Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-04-23
For the VERMONT FARMER.
Parents Relations to Schools. No. 9.

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Modern methods Of heating school-rooms,
already alluded to- have added much to the
evils resulting from almost universal neglect
in the matter Of ventilation. The facts be.
fore us are alarming.
We may give our children the hard fare
at home which we're the common rations Of
other days; we may provide for them the
hard benches aad uncomfortable arrange
ments of old fashioned school-houses, if we
will give them also the fresh air therein pro-
vided by loose windows and spacious, open
freplaces. But we cannot, without guilt,
shut them up for six hours each day in a
small, tight room, warmed by close box
stove. Such an atmosphere poisons the
blood, drains the vitality, aud lays the foun-
dation of hundred forms of sickness aud
suffering. Without pure air, the circulation
of the blood instead of current Of life, be-
comes current Of death, difusing itself
through million of channels into every part
Of the system. Would parents buy solu.
tion of arsenic at the druggists aud inject it
into the veins of their children 2 This
would prove no more fatal than to inhale the
poison Of bad air which they are compelled
to breathe in most of our schoo.houses, day
after day. and week after week. The only
difference is, one is a rapid and the other is
a slow process of poisoning.
When the school.room is first opened the
air is comparatively pure, but in a short
time the fifty pairs Of lungs have consumed
nearly all the oxygen; the vicious com.
pound that remains stupe6es the intellect,
and, by slow degrees, saps the very life
blood. These statements are not theory but
facts; the evils resulting are not imaginary,
but real, as illustrated in tne history of a
large majority of the public schools in our
state and country.
But how can this evil be removed2 l
answer, Only by making special provision
for the circulation of fresh air in every
schOol.room. Perfect ventilation cannot be
secured except by scientific arrangements
in connection with heating the apartments.
The circulation of the atmosphere is effected
through the agency Of heat; and when the
building is SO finished as to admit constant
supply of fresh air from without, and to re-
ject that which is impure through ventia.
tors prepared near the top and bottom Of the
upright ceiling, heat becomes the controlling
power to keep the current in circulation.
In the absence of any special arrangements
of this kind, resort must be had to open
doors and windows. These used skillfully
by parties who understand the laws of health
and life, will, in measure, secure the object
in view. Yet there is danger in trusting a
matter Of such vital Importance to arrange
ments SO imperfect, and circumstances so
variable.
And school apparatus must not be forgot
ten in the outfit of the school-room. What
the child sees is much better understood and
longer remembered. He sees the represen-
tative of number on his numeral frame "
he sees the shape of the earth in the artificial
globe, and he understands the definition of a
cube in distinction from a square surface
when he sees and handles the cube-block.
The blackboard should be as long as the
uuoccupied space between the windows in
every school-room. A thermometer and an
unabridged English dictionary are also in
dispensable. PARENs.