Smyrna times., 1904-01-06
CLUB WOMEN URGE BETTER
SCHOOL ROOM SANITATION
IMPRESSED WITH THE NEED OF BETTER
CONDITIONS in OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Excellent Paper Read Before the Twentieth
century Club In Which Some Timely and
Valuable Suggestions Were Made.

Eentury Club 10 Which Some Timely and
Valuable Suggestions Were Made
1he following paper was read be-
fore The Twentieth Century Club an d
Is published at the request of the Fx-
ecutive Committee: son the question
OF schools, school buildings and teach
ing, the recent magazines and papers
are rich In material for discussion on
e1ucatlon. But in a six minutes paper
on "schoOl-room sanitation J. fael [
must stick closely to Ky text and onlv
apply 1t locally. It is a self evident
truth that food and water, raiment and
shelter, are necessities for life, and
fresh air and sunshine for health.
fuollc education should provide for
tne right growth of body, mind and
character; and proper physical train
ing demands good air, cleanliness and
freedom from degrading surroundings.
When child is six years old the law
OF Delaware says he may go to the
public school-if there is one near his
nome. The law does not 1equire his
attendance, nor compel the voters of
the school district to vote sufficient
tax to make him comfortable, if he At
tends. When the Women's Climbs of tho
state were federated one of the first
tnlngs attempted was gaining a knowl-
cage OF the sanitary condition of the
pubic schools. The motto chosen was
information before reformation ,,
And some of the information gained
was an appalling revelation to the COM
mlttee. When the committee advised
tree planting and outside improve
ments we complacently nodded our
heads and said "we.have a beautiful
building, adequate to our needs. and
beautifully situated on an elevation
sufficient for surface drainage and
we have ample play grounds; plenty
OF green grass and no, keep off the
grass" signs either, and some of the
most beautiful shade trees to be found
IN the town" All of which the children
may occnpY for one hour a dav on
school days only, fifteen minutes be-
tween the bells and the two recesses.
When We Enter With Six Year Old
When we enter with the six wears
old, what do We find? We enter a
room into which the sunshine never
enters, and for five hours a day the
slx years old is in this room. The six
years old child should surely have
eleven hours of sleep, and for nearly
half of his waking hours he is in this
sunless room. The lower part of the
glass is treated so that his gaze NAV
not wander from his tasks for five
hours of work for a six years old
child. How many adults enjoy look
ing at ground glass or finds it restful to
the eyes when lifting them from white
page? Wouldn't it be too bad to let his
little eyes wander to the blue sky or
to the waYing leaves of those beauti-
full trees. Five hours seems to me like
long time for a six years old to
spend on book learning. Then the
prevailing winds in winter are north.
north east and northwest and the on
ly windows in the room face those
sides. Here is a problem for the
teacher, how to make a room full of
children comfortable, some have come
from homes where the kitchen, heated
by the cook stove, is the living room.
The thermometer, if they have one.
must frequently register 80 and IS de-
grees. If the school room is heated to
60 or 6S degrees these children, usual
ly thin clad, are cold. What clothing
they wear is saturated with the steam
and smoke from cooking food and
ready to emit an unmistakable odor.
If the windows are lowered from the
top, these children feel the slightest
draught. Then there are the children
used to heated rooms of 20 degrees
with carpeted floors, etc., and dressed
to be comfortable under these sur
roundings, and we all know from 65
to 6S degrees is supposed to be the !
correct heat. The teacher does the :
very Dest she can to make the children :
comfortable and 1 feel does remark l
ably we'll under these conditions.
Dangers of Public School Book Service.
Then she gives the child a book, a
nice clean new book with which to n
make his acquaintance with learning? b
BY no manner of means. Who has n
used the book before into how many
homes has it spent its time before c
his? No one knows. We heard E
much two years ago about public
library and the dangers from such
'ervice-''we have the same thing
light here with more than three hun y
ired users of public books, and many :
II them in condition that would not :
1