KEEPING
Safe and Well
•Bflfl
HEAITH * SAFETY * GROWTH
HEALTH • SAFETY • GROWTH
GROWING UP
KEEPING SAFE AND WELL
GAINING HEALTH
CLEANLINESS AND HEALTH PROTECTION
WORKING FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH
BUILDING HEALTHY BODIES
HEALTH - SAFETY • GROWTH
Keeping Safe
and Well
By C. E. Turner, Frances W. CIougK,
and Grace Voris Curl
D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY
Boston
Authors
C. E. Turner, M.A., Dr.P.H., Sc.D.
Professor of Biology and Public Health, Massachusetts In-
stitute of Technology; formerly Associate Professor of Hy-
giene, Tufts Medical and Dental Schools; for some time,
Director of Health Education Studies, Maiden, Massachu-
setts; Chairman, Health Section, World Federation of
Education Associations
Frances Wentu;ortfi Clough, B.A.
Teacher in Milwaukee Downer Academy
Grace Voris Cur?, B.A.
Author of stories in "Child Life," "The Children's Book-
shelf," and "Neighbors Far and Near"
Artists
RUTH STEED
RAY QUIGLEY
WILLIAM WILLS
COPYRIGHT, 1941, BY D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY
OFFICES
Boston - New York • Chicago • Atlanta • Dallas
San Francisco • London
No part of the material covered by this copyright may be
reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (4 D 1)
Your Health Book
Each year you become a more responsible person.
This means that you learn to do more things for
yourself. There are fewer things that your mother
or father have to do for you. There are more things
at school that you can do without any help. More
and more you help children who are younger than
you are.
You are learning how to live. You take care of
your own safety by learning the rules of safety and
by being careful not to get into danger. You be-
come more responsible for keeping well and strong.
You get to bed on time. You get up promptly
and get ready for breakfast. You have learned
to like the foods the body needs. You are in the
business of keeping safe and well. This book will
help you do it by giving you some new knowledge
and by telling you what other boys and girls have
done.
You are becoming a more responsible citizen,
too. You are a responsible citizen at school. You
help to prevent accidents on the way to school,
on the playground, and in the school building.
You are becoming more interested in the town you
live in. You study its markets, its buildings, and
its streets. You do your part to make it a good
town or a good city.
With the help of your teacher you will plan your
own program. You will decide what particular
things your class needs to watch in order to keep
safe and well. In making your plans you will en-
joy the stories in this book about what other boys
and girls have done in the fourth grade. You will
find a list of many of the things which should be
done by everyone. From the many suggestions
you will have a chance to choose interesting things
for the class to do as a group.
Many children and teachers in different places
have helped in planning this book. It tells you
how to grow and how to learn to do things. Grow-
ing and doing things successfully are good fun.
You will have a good time in your health program
this year.
The Authors
VI
Contents
Unit I. Plans for the School Year 1
After Vacation Days 3
Checking and Practicing Health 6
Good Citizens and Good Sports 8
Fair Play at Home 11
Unit II. Grooming Counts 17
A Pig in a Pet Show 19
Grooming for the Contest 21
Judging the Animals 24
Unit III. Ways to Keep Clean 29
A Pleasant Sight 31
Clean Face and Hands 32
Keeping Your Skin Clean 35
Special Care for the Feet 36
Shampooing Your Hair 37
Unit IV. Teamwork for Cleanliness 41
The Drake Family's Team 43
Washing the Dishes 43
Cleaning the House 44
Teamwork at School 47
Coatrooms and Playground 48
Desks and School Building 49
vii
Unit V. Trips about Town 53
Keeping the Town Clean 55
A Visit to the Dairy 57
Good Foods at the Market 59
Milk, Butter, and Cheese 60
Eggs at All Seasons 61
Meat and Fish 63
Labels on Cans, Boxes, and Bottles 64
The Bakery Counters 65
A Vitamin Exhibit 66
Fruit for Dessert 68
Unit VI. Cfioosmg the Best Foods 71
White Rats on a Diet 73
Candy or Milk 74
Meals for the Day 77
A Breakfast Menu 78
Planning Good Lunches 79
Dinner in a Restaurant 81
Manners at Meal Times 82
Safety First 83
Leave Tea and Coffee Alone 84
Experiments with Alcohol 84
Dangers from Alcohol 86
Effects of Tobacco 89
Unit VII. Taking Care of Your Teeth 93
Planning for Safety 95
Different Kinds of Teeth 95
Visiting the Dentist 98
Cleaning Your Teeth 100
Good Food and Good Teeth 102
viii
Unit VIII. Ways to Receive Messages 107
Using the Ears 109
The Nurse's Machine 110
A Talk about Ears 113
Protecting Your Hearing 115
Seeing with the Eyes 117
Wearing Glasses 119
Taking Care of Your Sight 121
Three More Senses 123
Learning by Touch 123
Different Smells 125
Good to Taste 126
Unit IX. School Plans for Safety 131
Keeping Safe from Fire 133
A Fire Drill at School 133
Talking with the Fireman 135
Ready for Safety Week 138
Planning a Marionette Play 141
The Timothy Topplers 142
Unit X. Safety Everywhere 151
Stories about Safety 153
Fun and Safety at the Beach 153
Safety on the Street 155
Safety on the Bus 157
I Like Dogs 160
Safety in the Winter 161
Riding Bicycles 164
Safety on a Hike 165
Unit XI. Ways to Grow Strong 169
Ready for Work 171
Sitting Straight 171
ix
A Picture of Your Foot 174
Marching in a Parade 176
Times for Rest and Sleep 178
Many Kinds of Beds 180
Going to Sleep 183
Unit XII. Play and Good Health 187
Play Day at School 189
The Committees at Work 191
A Program for the Visitors 195
Three Color Teams 196
Play and Work 198
Outdoors in All Seasons 199
Vacation Trips 200
Stories to Read 205
Words to Know 207
Index 211
UNIT I
Plans for the School Year
It is great fun to tell what we did in vacation.
Who has learned to swim? Who has ridden horse-
back? Who has been to camp? Who has been on a
farm? Who has raised the best vegetables and who
has grown the prettiest flowers? There are many
stories to tell about vacation time.
After vacation it is fun to meet our classmates and
teachers at school. It is pleasant to see our friends
who come back to school with shining eyes and rosy
cheeks. It is good to see how much our friends have
grown and how much we ourselves have grown. It
is equally good fun to plan things to do to keep safe
and well during the days ahead.
t
The answers came from all over the room.
Everybody was well. The girls and boys were
brown from the sun. Their lips and cheeks were
red. They looked healthy and glad to be back.
"You must have had good vacations," said
Miss Mason. "What did you do to make you
look so healthy?"
"I was at my grandfather's farm," said George.
"We had all the carrots, spinach, cabbage, and
beets we could eat."
"I went to a camp and learned to swim," said
Peggy.
"We had lots of outdoor picnics at the beach,"
said Mary. Her wide smile showed the metal
braces that were straightening her teeth.
"I learned to ride horseback," began Joe.
Just then someone appeared at the door in a
nurse's uniform. "Why, it's Miss Brown!" said
Miss Mason. "How do you do, Miss Brown?
This class seems to be in very good shape after the
4
vacation. I don't think the school nurse is going
to find much wrong with anyone today."
"Probably not," smiled Miss Brown. "But
I'll go up and down the aisles and look every-
body over, just the same. We don't want any-
body passing on the measles or whooping cough
on the first day of school, or any other day."
It did not take Miss Brown long to look over
the class. "I'll give you a clean bill of health,"
she said in a few minutes. "I hope I'll find the
children in the other schoolrooms as well as those
of this group. You must have lived the health
way all summer long."
"Good-by, Miss Brown," said Miss Mason.
Then she turned to the children, "Now all of you
seem to be healthy. Having the school nurse
look you over is one way to be sure. What are
other ways of finding out whether you are well?"
"We can go to the doctor and have him look
us over," said Andy.
5
" We can watch and see if we grow heavier every
month/' said Ellen. " Growth is a sign of health."
"Yes," said Miss Mason, "and there is a way
to keep healthy. Perhaps you already live the
health way without knowing it. This year we
are going to learn how to keep well and safe.
Then you can be sure you are living in the way
that will do the most to keep you healthy. You
will know how to plan for yourself."
Checking and Practicing Health
"First," Miss Mason went on, "there are some
questions I want you to answer. I shall give
each of you a sheet of paper with the printed
questions. Do not put your names on the paper,
but answer each question as clearly as you can.
If the question asks about yesterday, answer just
about yesterday."
The questions read:
What time did you go to bed last night?
What time did you get up this morning?
How many glasses of milk did you drink yester-
day?
Did you eat some raw fruits yesterday? Did you
eat some cooked fruits? What were they?
How many different kinds of vegetables did you
eat yesterday? What were they?
6
How many glasses of water did you drink between
meals yesterday?
How long did you play out of doors yesterday?
Did you brush your teeth when you got up and
before you went to bed?
Did your bowels move yesterday?
When did you have your last all-over warm bath?
"Now," said Miss Mason, "we'll collect the
papers. I shall read your answers carefully.
They will help to tell me whether you are living
the health way. Probably most of your answers
are good. But we may find that some of you do
not drink enough water between meals. Or we
may find that some do not eat enough vegeta-
bles. If you need more of these for health, we
shall study more about water and vegetables."
"I guess we'll keep healthy if we learn how to
live the health way," said Joe.
"Living the health way will help to give us
better health, longer life, and more fun," said
Miss Mason. "This year we shall learn many
important things about living the health way.
Each day we must practice what we learn. That
is the way to do anything well. First, learn just
what is to be done. Next, learn the best way to
do it. Then practice doing it. Living the health
way ought to keep us ready for play and work
all through the year."
7
Good Citizens and Good Sports
"Who knows what a citizen is?" Miss Mason
asked the class one morning.
"A citizen is somebody that votes at elec-
tions," said George.
"A citizen is somebody who lives in a place,"
said Mary. "A man who lives in a town is a
citizen of that town."
"My father," said Andy, "says a good citizen
is a man that cleans up the rubbish and keeps
his place neat."
"There we have it," said Miss Mason. "A
good citizen is a member of some group in a
town, or a city, or the country. He votes and
that means he helps to manage the group he
lives with. He helps to keep his town or city
going, and he helps to keep it clean. A good
citizen takes pride in keeping himself and his
8
home neat and clean. Now, you are citizens of
this school. What does that mean?"
"We can't vote," said Ruth.
"But we can help keep things clean," said
Ellen. She dived under her desk for a wad of
crumpled paper and took it to the waste basket.
"Yes," said Miss Mason, "and we can keep
ourselves in order, too. Good school citizens have
clean handkerchiefs, clean faces, clean hands, and
clean teeth. Each citizen will look after himself.
You may not be able to have a perfect record
every day. If one of you forgets to check him-
self on some item, he should try to remember it
the next day."
Miss Mason smiled. "This morning I do not
have a perfect record myself. Before I had
cleaned my shoes, I was asked to go to a
sick neighbor. It was time for the first school
bell before I had finished helping the family. I did
not have time to go home to clean my shoes."
9
"I think you were a good sport to tell on
yourself," said Peggy.
"Thank you," laughed Miss Mason. "There
isn't anything I'd rather be than a good sport.
Why do you say I am a good sport?"
"A good sport will tell the truth even if he
doesn't like to," said Peggy. "He'll bob right
up and say, 'Yes, I broke the window,' if he did
break it."
"A good sport is a good loser," said Joe. "He
doesn't get mad if he loses a game of marbles."
"A good sport doesn't mind being 'it' in a
game, and he doesn't brag if he wins," said Andy.
"A good sport does his share of a job," said
Phil. "Sometimes Father asks Ruth and me to
rake the back yard. We are good sports if we
don't try to make each other do all the work."
"Boy scouts are good sports," added George.
"They help old ladies cross the street, and they
carry bundles for folks."
"I wonder if good citizens aren't good sports?"
asked Miss Mason. "We usually think that a
good sport wants fair play. A good citizen at
school wants fair play for everybody. He wants
everybody at school to have just as good a
chance as he has in class, in the halls, at the
drinking fountains, on the playground. A good
10
citizen at home wants fair play there, too.
Here's a story that will tell you what I mean."
Miss Mason opened a book and read this story.
Fair Play at Home
Jane and Bill lived in a city with their father
and mother. They helped their mother with
errands, with dishes, and with dusting.
One afternoon there seemed to be an extra lot
of things to do. As Bill and Jane carried a bag
of potatoes up the steps, they saw a messenger
boy at the door. He was leaving a box. Mother
thanked him and gave him a dime.
"Well," said BUI, "if Mother paid us every
time we brought her a package, we'd be rich!"
"She ought to pay us, too," said Jane. "Just
look at all we've done today!"
Jane and Bill ran upstairs and sat down with
paper and pencil. They thought for a while, and
then they made up a list for Mother:
h^yt^iSAj
They put the paper under Mother's plate on
the supper table. Jane and Bill waited. They
watched Mother's face eagerly. She did not seem
a bit cross, but still, she didn't say a thing.
Next morning at breakfast Jane and Bill found
papers under their plates.
/^Wy^^z^-'
^7, ^/S
/^2^y^>- 42, frcuL&fcz& ^U<^/- -^i/
It was very quiet at the breakfast table while
Jane and Bill read Mother's list. Then they
both blushed and laughed. Jane ran around the
table to kiss her mother and said, "We love you,
too."
"If you will give us back our list, we'll cross
out the forty cents," said Bill. "It is fair enough
for everyone to work at home. We'll be good
sports and do our part."
"That's a good story," said Mary. "I think
I would like to write a letter to my mother
and tell her all the things I can do to help at
home."
"Let's all do it!" said Andy.
Thinking and Talking Together
Talk about the ways in which you spent your last
vacation. Do you think you lived healthfully dur-
ing your vacation? Give reasons for your answer.
Why did the school nurse inspect the children in
Miss Mason's class on the first day of the new term?
If you have inspections by a nurse in your school,
talk over the ways in which she helps your class.
Ask your teacher or nurse whether you are to
have a health examination by the school doctor this
year. Find out all you can about what the doctor
will look for when he gives you your next health
"checkup." If you know that you have any physi-
cal defect, get it corrected as soon as possible.
Talk over and agree upon some of the rules of
conduct you should practice when playing team
games. What do you do when you lose? What do
you do when you win?
Report to the class an example of good sports-
manship by some other good sport whom you know.
Make a class scrapbook of pictures to illustrate
health rules.
Doing Things
Help plan your health program for this year.
Answer the questions which follow this paragraph.
Write on a plain sheet of paper your school, grade,
and the date. Do not put your name on the paper.
Read each question carefully and write your own
true answer to it. Tell exactly what you did, not
what you think you should have done. Be sure
your answers are numbered correctly. Take your
question list home and ask your mother and father
to check your answers with you. Return your an-
swers promptly to your teacher so that she may see
what good health habits you are practicing and help
you to form others.
1. What time did you go to bed last night?
2. What time did you get up this morning?
3. What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
4. Did you have a bowel movement yesterday?
5. How many times did you brush your teeth yes-
terday?
6. Do you always wash your hands before eating
and after using the toilet?
7. Have you had at least two full, warm baths
during the past week?
8. How much water did you drink yesterday?
9. How many glasses of milk did you drink yes-
terday?
10. What fruit, either raw or cooked, did you eat
yesterday?
11. What vegetables did you eat yesterday?
12. Did you drink coffee yesterday?
13. Did you drink tea yesterday?
15
14. Did you eat candy between meals yesterday?
15. Did you do anything to help someone yesterday?
16. How long did you play outdoors yesterday?
17. Did you play in an unguarded street yesterday?
18. Did you obey all traffic signals on your way to
school this morning?
19. Did you play with other children yesterday?
20. Did you lose your temper yesterday?
Turn to the index at the back of this book. Learn
to use it to help you find health facts when such
topics as cleanliness, foods, teeth, ears, eyes, touch,
smell, taste, posture, rest, growth, safety, games,
vacations, and fair play come up in units of work or
in such subjects as reading, arithmetic, geography,
and English.
Learning Words
Use each of these words correctly in a sentence:
vacation practice
vegetables votes
elections
handkerchiefs
UNIT II
Grooming Counts
Have you ever been to a pet show? If so, you
surely noticed how sleek and well kept all the ani-
mals were. You found that good grooming helped
the animals to be more attractive.
The judges in a pet show may sometimes face a
problem. They may find as many as three good
healthy dogs, or rabbits, or kittens that seem to be
prize animals. The judges will then most likely give
the blue ribbon to the best-brushed and cleanest
animal of the three. Grooming counts in the ap-
pearance of pets and in the appearance of boys
and girls.
