Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1917-09-07
IS THE LITTLE RED SCHOOL,
HOUSE" GOOD ENOUGH !?

(Dr. VIM. Byron FOrbush, EditOr)
Why. they even have a tooth
brush drill instead of Bible read
ing now at the opening of
school,"
My old schoolmate was expos-I
tulAting. We had been attend
ing an Old Home Week. Hell
was just about to drive me ont
of the school yard. He pointed
back.
What did we know about
sanitation when we used to go|
to school here together -? Wei
all drank out of the same d1pper|
from the water bucket. We
CLEANED our slates-in the natu-
raj way, and wiped them off with
our elbows. The iron stove was
stocked till it was red-hot and we
were baked on one side, while
we froze on the other, and the
only ventilation came through
the cracks in the windows. We
might have a cold in the nose
once in a while, but we never
lost a day unless we were sick
abed.
WE LIVED THROUGH IT.
| Folks die earlier" he con.
tinued, sitting in sunny, well
!, heated and properly ventilated
/ Offices now than they used to on
the frozen frontier. Diseases
that were mild in those days
have taken on scientific name!
> now, and people perish of them
They call inflammation of thu
bowels appendicitis. and old ag'
arteriosclerosis, and plain belly
ache is peritonitis. In our child
hood we had only three RENE
dies, red flannel for the throat
lrhubarb for the stomach ant
mustard baths for the feet
THAT covered the whole anato
my. We applied all three a
:. once for every thing, and got wei
the same day"
AFTER SCHOOL WAS DIFFERENT
III [ recognized the humor O
e some of my chum's TRADE, an
h smiled. When he came to
breathing spell l took my turn.
What you say, Silas, is anus
ing, and it might be true if j
were not for about four thing
N that you forget.
"a well, what are they p h
>. asked defiantly.
At In the first place, while tn
10 old schoolhonse was an uncom
n Portable and really dangeroll
j. place to shut children up in, an
- while we didn't know the near
= ing of the word sanitation, o
D. the whole we lived wholesom
lives outside of school. We wor
plain, honest. comfortable cloth
" ing. We had plenty of nourish
ing food, in those days when W
had meat. milk and vegeta BILE
on our own farm and didn't hay
to import it by way of the city
We walked long distances t
school. We worked before an
after school. We lived outdoor
and played in the sunshine. Blu
N you couldn't take your moder
steam-heated child, brought II
on patent cereals, who does NO
know how to walk or work O
E: even to play, and put her in on
old schoolhouse without sendinI
her into a decline.
, OTHER TEACHERS.
LAS for that innocent cold il
the nose that you tell about
that we caught in the exposure
and sudden changes of those care
less times, have been suffering
from mine ever since, and it ha
ibeen handed down to nay chill
ldren.
I'VE had different teachers il
Those days, too. At least hal
Eof them were men. big, gener
b |ous, athletic fellows, working
their way through college OF
lpaying for their farms. The
frest were women, and since teach
ling was the only business oper
Ito women in those days, aside
from getting married, we had
the pick of the fire young women
Iof the country. My mother
Taught school for a dollar a week
, and found But the city schools
to-day take all the well-trained
teachers. 1 don't think, Silas,
Iyou would want to trust your
daughters health or education
to the person who keeps school
in that old shed today.
THE MELTING POT.
Furthermore" l concluded,
they have different children in
kI,;C ccLoo1 today Yn,r NOV uo<