gives them. Sometimes
they will continue to obey the old orders even when new ones are given.

Many persons would like to break off the habit of drinking beer or
whisky, of chewing tobacco, and using bad language, but they find it
very hard to make the mind rule the body because they have let the
nerves have their own way so long.

Speaking cheerfully to those we meet, giving a kind word to our
friends, and looking pleasant are good habits which every one ought to
form in youth. They not only make the mind better, but they help the
body to keep we