The Washington times., 1919-09-07

livery parent knows how hard It Is to
arouse the interest Of child in mat
- ters Of personal hygiene; and even
when the interest is aroused how hard it
is to keep the attention from wandering
from the lesson. Furthermore, rarely does
the lesson seem to stick. It goes ain one
ear and cut Of the other" and constant
repetition Is necessary before It can be
successfully hammered into the youthful
mind.
Little Johnny hasn't the same feeling
about dirty hands and face that his parents
have. He likes the water at the seashore
or the pond or down IN the creek, but at
the best he only tolerates It from the faucet
and the wash basin. Little Jennie, Of
course, is different. She likes to be clean,
asa rule, but she can go little Johnny one
better when It comes to objecting to eating
things that are good for her but that she
does not like.
How properly to impress upon the child
the necessity for brushing his or her teeth
every morning and after each meal, the
reasons for scientific use Of soap and water,
how TO eat properly-and this does not
mean politely, but in the way to get the
best out Of what they are eating-and all
these dozens of very essential things for
its future welfare and happiness, have
driven many a mother almost to distrac-
tion.
"'The children seem to forget everything
l say complains one.
Il have to keep repeating the same thing
all the time" mourns another.
And yet the boy who can listen to q USE
full lecture and not retain the slightest
recollection of what he has heard three
hours later, can go to a circus, see a clown
and a month after detail with absolute
fidelity every grimace and gesture and
prank that he has seen.
Why did the child forget the lesson and
remember the clown?
Why was he Indifferent or averse to
making the necessary hygienic gestures of
cleanliness, but eagerly reproduced the
cOmical antics more hard In themselves, Of
the clown? It cannot be laziness-because
the muscular effort Of the latter was far
greater than that Of the former
Psychology gave the answer that under
the stimulus Of acute interest the clowns
gestures we're automatically and firmly
stamped upon tho plastic mind whereas
the lesson, having nothing about It TO
arouse interest, was promptly forgotten
This being so, the New York Academy
Of Medicine, the representative body of
New York physicians and surgeons, acting
in cooperation with the Child Health Or.
ganization, recently decided to try the ex-
pertinent Of combining clown and health
lessons to see whether the clown interest
would be strong enough to impress the use
ful as well as the useless upon the childish
mind. In other words, whether sugar
coating the pill would work equally as well
for the juvenile brain as II does for the
Juvenile stomach.
The experiment has been such a success
that other cities have sent to New York for
full details Of the plan, and health-teaching
clowns viii soon be seen throughout the
country.
The premier clown teacher in New York
is named ChO-Cho-his name being taken
from the initials Of the Child Health Organ
ization which conceived the scheme. Cho-
ChO. with his clown costume and his clown
antics, has visited Newport, Atlantic City.
Washington and New Jersey towns near
New York. Secretary of the Interior Lane
attended his lectures in Washington and
enjoyed them.
At Cho-ChO's recent appearance in New
York 1,500 children shouted their Joy at
sight Of him and their hearty appreciation
Of his remarks. Reports from parents Of