Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-02-25
Light in the School, Room.

provement of the present day, there is,
at least, one painful exception to the
general progress, whose correction ne
cessitates the most careful attention and
indefatigable exertion of teachers.
Young children devote much more time
to study in school and out than former
ly. So eager is the desire for promotion
in our public schools, particularly of the
graded class, on the part of teachers and
pupils, that a considerable portion of
each day and evening is spent, voluntari-
ly or compulsorily, in close application to
books and states. This intense applica-
ton, fostered by parents as well as teach
ers, results frequently in the exchange of a
greater fer a lesser good. Could the eyes
of pupils who have spent few years in
the public schools of any city be critical
ly examined, the startling fact would be
disclosed that large per cent. of the
whole are impaired in structure or func-
ton, in consequence of some form of
abuse resulting from the pupils connec-
ton with school. Such was the case in
the public schools of Prussia, and there
is no reason to doubt that similar evils
are as prevalent in our own country.
That the eyes of children may be used
without injury in study as far
as practicable, teachers should insist
on the observance of certain hygienic
principles. Light is essential t. vision;
but if excessive or deficient in intensity,
or if it falls improperly on the page, the
use of the eyes in study may result in
injury, necessitating the severance of
the pupils connection with school, pro
longed absence from study and loss of
time.
The desks of school-rOOms should be
so arranged that, for ordinary study, the
light which falls on the page should enter
behind the pupil, that direct rays may
be largely excluded The construction
of lamps for the purpose of study, or
other operations requiring close inspec-
ton, which permits only reflected light
to enter the eyes, seems to be general
confirmation of the truth of this state
ment. In cloudy days the light of the
school-roOm may not be sufficiently in
tense for the healthful action of the eyes
in study. At such times study might be
suspended and oral instruction, reviews
Or general exercises substituted for it.
Although the construction of school
houses is usually beyond the supervision
of those having charge Of them, instances
have occurred in which the hygienic
knowledge of teachers has been of signal
service to school directors in determin-
ing the interior arrangements of school
buildings.
There is one defect of the eye result
ing largely from it's improper use in the
sChool-rOom, which, unlike nervous
weakness, comes so insidiously upon it
as to be almost imperceptible until it has
passed beyond the possibility Of cure
Many children in the public schools are
constantly becoming near sighted
through the inexcusable negligence of
teachers to insist upon the observance of
the proper distance Of the eye from the
page in writing, drawing, ciphering and
ordinary study. In writing and drawing,
especially, the universal practice of
pupils is extremely pernicious. Instead
of maintaining a distance of fourteen
or fifteen inches between the eyes and
the page in performing the operations
alluded to, glance into almost any
school-room will show that the inter
vening space is only ABOUT six
or eight inches, In consequence
of this unphysiological habit the
eye surely, though imperceptibly, loses
its power of adaptation to variation in
distance, and henceforth only near OBJ
jects will be distinctly seen. 1t is not
easy to modify what seems to be a con-
stitutIonal tendency in children. Vigil
lance and perseverance on the part of
teachers, if not entirely successful in the
prevention of this evil, will DE produc-
tive of immense good. Efforts to coun-
teract the tendency to near-sightedness
may be considerably aided by perma-
nent vertical line placed conspicUously
on the blackboard, representing the
proper distance of the eye from the page
He who has suffered the inconvenience
of this defect in vision resulting from
improper use of his eyes in school days
will not need to be urged to save future
men and women from similar misfor-
tunes.-E. G.. Deld7aO, IN Science of Health.
"A sailors wife had just received in
diligence that her husband had persisted
1T sea. She was visited by neighbor
who sympathiZed with her on her loss
and expressed fear that she would be
poorly off. ".'Deed will T." said the
widow; "but he did all he could for
ne-he's saved me the expense of his
,uryin'." nF
EVANS, the author of "Beulah," "St.
elmo" and other similar novels has given
Up literary work and is living with her hus-
'and, an elderly gentleman by the name
f Wilson, twelve miles from Mobile,
Ala. She devotes her energies to farm
ng and house pursuits.