A Pig in a Pet Show
Andy stared at the new sign in the grocery-
store window.
BOYS AND GIRLS
Come to a Pet Show
Saturday at 2
School Playground
Bring Your Pets
Andy knew that nearly every boy and girl in
Miss Mason's class was going to take a pet to
the show. They had talked about the show at
school. Kittens and puppies were going to be
there. Ellen Peck was going to take her grand-
mother's parrot. Joe Reed had a cage of white
mice. Andy lived on a farm near the edge of
town, but he could not think of any animal that
would do for a pet show.
Suddenly Andy had an idea. Why couldn't
he take a pig? Runty, the smallest pig in the
white sow's family, belonged to him. "He's not
much for looks, Son," Father had said, "but he's
yours if you want him."
"He isn't very pretty," thought Andy. "But
just wait till I get him cleaned up!"
19
Andy ran home as fast as he could. "Mother! "
he cried, "I'm going to fix up the little runt pig
to take to the pet show on Saturday. Father
will let me, won't he?"
"I don't see why not," said Andy's mother.
"Father gave him to you. How are you going
to dress up the pig?" She laughed. "You won't
want any ribbons and ruffles, will you?"
"No," said Andy, "I don't want any ruffles.
This pig may not be beautiful, but he is going
to be clean. I'm going to make a gentleman
out of Runty. May I borrow the little tub and
a brush? I want to give Runty a bath."
"Yes, indeed!" said his mother. "The little
tub is hanging up in the back hall. I think
you will find an old brush on the shelf above
the tub."
20
Grooming for the Contest
Andy half filled the tub with warm water and
put in some soap. He set the tub in the back
yard and hunted up Runty. He tucked the
little pig under one arm and carried him to the
tub.
Runty liked the water. He grunted happily.
But he kept trying to fold up his legs and lie
down in his bath. He wanted to wallow in it.
He squirmed and wriggled in Andy's hands.
With a lively flop Runty ducked his head in
the suds. Then there was an ear-splitting squeal.
Runty slid through Andy's fingers like a big cake
of wet soap. He shot over the edge of the tub
and ran, squealing, to bury himself iji a mud
puddle beside the barn.
21
Andy ran after the pig. He pried Runty out of
the puddle and carried him patiently back to his
bath. "You got soap in your eyes, young gen-
tleman," said Andy. " Now behave yourself this
time. I'm getting you ready for a show."
Every day that week Andy hurried home after
school to work on Runty. One bath was not
enough. Runty was brushed after every trip
through the tub. His short white bristles began
to shine. His pink, clean skin glowed under his
hair. Andy took special care to get Runty's
eyes and ears clean. He clipped the hair around
the little pig's head and neck and tail. Runty
grunted with happiness when Andy brushed him.
His little tail curled into a tight knot.
Andy knew how the boy scouts make belts
with loops of leather, so he made a looped leather
collar for Runty. On Saturday morning Runty
received a final brushing and shining. Then Andy
put him in a box filled with clean straw.
Andy's father brought out the car, and they all
rode to town. Runty rode in his box on Andy's
lap. Andy was hoping Runty would win the prize.
When they reached the school playground,
Andy's spirits began to droop. The playground
was very gay. There were flags and bunting
and a peanut stand. In one corner on a plat-
22
far* -,?
yS
form the high-school band was getting ready to
play. The crowd was laughing and talking. The
row of pets made Andy's heart sink. Every boy
and girl in town seemed to have turned up with
a good one.
There were three handsome police dogs, with
ears pointing up, bright eyes rolling, and red
tongues hanging out. Ellen Peck's parrot was
beautiful in his green and orange feathers. There
was a fluffy gray Persian cat. The white mice had
a red and gold cage. Down at the end of the line
stood a big boy from the other side of town.
On a leash he was holding a red-brown pig nearly
as big as himself! "Well, Runty," said Andy,
looking sadly at the little white pig in his box,
"I guess we're licked."
23
Judging the Animals
Just then there was a stir in the crowd.
Through the gate of the playground came Mayor
Jones and Miss Brown, the school nurse. She
was carrying a blue ribbon, a red ribbon, and a
yellow ribbon. These were the prizes the judges
would give for the three best pets.
The band struck up a march for the parade.
The boys and girls slipped leashes and strings
into the collars of their pets. Joe Reed picked
up his cage of mice, and Ellen perched the parrot
on her shoulder. The children formed in line
with their pets and marched past the judges.
Andy had trouble keeping Runty in line. He
wanted to run. Andy and his pet passed the
judges in a rush instead of at a slow pace to show
them Runty's good points. Disgusted, Andy put
him inside his box. There seemed no hope that
such a troublesome pig could win a prize. But
Andy took a cloth from his pocket and ran it
over Runty carefully once more. He was dusty
from his run down the line.
The judges walked slowly past the row of pets
and finally stopped to talk them over. Then
Mayor Jones held up his hand for quiet and be-
gan to speak.
24
"We think," he said, "that we should have a
hundred prizes to give. This looks to me like
a blue-ribbon collection of pets. We have been
having a hard time to decide just why any one
dog, or cat, or mouse here is better than an-
other one. They all look healthy, and hand-
some, and happy. After careful thought we have
decided to give the prize to the best-groomed pet."
"Mayor Jones," said Miss Brown, "I wonder
whether everybody here is sure what you mean
by 'best groomed."
Mary Allen spoke up, "A well-groomed person
is somebody who is neat and clean."
"That is right," said the mayor. "Has any-
one else something to say about grooming?"
"A well-groomed person has his hair brushed
and his shoes shined," said Ellen.
"He has his teeth brushed, too," said Ruth
Drake. "His face is clean, his hands and nails
are clean, his clothes are clean, and he's clean all
over."
"He likes to look just as well as he can," said
Joe. "He wants people to say, 'There goes a
person who looks as if he amounted to some-
thing.'"
"Those are good answers," said the mayor.
"What is a groom?"
25
"He's somebody who looks after a horse,"
said Andy.
"That's right," answered the mayor. "A
groom brushes, clips, and trims a horse. We
say a beautiful, shining horse is well groomed
when he is clean and neatly clipped and trimmed.
George Washington, they say, was very strict
about the grooming of his horses. Every horse
led up to the door of Mount Vernon had to pass
a test. He was rubbed with a fresh white silk
handkerchief. If the handkerchief showed the
least faint smudge of dirt, the horse had to go
back to the stable and be groomed all over
again."
The mayor laughed. "We haven't enough
white handkerchiefs," he said, "to rub on all
the pets here at the pet show. But we have
picked out three animals that look very clean and
well groomed. Let's try the handkerchief test on
them."
He unfolded a clean white handkerchief and
rubbed one of the police dogs. Off came a
smear of dust. Using a clean place on his hand-
kerchief, the mayor rubbed the gray Persian cat.
The handkerchief showed a dusty spot. Then
he rubbed Runty. He held up his handkerchief
to show to the crowd. It was snowy white.
Runty won the prize!
Everybody cheered, and Runty squealed. Andy
carried him proudly to the car. Runty rode
home in Andy's lap with a broad blue ribbon
in his collar.
"Well, I found out something," said Andy.
"Grooming counts. I guess I'd better be as par-
ticular with myself as I was with Runty. If
grooming helps a pig it will certainly help a boy."
He smiled at his father.
Doing Things
Learn all you can about any pet you have at
home or in your classroom. Observe the way in
which it breathes and moves. What kind of cover-
ing has the body of the animal? How do its teeth
and its feet differ from your own? Do the animal's
teeth and feet tell you anything about the kind of
food it likes and the way in which it gets its food?
Learn all you can about the ways animals are
judged at the county and state fairs, at cat, dog,
and horse shows, and in 4-H Club contests. Read
books and magazines and talk with people who like
animals and know much about them. A teacher of
agriculture, a Farm Bureau agent, a 4-H Club leader
who raises prize stock, a dog fancier, or a good
horseman would probably be glad to talk with your
class about prize- winning animals.
Plan a pet show. Be sure the pets you exhibit
are healthy and as well groomed as was Runty.
Invite your parents and friends to the show. Write
to the persons whom you would like to have judge
your pets. Can you award ribbons to the prize-
winners?
9 < mmmm tmmi^sm^f «,.i jt «™^_
UNIT III
Ways fo Keep Clean
Boys and girls as well as their pets show the re-
sults of healthful living and of good grooming. A
good body, well kept, is something to be proud of.
If you are well groomed, you have made good
friends of toothbrushes, hair brushes, shoe brushes,
nail files, soap, and water. These friendly tools for
keeping clean and neat help you to look and feel
your best. They help you to make friends.
f
A Pleasant Sight
The school nurse always looked clean and well
groomed whether she was in her uniform or her
street clothes. Everybody liked to see her come
into the schoolroom because she was spic and
span. She was a pleasant sight.
If you are clean and well groomed, you should
be a pleasant sight, too. People will look up
with a smile when you come into a room. Being
clean will help you make friends and keep them.
You will be a pleasant sort of person to have
around at school, or at Jane's birthday party, or
at the dinner table at home.
It isn't hard to be clean. All you need to do is
to form the habit of good grooming. It will
soon be as easy for you as putting one foot
down after the other when you walk. You will
find you do not forget to keep clean.
Clean Face and Hands
One of the first things we think a well-groomed
person should have is clean hands. Hands, of
course, pick up a lot of dirt in a day. They
get it from baseball bats, and skates, bicycle
wheels, and such things. They may have handled
something used by a person with a cold. In that
case there may be cold germs along with other
dirt. Hands need to be washed many times
during the day.
To do a good, thorough job of washing hands,
you need to let water run into the bowl. Always
use warm water if possible. Wet your hands.
Wet the soap and rub it over your hands two or
three times. Rub your hands together and in
and out until you have a lather like whipped
cream. Then rinse off the lather and dry well.
Hands which are not well dried may chap.
When you have washed your hands leave the
washbowl clean for the next person to use.
There are certain special times for washing
the hands. A clean person always washes his
hands before eating so that he will have clean
fingers to carry food to his mouth. A clean
person always washes his hands after going to
the toilet.
32
Your fingernails probably will need some at-
tention. Look and see if there is dirt under your
nails when you wash your hands. The nails can
be cleaned best when the dirt under them is wet.
A good way to clean them is with an orange-
wood stick. Orangewood is smooth, without any
splinters. It isn't hard enough to hurt the soft
skin under your nails, but it is stiff enough to
get out the dirt.
Your nails should be filed or trimmed until
they are about even with your fingertips. At this
length they are useful to you in picking up small
things from a smooth surface, like a piece of
paper from a table. If they are bitten and
chewed down, they make your hands ugly and
clumsy. Stubby fingers with bitten nails are not
much better tools than dull jackknives.
Do you wash your face thoroughly with soap
and warm water or do you just splash a little
water on your face and rub the dirt off on the
towel? In the morning and at night when you
wash your face, remember to wash your ears
and neck. They get their share of dirt and need
their share of soap and warm water. Don't be
satisfied to wash new dirt from your face and
leave old dirt on your neck and ears. Look out
for dirt at the edge of the scalp.
33
•f
:
1
I
The nose also collects dirt. Particles of dirt
are drawn into the nostrils with the air we
breathe. In taking proper care of the nose, use
a clean handkerchief each day, and blow the nose
gently.
Use your own washcloth and towel. They
should be your own just as you have your own
toothbrush. One way to be sure that you are
always using your own towel is to have a col-
ored one and hang it on your own towel rack.
Then always dry your hands on your own blue
or pink towel. Or, if the towels are all white at
your house, you may have a colored clip clothes-
pin to mark your special towel. If everybody in
the family uses the same towel, it is easy to pass
illnesses like colds along from Jimmy or Susy to
all the rest of you.
34
Keeping Your Skin Clean
Part of good grooming is keeping your skin
clean. If you look at the back of your hand
through a magnifying glass, you will see that it
is not really smooth and flat. It is full of little
pits called pores. At the bottom of each pore is
a little sac called a sweat gland.
The sweat that stands like dew on your upper
lip or streams over your forehead in a stiff game
of ball comes from these little sacs. In summer
the sweat glands make enough sweat to help
cool you off. In winter they make less, but
they keep at work.
\
Sweat contains some of the waste products
from your body. In tightly covered places like
armpits, it is likely to have a very unpleasant
smell. That is why frequent bathing is part of
good grooming. You want to be sure that you
have a pleasant smell. You should have a full,
soapy bath with warm water at least twice a
week. If you can bathe every day, so much the
better, especially in hot summer weather.
There are other little sacs underneath your top
skin, as well as the sweat sacs. These are oil
sacs. They lie at the base of each hair. They
make oil and pour it out along the hairs to keep
them soft and smooth. The oil sacs are all over
your body. The oil helps keep your skin soft
and smooth, too. But after a while you need to
wash the extra oil away. You need to bathe it
off your body and shampoo it off your hair.
Special Care for the Feet
Feet are another tightly covered part of the
body that need special attention. There are a
great many pores and sweat glands in the soles
of your feet. They seem to keep busy all day
long. To keep well groomed and pleasant to
other people, you must have clean feet. Bathe
them every day with warm, soapy water if you
36
can. Perhaps you can suds out your stockings and
rinse them just before you go to bed. Then you
can start the day with fresh feet and fresh stock-
ings and be sure that your feet are a part of
your good grooming program.
The nails of the toes, like those of the fingers,
need to be kept clean and trimmed. Cutting
them square across will prevent ingrowing toe-
nails. A good time to care for the feet is just
after you have had a bath.
Shampooing Your Hair
Clean, shining, alive-looking hair is one of the
pleasantest things about a well-groomed person.
To keep the extra oil washed off your hair and
the dirt and dust washed off your scalp, you
should have a shampoo about once in two weeks.
If your hair is very oily, you will do it no harm
to wash it more often.
A good, sudsy shampoo is lots of fun. You
should make a rich, thick lather with good soap
in a bowl of warm water. Then squeeze your
eyes shut to keep out soap, dip in the top of
your head, and go to work, with your fingertips
as scrubbing brushes. Get the lather well into
your hair and down to your scalp. Use enough
soap to make your head look like a snowball.
37
Then rinse your hair in several waters. Keep
rinsing until the last water looks clear. You
may like to pour the rinse water over your head
with a cup. Then dry your hair on a thick, warm
towel as well as you can and finish drying it in
a warm room or in the warm sunshine.
Be sure to scrub your brush and comb when
you shampoo. Dip them in good sudsy water.
Use the brush to wash the comb, and the comb
to wash the brush. Then rinse them well and
dry them. Put them in the sun to dry if you
can. It is well worth while to keep the comb
and brush clean.
38
Doing Things
Choose a boy in your class to demonstrate a thor-
ough job of washing hands. Compare his method
with that explained in your textbook.
Make a chart of toilet articles. You may use
pictures or miniature articles attached to heavy
cardboard. Label your chart: "I Must Have My
Own — "
Keep your own comb and nail file in a clean place
at school or carry them in cases.
Discuss the plan your class follows for washing
hands after going to the toilet at school, and before
eating lunch. Are there ways in which your plan
can be improved? If water does not come to your
washroom through a faucet, how can you wash your
hands under running water?
Draw pictures of a nail brush,- an orangewood
stick, a nail file, and manicure scissors. Explain the
use of each in caring for your nails.
Remember that paper towels and toilet tissue
never should be wasted. If you do not have a
plentiful supply of paper towels, cut each towel in
two. Small towels are much better than none.
The boys and girls in one small rural school made
a holder for toilet tissue and a rack for rolled paper
toweling. They made these articles of wood, painted
them white, attached them to the walls, and put
them to work. Try to solve your own problems of
cleanliness at school as well as these children solved
theirs.
Read about children in other lands and talk over
in class their cleanliness habits. Find out how their
ways of bathing differ from yours. Do the people
in all lands have plenty of water? Look for some
good habits in all the peoples of whom you hear and
read.
Learning Words
Use each of these words correctly in a good sen-
tence:
articles manicure . plentiful
attached method thorough
compare miniature tissue
UNIT IV
•
Teamwork for Cleanliness
Teamwork is needed if you are to keep cleanliness
about you. Mother and children have to form a
working team to keep the home clean. The teach-
ers, the janitor, and the children must work together
to keep the school building clean.
Keeping the town or city clean is a big job of
teamwork that takes in everybody from the mayor
and the health department to fourth graders in
school. Everybody needs to do his part.
The Drake Family s Team
Phil and Ruth Drake had heard Miss Mason
read the story about the children who sent their
mother a bill for running errands and helping
at home. One night at supper they told the
story.
Mrs. Drake laughed. "No one in this family
has sent me a bill yet."
