The record-union., 1899-08-12
NEXT TO GOODNESS.

Ii any one had suggested school
classes for girls twenty years ago for
the express purpose of teaching them
voted ever so many kinds of fool.
But here in the last years Of the cen.
fury We have a girl graduate of Vassar
at the head of the street cleaning
classes for girls in the city of New
York in the common schools. Let it
not be thought for a moment that this
means that women are to be uniformed
and put to work as scavengers. BY no
means.
The New York idea is to so instruct
children in the virtue and "art" of
cleanliness in municipalities, that the
coming generation will not tolerate dirt
and filth in the highways or on their
persons. This teaching work is mainly
prosecuted among the children of those
in the great city who know but little
and care less about cleanliness of the
city or their own premises. In short,
New York is taking time by long
forelock and preparing the new genera
ton against content with filth.
Thus municipal economy is to be con-
served and the public health bettered.
AS a rule the class it is aimed to reach
through the children of New York look
upon street cleaners and health inspec-
tors as trespassers and enemies, whom
it is no crime to obstruct and stone.
and no sin to run off of the premises"
Miss Gallagher, the yassar girl serving
of the system:
Each child is made to understand
that to be a member Of the Street
Cleaning League they must be clean
themselves. You would be surprised to
see how neat some of these children
have become-children whose mothers
look as though they had never taken
bath in their lives.
Then we go from their persons to
their homes, then to the streets, inn
pressing the necessity of cleanliness for
health and prosperity. That is our
strong point - prosperity - though OF
course we don't use that particular
word. The majority of east siders are
Jews and consequently never too young
to understand what saving money
means.
We teach somewhat after the man
ner OF the, sshouse that Jack built If
you throw dirt in the street, then the
city has to clean it up. It costs money
to clean the streets, SO the city has to
fax 10 - 10,
they all know what that word means
has to pay high taxes, then he has to
charge high rents. If your father has
to pay high rent, then he has less mon
ey to buy you clothes. or shoes, or
candy. You must help the city keep
the streets clean and report when there
Is sickness in your tenement.
We can very well understand what
the result of such instruction and train
ing in the free public schools of a great
city must be. In fact we know some
very small cities that might profit by
New York's example in this respect.
In the great metropolis the children
in these street cleanliness classes are
furnished, after a certain period of in
struction, with blanks, which each
week they fill out from observation and
return the report to the teachers, re-
citing what they have done toward
keeping the streets, alleys and lanes
clean, and what they have observed
suggesting to their developing minds
what ought to be done. We are given
NV tho pr-oSS a cof,opla IF oya ~ ithaca
reports made by a ten-year-old girl.
It is well worth reading, even in Sacra-
mento, where precisely such offenses
are committed daily by people who
pronounce them uncleanly in habit:
On Monday I saw a banana peel on
the street and put it in the ash barrel.
On Tuesday I saw a lady emptying
ashes in the street and l said: Lady,
don't empty them in the street; put
them in the ash barrel" She said:
What have you got to do with it?"
and I told her that I belonged to the
Street Cleaning League Of the city of
New York. and she put the ashes in
Che ash barrel. On Wednesday I swept
the sidewalk in front of our tenement
with my mothers broom. On Thurs
day I picked up some broken glass on
Avenue c and put it in the ash barrel.
On Friday l told some little boys that
they must not build bonfire on the
asphalt and they said, Mind your own
business" and I told them that it was
my business, for I belonged to the
Street Cleaning League. and would re-
port them. I showed them my badge
and they stopped.
What world of good could be ac-
complished In every town in the land If
the school children were taught to be
just as observing and instructed in san
itary laws. Assuredly, the public
health would be bettered, the sense OF
sight be gratified, the appearance of
our towns and cities improved and dis
ease and death largely defeated.
Let us suppose that the $500 school
children in Sacramento once a week
were Instructed for an hour in munich
pal cleanliness and sanitary laws and
discoveries. How would reports such
as this, for example, read for Sacra
mento, and what would be the effect of
their publicity, if ten-year-olds should
submit these facts of their observa-
tion-and they could be duplicated by
the score any day in the week:
I saw Mr. -, the banker, putting
his grass cuttings into the street. !