We used to think that death was just To try to get the windows screened, And a sanitary privy With the well quite far away. Let's clean the cows at milking time, And the chills and ague crew; Let in the air and sunshine, With the ancient typhoid privy ADVICE TO NURSING MOTHERS. (From the Indiana Mothers' Book.) Don't worry. Cultivate calm. Get full eight hours sleep. Sleep in a well ventilated room. Take a walk out of doors every day except when the weather is inclement. Take a daily bath. A sponge bath is good. Eat only plain foods. Pass salads, pickles, spices. Eat moderately of meats. Eat freely of fruits and vegetables. Don't become constipated. Relieve constipation by attending to nature's calls, by cultivating a regular habit, by eating very freely of fruits and drinking plenty of pure water. Don't take patent medicines or indeed any medicines, except as the doctor directs. Take a nap every afternoon, or at least lie down and rest for half an hour. Don't drink tea or coffee. The tannin they contain causes constipation, and the caffein they contain is a nerve whipper and is bad for mother and child. Don't allow yourself to become angry. Fits of temper injure the breast milk. Nurse your baby only five or six times daily, and cut down the milk supply if the baby vomits it. Don't nurse your baby at night after it is six months old. See that your baby is registered. First-Remember thy garbage can to keep it covered lest thy garbage become a stench in the nostrils of the people and breed flies. Second-Thou shalt cut the weeds in thy vacant lot lest it become a hiding place for old tin cans, which catch water and breed mosquitoes; papers and divers sort of trash. Third-Thou shalt bear witness against thy neighbor's rubbish heap, likewise his dirty back yard. Fourth-Thou shalt clean out the habitation of thy horses and thy cows frequently lest the stable fly flourisheth and spread infantile paralysis and the housefly breed by the thousands and millions and annoy thee and thy beast and produce much sickness in thy family. Fifth-Thou shalt prevent the breeding of the fly in the springtime that thy children unto the third and fourth generation need not swat him later. Sixth-Remember thy back yard and alley to keep them clean. Six days shalt thou labor to keep thy premises clean, and if yet the task is not accomplished thou couldst do worse than continue on the seventh. Seventh-Thou shalt covet all the air and sunshine thou canst obtain. Eighth-Look not upon the milk when it cometh from the unclean dairy, for the doctor will not hold thee guiltless if thy infant sickeneth therefrom and die.. Ninth Remember thy cleaning up day and keep it wholly. Tenth-If thou dost hearken unto these sayings to do them thou shalt live long in the land. THE HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN. The report for 1912 of the medical officer of the British board of education has just been issued. It contains an exhaustive account of the measures which are being taken throughout the country to safeguard the health of schoolchildren. Uncleanliness still occupies a large share of the time and energy of the officers of the school medical service, but the returns show a decided and progressive improvement, and the grossest forms of uncleanliness are now rare as compared with the conditions that prevailed when medical inspection was instituted in 1908. There are about six million children in the public elementary schools. About 10 per cent. suffer from serious defects of vision. Among the causes given are heredity, early eye-strain, defective lighting, infectious diseases and neglect in obtaining early medical advice. From 1 to 3 per cent. have suppurat ing ears; about 10 per cent. have adenoids, inflamed tonsils or enlarged cervical lymph-nodes requiring surgical treatment; I per cent. have ringworm; I per cent. suffer from tubeculosis of readily recognizable form; from 1 to 2 per cent. have heart disease; from 30 to 40 per cent. have unclean heads or bodies, and more than half the children are in need of dental treatment. In five directions school hygiene has undergone evolution. There has been a steady improvement in the routine work of medical inspection and auxiliary undertakings. There is less "leakage," more following up and more accurate clinical examination. Secondly, there is fuller differentiation of abnormal children and a tendency on the part of authorities to modify the school curriculum in their behalf. Much time and labor are now being devoted to mentally defective, tuberculous, stammering and frail or retarded children. Thirdly, there has been an enlargement of the conception of the sphere of influence of the school medical officers. Education authorities are finding that though they have been appointed in the first place merely to inspect children, they may fill a very useful place in the educational system. Fourthly, there has been a marked advance in respect to medical treatment both in quality and in quantity. Lastly, the intimate relation between school hygiene and education is becoming recognized and its application