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B ( ) R R ( ) W K D

Mrs.. Si . i

OSMANIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Call No. ,//^ Accession No.

.

*This book should be teturned on or before the date
latst marked below.

BORROWED CHILDREN

COPYRIGHT, 1940, BY
THE COMMONWEALTH FUND

PUBLISHED BY THE COMMONWEALTH FUND
41 EAST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY E. L. HILDRETH & COMPANY, INC.

Inscribed

FOR REASONS WHICH THEY WILL UNDERSTAND

TO THREE EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

OF THE CHILD GUIDANCE BRANCH OF THE

COMMONWEALTH FUND OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

FOREWORD ix

INTRODUCTION xiii

PART I
HOW THEY CAME

I. THE CHILDREN ARRIVE 3

(i) The Home Counties.
(n) The Dales,
(in) The South-West.

II. THE CHILDREN SPEAK 14

(i) From the South-West,
(n) From the Dales.

III. TRIAL AND ERROR 28

IV. A FEW WORDS ON HOSTESSES .... 49
V. WHAT WOULD You Do? 57

PART II
WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

VI. COLLECTING THE FACTS 85

VII. RUNNING WILD 108

VIII. THE NEXT STEP 120

APPENDIX 140

vii

FOREWORD

"TT is estimated that 734,883 unaccompanied chil-
JL dren were evacuated in the first days of September
1 939- - "Daily Telegraph," January z6th, 1940.

Wars, whatever we may think of them, can teach
something to those of us who are ready to learn.

This war, owing to the danger from bombing from
the air, has taught us of all things a great deal about
children. Not only about the state of health and de-
gree of cleanliness and "civilization," and so on, of the
nation's children, but about how children different
types of children will behave in unusual circum-
stances, and through that we find that we have learnt
some fundamental truths about all children.

Here, in this book, is a fascinating record, intimate
and actual, of dozens of cases of what happened both
in those first extraordinary few days in September, and
then in the months that followed.

But Borrowed Children is not merely good reading,
as interesting as a novel, an adventure tale or a very
candid diary, it is also the first record for the ordinary
reader of the findings of experts, on what we ordinary
people call "bringing up children," and its many curi-
ous problems.

ix

FOREWORD

Some fairly complex ideas on the management of
"difficult" children, or of normal children who so
often suddenly go through a difficult phase, have been
confirmed in such a way in this huge "experiment"
that you and I, who are perhaps mothers of families,
or teachers, or merely interested onlookers, can at last
understand what these ideas are, and are able to see
almost at a glance what the experts on child psychology
have been working round to in the last fifteen years.
Now the child psychologist can really help us. For re-
member, that neither the mother nor the teacher sees
the whole problem.

I, for instance, as a mother, didn't, till I read Bor-
rowed Children, understand the point made by Dr.
Moodie, in Chapter VII (that learning to read and
write has such a quite unexpected influence on the
"over-strung" child).

On the other hand, when I had both teachers and
children billeted on me, I found that there were many
little points of home management that were quite new
to the teachers though they were experts at their own

job.

*****

The first evacuation was a failure you hear people
say. A costly failure! Read this volume, and I think
you may agree that, failure or not, something very
substantial may actually have been gained by it. For
if the ordinary run of people who have to do with chil-
drenI mean parents, teachers, doctors, magistrates,
club workers, and now billeting officers, and so on

FOREWORD

can get a new grasp of their job (as they can if they add
the record of this little book to their own experiences),
then I don't think that Evacuation, costly and nerve
racking as it has been to many of us, can be classed as
a failure.

At any rate, the experiences of 1939-40 mark an
epoch in our knowledge of how to avoid a great many
pitfalls in the bringing up of children. As this book
goes to press new emergencies make this knowledge
immediately vital to everyone who took their part in
the first adventure and those who take up their tasks
for the first time.

AMABEL WILLIAMS-ELLIS.

June 1940.

XI

INTRODUCTION

EVACUATION is another name for Dislocation.
Of the problems confronting the British Com-
monwealth at this moment the dislocation of life in the
Mother Country is not the smallest.

The menace from the air has uprooted many classes
of workers. Banks, Insurance Companies, even certain
Government Departments carry on their work far
away from their usual base.

Much the most important evacuation, however, is
that of the children, which is likely to have far-reach-
ing consequences, quite unforeseen in the hurried days
of September when it was first carried out. The prob-
lems to which their flitting has led are not diminished,
but are increased, by the partial drift back to the towns
which, though the situation is more dangerous than
ever, set in about Christmas-time.

This little book is concerned entirely with the prob-
lems of evacuated children of school age. It is not in-
tended for the trained psychologist, the trained edu-
cationalist, or the practised social reformer.

Its intention is to give intelligent, untrained people,
deeply concerned with the welfare of the Nation's chil-
dren, a picture intimate in its detail of the first months

xiii

INTRODUCTION

of evacuation and of the unforeseen problems which
immediately arose.

These problems were to a large extent emotional,
and it may be useful to point out the manner in which
similar problems were dealt with in "difficult" chil-
dren before the War.

These, indeed the mental problems involved are
the aspects on which these pages will dwell, giving first-
hand reports of the measures which the leading so-
cieties dealing with Mental Health have united to
endeavour to institute. These reports, dealing with
most of the Regions into which Civil Defence has di-
vided the country, are of great interest, showing the
different ways in which different areas have tackled
the question.

The very serious educational and social problems
can only be partially studied here without expanding
the volume into an encyclopaedia. Authentic reports
of some of the measures already taken will show the
reader something of what has been attempted, and
more of what remains to be done, to cope with the
dislocation which results from the evacuation of the
children.

At the beginning, however, come the first-hand re-
ports of what happened on September ist.

xiv

PART I
HOW THEY CAME

CHAPTER I
THE CHILDREN ARRIVE

September ist 1939; 6 p.m.

We had been on the alert all day.

An abrupt message had been left at the door early
that the children were expected, and that nobody
could possibly find time to telephone what time they
would arrive.

The house had been unoccupied till late on the
previous Tuesday (August sgth), and the preparations
for the six children expected had been necessarily
hasty.

The hours passed quickly. Even tea-time was over
when at last there was a shout, "Here are the cars!"
I had asked for and been promised a helper, no boys,
and six girls of about 9 "plus," which is the slang of
the London County Council for "and upwards.*'

I ran downstairs. Two cars drew up. The doors
opened on both sides and out of them tumbled eight
little beings, none of them more than knee-high and
half of them boys.

Well, there they were, and they had to be made the
best of. A tangle of gas-masks, knapsacks, tiny great-
coats, tumbled all over the floor of the hall, and tins of

3

HOW THEY CAME

condensed milk rolled about gaily. The children were
hot, dirty, and tired. "Baths and bed!" cried I. Then
there arose a united shout:

"BUT WE HAVEN'T HAD OUR TEA!"

The train dust had to be washed off, however, and the
end of it was that a very large and composite meal was
given them in bed.

The children were absurdly small. It turned out
that the two eldest, both boys, were only eight, while
a little elfin being with big eyes was found to be only
five. It was a kindergarten that we were called upon
to undertake a kindergarten of singularly calm and
cheerful babies. There was only one case of tears.

But the emotional disturbance was there, for when
morning came it was found that a proportion of the
children had wetted their beds. Had they been on
guard all day, and was it only in the relaxation of sleep
that the immense disturbance and dislocation of their
lives had manifested itself?

I ought to have seen below the surface, for in talking
over at the front door whether it was possible to put
up eight children without a helper, in a house pre-
pared for six, a little hand was put into mine and two
anxious dark eyes looked up into my face. Was the
little boat which had sailed so gallantly in strange
waters all day to be denied anchorage in the safe har-
bour to which it had at last put in?

The dream of eager, active children is to have great
adventures. But behind all the excitement and bustle

THE CHILDREN ARRIVE

in this adventure there lurked something sinister. It
threatened that "secure basis of home," on which the
stability of all child life depends, and it promised to
last for so long for always perhaps. No wonder that
among those tens of thousands of tired children who
had trekked away from home on that September day,
the smaller ones, the strain relaxed in sleep, gave a
very common physical signal of the disturbances of
their mental state. For enuresis (a lack of control over
the bladder) is a symptom of anxiety. A dog, however
well house-trained, is also apt to exhibit it in strange
surroundings.

Morning sunshine brought reassurance. The woods
and fields, full of great beds of rose bay (willow herb),
of which the children could make bunches, stilled
their anxiety, and when as the weeks went by, the rou-
tine of school, meals, and a free weekend was gradually
established, a much more commonplace view of the
change was taken, and the ordinary ups and downs of
everyday life resumed their proper value.

Our portion of the great exodus seemed merely the
opening of a hostel to house some of the children of
a large elementary school which had been evacuated
with its teachers and pupils. The parents' visits on
Saturday and Sunday to take out their special children
are just like the visits many of us have paid to our
children and relations at any boarding-school.

One rock ahead is the question of holidays. As I
write this the Christmas holiday is safely over. But
what will happen when the children find out that holi-

HOW THEY CAME

days are practically non-existent, or confined to a few
days grudgingly allowed when a father or near rela-
tive is home from the Front?

That is a situation which may have the most dis-
turbing reactions. Psychologists tell us that "an arti-
ficial atmosphere is prejudicial to them'* (children).
What could be more artificial than the atmosphere in
thousands of homes on Christmas Day, 1939?

Meanwhile it is the first day of February, five months
to the day since the loaded motors drove up to the door.
A great shout outside the window reveals the fact that
it is an ill snow fall which brings no one any good. The
road to school is blocked by deep snowdrifts; but here,
in the fields, the children are running about in a white
snow to which they are quite unaccustomed. "I never
saw anything like it in all my life," says the youngest
but one. He is just six years old.

* * * * *

I am told that we have been extraordinarily lucky in
our children. I don't altogether believe it, because, as
a School Manager of many years' service (on and off),
I have a most profound respect for the London County
Council children and their teachers. To show that
mine is by no means a unique case, let two of my
friends tell their own "reception" stories.

One friend lives over two hundred miles away and
has a large party of girls from an important provincial
city. The other has six boys from a school in the East
End of London. This one would think a very "tough"
proposition.

6

THE CHILDREN ARRIVE
II. NEWS FROM THE DALES

The billeting authorities had come round from time
to time, and on the principle of, "Think of a number,
double it," we had been allotted a quota of twelve
children. Boldly (because it was, at any rate, less diffi-
cult for me than for my neighbours), I had said that
we could take "children needing special care." 1 For
how could busy farmers' wives, how could people with
small cottages and small children of their own, take
evacuees with skin, or digestive, or other such com-
plaints and peculiarities? Against adults I am afraid
we set our faces, and were deaf to the persuasions of the
lady who came round asking us to take blind people
and cripples. Not with the low doorways, precipice
stairs, and winding passages of our queer, not very
large old house! One of my daughters summed it up,
"If we did take them, the cripples would soon be blind
and the blind cripples."

The blackberry harvest was pouring fruit upon us,
so when at last the telegram came saying that the chil-
dren would be here next day we, the female "effec-
tives," were all stirring jam that refused to be finished
off or left. With the whole house to turn upside down
we were tied for another hour to huge cauldrons of
blackberry jam.

Next day at the village hall near our distant station
there was a tangle, amiable but apparently not to be
unravelled.

i The writer gave four years' service as a V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid
Detachment) nurse from 1914 to 1918.

HOW THEY CAME

We, who were taking our part in receiving the chil-
dren, had not been told, had (foolishly, it now seems)
not guessed, that the teachers' one wish was not only
to keep schools, but classes, together. On the other
hand the teachers had not been told, and never guessed
from the geography lessons that they had so often
given, that in our thinly populated county, not more
than forty or fifty extra inhabitants could be stuffed
into any one village, and that buses between villages
were infrequent and distances long.

The debate seemed to show that to our group of
villages would have to be allotted either, (i) far too
many boys, (2) not enough infants, or (3) rather too
many little girls. A long, hot, bewildered, but good-
natured wrangle was conducted behind the scenes
amid tins of bully beef, condensed milk, and more
biscuits than I have ever seen before. Meanwhile hun-
dreds of children waited in the hall as though for a
performance. What were they thinking? That nobody
wanted them? We tried to be reassuring. Someone had
had the brilliant idea of pinning a banner with "Wel-
come" on it in big letters over the door of the hall.
"Oh, I was glad to see that," a child said to me. "We
didn't think you much wanted us."

At last the crowded buses and the crammed cars
drove off. For a confused hour those of us who had
volunteered as drivers drove to remote farms and dis-
tant villages. When I got to my own house, at about
seven o'clock, it was to find that, not twelve, but seven-
teen little girls plus two teachers had accumulated.

8

THE CHILDREN ARRIVE

But the day was warm, my daughters active, my cook
and housemaid full of kindness. There were camp
mattresses, we had prepared an immense stew, we had
a bread-cutting machine, and (happy days) plenty of
butter. There were too many to go round the table, but
those who could not find room were still full of enter-
prise, and darted off on being told that there was a
pond in the garden. Luckily it was a shallow pond, for
as the week went by there was not a child that did not
fall more or less wholeheartedly into it.

The children were very patient with us, and forgave
us when for days to come we muddled up Mary and
Betty, and called Sally Ruby. They bore with us when
we stopped them from giggling and talking half the
night and would only take them to the shallower parts
of the river for bathing. We, being large and few, while
they were small and many, became individuals to them
long before they became individuals to us.

III. NEWS FROM THE SOUTH-WEST

September ist, 1939.

We waited in the village hall from two till five. Tea
and lemonade were prepared: also a churn of milk,
rocoa, and biscuits. While we waited, the Billeting
Officer and reception committee went through the list
of those who had volunteered to receive unaccom-
panied children, and worried together about Mrs. This
and Mrs. That. Knowing our fellow-villagers, we were
more concerned about the reactions of the hostesses
than about those of the children.

HOW THEY CAME

Members of the committee, and many others, put
in last-moment pleas for "one quiet little girl of about
nine"; or boldly volunteered to take a boy, provided
he were scrupulously clean and small enough to cud-
dle. But when, at last, someone ran in, crying,
"They've come, and they're all big boys!" I think we
were most of us jogged at once out of our selfishness,
and out of the imaginative paralysis induced by pro-
longed crisis. I know that my own heart beat stronger,
and my eyes filled with tears, as they marched in
nearly eighty of them. They were dirty and unkempt,
and many of them ragged: but they held their heads
high, and carried their rucksacks and bulging pillow-
cases with a swagger.

I settled down to work with one of the masters; and
immediately those eighty children became (for me)
mere names to be attached to names of hostesses. I
hardly saw the children themselves, who were ranged
on benches, drinking lemonade. But I grasped that
there were a few girls after all, and some small boys-
tagged on to their elder brothers in this Senior Boys'
Section of a big Dockland Council School.

It took us an hour and a half to dispose of all the
children, and by that time some of the smaller ones
were crying. One eight-year-old's nerves had snapped
under the long day's strain; and he had hurled his be-
longingsfollowed by a shrill stream of oaths out of
the car that was taking him to his new home. Brought
back in disgrace, he was now snuffling quietly in a
corner. Beside him stood his big brother, one of the

10

THE CHILDREN ARRIVE

best and most intelligent boys in the school his seri-
ous, open face sweating with shock and family shame.

There were two others whom I noticed, because
whenever they pushed forward to announce that they
had found a home and were going off to it, the presid-
ing master ominously ordered them to wait. But for
the most part, I saw nothing beyond my lists.

My own home, owing to a delay in returning the
form, was not down to receive any children. But my
husband and I invited two of the masters to come back
with us, and to bring such of the boys as could not at
the moment be "placed." And in due course we carried
home our "spoils": two exhausted masters, and seven
very tired little boys. Of these seven, two were brothers,
whom the masters dared not let out of their care, owing
to their bad record the two who had so often been
turned back; and one was the eight-year-old whose
blasphemies had shaken the respectable village street.
These three have stayed with us ever since, though the
masters have long since found other billets; and the
worst of these "bad boys" is now the most willing,
responsive and altogether delightful of my delightful
six.

They settled down quietly enough, once we had fed
them, washed them, and bedded them down in an im-
provised dormitory of seven beds, with an eighth for
a master. But they could not sleep for the quiet, and
begged the master to come to bed quickly. There was
no bed-wetting and no sickness, and, though one of
them had a sharp attack of appendicitis on the second

11

HOW THEY CAME

night, this was attributable rather to blackberrying
than to shock.

I wish I could write at length of how these boys have
adapted themselves to country life. I know that three
of my own six had never seen a live cow or chicken un-
til they came here: yet now some of them have milked
cows, and have seen hedgehogs and foxes. Few of them
seem to have done a hand's turn in the house at home:
yet here they wash up, fetch and carry, and beg for
"big, heavy jobs." Nor are they blase and sophisti-
cated. They beguile the long, dark evenings with Red
Indian games on an old rocking-horse, and our clay-
bound lanes do not appal them.

Though most of the hostesses in the village seem
contented with their foster-children, I am, of course,
speaking only for myself when I say that my six boys
are making this dreary, lonely war not only tolerable,
but often enjoyable. And the other evening I had my
reward for the little I have done to make them happy.

The late bad boy of the school asked me to explain
what had been written in the papers about moving
evacuated children to other houses if their foster-
mothers grew tired of them. I told him that, though
such a plan of temporary relief had been suggested, it
was entirely voluntary.

"Have we got to go, Mrs. North?" he asked anx-
iously.

"No, Tom. Not if you don't want to."

His face lighted up, and his rather uncouth body
suddenly galvanized (as it often does) into the lithe

12

THE CHILDREN ARRIVE

grace of an inspired gorilla. Leaping on to a chair, he
shouted to the others

"Boys! boys!" he cried. "Mrs. North says, do we want
to go and stay with someone else for a month?"

And my heart swelled with pride and joy as they
deafeningly answered, "NAOW!"

CHAPTER II
THE CHILDREN SPEAK

i

, Mrs. North, no one wouldn't never think
you had a big house."

"No, Ronnie you can't see it from here."

"No I didn't mean that" (very impatiently). "/
meant you're just like an ordinary Londoner. You're
not like a posh person at all."

The above certificate of character was given one day
walking down a farm road to the hostess of the six little
boys from the East End of London who all shouted
"NAOW!" when asked at Christmas-time if they would
like a change of billet.

The same boy, Ronald, had written home to his
mother: "Mrs. North is a nice lady, and her house is
a manshoin."

One day, when he made some comment on the china
which they were washing up, his hostess told him that
it had belonged to her mother, and that they used to
have breakfast off it in the house where she lived as a
child.

"Not a house like this, Mrs. North?"

"Well, it looked different from this; but it was in
the country and had a lovely garden."

"Was it as big as this?

THE CHILDREN SPEAK

"Yes, about the same, or perhaps a little bigger.'*

"Cor, Mrs. North! I thought p'raps you'd worked
up to this, bit by bit."

He appears to have a nice sense of social distinctions,
for another day he observed: "It's funny you should
be sweeping and washing up like this, Mrs. North. In
the olden days, people who had big houses didn't do
the work themselves."

This boy seems to be the only one of the six who is
aware, at least articulately, of social distinctions and
social changes. Mrs. North writes:

"The others seem to take everything very much for
granted. They were bewildered at first by the size of
the house, and at a loss for what to call the rooms.
(One, for instance, once described the drawing-room
as: 'That place where you sometimes sits easy and
smokes a fag.')

"Another was heard to say in the village: 'Our but-
ler's gorn. But we've got two lady-butlers' (one of
whom must presumably have been myself!)"

Ronald, the one boy of the party who deserves the
epithet "retained," is "a nice, gentle creature back-
ward in book-learning, but from a much more cultured
home than the others, and therefore having more back-
ground. And it is he alone who shows any class-con-
sciousness. I don't think he feels himself to be socially
superior to the others (though his parents do!). But
he is aware that there might be thought to be some
strangeness in the fact of their all being here: whereas
the rest take it quite for granted."

15

HOW THEY CAME

In order to get these entertaining sidelights from my
friend I sent her a questionnaire, thinking that it was
more interesting to have the reactions of one whole
group of children than sporadic accounts from differ-
ent parts of the country. She answered me, taking first
their reaction to the country, which was one of un-
mitigated delight. As she said in her account of their
arrival:

"One or two of them, at least, had never seen a live
cow or a live chicken. Now, they spend all their time
out of school at a near-by farm. This particular farmer
is a bit of a genius with boys, and they will do anything
for him. (I only deplore his influence over them as re-
gards small birds and animals, which he kills indis-
criminately.) He tells me that whereas, when they first
came, they were (through ignorance) rather a nuisance,
they are now a real help on the farm. They come in at
night, boasting to me that they have milked a cow quite
dry, or chain-harrowed half a field.

"They appreciate flowers, and learn their names. I
had to check a tendency to dig up daffodils and aconites
(just as they were about to flower) and put them in
potsl

"On the whole, they do not torment animals: at
any rate, not more than country boys. They caught a
jackdaw once, and let it go after showing it to me. And
when they found a half-frozen pigeon in the hard
weather, they wanted to keep it. I told them that it
would be kinder to kill it quickly, and they produced
the corpse only a few minutes later. They are at present

16

THE CHILDREN SPEAK

much preoccupied with frogs, newts, leeches, and
other pond life: but I don't enquire too closely into
their activities.

"In connection with natural beauty, I must tell you
one rather sad little story. Our youngest, roughest, and
wickedest little urchin, aged ten, was ill in bed; and I
gave him a book called But We Know Better by Ama-
bel Williams-Ellis (with illustrations by Clough Wil-
liams-Ellis) to read. One of the stories is about Noah's
Ark animals coming alive.

"I asked him if he knew what Noah's Ark was, and
found that he had never heard of it though the older
boys had a fair knowledge of the Old Testament
stories. So a little later I read him the story of Noah,
from the Bible. When we got to the rainbow, I asked
him if he knew what a rainbow was.