"We have a family team to do our work,"
said Mr. Drake. "Each one does his own part
and we help one another. Teamwork makes our
jobs easier and it makes us better citizens, too."
Phil and Ruth were glad they belonged to the
Drake Family's team and always did their share
of the jobs at home.
Washing the Dishes
It is fun to wash dishes with clean hands,
clean white towels, a snowy dish mop, lots of hot
water, and thick creamy suds. Ruth and Phil
always washed the supper dishes. Ruth washed
and Phil dried.
First Ruth washes the glasses, going carefully
around the rims with the dish mop, and Phil
43
dries them with the towel. Then Ruth washes
the knives, forks, and spoons. She is especially
careful to get forks clean between the tines. She
pours clean hot water over them to rinse them,
and Phil wipes them dry.
Then they wash and dry the cups, saucers,
and plates. Ruth washes them in suds and
rinses them well. Then they wash the pots and
pans. Ruth washes out the mop and hangs it
up to dry. She washes out the dishpan and the
sink, and the job is done.
Cleaning the House
Phil and Ruth are good helpers in the bath-
room, too. "Mother teaches us to hang our
towels up straight, and to spread our washcloths
out to dry," said Phil. "She doesn't want us to
splash the water when we wash or bathe."
"We scrub out the tub after we bathe, too,"
said Ruth. "Mother says a black line isn't a
pretty decoration for the tub."
The Drake children take care of their own
rooms. On school mornings they do not have
time to do much. But they open their beds
when they get up and lay the covers over a chair
at the foot. Mrs. Drake makes the beds after
they have aired. Phil and Ruth hang up their
44
•/I
nightclothes and put away their slippers. They
never leave a messy heap of yesterday's clothes
on the floor. They hang things in their closets
on hooks.
On Saturdays they help their mother make
their beds clean and fresh. They take off the
bottom sheet and remove the pillow case. Then
their mother helps them tuck in last week's top
sheet firmly and tightly around the mattress.
They spread on a crisp, clean top sheet and tuck
it in at the foot. The blankets go on next,
tucked in at the foot. Then they fold the hem
of the top sheet back over the blanket to keep
the edges of the blankets clean. A spread goes
on over everything. And with a fresh pillow
case, their beds are ready for another week.
45
They take up the rugs and shake them out-
doors. They dust the floors and the furniture.
Then they go out to play. They come in hun-
gry at noon, ready for egg and lettuce sand-
wiches, vegetable soup, milk, and molasses cookies
for lunch.
Boys and girls can do many things to help
keep their homes clean and orderly. Some clean-
liness is for health. Some of it, like good groom-
ing, is for looks. Most of it is for both. Sparkling
glasses and dishes are good to look at and health-
ful to eat from. Neat, shining bathrooms fur-
nished with your own towels help to keep you
well.
f
Teamwork at School
"Let's do all we can this year to keep our
school building and grounds clean and in order/'
said Miss Mason one morning. "If you learn to
be a good school citizen, you will be more useful
to the community."
"It will be a help to Mr. Hodge if we try to
keep our classroom clean/' said Andy. "Cleaning
this school building is a big job for a janitor."
"Sometimes we make extra work for Mr.
Hodge, because we are not careful," said Mary.
47
"He should not have to pick up things we
leave or hunt for clothes we lose. We should
take better care of our own things."
Coatrooms and Playground
"That's a good idea/' said Miss Mason. "Let's
make Mary chairman of a committee for the
coatroom. She may pick four helpers. They
might make stickers and write Mary, Joe,
Andy, Phil, and all the other names on them.
They can paste the stickers under the hooks in
the coatroom. Then each of you will know
where your coats and hats are to hang. You
can set your rubbers under your own hooks.
Mark your names in them and there ought to
be no more lost clothes. Who has another idea?"
"We should keep the playground clean," said
Andy. "We ought to put paper, sticks, broken
glass, and things in the big rubbish can. That
will help Mr. Hodge. And it may keep us from
getting hurt if we fall down."
"I like that idea, too," said Miss Mason.
"Andy will be chairman of the playground com-
mittee. He may pick out four helpers, too. But
this doesn't mean," she laughed, "that only
Andy and his helpers are to put rubbish in the
can. Let's all do our bit at picking up things."
48
Desks and School Building
"We can be careful not to drop scrap paper
on the floor here in the room," said Ruth. "We
ought to pick up any crumpled wads of paper
and put them in the wastebasket."
"Yes," said Miss Mason. "I think everybody
should be on the wastebasket committee."
"There is another thing," Miss Mason went
on. "We should be as neat as we can with our
desks. Once in another school I had to get
some books from the desk of a boy who was sick
at home. What a collection of things I found!
There were little wads of paper, a dirty hand-
kerchief, two or three rusty pen points, the cap
of a thermos bottle, and a dried-up jelly sand-
wich."
49
Everybody began to laugh. Heads ducked
down to look into desks. Hands began to come
out filled with old paper and trash. Miss Mason
laughed, too. "Let's all be on the desk com-
mittee," she said. "Form a procession and march
past the wastebasket, and then let's promise to
keep desks tidy and cleared out. I like to see a
neat, clean schoolroom. I'm sure that this class
is good at teamwork.
"There is one other committee we must all
join," Miss Mason added. "Everybody must do
his best to keep the toilets clean and leave the
washroom neat. That too is a part of good team-
work."
Thinking and Talking Together
What are the good things about teamwork? Talk
over in class the reasons why you like to be on a
team.
Compare the teamwork of Miss Mason's class in
keeping the school building and grounds in order
with that of your own class.
Describe ways in which you help keep your house
clean.
Doing Things
Make moving pictures of Ruth and Phil washing
and drying the supper dishes, and helping their
mother make their beds on Saturday.
You probably have a good way of your own of
making a movie. Perhaps you paste pictures on a
long strip of paper and fasten each end of the strip
on a round stick like a piece of broom handle. Two
children handle the rollers to show the pictures as an-
other child describes the scenes. This is the easiest
way to make a moving picture. A nicer way is to
have your pictures pasted on cloth (strips of old
51
window shades, perhaps) and to let the pictures
move through a box which has a "window" of the
right size to display each scene well. Make your
movie as attractive as you can.
Find out all you can about the kinds of dishes
used by boys and girls of other lands. Books and
magazines of travel, a visit to a museum, talking
with travelers, and some motion pictures which you
may have seen will help you. Model interesting
dishes from clay or Plasticine. Draw pictures and
color them. Prepare an exhibit of your dishes or
drawings and add them, correctly labeled, to your
classroom museum.
Test Yourself
Can you answer "Yes" to each of these questions?
Do not write in this book.
1. Do you help your teacher and janitor to keep
your classroom and school building clean and
tidy?
2. Do you do your part to keep the school play-
ground free from paper, sticks, broken glass,
and other rubbish?
UNIT V
•
Trips about Town
Probably there are some parts of your town that
you specially like. They are very likely the cleanest
parts of the town. You like to have your school
building and school grounds clean. You like to see
every place in your town well kept.
This housekeeping in a town, city, or county
means many things. Markets and dairies must be
clean. Streets are kept clean. There is plenty of
clean, safe water for everyone. The government
sees that a town or city has good housekeeping.
Keeping me Town Clean
In talking about plans for the year with Miss
Mason, the members of the class made a list of
places in town they wanted to visit together.
On their trips the boys and girls saw how their
town was kept clean. They talked about the
different ways this work was done.
Miss Mason told them that the Board of
Health was part of the town government. The
health officer and his department worked with
the department of streets, the police, the water
department, the fire department, the schools, and
the citizens in keeping the town clean and safe.
One fine fall day the class took a long excur-
sion to see the reservoir which supplied the
whole town with water for drinking, cooking,
and washing. The reservoir was really a small
lake with clean shores and a big dam to hold
the water back. The children walked around the
reservoir and looked into the pumping station.
Everything was clean and neat. The men in
charge told them about the way filters kept the
water clean. The water was often tested, so that
people might be sure it was pure.
55
Each morning the streets of the town were
cleaned by sweeper trucks and by men going
around with push cans on wheels. They swept
the streets with big brushes, took up the dirt in
big dustpans, and dumped it into cans.
Sometimes the big sprinkling truck went
through the streets to wash away the dust and
give the pavement a thorough cleaning. In win-
ter snow had to be cleared away, so that walking
and driving would be safe.
All the rubbish was hauled away to be burned.
On street corners and in the parks there were
cans marked RUBBISH. The children were
careful to put waste paper and fruit peelings
into these cans.
All the people in town were expected to set
their covered ashcans and garbage cans outside
their houses at a certain time. Then men came
to empty these cans into the trucks. The ashes
were dumped into a swamp to fill in the land.
The garbage was burned in the town incinera-
tor. This was done to help keep away flies and
other pests, which like a dirty town better than a
clean one. If one person on a street does not
keep his place clean, it makes it harder for all
the other people who want their streets, houses,
and stores to be free from dirt.
56
id
A Visit to the Dairy
One morning the school bus took Miss Mason
and the children on a long trip to a big dairy.
There were nearly one hundred cows standing
in a clean, airy barn. The floor was washed with
running water from the hose every day. Before
the cows were milked, they were washed, so that
no dust or dirt would get into the fresh milk.
All the men working in the dairy wore white
clothes. They scrubbed their hands with warm
water and soap before they began to milk the
cows. Their milking pails and the big cans had
been washed and steamed before milk could be
put into them. The children saw hundreds of
bottles being washed in machines with whirling
brushes and being steamed in big tanks. After
the bottles were filled with pure milk, clean caps
were put over the tops of the bottles.
57
mmM^KS^S)^
£££«&"*i — rT"
The dairyman told the class the milk was kept
safe in the dairy, because everything there was
clean. He showed them the way milk was cooled
and stored before the bottles were loaded on
trucks and delivered to stores or to houses. Just
then a milk wagon came back with empty bottles
to be washed.
The milkman told the children they should
always take the milk off the doorstep the first
thing in the morning and put it into the icebox
quickly. The men gave each child a drink of
fresh, cold milk in a clean paper cup just before
they left the dairy to go back to school in the
bus.
58
Good Foods at the Market
"Peggy's father has invited us to see his
market," said Miss Mason one morning. "Mr.
Burns is manager of the big food store a few
blocks from the school. Today we'll make our
plans and tomorrow we'll get to the market
early, before Mr. Burns is too busy."
The next morning Mr. Burns met them at the
door of the market. It was easy to see that he
was proud of his store.
"What a clean market it is!" Ruth exclaimed.
"Yes, it is!" said Mr. Burns smiling. "Our
market gets 'A' in cleanliness."
"Do you have a report card?" asked Mary.
"Oh, yes! I have a report card rather like
yours at school. You are graded in English,
spelling, and arithmetic. I am graded on differ-
ent kinds of things. The city sends men to see if
the market is built with good walls and floors.
They look at the refrigerators to be sure they are
cold enough to keep food well. The inspectors
find out what I do to get rid of mice, rats, and
waterbugs. They want to know if there are good
sinks and drains in this market."
"And did you make 'A' in all these things?"
asked Phil.
"Yes, this is an 'A' market. Not all cities
grade their food stores. In this city any mother
can find out whether her market is 'grade A'
or 'grade B.' It's a good thing to know. Now,
Miss Mason, what does your class want to see?"
"We want to see all the things that are good
for us to eat," said Miss Mason. "And we want
to see how you keep food clean and fresh."
Milk, Butter, and Cheese
"Then we'll begin with the dairy counters,"
said Mr. Burns, "because there isn't any food
in the market for boys and girls that is better
than milk."
They filed past long, white, glassed-in counters.
The counters were full of tall bottles of milk,
squatty bottles of cream, big wooden tubs of
60
butter, and white trays heaped with cottage
cheese. There were square blocks and round
blocks of white and yellow cheese.
"Notice that all these dairy counters are elec-
tric refrigerators," said Mr. Burns. "They keep
the milk and butter cold and fresh. Everything
you see in these counters is good for you. The
milk and the cheese are foods that help you
grow and help to mend the worn-out parts of
your body. They make good bones and teeth
for you, too. The cream and the butter are
foods that help keep you warm and give you
energy for work and play."
Eggs at All Seasons
The group came to the egg counter next.
There was a big sign that said, COLD STOR-
AGE GOODS SOLD HERE. "Do any of you
know just what a cold storage egg is?" asked
Mr. Burns. Nobody answered.
"Well," said Mr. Burns, "hens are like the rest
of us. They like a vacation once in a while.
When hens are on vacation, they don't lay many
eggs. But we like to use eggs all the year round,
whether the hens are having a rest or not.
"Some time ago," Mr. Burns went on, "some-
body had a bright idea. When hens are at work,
61
laying lots of eggs, the price of eggs is low.
When hens are laying very few eggs, eggs cost
more money. This man with the bright idea
bought a lot of eggs when the price was low. He
kept them cold. Then when eggs were scarce
and high-priced, he brought out his stored eggs
and sold them. People were glad to get them.
They were good, and they did not cost so much
as fresh eggs."
"Then cold storage eggs are just eggs that
have been kept cold," said George.
"Exactly," said Mr. Burns. "Cold storage
eggs are just as good food as fresh ones. It is
now possible for you to have good eggs all the
year round. You can eat fresh ones when
the price is low, and storage ones when the
price is high. You need an egg every day or
two."
"Do eggs help us grow, too?" asked Ellen.
"They help you grow, and they help your
blood to do its work, too," explained Mr. Burns.
Meat and Fish
Mr. Burns moved on to the meat counter.
"Here is something more to make good blood
and to help you grow." He pointed to a tray
of dark red slices of beef liver.
In a glass case there were trays full of juicy red
steaks and chops. There were roasts, tied up for
the oven, and chickens ready to stuff and bake.
There were hams, and loaves of cooked meat.
In another case there were oysters, clams, and
other shellfish. In beds of cracked ice lay whole
fishes and slices of halibut, cod, and salmon.
"These counters are all refrigerators, too,"
said Mr. Burns. "If meat and fish are to taste
fresh and good, they must be kept icy cold until
they are cooked or preserved. We have some
meats and fish that have been dried for people
who cannot use them promptly. You should
have a small serving of meat, fish, or poultry
every day. These foods make you grow, too."
Labels on Cans, Boxes, and Bottles
The children passed on to look at the shelves
of canned food.
"Are canned things good for us?" asked Phil.
"They certainly are," answered Mr. Burns.
"Canned fruit, canned vegetables, canned milk,
canned meat, and canned fish are all good for you."
"I wonder whether Mr. Burns would tell us
about the pure food laws," said Miss Mason.
Mr. Burns thought a moment and then began
to explain how canned food is protected. "People
who put up canned food must be careful to se-
lect good, clean, fresh food and to can it the right
way. The government has inspectors who visit
canning factories. They examine all kinds of
canned fruit, vegetables, meat, and milk to be
sure you get food that is clean and good.
"The pure food laws make a canner or a
bottler use labels that say just what is in each
can or bottle. That is why you want to learn
to read labels on cans and packages. Now let's
go on and see more of the market."
The group went past counters full of dried
peas and beans. Mr. Burns told them that these
were very good foods to help the body grow and
mend its worn-out parts. There were shelves of
64
tempting prunes, raisins, dried apricots, peaches,
apples, figs, and dates. Mr. Burns said these
dried fruits were fine for making good blood.
The Bakery Counters
When they came to the bakery counters Mr.
Burns said, "These foods are mostly for energy,
although whole-grain bread gives you a lot of
other good things, too. A few years ago people
ate only white bread. Now they know that dark
bread is good for them, too. I always keep rye
bread, graham bread, whole-wheat bread, cracked-
wheat bread, and oatmeal bread on the market
counters."
"See how all the bread and cakes are covered
from dust and dirt," said Miss Mason. "They
are in closed counters, or they are wrapped in
waxed paper or cellophane."
65
"Yes," said Mr. Burns. "I. like to sell clean
food. I know that this baked food is clean,
for I have visited the bakeries where it is made.
Everything is as spick and span as your mother's
kitchen. It is the rule of these bakeries that no
hands shall touch any materials that go into the
bread and cakes they make. Clean, bright ma-
chinery does everything, from mixing the dough
to shaping, baking, and wrapping the loaves.
We'll take a look at the vitamins next."
A Vitamin Exhibit
"Can we really see the vitamins?" asked Ellen.
"No, but you can see the foods that have vita-
mins in them," said Mr. Burns. "Of course, you
have already seen many foods rich in vitamins on
the market counters.
66
"I'll put in a good word for vitamins," said
Miss Mason. "They help protect you from sick-
nesses, they help you grow, and they do all sorts
of good things for you."
