Counsels for the Church - Ellen G. White

provided, that they may have a comprehensive and practical education. They
should be taught dressmaking and gardening. Flowers should be cultivated
and strawberries planted. Thus, while being educated in useful labor, they
will have healthful outdoor exercise.
The influence of the mind on the body, as well as of the body on the
mind, should be emphasized. The electric power of the brain, promoted by
mental activity, vitalizes the whole system, and is thus an invaluable aid in
resisting disease.
There is a physiological truth--truth that we need to consider--in the
scripture, "A merry [rejoicing] heart doeth good like a medicine." Proverbs
17:22.
In order for children and youth to have health, cheerfulness, vivacity,
and well-developed muscles and brains, they should be much in the open air,
and have well-regulated employment and amusement. Children and youth
who are kept at school and confined to books cannot have sound physical
constitutions. The exercise of the brain in study, without corresponding
physical exercise, has a tendency to attract the blood to the brain, and the
circulation of the blood through the system becomes unbalanced. The brain
has too much blood, and the extremities too little. There should be rules
regulating the studies of children and youth to certain hours, and then a
portion of their time should be spent in physical labor. And if their habits of
eating, dressing, and sleeping are in accordance with physical law, they can
obtain an education without sacrificing physical and mental health.
The Dignity of Labor
The youth should be led to see the true dignity of labor. Show them that
God is a constant worker. All things in nature do their allotted work. Action
pervades the whole creation, and in order to fulfill our mission we, too, must
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