" 'Coo, yes, Mrs. North. It's that thing with all
the colours you see on the road where a car's bin
standinY "

An interested enquirer asked me the other day
whether evacuated children showed any affection for
their hostesses or their new homes and, if so, when this
manifestation first began. Mrs. North answers thus:

"Yes I think they showed affection before Christ-
mas. But it was not till after that that they insisted on
being kissed good night. They now have to be kissed
every night by me, and by any woman visitor; and are
(one or two of them) liable to grab one and kiss one at
any time. It was the mistletoe that started it!

"They all gave me big packets of chocolate for

HOW THEY CAME

Christmas, or for my birthday a month later; and often
give me bits of their own chocolate, or sweets.

"They are very generous, and much less possessive
about their few possessions than my own boys have ever
been about their many. They lend each other clothes,
almost to the extent of having them in common."

She answers a question about village children as
follows:

"They do not mix very much with the boys, I think;
but there is a great deal of teasing about the village
girls. It seems to be quite the thing to have 'a girl' from
among the village maidens; and taunts about the girls'
fickleness have led to quarrels."

The boys ask about the age of the house, furniture,
etc., but, as to talking of their own homes and parents,
apparently the only home subject on which they talk
endlessly is their dogs.

"They often show me their letters from home; and
one boy (Ronnie) was discovered sobbing in bed after
being rung up by his mother, because he said his
grandma was ill. He has since said that he would rather
his family did not come and see him (so long as he
knows they are all right) because it upsets him and
makes him want to go home."

A boy who has recently gone home said, as to the
things which they missed from their old life, that:

"He missed the pictures and the greyhound-stadium.
But as he got 15. a week from home, he could often
have gone to the pictures. I would not let them go alone
during the black-out; but now they could go, if they

18

THE CHILDREN SPEAK

did not spend all their money on sweets. I have taken
them to the pictures twice, and a good time was had by
all. But they never ask to be taken, or seem to miss go-
ing once or twice a week, as they did at home. On the
whole, I should say that they find much more to do
here than in London.

"They turned on the one who was going home, and
told him he didn't know when he was lucky.

" 'Garn! What's the good of going home before the
'aymaking?'

"Their natural manners have always been pretty
good, as various guests who have had meals with them
agree, though they still tend to eat with their knives.

"They always say, 'Yes, Mrs. North/ and 'No, Mrs.
North/ and seldom forget to say 'Thank you' most
warmly for any present or treat.

"As for their manner of speaking, I am afraid that
Cockney, as the laziest accent, tends to be the easiest
acquired, and I am constantly catching myself out in
omitting consonants, etc. I can understand them much
better now, but fancy that that is merely because my
ear has become attuned, and not because they speak
better.

"They have certainly got rid of the furtive, guilty
manner, and beggar's whine, with which one or two
of them arrived. But this is due rather to increased con-
fidence and happiness than to observation of manners.

"One pair of visiting parents (Ronnie's) said that
he and his sisters were talking with a West Country
accent; but I haven't noticed it!"

19

HOW THEY CAME

Everyone is enquiring whether the evacuee children
take any notice of the difference in daily routine, espe-
cially on the question of food. Mrs. North answers
thus:

"I don't remember any remarks on daily routine.
But then, as I told you, I didn't see much of them at
first. They have since told me that some of them had
never slept in a separate bed before they came here:
(and they have now relapsed, I'm afraid, into sharing
beds). They also said that at home they did not have
'afters' (i.e., pudding) every day, and appreciated this.
But some of them once asked if they could not have
jellied eels and fishes' eyes!"

Mrs. North is of the opinion that their life in the
country will have made a permanent impression, even
if only subconsciously.

"I often wish," she writes, "that I could give them
more light and leading on spiritual values: indeed, I
often feel it about my own children. I have not tried
to 'improve' them, beyond insisting on a minimum
standard of obedience, cleanliness, tidiness and gen-
eral discipline. They go about in rags; but then, so do
my own children.

"Every now and then I round them up and make
them collect all the bits of paper, tin cans, etc., that
they have strewn about. But I don't think they really
see the ugliness of litter. They just think it is an un-
accountable foible of mine. But I believe that the peace
and beauty and stability of country life, and of a more

20

THE CHILDREN SPEAK

ordered and gracious way of life, will sink in through
the pores of the sub-conscious."

And to this sentiment I think we all shall say, Amen.

II. BACK TO THE DALES

Seventeen little girls round the table! So many mat-
tresses on the floor that you could hardly sweep the
rooms. All right while the fine weather lasts.

Then at the end of a week the mother of two sisters
found a billet three miles away; her daughters left
with her, and it could just be done. As it happened
these were two we were rather glad to part with, for
almost invariably, as we carried in the dinner, one of
these two would say aloud, amid a general silence,
"Oh, I hate boiled mutton," "Oh, I wish it was jelly
instead!" The others, of course, joined in once so loud
a criticism had been voiced.

The first real score to the grown-ups was due to my
daughters, for they discovered that, three days after
the children's arrival, two birthdays occurred. Out of
the still considerable confusion, they conjured two
cakes, iced them, and wrote names and ages in pink
sugar.

That settled the children. We were all right. A civi-
lized and proper life could be lived in this queer place.
That joint birthday tea had an atmosphere of definite
approval.

At the end of a fortnight parents came, and we had
our first tears. Then the novelty wore off. Children

HOW THEY CAME

who had never left home before, even for a single
night, were now very far away. The only child, who
had always been so important, was now only one of
many.

After the two faddy little sisters had been so provi-
dentially removed, we were able to deal much better
with likes and dislikes in the way of food. But it was
no doubt very queer to children, whose meals had been
adapted to their special preferences for as long as they
could remember, to have to fall in with what was gen-
erally acceptable. There were not enough dishes that
everybody liked, and there were too many for special
dishes to be prepared (except for reasons of illness) and
there was the definite sum of 85. 6d. per head, per week,
to consider.

"Well, if you really don't like it, I'll only give you a
doll's helping, but you must eat it!" Gradually the
plan worked. Porridge and a lot of other things were
tolerated, even became popular, especially when praise
was given to those who were not faddy. Soon the child
whose turn it was to be waitress would say,

"Doll's of vegetables for Jean, but Elephant's of
everything when it comes to me I"

Many of the parents had apparently been very sen-
sible before evacuation in praising country life. One
little girl whom I had driven to another billet, on the
first day, had been full of what she wanted:

"Oh, I do hope it's a farm! I do hope there's a pig!
Would there be a calf, do you think?" . . . Then after
a silence, as if this had been perhaps too much to ask,

22

THE CHILDREN SPEAK

"Well, I do hope, anyhow, I go to a lady with a kitten/'
One little brother, who had not been evacuated,
came down with his parents to visit one of the children
billeted in our village, and standing on a hilltop, with
an immense view round him, I heard him say: "Ooh!
This is a big place! " He was a child who had, I gath-
ered, not been out of a town before. But most of these
children came from homes where a yearly country
holiday was quite general, so that flowers, trees, and
rocks, streams and meadows were not new to most of
them. What was new was taking part in the work of
the country. I was helping, one Saturday, to move two
children, who were being rebilleted, joining four
others on the biggest farm in the neighbourhood. I
had hoped that those I was bringing would be wel-
comed by the children already there, but there was an
atmosphere of haste and casualness. This, however,
was soon explained: "Get off your things quick, and
come along! We're lifting potatoes!" The children
billeted on farms raced each other in learning to milk.
"There isn't even one quiet cow on our farm. How
can I learn?" was one wail that I heard.

Comparison of their own homes and the boasting
competition natural to children, turned almost en-
tirely on animals "We've got a huge dog, Rover, at
home. I think he's a retriever." "Our cat's had kittens
and Mummie says I can keep four of the next lot she
has, after I come home." "I've only got a goldfish! I
do wish Mummie would ..." then brightening,
"But at the house where I am now" (billet) "there

23

HOW THEY CAME

isn't just ordinary hens, but a duck as well, called Sally,
and a turkey!" " Well you can hardly guess how many
pigs there are, where I am!"

Sheep, apparently, did not count, though sheep-dogs
did. The first occasion when I collected a party of chil-
dren, from my own and other billets, who needed to
go in to the doctor (three miles away in a biggish vil-
lage, with a station) was about a month or six weeks
after the children's arrival "Oh, a pavement! How
lovely!" There really is a bit of pavement in that vil-
lage, with a proper kerb, and one or two lamp posts,
and there are half a dozen shops not very glamorous,
so I had always thought. But how those children en-
joyed themselves! Every shop window was inspected.
Things that they could have bought at our village post
office were bought with far greater pleasure. But they
did not clamour for a repetition of what had appar-
ently been a great treat, and visits to the local market
town (to which there is an infrequent bus service),
though arranged by the very understanding teachers,
and much enjoyed, did not seem to rouse any special
feeling. Any outing is nice! These to the shops took
place with others. Something about these children's
fears has been included later in the book (Chapter III).

In the main, in the case of my own lot, the new ex-
perience which clearly outweighed any other even the
snow when it came was the entirely novel fact of liv-
ing a community life.

Some aspects of this were delightful to them, sharing
a bedroom with other children, for instance. But some-

24

THE CHILDREN SPEAK

times we needed the wisdom of Solomon to deal with
the difficulties which arose. Cliques formed. Some-
times all my children were on "snooty" terms with all
the other evacuees, sometimes with the children who
lived in our village. Sometimes there were acute rival-
ries about the village boys, with some of whom during
one phase they played at sweethearts. Sometimes our
own lot would, as it were "pick up sides," and three or
four of them not be on speaking terms with three or
four others. "Secrets?" I would find one child in tears:

"Monica and Mary have got a Secret, and Ruby and
Sally have, and they won't tell me, and 7 haven't got
anyone to have a Secret with!"

We often had to shift round dormitories because
one child would be left out in this way. Also there were
grim accusations of the forcible or secret removal of
"tuck"! Some of the children were very small, some
parents sent inordinate presents of sweets and fruit,
which were left about in the most casual way, some sent
none at all.

We tried our best, teachers and hostess, to deal with
each situation both by prevention and cure. But in
such circumstances it was often very difficult to know
how wethe grown-ups ought to behave. The teacher,
who was billeted with us, was a great help, and so was
a very admirable "helper," who was with us for the
first four months. But now and then we should all have
been thankful for the sort of advice that someone spe-
cially trained in Child Psychology could have given.

The teachers understood the clique problems better

25

HOW THEY CAME

than I did; I understood better than the teachers when
tears or tempers were the result of tiredness or an in-
cipient cold or bilious attack.

You ask what the children learned? They were so
various, there is no general answer, I think. But I can
tell you some of the things that I learned.

The fact that my evacuees came entirely from "good
homes" taught me some lessons; for instance, I had
supposed that, when evacuation came, I should have
to deal with children suffering from the effects of bad
housing and malnutrition, and supposed that my prob-
lems could be solved by country air, the application of
oil of Sassafras to dirty heads, hot baths, plenty of milk,
and so on. But (for my education, doubtless) it was
decreed that the children I had to look after should
have none of the ills produced by the inexcusable con-
ditions of so many of our great cities, but should be as
healthy and well nourished as my own had been. The
troubles we have had, have not been those that could
be cured by economists. They were due to the fact that
it was with human children that we had to deal, that is,
each one of them with their own desires, fears, virtues,
and shortcomings, and we, whose duty and desire it
was to nourish them, were similarly equipped.

On the whole, I think, I can't generalize, but will
merely say that we all enjoyed our six months together
and all learned a lot.

May I end then with a sentiment that I should like
to echo? Our smallest evacuee had just celebrated a
fifth birthday. A brother of thirteen had managed to

26

THE CHILDREN SPEAK

come in by bus for the birthday tea. As I drove him
the four miles back to his own billet, he said in a satis-
fied voice, "I do think evacuation is getting us all a lot
of nice friends!"

CHAPTER III
TRIAL AND ERROR

I

F the 734,883 unaccompanied schoolchildren
evacuated, 315,192 had returned by Jan. 8th.'*
'Daily Telegraph," January 26th, 1940.

In the early days of photography we used to be told
that "the camera cannot lie." And the three firsthand
reports from widely separated reception areas seem
to suggest that the evacuation of schoolchildren was a
very great success.

Why, then, are our ears tingling with the shouts of
angry voices asking us if we don't know that the
evacuees are dirty, lazy, verminous and, altogether,
that the schoolchildren are a disgrace to the Education
Authorities?

Have we not heard that Mrs. So-and-So in the North
has had a hundred incorrigibly dirty boys? That
someone else in the East has an equal number of un-
desirable girls? That a whole village in the Midlands
has been invaded by a torrent of lying, thieving crea-
tures of both sexes, and that the one answer given by
the housewife to enquiries as to her young guests is,
"You should come up and see the state of the beds,"

28

TRIAL AND ERROR

coupled with information that everybody is horrified
by the children's language?

An accusation so widespread and so serious con-
taining, indeed, the germ of all the sins in the calendar
cannot be disregarded or considered as the fussiness
of the invaded householders.

Are there any real data to go upon? Do the accusa-
tions include all the evacuated children, or only those
among them who could be rightly known as "difficult
children"? If the latter, can any rough idea of the pro-
portion of "difficult children" be given? Are they a
majority or a minority?

Is there any system of treatment which will give hope
where difficult children have to be cared for?

To a limited extent an answer can be given to both
these questions. If it can be proved that most of these
unfortunate happenings are the result of emotional re-
actions, there is hope that in child psychology may be
found a system which will cope with each case. There-
fore, as in all mental and physical disorders, the im-
portant factor is

DIAGNOSIS

First find out exactly what is the matter, and at any
rate there is then hope of finding the method of cure.

With regard to the children who have been sent
away from their schools, the first thing to discover is
whether, in everyday life before the War, there are

29

HOW THEY CAME

records of other children who have been cured of diffi-
culties and whether a lesson can be learnt from such
cases.

The answer is very definite and very assured. In the
files of the Children's Clinics, which have sprung up
all over the country in yearly increasing numbers dur-
ing the last ten years, can be found records of cases in
which almost exactly the same difficulties have oc-
curred in ordinary life.

I am allowed to quote from a series of privately
printed talks on the subject, given by Dr. William
Moodie, who was for many years the Head of the Lon-
don Child Guidance Clinic, and who is now serving
in a hospital in France, giving many examples of these
analogous difficulties. It must be remembered that the
London Child Guidance Clinic was the first Demon-
stration Clinic to be established in this country on
American lines.

Take first the case of enuresis bed-wetting:

"We find sometimes, in fact very frequently, that
there is anxiety; there may be fear. ... A non-com-
missioned officer came up to the Clinic about his boy
the other day. His wife was dead. The father said: 'He
does it to annoy me I know, because it only happens
after I have reprimanded him for doing something;
he's getting his own back/ And to the father it was
quite obvious that there could be no other explana-
tion. I tried to point out that the boy's correction might
increase his anxiety and increase the tendency, but he
could not get that."

TRIAL AND ERROR
A BAD BILLET

Compare this with a case reported from the Home
Counties of one "Johnny," aged gi/, who was

"Wet and dirty; cowed, bewildered and therefore
doing the wrong thing. Billeted with well-meaning but
feeble foster-mother and a foster-father of the worst
sergeant-major type. When the home was visited, the
child was found shut in a scullery, his shoes and stock-
ings taken off so that he should not run away covered
with weals from a severe thrashing."

Here we have much the same condition of bed-
wetting through anxiety and fear.

As to treatment, Dr. Moodie, speaking of normal
conditions, before the war, states that:

"The first stage in curing, or trying to cure bed-
wetting is always to relieve mental tension, to relieve
anxiety as far as you can to smooth out any fears the
child may have to occupy him to interest him to
work him to exercise him to rest him and to feed
him."

Let us see what was done with little "Johnny," the
evacuee. A social worker helping in the district tells
us that he was referred to a temporary clinic combined
with a children's home.

"Being made welcome by the staff and children, he
was obviously surprised that anyone could like him
and accept him as an asset to the Group.

As his fears were gradually overcome, he blossomed

HOW THEY CAME

out, entering with zeal into all communal activities,
> gardening, handwork, care of rabbits, etc. He was
always ready to do a job for anyone. His standard of
manners became based on that of the superintendent,
punctilious in 'please' and 'thank you' he'd run to
meet visitors and show them round. The aspiration
of his 'h's' nearly blew one away. On leaving the treat-
ment room about a month after admission he turned
round and said, 'Thank you very much for having me,'
and came back from the passage to repeat this. All these
demonstrations were completely spontaneous, and ap-
peared as evidence, not of inhibition, but of relief.

The enuresis and faecal incontinence ceased on his
entry to the home, and have not recurred in the subse-
quent two months."

A RUN AWAY

A pre-war case which is even more interesting is one
of a child who was "anxious" because of his home con-
ditions. The boywe can call him George was about
12, and was extremely disturbed.

"He had run away from home two or three times-
stolen to feed himself while wandering about, and yet
everything seemed all right, till we discovered that the
husband's wife was actually insane. Had been away in
hospital for about eight years since the boy was 4. The
father could not get a divorce and was living with this
woman and they had had three children. It was a good
house, the economic status was good; the woman was
good to the father and children. But something had
given that boy an inkling and his mind was disturbed
'My mother is not dead and they said she was; then

32

TRIAL AND ERROR

who is this whom I know as my mother?' He was in a
state of acute anxiety as to who his mother was and
who these people were he was living with. And it seems
almost incredible but we have had a number of fami-
lies where the child in the house was actually the child
of one of the other members of the family. He had been
introduced into the house and brought up as one of his
grandparents' children.

So you see that you can get anxiety in children
through certain of these environmental situations and
circumstances such as insecurity, lack of home stability
and so on/'

It should be noted that Dr. Moodie's talks, from
which the two pre-evacuation cases are quoted, were
given in the summer of 1938, before the idea of a
wholesale evacuation of children had been suggested.

A "HOPELESS" CASE

Compare this second case with a child evacuated
from a large city in the North, who had been "moved
from one billet to another because of enuresis, head
dirty, and was verminous when he came." This boy,
whom we can call Charles, was about 9, and was re-
ferred to the Social Worker by the Billeting Officer.

"He was moved to his second billet as he was thought
to be a hopeless case. He was a very dull, but well-
behaved little boy with an angelic expression. The
hostess took to him at first, but rapidly lost patience
when the enuresis did not clear up and when he seemed
to pay so little attention to her instructions."

33

HOW THEY CAME

How was little Charles's problem to be tackled?

"His hostess was persuaded to come once a week to
consult the Social Worker, and his special problems
as a dull child coming from a very poor home were dis-
cussed and suggestions made for managing him. The
enuresis improved almost at once and has now quite
cleared up; but lying then became a problem. The
hostess was dreadfully upset because he told a neigh-
bour that she could drink more beer than his own
mother. As she was a strict teetotaller and was terrified
of her neighbour's criticism, this distressed her a good
deal. When she tackled him about it he was hurt and
it came out that he thought he had been paying her
compliments. Unfortunately the child was upset be-
cause in trying to impress on him the mischief he had
made the hostess made disparaging remarks about his
own mother. This kind of situation tended to recur,
but the difficulties were threshed out from week to
week with the hostess, and to some extent with the
child, who enjoyed coming for play to the Social
Worker. Without some help this woman would have
given up trying to deal with the problems and would
not have kept the child."

Here then are four cases, two in ordinary life, and
two of unaccompanied child evacuees, in which the
teachings of psychology are brought to bear on this
same problem of bed-wetting which is so widespread
and so disastrous.

ii

It will be understood that under war conditions it
would be impossible to institute all over the country

34

TRIAL AND ERROR

Child Guidance Clinics staffed with a full team of
workers. This full team, without the possession of
which no clinic is officially recognized by the Child
Guidance Council, consists of a psychiatrist or medical
psychologist, an educational psychologist, and a social
worker with psychiatric training. The last named un-
dertakes what is known as the "field work" visiting
the homes, reporting on conditions, and especially on
the relations of the various members of the family and
their probable reactions on the problem child.

All that could be done in the first days of the emer-
gency in September was to send out these Social Work-
ers into various parts of the country under the aegis of
the Child Guidance Council and the Mental Health
Emergency Committee, the doings and organization
of which will be found in later chapters.

The "case histories" of evacuated children quoted
in this chapter came from these psychiatrically trained
Social Workers who were helping Billeting Officers in
their work.

BED-WETTING

Here is a mild case of bed-wetting in the Home
Counties, the treatment of which has up till now been
successful. It should be noted that in this particular
area there is a residential children's home, which was
in this case used for "out-patient" treatment.

"Jane, a scrupulously clean and well-mannered little
girl, is the younger of two sisters from a good home in
London. As long as she can remember, she has wet the

35

HOW THEY CAME

bed two or three times weekly at home. This con-
tinued when she was evacuated to H., and she was re-
ferred for treatment as an out-patient at the Clinic.

Jane was at first billeted in the house of professional
people. Her hostess, though very kind to the children,
was not strong enough to cope with the extra work in-
volved, and there was consequently an atmosphere of
strain in the house which was sensed uncomfortably
by Jane, making her nervous about the wetting and so
aggravating the habit.

She was treated for about three weeks while in her
first billet, in order to relieve the psychological tension
underlying her symptom, thus making a recurrence
less likely in new surroundings. At the end of this pe-
riod she and her sister were re-billeted in a house of a
more homely type: since then no bed- wetting has taken
place in the subsequent six weeks."

Another case from a provincial town is interesting
for the light it throws on the effect of an "exciting and
restless 1 ' upbringing.