"Well, there they are!" Mr. Burns waved
toward the vegetables and fruits. Then he went
to another counter and brought back a few
bottles of cod-liver oil and halibut-liver oil. He
put the bottles in a row behind the stacks of
fruit and vegetables.
"Now all the vitamins are here," said Mr.
Burns. :'Your body makes vitamin D in the
summer when the sun shines on your bare skin.
In the winter you get your best supplies of this
sunshine vitamin in cod-liver and other fish-liver
oils. Don't forget your teaspoonful of oil every
day in the cold weather when your skin is
covered with heavy clothes."
Banked up on the vegetable counter were
bright colored carrots, dark red beets, pearly
green cabbages, crisp white celery, heaps of spin-
ach and lettuce, brown-skinned onions, heads of
cauliflower, and stacks of potatoes.
At the fruit counter there were oranges and
pale yellow grapefruit, red bananas and yellow
ones, red-cheeked apples, and grapes, berries,
peaches, pears, plums, and melons.
"We keep electric fans with paper streamers
blowing over the fruit to scare away flies, if any
get in in spite of the screens," said Mr. Burns.
Fruit for Dessert
The children were back at the front door,
ready to return to school. "Most people have
to pay to get out of this market," laughed Mr.
Burns. "But this time I'm going to do a little
paying myself." He took the lid off a big box of
red apples. "Take one as you go past," he said to
the children. "Take the apples back to school
for dessert with your lunch. Wash them well
under a tap before you eat them."
The children thanked Mr. Burns for the
apples and for the good time they'd had visit-
ing his "A" market. And everybody washed
his apple before eating it.
68
Doing Things
Try to visit a food market with your class or
your mother. If you cannot visit a real market,
arrange a market in your classroom. For foods you
may use colored drawings or cut-outs from maga-
zines. Better yet, you may be able to display on a
certain day real fruits, vegetables, and other foods
which you can later eat for lunch. Empty cereal
boxes and the emptied cans of milk, vegetables,
fruits, meats, and fish may be on your shelves.
Study carefully the standards for an "A" food
market like that of Mr. Burns. Make out a rating
card and rate your classroom market. Could any
market rate 100% without refrigeration?
Draw simple product maps of the countries from
which the foods mentioned in Unit V may have
come. If you have extra time, you may like to
study the trade routes which have brought them to
your markets.
Learn what you can about the government of
your city, town, or village. Make a list of the
departments of the government and make a brief
statement about the work of each department.
Take a trip to the public water works. Plan your
visit in advance and write to the head of the de-
partment to ask permission to make the visit at a
time convenient for the workers.
69
Test Yourself
Choose from the list below the word or group
of words needed to make each sentence complete
and true. Do not write in this book.
1. The police, the water department, the fire de-
partment, the schools, and the - - work with
the - - to keep the town - - and safe.
2. Water can be kept clean and safe by — .
Water should be - - carefully so people may
be sure it is pure.
3. Ash cans and garbage cans should be kept - — .
4. A place in a town where garbage is burned is
called an - — .
5. Milk pails and cans at the dairy farm were -
and - before milk was put into them.
6. The government
canned food by having
- visit canning factories.
7. Everyone should learn to read the
on cans
and packages in which foods are sold.
health department
covered
incinerator
labels
clean
washed
steamed
inspectors
filters
tested
citizens
protects
UNIT VI
Choosing the Best Foods
Two white rats, Samson and Sweet-tooth, came
to live in a fourth-grade room. They were lively
and friendly little animals. All the children were
glad to help care for them. Everyone treated them
kindly.
These two rats were given different kinds of foods.
Samson drank lots of milk. Sweet-tooth had plenty
oi sugar but no milk. Do you suppose one rat grew
better than the other? Do you think growing boys
and girls need certain foods?
White Rats on a Diet
Samson and Sweet-tooth were two white rats
that lived in cages in the fourth-grade room.
They had soft white fur, bright pink eyes,
straight backs, strong legs, and perky, pinkish
ears. They were lively, friendly twin brothers.
Miss Mason brought a special scale to school
and showed the children how to use it. Peggy
and George helped weigh Sweet-tooth and Sam-
son. They weighed exactly the same.
"Old Shep and Frisk drive all the rats out of
our barn," said Andy. "Father says we don't
want rats there, because they eat the grain that
belongs to the cows and horses."
"Yes, but white rats are different," said Joe.
"Nobody wants old gray barn rats around. And
nobody wants dirty house rats around, either,
to chew up food. But white rats are all right.
They are clean and friendly. Look! Samson
will come up and eat a bite of cooky from my
fingers."
It was lunch time. Everybody crowded round
and wanted to feed Samson and Sweet-tooth.
Each day two children were chosen to feed them.
73
"I'm sorry, you cannot feed them," smiled
Miss Mason. "Samson and Sweet-tooth are going
on a diet. We shall keep one in one cage, and the
other in the other. They are both going to have
all the salted cornmeal they want. Beside that,
Samson is going to have all the milk he will
drink, and Sweet-tooth is to have all the candy
he wants. His candy will be white sugar with a
little water."
"Sweet-tooth is lucky," said George.
"Let's wait and see," said Miss Mason.
The children took turns cleaning the rat cages
every morning. They used soap, warm water,
and a little scrubbing brush. They put in bits of
clean, torn paper every day. Sweet-tooth and
Samson crawled under the paper scraps and used
them for blankets if they felt chilly. Every
morning the rats got a fresh supply of food and
water. Every Friday they were weighed.
Candy or Milk
Sweet-tooth and Samson were not big enough
to be weighed by pounds. They were weighed
by grams. It takes about four hundred and
fifty grams to make a pound.
Three weeks after the diet began, Samson had
gained thirty-five grams. Sweet-tooth had lost
74
two grams. Yet they had weighed just the same
at the beginning. Samson had drunk milk for
three weeks, and he was growing into a big,
healthy rat. His eyes were bright and his fur
was smooth, white, and glossy.
Poor Sweet-tooth looked quite different. His
fur was yellowish, and it was rough and dry.
He just picked at his food without much ap-
petite. A good deal of the time he crawled into
a corner and curled up there. He watched Sam-
son climbing around and swinging from the top
of his cage to drop among the papers. Sweet-
tooth looked as if he thought, "Oh, Samson!
It makes me tired just to look at you scamper-
ing around!"
Sometimes Sweet-tooth would stir around and
scratch all the cornmeal out of his jar. "He
acts as if he hoped he could find something
better to eat," said EUen. "I don't think he's
been so very lucky, having all the candy he
wants. He doesn't seem to want any now, any-
way. May we take away his candy, Miss Mason,
and give him some milk?"
"Yes, let's try a change of diet for him,"
said Miss Mason.
The children took Sweet-tooth's food jar out
of his cage and washed it thoroughly. They put
it back with milk in it. Sweet-tooth dipped his
nose in the milk and drank. He looked up in a
minute, with his whiskers dripping, and blinked
his eyes at the children. Then he dipped down
and drank again.
The next Friday Sweet-tooth had gained three
grams. The children kept on giving him milk.
A week later he had gained seventeen grams.
His fur began to look white and smooth, and
sometimes he frisked about his cage. His eyes
were bright and sparkling.
"Milk is a good food for growth," said Miss
Mason. "It makes strong bones, teeth, and
muscles. Candy is not a growth food. It is only
a fuel food. It makes heat for the body and
energy to make it go. Sweet- tooth has shown
you that there isn't any growing done on candy."
76
Meals for the Day
You have by now learned a good deal about
foods. Corn meal and sugar would keep you
going for a while; but to grow you must have
such foods as milk, meat, fish, and eggs. If you
are to keep well you need plenty of fruit, vege-
tables, and whole-grain foods also.
Long ago you learned to eat all the good foods
which your mother gave you. Perhaps you know
enough about foods to plan what to have at
meal time, or to choose your own foods if you
should go to a hotel or eat on the train. What
foods do you want to choose for your meals?
What are some of the things that you must have
every day? If you do not get them at one
meal, perhaps you will find them in some other
form at another.
You may plan for an egg in the day's food.
It may be poached, or boiled, or scrambled for
breakfast, or it can be dessert in a custard for
dinner. There will be plenty of fruit and vege-
tables, both raw and cooked. Of course, there
must be plenty of milk and whole-grain bread
and cereals. It will be fun to pretend you can
help yourselves to all the good foods in a market
and plan your meals for a day.
77
A Breakfast Menu
It is a good thing to begin your day's mem
a little while before breakfast by taking a drink
of water just as soon as you get up. Then you
want a good breakfast that will keep you from
feeling starved by the middle of the morning.
You will probably think first of a glass of
milk. Then you will think of fruit. You will
want to have an orange, or an apple, or a glass
of tomato juice, or a dish of prunes, or a banana.
If you have a banana, you may want to have it
sliced on a dish of cereal with milk.
Next you may think of toast and butter.
Whole-wheat bread, graham, oatmeal, or rye
bread makes good toast. Raisin bread makes
delicious toast, full of good things for health.
If you didn't plan for dry cereal with a
banana, you may plan for a dish of hot oatmeal
porridge. Oatmeal is full of health. Perhaps
you like it cooked with raisins or chopped dates.
Probably you eat it without sugar and let it
turn sweet in your mouth. Or you may like
to sweeten it with molasses to give it some extra
food for your blood. Sometimes you may plan
to have scrambled egg with the other good things
you put on your breakfast list.
78
From all these foods we might pick out enough
to make one satisfying breakfast menu:
Milk
Tomato juice
Two slices of raisin bread toast with butter
Oatmeal and molasses
Planning Good Lunches
Perhaps you have a glass of milk in the fore-
noon at school. What will you have at noon?
You will probably want to begin with a glass of
milk for lunch, too.
Suppose it is a school lunch. You might have
sliced tomato and lettuce sandwiches to get some
of the good, raw vegetables you need. Or you
might have a salad put into your lunch box in a
little jar. A can of mixed vegetables from the
79
store with some chopped raw celery or cabbage
makes a good salad. Such a salad gives you
both cooked and raw vegetables. If you have a
salad like that, you might have egg sandwiches.
An apple or an orange, a pear or a peach will
make a good dessert, especially if you had
tomato juice for breakfast. Then you would be
sure of your daily raw fruit. A good lunch:
Milk
Tomato and lettuce sandwiches or
Salad and egg sandwiches
Apple
You may find that you are very hungry in the
afternoon at the end of school. It is quite all
right to eat a light lunch after school. Just be
sure that it is something light and easy for your
stomach to digest. You do not want to eat
enough to spoil your appetite for dinner. Have
fruit, or a bowl of graham crackers and milk.
Dinner in a Restaurant
Suppose you were going to finish your day's
meals in a restaurant. From the whole bill of
fare you could pick just what you want, for
goodness and for health. You may say you
want a chicken drumstick, mashed potatoes, and
green peas. You may want macaroni and cheese
with stewed tomatoes. You may like salmon
salad with chopped celery in it, creamed pota-
toes, and green beans. Or you may choose ham-
burg steak, baked potato, and beet tops. Bran
muffins and butter would be good with any one
of these.
No matter what you have for dinner, you will
probably want ice cream for dessert. Some people
prefer apple sauce, or gingerbread with whipped
cream, or lemon jelly and molasses cookies.
What is your favorite dessert?
You will probably think of a number of other
good and healthful dinner menus. Here is one
more that is very good:
Milk
Cornbread and butter
Beef liver and gravy
Baked potato
Spinach
Tapioca and cream
81
Manners at Meal Time
Whether you eat in a restaurant or at home,
you need good manners. Good manners at meals
mean a number of things. First, good manners
mean clean hands, brushed hair, and neat clothes.
It is good manners to sit straight, too. This is
not only to make you look better, but to give
your stomach room to digest your food.
It is good manners to be cheerful at meals
and to tell funny stories. You should chew your
food well with your mouth closed. You should
take small mouthfuls and drink only when you
have already chewed and swallowed.
It is a good thing to remember that there are
others at table. Keep your elbows down so you
don't bump your neighbor, and learn to put
your knife and fork down quietly so they will
not clatter. It is also good manners to eat what
is set before you without making a fuss. It is
very impolite to push a plate peevishly away and
say, "I don't like that."
Another thing to remember is to do some quiet
things that are fun for a while after dinner. Wait
half an hour before you have a running game.
Give your stomach time to work a little on
your food before you move around too fast.
82
Safety First
A good automobile driver is very careful of
his car. He sees that only clean gasoline and
oil go into the engine. From time to time he has
a garage man test the brakes of his car and go
over the engine to see that it is in good working
order. He knows that all these things help him
to drive safely. He would not think of using
dirty gasoline or oil or of driving with poor brakes.
Your body is something like an automobile.
You should have the right kinds of clean food
and drinks that are good for you. Unfortunately
there are some things that are as bad for your
body as dirty gasoline and oil and poor brakes
are for an automobile. These things are tea and
coffee, alcohol, and tobacco.
83
Leave Tea and Coffee Alone
Children should not drink tea and coffee. Both
these drinks contain a drug that excites the
nerves. The steadier nerves of older people may
not be hurt much by tea and coffee. But young
nerves must be protected from these drinks. Tea
and coffee may keep you awake at night. They
drive away sound sleep. Even grown-up persons
may be kept from sleeping soundly by drinking
tea or coffee. With so many good drinks to
choose from, there is no need to run the risk of
harming your nerves with tea and coffee. Milk,
cocoa made with milk, orangeade, grape juice,
and lemonade are some of these good drinks that
children may enjoy. Drinks made of fruit juices
or milk will help to keep you safe and well.
Experiments with Alcohol
There are other drinks that everyone should
leave alone. These are drinks like beer, wine,
whiskey, and brandy. They contain a powerful
poison called alcohol, which dulls the nerves and
hurts the body.
Alcohol is useful in many ways, outside the
body. It will dissolve the gums and oils that
factories use in making paint and varnish. Paint
84
and varnish could not very well be made without
it. Hospitals use it to clean thermometers and
for rubbing lame muscles. Perhaps your mother
soaks a bit of clean cotton in alcohol and uses
it to wash a skinned spot on your knee. We
need alcohol for many things outside the body.
Experiments were made by classes in one
school to compare water and alcohol. The chil-
dren wanted to learn what alcohol was like.
They found that alcohol in a glass looked just
like water. But they noticed that it had a very
different smell.
One teacher asked one of the boys to dip a
small glass rod in water, and rub the rod over
the back of his hand. Then he dipped the rod
into alcohol, and rubbed another streak on the
hand. He found that water stayed on the skin
while alcohol dried very quickly. The skin where
the alcohol had been felt tight and prickly.
Then the children poured a little water on a
piece of bread, and a little alcohol on another
piece. The piece of bread soaked in water re-
mained wet and soggy. Alcohol made the other
piece dry and hard after a few minutes.
The class learned that alcohol dries rapidly,
and that it takes moisture from things. There
was moisture in the skin of the hand and in the
85
piece of bread before either water or alcohol
was added. Alcohol took the moisture from the
skin, making it feel dry and tight. Alcohol took
the moisture from the bread and made it dry
and hard.
Dangers from Alcohol
Doctors know that the actions of alcohol are
useful outside the body, and that the same ac-
tions cause bad effects when alcohol is taken
inside the body. It takes some of the valuable
water from the body. At the same time alcohol
dissolves a very important oil that protects the
nerves. Thus wrhen people drink beer, wine, or
cocktails, the alcohol in these drinks dulls the
nerves. If people are tired or worried, the alco-
hol makes them forget their troubles. But when
the body has gotten rid of the alcohol, the worry
and tiredness are still there, worse than before.
The alcohol in one cocktail may make the per-
son who has drunk it unable to think or act as
quickly and wisely as he could without it. He
86
is likely to make mistakes in his work, and his
judgment is poorer.
Because alcohol dulls the brain, people who
drive automobiles should never drink it.
The bus driver does not use drinks contain-
ing alcohol, because he is guarding the lives of
his passengers. He must be able to see the road
ahead clearly. He must see the color of every
traffic light distinctly. His mind and body must
act together quickly. He must not run into
people, trees, or other cars. When a man wants
to be sure of himself, he cannot use alcohol.
Safety and good work require quick, careful
thinking and acting. Drivers of automobiles, air-
plane pilots, railroad engineers, captains of ships,
and others depend on steady nerves and clear-
thinking brains to do their work. The lives
of others depend on the ability of these men
to think straight and act quickly. For these
reasons the people chosen for such jobs are men
who never drink beer or wine or anything con-
taining alcohol.
87
In high school and college the athletic coaches
train boys to play baseball, football, and basket-
ball, and to take part in other sports. One of the
reasons for this training is the good health it
brings to the boys. A player on a team should
be able to do his best at all times both for him-
self and for the team. He must never take
beer, wine, highballs, or cocktails.
