The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-05-31
STORY WITH MORAL.

In order to impress upon the pupils
of the public schools the value of
health precautions and sanitary meas
ures, the subject has been presented to
them through the medium of dramas
The Durkee School is one of several
where little health plays have been
given, and following the presentation
the pupils were asked to write essays
upon it.
William Allen is the author of a
composition of this sort regarded by
his instructors as worthy of being
printed and which is reproduced below:
Miss Fresh Air Visiting Nurse.
In a tall, dark and dirty tenement
lived Mrs. Faythe and her daughter,
Mary. The room they occupied was
dark, untidy and cold. Early every
morning Mrs. Faythe had to go out to
work and she did not get back until
night. For that reason she had little
time to clean up. Mr.. Faythe was
dead. The work Mrs. Faythe did was
usually hard and she was paid very
little for 1T.
The tenement in winter was cold.
Many of the boys and girls caught cold.
The epidemic went from one child to
another by careless coughing and
sneezing. The cold rooms also helped
to make their colds worse. Fuel being
high, the parents burned as little as
possible to get the room warm and
then shut the windows and doors day
and night to keep it warm. In passing
through from one room to the other
they opened and shut the doors quickly.
No really fresh air ever entered, and
sweeping merely filed the room with
dust which could not escape. The imps
of darkness, dirt and tuberculosis soon
felt at home in this room.
These imps were happy because the
/ conditions in the room were just as
they wanted them Darkness pulled
| down the old battered window shade,
making the room as dark as possible.
Dirt ate the soap, threw the scrubbing
brush out of the window, rubbed his
dirty hands over everything and
sprinkled dust around Tuberculosis
stayed around Mary, chuckling every
time he frightened her.
These imps were having a fine time
when in came Mary's mother with DR..
Fake whom Mrs. Green had recon-
mended. He did not clean the room or
try to cheer up Mary, but said she was
in a very bad condition. Seeing that
he did not change conditions, The lmps
soon came out of their corners. He
told Mary he had some medicine that
would soon make her well. He then
produced large bottle, not giving it
to Mary's mother until she had paid
| him two dollars in advance. He sold
her to give Mary big doses often dur
ing the day.
| Before DIR. Fake had had chance
to do much harm, DR.. Sunshine came IN
and brought sunlight with him. BE
spoke to Mary a few encouraging
words and then dismissed DR.. Fake.
He also threw DIR. Fake IS medicine out
of the window. He brought some fruit
and daily program for Mary to fol
low.
At this point Nurse Air came running
into the room with cheerful greetings
to all. She opened the window and
chased out darkness. The mother was
opposed to having the window open,
but the nurse convinced her that 1T was
best. With the mothers help she dust
ed the furniture, swept the floor and
cleaned the untidy cupboard. Nurse
/ Air made Mary's bed with clean, fresh
linen, filed the hot water bottle to
keep her warm and gave her some pic
ture books to look at The mother
washed the dishes and Nurse Air wiped
them. The table was very dirty but
I the nurse cleaned it off and put a linen
cloth and some sweet peas and ferns
on it. There were some soiled towels
hanging near the sink; Nurse Air re
placed them with clean ones. Dirt had
eaten the soap so the nurse brought an
| other bar and chased out dirt. Then
she called her assistants, Milk, Eggs
and Oil.
These fairies danced about swatting
flies. They gave Mary sweet milk,
beaten eggs and oil to make her
strong. They also were careful to keep
the milk bottle covered so that no fly
could carry germs into the milk.
General Sanitary Condition entered
the room and looked about. He noticed
the open windows, the clean cheerful
room and the nourishing food. He also
gave some good advice to Mary. He
found tuberculosis still looking for a
hiding place and all the helpers work
ing together chased him out