"Caroline, aged 7, was referred by Billeting Officer
for bed-wetting. Billeted in a remote farmhouse. Host-
ess tired of the extra work, but not complaining, asked
for medical examination and treatment as she wanted
to get at the cause of the trouble. Caroline was a plump,
sturdy, talkative child with a very grown-up way of
talking. She took the Social Worker from school to the
farm, a long walk, during which she told her that she
was the only child of theatrical parents exciting and
restless home life with Caroline always in the lime-
light. Had danced on the stage in the cinema where her

36

TRIAL AND ERROR

parents worked, and had great idea of becoming an
actress. Was not getting on well at school and confessed
that this was because she had started one week late;
could not catch up with the other children and did not
like to tell her teacher when she wanted extra help.
The hostess was very kindly and sympathetic, had one
little girl of her own, a placid, contented child, and
made every effort to understand how the enuresis was
related to the unstable and unsatisfactory home of the
child, and took a lot of trouble to get to know the
child's parents and to understand the whole situation.
Bed-wetting improved, but regular treatment, further
visits, and advice could not be arranged because the
farmhouse was so isolated and it was impossible to get
the child to a clinic. One or two talks, however, helped
to speed up the process of understanding and to give
the child a greater feeling of security."

SWALLOWING

Another case of disturbed background is that of
Fred, a tough little boy of only 51^ years old, whose
persistence in swallowing marbles, nails and bits of
pencils was exceedingly alarming. It gives an example
of the sort of "explanation" which the ordinary lay-
man finds it hard to credit. But treatment along such
lines is often successful, though in this case we do not
know the end of the story.

"Fred is the youngest of four children, the eldest 17.
Born in a caravan. At 7 days old he was taken into
the Infirmary, apparently moribund, suffering from
double pneumonia; he was ill and constantly dying for

37

HOW THEY CAME

six months. For the past two years he has been in a
Poor Law Children's Home with his two elder sisters.
His father and mother are separated: the latter is said
to be a woman of doubtful character, and although liv-
ing in the neighbourhood, has not visited the children
for a year.

Fred attended the local clinic as an out-patient, ex-
pressing himself chiefly by play and a flood of accom-
panying conversation. At his first interview he pro-
duced a phantasy of a baby brother upon whom his
mother lavished all the love which is denied to him.
Mummy suckles this baby, she baths him, she gives him
presents, she tucks him up and kisses him. This child
of his imagination was both himself, desired and loved
as he would be, and also a hated rival, who must be
destroyed, swallowed up. While playing he was fasci-
nated by a set of wooden dolls which fit one inside the
other, and wished to swallow the smallest, the 'baby
one.' As these conflicts emerged into consciousness, his
desire to swallow unsuitable objects diminished. The
school reports no trouble of this sort for three months,
though he occasionally chews wooden objects at home.
He is still under treatment/'

GANGSTER OR LEADER

Here is a very troublesome case in the Home
Counties, the progress of which was interrupted by re-
turn to London.

"Henry, aged 9 years 4 months, was an unmanage-
able hooligan, thief and bed-wetter.

Mother a drunkard, children starved of affection
and running wild in the streets, often till after mid-

38

TRIAL AND ERROR

night. Henry had become, a fortnight after evacua-
tion, notorious in his village, so that no householder
would consent to receive him, and he was accordingly
removed to a Children's Home.

It was recognized that Henry was a forceful charac-
ter, requiring satisfying outlets and freedom for devel-
opment. Because these latter had been denied him in
his home environment, he had expressed himself in
various anti-social activities. At the Children's Home
he was given affection from all the Staff, with encour-
agement and praise in his very considerable achieve-
ments of skill and usefulness e.g., gardening, house-
hold painting, story-telling, etc.

In his individual treatment he revealed the deep-
seated compulsive anxiety that was driving him to
make his mark in gangster activities, for lack of better
outlets. With the relief of tension obtained through
treatment and in a beneficial environment he began
to realize a new ego-ideal and a new self-respect. He
became the natural leader of the group in its work and
play, and a dependable and most lovable member of
the household. At the local school the teacher reported
that his work improved 'out of all knowledge/

To our great sorrow and his, he was taken back to
London by his mother after a stay of eight weeks. His
case is being carefully followed up, and we do not think
he will lose all that he has gained."

NEED FOR EXPRESSION

Here is a case from a provincial town in which the
exercise of a wished-for means of expression has helped
in the child's cure.

39

HOW THEY CAME

"Margery, aged 9, was a very dull, unattractive,
slightly deaf child with adenoids. Had just got over
scarlet fever and should have gone away for con-
valescence when war broke out. Was sent off with a
younger brother and sister, for whom she felt respon-
sible. Did not settle down well, was wetting her bed
every night for over a month. Looked a thoroughly
miserable child.

Billet was changed and new hostess persuaded to
regard the bed-wetting as a nervous symptom likely
to disappear when the child had more encouragement
and a greater sense of security. School Authorities took
the trouble to give her opportunities to succeed and
chose her to do specially attractive tasks. The child
was sent by herself once a week to the Social Worker.
In these interviews Margery talked very little, but
threw herself upon a provision of chalks and paper
which had been prepared for her, and drew and
painted with enthusiasm. Her drawings and paintings
were vigorous and full of imagination in contrast to
her apparently dull mentality. Bed-wetting stopped
almost at once, and has not recurred for the last month.
In the background was a feckless, complaining mother,
always talking of the children's illnesses and deprecat-
ing their efforts in every way. In this case the co-opera-
tion of the School was of great assistance."

SCREAMING FITS

Here, from the same provincial town, is another case
of lack of security which looks like an example of the
anxiety and insecurity of the hostess being passed on
to the child.

40

TRIAL AND ERROR

4 'Anna, aged 4. Anna was evacuated with her mother
and two babies, but, her fifth birthday, on which she
became of school age, occurred in the first two weeks.
Mother was sent off to another village with the babies,
and Anna could not settle at all in a billet. Moved three
times because of screaming fits, crying, refusing food,
refusing to go to school. Hostess brought her of her
own accord to see the School Doctor, who referred her
to the Social Worker. Child began to improve almost
at once when the hostess felt that she was not entirely
responsible and had someone to talk to about the diffi-
culties." (This looks like an interesting example of the
anxiety and insecurity of the hostess being passed on
to the child.) "It was decided to let Anna attend the
local school as if she were permanently settled in the
village and were not an evacuee. This worked very
well and, although she is easily upset, she has quite got
over the fits of crying and goes to school regularly."

BAD TEMPER

This, owing to the fact that Anna had never been to
school in her own neighbourhood, is not quite so curi-
ous as another case in which the local school in a Re-
ception Area was more successful with an unmanage-
able boy than his home school which he had been in
the habit of attending. This child, whom we may call
Leslie, was only 6 years old

"A lively, red-haired urchin, always fighting, appar-
ently very tough, but also sensitive to criticism and
anxious to please. Came from a family where the par-
ents quarrelled, were notorious for their violent tem-

41

HOW THEY CAME

pers. Leslie was the only child evacuated, the baby stay-
ing at home with the mother. Was said to be aggressive
and unmanageable in his first billet with quiet, elderly
people, aggressive and dangerous to other children in
school. Billeting Officer transferred him to a remote
farmhouse with a young, easy-going hostess with one
child. She would have liked a large family of her own,
was fond of children, very tolerant, and slightly amused
at the failure of other people to deal with this child.
At the same time she could see that he was a child who
easily became unhappy through his tempers, and she
was glad to talk over his problems with the Social
Worker who visited regularly. He settled down
quickly, but the school difficulties persisted.

The remote farmhouse was situated in hilly country,
and the measure of Leslie's aggressiveness is suggested
by the trend of his conversation. Td like,' he told his
hostess, 'to buy up all these hills and all these houses,
and then I'd knock all the people's heads off.'

It was at last suggested that he should be transferred
to the local school, which was nearer to his billet, and
where the Billeting Officer, who liked him, was one of
the masters. He was put into a class with older chil-
dren because there was not an Infant Class, settled
down very well, and gave no further trouble except
when he went to Sunday School and came into contact
with his old school again."

A WISE HOSTESS

Two more cases must be cited, if only to pay tribute
to the wisdom and devotion of their hostesses.

"Nancy, aged 7, was referred by the Billeting Officer

42

TRIAL AND ERROR

for dirty habits (faecal incontinence). Billeted with
one other child, a very good, adaptable girl of about
her own age, in a house where there had previously
been no children. Hostess very sympathetic and under-
standing with the child, but could not help comparing
her with the good little girl evacuee. School gave an
unsatisfactory account of her, had suspected stealing
for some time, knew that her mother was casual about
the children and thought to be immoral. Hostess had
remarkable insight and connected the incontinence
with fits of temper when the child was thwarted. Was
anxious for help and advice, and found that she could
manage her much better when the day-to-day difficul-
ties had been discussed. Incontinence stopped at once
and behaviour in school became more satisfactory as
the child settled down into her new home. In this case
the hostess was able to see that this was a very compli-
cated child who would need a great deal of under-
standing and was willing to see it as a serious psycho-
logical problem.'*

in

PATIENCE REWARDED

The other case is perhaps even more remarkable.
The wisdom of the working-class hostess in allowing
an imaginative outlet to the child cannot be too highly
praised.

"Maud, aged 12. Referred to the Billeting Officer
as a hopeless case of bed-wetting, dull and backward
in school, regarded by teachers as an unpleasant,
dirty, lazy, apathetic child from a very bad home.

43

HOW THEY CAME

There was a great deal of friction between the hostess
and the mother, who came over once or twice, wrote
abusive letters, and would not, or could not, help pay
for clothes. The most striking thing about the child
was her extreme misery. She hated the school, could
not do the work, had no friends, knew that she was un-
wanted in her billet, and yet dreaded being sent home,
because her father was violent and cruel and she was
afraid of being beaten.

The child came once a week to the Social Worker
and the bed- wetting improved after her first visit. The
hostess, a very poor woman with an unemployed hus-
band, was willing to be patient and to wait for further
improvement. She was persuaded not to let her annoy-
ance with the mother affect the child, who was obvi-
ously overwhelmed with all her difficulties. Every week
this child drew very striking pictures of all her dreams
and phantasies, a great many pictures of beautiful
ladies dancing, wearing fine clothes, acting in the
theatre, and so on. She talked very little, except about
her dislike and fear of her father, but a friendly rela-
tionship with the Social Worker was established and
very real co-operation with the hostess was main-
tained."

IV

If we go back to Dr. Moodie's talks shall we find in
them any light as to a common origin of the difficulties
of these seven or eight children, a common origin may
help us to think of a common cure?

I think we shall, and I think perhaps that the com-
mon origin will be found to be Fear and Anxiety. In a

44

TRIAL AND ERROR

talk given about eighteen months before the War, Dr.
Moodie dwells on the consequences of these emotions
and on the lines on which a cure should be tried.

'Tear is normal. It is a defence mechanism, as we
call it. It is a warning to us."

It is only too easy to see why the little evacuee Johnny
(page 31), who was shut up in a scullery without his
boots, should have felt fear. He had had a bad thrash-
ing and undoubtedly expected more. We are told that
he was admitted to the temporary Children's Home or
Clinic and that the remedies recommended by Dr.
Moodie, interest and security, were tried. Johnny was
given work to interest him gardening, rabbits, hand-
workall things dear to a boy's heart; but, above all,
he was made welcome. Everybody in the Clinic was
pleased to see him. It must have seemed like a miracle
and nothing is more touching than his twice-repeated
"Thank you for having me."

So much for the assuagement of Fear. With regard
to the second cause of difficulty Dr. Moodie says:

"Another bodily reaction very much like fear is
anxiety, though in anxiety, of course, we are worrying
about something which has not yet happened some-
thing which we are dreading: bad news, something
that we have got to do that we don't want to do. We
become anxious about it. There is anticipation about
anxiety that you don't get in fear but you get the
bodily changes too. . . .

One of the differences between fear and anxiety is

45

HOW THEY CAME

that the anxious person is very often anxious about
something which never happens."

Was anxiety the cause which made poor little dull
"Charles" (page 33) with his angelic expression com-
pliment his hostess with those remarkable stories of
her beer-drinking capacities? It was almost certainly
anxiety which affected "Anna" when, on becoming of
school age, she was separated from her mother and
sisters and sent to school.

The treatment recommended is, as we have seen, to
occupy the child, to interest him, to work him, and,
above all, to give him security. In the first part of this
cure those evacuated children who have the advantage
of having been moved together with their own schools
have an immense advantage. Their teachers know
them and, although with sadly diminished apparatus,
they can go straight on with their schooling under
more or less usual circumstances. But security is a dif-
ferent story. How is it possible under a system of billet-
ing to give security?

There is, and can be, nothing permanent about
evacuation and billeting. Long as it may last, it is a
makeshift, and the security it gives is only physical
security against a danger which the children have
never seen.

We should have hoped that they had never imagined
this danger did we not know from the Social Workers
and hostesses that some children apparently suffered
for months from fear lest their parents were even then
being bombed.

TRIAL AND ERROR

Here is an instance given by the hostess whose ex-
periences were described as "from the Dales." She did
not encourage her dozen or more little girls to look at
the headlines in the papers, and hardly a word was said
of the war during September and October. They were
all under 10, and she assumed that they thought as
little as they talked of it. But on two occasions the chil-
dren came back from school having heard in the vil-
lage, "Bombers over England," and at dinner asked

anxiously, "Did they get to ?" (the large port in

the North- West from which they came).

Their hostess thereupon (as the children had raised
the topic) talked about the apparent success that our
fighters and anti-aircraft guns had against bombers.
The Germans did not seem to venture right across
England. In saying this she forgot that one child's par-
ents had moved to London and, observing one still
furrowed brow, had hastily to praise the excellence of
London's balloon barrage.

But there seemed to be a further question in the
children's minds; it seemed to be, "Then why have we
been evacuated? If it isn't safe for us, why is it safe for
Mummie and Daddie?" Their hostess thereupon has-
tened to talk about the possible upset in transport and
of the difficulty there might be of feeding large num-
bers in the towns "But here, look at all the sheep and
the potatoes and things; there's plenty for you to eat,
even if trains do get interrupted for a day or two." This
seemed to be satisfactory. During the first hold-up of
transport she was careful to rub in this point.

47

HOW THEY CAME

"But," she writes, "the whole thing surprised me as
the children were all under ten, and for months hadn't
said a word about this very real worry. I wished then
that I had said something sooner, but hadn't guessed
in what a grown-up and logical way they had thought
about it. I wondered, too, how many tempers and tears
in the past it accounted for, and saw in general that I
had been as blind as a bat."

What measure of security can we possibly give to
these little creatures whose imaginations are so terribly
vivid that their fears and anxieties sometimes bring
upon them such sharp reactions in mind and body?
To whom can we appeal to help, and on whose tact,
unselfishness, and wisdom does their well-being pri-
marily depend?

There can only be one answer: on the hostess.

CHAPTER IV

A FEW WORDS ON HOSTESSES

i

THERE is a Victorian story of a mother who, need-
ing a tutor for her young son, asked a friend to
help her find one and sent a list of the qualifications
this gentleman should possess. He must be gentle, but
at the same time firm, learned but amusing company,
and so on through a whole calendar of virtues. The
friend answered after an interval, "I have not found
your tutor yet: when I do, I shall marry him.'*

Let us apply this anecdote to the hostess of evacuated
children, for it is certain that the qualities which are
essential for the perfect hostess are those which are
sought after by every man in his future wife.

Think of her responsibilities. She must be the per-
fect housewife and so have considerable powers of or-
ganization. She must possess tact, wisdom, and, above
all, illimitable patience. A sense of humour is essential
to mould together the discordant elements of the real
and the "borrowed family," and, beyond all this, the
foundation of her character must be true loving-kind-
ness and unselfishness.

How, we may ask, were these paragons selected?
Examination? Interview? What method was chosen?
The task was too gigantic.

49

HOW THEY CAME

Neither homes nor hostesses were selected at all, and
in the autumn of 1938 there was more than a hint of
compulsion in the plans for reception.

All that September (remember it was in '38, not '39)
emissaries of the Local Authorities made their way,
armed with large books, into every rural house and
cottage, and required the inhabitants to give a true list
of every room in the house. It was announced that the
householder was to be in readiness to receive a cer-
tain proportion of evacuees in relation to the number
of rooms. Most anxious consultations took place.
"They've counted the kitchen at Mrs. B.'s. If they send
us an evacuee to sleep in that, how are we to cook?"

For so acute a crisis as was then expected Draconian
methods were no doubt necessary. Any shelter in
which the expected "Blitzkrieg" could be endured
must be commandeered.

In the comparative lull in which the winter of
1938-9 was passed matters improved a little on the
physical side. The householder was listened to on giv-
ing the explanation that neither the drains nor the
water supply would stand the strain of too great an in-
crease in the inhabitants of the house. But here again
the life and death crisis which has not ensued blotted
out all thoughts of anything but immediate food and
shelter.

"GET THEM OUT"

was the first vital necessity. And out the children were
got when the time came, with quite extraordinary
success.

50

A FEW WORDS ON HOSTESSES

In August the teachers, those guardians of the na-
tion's children, were all away on their holidays. Over
the air in crowded seaside lodgings, peaceful villages,
scattered houses of friends, came at 9 o'clock on a
Thursday evening, an order to the London teachers,
"The teachers will be in their schools on Saturday,"
and the arrangements they were to make were detailed.
The schools in Central London came first, and then a
long list of those in Greater London, and at once, in
the remote country house two hundred miles away,
where I was listening, a schoolmaster from Greater
London rose from his seat and asked his hostess quietly
whether he might use the telephone to make his ar-
rangements.

The call had come.

That was on Thursday, August 24th, and in a week
and a day that whole group of holiday-makers were
all busy in one way or another on war work. The house
where we were sitting was the scene of the second arri-
val story in Chapter I, and I myself was receiving my
own group of children two hundred miles away. The
schoolmaster's task of evacuation was complete. Half
the homes of city children were empty, half the coun-
try homes were over-full, and for thousands of children
and of adults the old order of life was shattered.

An unforeseen, and unexpected, chapter followed,
which has already lasted many months, but now in
May seems likely to come to an abrupt end. In this
chapter the heroines are the hostesses who, as we have
seen, were not even chosen for their parts, but tumbled
into them.

HOW THEY CAME

II

"Opinions," said Alexis de Tocqueville, "are only
standpoints/' and it is interesting to get at first-hand
the impressions of a Londoner, dumped in the course
of a decidedly successful evacuation into the inner life
of a rural village. The lady who writes came with the
school in an official capacity and has seen everything
through London eyes.

"On arrival I was struck by the fact that children
were chosen for billets. I fancy in London things would
have been more businesslike and everyone told what
to do.

To me village life seems so very divided all top and
bottom with no middle class at all. The upper half of
the village wish to take the best evacuees, for appar-
ently cottage folk 'do not mind/

On the other hand, most children from 'ordinary
homes' seem happier with the humbler people of the
village they describe it as more like home.

In large houses, if several children are billeted to-
gether, they generally seem very happy because they
play together and can share each other's games, toys,
pleasures such as birthdays, and in many cases even the
visits from parents are shared.

What of Country Food? For myself I have been sur-
prised at the small quantities of food stored in the
larder of village houses, and I also expected to find
people eating plenty of eggs and vegetables, and drink-
ing milk. Where I have stayed I have had less than I
should have had in London. London mothers mostly

52

A FEW WORDS ON HOSTESSES

make shopping and cooking an art to be cultivated.
'What can I buy?' 'Where can I get best value?' and
'How can I serve this or that meal to make it appetizing
for the children?' are everyday questions for London
mothers, young and old. We know, of course, though,
that many children in the country are now having
more regular and plentiful meals than they have ever
had, and are no longer heard to say, 'I only like fish
and chips.'

Health of Children. We hear on all sides that the
children away from London are fitter. This must be
especially apparent in districts where children have
come from very poor homes more so, where the luck
of the billeting,' as I would call it, has put them into
well run homes.

Many children have walked long distances to and
from school. At first this seemed a cause for pity. Far
from it, the children have learnt to enjoy the walks
and are looking bonnier than ever. As the Spring
comes these walks will have an educational, as well as
physical, advantage, for children are so quick to notice
anything new in nature.

Regular meals have helped the children, and most
of the children have gone to bed early, and I feel sure
that not going to the pictures and having too many
outings has been very good for them.

Luckily, too, the children are being inspected in
school and are able to attend clinics for eyes, teeth, etc.

In the villages where children are able to attend
school for the established school hours, it would appear
that evacuation is a real advantage. The billeting ques-
tion is naturally very vexed, and people are apt to

53

HOW THEY CAME

tire even of 'well doing/ and one feels that it is best to
keep the children out as much as possible.

Changing Billets. This must inevitably take place,
but should be avoided as much as possible as it has a
very detrimental effect on the children's nerves.

Country Hospitality. To our children and their par-
ents most people have been extremely kind/'

in

And here be it said at once that the "borrowed chil-
dren" spoken of in these pages consist only of unaccom-
panied schoolchildren.

I know no authentic and attested facts about the
mothers with children under five. Rumour speaks of
their evacuation as a total and complete failure. The
remarkable plan by which the strange mothers were
expected by the Government to do their own catering,
including cooking, in other women's houses did not
sound promising to any housewife. If the Englishman's
house is his castle, the Englishwoman's kitchen is the
castle keep, with the kitchen stove as the inner fastness,
and woe to any stranger who lays his hands upon it!

At first the problem of the unaccompanied school-
children seemed in many places to be chiefly physical;
but as the days passed into weeks, and the weeks into
months, it became obvious that the physical troubles,
though very tiresome, were the least difficult to over-
come.

Psychologists tell us that "the emotional back-
ground of security" is the prime factor in the bringing

54

A FEW WORDS ON HOSTESSES

up of a child, and how can we provide security in the
paradoxical situation in which we find ourselves to-
day? There are the strange homes in the country in the
shelter of which it is believed the children will avoid
unspeakable physical danger, but where, because these
homes are only "billets," no mental security can be
offered. There are the empty homes in the cities,
where, indeed, that mental security could have been
obtained. And between the two hangs the Menace.