You are learning how to live the health way.
For this reason it is important to know the
effects of alcohol. These are some facts to be
copied in your health notebook:
Alcohol keeps a person from thinking straight.
Alcohol causes one to make mistakes.
Alcohol keeps one from doing his best.
Effects of Tobacco
Tobacco is another thing to leave alone until
you have grown up. Tobacco has a strong drug
in it, a drug that keeps children from growing as
they should. Human bodies do not like tobacco.
They say so as plainly as they oan. The first
time a person smokes a pipe or a cigar, his body
says, "Please, take it away." The poor smoker
feels dreadfully ill. He turns a greenish-yellow
color. The room he is in seems to spin around
him like a dizzy merry-go-round.
Tobacco, like alcohol, is sometimes useful out-
side the body. Gardeners use it in spraying
plants. They know it is strong enough to kill
some of the insects that eat their plants. Some-
times tobacco is mixed with fertilizer and put
into the ground around plants. The plants leave
it alone. But insects in the soil eat it and die.
Tobacco can be a friend and protector for
plants. It is neither a friend nor a guardian to
smokers. The coach at the high school will tell
you that he does not allow the members of any
of the school teams to smoke. He knows that
the football, basketball, and baseball players,
and the members of the track team, too, must
always be ready to do their best.
89
Thinking and Talking Together
Describe Sweet-tooth and Samson as they were
when the children first saw them. Tell what you
yourselves know about white rats as pets.
Compare the way in which Miss Mason's class
cared for the rats with the way in which you care
for any pets you have at school or at home.
What was the difference in the diet of Sweet-
tooth and Samson?
How did the children find out whether the rats
were growing?
What changes did the children note in the rats'
appearance and behavior after three weeks' time?
Tell about the change in Sweet-tooth's diet and
the results of this change.
Name two things you have learned about milk
and about sugar as foods.
Have a class discussion upon the subject of foods
that different animals like best.
Talk with classmates as though you were having
a pleasant dinner together. Remember all the ways
of making a mealtime pleasant. Who can tell the
most interesting or amusing story?
90
Doing Things
Bring to class samples of the seeds of grains, such
as corn, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat, and rice. Put
the seeds into small glass jars, carefully labeled for
an exhibit.
Study about kinds of flour. Find out the differ-
ence between white flour and whole-wheat, entire-
wheat or graham flour.
Grind some wheat grains as fine as you can in a
small coffee-grinder. What kind of flour have you
made? What are the little pieces of the seed coats
called?
Sift the dry flour you have made through a piece
of cheesecloth stretched over a box. You have
whole-wheat flour in the box and bran on your cloth
sieve. Put some of each in small glass jars and
add them to your exhibit.
Bring a little fine white flour from home and
compare it with the whole-wheat flour you have
made. Is your flour darker? The darker part of
the flour would have been used up by the young
plant if the seed had been allowed to sprout. Does
this help you to see why you are asked to eat some
whole -grain foods daily?
Make a class recipe book. Include in it only
simple recipes of foods that you yourself can learn
to prepare.
91
Pretend you are taking a long train trip and that
you may order anything you wish to eat. Make
out your menus for breakfast, dinner, and supper.
Discuss these menus and write the best ones on the
board.
Study and discuss the foods especially liked by
the peoples of some other lands. You may want
to prepare and serve one of these foods, such as
boiled rice.
Test Yourself
Select the right ending to make the statement
complete and correct. Do not write in this book.
1. Coffee
(a) quiets the nerves.
(6) makes you grow.
(c) may keep you awake at night.
2. Alcohol is useful
(a) in dissolving gums and oils.
(6) in beverages.
(c) in helping one to think straight and act
quickly.
UNIT VII
•
Taking Care of Your Teeth
You have teeth for doing three kinds of work -
cutting, tearing, and grinding. Besides being useful
tools, good teeth add to your attractiveness and
help you to speak clearly.
Your teeth are living parts of your body. They
need good food and proper care. Like all other parts
of your body, they are made of the foods you eat.
To care for them properly, you must keep them
clean and have them examined often by a dentist.
Planning for Safety
The fourth grade had made a plan for tooth
safety. It was a plan to see that nothing serious
happened to their teeth. Everyone had agreed
to go to the dentist at least once between
September and June. When the dentist finished
everything which needed to be done to their
teeth, he gave John or Mary a certificate.
The children often talked about their plan for
tooth safety. One morning the class found a
booklet about Taking Care of Teeth on each
desk. They took turns reading aloud from the
booklet to find out more about teeth and then-
care. This is what they read.
Different Kinds of Teem
If you were a dog or a cat, you would have
many long, sharp teeth, pointed like daggers.
They need teeth like this for tearing up meat
and pulling it off bones.
If you were a horse, you would have strong,
hard teeth with flat tops. Horses need teeth
like this for grinding up grass, hay, and grain.
95
If you were a beaver, you would have teeth
made for cutting down trees. You are neither a
dog, nor a horse, nor a beaver, but you have
teeth somewhat like all three of these animals.
A boy or girl has teeth that can cut, teeth that
can tear, and teeth that can grind. If you think
of the different kinds of food you eat, you will
see why you need all three kinds.
When you are fully grown up, you will have
thirty-two teeth. You probably have twenty-
four now. Perhaps you have twenty-eight. You
have cutters in front. They can snip off the end
of a stalk of celery as neatly as any pair of
scissors. Next to the cutters are tearers, long
and sharp. They help you to tear meat apart
when you eat it. Back of the tearers are crush-
ers or grinders. The upper and lower sets of
teeth should fit into each other as neatly as the
parts of the kitchen food chopper.
You remember that the baby teeth help guide
the second teeth into good position. This makes
it important to take care of the baby teeth and
to keep them until they are ready to come out.
Suppose somebody asked you, "What are teeth
good for?" You would very likely answer that
teeth are for chewing food. You would be right.
But there are other uses for teeth, too.
One use of good teeth is to make you better
looking. A smile that shows a row of straight,
firm, shining, white teeth is pleasant to see.
Gaps in a row of teeth are not beautiful. Too
many gaps in the row can change the whole shape
of a face. Every face needs unbroken rows of
teeth which fit together well. They improve the
shape and expression of the face.
Did you ever stop to think how much you use
your teeth in talking? Do you remember how
funny some words sounded when you lost your
'baby front teeth? Try making the sounds "th"
and "f." See if you can hold your lips and
tongue away from your teeth while you form the
letters. Can you make the sounds clearly? What
other sounds do your teeth help to shape?
97
Visiting the Dentist
Your teeth chew your food, help to make you
better looking, and help you talk. Since you
know that your teeth have three good purposes,
you will want to be sure to keep them. You
want to have them in good condition. How
are you going to do this?
One of the most important things to do for
your teeth is to visit the dentist often. The
dentist, like the family doctor, is one of your
best friends. He likes to see a mouth full of
straight, clean, white cutters and grinders. He
does not like to see broken and blackened teeth.
If you will give him a chance, he will help keep
your mouth and teeth in good health.
The best reason for visiting the dentist often
is this. You may get a little break in the hard
outside of a tooth. It may be caused by an
accident or by something else. A little break
is not an important matter if the dentist sees it
and mends it at once. But if it is left unmended,
it spreads into the softer inside of your tooth
and soon becomes a big hole. Then it may be a
very serious matter.
A little break can be mended in a few minutes.
The dentist can clean it out and patch it almost
98
before you know it. And it won't hurt you any
more than getting a haircut at the barber's.
A big break in a tooth may be painful to
mend. If you let it go for a long time, it may
ruin the tooth. A ruined tooth has to be taken
out, and it leaves an ugly gap behind it.
Plan to visit the dentist regularly. Go to see
him once a year, at least. Go twice a year if
you can. It is better still to go every four
months. Making friends with the dentist is one
of the best things you can do for good health.
99
The dentist does other things for you besides
mending breaks. There are sometimes stains on
your teeth that your brush cannot scrub away.
The dentist gets at them with a little whirling
brush. Having the dentist clean your teeth
is pleasant. It leaves your teeth smooth and
sparkling, as white as they can be. They feel
beautifully smooth to the tip of your tongue.
A third thing the dentist can do is to guide and
straighten crooked teeth. One of the uses of
first teeth is to guide second teeth into place.
Well-cared-for first teeth usually mean straight
and beautiful second teeth. If your second teeth
are out of line, let the dentist see them. With
wire braces he can skillfully guide them back
into place. Then they will look better and work
better. Remember that your two sets of teeth
should fit neatly together like cogs in a machine.
It is best for your looks and your health when
they do this. Let the dentist take care of you
with all his skill in as many ways as he can.
Cleaning Your Teeth
You have an important part in keeping your
teeth clean every day. Cleanliness of mouth and
teeth really serves two purposes. In the first
100
\
place, it makes you look better. In the second
place, a clean mouth is usually a healthy mouth.
Brushing your teeth regularly helps to keep your
gums firm and healthy. No pieces of food are
left to spoil between the teeth.
Do you brush your teeth both night and morn-
ing? Perhaps night brushing is the more im-
portant. Do you know how to brush your teeth?
First dampen your brush and run a ribbon of
paste on it or shake on some powder. Then lay it
flat against your upper teeth and gums and
sweep downward and outward all around. Do
101
this all over again on the insides of your teeth
and then scrub the edges backward and forward.
Brushing your teeth in this way cleans every
surface of them, but it does not hurt your gums
or push them away from the roots of your teeth.
If the toothpastes and powders at the store
seem expensive, make some of your own at home.
Get a little glass jar with a cover. Fill the jar
about half full of baking soda from the kitchen
shelf. Put in about as much salt. Put the
cover on the jar and shake it up to mix the salt
and soda. Sprinkle this homemade powder on
your brush just like any drugstore tooth powder.
You will soon like the taste of it. A spoonful in
a glass of water makes a good mouth wash, too.
Good Food and Good Teeth
You know that the part of the tooth you can
see is not the whole of it. Every tooth is made
up of a crown and a root. The crown is the part
you see. The root is a long prong, or several
prongs, buried deep in the gum. The teeth are
parts of the living body and need special care.
Your teeth like other parts of your body are
made from the food you eat.
The main thing to do is to build good teeth
102
in the first place. Of course, many of your teeth
are already built. But you still have some com-
ing on. You want them to be sturdy and sound.
The foods for good teeth are those which are
best for the growth of the whole body. This
means plenty of milk, cheese, butter, fruits, and
vegetables every day. Eat candy and sweet things
only at the end of meals, at dessert time. You
must be rather careful of the amounts you eat
even then.
You can think of your healthy body as a mill.
Into the hopper you pour fruit, vegetables, milk,
sunshine, rest, fresh air, and play. Then the mill
manufactures good teeth and strong muscles.
Good health, good diet, and cleanliness help
teeth. Another thing that helps them is exercise.
Teeth get exercise by chewing things like crisp
celery, raw cabbage, raw apples, nuts, toast, and
chewy cereals, such as cracked wheat. They
like a good, tough work-out to keep them fit.
Chewing not only exercises the jaws, it also
helps the stomach. Well-chewed food is easier to
digest. Good digestion makes for good health.
Good health, as we have seen, helps make good
teeth. It's a sort of "I help you, and you
help me." Good teeth help to make good health,
and good health helps to make good teeth.
103
Thinking and Talking Together
Review all of the reasons why everybody should
want to have good teeth and to take care of them.
Talk about the best kinds of toothbrushes. Have
you pictures or samples of good brushes?
Can you find books or magazines that tell you
about the kinds of toothbrushes used by people in
other lands and in other times? How did people
clean their teeth when they had no brushes?
Doing Things
Keep a "Dental Record" on the blackboard for
the remainder of this semester. Let this record
show:
1. The number of children having no dental de-
fects -
(When the dentist has filled your teeth or
made all other necessary repairs, including
cleaning, you are one of this number.)
2. The number of children having dental defects
3. The number of children who have been to the
dentist this school year -
104
Ask your dentist to give you a card signed by
himself when you have no uncorrected dental de-
fects. Perhaps he will call this card a "Certificate
of Dental Health." The card should be dated and
the dentist should call you for a dental examination
every six months.
Observe the teeth of all your pets or domestic
animals. Make drawings of the different kinds of
teeth you have found. Label each kind (1) tearing,
(2) cutting, or (3) grinding.
Collect different kinds of animal teeth and polish
them as well as you can. Can you see what part
of the tooth showed in the animal's mouth? Can
you name the kind of work each tooth was best
fitted to do? Examine the hard material of which
the tooth is made. Add your collection of teeth to
your class museum.
Make a list of the things a dentist can do to help
you keep your teeth.
Speak words slowly to see how your teeth help
you to speak clearly.
105
Test Yourself
Match groups of words to make good sentences.
1. A boy or girl has exercise the jaws.
teeth
2. Anyone's appearance makes a good tooth pow-
der.
3. One's teeth help one is usually a healthy
mouth.
4. There are thirty-two is probably the most im-
teeth portant time to brush
the teeth.
5. A mixture of salt and is improved by a good
soda set of teeth.
6. One of the uses of that can cut, tear, and
the first teeth grind.
7. A clean mouth is to guide the second
teeth into place.
8. At night before going in the permanent set.
to bed
9. Chewing are those which are best
for the growth of the
whole body.
10. The foods for good to speak clearly,
teeth
UNIT VIII
Ways to Receive Messages
Eyes and ears are valuable possessions. Everyone
wants to see well and to hear well. Everyone needs
good eyes and ears to teach him about the world he
lives in and to make living in this world safer and
happier. No one wants to miss the color of the
rainbow and the early morning songs of summer
birds.
To keep our seeing and hearing at their best it is
wise to have a doctor's checkup now and then on
eyes and ears. The doctor gives the best advice
about repairs and good care. We must be sure to
follow his advice just as he gives it.
^W^4Q% ..J
l
SSi
Using me Ears
Slowly Johnny walked down the street toward
school. His older sister Helen had scolded him.
He had not bought her any brown shoelaces at
the ten-cent store yesterday.
"I told you what I wanted," said Helen. "I
told you I put the money for them on the table
in the hall. You went off without the money
and you did not get the shoelaces. Why didn't
you listen? You never pay a bit of attention to
what I say."
Johnny wondered how he could pay attention.
Helen always mumbled so that he could not
hear her. Lately no one seemed to talk loud
enough. How could a fellow know what any-
body wanted? He had to be near people and
look at them to understand what they were say-
ing to him.
The Nurse's Machine
Johnny slipped into his seat at school on the
stroke of the last bell. Beside Miss Mason at
her desk stood Miss Brown. She was unpack-
ing two black cases. "This machine," she ex-
plained, "is an audiometer. It is going to
measure how much you hear. It works a good
deal like a phonograph. But it isn't going to
play any tunes. It is going to recite numbers
to you.
"You will each have an earphone. It will
look a good deal like the headpiece the telephone
girl wears at the switchboard. I'll turn on the
record. First you will hear a man reciting num-
bers, then a woman. The numbers will be loud
at first, and then they will get softer. You will
each have a clean piece of paper and a pencil. I
want you to write down all the numbers you hear."
The school nurse gave every boy and girl an
earphone and turned on the record. Johnny
listened hard. But it seemed to him there was
something wrong with the earphone, for he could
not hear the numbers clearly. He jiggled it a
little to see if he could hear better, but Miss
Brown came along and set it back just the way
it had been.
110
Johnny guessed at some of the numbers and
others he let go. When he tried to write down a
few numbers he was afraid they were wrong.
Johnny collected the papers with his own on
top and handed them to the nurse.
"We are going on with this hearing game out-
doors now," said Miss Mason. "Everybody take
pencil and paper and march out into the play
yard. When you get there, shut your eyes.
Then listen for sounds. Write down everything
you hear."
The nurse stopped Johnny at the door. "I
want to see you for a minute or two," she said,
slowly and clearly.
She held up Johnny's paper. "Did you write
down all that you heard, Johnny?"
"Yes," said Johnny. "I did not hear much
with that earphone."
Miss Brown smiled. "I have a feeling that this
is going to be a good day for you, Johnny. I
think you are going to have more fun from now
on. I want to send a note to your father and
mother. I want you to read it over my shoulder
as I write. Then you may give it to your mother
and tell her there is good news in it."
Miss Brown unscrewed her fountain pen and
wrote this note:
111
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Adams:
Today I used an audiometer in Miss Mason's
class. I find that John is having trouble with his
hearing. I hope you will take him to an ear doctor
and have him examined. It may be that the trouble
is very slight. He may only have hardened wax in
the outer passage of his ears. In that case the
doctor can easily remove the trouble. Of course,
only a doctor is skilled enough to do this.
