The Omaha guide., 1946-09-07
THE ROAD TO HEALTH
Healthy School DAYS
BY Arthur G. Falls, M. D., Staff
Member TubercuIos Sanitarium of
Chicago

Now children, young boys and
girls thru out the country are re-
turning to school or will be enter
ing the first grade. Their ucces
in their studies will depend to a
great extent upon their health at
the beginning of school.
To explain what 1 mean, let me
tell you a story about two little
girls who started school the same
year.
Eva and Laura were normal.
children. They had lived next door
to each other all their lives and
were fast friends. Both were ex-
cited about being five years old
and ready for school.
Most people thought that Laura
was a little brighter than Eva and
would do better in school. Eva was
kind of slow and deliberate. and
people said she would not be able
to keep up with Laura, who had a
quick mind.
Actually, however, there was not
as much difference between Eva
and Laura as there was between
their parents. Eva's mother believ-
ed that doctors ought to be called
on to keep people well, not just to
pull them out of an illness. Laura's
mother thought thas was all fool
ishness. She eve could see any
sense in calling the doctor unless
somebody in the family was very
i'll.
Eva was taken to the doctor at
regular intervals for a physical ex
animation and her mother insisted
up to the time the child entered
school, that she rest every after
noon. The mother planned her
meals carefully so that Eva got
plenty of milk and fresh vegetables
and fruits in her diet. She would
not permit her daughter to spoil
her appetite by eating sweets be-
tween meals.
BY the time Eva was four wears
old, she had had injections to pro-
tcet her from diphtheria. Not that
there was a diphtheria epidemic
in. our town at that time, but lust
to be sure that Eva would never
catch this disease which can be SO
harmful to children.
OF course, both Eva and Laura
were vaccinated against smallpox
before they started to school. Lau-
ra's mother didn't even see any
point in this, but the school auth
critics were firm and so Laura
was vaccinated.
Everything went fine with both
girls during the first few weeks
OF school. Then one child in the
class came to shool with a cold
and soon two-thirds of the child
rem had colds. Laura was one of
n first to catch cold. 1t was SO
pad that she had to stay home for
several days. Eva was one of the
lew children in the class who did
not catch cold.
When Laura came back to school
she had lost o good deal of her
pep and got tired easily. Then one
day Laura complained of aching
pans and of being chilly, then hot,
Her mother kept her home and sent
for the doctor. 1t developed that the
child had diphtheria. She was very
i'll and it was two months before
the doctor said she could go back
to school. By this time, she had
fallen so far behind in her school
work that her mother decided to
keep her at home for the rest Of
the term.
And so Eva, the slow child, got
ahead of Laura, the quick one, in
school. Eva was not absent a dav
that first year and got among the
highest grades in her class.
1 know that Eva was no smart
er" than Laura. Her one advan-
tage over Laura was her health.
Her mother saw to it that she kept
well. She didn't just hope her lit
tie daughter would not be sick
She took her to the doctor at least
once a year for a physical check
up, she later let her take injection:
to protect her from contagious di