So the parents of city children must choose whether,
not for a sudden, short crisis, but for a period of
months, perhaps years, they will give their children
mental or physical security; for they cannot give both.

I think, paradoxically enough, that one extra source
of difficulty might have been avoided if the word "fos-
ter-mother" had never been used. Words are powerful
things and "foster-mother" implies a permanency of
relationship, which is the last thing which should be
attempted or desired.

What have been the feelings of the real mother, who
has unselfishly given her child for its own good into
the hands of a stranger when that stranger has tried to
set up as a substitute mother? But, it will be said, the
child must have love.

Nothing can be truer, and in the case of real foster-
parents, who have undertaken permanent adoption,
unselfish love is of the essence of the relationship. But
legal adoption, hedged round as it is by the most care-
ful enquiries and undertakings, is a permanent rela-
tionship, and the state of a billeted child may be ended

55

HOW THEY CAME

by either side at any moment. Can it, then, be said to
be even kind to the child, not to speak of its being un-
fair to the parents, to set up a deep emotional rela-
tionship which is not intended to be permanent?

Hundreds of women have, however, solved the prob-
lemas they are solving it at this moment children's
nurses. The parallel is not complete, but the child's
nurse who comes and lives in the same house as the
mother has something of the same problem. She, too,
must be loyal to a mother of whom she possibly does
not approve. She, too, must give her nurselings love,
and yet not allow the relationship to become so close
that it cannot be severed without heart-break. It is a
hard question, and the hostess of billeted children
could learn a good deal from studying the ways of the
good nursery nurse.

But there is one thing which the hostess must not
stint. That is her welcome. It is essential that the
child, or children, should believe that they are there
because their hostess wants them, not because she must
have them.

Away, then, with the expression ''foster-mother" or
"billet-mother," and let the hostess frankly acknowl-
edge her relationship to be impersonal and take as her
model the "Nannies" of Great Britain.

CHAPTER V
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I

N going through the notes of children whom I

have seen at I am rather struck by the

fact that those who were regarded as sufficiently bad
to be referred to me were practically all children who
had been difficult and neurotic characters for a long
time prior to the evacuation. Of course, numbers of
normal children who were not getting on very well
were dealt with by social workers, and, of course, where
a child was fairly normal simple arrangements sufficed.
The really difficult evacuee seems always to have been
a chronic problem/'

So writes a Psychiatrist serving in a clinic established
in a Reception Area to deal with evacuees. He has been
kind enough to send me records of one or two of these
really difficult cases with his remarks attached. From
another new clinic, in a different part of the country,
also established to deal with the Government Evacua-
tion Scheme, I have received a further list.

Both these clinics are recognized by the Child Guid-
ance Council and are worked with a full team. The sec-
ond, which is established in the South of England, will,
it is hoped and believed, gradually be allowed to deal

57

HOW THEY CAME

with local cases and become a permanent institution
working under the Local Authorities.

As evacuation will remain a living problem as long
as this war lasts, I think it will be useful to give a classi-
fied record of a few of these more serious cases with the
remarks of the Psychiatrist attached.

n

In the first place there are cases in these clinics both
of pilfering and of more serious stealing.

PILFERING AND STEALING

An interesting case is that of A. B., a Secondary
schoolboy of 14, who is described as "dreamy and ab-
sent-minded."

"A. B. has been billeted in a small house an older
and slightly more substantial one in the midst of a
new estate since the beginning of evacuation. He
was referred for extreme absent-mindedness, forgetful-
ness and vagueness. He was said to behave as if he had
something serious on his mind, and would sit with his
head in his hands, frowning, for long periods. Other-
wise he was not thought to be naughty or disobedient,
although he is occasionally cheeky to the billet-father.
He was a little troublesome over meals and very un-
tidy. He could just remember being in a fever hospi-
tal for 6 weeks once but did not know when or what
for. His parents were not regarded with great favour
by the billet-mother, being rather mean. He has an
aunt who was said to be interested in psychological

58

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

treatment, but although she has been written to she
has never answered.

Conditions in the Billet

The house is clean and tidy. It seems to be inhabited
by a good many people. The billet-parents apparently
share it with an old friend, who is either a bachelor or
a widower, and who owns the house, and there are ref-
erences to other men living there also. The mother is
excellent, very motherly (she has grown-up children),
sympathetic, and quite a superior type altogether. She
is genuinely anxious to help the boy, as she has shown
by her treatment of him. She once said she thought she
could not keep him any longer, but immediately re-
lented. There is another evacuee from the same school
with whom A. B. gets on well. This boy has more
money, etc., than A. B.

History of the Case

The boy attended the clinic for some time and was
thought to be a fairly normal dreamy adolescent. He
improved somewhat, but had ups and downs. The con-
tact with the outside world through the clinic was
thought to be helpful. Then the billet-mother re-
ported that she had a suspicion that A. B. had been
taking small articles from a near-by shop and from
school. She also said that some time before he had been
found with 35. of the billet-father's in his pocket.
Eventually she caught him red-handed with stolen
sweets. A. B. was confronted with this both in the
billet and at the clinic and broke down, promising
reformation."

59

HOW THEY CAME

Here are the remarks of the Psychiatrist and some
indications of the method of treatment:

"This boy proved to be a dreamy schizoid 1 youth,
from a broken home with an absentee father whom
he had been taught to despise. His preoccupation and
abstraction were at first associated with his adolescent
development and no effort was made to explore his
feelings about his home. At a later visit it was revealed
that he had been stealing small sums of money in his
billet and sweets from a shop. The billet-mother dis-
cussed the matter with one of the staff of the Clinic in
a visit and gave the information that A. B. was kept
very short of money and got much less than the other
boy in the billet. On advice the billet-mother, who
was most understanding, kept the history of A. B.'s
stealing to as few members of the household as pos-
sible and advised his parents to give him more pocket
money. In discussing the matter with A. B. every effort
was made to prevent him feeling himself a hopeless
sinner or lose his self-respect and with it any incentive
to avoid stealing. He was, however, intensely humili-
ated by the episode and when it was mentioned at the
Clinic wept unrestrainedly. The interview was en-
tirely devoted to encouraging him and he finally
agreed that he felt better now that it had all been dis-
cussed. He has been much less abstracted and there
has been no more stealing. He reports to the Clinic
from time to time to maintain a friendly, interested
contact/'

i Split personality.

60

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

In the same category is Claude, aged 1 3 years, who
was referred by his billet for pilfering:

"This boy from a residential school was billeted
with a family living in a council house on a housing
estate. He had been with them 6 weeks when he was
referred for continuous pilfering. The first night in
the billet he took 2d. He also came home from school
with odd things pencils, etc. Later on he took things
from Woolworth's, probably in company with other
boys. He played truant one day from school and on this
day also took half a crown. The billet-parents put up
with this, but at the time when he was referred to the
Clinic they had reached nearly the end of their pa-
tience with him. The day before he had gone with the
son of the house, a boy of about 14 into the neigh-
bouring town, a mile or two away, and had stolen from
a jeweller's shop. The jeweller happened to be an
elder in the church of which the billet-parents were
caretakers. This was the first time that the boy of the
billet had taken part in the pilfering, and the parents
were very upset.

Conditions in the Billet

The patient lived with a family, which consisted of
mother, father, unmarried daughter of 30, who lived
away from home, a married son, also living away from
home, a son of 14, who lived in the billet, another boy
evacuee, of 1 1 years, and two little girls, who spent the
day in the care of the billet-mother, as their own
mother went out to work. The billet-mother was a
motherly woman, who was trying to do the best she

61

HOW THEY CAME

could for the boy, but at the time of referral felt that
she could not have him another moment in the house.
The atmosphere of the billet seemed comfortable but
was temporarily upset by the fear of exposure and the
possibility that the two boys would have to be charged.
The billeting authorities took a grave view of the case
and the school did not wish to interfere as he had been
taking small articles from there. It seemed likely that
the boy might have to go to a remand home."

And here are the remarks of the Psychiatrist:

"This boy proved to be an attractive, engaging
youth. He was found to be anxious, insecure, and crav-
ing affection. Most of the objects stolen were given to
smaller children and the stealing had developed an
almost obsessive compulsive element.

He responded readily to the interest taken in the
Clinic and fairly quickly substituted an effort to gain
praise and affection in place of thefts which had at-
tracted attention and provided him with a means of
making himself attractive to other children.

He also showed a pathetic attachment to the some-
what rough-spoken, if kindly, billet-mother.

Results were at first excellent, but each threat to his
security shows itself in either emotional upset or minor
theft. It is probable that a permanent foster-home will
have to be found for him before he can become perma-
nently established and build up some security for
himself."

Here is another case of pilfering, which illustrates
a point made by Dr. Moodie that delinquent children

62

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

are very frequently found to be mentally defective
(page 117).

"History

This little girl, Ethel, aged ioi/, was in a council
house with another child, a girl of her own age. The
billet-mother seemed a pleasant woman, with two girls
of her own. The children all got on well. Soon after
her arrival in the billet, the patient began to pilfer
jewellery from her billet-mother, and also to hide
away the toys belonging to the other children. When
found out and questioned she sometimes cried, but
more frequently appeared indifferent. She also mas-
turbated, frequently in bed at night.

She was transferred to a girls' hostel, but no im-
provement in behaviour followed. She appeared to
have a craving for brightly coloured jewellery and also
on one occasion took a 105. note from a handbag. She
was therefore brought by the matron to the Clinic."

The Psychiatrist remarks:

"On examination she was found to be a somewhat
stunted, wizened-looking child, but no definite physi-
cal abnormality was found. Suspicious at first, she soon
became friendly and answered various questions quite
readily: It was noticed, however, that her attention was
easily deflected from the topic in hand and that her
mental grasp seemed shallow. A routine intelligence
test was done and showed her to be a mental defective
of a degree too severe to permit of her understanding
or conforming to ordinary moral standards. It was de-
cided that she should be sent to a special residential

63

HOW THEY CAME

school to be given such training and education as
would be suited to her very low intelligence."

In the same category and from another part of the
country where no advice from a clinic or a specially
trained Social Worker could be got, comes the case of
a little girl, Sally, aged 9, with a little brother, Fred,
aged 4^4, who was a bed-wetter and often in the chil-
dren's words, "filled his trousers/' Sally had skin
trouble (of a non-infectious kind) which made her
self-conscious.

"The boy was very dependent on his big sister, for
a long time refusing to let her out of his sight. She was
exemplary in looking after him, but his dependence
cut her off a good deal from play with the dozen others
of her own age in the same billet. She was unhappy.

Back history (gradually learned) was that there is
an elder brother of 13 (seen later, appeared to be a
good-natured, well-grown lad). There had been a
younger brother, the children said, who fell from his
high chair on to his head, seemed all right for a week
or two, and then died of a tumour on the brain (?).
This was told on more than one occasion by Sally.
Parents affectionate and rather, but not excessively,
emotional."

Although Fred's dependent attitude and the bowel
control were improved after 31^ months' evacuation,
other symptoms intervened.

"Sally's physical condition much improved, weight
and skin condition both noticeably better.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Sally's relations to other children worsened. She had
violent quarrels with another 'little mother/ both tak-
ing the side of their small dependents, who were affec-
tionate but quarrelsome. Situation much aggravated
by letters from both parents.

Sally's untruthfulness and (?) thefts. This has not im-
proved. It has never been clear whether all the thefts
were Fred's or whether Sally had her share. We blamed
a possibly blameless dog, told the others that they
should not leave things about, and in general have
done our best to pass the whole thing over. Here again
parents (on visits and by letter) have encouraged a
censorious attitude among the other children, and
there is a history in Sally's case of thefts at school be-
fore evacuation (treated, apparently, on excellent lines
of tolerance and understanding by the school au-
thorities).

As is almost inevitable, 'Best Friends' and cliques of
various kinds developed among the other children.

Sally felt herself completely out of the 'secrets,' etc.
She is very demonstrative, constantly making little
gifts for the hostess, demanding attention in many
ways. But her ambition seemed to be full admission to
the world of the children. The hostess, rightly or
wrongly, (?) thought that to show her too much special
attention might make this more difficult to her.

Sally, after 214 months is much better in health, but
has developed violent crying fits, being unable to eat,
go to school, or do anything else. This situation was
usually met by pretending she had a temperature, put-
ting her to bed, and giving her a good deal of the
craved-for attention. This only worked partially.

65

HOW THEY CAME

A visitor with some psychological knowledge began
(she was in full blast of a crying fit) to tell the others in
her hearing tales of burglar friends of his own. The
hostess then took the chance offered by a fairy tale (in
a collection which was being read to the children)
called 'The Master Thief (triumphant larceny!) and
used a brief, playful subsequent refusal of Sally's to
do something she was asked to do (very unusual) to
pretend that Sally was a terrible pirate and that she
(the hostess) was afraid of her. A half playful, half-
earnest display of hostility on Sally's part followed.
She would for the next four or five days lie in wait and
then shout as loudly as possible and as close to the host-
ess's ear as possible: 'DON'T KNOW AND DON'T CARE!'
As hoped, this half-playful, permitted hostility cheered
her up. But only partially! What if the situation re-
develops? Should a change of billet be tried?"

The Psychiatrist to whom this description of the
case was sent, writes:

"The case history you send me is very interesting,
but, of course, owing to the lack of a really compre-
hensive early history obtained from the children's
mother, one can only speculate as to the origins of the
condition.

It looks as though Sally is suffering from a fairly
severe degree of depression and it is not unlikely that
the untruthfulness and thefts are part of this condi-
tion. In view of the history of a younger brother, who
fell from his chair and died, it is not at all unlikely that
this precipitated the depression. She may, in fact, be

66

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

a case similar to that of Audrey H., which I sent you
previously.

It is evident that Sally feels out of things and people
don't like her, and evidently she makes up for this by
demanding attention and doing what she can to gain
affection. It is quite likely that she feels no one cares
for her because of her little brother's death, which she
may easily feel, in some unjustified way, was due to her.

As far as treatment is concerned, I think it would
be a mistake to overdo the spoiling. So long as she feels
she does not deserve affection, it will not help much. It
might be a great help if when she talked about her
little brother's death, another time, someone sympa-
thetic could discuss it further with her and encourage
her to express all her feelings about it, looking out
especially for her feeling of responsibility for the event.
Naturally, this would have to be done by someone
with a good deal of understanding of children.

It is not unlikely that a change of billet would be a
help. If she could be put with her brother in a home
where they were the only children she would feel less
out of it with the others and might be able to strike
up a good relation with a foster-mother whom she had
to herself, but naturally this would only be true if the
foster-mother was friendly and understanding.

I shall be interested to hear how this child goes on."

A case of serious stealing is that of George, aged 13,
which is given as follows:

"This boy was evacuated to in September and

got into trouble for some very serious stealing. He had

HOW THEY CAME

taken a number of electrical and geographical instru-
ments from Woolworth's, and other stuff from sta-
tioners' and chemists' shops maps, diaries, travelling
clock, vanity case, a pencil set which he sent to his
brother in the Army and a lighter to his father total
value 10. He also cut a telephone receiver from a
kiosk.

George was the youngest of five brothers and six
years younger than the fourth. He was very devoted to
his mother, and when she died in tragic circumstances
three years ago he became very depressed. Actually he
returned home one day from school to find his mother
collapsed unconscious in a chair. Before he could get
help she died. From this time onwards it appears that
he was miserable, mopey and solitary. His work at
school went to bits and he became sullen and dis-
gruntled. What friendships he made were almost en-
tirely with bad companions.

He never really recovered from this depression, but
his condition became a good deal worse last Easter,
1939, when his father was in hospital very seriously ill.
This time G. H. became extremely apprehensive lest
his father should die also. When the question of
evacuation was discussed during the summer he
begged his father not to send him away, saying that he
would rather remain in London and be killed with
his father.

He was, however, evacuated in September, and very
soon afterwards the stealing began. It appears that he
had never stolen in London, but soon after coming to

he took up with a couple of regular delinquents

who took him with them to Woolworth's. G. H. seems

68

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

to have been squeamish at first, but they laughed at
him for it. He then stole.

On discussing this stealing he became extremely
upset and said he was very ashamed of it. He was espe-
cially worried that he had let his father down and
seemed altogether at a loss to understand how he
should have got himself into the mess."

The Psychiatrist's remarks are as follows:

''The stealing in this case seems to have come on as
part of a generalized depression following his mother's
death zi/ 2 years previously. He never seems to have
recovered from this tragic event and his depressed
condition was made worse, first by his father's illness,
and finally by the evacuation, which seems to have
acted as a last straw. Unfortunately this boy returned
to London, but if treatment could be arranged soon
the outlook should be fairly good."

in

THREE CASES OF ENURESIS

These were of long-standing cases of bed-wetting in
older boys, I. J., K. L., and M. N. Of these the first is
the most interesting.

"I. J., aged 141/2, was referred very early by his billet-
mother for persistent enuresis. He is rather a childish
boy, and his billet-mother was worried because he
seemed to have no friends and never to go out. He
never confessed to bed-wetting, but would roll up his
pyjamas in a heap, cover up his bed, and leave the
house as early as possible next morning. The wetting

69

HOW THEY CAME

happened several times a week invariably. The boy is
of comparatively good class.

Conditions in the Billet

The home is a very good one of upper-middle class
standards. The billet-mother is alone, her husband
being on service. She is a young woman, very active,
with two young children. She is extremely kind-
hearted and put up with the wetting for a long time
without complaint. The evacuees spend most of their
time with the maids (3) by their own choice. They
seem to get on well and to be happy.

History of the Case

The wetting was very bad when I. J. first came to the
Clinic, but he reacted quickly and well to treatment.
And there was soon an improvement. He also began
to go out more. After some time, he was allowed to
lapse for 6 weeks owing to this improvement. The
billet-mother reports that he had a bad relapse during
this time, and the wetting started again. At the end of
6 weeks, he came to the Clinic again, and has been dry
ever since. She asks that he may attend periodically."

The Psychiatrist remarks:

"In this boy's case enuresis was found to be only one
element in a general 'babyishness' and refusal to grow
up and accept the responsibilities of his age. He was
the youngest of three boys of a 'white collar* family
and had been protectively brought up by a careful,
affectionate mother. Endowed with a sensitive disposi-

70

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

tion and a very superior intelligence, I. Q. 147, the
companionship of his more robust and boisterous and
less intelligent contemporaries had offered insufficient
temptation to him to relinquish his childish depend-
ence on adults. He was on pleasant terms with the
adults of the household in which he was billeted and
excellent with the children, but did not go out to mix
with other boys.

A thorough physical examination enabled the
Clinic to assure him that his enuresis did not depend
on some physical defect outside his own responsibility.
Then a discussion on the lines of the above paragraph
was initiated with him, and the difficulties of his stage
of growing up and adapting gone into in a 'man-to-
man' talk with the Doctor. He proved readily receptive
and interested and was prepared to believe that enter-
ing into uncongenial activities with his contempo-
raries would have its reward not only in making him
feel better but in actual pleasure once he had made the
initial effort.

Results were excellent. He joined a troop of Scouts
and got on well there. The enuresis cleared up very
quickly and he had only one relapse, cause unknown,
before his cure was established. At the final visit to
the Clinic he appeared a much manlier, more assured
youth. In this case the co-operation and understanding
of his billet-mother were important factors."

Of the other two cases, the condition in one was due
partly to insecurity brought about by change of billets
and partly to fear of the dark. The third case is re-
ported to have been

71

HOW THEY CAME

"evidently a manifestation of anxiety aggravated by
an undue fuss made by his father over it and his belief
that he had a physical defect that made it inevitable.
Physical examination cleared this up and allowed the
Clinic to reassure him and his father. His intelligent,
sensible schoolmaster undertook to encourage and in-
terest him in games that would allow him to mix as an
equal with his fellows. At the Clinic also a friendly
interest was maintained. With the increase of security
resulting the enuresis completely cleared up."

IV

Five single cases are worthy of notice. These relate
to Sex Difficulties, Anxiety, Truanting, Jealousy and
Bad Temper, and Fear of Dogs.

SEX DIFFICULTIES

Of single cases reported from these clinics, one con-
cerned an over-developed girl of 1 1 .

"On investigation at the Clinic the complaint was
found to be that Ruby was lazy, greedy and 'always
putting herself forward/ When she was corrected, she
would contradict the billet-mother, and continually
quoted her own mother to prove herself in the right.
She gave herself superior airs and seemed to have no
respect for anyone. She lamented the absence in the
billet of a piano, saying that she was very musical and
missed being able to spend some hours a day in prac-
tising. The billet-mother also said that she would
spend as much time as she could in hanging round
with boys.

72

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Home History

Nothing is known of the parents except that the
mother is said to be an over-bearing woman. Ruby is
an only child and had to spend a good deal of time with
her mother. She referred to her father as 'the shrimp
of the family/

Billet Conditions

There was a lack of sympathy between the child and
the billet-mother, who was tired of her superior airs.
The child referred to this during some of her later
visits to the Clinic. She gave a satisfactory reason for
her apparent 'hanging round with boys/ She had pre-
viously given this to her billet-mother, but felt she was
disbelieved and explained no further.

On examination at the Clinic she was found to be
physically over-developed for her age, but perfectly
healthy. She was intelligent and friendly, and her con-
versation was that of a schoolgirl of 13 or 14 of the
cheerful, bustling, officious type. She made no com-
plaint of her billet at the first visit, but said she would
rather be at home, giving the lack of a piano as a reason
for this.

Treatment

She clearly needed more outlet for her superfluous
mental and physical energy than this billet was afford-
ing, and it was decided to transfer her to a girls' hostel,
where she could be given special duties of her own to
perform, and be made to feel a responsible member
of the community.

