814 



TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



T 



TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION IN PUB- 

 LIC SCHOOLS. Scientific temperance instruc- 

 tion in the United States has had a remarkable 

 history, of which the outlines are given in the 

 following passages from the Report of 1890 by- 

 Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, Superintendent of the work 

 in the National and World's Woman's Christian 

 Temperance Union: 



Twelve years ago this department was created. 

 Scientific temperance instruction in the public 

 schools was then only an idea. People said, "It is a 

 good thing, and ou 'lit to be done if it is possible." 

 Scientific temperance instruction is required by the 

 legislatures of thirty-five States in fact, by every 

 State in the republic save nine, in all the Territories, 

 and in every school under the control of our national 

 Government. Twelve years ago there was here and 

 there a little sporadic temperance teaching by order of 

 local school boards. To-day it is not a question of op- 

 tion with school boards. There are between 12,000.000 

 and 13,000,000 children of whom the law says they 

 shall be taught the truth against strong drink and kin- 

 dred narcotics. Twelve years ago there was no adequate 

 well-graded school literature on this topic. To-day 

 there is as large a variety of good school text-books 

 on physiological or scientific temperance, issued by 

 as many different publishers, as there are good school 

 text-books on any other subject ; and these books arc 

 as well graded to the capacities of all classes of pupils 

 as are the best modern school readers. Twelve years 

 ago there was no plan for a course of study in this 

 branch. To-day we have schedules of as carefully 

 graded courses of study for this as for any other 

 science. Twelve years ago there was nothing like a 

 uniform idea of what should constitute a faithful 

 pursuit of this branch. To-day we have an estab- 

 lished standard, signed by many of the most eminent 

 educators in the land, as to what constitutes an hon- 

 est pursuit of this study by all pupils in all schools as 

 the law demands. Twelve years ago the Department 

 of Scientific Temperance Instruction consisted of the 

 National Superintendent and Mrs. C. C. Alford, sec- 

 retary, and that was all. To-day it has a State or 

 Territorial Superintendent pushing its interests in 

 every State and Territory of the land, with county 

 superintendents in every county in some States, with 

 local superintendents in cities, towns, villages, hamlets, 

 and, in some instances, in every school district in a 

 county; and plans are being rapidly executed for 

 completing the appointment of these for every school 

 district in the land. 



Mrs. Hunt, the person destined to lead this 

 movement, was born in Canaan, Conn. Her 

 father, Ephraim Hunchett, was a vice-president 

 of the first temperance society in America. She 

 was graduated at Patapsco' Female Institute, 

 Md., to which institution she returned as Pro- 

 fessor of Natural Sciences. Her marriage to a 

 Massachusetts manufacturer led to her residence 

 in that State. In giving practical oversight to 

 the scientific education of her son, a student in 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bos- 

 ton, from 1872 to 1876, Mrs. Hunt was led from 

 the study of alcohol as a chemical reagent to an 

 investigation as to its origin, nature, and effects 

 upon the human system. She became a close 

 .student of the original investigations of Dr. B. 

 W. Richardson, London, England, and the find- 

 ings of others on all sides of the question. Con- 

 vinced that popular misapprehension as to the 



dangerous character of alcohol in small quanti- 

 ties, and ignorance of the fact that a little has 

 the power to create an uncontrollable appetite 

 for more, Mrs. Hunt came to the conclusion that 

 universal early education on the subject before 

 appetite is formed would solve the problem ; 

 and that, to be permanent as well as universal, 

 such education should be a part of the public- 

 school system of the country. Her first writings 

 on the subject were a series of papers entitled 

 " The School-house to decide the Temperance 

 Question," published in the " New England 

 Journal of Education," and subsequently circu- 

 lated in pamphlet form. In 1878 the local 

 School Board of Hyde Park, Mass, (her place of 

 residence), formally adopted the study as a 

 regular branch the first instance of this kind, 

 as far as known. In 1879 she presented her 

 scheme of the study of physiological temperance 

 in the public schools to the Woman's Christian 

 Temperance Union, at its national convention at 

 Indianapolis. In 1880 that society, responding to 

 her request, created the Department of Scientific 

 Temperance in Public Schools, making her its 

 superintendent, and Mrs. C. C. Alford, of Brook- 

 lyn, N. Y., its secretary. 



" The first two years were given to organizing 

 the department, with State, Territorial, county, 

 and local superintendents; to agitation through 

 the press and from the platform. Before, attempt- 

 ing to secure legislation, Mrs. Hunt, foreseeing 

 the need of some concise official answer to the 

 objection that " medical science is not agreed on 

 that topic," went before the American Medical 

 Association, at their annual meeting in June, 

 1882, and asked for an expression as to the nature 

 and effects of alcoholic drinks. In response they 

 passed a series of resolutions, declaring : 



1. We believe alcohol should be classed with other 

 powerful drugs. 



2. We are of the opinion that the use of alcoholic 

 liquors as a beverage is productive of a large amount 

 of physical and mental disease ; that it entails dis- 

 eased appetites and enfeebled constitutions upon off- 

 spring ; and that it is the cause of a large percentage 

 of the crime and pauperism in our cities and country. 



3. We would welcome any change in public senti- 

 ment that would confine the use of liquors to the uses 

 of science, art, and medicine. 



Armed with this declaration, she began her 

 legislative work. In October, 1882, she present- 

 ed her first temperance educational bill to the 

 Legislature of Vermont. Her thorough canvass 

 of the State just prior to the meeting of the Leg- 

 islature had roused the people in its behalf, and 

 the bill passed with little or no opposition. It 

 provided that " physiology and hygiene, with 

 special reference to the effects of alcoholic 

 drinks and other narcotics upon the human sys- 

 tem, shall be taught in the public schools." and 

 for the examination of teachers on the subject. 



In 1883, co-operating with the Woman's Chris- 

 tian Temperance Unions of those States, she 

 canvassed Michigan and New Hampshire, prior 

 to the meeting of their legislatures, for compul- 

 sory temperance education in the public schools, 



