Volunteer Help to the Schools

ntagious disease caught by one has spread almost inevitably through the school. Mr. William H. Allen, director of the Bureau of Municipal Research in New York, has cleverly expressed this danger of contagion through school conditions: ? Mary had a little cold, It started in her head; And everywhere that Mary went That cold was sure to spread. She took it into school one day; There was n't any rule; It made the children cough and sneeze To have that cold in school. The teacher tried to drive it out; She tried hard, but ? kerchoo! It did n't do a bit of good, 'Cause teacher caught it too.1 Medical inspection, school nursing, and dentistry have come into the schools to stay, and they have come largely through private initiative. In most cases the work has not long remained private. Realizing that health goes with success in education, the school boards themselves have responded quickly and generously to the need for medical inspection, school nurses, open-air rooms, and instruction in hygiene. Yet still a large supplementary field is open for private helpfulness. In New York City, hi 1910, the Committee on Prevention of Tuberculosis of the Charity Organization Society prepared and circulated through the public schools an essay on "What you should know about Tuberculosis." In Brooklyn, New York, a similar committee gives hi day and evening schools one hundred illustrated lectures a year on tuberculosis. In cooperation with the d...