73

HOW THEY CAME

Results

She has adjusted perfectly to this new and improved
environment. She is helpful about the house and
carries out her duties well. She is mildly teased about
her superior airs, but takes it in good part. She is also
less pushing at school. She is too busy to take any fur-
ther interest in boys.

Commentary

This illustrates the type of case which does well with
a change of environment, in this case the socialised
atmosphere of a girls' hostel."

ANXIETY

Another case is of a poor little girl of 8, who suffered
from great anxiety lest her parents were in danger in
London.

"Queenie showed a good deal of anxiety that her
parents had been bombed in London, and also that
they did not want her. She had romanced, especially
about the wonderful things her mother was buying
for her, and had also been fairly difficult and wet her
bed most nights during the first eight weeks she was

in . On one occasion she had sat up in bed and

wet the bed deliberately.

Queenie was the middle of three children, having
an older brother of 11, and a younger brother of 6.
The family as a whole came from an extremely poor
part of Fulham and had the reputation at school for
being extremely dirty and at times verminous. Her
father had frequently been out of work, and mother

74

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

was supposed to drink too much. Once again, owing
to inadequate histories, it was impossible to discover
details of the child's life. She proved an attractive little
girl with big brown eyes, and she had a very charming
smile when spoken to. She was talkative and responsive
and told various fairy stories which she knew. At school
she was said to be rather out of things but to play
happily with her dolls.

She was with a very nice foster-mother in who

treated her sensibly, and after a time Queenie's symp-
toms cleared up. She no longer wets the bed and ap-
pears no longer worried about her parents in London.
Her foster-mother has cleaned her up and is very fond
of her, and she appears to be settling down very
happily.

Remarks

This child comes from a bad home, and it seems not
unlikely that her parents do in fact not much want
her. The romancing of her mother buying her all sorts
of things was clearly a compensation for this feeling of
being unwanted. Bed- wetting was probably due, partly
to a lack of training, and partly to the upset of leaving
home.

In this child's case it seems probable that she is a

good deal better off with her foster-mother in

than she would be with her own parents."

TRUANTING

A case of truancy in a boy of nine seems to have been
the result of anxiety about a younger brother from
whom he had been separated.

75

HOW THEY CAME

"Billeting Conditions

Stanley, aged 9, had been sent here with a younger
brother aged 6. At first they had been billeted some
distance apart, but Stanley felt responsible for the
younger child and asked the latter's billet to see
whether he could be taken in there. The billet-mother
was a kindly middle-aged woman who was sorry for
Stanley and took him in. After two months she fell ill
and the boys were taken home. During this time he
had been attending his old school and did not truant.

When the children returned, they were sent to an-
other billet with a young married woman who has two
young children, but as the younger evacuee was a bed-
wetter and the brothers were rather quarrelsome, the
billet-mother said she could not keep the younger.
Stanley had had his school moved to a new one, and it
was now that he began to truant. He went round to his
old billet-mother, giving various excuses to her for not
being at school, all of which she apparently believed.
When seen at the Clinic the first time, he gave as his
reason the fact that he was very worried about his
younger brother. The latter was removed, first to a
hostel where he remained for a fortnight, then back
to a billet near Stanley. The truanting continued. He
attended school but not the halls (where the children
go when their school is not in session). Seen at the
Clinic again he said he had truanted because of anxiety
about his brother where he was, how he was getting
on, and the possibility of getting him back in a fresh
billet. He agreed that he did not see how inattendance
at school would help solve these problems, but said that

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

he could not sit still and concentrate when he was so
worried.

Treatment

The truanting was in this case the child's solution
to a situation that was much too difficult for him.
Treatment took the form of altering the circum-
stances, changing the school, and letting him feel that
his brother was being cared for and was not his re-
sponsibility, also of reassuring and encouraging him."

JEALOUSY AND BAD TEMPER

"Ursula V., a little girl, had proved very difficult in
her foster-home owing to prolonged and violent tem-
per tantrums, great hostility to her younger brother,
disobedience, and showing off to her foster-brothers.

She was the eldest of a family of three, having a

brother aged six who was in the same billet in

and another aged four who remained at home with
their mother. Their father had deserted and was al-
leged to be 'a bad lot/ Owing to father's desertion,
mother had had to go out to work and the children
had not been very adequately looked after.

Owing to Mrs. V. not having been interviewed, an
adequate history was not obtained. It appeared, how-
ever, that Ursula had had these tempers for a long time
and had been a difficult child long before she was
evacuated. It seemed probable, though it could not be
confirmed, that her condition was a good deal worse
after evacuation.

She was extremely jealous of her younger brother
Willie, aged 6, and lost no opportunity of ill-treating

77

HOW THEY CAME

him. She was very outspoken about this when seen by
me, telling me all his faults and always referring to
him as 'my worst brother.' Unfortunately, though
not unnaturally, her foster-parents much preferred her
brother, and this increased her jealousy. They also
critized her for disobedience and so on, and it was on
these occasions particularly that she flared into her
tantrums. On one occasion she became quite rigid and
it seemed almost like a fit. When she could talk again
she remarked with intense hatred, T am going to kill
Willie, I am going to kill him.' A particularly bad
occasion was when her mother left after visiting them
one day. She then cried for nearly two hours and com-
plained bitterly that her mother neither loved nor
wanted her.

Remarks

The origin of this child's intense jealousy is a little
obscure owing to our lack of history. No doubt she
was jealous of her younger brother in the normal way,
when he was born, but the extreme quality of it could
only be due to her having been badly treated and prob-
ably severely punished for it either by her father or her
mother. As a result of this she seems to have developed
a very severe degree of guilt, feeling that her mother
did not want her and that she was completely un-love-
worthy. The temper tantrums were, as is usual, a mix-
ture of rage and despair.

This child is being re-billeted apart from her
brother and it will be interesting to see how she does.
Without prolonged treatment, she will remain a very
difficult and neurotic character."

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
FEAR OF DOGS

An even younger girl, Winifred, aged 7, was referred
to the Clinic for behaviour difficulties which had
shown themselves by an unreasonable fear of dogs.

"History

An institution child mother known to be alive, and
living in a very poor area in London. Nothing is
known of a father, though the child occasionally men-
tioned a father. Child has been at residential school for
4 years. School know nothing of this fear. They report
that she lacks concentration in school, and that she is
timid and suspicious.

Conditions in Billet

She has been in billet since the beginning of evacua-
tion (6 weeks at time of referral). Family consists of
young mother, father, boy of 9 and girl of 3. Children
get along well. Complaint amplifies itself into the fol-
lowing: child will rush out into the middle of the road
if she sees a dog on the pavement. She will stroke one
if urged, and play with toy ones, but is frightened if
she sees one on the road. She will not go out to play,
and is keeping the billet-children in the house. She is
infecting the little girl with fear of dogs. She seems
stupid in the house when she is playing; will play with
a stick for hours.

Billet-mother is rather unsympathetic towards her.
She is sorry for her as the child has no home, but is
lukewarm when asked if she likes the child. She says

79

HOW THEY CAME

she has asked the child why she is frightened of dogs,
but has got no reply.

On examination the child was found to be healthy,
of normal intelligence, though backward in school
subjects. She was very shy and timid, and shrank back
when addressed, looking as if she thought she was to
be hit. The first interview was devoted to gaining her
confidence, and at the second a history of a bite from
a dog about a year previously was obtained. A talk
about dogs and reassurance seemed to help her. She
was also conditioned to enjoy their company. The fear
disappeared. Meanwhile a very good billet had been
found, with a woman who wanted a girl (the previous
billet-mother had really wanted a boy).' But a new
series of symptoms developed.

Development of Case in New Billet

The fear of dogs had disappeared quickly, but it was
felt to be a symptom of an underlying behaviour dis-
turbance, so a watch was kept on her. After about a
month in the new billet the billet-mother reported
that she had taken to frightening the little girl, that she
was possessive and greedy and wanted everything for
herself. The family consisted of three girls 1 1 years,
9 years, and 3 years. The baby was afraid of balloons
and the patient had been deliberately frightening her.
She also told her tales of aeroplanes flying over her,
and of murders just before they went to bed and the
baby thereupon had nightmares.

Billet-mother was kind and sympathetic, but felt
that this could not go on.

80

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Treatment

This was a case in which the child, through poor
environment at home in her early years and the lack
of love and personal touch in the school (good though
it was), had developed a strong sense of fear and in-
security. She was attempting to obtain consolation for
her own strong fear by making some other child fright-
ened. She had a strong motive in fixing on the smallest
one as there was a good deal of unconscious jealousy
at work. Play therapy, with a view to working off some
of this fear, was undertaken, and at the same time ad-
vice to the billet-mother in dealing with the situation
was given. Attendance at the Clinic is still continuing,
but the billet-mother reports that she has improved in
every way. She is less possessive, and only attempts oc-
casionally to frighten or hurt the other child. The
situation is delicate as the billet-mother does not wish
to hurt her own child by favouring the other share
and share alike is the rule, yet the patient keenly ap-
preciates a small treat which is not shared by the baby.
However, as the improvement seems to be maintained,
and the school also report that the child is less fright-
ened and can concentrate better than she used to, it is
hoped that the knowledge of security and some small
possessions of her own, coupled with the regular visits
to the Clinic, will completely clear up the case."

The above cases may be useful as a proof that diffi-
culties of children are only developed, not caused, by
Evacuation. They will give bewildered hostesses some
idea of the help which may be obtained by referring

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HOW THEY CAME

difficult children to Child Guidance Clinics for psy-
chological diagnosis and treatment.

It may be hoped that Local Authorities will take the
lesson to heart and that, as a result, a chain of small
clinics may be established throughout the Provinces
working under the County Medical and Education
Authorities.

82

PART 11
WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

CHAPTER VI
COLLECTING THE FACTS

I

ONLY trained workers could have provided most
of the reports we have quoted about the psycho-
logical effects on children of Evacuation.

Who were these workers? Isolated volunteers or
workers detailed by a Mental Health organization to
visit and report on Rural Areas throughout the coun-
try? The answer is that they were workers sent out, not
by one Mental Health society, but by five leading or-
ganizations banded together into one Committee to
pool the means at the disposal of each separate Com-
mittee and to use them for the benefit of the com-
munity. These five were: The Central Association for
Mental Welfare, the Child Guidance Council, the Na-
tional Council tor Mental Hygiene, the Association of
Mental Health Workers and the Association of Psy-
chiatric Social Workers.

The situation had been foreseen. After the An-
schlussthe occupation of Vienna on March i2th,
1938 after the growing crises of that summer, and
after the threatening pause of Munich on September
2gth, 1938, everyone interested in Mental Health was
convinced that it would be well to make use of and

85

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

organize the increased knowledge of psychology which
had been acquired by the medical profession to deal
with the war crisis which might lie before us.

How was this to be done without the overlapping of
all the societies interested in psychological problems?
Fortunately here there was a model to hand. On Feb-
ruary 27th, 1936, five societies concerned with Mental
Health had approached Lord Feversham and asked
him to act as Convener and Chairman of a Committee
comprising their representatives and other experts in
Mental Welfare "with the object of preparing a Re-
port embodying suggestions on broad lines for the
eventual bringing together on a national basis of all
the voluntary Mental Health Services in the United
Kingdom."

After making some eminently practical suggestions,
Lord Feversham summoned an inaugural meeting,
and in the Spring of 1936 the first meeting of what was
known as the Feversham Committee was held, and
continued till the summer of 1939, when their unani-
mous Report was published.

Here was a practical model for the inauguration of
a Mental Health Emergency Committee. The five so-
cieties forming this new Committee were not abso-
lutely the same as those which had formed the Fever-
sham Committee, for the Association of Mental Health
Workers and the Association of Psychiatric Social
Workers had replaced the Home and School Council
and the Mental After Care Committee.

On January ggth, 1939, the Mental Health Emer-

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COLLECTING THE FACTS

gency Committee held its first meeting and proceeded
to consider its plans.

In July (1939) tf 16 Child Guidance Council, with
the approval of the Commonwealth Fund, which had
with unexampled generosity almost entirely financed
it since 1927, appointed a social worker for peace-time
educational work, and it was resolved at the request
of the Mental Health Emergency Committee, that,
should war break out, her services should be placed at
the disposal of that Committee for War Work. Mrs.
Henshaw, an educational psychologist, was appointed
to this post, the date on which her service was to begin
being September ist. So there was a nucleus of staff for
the carrying out of the scheme of the M.H.E.C. for co-
operation between Evacuation and Reception Areas,
and for the possible organization of special care for
evacuated children suffering from mental and emo-
tional difficulties.

Naturally, one worker was pathetically insufficient
for the task to be accomplished, but at any rate the
outline of a frame was provided within which, with
the concurrence of the Local Authorities, the neces-
sary work could be carried on.

Detailed points as to the growth of this Mental
Health work need not be set down here. Suffice it to
say that since September the M.H.E.C., with the active
co-operation of that great organization, the Women's
Voluntary Services for Civil Defence, have prepared
a Register of Full-time Salaried Social Workers in the
Mental Health field. The Committee had in the sum-

87

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

mer approached the Ministry of Labour on the ques-
tion of getting the above-mentioned workers placed
upon the Register of Reserved Occupations, and this
had been done.

This Register of Full-time Workers was supple-
mented by a Register of Part-time and Voluntary
Workers. A Clearing House of Information had also
been set up in respect of both adults and children
whose medical and social history was already known.
A letter and leaflet enlarging on the above services was
circulated in September to Directors and Secretaries
of Education, School Medical Officers, and Billeting
Officers. The letter also informed the Local Authori-
ties of the Committee's loan service of Social Workers
in Mental Health, and suggested that these Authori-
ties should appoint a Mental Health Worker them-
selves or meet the expenses of such a worker in the Re-
ceiving Areas.

Those counties which have accepted this suggestion
carry out the organization in different ways, but as a
specimen of a very complete scheme in the Home
Counties I am allowed to quote the report of Miss
Alcock, late Senior Play Therapist at the Tavistock
Clinic, London, and research worker at Caterham
Mental Hospital.

"CARE AND TREATMENT OF DIFFICULT CHILDREN IN
HUNTINGDONSHIRE, SEPTEMBER 1939 TO FEBRUARY 1940

The impact of some 6,000 city children upon a rural
population of 56,000 was bound to produce some de-

88

COLLECTING THE FACTS

gree of shock. In the early days of September it was
apparent that this shock was considerable! The tele-
phone bell seemed to be ringing unceasingly: 'Such
and such a village has twenty bed-wetters; they are in
despair about it.' 'The Billeting Officer reports that
three children have been left on his doorstep; they
have behaved so badly that nobody will have them.'
'A child at walks and screams in her sleep, terrify-
ing the other children in the house. Can you help us?'

Fortunately, as early as the beginning of 1939 the
Women's Voluntary Services in Huntingdonshire fore-
saw that difficulties might arise among children evacu-
ated from their homes, and took measures accordingly.
At a meeting of the Huntingdon County Committee
of the W.V.S. held on July 25th, 1939, Dr. Anne Con-
nan, the assistant County Medical Officer of Health,
suggested that provision should be made for dealing
with the cases of emotional maladjustment that might
be expected among children removed from London
to the country in the event of war. A resolution request-
ing the authorities to consider the appointment of a
worker with knowledge of Child Guidance to help
with these problems was passed unanimously and sent
to the Ministry of Health. This resolution being on
record, the Headquarters of the W.V.S. in London
took advantage of an offer of service from Miss A. T.
Alcock, late Senior Play Therapist at the Tavistock
Clinic, London, and research worker at Caterham
Mental Hospital.

On September 3rd Miss Alcock began working on
the various problems arising out of evacuation in
Huntingdonshire. She was later joined by Miss Doris

89

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

Wills, Educational Psychologist to the Portsmouth
Child Guidance Clinic. Miss Alice Fawcett, a Psychi-
atric Social Worker, also gave valuable help from early
November till Christmas while her London Clinic was
temporarily closed.

The work was at first carried on under the auspices
of the W.V.S., though with the careful supervision and
most kindly co-operation of the County Medical Offi-
cer of Health, Dr. Moss-Blundell. On the ist January,
1940, however, Miss Alcock was appointed to the staff
of the County Medical Officer as Child Guidance Offi-
cer with the sanction of the Ministry of Health.

In many cases the primary need was to bring about
a better understanding between foster-parents and
child, and this being established, the problem not in-
frequently disappeared. For example, most country
mothers looked on bed-wetting as a disgusting habit
which the child could control at will, and therefore
rated the offender soundly. It was explained that the
wetting might be only a symptom of emotional upset
caused by the child's sudden separation from his par-
ents, just as other disturbed feelings would produce
the physical manifestation of a blush; neither habit
would cease to order. This new point of view served to
make the foster-mother feel kindlier towards the child,
whose anxiety was thereby decreased and his symptom
also.

Referring of Cases

Up to the end of February, 1940, 142 cases of mal-
adjustment among children were referred, of whom
131 were evacuees and 11 local children. The great

90

COLLECTING THE FACTS

majority were made by doctors, billeting officers, or
school teachers.

Nature of the Work

In this emergency child guidance there are three
main activities.

(a) Visiting Foster-homes in which Difficulties have
Arisen. This involves interviews, not only with foster-
parents and children, but with medical officers, billet-
ing officers, school teachers, etc., etc. In some cases a
change of billet is advisable, but often it is possible by
advice and sympathy to overcome these difficulties
sufficiently to enable the child to remain happily in the
same billet. Not infrequently it is found that house-
holders and children are in desperate antagonism be-
cause neither feels that their point of view has been
considered. If, on the other hand, both have a sense
that their troubles are being treated with sympathy,
and if they have an opportunity of unburdening their
souls to some outside person, it is surprising how often
these difficulties disappear. In many cases children
have become unruly because they have not had enough
constructive outlets for their energies, and the provi-
sion of play material and opportunity for organized
recreation will do much to ease matters.

(b) Establishment of Child Guidance Centres. Four
centres to which parents and foster-parents may bring
children for advice and treatment have been estab-
lished in different parts of the county, and a fifth is to
be opened shortly. The Medical Officer sees all cases
who require her attention. Special cases can also be re-
ferred to the visiting psychiatrist who holds a Mental

9 1

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

Health clinic in Huntingdon. Treatment in the cen-
tres is of three kinds:

1. Advisory.

2. Group play.

3. Direct treatment of individual children.

In the group play a number of children use special
play material under trained supervision. They find
both an outlet for their super-abundant energy, which
might otherwise be occupied in anti-social activities,
and also learn gradually to find satisfaction in working
with, instead of against, their fellows. Direct treatment
is carried on mainly by means of what is known as
play-therapy, a method by which the child may use
play rather than words as a means of expression, so
avoiding self-consciousness or introspection, and inci-
dentally having an extremely happy time.

(c) Homes for Difficult Children. Shortly after the
outbreak of war a home at The Grove, Godmanchester,
was opened for those children who, for various reasons,
cannot remain billeted in ordinary homes. Twenty
children at a time live here. To approximate as far as
possible to the conditions of a large family rather than
an institution, they are of both sexes, and of ages vary-
ing from 6 to 13, an experiment which has been amply
justified so far, since the children, who were, before
admission, all unhappy to some extent, form a notably
happy family. To avoid unnatural segregation, they
all attend the village school and many of them join in
local activities such as cubs, scouts and guides. Two are
even in the village choir! There is often much sadness
when the time for rebilleting comes; one child, on the

92

COLLECTING THE FACTS

day fixed for his leaving, claimed, quite without justi-
fication, to have wetted his bed the night before, as a
reason for being kept in the home. Children are ad-
mitted for a wide variety of complaints, persistent bed-
wetting, depression that does not yield to environ-
mental or clinic treatment, general nervousness, and
a number of behaviour disorders. In the home they re-
ceive both a favourable environment and direct treat-
ment. Activities are encouraged which provide for
healthy release of energy combined with the joy of
achievement. Among these are gardening, wood-chop-
ping, designing plaster and papier mache models, and
painting on a large scale. This latter includes not only
the making of imaginative pictures, but much of the
interior decoration of the house.

Summary

Looking back over the first six months of evacuation,
it is difficult to estimate the final result of such work
as has been described in outline. It has many short-
comings, but, thanks to the foresight and excellent or-
ganization of the county authorities, it has been pos-
sible to do much to alleviate present difficulties and
perhaps to safeguard children against more serious
emotional maladjustments in the future. Certainly the
contact with so many children uprooted from their
own homes provides an opportunity for gaining fur-
ther insight into the conditions which prevent or
which induce mental health and happiness in child-
hood."

ii

With regard to the ever-present subject of enuresis,

93

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

Littlehampton has evolved a special scheme of treat-
ment passed by the Medical Officer of Health:

"Particularly picked foster-mothers agreed to take
these cases with a view to training them if possible.

Each child is seen by its doctor and if he advises
treatment it will be arranged for.

The billet is visited weekly, and notes taken of any
difficulties.

A grant of 6s. 6d. over and above the ordinary bil-
leting allowance is paid to the foster-mother by the
visitor, to cover the cost of laundry and special care.
This is applied for weekly to the Billeting Officer at
the Council with a list of the billets and addresses, and
the foster-mother signs on the form of application
against her own name. This is to continue till the child
is cured or other arrangements are made for it.

The scheme has only been running since the begin-
ning of December, and the cold weather and excite-
ment of the Christmas festivities have caused some
irregularities, but there is a definite improvement in
most cases.

Foster-mothers are ordinary foster-mothers of good
common sense and patient. One or two have had spe-
cial training. One was a probation officer before mar-
riage, one was a sick nurse, one was a 'Nannie.'

