The street does not belong only to the man who lives on it; the lamp-post does not belong only to the man whose door is lighted by the lamp. The teamsters, the errand-boys, the boys and girls who ride their bicycles to their playground, the people who live on the other side of the town, own the street as much as the men who live on it. Every one who walks out in the evening has a share in all the street-lamps. Perhaps there is a Common, a Park, or a Public Garden in town; it may be that the land in it is worth a fortune; it may cost the city thousands of dollars every year to keep it in order. But no man is so rich as to say, "It is mine." Every child can say, “It is ours. There may be a rule that no one shall pick the flowers in the Public Garden, or trample the grass. But this rule is not to keep us from our rights in the grass and the flowers. The rule is made in order to give us our rights. It is intended to secure the greatest pleasure for the greatest number of people. Is it not better and fairer to give all of us an equal chance to see the flowers, than to let a few pick them and carry them away? The person who takes the flowers from the Public Garden seems to say, "The flowers are mine," which is not the truth. No one has a right to carry away without permission, and much less to injure, what belongs to us all. Is it not a very good notice which is said to be put up in the public parks of Australia, "This is your property: therefore do not destroy it"? DECEMBER: PUBLIC HEALTH AND PUBLIC CHARITY For the Teacher: THE TROOP OF THE GUARD1 HERMANN HAGEDORN There's trampling of hoofs in the busy street, Of voices that whisper, of lips that entreat, The houses are garlanded, flags flutter gay, The dawn is upon us, the pale light speeds On, up! Boot and saddle! Give spurs to your steeds! Life's not a dream in the clover! On to the walls, on to the walls, The portals are open, the white road leads Life's not a dream in the clover! 1 From A Troop of the Guard, and Other Poems. Houghton Mifflin Co. On to the walls, on to the walls, Suggestions for morning talks The importance of cleanliness. Unwashed people crowded into unclean rooms, breathing impure air and drinking impure water, are more likely to be ill, and to spread contagious disease, than clean people in clean rooms, breathing pure air and drinking pure water. At the outset the boys and girls in the fourth grade may or may not realize this truth, but if actual facts of the death rate in their own city are shown, if the nature of microbes at work upon water, air, and food is explained, they will accept the facts, and better still, carry the facts into their homes and teach their parents these things. Vaccination, tuberculosis, the menace of flies and mosquitoes, the ravages of epidemics, the subject of pure food inspection, a pure water supply, and proper sewerage, can be explained with the assistance of simple textbooks on the work of towns and cities to improve sanitation during the last twenty years. Care of body: hands; face; nails; teeth; baths, hot and cold; sleep in fresh air; nourishing food; plenty of exercise; rest. Care of home: house clean; refrigerators; sinks; bread jars; dust; fight flies; garbage. Care of health in public places: expectoration; inspection of food, milk and water; housing laws; medical inspection at school; care of sick; care of babies; district nurses; hospitals; care to educate immigrants; danger of tuberculosis; stories of men who have spent their lives or sacrificed their lives to make better health conditions. Questions: How do you know when one of your playmates has scarlet fever? Why do they post quarantine cards? Why are the school books not allowed to go into children's homes? Why are street cars fumigated every day? Why are milk stations being established everywhere? What is "certified milk”? Why does the School Department coöperate with the Board of Health, and add school physicians to the corps of teachers? In your school do you have a visiting nurse? Why do damp cellars, overcrowded houses, and untidy workshops prove dangerous centers? When sickness or old age, or loss of work, or loss of health has made a person dependent what does the Board of Charity do to help him? In some cities the members of the Board of Charity are called Overseers of the Poor. Does every one who is poor need to be sent to an institution? Did you ever visit a poor farm or city hospital? What do orphan asylums do for little children? Are there any schools in your neighborhood for the blind or crippled? What charity societies do you know about? How much do you do to help take care of the poor? Would a Christmas tree for little children who will not have Christmas trees at home give happiness to those less well off than you? Did you ever think how pleasant it would be if you were a poor crippled child who had to live in a tenement room away from other children, to receive letters from little children at school? Reading for the children "Cleanliness," Charles and Mary Lamb, in The Posy Ring, edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith. Doubleday, Page & Co. Town and City, and Good Health. Frances Gulick Jewett, Gulick Hygiene Series. Ginn & Co. The Child's Day, Woods Hutchinson Health Series. Houghton Mifflin Co. Reading for the teacher Life of Pasteur, chaps. X, XIII, René Vallery Radot. Doubleday, Page & Co. Good Citizenship, Richman and Wallach. American Book Company. Children of the Tenements, Jacob A. Riis. The Macmillan Company. Handbook of Health, Woods Hutchinson. Houghton Mifflin Co. AN OVERSEER OF THE POOR STORY 1 MABEL HILL Every evening Miss Abbott bought the "Evening Sun" from a newsboy. One day she found out that it was not a boy at all, but a small girl of fourteen named Maggie Connors who wore a short skirt, a boy's overcoat, a boy's cap, and boy's boots. When Miss Abbott talked with Maggie about her home, she learned that Maggie's younger sister, Annie, was in her school. These two little girls had a baby sister and lived together in one room. Maggie's mother and father had both died; many of the household goods had to be sold to pay bills, and Maggie had to go to work at once. During the day she stayed with the baby sister, and did the little housework that had to be done. After Annie came home from school, Maggie sold papers. In the evening, after she had put the children to bed, she washed dishes in a restaurant till twelve o'clock. 1 Abridged from Lessons for Junior Citizens. Ginn & Co. |