Whatever the cause of John's trouble may be,
I am sure you will want to help him get rid of it.
The ear doctor is the man to do the work. Miss
Mason tells me that John tries to do good work in
school, but he does not seem to hear well some-
times. She is going to put him in a front-row seat.
This will help him a little in class, but the ear
doctor can probably help him a great deal more.
Very truly yours,
Vera T. Brown
School Nurse
"You tuck that in your pocket and take it
home," said Miss Brown. "I think your mother
will be glad to get it."
112
A Talk about Ears
Just then the children came back to their
classroom. Miss Mason unrolled a big chart from
the cupboard and hung it up where everyone
could see what was on it. She pointed to a
large drawing of an ear showing all its parts.
"This chart shows that part of your ear is on
the outside of your head and part of it is on the
inside," she explained. "The outside part is
made to catch sounds. You know how a dog
pricks up his ears and turns them when he wants
to catch a sound better. Have you noticed that
the ears of a horse can be turned to catch sound
from any direction? We cannot move our ears,
so we have to turn our heads when we want to
hear better. Sometimes you have seen a person
put his hand behind his ear to help catch the
sound more clearly.
"The drawing was made to show the little tube
that begins with the hole in the outer ear. The
little tube has hairs and wax in it to trap dust or
anything else that might get into the ear. The
tube leads to the inside of the ear. At the end
of this tube is the eardrum, which is made of
delicate skin stretched tightly across a hollow
space.
"Behind the drum is the middle ear. In it
are three little bones very close together. Be-
hind these bones is the inner ear. The tiny ends
of the nerve of hearing are in the inner ear.
This nerve carries sound messages to the brain."
Miss Mason's pointer went back to the outer
ear as she talked. "Now let us follow the road
which sound takes to bring a message you can
hear. As I speak to you now, your outer ear
catches the sound of my voice. The sound goes
through the tube of your ear and beats against
the drum. Then the eardrum passes the sound
along to the little bones and they carry it to
the inner ear. There the nerve of hearing takes
the sound and flashes it to your brain. All this
happens so fast that you hear my words just
after I speak them."
114
$
Protecting Your Hearing
"Sometimes people cannot hear," said Peggy.
" Yes, that is true," agreed Miss Mason. "Some
people cannot hear because of injury or accident.
Then what do they do?"
"They learn to read lips and that helps them
to know what people are saying," said Ellen.
"Sometimes," said Andy, "they get an electric
battery and a little earphone to carry around
with them. My grandmother has one. She can
hear almost as well as anybody else."
"Yes," said Miss Mason, "the earphone is a
kind of small loudspeaker. It makes sounds
louder so that people who are only partly deaf
can hear. Sometimes people can help their hear-
ing by going to an ear doctor for treatment. But
the best thing to do is to keep from having
trouble if you can. Protect your ears from in-
jury. We are going to find the right ways to
protect our ears. Who knows one thing to do?"
"We can cover up our ears' i^feen' we know
there's going to be a big noise," said Joe.
"Maybe workmen are going to blast a rock on
the road. You should cover up your ears then."
"That is right," said Miss Mason. "Who
knows another way to protect hearing?"
115
"It's a good thing to put a little
plug of cotton in your ears when
you go swimming," said Andy.
:'You ought to wear a cap that
will pull down over your ears when
it is cold," said Ellen.
"Those are all good ways," said Miss Mason.
"I'm going to give you another. In the picture
do you see a passage leading from the inside of
your ear to your throat? That passage is very
important and here is a special way to protect it.
Blow your nose gently, with both nostrils open.
If you do not, you may drive liquid from your
throat into this tube and give yourself a very
sore middle ear. Remember, blow gently with
both sides of your nose open.
"Here is another way to protect your hearing.
Wash your ears with one finger done up in a wet,
soapy washcloth. That's the best way to clean
your ears. Keep any other cleaners out of your
ears. If your ears ache, • or if they 'run/ take
them to the~ ifcrctor."
Miss Brown was packing her bag. She had
written down all the things she had learned
from testing the children's hearing. "Good-
by," she said. "Next time I come perhaps
you can tell me more about the ears."
116
Seeing with the Eyes
One morning Miss Mason said
to the class, "A few weeks ago
each of you had your yearly eye
test. I am glad to tell you that
there is very little business for the eye doctors
here. The eye test shows that people in this
class see very well. Two or three children are
already wearing glasses. But they seem to be
the only ones who need them."
From the cupboard Miss Mason took a large
chart and placed it where everyone could see the
drawing clearly. It showed the parts of the eye.
"This drawing shows you parts that you can-
not see when you look into the eyes of another
person," said Miss Mason.
:'Your eye, like your ear, has some parts in-
side your head and other parts outside," she
explained. "This is the way you see things.
The black spot in your eye is a hole called the
pupil. It lets light into
your eye. Around the hole
are round, colored curtains.
Some of you have blue
curtains, and some of you
have brown ones.
117
"The curtains open and close smoothly, all
by themselves. On bright days they close almost
shut. On dark days the curtains spread. Watch
the eyes of your friends on the next dark, cloudy
day. See how big the pupils of their eyes be-
come. It takes a bigger hole to let in enough
light when the day is dark.
"Behind the curtains and the hole in the round
ball of your eye is a kind of lens. It's something
like this lens, only it is not made of glass." Miss
Mason took a small reading glass from her desk
and held it up in the sunlight.
"See!" she said. "On the card in my other
hand is a spot of light. This glass lens has
caught light and brought it to a small spot on
the card. That is what the living lens does in
your eye. It catches the light and makes a little
picture at the back of the eye.
"Do you remember the nerve of hearing in
your ear? There is also a nerve of seeing in
each eye. The nerve ends feel the light from
the picture on the back wall of your eye and send
messages to the brain. Then you see whatever is
before your eyes."
"Then the eye is rather like a camera, isn't
it?" asked Joe.
"Your eye is very much like a camera," Miss
118
Mason agreed. "You take a picture with a
camera and send it away to be developed. Your
eye takes a picture and sends it to the brain."
"How can we see so much in different direc-
tions without moving our heads?" asked Mary.
"That's a good question," said Miss Mason.
"Let's move our eyeballs slowly up, down, to
the right, and to the left."
"Oh, we can see quite a lot," said Phil, "and
I know how we do it. Six little muscles do the
work. Doctor White told me so."
"You're right, Phil. Six little muscles, each
pulling in its own direction at the proper time,
control the movements of each eyeball."
Wearing Glasses
"I used to squint and frown when I read,"
said Ellen. "Grandmother said I looked as cross
as two sticks. I had headaches, too. So she
took me to the eye doctor. He wrote down an
order for some glasses, and we took it to a man
who makes them. He said I would not have
headaches or look like a cross bear any more."
"That isn't why I wear glasses," said Phil.
"My eyes weren't straight. The muscles of one
of them pulled it in toward my nose. Mother was
afraid I was going to need an operation. She
119
took me to the eye doctor, and he said all I
needed was glasses. He said they would correct
the muscles of my eyes."
"Do you wear your glasses all the time?"
asked Miss Mason.
"Yes," Phil answered, "except when I'm in
bed or having a bath."
"That's the way to do it," said Miss Mason.
"If you are training eye muscles, you have to
keep at it. They'll get lazy if you give them a
chance. But if you wear your glasses all the
time, your eye muscles will do their work well."
Miss Mason turned to Ellen. "How do you
take care of your glasses?" she asked.
"I wash them with soap and warm water when
I wash my face in the morning," said Ellen.
"I dry them on a clean handkerchief."
"How do you lay your glasses down when you
take them off?" asked Miss Mason.
"The eye doctor told me to be sure to set them
up on their rims. If I lay them down flat, he
says, I'll get the glass scratched."
"Of course, he is right," said Miss Mason.
Taking Care of Your Sight
"Now I should like to have you tell me some
things about taking care of your eyes," said
Miss Mason. "Good sight is a part of good
health. Who knows one thing to remember?"
"The sun is sometimes too bright for our eyes,"
said Ruth. "We ought to wear dark glasses
when we take sun baths and when we go to the
beach on sunny days."
"That is true," Miss Mason agreed. :'You
remember we said it was a good thing to protect
our ears from too loud noises. We want to pro-
tect our eyes from too bright light."
121
"We should read in good, steady light/' said
Ellen. "Once when our light went out in a
thunderstorm, I tried to read by candlelight.
The flame jumped and wiggled so that it hurt
my eyes."
"Good, steady light is important," said Miss
Mason. "If the light is dim so that you have to
squint to see the letters, stop reading. Wait till
tomorrow, or ask your mother if you may screw
a new bright bulb into the reading lamp. If you
are right-handed, be sure to have the light fall
over your left shoulder when you write."
"We have to be careful not to get things in
our eyes," said Joe.
"That's right," said Miss Mason, smiling. "If
you get a cinder or a small bug in your eye, the
best thing to do is to rub the other eye gently.
This may start your tears flowing, and the tears
may wash out the cinder. Another good thing to
do is to blow your nose gently. That may help to
start the tears. You may need to have a grown-
up person take the cinder out of your eye."
"My eye doctor says we ought to rest our eyes
now and then when we are reading," said Ellen.
"He says we can shut our eyes for a minute, or
we can look out the window at something far
away."
122
"That is a good idea," said Miss Mason.
"Suppose you all think over what we have said.
Tomorrow we shall see how many good rules you
can make for taking care of your eyes. A class
with such good eyes wants to keep them safe
and ready for use."
t
Three More Senses
Hearing and seeing are very important senses.
They teach us many things about the world we
live in and they help us to live safely. But we
have other senses that help us, too. Touch is
one of them. Taste and smell also help us.
That makes five senses in all.
Miss Mason's class was talking one morning
about the five senses. The children had already
learned how their ears and eyes carried messages.
Now they wanted to know more about touch,
taste, and smell.
Learning by Touch
"Which do you think teaches us most?" asked
Miss Mason. "Is it touch, taste, or smell?"
Andy said he thought touch was most im-
portant, because blind people used it in learning
to read their books with raised letters. Jane
123
told the class how her sister was learning to
typewrite by the touch system, which is faster
than typing by looking at the keys.
"Touch is the sense that tells us whether
things are hot or cold," said Mary.
"It tells us the difference between things that
are rough and those that are smooth," said Joe.
"We can tell by touch whether things are wet
or dry, hard or soft," added Phil.
"Then touch is an important sense," said Miss
Mason. "Touch is something like seeing and
hearing. It helps us to learn, and it gives us
pleasure. Think of the things you like to touch."
"I like to touch my dog's coat," said Ruth,
"because it is so soft and thick."
Everybody laughed at Johnny because he said
he liked to touch sandpaper.
Ellen said she liked the feel of talcum powder
and of flour.
124
Different Smells
"What do you like to smell?" asked Miss
Mason.
The answers came thick and fast: flowers,
perfume, dinner cooking, new boards piled in
the lumber yard, the salty sea, wood smoke,
Grandmother's cooky jar.
Then Miss Mason asked how the sense of smell
protects us.
Andy said people might discover that the
house was on fire because they smelled smoke.
Phil said somebody might smell gas and know
there was a leak in the kitchen range.
"Sometimes Mother gets busy and forgets
about the dinner cooking," said Mary. "All at
once she says, 'Oh, I smell the carrots boiling
dry.' She runs and grabs them off the stove
just in time."
Joe thought that dogs could smell better than
people, because they follow trails for miles and
miles, just smelling their way.
Good to Taste
When the group began to talk about the sense
of taste, each one thought of the things he liked
to eat. Ellen said she was learning to like the
taste of a new vegetable, because she found okra
in the soup at her grandmother's house.
:'The best cooks know how to put different
foods together with the right flavors," said Miss
Mason. "They test each food by tasting it.
When a cook tastes the soup, he may decide
that it needs another tomato or onion or a pinch
of salt."
Phil thought that tasting and smelling were
connected in some way. When he had a bad
cold, he did not notice the smell of onions that
were being cooked for supper. When he ate the
onions they did not seem to have as much taste
as usual.
i
X
Miss Mason said, "It is true that taste and
smell are closely connected. One does not al-
ways realize which is which. When a cold keeps
you from smelling things easily, they seem to
have less taste, too.
"If I should blindfold you and clamp a clothes-
pin on your nose, I could put a drop of vanilla
on your tongue and you would not know it by the
taste. You recognize vanilla flavor partly by the
smell," she explained.
"The sense of taste must be very delicate,"
said Mary. "Mother told us that one of the
reasons we do not eat sweet things just before a
meal is because they keep us from enjoying the
taste of meat, vegetables, and bread."
"Then we need to take good care of the
senses of touch, smell, and taste," said Miss
Mason. "They bring us important messages and
we need to keep these senses ready for use."
127
Thinking and Talking Together
Discuss the ways in which you receive messages
from the outside world.
Name ways in which your eyes bring you informa-
tion and pleasure.
What are some of the interesting things you would
miss if you could not hear?
How are you helped by the senses of touch, taste,
and smell?
How can you find out whether you need glasses?
How can you have your hearing tested?
Doing Things
Describe the eye and the way in which you see,
illustrating your talk with a reading glass, a camera,
or a blackboard drawing.
Describe the way in which you hear, illustrating
your talk with a simple drawing of the ear.
If you have not had your vision and your hearing
tested during this school year, ask your teacher if
arrangements can be made for you to be tested.
128
Make up and play some games which test the
senses. These are just suggestions. Perhaps you
can think of better ones.
1. All players except one cover their eyes. The
one who can see taps with a table knife upon differ-
ent materials. The listeners guess what kind of
materials are tapped.
2. Blindfolded players smell different odors to see
which ones they can name.
3. Players with eyes covered and nostrils closed
taste different foods and liquids to see how many
they can name. If the players do not name the
food correctly, let them taste it with the nostrils
open but with the eyes still closed. What do the
players learn from this game?
Make a blackboard record of "Physical Defects
Corrected." It should show corrections of defects
of the eyes and the ears. This record, as well as the
"Dental Record" you made for Unit VII, should
report on the class as a group. Do not use the
names of boys and girls.
Make a list of ways in which you can take good
care of your eyes.
129
Test Yourself
Copy each sentence and write the correct word
from the list below in the blank space. Do not
write in this book.
1. A machine for measuring one's hearing is called
an - — .
2. Listening to an audiometer is something like
listening to a - — .
3. The eye works much as a - - works.
4. The part of the eye which is somewhat like a
reading-glass is the - — .
5. The outer ear is like a shell that catches — .
6. The nerve of hearing carries - to the brain.
7. The delicate skin stretched across a hollow space
in the ear is called the - — .
8. The nerve of hearing starts from the - ear.
9. Our eyes and ears help us - - messages.
10. A doctor's - - may find - - of the eyes and
ears.
inner
audiometer
defects
phonograph
messages
examination
lens
camera
receive
sound
eardrum
w>
UNIT IX
e
School Plans for Safety
Safety is something you help plan for yourselves.
It is a partnership business between you and the
grown-ups. Grown-ups make some of the rules for
safety and you make others.
Both you and the grown-ups need to do a good
and careful job. Everybody must do his best in
order to keep the week safe from Sunday to Sun-
day, fifty-two times a year.
Keeping Safe from Fire
One thing the school does for your safety is
to have fire drills from time to time. You can
see that it is very important to get out of the
building as quickly as possible in an orderly way.
Then if there should be a real fire, everyone
would be safe, and the firemen would have room
to work. You can do your part by going through
fire drills quietly and carefully, no matter how
many times you have to do it. You will be glad
of all these practice fire drills if there ever is a
real fire.
Here is the story of a fire drill. Have you
ever been in a drill like this? Do you know the
right things to do?
A Fire Drill at School
"Br-r-ring, br-r-ring - - br-r-ring, br-r-ring!"
the fire drill bell rang in the ears of the fourth-
grade class. Miss Mason watched the group and
saw that she did not need to give any orders.
Every child put his work away and sat waiting
quietly.
Three boys sprang quickly from their seats and
133
closed every window. Phil Drake, the fire
captain for the class, looked quickly around the
room to be sure that everyone was ready. Miss
Mason was standing at the door and gave the
signal to march.
The children formed two double lines and
walked quietly from the room. They all knew
exactly what to do because they had practiced
fire drill many times before. Phil swung in be-
side Miss Mason at the end of the line.
The school building had fireproof halls and
stairways. It was quite safe to use the broad
halls and stairs in fire drill. There was no need
to climb to the fire escapes outside the windows.
From every room in the building rows of orderly
children quietly poured out.