Choice of Billets

Rooms in the billet are inspected and in nearly
every case it has been possible to arrange for a separate
bed for the child. Bed-linen and night-clothes are in-
spected and, if necessary, supplemented. Warm and
sufficient day clothing is insisted on, boots as usual

94

COLLECTING THE FACTS

present the most difficulties, and are so essential that
they have been provided privately in some cases. Ab-
solute cleanliness in person and clothes and bed-linen
is urged continuously. Tea-drinking at tea-time is dis-
couraged, but advise plenty of water during the day.
Milk or some milky drink at tea-time. Pamphlet No. 83
'Bed Wetting/ published by the 'National Baby Week
Council/ has been given to each Foster-mother, and
has been of great use to them.

Special Treatments in Particular Cases

One boy aged 12, noted as a 'confirmed bed-wetter/
has an alarum clock set to 4 a.m.; he rouses himself.
He is completely aroused by the foster-mother at
10 p.m. This treatment was completely successful, ex-
cept for a bad lapse after a week's visit home for
Christmas.

One child 6 years of age. Foster-mother had own
baby and each child had a chart, the boy marking his
own and competing with the baby. Each Sunday morn-
ing after a dry week a stick of chocolate appeared under
his pillow. This child is practically cured, though he
had attended hospital regularly for some years for this
trouble following an attack of measles.

Girl of 9 years of age. Came down with a reputation
of uncurable enuresis. The mother sent word to the
foster-mother of this. It was a heavy fat child eating
enormously of starch foods at tea-time. The foster-
mother cut down the starch diet, and the amount eaten
at tea-time, and treated her with firm kindness; the
child has gone as long as 7 weeks without a lapse,
though there is still an occasional one.

95

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

We find that, as advised in all the literature on this
subject, a system of cheerfulness and firmness, plus re-
wards, gives the best results.'*

This is entirely in line with Dr. Moodie's pre-war
statement:

"The first stage in curing, or trying to cure bed-
wetting is always to relieve mental tension, to relieve
anxiety as far as you can to smooth out any fears the
child may have to occupy him to interest him to
work him to exercise him to rest and to feed him/'

Mrs. Henshaw, the first Social Worker to be ap-
pointed by the Mental Health Emergency Committee,
took up work at Bradford, and a report by her was pub-
lished in the Yorkshire Evening Post on December 8th
(1939). This dwells chiefly on the difficulties encount-
ered in the billeting of slum children in the country
and throws an interesting light on the problems of
wandering. To the January number of the new quar-
terly, Mental Health, Mrs. Henshaw also contributes
an interesting paper on "Some Psychological Difficul-
ties of Evacuation." Unfortunately she defines Evacua-
tion as "a temporary foster-homing," which, to my
mind, is a misleading use of words. The word "home"
should be kept to its proper meaning, of which one
definition (Oxford Dictionary) is "the place of one's
dwelling and nurturing with its associations" & defini-
tion which no billet can, or indeed should, be stretched
to cover. The outcome of Mrs. Henshaw's work has
been that the Education Committee at Bradford is

96

COLLECTING THE FACTS

establishing a full-team clinic, at which Mrs. Henshaw
will be employed as part-time psychologist.

Mrs. Henshaw in her newspaper article hints at the
good effect which "the freedom of the country" has
had on many children. A more detailed account of this
good effect is contained in a report from another part
of the country as to a brother and sister whom we will
call Peter and Ada, of the ages of eight and five, who
attended their respective L.C.C. schools in London.

"Actually these children's names might have ap-
peared on original report as examples of perfect adjust-
ment. As there has been an interesting sequel, the fol-
lowing might be of some interest.

Both are fair, rubicund, and have pronounced casts.
Peter, except in reading, was of normal attainments, a
happy disposition, and always appeared well groomed.
His sister, suddenly confronted with thirty strange
boys, made no fuss, proceeded to make the best of the
very limited equipment available, took her afternoon
rest quite happily on a wooden settle. She took a notice-
able pride in her appearance. After modelling, she
went alone to another building, washed, returned
speedily and left the basin, etc., in good order. Their
manners at table were quite good considering social
environment. After a time Ada announced that she
hated school in London and, as she described it, 'being
hit/ She was busy the whole time and made excellent
progress. They were in an excellent billet farmer
with one son and gave no trouble.

On November ist their elder sister (13) appeared for
enrolment at the voluntary homework class, she made

97

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

>ne further attendance and returned the book in an
extremely dirty and dilapidated condition. Two days
ifter, an aunt appeared to enrol her small daughter.
Disappointed that the class was full, she proceeded to
jive a detailed account of the family, at home, at lei-
ure and at school. After some days, discreet enquiries
vere made from less prejudiced sources. In the lan-
guage of the district, they were 'devils,' especially Ada,
vho seems to possess a large vocabulary of street terms.
Vt school she loved to drench herself with water. Peter
tnd Ada remain in the Reception Area, Elsie returned
vhen payment became necessary."

I am allowed to publish a long report of the evacua-
ion of a London school with an old Foundation, of
vhich the boys' side was evacuated whole and at-
empted to keep up its traditions.

"In this school the pupils are of an average social
lass, the parents being chiefly skilled workmen, own-
:rs of small businesses or blackcoated workers. There
ire no necessitous pupils. At present the roll of the
>oys' department numbers 250. Of these, 80 joined the
>fficial evacuation party, while a few more travelled
vith elder brothers or sisters attending other schools.
)n the whole, it was the poorer pupils, those from
lomes where conditions were inharmonious, and the
fewish pupils who formed the majority.

r ourney

The train journey occupied nearly three hours. Few
lad been so far, yet they settled down with the air of
experienced travellers, reading and exchanging papers

98

COLLECTING THE FACTS

or discussing passing objects of interest. It was accom-
plished without casualty or grumble. Altogether, con-
sidering age and the emotional strain to which they
had been subjected, an interesting experience.

Railhead-splitting of Party

At the railhead the party was divided into three,
hence family parties were separated. In no case did the
younger brother fret, though in many cases this was
the first separation, but all decided to remain alone.
One brother in the top form cried for three days for
the younger brother, who stoutly refused to join him.
In the party of 28 sent to a single village, six members
had brothers in upper school. In one case a Jewish boy
had a brother billeted some miles away, who immedi-
ately cycled over. The younger evinced no special
pleasure at the unexpected reunion.

Receiving Area

The receiving area for members of lower forms was
a hamlet occupied entirely by smallholders. A large
proportion of the houses are four-roomed cottages.
The party was received with distaste, as girls were ex-
pected, and, in one case, the wife of the chairman of
managers, the small and docile brothers were refused.

Billeting

The billeting committee, composed entirely of
women smallholders, was not interested in the indi-
vidual. Members of the staff were not present. Re-
quests were merely sent for the number required with
no indication of the type of home offered. Hence it

99

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

was only possible to ensure that obvious misfits did not
occupy the same billet.

Reactions to General Environment

As the district is one vast market garden, it was to be
expected that the boys would adjust themselves satis-
factorily. A number became intensely interested in
grading and packing, others evinced greater interest in
horses or other livestock. On the whole, it was the
better type mentally and socially who adjusted them-
selves to this striking change in environment. Some
had experienced rural conditions, but the majority
had only visited seaside resorts.

There was, as one expected, the desire to chase, cap-
ture or kill unfamiliar creatures, or those seen in a
new environment. It was interesting to note that by
the end of the month one of the worst offenders found
a rare spider, which he carefully preserved and brought
for exhibition, and to obtain information. Those who
found adjustment difficult took part in organized
games and rambles until school opened.

The splitting of the school party was especially un-
fortunate. The tradition of the school and their house
stood for a good deal with the older pupils. House
meetings and matches were impossible, but if, as had
been expected, the school had remained a unit, its
corporate life could have continued. As, with one ex-
ception, no member of the party was over 12, the cessa-
tion of these valuable activities was bound to produce
unfortunate reactions in some of the older pupils.

Food

On the whole surprisingly little difficulty was experi-
100

COLLECTING THE FACTS

enced. The four Jewish pupils behaved with praise-
worthy restraint. The local custom of commencing
dinner with pudding or dumpling raised comment,
but there it ended. Pupils' relations with staff are ex-
cellent, and any difficulty freely discussed.

School

A room and the school dining-hall (housed in a sepa-
rate building) afforded adequate quarters. Equipment
meagre. No library, or any reading matter, except his-
tory and geography textbooks/'

Certain disciplinary troubles due to dual control de-
veloped through the boys of this school becoming in-
volved with the village school.

"At home these are almost unknown. Rules are few,
and there is little difficulty in enforcing them. House
and vice-captains assume certain responsibilities. In
the village school, discipline is rigid. The contrast had
unfortunate repercussions. A boy with an exemplary
elder brother constituted himself leader of a group of
the duller and easily led, thus causing friction with the
resident head. The school has a girls' department and
there has never been difficulty. The village boys
seemed undersized and physically unattractive, while
the girls were definitely their superiors in looks and
physique. The latter endeavoured to attract the atten-
tion of the visitors, then, finding this effort met with an
unexpected response, retreated and complained. The
resident head accepted the explanations offered, and
the problem solved without friction."

101

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

Of the cases quoted from this school, some with
favourable reactions and some with unfavourable, the
following are selected:

"Edward, aged 10; very intelligent, father dead,
elder brother with another section. Some years ago,
there was difficulty with the woman who looked after
him during day. His intimate friend was billeted with
another pupil and deserted him. Though well and
warmly clothed, fussed about cold, insisted on wear-
ing overcoat at 'break,' a very unusual proceeding. De-
veloped feminine traits, shrugging, grimacing, and
unable to converse with an adult without smiles and
gestures. Insisted on riding about 400 yards to billet.
At home he walks over half a mile. Refused to play,
and ignored his former friend. This went on for some
time until potato lifting began. The construction of
the 'graves' interested him, and on advice asked to be
allowed to help. Up to date he behaved normally."

"Robert and Harold, both aged 10; were sent to the
home of a very elderly man, with a family of grown-up
sons. He complained bitterly of the noise, etc. No no-
tice was taken, he became morose, and after the lapse
of about a week attacked a son and was removed. The
first is very highly strung with a history of meningitis,
the second one of family of eight brothers, of whom
two are subnormal. Soon after this unfortunate epi-
sode, they became absorbed in the construction of an
elaborate air-raid shelter."

A certain number of children returned to London.
Among them were two brothers:

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COLLECTING THE FACTS

"Richard and Oliver, aged p and 8 respectively. Very
spoiled. Two sisters aged 19 and 21 sole members of
family. Foster-parents gave up bedroom, and foster-
mother her work, to have more time to devote to them.
Mother arrived and spoke disparagingly of accommo-
dation, but conceded that these people were doing
their best. Mother is approaching climacteric. The
younger became unwell, sore throat and pimple-
wrote to mother begging to return. She removed with-
out husband's knowledge or consent/'

In the case of this school the Billeting Committee
did not seem to have realized the difficulties of the task
before them. Hence trouble arose in the form of re-
turns to London and, at best, re-billeting a practice
which is attended with more danger to the child's well-
being than is always realized. In an unpublished paper
on the billeting of unaccompanied school children a
psychiatrist writes of re-billeting:

"This should be regarded as a far more important
step than a simple physical transfer. The child has to
face afresh all the difficulties of settling into a strange
house and with each change will feel less confident and
take longer to settle. In the present evacuation difficult
children have been billeted from three to five times,
increasing their problems to such an extent as to make
them unbilletable. Re-billeting should always be done
by specially skilled and experienced workers."

Two notable collections of the facts in two very dif-
ferent districts are Dr. Susan Isaacs' Cambridge Survey,

103

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

which will be quoted from in a subsequent chapter. I
have also been allowed to quote from a lengthy report
in two issues by the Association of Architects, Survey-
ors, and Technical Assistants, the first dealing with
accommodation in Reception Areas in general terms,
and the second being a detailed account of what actu-
ally happened in a large district in Berkshire, i.e.,
Wantage and eleven surrounding villages.

This report is entitled Evacuation in Practice: A
Study of a Rural Reception Area. Full as it is of statis-
tics and maps, this study gives an admirable bird's-eye
view of a country district in which the social condi-
tions of the villages are completely dislocated by the
sudden influx of evacuated Londoners. The problem
of the mothers and children does not concern this
book: indeed, it solved itself in a very short time by the
almost wholesale return of this group to London. But
a very large proportion of schoolchildren remain, with
all the problems, educational, psychological and physi-
cal, with which we are becoming familiar.

A curious point may be noted in this report, which
will be confirmed by the experience of many of us
that, although it is universally acknowledged that
dreadful trials were experienced by other people, the
children in any particular village are mostly noted by
their hosts and hostesses as being "a very nice lot" and
the inhabitants are of opinion that they are very fortu-
nate in having them. I am coming to the conclusion
that the impossibly dirty, naughty children are like
ghostsonly seen by one's neighbours.

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COLLECTING THE FACTS

With regard to the "difficult" children, of whom we
have head so much in other parts of the country, we
are not told of any specially appointed Social Workers
being employed. The Report says:

" Minor complaints arising in the first weeks were
dealt with locally and the emergency provisions made
by the County Council were not utilized. In fact, local
opinion was strongly against sending the 'difficult' chil-
dren to the house that has been taken over for the pur-
pose and which serves about half the county. It was
felt that the institutional character of the treatment
and the segregation of the children might have harm-
ful effects on them, and that the alternative of sym-
pathetic local treatment, during which the children
were not cut off from their schoolmates, was altogether
better. In this way many cases of bed-wetters were
taken in by a woman who was able to cure most of
them."

The Report comes to the following conclusions on
billeting:

"In general the foster-parents accept the position,
but we found no one who had considered the possi-
bility of the present arrangements lasting for three
years. Though those who still have children are mak-
ing the best of things there is universal resistance to
the idea of any further evacuation, and everyone feels
that the experience of the first days of evacuation espe-
cially, must never be repeated.

On the other hand, there are strong indications that
billeting can, if its peculiar problems are properly

105

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

faced, remain the form of accommodation for many of
the children. For after twelve weeks, which is no short
period, the majority of the children still remain in
spite of the fact that there has been no assistance from
the central authorities for any positive measures for
their welfare. Some villages could be described as
happy, one was certainly the reverse, and the prevalent
atmosphere seemed to be governed to a large extent
by the development of communal and organized life.
A Women's Institute or similar body would often act
as a nucleus around which the foster-mothers could
discuss their problems and gain a social outlook and
spirit of friendship which helped them over many of
their troubles.

The verdict of our first Report, that if billeting is to
continue certain positive measures must be under-
taken, would therefore appear to be confirmed. The
individual responsibility of the foster-parent must be
relieved and the teacher must be able to play his full
part. This means the commencement of full-time edu-
cation for both local and evacuated children and the
provision of communal midday meals. In this way the
foster-parent would be free throughout the day, with
the possibility of relief in the evenings, and the teach-
er's task would be clarified and his responsibility made
clear."

This, and many other hopeful arrangements for re-
lieving the hostess during the greater part of the day
are, however, in practice apt to be brought to nought
by the question of illnessespecially infectious illness.
How is the hostess to be "free throughout the day" if

106

COLLECTING THE FACTS

the children are either ill or going through the long
period of incubation 2 1 days in mumps, chicken-pox
and measles when children who are "contacts" are
not allowed to go to school.

On the problem of Education the report has much
to say, but that is a matter of such complexity and
difficulty that it must be left to be dealt with elsewhere.

107

CHAPTER VII
RUNNING WILD

"Total number of elementary school

children 5,000,000

Number attending school full time . . 3,500,000

part time . 700,000

'Unaccounted for' 800,000."

(The Minister of Education broadcasting in March,
1940.)

"Compulsory education is to be reimposed."

That is what we all read in our newspapers in the
early days of February. True, the four words "as far as
possible" had to be added to the announcement, but
even so the thousands of children who had been run-
ning wild in the town areas for five months would be
given a certain amount of education, discipline, and
help in the matter of health.

Short-sighted but well-meaning people who think
school for small children chiefly useful as delivering
their elders from their company will content them-
selves with quoting, "Satan findeth mischief still, For
idle hands to do." But is this all? Will not the child in
after-life suffer even worse effects in mental health
from a tendency to mischievous idling?

Everyone has heard of Intelligence Tests, and the

108

RUNNING WILD

most unscientific of us have always made a rough esti-
mate of the mental age of any child in whom we are
interested, saying, for instance, of a child of nine, "He's
so clever, he's more like a child of eleven," or, "He's so
stupid that you would think he was no more than six."
For the last thirty years standardized tests have been
given to ascertain the age of a child's mind, which can
be done very much more accurately than, say, in the
sentence quoted above. In the talks on Child Guidance
quoted in the second chapter these standardized tests
are defined in untechnical language by Dr. Moodie as
follows:

"If a child's life age and the age of his mind are the
same, he is 100 per cent he is normal. If his mental
age is behind his life age, then he is subnormal dull.
If his mental age is above his life age, then he is super-
normalhe is bright."

Dr. Moodie goes on to explain that these questions
affect school work, but are far from being only an edu-
cational problem.

"They affect the individual in innumerable ways,
just as any mental stress affects individuals in innumer-
able ways, depending on themselves. So I am just now
going to take one or two of the more common ways in
which one finds educational failure or school back-
wardness linked up with problems. ... I wonder if
you know this little boy. He is about 7, extremely cute
and rather pert, excitable, does not sleep very well, his
mother can't take him out to parties because he gets so

109

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

excited; when he comes back he is very often sick, be-
ing made so by excitement. He is sick in trains and cars,
he is nervous of strangers, new places, probably afraid
of the dark I said he was 7. When you interest him in
things in which he is interested he shows a great deal
of understanding. He came into my consulting room
or one like him the other day, and he discussed with
me methods by which electric railways pick up current,
and compared it with the overhead pick-ups of trolley-
'buses, and the underground pick-ups of trams in Lon-
don, with an extraordinary degree of knowledge and
interest. He talked about the rigging of boats in the
same sort of way. I turned to do something in my desk
and I noticed him pick up a paper and start to read I
watched him, and he was reading. I asked him after-
wards what he had been reading about and he knew.
The story from the school was that he was in the kin-
dergarten and did not know his letters. You know this
boy I'm sure you do, though he's a composite of many.
But the trouble with that boy is that somebody had
seen him when he was little and said he was far too
active keep him out of school and let him run about
and that boy has since then been starved of the only
things which make the mind grow which are aca-
demic subjects. Running about kicking a ball doesn't
help the intelligent boy."

School work, "book learning," helps the child's emo-
tional life, he goes on to suggest:

"The young, excitable, over-active, intelligent chil-
dren whose brains have been starved of the essentials
the three R's are essential their minds do not develop

110

RUNNING WILD

without them/ call them the vitamins of education.
They are the things that activate the diet that the chil-
dren get."

We may well ask, I think, how many of the 800,000
children who have been without schooling for the last
six months are "over-active, intelligent children/' who
are likely to suffer to the full from the lack of these
"vitamins of education." Here is an account of some
London children children from Peckham given by
Dr. Gertrude Willoughby, Warden of the Union of
Girls' Schools Settlement:

"The fact that children are running wild is incon-
trovertible. We have not had so much trouble with or-
ganized gangs of children since we started here ten
years ago. Two gangs have broken into the Settlement
and last week a gang managed to carry off three bicycles
for which we are still searching. We find it too in the
clubs, in the general lack of discipline in the children
of all ages. In this area the police have the matter in
hand and the other day came to advise us to keep our
club door shut as there was a gang out obviously up to
mischief."

Here again is a fuller report sent me through Mass-
Observation from a Worker, who is also a Mass-Ob-
server, as to what is happening at a Play Centre in Beth-
nal Green:

"These children have not been evacuated. They
have not been to school since war started.

ill

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

I have come to hold a Play Centre for them with in-
structions to teach them also, if possible.

Some of the schools in the neighbourhood are begin-
ning to open for certain hours. Some of the children
attend on some days. They can come to me at all other
times. The Centre is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m.
to 12; and 1.45 to 3.45 p.m.

Forty children are admitted at a time, aged 4 to 1 1 .

The children are completely out of hand. Individu-
ally and in small groups they are friendly. In numbers,
they run amok.

# # # # #

On the first day, the new idea attracted the children.
They came to play. The girls seized upon a few dress-
ing-up clothes which were among the material, arrayed
themselves in the costumes, sat all the youngest chil-
dren in a row as audience, and then proceeded to 'act a
play.' The boys looked over their shoulders pretending
not to be interested, but gradually began to put on bits
of 'dress-up' and to join in.

The 'Play' consisted in introducing each character,
'This is the baby clown.' 'This is the Princess.' 'This is
the maid.' The characters were made to fit the gar-
ments. All the talking was done by one child. There
was a sheet. So a ghost was inevitable.

From the moment the ghost was introduced, all was
pandemonium. The ghost began to chase all and sun-
dry, leaving the stage and using the whole hall, amid
deafening screams from everybody.

Each day the dressing-up clothes have been asked

112

RUNNING WILD

for. And each day since the first, the Tlay' has begun at
the ghost chasing part.

All their games, in fact, are chasing and catching
each other.

None of the children has the least idea of obedience.
I whistle as a signal that I have something to say to
them. Not the slightest notice is taken even if I call.

We supply milk. They want this, so it is possible to
pen them up between forms while we collect the half-
pennies for the milk. The Superintendent of the So-
ciety of Friends* Work in Bethnal Green helps me in
this; and also lends his voice and authority when my
own and the whistle fail to get a hearing. Having got
the children there, I seize the opportunity to try to
tell them 'What we are going to do to-day.' I make it
clear that there is no compulsion. Those who have
nothing to do may like my suggestions.

Anything approaching school or 'lessons' at once
arouses suspicion: 'You are not an L.C.C. teacher, are
you, miss?' 'Course she's not. You're not a teacher, are
you, madam? You're glad you don't work for the
L.C.C., I bet. No fear, she wouldn't like to work for
them.'

* # # # #

Anything to do with school is anathema. 'Writing?
No, miss, we do that at school/

'Oh, not the wireless, madam. We have to listen to
it at school/

'We have to draw at school. We have stories at
school/

Allowed to choose their occupation for themselves,
'something quiet* they agree, but have no intention of

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

carrying out their bargain. They slip off to distant cor-
ners and there start their chasing and gangstering and
chasing games again.