understood. The equipment of the school, the character of the teacher, the importance of physical exercise and manual work, the relation of the leaving child to the national insurance system, to industrial employment, to further education in secondary schools, and to its own home life, are now receiving attention. Thus the school medical work and the issues arising therefrom, says the London correspondent of The Journal of the American Medical Association, are beginning to form an integral part of our educational system. THE TRAINING OF THE NERVOUS CHILD. In his admirable address on the "Care of the Nervous Child," Dr. Barker, according to Life and Health, states that, above all, it is important to overcome the tendency to give way to emotions. Children should early be given to understand that they must control themselves before they can get what they want. The child must learn that it is more apt to get what it seeks if it controls itself than if it gives way to an emotional outbreak. Beginning later in life, it will be found almost impossible to control this emotional instability. Vacillation is another characteristic which must receive especial attention in childhood. Parents should see that the child finds in them no example of this failing. While a few children of the "hairtrigger" type need to be taught deliberation in making decisions, most children should be encouraged to make a decision and stick to it. Another matter parents must regard is the criticism of neighbors. Such criticism favors a malevolent spirit, which has a most pernicious effect on the nervous system. But the child should not be protected from everything which might stir his emotions. He needs such experiences in order to learn self-control. While a hot temper is bad for the child, it is less damaging than a habit of holding a grudge, which grows by degrees into the persecutory ideas of the paranoid state. But at sudden outbursts of emotion or passion, if frequently repeated, are very deleterious to the nervous system. The attempt to avoid or overcome these attacks either by petting or by punishing is not apt to end well. As a rule, it is best to ignore the attacks, and, as far as possible, forestall them. To older children one can explain the lack of dignity and the senselessness of giving way to anger. Such lessons given during the seasons of calms will often have the desired effect. A mistake often made by parents, and oftener by nurses, that of frightening children with stories of the bogy man, the policeman, etc., is apt to set up nervous disturbances which last through ife. One must learn how to deal with the fear of being alone, the fear of the dark, and the fear of thunder and lightning. Certain of these fears are easily overcome, especially by an example of courage on the part of older persons. Sometimes fear is a symptom of disease, and the child should be examined by a physician. Night terrors, for instance, may indicate the presence of adenoids. WOMEN WHO KEEP PHILADELPHIA TIDY In the "About People" department of the May Woman's Home Companion appears a picture and sketch of Mrs. Edith Pierce, Inspector of Street Cleaning in Philadelphia. Mrs. Pierce has been teaching the children and their mothers to help keep the streets clean and, because of her, Philadelphia is a neater city than it used to be. The following extract gives a further idea of Mrs. Pierce's achievements: "First she planned for making the children her aids, teaching them not only to refrain from throwing fruit skins, paper and other rubbish into the street, but also to prevent others from so doing. She reached the children and awoke in them a wholesome interest in the city's appearance by means of distribution of simple circulars. Then she urged clubs, neighborhood groups and whole communities to co-operate with the street cleaners. In one week she addressed ten of the city's leading clubs for women on her chosen theme. In the crowded poorer sections she speaks from a soap-box to corner gatherings of the housekeepers of the neighborhood, tell ing them, often with the aid of an interpreter, how to handle their waste, and inspiring them to do their part in keeping their surroundings clean and sanitary. She has found that the Italian, Polish, and Russian mothers whom she addresses become deeply interested in municipal house-cleaning; some of them 'point with pride' to alleys, formerly reeking with filth but now clean and orderly." PICK IT UP By Boyd Wees, Elkins, W. Va. City's had a siege of cleanin' And is lookin' fairly neat, 'Spose you see a scrap of paper 'Spose you're not the first to spy it, If you see a broken bottle On the street or on the square Waitin' f'r a ortermobile Or an urchin's foot that's bare, While of course, YOU didn't do it, Ef you see a piece of lumber 'Spose you see a tin that's empty Looks quite innocent an' harmless 'Less it's 'tached to Fido's tail, Yet, tin cans may well bear watchin'; Ef you see a fellow mortal In misfortune's grip held fast, 'Though he makes a manly effort, Withered by her fateful blast; Load too great for him to bear it- Pick it up. |