Everyone knew just where to go. The fourth-
grade class marched silently to its corner of the
schoolyard. Nobody talked. Everybody waited
there for orders. In a minute there would be
another bell. Then Miss Mason would give the
signal to return and they would all march back
in again.
Phil made a right-wheel turn and faced front.
He waited as usual, ready to give the signal to
march back. Suddenly his eyes opened wider.
Up the street came the scream of the fire siren.
134
The hook and ladder truck was coming fast.
Every child was sure the schoolhouse was on
fire. As they watched breathlessly, the fire en-
gine went past the school and turned the corner.
Teachers and children together gave a sigh and
relaxed. They marched back into the building
in good order.
Talking with the Fireman
Just as Miss Mason's class was getting settled
for work, there was a knock at the door. In
came the principal, Mr. Jones, with one of the
rubber-coated firemen.
"We were watching the fire drill," said the
principal. "This is Mr. Richards, who is going
to talk with you about protection from fire. We
are getting ready for a special Safety Week and
the firemen are visiting all the classes."
"You are lucky children to be in this school,"
Mr. Richards began. "The halls and stairways
of your building are fireproof. This means that
you probably will never have to climb out the
windows and take to the fire escapes. The build-
ing has a fireproof roof so it will not catch fire
from stray sparks from a chimney.
"The town has a good water system and there
is a fire hydrant in front of your school where
135
we can attach a big hose-line quickly. You have
several fire extinguishers in this building. It is
well equipped.
"The janitor is very careful to clear the base-
ment of waste paper. He keeps the oily cleaning
materials in metal boxes, and he leaves no
rubbish piles to catch fire. A man has looked
over your furnace rooms with the greatest care.
He is sure that the furnace will not blow up, or
leak, or do anything that might cause trouble.
"Fire is both a good and a bad thing," said
Mr. Richards. "We can't get along without
fire. It warms us in winter, and it cooks our
meat and potatoes. But we must keep it in
stoves and furnaces where it belongs. I have
been telling you what the town and the janitor
do to protect you from fire here at school. What
do you do to protect yourselves?"
"We pick up scrap paper," said Phil, "and
drop it into the metal wastebaskets. We pick up
any rubbish we find in the schoolyard and put
it into the rubbish cans."
"We have all promised never to carry
matches," said Joe.
"Do you know what to do," asked Mr.
Richards, "if somebody's clothes catch on fire?"
"It is best to roll him in a rug or a blanket,"
136
answered Mary. "That's what my boy scout
brother says."
"He is right/' said Mr. Richards. "The thing
to do is to smother out the fire. If a person's
clothes catch fire, he is frightened and excited.
He often wants to run. You must always stop
him. Running will fan the flame and make it burn
brighter. Get the person to lie down. Then
smother out the fire with blankets, pillows, rugs,
coats, or anything heavy and thick.
"There's one more thing I want to say," said
Mr. Richards, looking around the room. "I
don't think that any bad fire would ever have a
chance to get started in this building. You are
well protected here. But I want you to know
137
how to get out of a smoke-filled room. Do you
know how to do that?"
There were no answers.
"Remember what I tell you. If you are ever in
a fire, drop on all fours, or crawl flat on your
stomachs. The smoke will not be so thick next
to the floor, and you can breathe better. If
you can't get out the door, crawl to a window
and open it. Put your head out the window into
the fresh air, and wait there for help. In a
minute or two someone will see you and a fire-
man will come along with a ladder to get you."
Mr. Richards turned to say good-by to Mr.
Jones. "If you are going to make a speech,"
he said to the principal, "you will find these
girls and boys are all good listeners."
Ready for Safety Week
"I'm not going to make a speech," said Mr.
Jones. "But I am going to ask a few more
questions." He turned to the children. "Next
month we are going to have Safety Week for the
whole city. This doesn't mean that we are going
to be safe for one week and then do anything we
please for the rest of the year. We are going to
do everything we can in Safety Week to teach
138
people how to be safe all the time. We want
to teach everybody how to be safe in that week
and all the other weeks. Here is my first ques-
tion. What do you do for safety here at school?
You told Mr. Richards how you keep safe from
fire. Tell me how you keep safe in other ways."
"Do you mean the safety rules we have on the
playground?" asked Andy.
"I want to know how you keep safe on the
playground and everywhere else at school/' said
Mr. Jones.
"On the playground at recess time we don't
have big boys and girls out playing with the
little ones," said Andy. "The little ones play
on one side of the yard and the big ones on the
other. Then big boys don't bump into little
boys and knock them down."
"We are careful to have ball games and races
away from the swings and slide," said Johnny.
"When we are inside the building we walk
quietly in the halls and on the stairs," said
Mary. "Then nobody falls down and gets hurt."
"When we drink water at the bubbler," said
Ellen, "we let the stream of water spurt into
our mouths. We never put our lips down over
the bubblers. If we have a cold, we do not
want other people to get our germs."
"I am glad to hear about your safety habits,"
said the principal. "This class has learned to be
careful and safe. I knew that as I watched you
marching out today when the fire alarm rang."
"If some accident should happen and some-
body does get hurt, Miss Mason has a first-aid
kit," said Ruth. "She fixes us up with iodine and
bandages until the school nurse comes."
"Since you have a good safety program here,"
said the principal, "can't you do something for
our town? Can you think of something you
might do for Safety Week? Try to think of a
way to help other people learn to be safer."
140
Planning a Marionette Play
Mary's hand bobbed up. " I've already thought
of something," she said. "I thought about it
as soon as you told us about Safety Week. If
the rest of the class like this idea, we can have
some fun, and it will be a good thing for Safety
Week, too."
"All right, let's hear about it," said the prin-
cipal.
"My brother is a boy scout, and knows how to
make marionettes. I know how to work them, and
so do Ellen and Joe, because they've been at my
house and helped my brother. We could make
up a marionette play and give it here at school."
"That is a good idea," Ellen joined in. "We
could make it about safety at home. The play
would tell about stepladders, cellar stairs, and
other things. Mary's brother might have to
make most of the marionettes, but we could have
a committee to help him, and another one to
write the play. Could you come to see it, Mr.
Jones?"
The principal laughed. "A safety play will
be a good thing for your fathers and mothers to
see. Yes, indeed, I'll come. Good luck with
your play! "
141
Here is the play the children made about safety
at home. See what you think of the safety
rules it teaches. Is there good fun in the play?
Does it help you remember ways to keep safe?
The Timothy Topplers
or
Safety at Home
The scene is in the Topplers' living room. Mr. and
Mrs. Timothy Toppler are seated. Their son, Tommy
Toppler, is entering with a stepladder.
MRS. TOPPLER: Look, my dear, Tommy has
brought in the stepladder. Won't you please
climb up and get the big dictionary for me?
MR. TOPPLER: Of course I will. (He starts to
climb the ladder. The first step breaks loose and
he falls down. He gets up, rubbing his knee.}
There! I should have put some nails in the
stepladder. I knew that bottom step was loose.
MRS. TOPPLER: Tommy, dear, run over to Mr.
and Mrs. Steadyman's house next door and ask
if we may borrow their stepladder. (Tommy
runs off stage.)
MR. TOPPLER: While he is gone, I'll just go down
cellar and get the hammer. (Mr. Toppler goes
out through another door. There is a loud bump-
ing noise. Mr. Toppler comes back, rubbing his
head.) My dear, I should have remembered to
get a new light bulb for the cellar stairs. I fell
down in the dark.
142
TOMMY: (He stops at the door.) Here's the Steady-
mans' stepladder. Do you want me to bring
it in?
MRS. TOPPLER: Not now, Tommy. Run back to
Mrs. Steadyman's and borrow a new light bulb
for the cellar stairs. (She turns to Mr. Toppler.)
Did you get the hammer?
MR. TOPPLER: Oh, no, I forgot. I'll go back for
it, now. (He stumbles over something in the
middle of the floor and falls down.)
MRS. TOPPLER: Mercy! I forgot to pick up the
baby's toys when he went to bed. Are you
hurt, my dear? (Mr. Toppler gets up, slips on
a rug, and falls down again.}
TOMMY: (He stands at the door.) Here's the light
bulb and here's the stepladder. Shall I bring
them in?
MRS. TOPPLER: Not now, Tommy. Run back to
Mrs. Steadyman's and borrow the iodine and
143
i I
some bandages. I'm afraid your father needs
a little patching up. And ask for some of the
rubber rings she sews on her rugs to keep them
from slipping.
MR. TOPPLER: I smell smoke! (Clouds of smoke
come pouring down from above.}
MRS. TOPPLER: Oh, dear! The pile of cleaning
rags I left in the attic must have caught fire!
TOMMY: (He is at the door again.) I brought back
the iodine, the bandages, the rubber rings, the
stepladder, and the light bulb. Shall I bring
them all in?
MRS. TOPPLER: Not now, Tommy. Run back to
Mrs. Steadyman's and borrow a fire extinguisher
and ask her if she will please telephone the fire
department.
BABY TOPPLER: (Two years old. He comes and
sits down in the middle of the floor. He has a
box marked "RAT POISON79 and another marked
"MATCHES.") See! See pretty box!
144
MRS. TOPPLER: Why, you naughty boy! Don't
you know you mustn't play with poison and
matches? He must have found them on that
low shelf. (She takes the boxes away.)
TOMMY: (Outside there is a sound of the fire siren
and water swishing. Tommy comes to the door.)
The fire is out. Now do you want the step-
ladder, the light bulb, the iodine, and the rubber
rings? Mr. and Mrs. Steadyman are here.
Shall I bring them in?
MRS. TOPPLER: Oh, do bring in Mr. and Mrs.
Steadyman. I want to borrow some of their
ways of keeping safe. (Mr. and Mrs. Steadyman
come in. They are very neat and trim.) We are
so glad to see you, Mrs. Steadyman. We want
to learn why you are so lucky. You never
have any accidents at your house. We have
so many that I'm always running out of iodine
and bandages!
145
MRS. STEADYMAN: I'll be glad to tell you how we
keep safe. For one thing we collect all our rub-
bish and burn it in a metal can in the back
yard. We keep our attic and our cellar and our
garage clean and clear of rubbish.
MRS. TOPPLER: Well, that's an idea! I'm glad
to hear about that!
MRS. STEADYMAN: I keep poison and any strong
medicine away from the baby. I keep them in
a high, locked cupboard.
MRS. TOPPLER: I'll have my husband build me
one tomorrow.
MRS. STEADYMAN: Perhaps you had better have
him fix the stepladder first. Be sure you have
lights on the cellar stairs and in any dark halls.
I have brought you some non-skid rubber rings
to sew on your rugs. You might save yourself
some falls, too, if you help the baby pick up
his toys before he goes to bed.
MRS. TOPPLER: These seem very good ideas, I am
sure.
MRS. STEADYMAN: We keep fire extinguishers up-
stairs, downstairs, and in the garage. We re-
place our old electric-light cords with new ones
as soon as they begin to wear. We do not
wait for them to hiss with a short circuit.
MRS. TOPPLER: I can begin to see that we have
to do something about safety if we want to be
safe.
MRS. STEADYMAN: Safety is not luck. Safety
comes from planning the right way to keep
safe.
146
MRS. TOPPLER: Perhaps our house needs a check-
up. How do you happen to know so much
about safety, Mrs. Steadyman?
MRS. STEADYMAN: I belong to a safety commit-
tee. I have studied rules for safety. The
mayor is sending me around to tell people
about Safety Week.
MR. STEADYMAN: She has learned the rules
So she can speak
To folks in town
For Safety Week.
(All this time Mr. Toppler has been rubbing his
bruises. But he gets up and joins the others in
a round dance.)
ALL THE TOPPLERS: (Singing as they dance)
We'll learn the rules,
Then we can speak
To folks in town
For Safety Week.
*~r~^^««^^
: / /
/ / /; id
Thinking and Talking Together
With your teacher, talk over your last fire drill
at school. Are there any ways in which it can be
improved? If you decide you should improve it,
practice the better way.
If, in any case, you should find that you can-
not get through a passageway which you have al-
ways used, what would you do? In one class, the
leaders of the class stopped and raised their arms
straight above their heads when they found a pas-
sage blocked. All the children behind "followed the
leader," standing still with arms raised until their
teacher directed them to take another way out of
the building. There was no noise and no crowding.
Would this help in case of a real fire?
Talk about keeping safe in the country and on
farms. What do you know about accidents in the
handling of farm machines and domestic animals?
Discuss plans for your own Safety Week. In
making plans, think about the particular safety rules
your class, your school, and your home need to learn
or practice better. Perhaps you would like to give
a marionette show or write and present a play.
148
Doing Things
Try to arrange a visit to a fire station. Remem-
ber your courteous letter of request addressed to an
official of the Fire Department, and your letter of
appreciation after you have made the trip.
Learn the location of the fire-alarm box nearest
your school and nearest your home. Learn how,
when, and by whom these should be used.
If you live in the country, learn how a fire alarm
is given in your neighborhood.
Study a telephone directory to see how to give a
fire alarm over the telephone.
Decide and tell the class what you would do if
you should discover a fire when there is no older
person near to sound the alarm. Remember to give
the exact location of the fire.
Check up on your school building and school-
grounds. If there are any really unsafe places, talk
with your teacher or your principal about them.
149
Draw a good-sized outline map of your neighbor-
hood, village, or city. On it outline the safe places
to play. Color the parks and playgrounds green;
the safe swimming places blue; and the places safe
for ice-skating orange.
On your outline map, draw in yellow the safest
route from your home to your school building.
Discuss accidents that you have heard about in
your community. On your outline map mark with
red the street corners or other places where there is
the greatest danger of accident.
Test Yourself
Answer each question with yes or no. Do not
write in this book.
1. When a fire alarm has sounded, should you run
out of the building?
2. Is it safe to annoy animals?
3. Do stairways make good places for storage?
4. Should a young child be taught to put his play-
things away?
5. Should poisons be labeled?
UNIT X
Safety Everywhere
You will play the safety game best if you know
the rules well. There is an old saying, "Forewarned
is forearmed." This saying means simply that know-
ing what dangers are around you helps to keep you
out of them.
Everybody should learn the safety rules and the
reasons for them. When he has learned them, he
should obey them.
fes^l
... >
m
y
Stories about Safety
"If we are to keep safe, we have to learn many
safety rules to follow in other places besides our
school and homes," said Miss Mason the day
after the marionette play.
The children decided that each would write a
safety story. In that way they would get all the
different rules for safety together. Miss Mason
helped them choose good topics and she helped
each child correct mistakes. Here are some of
the best of the stories.
Fun and Safety at the Beach
BY PEGGY
I am glad that I have learned to swim because
now I am safer at the beach. And besides being
safer I have much more fun. I used to have to
sit at the edge of the water with all the little
children and just let the water come lapping up
around me. Now I can go out where it is deeper.
I can wade out to water that is about as high as
my waist. Then I start to swim.
I swim along the line of the beach. I never
head out into deep water. I always stay where
I can touch bottom with my feet. But before I
even start to wade out, I go to see if the life
guard is there. He knows me. He says, "Hello,
Peggy, the sea is as calm as bath water today.
You can swim like an eel." Sometimes he says,
"The water has a grouch today. It is dashing up,
trying to take angry bites out of the shore.
Stay on the sand today. The undertow is bad."
Then I make sand castles high up on the
beach. The undertow is a dragging pull of the
water that sucks the sand from under your feet
and your feet from under you. There is not
always an undertow. The guard will tell you
whether there is danger or not.
Now that I can swim, I can go out in boats.
You must always know how to swim before you
get into a boat. We carry lifebelts in our boat,
too. Even if you can swim, lifebelts make things
safer. They help to hold you up in the water
and make it easier for you to swim. In a boat I
always sit quietly and don't wiggle. I don't
want to tip the boat.
154
When we first go to the beach in the summer,
we stay out in the sun for only a little while at a
time. Mother watches us to see if we are getting
pink. We do not want to get sunburned. After
several days we begin to get brown. When we
are good and brown, we can stay in the sun al-
most all day long. The sun is good for us if we
don't get too much. By fall we are almost the
color of doughnuts.
Safety on the Street
BY GEORGE
I went to see my friend, Bill Donovan, before
I wrote this. He is the traffic cop at Fourteenth
and Chestnut Streets. I asked him how to write
about safety on the street. He said he thought
I already knew the rules.
He asked me what I did when I got to a street
corner. I told him that, if he was there, I
waited until he waved to me to cross. He asked
what I did when he was not there. I said I
watched the light and I waited for the light to
be red and yellow. Then I looked up and down
before I crossed the street.
Bill wanted to know what I did if there wasn't
any policeman, and there wasn't any light. I
said I looked both ways for cars. I waited until
155
there were no cars coming either way. Then I
crossed the street. He asked how fast I went.