Whatever they do, wherever they are, they sing and
shout at the tops of their voices all the time.

When in the 'milk pen' I endeavour to outline some
sort of programme to them; they at once shout me
down . . . before I even begin my suggestions: 'Not a
story.' 'Not the wireless.' Tm not going to draw, miss.'
Tm not goin' to do no writin',' etc.

I say, 'We are going to make something. Those who
want to, that is.' I hold up an Indian headdress, made
of brown paper, with coloured paper 'feathers.'

Noses are turned up. Cries of 'I shan't, will you?'

The whistle blows. Mr. Superintendent lifts his
voice. 'I want to hear about it.' A slight hush is felt.

Tm going to tell a story about Indians for those who
want to listen. Those who don't can just be clever
enough to be quiet for five minutes.'

I tell very shortly the introduction to the story of
Hiawatha and get in the idea of SIGNALS and peace
pipes.

We then emerge from the Tow-wow' circle to go to
tables to make peace pipes and headdresses. A very few
are made.

One boy even said 'Good' when I said we could copy
out some of the Hiawatha poetry.

The days ended by the boys being given the choice
of staying and doing something quiet (after having
been allowed 20 minutes romping) or of GOING HOME.
They chose to remain but not to be quiet, and so were
dismissed with the help of 'Sir.'

114

RUNNING WILD

One child remarked, 'Oh, don't send Bert 'ome,
miss. 'Is mother'll 'it 'im.'

The next morning the children came up one after
the other to ask, 'May I make an Indian headdress?'
They all made one and all went home in them.

When the headdresses were made, the inevitable
chasing began again. I was able to reduce the noise a
little by showing how INDIANS usually silently stalked
their prey.

On Friday, the general cry was, 'We may come on
Monday, mayn't we? and you will be here?'

I am told by 'Sir' that every night, in the blackout,
some of those children stand outside the Hall till
10 p.m. when their mothers collect them and take them
home.

All the children are imitative. What one does, all do.
I found this also with the 'better-class' children. They
MUST be all alike. If one had a cold, the others were
envious and wanted to have a cold too.

The one thing one asks them to do is the thing to be
avoided at all costs ... at first. As soon as they see that
there is no compulsion and that I really do not mind
whether they do a certain thing or not, they come
round to wanting to do it . . . perhaps a day or so late."

in

There is no reason to suppose that the situation in
other large towns is any better than in London. Long
before the war Dr. Moodie emphasized over and over
again the advantages of school work:

"The outlet that these children require is not play.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

. . . You can divert some of these children's energy
by allowing them to play or romp or be violent, but
you don't divert it all and you find that if you do
allow these children to be uncontrolled and aggressive,
they become pathologically violent; whereas academic
subjects quieted them down at once. They become in-
terested and work, and get satisfaction and also outlet
for all this energy which has been dammed."

In yet another talk, on "Children's Fears," Dr.
Moodie stressed another effect on children of being
baulked in their need for education:

"We see these children one after another. The story
is usually the same that somebody has said they are
very intelligentsomeone has told the mother to keep
them out of school and not exercise their minds too
much. These children are suffering from a suppression
of their need to work, which is one of the essentials in
child development the need to work need for occu-
pationoccupation of a constructive kind. It is almost
as if the child, being denied expression for his mental
energies, his mental energies were dammed and so
were flowing into the emotional side and causing a dis-
turbance of all these natural emotions which are lying
dormant exciting them bringing them up to the
surface."

Even more suggestive as to the effects of mass "run-
ning wild" were likely to be what under modern con-
ditions, are Dr. Moodie's descriptions of the mental
state of delinquents. Most people think of delinquents,

116

RUNNING WILD

both grown-ups and children, as rather sharp, cunning
people with good brains in fact as "too clever by
half." Dr. Moodie takes quite a contrary view. His ex-
perience is he says too limited for him to be able to
draw up a general conclusion, but he sets down what
he has gathered during three years of examining
"every delinquent remanded in custody in London.
We saw over 5,000 children." The defectives had
been filtered out beforehand.

"We found this. Compared to a group of elemen-
tary schoolchildren of the same social status, we found
that these children were six times as backward in
school as the children outside the Remand Home.
What does that mean? It means that 7% of the ordinary
school population that we examined were three years
or more retarded in reading that is to say they were
reading 3 years behind their mental age but in the
Remand Home 42% were 3 years or more behind nor-
mal in reading, or what they were capable of reading.
In arithmetic in the normal population about 12%
were 3 or more years behind; in the Remand Home

Later in this talk Dr. Moodie speaks generally as to
the effects of school backwardness and describes the re-
sults of certain physical factors which tend to improve
at about 1 1 or 12, telling us what happens to children
who have suffered a big gap in their mental life by be-
ing backward.

"The child has missed a tremendous amount of the
fundamentals of education, and unless you recognize

117

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

this and fill in the blanks, he is always going to be
handicappedhe is going to go on with these blanks
there, the knowledge and method has been missed. So
one comes up against some of these children competing
with this situation. They may be 14 or 15 and the
actual difficulty has disappeared, but what has re-
mained is all that they have missed in the early days,
plus, probably, the adjustment they have made towards
their inferiority during that time. They have got their
interests elsewhere than in learning."

The consequences of a child having missed a long
period of education are so far-reaching that Dr. Moodie
puts up another danger signal as to their effects.

Children would frequently be brought to a Child
Guidance Clinic in a condition which showed that
their mental age had by no means kept pace with their
actual age; these children came from every sort of
home:

"Then we try to discover why it is. Often from the
history it is quite obvious; the child may have moved
from one country to another, one school to another,
one governess to another, etc. The record of such
changes I think in my experience is a child who was
very difficult and was taught by 59 governesses in 15
months! This is quite true though it seems almost a
physical impossibility. That is hopeless, of course-
frightful, but often it is unavoidable the parents
move from one place to another. But if a track were
kept of what they were doing and what they are ca-
pable of doing, these blanks would be obvious/*

118

RUNNING WILD

Here is a danger signal which might have been, or
might still be for the future, regarded as bearing on
the subject of rebilleting.

If we refer to the unpublished paper on the billet-
ing of unaccompanied school children mentioned in
the last chapter (page 103), we shall find a very close
parallel to this situation. The pre-war child may have
been moved about at greater distances, but the diffi-
culty of fitting into a new home, with entirely new
guardians, will readjust the balance. This sound ad-
vice, founded on pre-war experience, seems, however,
to belong rather to the following chapter, "The Next
Step," than to the problems of "Running Wild."

CHAPTER VIII
THE NEXT STEP

of Finland's most serious problems is that
of the evacuated civilians, and especially the
children, who number probably one-third of a total of
half a million. The death-rate among these children
has risen considerably. . . . The interruption of all
normal existence caused by the bombing of the towns
and villages is undoubtedly a cause of danger not to be
measured by the relatively small number of casualties.

Last winter these were Spanish children.

This winter Finland's.

This summer will they be our own?"

The above paragraph appeared in The Times at the
end of February from the unemotional pen of their
Military Correspondent. It furnished one aspect of
the problem with which the nation must immediately
deal.

The text for the other aspect had been provided
earlier in February by Lord Addison, who declared in
the House of Lords that "The first major casualty of
the war has been the national system of education."

That this unfortunate declaration has more than a
basis of truth is borne out by the fact that we are
assured that up to the end of March only a quarter of the
nation's children were receiving full-time education,

120

THE NEXT STEP

a quarter half-time education, another quarter have a
little teaching in private households, while the remain-
ing children are not receiving any education at all-
even, indeed, as indicated in the last chapter, develop-
ing a sturdy dislike for anything in the way of teaching.

Against this lack of education we must balance the
hints given by The Times Military Correspondent
that bombing is a cause of danger not to be measured
by the relatively small number of casualties.

Faced in February with these two contradictory ne-
cessities, the Ministries of Education and Health re-
acted in a characteristic fashion. On February 7th, fol-
lowing Lord Addison's dictum of Education having
been the first major casualty of the war, Lord De la
Warr, then President of the Board of Education, an-
nounced his decision that every child must go to
school, and subsequently education was declared to be
once more compulsory as from the beginning of the
summer term, Monday, April ist.

A week later, on February i5th, Mr. Walter Elliot,
then Minister of Health, outlined a scheme for giving
parents a second chance to evacuate school children
only, the evacuation to be voluntary, but the parents
who registered their children to promise to send them
to their country destinations when evacuation is or-
dered, and not to remove them till the school parties
return. Up till the end of March only a quarter of the
parents had registered under this "second chance"
scheme.

So there we have a compromise scheme which will

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

provide neither complete protection nor complete
education, but which will afford a modicum of both
for who can venture to say that living in the country
gives complete protection from bombs? It gives a very
much better chance, but the risk of the unexpected
raid and the chance hit cannot be completely elimi-
nated. And, of course, the danger from parachutists is
decidedly higher. As Lady Simon most justly points
out in her admirable pamphlet, Some Educational
Aspects of Evacuation, the danger of bombing is in-
creased in direct proportion to the density of popula-
tion; otherwise the only actual safety in these vulner-
able islands comes from it not being worth the enemy's
while to waste expensive bombs on certain parts of the
country.

How, then, from an educational point of view,
stands the balance-sheet between safety of body and
vacuity of mind?

The wisest analysis which I have come across of this
balance-sheet was given by Mr. Walmsley, Chairman
of the Association of Assistant Masters, and summed
up in a short leader in the Daily Telegraph as long ago
as January 6th.

Mr. Walmsley believes, to quote the Daily Telegraph,
that "the explosion of evacuation" (which is in itself
a most illuminating phrase) will "set free teachers and
children from the restrictions of staff administration
and of examination schedules, and so facilitate experi-
ment and the discovery of original and better ways/' It
is to be hoped that these original methods will not

122

THE NEXT STEP

overlook the necessity of providing what was described
in the last chapter as "the vitamins of Education,"
the three R's, whose difficult assimilation gives such
wholesome exercise to the growing mind (page no).

Even last January it would have been difficult to
foresee that the result of non-compulsory Evacuation
combined with compulsory Education must be the di-
viding of the schools. Now that the response to the "sec-
ond chance" evacuation is so small this is easy to un-
derstand. The staff of those town schools which have
made a success of Evacuation, when the appropriate
date, April ist, arrived, divided up their staffs to make
adequate provision for those children on their registers
who had remained in the towns for the seven months
which had elapsed since the great trek. The Ministry
has set its face against the return of the children who
were already in the country. Therefore one staff must
function in two places.

With regard to the whole situation, Mr. Walmsley,
whose speech at the Annual Meeting of his Association
I have alluded to above, remarked rather optimisti-
cally:

"The present Evacuation and Billeting Scheme is
not incapable of being improved on in such a way as
to secure such measures of discipline and self-control
as are needed for the building of character."

Fortified by quotations dealing with the educational
problems of the sixteenth century, the speaker sug-
gested with considerable emphasis that every child

123

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

should be sent away from home for training at a very
early age. One is tempted to ask How early?

It will be remembered that in Book V of The Re-
public,, Plato proposes that the child should be entirely
the care of the State. His idea was that at the moment
"when they are full of milk" the nursing mothers
should be brought by the proper officers "to the pen or
fold" where the children of the State are being nur-
tured, and should suckle a baby of appropriate age,
"taking the greatest possible care that no mother rec-
ognises her own child." 1 Beyond that point nature will
not allow either vicarious parenthood or equality of
the sexes to be carried. The bearing and suckling of off-
spring must be carried on personally by a member of
the female sex. Even the latter process might have been
delegated to a flock of goats piped down from the hills
above Athens. Yet, though the physical side of mother-
hood must perforce continue, neither Father's care nor
Mother's nurture must be given to the child.

Putting aside, with a shiver of horror at the bleak
prospect, Plato's fundamental plan for the nurture of
the State's children, let us consider Mr. Walmsley's
arguments from historical precedents in favour of
training children away from home. He quotes from
Mr. R. W. Chambers's Life of Thomas More a letter
from the Venetian Ambassador of that day (about
A.D. 1500) disapproving of "the want of affection in the
English," which, he writes, "is strongly manifested
towards their children, for after having kept them at

i Dr. Jowett's translation.

124

THE NEXT STEP

home till they arrive at the age of seven or nine years
at the utmost they put them out, both males and fe-
males, to hard service in the houses of other people.
. . . And few are born who are exempted from this
fate, for every one, however rich he may be, sends away
his children into the houses of others, whilst he in re-
turn receives those of strangers into his own."

Fifty years before that date, Henry VI, in the
foundation of Eton College, ordained that the College
should provide gratuitous instruction in grammar
"not only for the Scholars and Choristers but also for
an indefinite number of boys coming to Eton from any
part of the world for education." With this object, the
King ordained that the College should "maintain pub-
lic and general grammar schools." A few privileged
Commensals, or Commoners, were to be allowed to
live in the College, and others were to be allowed to
dine in the Hall, "provided that the boys of both
classes paid for everything except their tuition." 1

These unprivileged boys, who got nothing but their
dinners in College, had to be "billeted" somewhere.
Assistant masters were not allowed at that time to keep
boarding-houses. Hence the institution of the Eton
"Dames," or, to give them their original title, "Board-
ing-Dames," who may be called the prototype of the
billeting hostesses of the present day.

There being, it seems, nothing new in the English
(the word should probably be British) practice of send-
ing even very young children away from home for

i History of Eton College, by Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte.

125

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

training, the following suggestion of Mr. Walmsley has
the merit of not being an experiment:

"I must be content to suggest that perhaps English
family life may gain more than it loses by the departure
from home of so many children of all ages. For them
it may be more truly educational than many people
think at present. Is it just callous to turn a child adrift
at an early age? Or is it the secret of a sound education?
Certainly it is in the tradition of English education,
and a child so trained is more likely to become a good
citizen, and to grow up to call his father 'blessed' than
is the modern boy who is allowed to run wild at home
in what is often merely the caricature of family life."

If, indeed, the ' 'secret of a sound education" is to
send children to be brought up away from home, we
should surely embrace the unrivalled opportunity
which presents itself to part as many town parents and
children as possible on the grounds of safety. But,
though War presented the chance, no time was af-
forded for the preparation of suitable conditions, and
these have had to be worked out, as far as they have
been worked out at all, by the method of "trial and
error."

In late March a scheme of general recommendations
was drawn up and circulated to various Government
Authorities, which might serve as a basis of sound ad-
vice to everyone concerned with evacuated children.

This advice was contained in a Memorandum issued
by the Research Committee of the Cambridge Evacua-
tion Survey, and it is by the kind permission of the

126

THE NEXT STEP

Chairman, Dr. Susan Isaacs, D.Sc., M.A., that I am able
to quote it:

" i. Members of the same family should be sent to the
same district.

2. School units should be maintained as far as is

practicable. This provision is particularly de-
sirable in the case of Selective Central, Second-
ary and Technical Schools.

3. Certain facts should be obtained about each child

before evacuation, and these should be con-
veyed to the Receiving Authority.

4. Parents' visits to children should be encouraged

by granting special facilities for travel.

5. In all evacuating areas, centres should be available

where parents whose children have been sent
away should be able to consult social workers
about the welfare of their children and about
other family matters connected with evacuation.

6. Two types of helpers should be appointed by and

responsible to the Evacuating Authority.

7. Two types of professional social workers should be

appointed by and responsible to the Receiving
Authority.

8. The Billeting Officer should in every case be an

individual who has special knowledge of the
needs of children, and of local social conditions,
and the method of appointment should be regu-
larised to meet this requirement.

9. In Reception Areas additional facts should be ob-

tained about prospective foster-homes.
10. In addition to foster-homes, there should be pro-
vided in each Reception Area: (a) a temporary

127

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

hostel; (b) emergency and observation homes;
(c) a home or homes for difficult children.

1 1 . Billeting Officers should be advised of certain con-

siderations to be borne in mind when placing
individual children in foster-homes.

12. Receiving Authorities should provide a place

where parents can meet their evacuated chil-
dren.

13. Preparation for the recreation of evacuated chil-

dren should be made by the appropriate organi-
sations before their arrival.

14. Prospective foster-parents should be informed of

their rights in regard to compensation for di-
lapidation/'

These 14 points are, of course, amplified in the
memorandum and appendices which follow.

But admirable as is the advice of the experts who
conducted this Survey, it gives no help in the great
question of billeting in private houses versus the pro-
vision of school camps. These alternatives are now the
subject of the most anxious consideration.

Although last September we were all warned by the
Government that the War was likely to last a very long
time, I do not think even those hostesses who gladly
received the evacuated children, entirely faced the fact
that a long war implied the possibilities of these chil-
dren living with them week after week, month after
month, and, too probably, year after year.

Well we know now.

I think every hostess should ask herself, "Are you

128

THE NEXT STEP

prepared to keep the children till the Government
ends the scheme and sends them back to their town
schools?'* The Government, too, should face the ques-
tion as to whether even those successfully established
in billets should not be decanted into school camps.
Let us hear what Mr. Walmsley has to say on the sub-
ject. After stating that:

"Last March" (1939) "the National Camp Corpora-
tion was founded and authorized by the Government
to build and equip forty School Camps at a cost of
1,000,000, each camp to accommodate 350 children
and 15 teachers. Twenty-five of these camps are in
course of construction, a few have already been com-
pleted/'

Mr. Walmsley proceeds:

"The experience of the last three or four months has
led many who formerly advocated billeting in private
homes to change their minds. I am not going to sug-
gest that billeting is a general failure: it has some ad-
vantages, and probably we all know cases in which the
present scheme is working well. But I am satisfied my-
self that the advantages are outweighed by the dis-
advantages. I should like to see the present fifty camps
increased many times, until accommodation is avail-
able for every school in the country, elementary and
secondary, beginning with the schools of our cities and
big towns, to have its month a year at its own school
camp."

We shall all be in complete agreement with Mr.
129

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

Walmsley's last wish. It would indeed be a priceless
advantage to the health of the coming generation if
every town school could have its own school camp, to
which it would go annually as a matter of routine. I
think it is a moot point whether this is a justifiable ex-
pense for country schools, which get plenty of fresh air
and the other advantages of country life. Perhaps in
the millennium the country schools might have camps
at the seaside.

But the whole psychological factor is left out when
Mr. Walmsley identifies the advantages of a month's
stay in camp with an indefinite period of evacuation.

Leaving aside the question as to what is to be done
after the War with camps used for the evacuees, let us
weigh the pros and cons of Billeting versus Camping
in the present crisis.

There are surely three major points to be considered
Mental Health, Physical Health, and Expense.

Of the first two we may say that good physical health
is so bound up with good mental health that they may
be considered together. To give the child the best
chance of attaining good mental health we should first
find out what are the most important things in the
child's life.

Dr. Moodie in his earliest talk says that these are not
"incidents/' but "influences."

"Whether as a baby he" (the child) "felt secure,
wanted, or unwanted and rejected. Whether the world
was to him a consistent place, where he could roughly
foretell what was going to happen next, or whether his

130

THE NEXT STEP

parents or environment were changeable so that he
just did not know what situation was going to face him
and just how he was to face it. ... Whether he grew
up in a calm, quiet, peaceful place, or whether he was
surrounded by things that made him afraid and anx-
ious. . . . We want to know above all what the world
looks like to the childit doesn't matter what it looks
like to us it's his conception of it that matters."

What would a long row of dormitory beds look like
to a small child? Over nine or ten years old possibly
adventurous and exciting; but how would the little
ones, accustomed to the snug security of their own
sleeping place, regard it?

Then again, asks Dr. Moodie, what are a little child's
needs and wishes?

"It wishes for comfort, for warmth, for affection,
for things to do for interesting things, for security, for
safety. ..."

"Comfort" "Warmth" "Affection" "Things to
do"-"Security"-"Safety."

Let us take them one by one.

Comfort. It cannot be truly said that institutions
are comfortable places. The long rows of beds already
alluded to present a gaunt appearance though the
beds themselves (unless they are double-deckers in
which every movement is shared by both beds) are
comfortable enough. There is nothing welcoming,
either, in the narrow tables at which the food is served.
Surely a family table in a billet would be much more

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINGE

attractive for a stay of many months. There is, too, an
element of compulsion about an institution which can-
not be said to make for comfort.

Warmth. Ah! There probably, if the camp is a
permanent, not a holiday, camp, the institution is the
better though at a cost which no one who has not paid
the bills for warming a detached country house in win-
ter can realize. The camp may be draughty, but, if it
has central heating, it will be warmer than any cottage
or country house except one situated in a village street.

Affection. That is a matter of chance. There may be
wonderful nurses and attendants who are capable of
loving forty strange children at a time. There may
also be billet hostesses who work from a high sense of
duty, and not from affection. If the parents are not too
far away, visits and letters will give the necessary love-
supply in the most natural way possible. All the same,
happy is the camp and the billet in which "a born
mother" is one of the staff or the billet hostess.

Things to do. Interesting things are less likely to be
found in an ad hoc institution dumped down on a
vacant site than in the houses in a village where every-
one wants to contribute to the children's happiness.
Both in camp and billet those invaluable people, the
teachers, will with luck contribute towards this ele-
ment.

But Security and Safety. These depend greatly on
the powers or organisation of the authorities. Regu-
larity, a peaceful and orderly atmosphere will give the
children a feeling of security in a camp, and the same

132

THE NEXT STEP

must be said of a billet. A well-run billet where the
day's events happen with reasonable punctuality, and
no one is in a frightful bustle trying to make up for lost
time, will repay the hosts ten-fold in the pleasant at-
mosphere of the house.

