NOVEMBER: CARE OF PUBLIC For the Teacher: WESTMINSTER BRIDGE WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Earth has not anything to show more fair: All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Suggestions for morning talks All public property belongs directly or indirectly to the citizens. It is not only school property which the children may be taught to care for with individual interest and pride. Questions: If you live in a crowded street where careless people are constantly throwing refuse into the gutter and upon the pavements, what can you do about it? Suppose you should band the children of your neighborhood together into a Civic League, could the league work for street improvement? Write to the Commis sioner of the New York Street Cleaning Department, who will tell you an interesting story of what happened in the city of New York some years ago. If you form a Civic League, here are some ways to protect and care for public property. Boys and girls will not deface with a knife, pencil, or chalk the buildings or walls or fences of any property, public or private; children can guard the street from the carelessness of grown-up people; if boys see banana skins thrown on to the street from a foreigner's fruit store, they can explain to the foreigner that banana skins are not only slippery things and may cause some one to fall, but they are unsightly and unhealthful, for all decaying fruit breeds germs; children can prevent other children from throwing stones which will break the electric lamp globes; bonfires should be watched carefully, and the ashes left from bonfires should be properly scattered, because falling sparks may alight and a new fire be started. The Sewer Department is another public utility of the greatest importance. Children should be taught not to build dams in the gutter, or try to stop the water from flowing into the sewer. The hydrants, the fire-alarm boxes, are for the good of all. The more the children think about these details of city life, the more ready they will be to take a civic pledge when a civic club is started in their school or community. Tell stories of children who have helped save large public property. For instance, "The Little Hero of Harlem," and "The Red Shirt," in An American Book of Golden Deeds, James Baldwin. For further questions and discussions, see "Life at the Heart of Things," p. 12, in Talks on Citizenship, Charles F. Dole. The Patriotic League, N.Y. Reading for the children Colonel Waring's work, in Town and City, chaps. v to VII, Frances G. Jewett. Gulick Hygiene Series. Ginn & Co. Lessons for Junior Citizens, pp. 83-110, Mabel Hill. Ginn & Co. "Arbor Day," Henry Abbey (what we plant when we plant a tree), in Days and Deeds. Baker Taylor Co. "The Garden," Mary Howitt, in The Children's Hour, vol. VI, edited by Eva March Tappan. Houghton Mifflin Co. An American Book of Golden Deeds, James Baldwin. American Book Co. Reading for the teacher The City, Frederick Howe. Charles Scribner's Sons. The Community and the Citizen, Arthur W. Dunn. D. C. Heath & Co. The American Citizen, Charles F. Dole. D. C. Heath & Co. Great Cities in America, Delos F. Wilcox. The Macmillan Co. Preparing for Citizenship, W. B. Guitteau. Houghton Mifflin Co. Representative Cities of the United States, Caroline W. Hotchkiss. Houghton Mifflin Co. "Public Parks," Sylvester Baxter, in A Civic Reader for New Americans. American Book Co. NEIGHBOR MINE1 FRANCES GULICK JEWETT There are barrels in the hallways, Neighbor mine; Pray be mindful of them always, Neighbor mine. If you're not devoid of feeling, Quickly to those barrels stealing, Throw in each banana peeling, Neighbor mine! Look! whene'er you drop a paper, Neighbor mine, In the wind it cuts a caper, Neighbor mine. Down the street it madly courses, And should fill you with remorses When you see it scares the horses, Neighbor mine! Paper-cans were made for papers, Neighbor mine; Let's not have this fact escape us, And if you will lend a hand, 1 From Town and City. Ginn & Co. THE THINGS THAT BELONG TO US ALL1 CHARLES F. DOLE A great many things in our town belong to all the people. The schoolhouses with their desks and charts and blackboards, for instance, belong to the people. The fathers and mothers and older brothers of the children, and often men and women who have no children of their own, have paid their money to build the schoolhouses and to furnish them. They have sometimes made the schoolhouses a good deal better than their own homes. They have wished to make the children happy in their schools. No one can say of the schoolhouse, "It belongs to me," or "It is mine." The richest man in the town can not say this any more than the poor man. But the poor man as well as the rich man may say, "This is ours: we own it together.” The children also can say, "These schoolhouses and all that is in them are ours. The schoolhouses are not the only things that all of us own in common. Perhaps there are other buildings which belong to the people. In a large town there may be many such buildings; such as the police stations, the houses for the fire-engines, the stables for the horses that draw the city carts, hospitals for the sick, homes for orphan boys and girls, and a City Hall full of offices. Perhaps some can think of other buildings which belong to the people. The buildings and houses owned by all of us in common are called public. This means that no one can ever say, "They are mine," but all can say, "They are ours." Whatever is public is for every one. To whom do the streets belong? To whom do the sidewalks and the curbstones and the street-lamps belong? 1 From The Young Citizen. Copyright, 1899, by D. C. Heath & Co. Used by permission. |