Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-11-12
Omen Air Schools.

so different Up in Maine. not SO many
wears ago. schoolhouses were set 3on
loose stone foundations. SO the wind
could blow under. and that was about
all the ventilation the building had.
| The floors were open and cold air
fails. so. probably. some of it got out
that way. But it was not good AIR
| that remained. The building was
usually heated by a large box or bar
rel stove, with a smoke pipe running
the length of the room overhead. In
real winter weather our feet We're
| freezing while our heads baked in
proximity to that smoke pipe. If we
had been allowed to stick our feet up
over the desks and hang our heads
underneath how much better it would
have been: But teachers. in those
days. had their notions of department.
| The writer's brother last week wrote
| from another state. In my visit to
Maine this fall called at the old
schoolhouse where you and ! Sradu-
| ated. How changed New floors,
walls, ceiling, desks chairs, black
boards globes, maps and other fur
niture. Quite modern" From his let
ter one might surmiSe that it would
now be possible to drol. book with
| out the necessity Of reaching under
| the schoolhouse to regain it.
| That was one of the schoolhouseS OF
| other days: there are many others but
We are still learning. and following is
a lesson which most of us can under
stand, and may help US in arranging
our new schoolhouses or give us some
hints for use in making old ones more
liveable.
Three thousand years ago Grecian
pupils studied and their instructors
taught o,,t-ofdoors, says a writer In
the New York Press. Today. New
York City has nearly n dozen open
air schools, four of which are on ferry
boats These ferry boats are the day
/
llosis. or consumption, and also Of chill
dren who are naturally predispcsed TO
This disease and from whom it IS
hoped such q calamity may be averted.
Thee two classes OF children are kept
entirely separate. These pupils, al
though handicapped by the hstlessness
| l II fcf
condition., are making more rapid
progress in all their studies. their
teachers aver, than those children who
are taught in artificially heated class
rooms.
These pupils study from nine until
five. Crackers and milk are gwen TO
them as a luncheon at 10 A. NJ. They
have warm, nourishing dinner at
noon and in the midlc of the afternoon
crackers ana milk are served again
, Each child has a steamer chair, and
in it takes a nap after dinner, being
well protected from the cold by warm
: blankets and hoods. If asleep. the
| child is not awakened at the study
hour, the sleep being considered more
important to it's welfare than the
time intervening before 1t would
awaken naturally. In cold weather
the children wear mittenS, which they
remove in order to write and cipher
| and replace them when their hands
become cold Thus far, all of the open
air schools have been for tubcrculal
| children or those pupils VII" would
, be likely to have consumption if kept
, indoors; but as soon as arrangements
, can be perfected for doing SO, open
air claYsroomS will be provided Tor
perfectly normal children
|, The schoolhouse on Mott street, New
] York, has been provided on one side
| Of the building with windows which
1 swing on pivots and never are closed
r while the class is in session. In an
other school, two sides Of the building
have been fitted with windows permit
, ting the free access Of air in Similar
, manner. Pupils studying under these
. conditions are healthier their resist
ance to disease is greatly increased,
and they make much mere rapid prog
ress in learning than when gathered
| in warm classrooms
Hot air makes sluggish brains. All
air fit for the sustenance Of human
beings contains a large percentage OF
water yapor. This percentage in out
side air is fairly uniform and is usual
ly - If any Of the vapor is removed
the air rushes around attempting to
replace it by abstra citing it from other
sources In practically every public
school all over America this humid air
from out OF doors is heated until all
the water is squeezed out of it. The
, humidity is reduced from - to is.
Naturally the thirsty air restores It's
equilibrium by absorbing the necessary
, moisture from the human bodies IN
the class rooms.
, to cnapcb ftirSt this WAY iS