CHAPTER XVIII

COOPERATION WITH DISPENSARIES AND CHILDSAVING AGENCIES

Scientists agree that the human brain is superior to the animal brain, not because it is heavier, but because it is finer and better supplied with nerves. As one writer has said, the human brain is better "wired," has better organized "centrals." A poor system of centrals will spoil a telephone service, no matter how many wires it provides. An independent wire is of little use, because it will not reach the person desired at the other end. The ideal system is that which almost instantly connects two persons, no matter how far away or how many other people are talking at the same time on other wires.

The school that tries to do everything for its pupils without using other existing agencies for helping children1 will be like the man who refuses to connect his telephone with a central switch board, or like a bank that will not use the central clearing house. As one telephone center can enable scores of people to talk at once, and as one clearing house can make one check pay fifty debts, so hospital and relief agencies enable a teacher who employs "central" to help several times as many children as she alone can help.

It seems easier for a teacher to give twenty-five cents to a child in distress than to see that the cause of the misery is removed. In New York City there are over five hundred school principals, under them are over fifteen thousand

1 The importance of recognizing the family as the unit of social treatment is presented in Edward T. Devine's Principles of Relief, and in Homer Folks's Care of Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Children.

teachers, and the average attendance of children is about six hundred thousand, representing one hundred and fifty thousand homes. If teachers give only to those children who ask for help, many will be neglected. In certain sections of the city principals have combined to establish a relief fund to be given out to children who need food, clothes, shoes, etc. One principal had to stop replacing stolen overcoats because, when it was

known that he had a fund, an astonishingly large number of overcoats disappeared. At Poughkeepsie school children get up parties, amateur vaudeville, minstrel shows, basket picnics, to obtain food and clothing for children in distress. They are, of course, unable to help parents or children not in school. Of this method a district superintendent in New York said to his teachers and principals: "For thirty-two years I have been working in the schools of this district. I have given food and shoes to thousands of children. I know that however great our interest in a particular child when it comes to us with trouble at home, our duty as teachers prevents us from following our gift into the home. and learning the cause of the child's trouble. This last winter we have made an experiment in using a central society, which makes it a business to find out what the family needs, to supply necessaries, country board, medicine, etc. We now know that we can put a slip of paper with the

name and address of the child into a general hopper and it will come out eyeglasses, food, rent, vacation parties, as the need may be."

Relief at home through existing agencies was brought about by the distribution of cards like those on opposite page, which offer winter and summer coöperation.

When these cards were first distributed several teachers went from room to room, asking children who needed help to raise the hand. In many cases parents were very angry

FRESH-AIR AGENCIES LIKE SEA BREEZE PREFER TO AID
CHILDREN IN ORDER OF NEED

that their children should have asked for help. But help given in instances like the following soon proved to teachers that they could afford the time necessary to notice children who appeared neglected, when so much good would ensue :

The father is sick and unable to work. They cannot get clothes for the children, who are not attending school on that account. Children were provided with shoes and clothes.

November 30, 1907, a school principal reported that six children in one family needed underwear. A visitor discovered that one of the boys who had the reputation of being unruly and lightfingered also had adenoids. He was taken to a hospital for operation, and was later interested in his school work.

COMPU

For School Children

OMPULSORY education implies the ability of all families, even the poorest, to take advantage of school benefits. This means that children should be fed properly, clad comfortably, and healthfully housed.

The New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor aims to cooperate with school-teachers in every part of Manhattan and The Bronx to insure comfort and prevent suffering among school children, their parents, and younger brothers and sisters. On one day last winter we received appeals from school principals and teachers in behalf of twenty-nine families. Within six hours every family was visited, emergent aid in food and coal provided for many, and orders given for shoes and dresses and coats required by the children of school age. During the winter we gave not only clothing, groceries, food, and rent, but found work for older boys and parents, taught mothers to prepare food properly, and sent a visiting cleaner to make sick mothers comfortable and to get the children ready for school.

In a word, we followed that need, the surface evidence of which comes to the attention of the teacher, back into the home and its conditions, aiding throughout the period when the family was unable to do justice by the school child.

In many instances the home income was sufficient, but the home management inefficient. Probably such homes could be more effectively benefited through educational work emanating directly from the school.

We can be reached by telephone (348, 349, and 1873 Gramercy) from 9 A. M. to 12 M. Letters or postal cards should be addressed to Mrs. H. Ingram, Superintendent, 105 East 22d Street. Reference slips will be gladly furnished upon application.

The New York Association for Improving 1843 the Condition of the Poor

:

1905

Teachers of Manhattan and The Bronx

Do you know of such children as these:

1. Convalescent children now out of school, who would be benefited by a stay at the seashore in May or June ?

2. Children in school whose anæmic condition would be greatly improved by a week at Sea Breeze during July or August?

3. Small brothers and sisters (and tired mothers) who may need outings or special help?

The New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor will act promptly. Write or telephone (348 Gramercy).

A little girl was unruly and truant. No attempt was made to keep her at school, but she was reported to the Committee on the Physical Welfare of School Children. The parents could not control her. The girl was taken for examination by a specialist and found to be feeble-minded. Later she was sent to a custodial institute.

Another little girl was nine years old, but could not talk. A University Extension Society worker found that she was not kept at school because it was too much trouble. The child was taken to a physician who operated and corrected the tongue-tie.

A girl of twelve said she must stay home to "help mother." The mother was found to be a janitress, temporarily incapacitated by rheumatism. A substitute was provided until the mother was well, and all the children were properly clad for school.

After the adenoid operations in a New York school that occasioned the Fast Side riots of 1900, the physicians and principals who had persuaded parents to permit the operations were fearful lest the summer in unsanitary surroundings might make the demonstration less complete. Over forty oldren in three parties were sent away for the summer, where they had wholesome food and all the m ́ì tha

and fresh ar day and night.

prano val wrote: "The imA maneis We shall try