The evening times., 1899-09-07
Common sense in Energencie

To the person who looks at life in
philosophical way it sometimes seems that
one OF the most useful things which could
be introduced into a public school course
would be an emergency class. There are SO
many .energe encies in life, and so few people
who know what 10 do with them, that such
a class would surely be ! blessing 10 hu-
manity.
OF course. it is not desirable that any
more things should be added to the al
ready oyercrowded curriculum OF the pub
lie school, but perhaps some OF the studies
now there could be dropped, aad taken up
later on. if necessary The trouble with
great many people in these days is that
their hands and their brains do not work
together easily. They may know what they
ought 10 do. but when taken BY surprise.
they have not the physical ability TO do
II. There was an instance Of this in a mu-
scum the other day. 4 man who had
charge of the snake department saw two
pythons lighting. and tried TO separate
them so as TO prevent a death in the
family. for when these reptiles have duel
il is not after the French fashion. They
fight TO kill. And pythons are costly
things and must be protected. When these
two combatants understood that they were
interfered with, they turned on the man
and began to embrace him with such vigor
and eaTnestness that the breath was nearly
squeezed cut CT his body in very short
order. Meanwhile the crowd outside stood
''spellbouEd' and never made a movement
to rescue the keeper or even TO call for
help Finally some of the other employees
OF the museum rushed in and pulled the
snakes eff their cOmTadp and saved his
life Another instance of the same sort
occurred some days ago in a factory. A
man fell into a pit where there were re-
vclYing knives. and was obliged to run a
horrible race with death to keep from be-
ing sliced up. While he was running back
and forth in the pit. shriekirg for help. an
other employe stood 'spellbound' and
dumb with horror, and did not call for as
sistance or shut of the power which turn
cd the knives. Fortunately, somebody with
presence of mind appeared on the scene and
rescued the victim.
OF course, things like these will always
| be more or less frequent, for many emer-
gencies cannot possibly be foreseen, and il
takes resourceful man to evolve plan
of rescue for a fellow-beirg in imminent
peril. without a moments preparation But
| there are other dangers against which pro.
vision could be made. One of these is fire
There are already fre-drilIs in many large
schools. There should be such exercises
| IN all schools, and also for the employees
of hotels and other large buildings: and
| il would not be a bad idea 10 have them in
the home. If children are trained to DO GER
tain things quickly and mechanically, at 9
| certain signal, the muscles and nerves will
generally be obedient TO that signal even
under the stress OF sudden danger. The
success of the fre-drill in cases of rsa
peril proves this. All factories, all build
! ings in which large numbers of people are
employed, should have such drills occas-
| ionally, particularly if the employees ara
girls or women. By some such means pan
les. with their terrible loss of life could bt
avoided.
The important thing in an emergency
class would be to keep the pupil. if posi-.
BILE. ignorant of the true condition of af-
fairs. When the children in a school gt
through a mock drill they do not know
but that there is a real fire in the building
| Thus their nerves cease to be upset at tb,
suggestion of fire. Familiarity breeds con
tempt for danger as well as for othel
things.
We have all been in situations wherl
somebody with common sense and quicl
wits was badly needed, and those whi
should have had their wits about then
were wringing their hands and going ini,
Mysteries. This sort of thing is not onl.
idiotic, but il may be extremely dangerous
A girl should never be taught that it il
a proof of sensitive nature for her t