Ko. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AaRlCULTURE. 167 



selves, and more valuable to this and the next generation through 

 this great work, and contrast this with the fifty thousand girls 

 claimed by the "great, mysterious world of oblivion" — fifty thousand 

 who simply dropped out of existence. 



We can safe-guard our girl by giving her active and intelligent 

 occupation for her hand and brain; by providing a cheerful and com- 

 fortable home; seeing that she has recreation of a suitable kind, and 

 proper social environment; by giving her a wholesome view-point 

 from which to look at life: from this view-point will come a whole- 

 some living that will insure the girl the greatest contentment and 

 satisfaction that this life has to offer. 



SCHOOL HYGIENE 



By MISS ELIZABETH HUGHES CONARD, Westgrove, Pa. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : This may seem a peculiar subject to come 

 up at a meeting like this, but I want to give it to you as parents 

 and School Directors, from the view point of the mental and physical 

 development of the child. 



It is impossible to get the best returns without the proper sani- 

 tary appliances. This is from a financial standpoint. It refers to 

 everyone who pays school tax. School tax is nothing more or less 

 than an investment, according to how it is spent. If it is spent in 

 good equipment, good surroundings — and by "good" we don't 

 mean elaborate, because elaborate appliances are rather a detriment 

 than otherwise — but when your school tax is well spent it brings 

 .you home as good results as any investment you can make. If you 

 have invested it poorly, then we have the other side of the question. 

 If your equipment is not of the best, the development of the child 

 is slow and ho cannot do his best work, and the return is necessarily 

 small for the amount of the investment. The health and vigor of 

 the nation depends very largely upon the foundation we have laid in 

 school life. We cannot keep the child cooped'^ up in an unsanitary 

 room with poor air and uncomfortable seats, and get good results 

 in after life. We lay the foundation in the school room, and as 

 that foundation is laid, so will the after life of the child be. Upon 

 the foundation is built the whole structure of the child's life. It is 

 estimated that a child betv/een five and ten years of age, is worth to 

 the State |950; between ten and twenty, two thousand dollars, and 

 between twenty and thirty years, four thousand dollars. The aver- 

 age value of life of all ages is worth -|2900. Now every time we put 

 our pupil in a school room with unsanitary surroundings, we are 

 risking an actual monetary loss; we lessen their earning power, and 

 reduce their value. Now, it is of little value without bodily vigor, 

 to endeavor to impart education. No doubt 3'ou think of many men 

 who with a poor body have accomplished great things, but even 



