AmericPin Agriculturist, February 24,1923 
Taking Stock of Health 
Room For Improvement in Many Communities 
T his is stock-taking time. Merchants 
everywhere are going over their last 
year’s records, writing off losses, seeing 
where they made mistakes and making 
plans for a profitable year to come. 
There is a hint in this, not only for 
each of us individually, but for commu¬ 
nities as well. One of the most valuable 
possessions which anyone can have is 
health, and we are gradually learning 
that health is a purchasable com¬ 
modity. 
It must be bought, however, not only 
with money, but with time, effort and 
thought as well. What each individual 
does, affects the health of the commu¬ 
nity as a whole; while the general 
health standard of the community can¬ 
not fail to help or injure the individual. 
Tell us of Your Progress 
Every year there are fewer “health 
heathen” in the United States—fewer 
men and women who disregard elemen¬ 
tary health laws for themselves or op¬ 
pose progressive measures to safe¬ 
guard their children. But carelessness 
and indifference can be as dangerous as 
active opposition. The healthy commu¬ 
nity is the one where nobody “gets 
tired” of constant effort to reach a 
higher standard. 
Fortunately not all of us have to 
contend with the ignorance and preju¬ 
dice described by the author of the fol¬ 
lowing letter. But when stock-taking 
times comes around, it is well for all of 
us to stop and think whether our com¬ 
munity is actually advancing or merely 
marking time. 
Many communities, however, have 
made splendid progress in health condi¬ 
tions, and we all ought to know about 
their work. Letters telling what has 
been accomplished and what is planned 
for this year will be very welcome. 
Pictures, if they are clear and defi¬ 
nitely illustrate the subject, will also 
be acceptable. Sit down and talk things 
over—it will give you fresh enthusiasm 
in starting out to hang up a record for 
this year. 
ARE WE HEALTH HEATHENS? 
The community nurse examines the 
54 children in our district some few 
months ago, and the parents are fum¬ 
ing and fussing yet, as to why the 
County Superintendent should send a 
nurse up here to do such a thing. I 
don’t think there was a perfect child 
among them—nearly all of them had 
bad teeth, enlarged tonsils, adenoids, 
and some of them had weak eyes, and 
one had tuberculosis. 
This little chap took a severe cold 
which developed into pneumonia, and 
died after four weeks illness. His old- 
fashioned grandmother wa§. the family 
doctor and she doctored him with teas, 
blisters and plasters. They didn’t need 
a doctor, she told her daughter, ’twas 
only a cold, and he’d get over it. 
When the child finally refused to eat, 
they sent for the physician. 
Not one of the other 53 children have 
had their physical defects corrected or 
removed. When anyone falls ill, the 
neighbors are called in to give their 
experience and assistance. In ma¬ 
ternity cases a nurse is unknown; usu¬ 
ally some woman who is the mother 
of seven or eight, is called in. One 
Woman here has had seven children 
and never a physician at hand at their 
birth. When the children are born 
they are fed when hungry, and one- 
half of them never know what a bath 
means. From their birth they are fed 
anything that growm per¬ 
sons eat. 
And now, in looking 
over a recent copy of our 
county paper, I see that 
the community nurse has 
been forced to give up her 
position owing to the lack 
of funds to carry on the 
Work. Throughout our en¬ 
tire county there is a gen- 
oral belief that a nurse 
isn’t essential and that it’s all a politi¬ 
cal scheme to obtain a few more dollars. 
People don’t seem to take a common 
sense view of the matter and realize 
what it would mean to their children, 
and to their children’s children. 
In most of the families you find the 
idea prevalent that all children must, 
at some time have such diseases as 
whooping cough, measles^ chicken pox 
and the mumps. I had the whooping 
cough when nine years old, but so far 
have successfully evaded the other dis¬ 
eases. I can’t see why people will be¬ 
lieve that a child must have those 
diseases. If that is so, why wouldn’t 
it be safe to say that they must have 
scarlet fever, small-pox, typhoid fever 
and influenza? It seems to me that 
one idea is about as sane and sensible 
as the other. 
I have known persons whose belief 
was so strong that they have actually 
taken their children into homes where 
such diseases were, just because they 
believed they had to have the measles 
or the mumps and the younger they 
had them, the better off they’d be. I 
know of one case where just such de¬ 
liberate exposure of children to con¬ 
tagious disease resulted in the death 
of the mother and three children out 
of a family of eight. Another woman 
of my acquaintance did that and her 
baby, only eight weeks old, died. So, 
as long as I can avoid it. I’m going 
to keep myself and my children away 
from all such diseases. 
_ Sometimes, when I hear the mis¬ 
sionaries preach about the supersti¬ 
tions of the heathens, I wonder after 
all, if they are really any more foolish 
than the old signs and sayings our 
grandmothers cling to as their mothers 
did before them? 
. Another “A. A. Baby” 
IS ‘Junior” Hart of Rush, 
York, who at the 
of two has taken up 
aoriculture. Junior, ac- 
HAVE YOUR CHILDREN READ 
THESE BOOKS? 
If you were choosing 25 ideal books 
for children, which would you pick as 
the best in the English language? Two 
national organizations. The American 
Library Association and the National 
Educational Association, combined to 
make up a list of twenty-five, and on 
careful reading, it seems to be a very 
well-chosen selection. The list is as 
follows: 
Little Women (Alcott), 
Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain). 
Boys’ Life of Lincoln (Nicolay). 
Fairy Tales (Anderson). 
Robin Hood (Pyle). 
Tales from Shakespeare (Lamb), 
Boys’ King Arthur (Malory). 
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm 
(Wiggin). 
Christmas Carol (Dickens). 
Hans Brinker (Dodge). 
Wonderbook (Hawthorne). 
Heidi (Spyri). 
Robinson Crusoe (Defoe). 
Treasure Island (Stevenson). 
Jungle Book (Kipling). 
Fables (Aesop). 
Child’s Garden of Verse (Stevenson). 
Arabian Nights. 
Story of Mankind (Van Loon), 
Mother Goose. 
Rip Van Winkle (Irving). 
Boys’ Life of Roosevelt (Hagedom). 
Wild Animals I Have Known 
(Seton). 
Home Book of Verse (Burton E. 
Stevenson). 
Alice in Wonderland and Through 
the Looking Glass (Carroll). 
Are there any favorites which our 
readers think have been 
omitted, or would they 
substitute any more re¬ 
cent books for some.of the 
old favorites? We should 
be glad to hear how many 
school-rooms, libraries 
and home book - shelves 
are equipped with either 
all or a large part of this 
well-ronrtfi'^d list of stand¬ 
ard children’s books. 
cording to his mother 
has always -been fed care¬ 
fully prepared milk, and 
is thriving on the diet 
she gives him. 
To: Montgomery Ward & Co. 
Dept. 80-H 
Chicago, FOrt Worth, Kansas City. 
Portland Ore., St. Paul 
Please mail me my free copy of Montgomery 
Ward’s complete 1923 Spring Catalogue. 
Name. 
Address 
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This Catalogue will bring you a 
Saving on Everything you Buy this Spring 
(Mail this coupon to the 
house nearest you.) 
Everything for the Home, the Farm 
and the Family 
For the Home: This catalogue 
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farm, everything for the. automobile, 
everything in wearing apparel; tools, 
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One copy is yours free. You only 
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MontgomeiyWaTd 
sThe Oldest Mail Older House islbdaytheMost Progressive s 
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