I am not at all sure that children up to 10 do not do
best in billets, and above that age in camp. It is very
questionable whether the evacuation of the under-
fives without their mothers should be considered at all.
As a Psychiatrist wrote to me in a private letter con-
cerned with the problem of the under- fives:

"What is far more important is the effect on the
child himself. Child Guidance experts are I think uni-
versally opposed to the institutionalization of children.
It is a very different thing to leave a child in a day nur-
sery while the mother goes to work from sending him
for long periods to a residential nursery. The child may
settle down and be happy enough, but he forgets his
home and his parents and the normal resumption of
home and family life is exceedingly difficult if not im-
possible.

My own reaction is, better risk physical injury rather
than risk the undoubted psychological injury to both
mother and child, but especially to the child."

"In my view," writes another Psychiatrist, "exten-
sive communal settlements are called for and not bar-
racks, however well planned."

It is obvious that on the grounds of health, given an
133

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

equal amount of that minute care which is essential in
the bringing up of small children, the child up till ten
years old will probably be best in the billet. The bigger
boy or girl has an equal chance of doing well in favour-
able examples of either plan.

To come now to the third major point the question
of cost. To my mind it is incontestable that the Govern-
ment, or, more properly, the nation, gets a great deal
more value for its 85. 6d. (or 105. 6d.) billeting allow-
ance than it does from subsidizing a camp.

In the first place there is housing, which you may
call rent or shelter, as you please. The billeting allow-
ance for a soldier in uniform in country districts is 6d.
a night, and that is supposed to be very cheap. For this
the host need not even provide a bed. That being so,
for the bed (or half a bed, which is greatly preferred by
its inmates) of a child we cannot allow less than i s. 6d.
a week, considering that this item, which perhaps it is
better to call shelter, includes not only a bed, but
accommodation throughout the day.

In a billet this is provided by the host. In a camp it
must be paid for. And so with warmth, light, and,
above all, with service. Water, too, is a commodity
which is not cheap when supplied to large numbers. It
is, indeed, apt to become a little expensive in any house
where more than two or three evacuees are housed.
Quite recently the hostess of a private house, which
houses not quite ten children, was asked by the Water
Company whether her meter had better not be in-
spected. Her consumption (and therefore her bill) had

134

THE NEXT STEP

so enormously increased that the Company suspected
a faulty registration.

To begin with, therefore, we have Shelter and Water
on the credit side of a billeting allowance as services
rendered, but not specifically paid for. Medical serv-
ices are adequately provided, though the hostess must
look out very sharply and see that either by the parents
or the State she is properly paid for the medical com-
forts that all children need. But if the School Doctor,
or Nurse, decrees that a child is to be taken to the den-
tist, there is no provision offered for transport, and
child and escort (no one would be so cruel as to send a
child alone to the dentist) have either to walk possibly
three or four miles, or incur bus fares.

Payment for fuel for cooking and warmth, and pay-
ment for light, are some of the items included in the
85. 6d. billeting allowance. I have no idea what the cost
per head is in a camp for these items; but, according to
the Board of Education's circular (No. 1496) these
camps are well warmed and well lighted. To judge by
the array of Aga stoves and high- and low-pressure
boilers in a camp which I visited, which houses just
under a hundred scholars, the expense must be con-
siderable. Certainly these essentials are not provided
gratis as they would be if the same number of children
were billeted in twos and threes in a village.

The greatest item in which a camp is more costly
than a billet is that of Service. In the camp alluded to
above a staff of 20 (12 women and 8 men) were not too
much to cope with the domestic situation. All this

135

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

work is provided by the hostess either from her own
labour in the case of one or two billeted children, or by
staff, which she pays. The admirable Voluntary Help-
ers provided by the Village Committees are not nu-
merous enough to cover the domestic situation with-
out trained domestic help. It should be noted that the
professional domestic worker accepts his or her ordi-
nary wage, but willingly, usually, undertakes double
his or her ordinary work.

With regard to economy in feeding large numbers,
I cannot think that the allowance for food at present
prices can be less than 65. a head per week, leaving 25.
6d. for all the services enumerated above. A working
hostess told me that she was out of pocket with an al-
lowance of 85. 6d. a week and had to send away one
evacuee to qualify for the 105. 6d. allowance. The chil-
dren were adolescents, and the Government has since
recognised, by raising the allowance for children over
10, the fact once pointed out to me by a very able Army
doctor, that "it is impossible to overfeed an adoles-
cent." It should be noted that it was her actual out-of-
pocket expenses which could not be covered by a 105.
6d. allowance. She was providing all the other services
catalogued above shelter, light, warmth, water, serv-
ice, and, besides these, the great item so often referred
to in this book the Washing.

With regard to shelter, i.e., rent and accommoda-
tion, I understand that the camp spoken of above,
which is capable of housing nearly a hundred children
and a large staff, cost approximately from 25,000 to

136

THE NEXT STEP

30,000 to build before the War; so the contention
of Mr. Walmsley will not hold water that billeting is
extravagant because

"A camp will last for many years; but at the end of
the year, under the present billeting scheme, there is
nothing to show for the vast sums of money expended."

Shelter will not, of course, be left to be used at the
end of the War because the Government has not been
asked for the money to provide it.

That 25,000 to 30,000 on behalf of every hundred
children billeted is the contribution offered by the
hosts and hostesses of the nation.

No one could possibly expect it to come out of the
billeting allowance, which was not even intended to
provide more than the out-of-pocket expenses enumer-
ated above from shelter to the weekly washing. The
Government gets a much better bargain from the 8s.
6d. to 105. 6d. billeting allowance than by building
and maintaining camps. This, I think, will hold good
even with the new sliding scale of allowances for chil-
dren over 10 years old.

There remains but little more to be said than to
enumerate the various schemes for camps and com-
munity shelters, particulars of which will be found in
the Appendix.

* * * * *

If any reader would like to hear what has happend
to the three parties of children whose arrival was de-

137

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE

scribed in Chapter I: the Dale children returned to
their homes about Easter, the schools having been re-
opened. The doings of the boys in the South- West are
described in Chapter II, which was written no earlier
than the end of April. As for the eight little beings
who arrived at my own front door on September ist,
they are all very well and happy, and will, I hope, be
here till the school scheme ends. The one replacement
(which, after all, happened eight months ago) has lived
up to the standard of fundamental good behaviour
(bless their hearts, of course they aren't always good!)
and good manners set by the other seven and no host-
ess could ask for more than that. These I attribute
largely to the influence of their own excellent school
where, it having set up in the village, they have
worked, and are working, steadily under their own
teachers. Not since October last have there been any
psychological problems, and even then there was noth-
ing more difficult to tackle than enuresis. This I attrib-
ute to the loyal co-operation and encouragement
which I have had from the parents and relations, who
have kept by visits and letters in constant touch with
their children, and have supplied the special element
which it is neither possible, nor indeed desirable, for
a billet to attempt to give. For this I am exceedingly
grateful, and I hope to return the children to them
undamaged in character and mind from their long
absence.

No one who has studied the population statistics of
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THE NEXT STEP

this country can fail to realize the national importance
of every individual child. We had not enough of them
even before the War, and the devastating effect of this
world catastrophe can only be imagined.

"S'ils tombent nos jeunes hros, La terre en produit
de nouveaux."

To ensure that the nation's children should grow
up worthy of their destiny is the supreme task of the
women of Great Britain.

HARROWHILL COPSE,
NEWLANDS CORNER,

SURREY.
November 1939 to June 1940.

139

APPENDIX

SHORT PRECIS OF VARIOUS REPORTS AND
SCHEMES REFERRED TO IN TEXT

I. EVACUATION IN PRACTICE

Study of a Rural Reception Area (Wantage [Berkshire]
and ii neighbouring villages)

(Prepared by The Evacuation Committee of the Association of
Architects, Surveyors and Technical Assistants, 57 New End, London,
N.W-3, in collaboration with the A.A. School Rural Planning Group.)

N

O fully worked out solution attempted in this Report,
but very important principles set down.

"Whatever material improvements may be made the social and or-
ganizational aspects are of no less importance. In fact, little can be
achieved in the improvement of conditions until it is recognized that
the problem must be tackled as a social one, that town people cannot
be absorbed into individual homes in the country without additional
social provisions, and that individual responsibility for the care of an
evacuated town dweller must be coupled with a measure of organized
and communal responsibility.

We have already seen examples of a communal spirit and the ad-
vantages which it brings: the happier village with its Women's Insti-
tute or other means of social contact, the success of organized outings
and recreation in Wantage when the shift system was in operation, the
desirability of organized visits from parents instead of individual
visits. But such activities must be greatly extended, and the Local
Authorities responsible for evacuation and reception must play a part
in them.

Closer contact between evacuation and reception authorities is of

140

PRECIS OF VARIOUS REPORTS AND SCHEMES

the utmost importance in the rebuilding of evacuation. In London
the Borough Councils, being much more local in character than the
London County Council, must be encouraged to take part. If, for
example, the boroughs of West Hani and Poplar were in much closer
contact with their people in Wantage and in other parts of the Lon-
don reception area the improvement of reception conditions could
be arranged while further evacuation was being prepared in London.
People in the city would learn of the arrangements for their reception
and through organized visits and parents' committees could gain per-
sonal knowledge of them. As we shall see, such preparations are espe-
cially necessary for the evacuation of children under 5.

With such social developments as a basis we can pass to a considera-
tion of those material measures that must be undertaken and which
are our more direct concern."

Under the heading "SCHOOLCHILDREN" a suggestion is
made that no billeting should be allowed in large towns
in danger of attack or which are being used by other Gov-
ernment departments. In small centres such as Wantage
billets are regarded as the best form of accommodation for
the bulk of the schoolchildren.

"It will be seen, therefore, that to pose the problem of the evacua-
tion of schoolchildren in general as 'billeting versus camps' is to avoid
facing facts as they are. Camps must be built instead of the billets in
unfavourable areas and at the same time steps must be taken to im-
prove conditions in all areas. If camps are built and nothing else is
done there will be better conditions for some children, but others will
be left as they are now and will eventually return to the towns or
suffer considerably in the country."

Follow two pages referring to Wantage as to the best
methods of the stabilization of billeting and full-time edu-
cation for the three evacuated schools. Some of these sug-
gestionsnot all would be useful in any district. Due
notice is taken of the fact that it is officially recognized that
the general objective should be to ensure that the house-
holder should be relieved of responsibility between break-

141

APPENDIX

fast-time and tea-time. No provision, however, is made
against one cause of failure of this objective, which is the
question of illness in which the children are not allowed to
attend school.

Further recommendations refer only to cases in which
the completion of the schools by further evacuation is to be
considered. This applies chiefly to the area surveyed and,
though many useful hints can be obtained, there is no gen-
eral scheme.

The Report was completed by various illustrated
schemes for School Camps, Nursery Centres, and Rural
Centres, most of which are for mothers and small children,
and not for unaccompanied schoolchildren. (The scheme
for School Camps, however, is not illustrated.) These can
be obtained from the Evacuation Committee of the
A.A.S.T.A. as above.

Two Camps designed for Children between the ages of 5 and 15 years,
in war-time as Evacuation Camps and in peace-time as Holiday
Camps for Town Children.

Scheme A, which is specially suitable for holiday camps,
is composed of ten self-contained groups, each group
planned for forty children in peace-time and eighty in war-
time.

Points to be noted:

(a) The arrangement is informal and un-institutional.

(b) Supervision of small groups of children is easier.

(c) There is less danger of panic in air raids.

(d) A varying number of groups of forty children can come, the nec-

essary accommodation being opened up as required.

(e) Any group can be isolated in case of infectious disease, and spread

of infection is less likely.

(/) It can be easily adapted as a holiday camp, when all three rooms
in the groups become dormitories.

Site described: "17 acres of sloping meadow with road to the north."

142

PRECIS OF VARIOUS REPORTS AND SCHEMES

There appear to be no details in staffing as to the amount
of service required for nursing sick children and also for
supervision.

An illustrated brochure from the same source shows
Evacuation Buildings for Mothers and Children. These
comprise:

A Village Settlement.
A Holiday and Evacuation Camp.

An arrangement of Dormitory Buildings for Children and Helpers,
with a Terrace Block for Parents.

This scheme as illustrated seems to provide excellent ar-
rangements for the maximum of privacy, and the Terrace
Block for Parents is very attractive. Again in the arrange-
ments for children and helpers very little accommodation
is allotted to the staff.

A further development of this brochure is the showing
of bungalows for families in conjunction with the Village
Settlement:

1. For 2 Mothers and 6 Children.

2. For 3 Mothers and 5 Children.

3. For 3 Mothers and 3 Children.

II. CARE AND TREATMENT OF DIFFICULT CHILDREN AS ORGAN-
IZED BY WOMEN'S VOLUNTARY SERVICES IN THE COUNTY

OF HUNTINGDON

This excellent report does not deal with the question
of the best form of care and accommodation for normal
children, being purely concerned with abnormal children.
The county organization of this service is first described,
and there are then headings regarding Visiting Foster
Homes in which Difficulties have arisen Establishment in
Various Districts of Child Guidance Centres Establish-
ment and Superintendence of Residential Homes. A brief
list of the earliest cases is added.

143

APPENDIX

III. PLAN ADVOCATED BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR MA-
TERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE FOR THE EVACUATION
OF UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS OLD TO
NURSERY CAMPS

These suggestions would be excellent for unaccom-
panied schoolchildren over 5, but any evacuation plan for
unaccompanied under-fives is considered by certain Psy-
chiatrists as unsound.

The scheme has certain resemblances to the camps sug-
gested by the A.A.S.T.A. Evacuation Committee as above
in Berkshire, the chief difference being that the nucleus
of an existing house to be used as an administrative build-
ing is advocated. Nine houses had already been offered for
this purpose early in the year. The system of self-contained
units is again adopted, and a unit of 40 children to each
self-contained hut is advocated. The domestic help is
chiefly to be provided by evacuated mothers, not neces-
sarily the mothers of the children concerned.

There are careful and detailed accounts of the cost of
erection, equipment, and staffing the latter item, as re-
gards care of sickness being fully adequate, allotting 3
Sisters, 10 Staff Nurses, and 27 Student Nurses to each Nur-
sery Camp of 200 children. The details of this scheme ap-
pear to be extremely good and, as suggested above, it could
be adapted for unaccompanied schoolchildren.

IV. NATIONAL CAMPS CORPORATION

Only one of these Camps has been visited, of which the
details are noted in the text (see p. 135). There, while the
domestic staff is very full, the nursing and supervisory
staff does not appear to be adequate.

144

PRECIS OF VARIOUS REPORTS AND SCHEMES

v. THE FRIENDS' SCHEME FOR A COMMUNITY SETTLEMENT

FOR MOTHERS AND BABIES
(Plans by Lady Allen of Hurtwood)

This is not a general scheme, but refers solely to one vil-
lage in Essex where a site has been given by the owner at a
nominal rent. The Settlement, of which extremely attrac-
tive plans are given, includes a Nursery School for 40 chil-
dren, a communal Recreation Room with a stage, a Can-
teen, a Welfare Clinic, and a number of small bungalows
"for those mothers who wish to have their children with
them when not occupied in the school activities, and about
nineteen families are to be accommodated." The provision
of domestic workers is adequate, and it may be concluded
that the Welfare Clinic would provide sufficient nursing
staff.

A good point of this scheme is that the Settlement is
to be

"closely linked with the life of the neighbourhood, and not only its
hall, but also its school and welfare services will be at the disposal of
the neighbours' families."

VI. GOVERNMENT EVACUATION SCHEME

Memo. Ev. 8 (Enclosure to Circular 1965 February

In the Appendices of this Memorandum most useful ad-
vice is given as to the co-operation of Evacuating Authori-
ties and Billeting and Education Authorities in Receiving
Areas. There are also suggestions for hostels and commu-
nal billets. It appears to be intended not to build camps,
but to establish these hostels in existing premises, and
Local Authorities are warned to avoid houses or premises
which will require costly adaptation.

145

APPENDIX

VII. FURTHER REPORTS, ETC.

(a) Report by the Research Committee of the Cambridge
Evacuation Survey

The 14 Main Recommendations preceding this Memo-
randum are quoted in full on pp. 127-8. These recom-
mendations are expanded under the headings of "General
Plans," * 'Preparations in the Evacuating Areas," etc.

Details are given as to the visits of parents to their chil-
dren, which should, of course, be encouraged in every way
possible by flat-rate railway fares, etc.

An admirable suggestion to prevent the drift back of
children to their own homes is the provision of Centres of
Consultation for Parents, and the Report observes that:

"All possible measures should therefore be taken to keep the par-
ents fully informed about the welfare of their children, to give them
opportunities for talking over difficulties, and to encourage easy com-
munication between parents and children."

There is very clear advice as to Escorts and School Help-
ers, who should be provided by the Evacuating Authority:

"There is clear evidence that an undue burden of duties which
should properly belong to Social Workers has been laid upon the
teachers, and that in some cases there has been a lack of close co-
operation between the teachers and school helpers on the one hand,
and the local voluntary workers on the other."

There are six Recommendations as to "Preparations in
the Receiving Areas." The appointment of full-time Social
Workers is advocated, both those with general training in
social service, and those with "special clinical experience
of the child showing nervous symptoms or difficulties of
behaviour." The Report goes on to say that "Wherever
possible a psychiatric Social Worker should be available."

There are further suggestions as to suitable foster-homes,

146

PRECIS OF VARIOUS REPORTS AND SCHEMES

by which the Report appears to mean "billets." It is to be
regretted that this admirable Survey does not point out the
effect produced on the lay mind by calling a billet a "foster-
home" and the hostess a "foster-mother." As stated in
Chapter IV, this sets up a false relationship between the
real parent, the hostess or "foster-parent," and the child,
and gives a suggestion of permanency which should be
avoided. Three types of "foster-homes" are advocated
a Temporary Hostel Homes for Emergency and Observa-
tionand a Home for Difficult Children. There is general
advice as to the placement of children in "foster-homes"
and an admirable series of Recommendations for sustain-
ing Evacuation (see the last three Recommendations
quoted in Chapter VIII, Nos. 12, 13 and 14):

"12. Receiving Authorities should provide a place where parents
can meet their evacuated children.

13. Preparation for the recreation of evacuated children should be
made by the appropriate organizations before their arrival.

14. Prospective foster-parents should be informed of their rights in
regard to compensation for dilapidation."

This paper is followed by two Appendices:

1. "Draft for Card to be completed for each child by the Evacuat-
ing Authority, and handed over, in duplicate, to the Receiving
Authority."

2. "Duties, Qualifications, and Methods of Appointment of School
Helpers, Trained Social Workers, and Superintendents of Home
and Hostels."

There are separate Recommendations for the Evacuating
Authority and the Receiving Authority.
The Report concludes by stating that:

"Particulars about qualified persons" (social workers) "and rates of
salary may be obtained from the Mental Health Emergency Com-
mittee, 24, Buckingham Palace Road, S.W.i."

147

APPENDIX

(b) Report on the French Evacuation Schemes

(By Agnes A. Crosthwaite, Delegate of the British Federation of
Social Workers to the Journ6es d'Etudes de Service Social held at
6 Rue de Berri, Paris, February 1940. Obtainable, price 6d., from
H. G. Ward, Esq., 47, Whitehall, S.W.i.)

The part of this Report concerning the evacuation of
Alsace-Lorraine, which was compulsory, was summarized
in the Manchester Guardian of Friday, May 3rd. The other
Scheme, that is, the evacuation of Paris and its outlying
districts (a voluntary scheme, but one strongly advised by
the Government, by whom all the necessary arrangements
were made and the expense borne), is more relevant to the
purposes of this book. The original evacuation from Paris
in September 1939 does not appear to have been very suc-
cessful, but a new Government scheme carried into effect
in February 1940 was well conceived. As to this February
Scheme Mrs. Crosthwaite states:

"The great feature of the new scheme is the fuller use of the Social
Worker, and the encouragement and co-operation between public and
private authorities, so as to have a fully organized district. The pro-
vision of personnel to ensure the co-ordination of services in the recep-
tion areas and between the reception and evacuation areas, is to be
undertaken by and at the expense of the State."

Mrs. Crosthwaite draws an interesting comparison be-
tween the French Public Health system and the English
as follows:

"The French Public Health system shows its care for the family unit
in nearly every provision. At the 'diagnostic centres' which are begin-
ning to replace treatment clinics, the mothers are shown how to treat
minor ailments and made to do it themselves. 'The child is yours not
ours/ they are told.

The medical social centres which are being set up to meet the needs
of the evacuated population by their very name express their aim
the education of the population in social hygiene.

148

PRECIS OF VARIOUS REPORTS AND SCHEMES

The English public health standards are very high but the child
is looked on as an individual rather than one member of a family
group. In some instances the mother is even told, 'He is not yours,
he is the State's.' "

(r) Circular to Members of the London Teachers' Associa-
tion re L.C.C. and Government Camps.

At the end of January a circular was issued by the above
Association to its members. This deals with the question
of camps and states that all children who are fairly com-
fortable in their billets should, in the opinion of the Asso-
ciation, be left there. With regard to accommodation in
the camps, the difficulty is pointed out of making use of
the assistant teaching staff for supervision. The Circular
states that the Government is being pressed to provide bet-
ter accommodation for these assistant teachers who, it is
obvious, would be on duty for spells of twenty-four hours,
their small bedrooms having a glass panel by which super-
vision of the dormitories can be carried out. There appears
to be no other provision for supervisory staff.

(d) Nursery Centres for Children in Reception Areas.

(Circular from the Board of Education [1495] anc * tne Ministry of
Health [1936] to Local Education Authorities and Local Authorities)

The suggestions contained in this Circular are, in effect,
for setting up Nursery Centres for children between the
ages of 2 and 5 in Reception Areas. These Centres appear
to be in the nature of Day Nurseries and, of course, could
not be established in scattered rural areas. In country
towns they would be extremely valuable and the excellent
suggestions contained in the Circular will be found very
useful.

149