The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-26
SOAP REGIME IN The SLUMS.
A TRAINING IN CLEANLINESS BE-
GUN ~ THE SCHOOLS.
Nurses Brought In VINO Teach the Chiidreu
and Their Parents to Avoid Disease
and Cure Cbildish Ailmeuts-It's =
New Sort Of Educational influence.

There has been q growing market for
soap in the slums since tbs Board Of Health
employed nurses to visit the public schools.
In Manhattan the ministrations Of these
nurses are confined principally to schools
In the most congcs,ed tenement districts.
The others don't need nurses.
Seventeen Of tho thirty-fve nurses on
the school roll are stationed in Manhattan
and divide their time among sixty-three
schools, situated for the most part below
Fourteen nth street and attended almost
entirely by the offspring Of foreigners.
II is surprising how very little the up
town residents of Manhattan know about
thesa downtown SCHOOLS. The teachers
in them and the Board OF Health have.
however. a painfully accurate knowledge
Of them and their personnel and as an out
come Of this knowledge the Board Of Health
established q corps OF nurses last autumn
for the express purpose OF combating dirt
and disease in the public schools, and TO
supple mont the work Of the physicians
detailed by the same board to visit the
schools every day
There was n time when this medical in
spection was perfunotortly performed once
a fortnight or 50. At the present time every
pupil passes under the doctors eye daily,
and many OF those in the downtown schools
who are found to be aillng and in need Of
external treatment are attended to on
the spot by one Of the trained Nurse The
need there for external treatment IL al
most pas, belief or course, In cases OF
serious illness, or when a child Is afflicted
with a contagious disease, he or she passes
at once out Of the hands OF the school
physician and nurse into those Of a dis
pensary doctor. and meanwhile must re-
main away from school.
Before the inst allation Of the school nurse
th&Sabsentee roll Of certain schools was
occasionally as large as the attendance
roll, for the reason that children sent home
to t,s treated for day or two for eve. head
or skin disease, ne arly always the outcome
Of uncleanliness. failed 10 show themselves
again because there was no one in particular
TO nurse them or to look them up and make
them come back IS soon as possible.
Truancy, because OF this very thing, wac
frequent. But all that Is changed, and
every one connected with the schools In
now willing to admit that the nurses are an
unqualified suocsss.
In every school where a nurse u Sta
toned, there Ii one room BOT aside for an
hour every day as sort 81 infrmary, the
nurse presiding The children who fail
to PASS the doctor with q clean bill Of health
arr sent to report the fact to their teacher.
who enters IL in her book and In turn de-
spatches the youngster to the principal.
who also keeps a memorandum OF such
cas- g. After that the child goes 70 the
infrpary, and not only " treated thoroughly
on the spot, but lucid directions are given
for home treatment. To make sure that
IN, child undsrs. ands these, the nurse has
them repeated back several times.
Sometimes the directions are followed;
of,cner they are not. In the latter case
the nurse hastens TO visit the patients home
after school hours and do some missionary
work First Of all. she tries to make the
child's mother or guardian understand
that where children arc concerned the law
Of America is cleanliness and that this law
Then she proceeds To give practical
demonst rations OF how it q TO be done
In come districts where the residents speak
only foreign tongue. the nurse has q hard
ts o. nte IL ee SS s By lane back ON on
the sign language and appealing to her
small! patients to act as Interpreters she
usually succeeds ia time.
.Frequently.' said one nurse. have
met mothers who seemed surprised to
learn that the school authorities objected
to having q child's scalp covered with
sores. To their mnds-as one tried to
make clear to me 10y many eloquent signs
and gestures-a diseased scalp and child
hood are inseparablc,
schools In the lower East Side OF the town
almost thought 50, too Said one Of them:
when, about a year ago. rigid medical
examination Of schoolchildren was enforced
by the Board OF Health, In some districts.
had it not been for the nurses. between
two and three. hundred children out Of
one school would have been sent home.
And, as most OF them belong TO the push
cart fraternity. very little good would have
resulted. As il is, these children were
aDo the children object to be treated''
echoed nurse. "On the contrary they,
are anxious for il. not because they have
fallen in love with cleanliness. but because
II IL a novelty that takes them out OF the
classroom for a few minutes and som nS1hig
who don't have to pass into the nurses
hands are Jealous OF those who do.
sIn this neighborhood the tiniest OF all
the schoolchildren in tho primary Is az
keen about grabbing anything s 70 be given .l
when the vaccination edict went forth
and the doctors appeared with their virus
and ancets, children who only few weeks
or months before had been vaccinated APP
peared in line and eagerly barred their arms
be repeated at that particular time. some
retired in high dudgeon and others cried
with disappointment.
The charge has been made that the in
stallation Of the nurses takes all response
bility for ordinary personal cleanliness
of both the scholars and their parents.
One school principal said that this is big
mistake In this part Of the city. as q rule,
when a mother presents herself and her
offspring for the first time at public school.
the latter is unutterably dirty. II usually
takes some time to explain TO her the rule
about personal cleanliness, and also some
time before she can be made to compre-
bend II: but at last. cheerfully enough. che
takes her child or children home again
and returns with them much improved by
a securing.
cipal the children are admitted With the
stipulation that they must always come
TO school clean. To the extent Of wsehing
the face and hands end othing tho
hair this rule is partially complied With
not ps because the mot hers take any
pains TO have II 80, but rather because
children OF the very poor are 70 remsrk-
ably precocious that even little girls five
years old not only can and do make quite
a creditable toilet. but also help older
brot hers through the same troublesome
ordeal.
Whenever a child arrives at school In q
noticeably dirty or untidy condition he or
she Ii sent home again 10 put herself IN
order. BOYS are harder 10 mana &c on
this point than girls. and different principals
try different expedicnts 10 gain the SANE