I said that I walked, because I might stub my
toe and fall down if I ran.
Then he said, "Suppose you see Joe across the
street kitty-cornered from you. If Joe yelled to
you to come on over, what would you do?"
I said that I would walk across to one corner
and then walk across to the other. I would walk
on two sides of the square. I would never cut
through the middle by walking kitty-corner across
streets. I told Bill that I always cross the street
at corners. I never cross in the middle of the
block. I told him I always picked out quiet
streets to walk on if I could.
He asked what I'd do if we were playing ball
on the vacant lot. He said, "What would you
156
do if you were catching and Joe pitched a wild
ball that rolled into the street?"
I said that I would watch and wait on the
sidewalk until there were no cars coming either
way. Then I'd walk over and get the ball. I'd
wait and watch before I came back across the
street, too.
Then Bill smiled and said I didn't need to be
told how to write about safety on the street.
He asked me why I didn't go home and write
about it. So I did.
Safety on the Bus
BY ELLEN
My grandfather says the different states in
our country have different laws about school
buses. Some states do not allow cars to pass a
157
school bus that is loading or unloading children.
All the cars behind the bus have to line up and
wait until the bus starts on again. This gives the
children the best chance to get to the sidewalk
safely.
I think it would be a good thing to have a law
like this everywhere. In our city, we are pretty
careful. At school we have a traffic squad for
the bus. Four boys on each bus wear white Sam
Browne belts. Whenever the bus stops to take
on more children, one of these boys gets off. He
stands on the edge of the sidewalk to see that
none of the children step out into the street.
He sees that the children get on the bus safely.
When the bus gets to school, these boys are
traffic cops again. They see that no child runs
out into the street and that all the children go
safely into the schoolyard.
My grandfather did not go to school in a bus.
He went in a big wagon with lots of seats.
There were horses hitched to the wagon, and
there was a man to drive the horses. They
called the wagon the "kid cart." My grand-
father did not have to worry about being run
over by automobiles. All he had to worry
about was not falling out of the wagon when
they drove over a bump.
158
Our bus driver came into school the first of
the year and made a speech. He told us we
could help him keep our bus safe. He said we
should sit quietly and behave well in the bus.
Then he could hear horns and pay good atten-
tion to traffic signals. He said that if we sang and
yelled, he couldn't pay attention -to his driving.
We promised him that we would keep hands
and heads inside the bus when we were going.
He said that our part was to sit quietly in our
own seats, and his part was to watch traffic and
drive carefully. If we worked together, we would
all come through the year safely. I know we are
going to keep the safety rules.
/
/ Like Dogs
BY JOE
Lots of other fourth graders will write about
traffic lights and crossings. I thought I would
write about some other ways to keep safe in the
streets. I thought I would write mostly about
dogs. I like dogs and I think they should be
treated right. Lots of people don't seem to know
that a dog has a lot of self-respect. Lots of
people don't seem to know that boys and girls
have some self-respect, too.
These people are always going along and pat-
ting children on the head. They say, "How are
you this morning, Sonny?" And you have to be
polite and answer them like a gentleman. These
people treat dogs the same way. They go around
patting them on the head. Dogs don't have to
be polite and answer like gentlemen. Sometimes
they bite.
I don't know that I blame the dog. A dog
likes to go along about his business. He proba-
bly gets all the pats on the head and ear-
scratchings he wants at home. If you leave a
dog alone, he'll leave you alone. If more people
remembered that, there would not be many dog
bites in the street.
160
Sometimes a dog barks and barks at you when
you go past a house. Just don't pay any atten-
tion to him. Go along walking steadily. Pretty
soon the dog will know you are all right, and he
will stop barking.
Sometimes a dog will run out of his dooryard
and follow you. He will sniff at your heels and
trot along behind you. Just keep going along,
walking as if you didn't know there was a dog in
the world. He will find out before long that
there is nothing funny about you. And he will go
back into his yard and sit down. You can keep
on going to the store on your errand and nobody
will get hurt.
I like dogs. I tend to my business, and they
tend to theirs. Some day I am going to have a
dog. I will pat him on the head, and he will like
it. But I don't pat other people's dogs, because
they may not like it.
Safety in the Winter
BY RUTH
Our city sets aside streets for coasting in the
winter. We can scoot on our sleds and even ski
on those streets and be safe. There are signs
which say that automobiles must not drive across
them or up and down them.
161
We live on one of those streets. Phil and I
slide in the snow until bedtime. When we go to
bed and open our windows we can hear the
older boys and girls still sliding. Sometimes a
whole big double sled full of boys and girls zips
down the hill. They are all singing. I like to
hear them.
In our city we know we can slide and be safe.
We do not have any coasting accidents. Of
course, sometimes somebody gets a spill off a
sled. But nobody ever gets badly hurt.
At the ponds in our city a policeman tests the
ice. He waits until he is sure it is thick enough
before he lets boys and girls skate. If warm
weather comes and melts some of the ice, he
won't let us skate until it freezes hard again. So
nobody falls through the ice and gets wet.
At our house in icy weather we scatter salt or
ashes on our walks and steps. Then nobody
takes a skid or sits down hard at our front door.
162
Once on a cold winter afternoon I stayed out
too long and my nose started to freeze. Phil
told me to hold my hand over it and warm it
slowly with my breath. It was all thawed out
and pink again by the time we got home.
One way to keep safe in winter is to wear
enough clothes when you are outdoors. You
don't have to be bundled up so that you look
like a sausage. If you can have one of those
coverall ski suits with a zipper, it will keep you
warm. In very cold weather it is a good thing
to wear woolen stockings, woolen jackets, and a
woolen cap that comes down over your ears.
Wool is good for winter because it holds the
warm air from your body in little air pockets.
If you wear wool outdoors in cold weather, you
are not likely to chill and catch cold.
Of course, you must take off heavy outdoor
wraps and rubbers when you come into the warm
house. If your clothes are wet, you must take
them off and dry them. Paying attention to
your clothes is one of the best ways to keep
safe in winter.
Riding Bicycles
BY JOHNNY
Boys and girls on bicycles are a good deal like
drivers of automobiles. They must obey the
traffic rules of the city. Bicycles must keep to
the right. They must keep next to the curb.
They must stop for red lights and go on green
ones. They must have a headlight and a tail-
light turned on at night.
If a boy on a bicycle wants to turn left in
traffic, he gets off and walks his bike across
the street. Suppose he is coming along on
Chestnut Street and wants to turn left on Four-
teenth. He keeps next to the right-hand curb on
Chestnut. He waits at the corner until Bill
Donovan, the traffic cop, says that foot traffic
may cross. Then he walks his bike straight
across Chestnut Street. He waits at the corner
until Bill says foot traffic may cross Fourteenth
Street. He walks his bike across to the right-
hand curb of Fourteenth. Then he gets on
again and rides along with the automobiles.
A bike must have a good brake. It is not
safe to take anybody on the handlebars. I
know a messenger boy who keeps these rules,
and he never has had an accident.
164
Safety on a Hike
BY ANDY
One of the first things to keep safe when you
are hiking is your drinking water. On marked
trails and at crossroads there are sometimes
signs. "Safe Drinking Water at This Spring,"
the sign will say. Then it is safe to fill your
water bottle. If you can't find any sign, you
may find a brook or a pond. This water may
not be safe and you must boil it before you
drink it. Boil it for several minutes. Then it
will be safe to drink.
When a crowd goes on a hike, there should be
a grown-up person along with a first-aid kit. In
the kit there will be iodine and bandages for use
if anybody gets a knee skinned or cut.
Hikers should know about snakes. There are
not many poisonous snakes. The copperhead, the
rattler, the water moccasin, and the coral snake
are the only poisonous ones in our country. You
can see big colored pictures of them in museums.
It is a good thing to know the dangerous snakes.
Then you don't need to be afraid of the harmless
snakes. When people have to go into places
where there are rattlesnakes, they should wear
thick leather puttees and heavy shoes or high
165
leather boots. Then they are pretty safe. Rat-
tlers nearly always bite feet and legs.
Everybody will tell you that you must put out
campfires. I don't need to say anything about
that. But maybe everybody will not think about
picking mushrooms. Many kinds of mushrooms
will poison you, if you eat them. My father says
the only safe place to pick mushrooms is in the
store. Not many people know enough about
mushrooms to gather them in the woods.
If you are hiking, stay with the crowd. Then
you won't get lost. But if you do get lost, you
have to keep your wits. I knew a boy who got
lost on a mountain. He wasn't old enough to be
a boy scout. But he knew some of the scout
rules. He knew that he must look for a brook.
He finally found one. He knew that the brook
would be running down the mountain. So he fol-
lowed the brook down and came out to a house.
It's a good thing to know what poison ivy looks
like, too, before you go on a hike. Poison ivy is
very pretty. It is a vine with three shiny leaves.
In the fall it is a bright red. Somebody is al-
ways wanting to pick it for a bouquet. Then
somebody itches and burns for days afterwards.
If you are not sure what poison ivy looks like,
keep away from three-leaved plants.
166
•
Doing Things and Checking Yourself
Make a safety check-list. Put your name on a
clean page of your notebook. Use the title of each
story about safety as a heading. Under the heading
write each habit mentioned in the story. Make
"Yes" and "No" columns. When you have com-
pleted your check-list, fill it out honestly for your-
self. If you do the right thing, make a check-mark
under "Yes." If you have not formed the habit,
check "No." Work for self-improvement. Your
check-list should look like this:
Check-list for Safety Everywhere
Peggy Peters
Nov. 15 June 15
Yes
No
Yes
No
Fun and safety at the beach
I can swim
V
V
I swim along the line of the beach
V
V
(Others)
Safety on the street
I wait for the "Go" signal
V
\/
I wait until no cars are coming
V
V
(Others)
167
Plan a safety program to which your parents may
be invited. A marionette play like "The Timothy
Topplers," a safety play written by yourselves, or
dramatizations of the stories in Unit X would make
a good program. Perhaps your Parent-Teacher As-
sociation would like you to give the play for them.
Write these safety slogans on the blackboard with
all spaces filled. Where have you seen these signs?
1. Stop, Look, and - — !
2. Safety - -!
3. Dangerous curve - — !
4. Watch your -
5. Make it a - - Fourth of July.
6. Keep to the - -!
7. Thin ice! Don't - - here!
For each word in column I find the word in col-
umn II that has the opposite meaning.
I II
stop pedestrian
safety zone exit
entrance danger zone
violate go
motorist obey
UNIT XI
•
Ways to Grow Strong
When you are in a parade, the way you march
tells people many things about you. Fine posture
will tell everyone who sees you that you have formed
good habits of sitting, standing, and walking; that
you have sound bones and strong muscles; that you
eat good foods to build your body.
Good posture shows that your shoes and other
clothing are well-fitting but loose enough to allow
for free movement. It shows that you have plenty
of rest and sleep as well as work and play. Alto-
gether, your posture tells people a great deal about
the kind of person you are.
Ready for \Vork
For the second time in the year the seats and
desks were being adjusted to fit each child. Miss
Clive, the games teacher, had come with Mr.
Hodge, the janitor. She went around the room,
looking carefully at the way each pupil sat at
his desk.
"Please sit back in your seats as far as you
can," said Miss Clive. "Then straighten up
against the back of the seat. Put your feet side
by side flat on the floor. From the knees down
your legs should make a right angle with the seat
of your chair. Then we can tell whether you
have grown so that your seat and desk need to
be raised this time."
Mr. Hodge measured and adjusted desks and
chairs for several pupils who were growing fast.
Sitting Straight
"Now that you are all sitting in chairs that
fit you properly," said Miss Clive, "let's talk
a little about good ways to sit. Will you please
straighten up as you were when we measured the
seats? Sit back as far as you can, and straighten
171
up against the back of the seat. Sit easily and
comfortably.
"In a minute I want you to swing forward as
if you were going to write down what I am say-
ing," she went on. "Swing forward from your
hips. You have a good hinge joint at your hips.
It works like the hinge of a door or the hinge
of the blade of a jackknife. Swing forward
from your hips and keep your backs straight."
Miss Clive drew a picture on the blackboard.
"Who can tell me what this is?" she asked.
"It's a string of empty spools for the baby to
play with," said Ruth.
Miss Clive laughed. "It does look like that.
But I meant it for a picture of the backbone.
Your backbone is rather like a stack of empty
spools with some tough rubbery cushions between
each two spools. Your muscles, the soft parts of
your backs, can swing the backbone about into
all sorts of positions.
"Your muscles are somewhat like you," said
Miss Clive. "They like to get into habits. You
may have a habit of sitting in one particular
chair after supper. You very likely always sit
at the same place at the dinner table. You feel
a little lost if a lot of company comes and you
have to move to the other side of the table.
172
"Muscles like to sit in the same place, too,"
she went on. "So it's a good thing to get them
in the habit of sitting in a good position. Learn
to keep your backbone straight. Can anybody
tell why that is important?"
"We look better if we are straight," said Mary.
"Yes," agreed Miss Clive. "But there's an-
other reason. Straight backs mean strong backs
and straight fronts. They mean plenty of room
to breathe. You need all the room you can get
for breathing. You need room for your heart to
beat and for your stomach to take care of your
lunches. You need straight backbones. Re-
member, bend forward like a hinge, like the
lid of a box, or like the back of a book."
173
"I think this is a pretty good, straight class,"
said Phil, looking around.
"I think so, too," said Miss Clive. "These
good, straight backbones and legs tell me a lot
about you. They tell me that your mothers give
you plenty of milk, whole-wheat bread, eggs,
vegetables, and fruits. They tell me that you
are happy. They tell me that you get about
eleven and a half hours of sleep every night."
A Picture of Your Foot
:'Your backbones tell me some other things,
too," said Miss Clive. "They tell me that you
get a lot of play outdoors, and probably you
wear well-fitting shoes."
"Mother always has the shoe man measure my
feet when I get new shoes," said Ruth.
"The shoe man said I ought to have shoes
longer than my foot," said Ellen. "He said they
should be as much longer as my thumb is wide."
"We ought to wear shoes with a good, straight
line from big toe to heel," said George.
"All those things are good things to know and
to practice when you buy shoes," said Miss
Clive. "Of course, shoes should have broad, flat
heels. Here's a way to tell how shoes ought to
be shaped. When you go home tonight, take off
your shoes and stand in your stockings on a sheet
of paper. Get somebody to take a pencil and run
it around the edge of your foot on the paper.
"Then step off the paper and look at the pic-
ture. Your shoe should be shaped like the outline
of your foot. Draw the outline of your shoe on
another piece of paper. This picture should look
like the first, except that it should be a little
bigger," she added.
"Once I needed some new shoes," said Johnny.
"Mother was busy and couldn't take me to the
store. She made a picture of my foot like that
and sent my big sister with it to the store. She
got some shoes that were just right for me."
"That is a good way to do," said Miss Clive.
175
Marching in a Parade
"Do our backbones tell you anything else
about us?" asked Joe.
"They tell me that you wear comfortable
clothes. Your clothes are warm without being
heavy. They hang on you as easily and com-
fortably as if they were on hangers in the closet.
They do not pinch you anywhere. They fit you
smoothly. I have told you about all your back-
bones have to say to me. Now let's stand up
and give them a stretch."
"Do you want us to stand tall?" asked Andy.
"Stand as tall as you can," said Miss Clive.
"Lift your chests. Hold your chins in. Pull in
your stomachs. Stand easily. Point your toes
straight forward. Now let's have a parade.
Ready, march!"
The children walked past Miss Clive.
"That's fine!" she said. "Now let's try an-
other parade. Think of some people you know
who are straight and trim."
"Bill Donovan stands straighter than any-
body," said George. "He's the officer at Four-
teenth and Chestnut."
"The drum major of the high school band is
straight as a ruler," said Mary.
176
"I saw a strong man at the circus last sum-
mer," said Andy. "Nobody could be much
straighter than he was."
"I can't think of anybody who stands
straighter than you, Miss Clive," said Ellen.
"Thank you," said Miss Clive. "You have
made a good list. Each of you may pretend to
be any one of the people you've talked about.
We'll have another parade, round and round
the room. If Johnny will be a drummer boy at
the end, we'll even pretend we have a drum."
It was a fine parade. It lasted until Miss
Clive had to get ready to go on to another class-
room. "I hope I'll find as straight a class in the
next room," she said.
"Will Joe and George please shut the win-
dows? Who wants to tell me the best ways to
keep backbones straight? "
"We must go to bed early and eat good food,"
said Ellen.
"We must wear shoes shaped like our feet,"
said Joe.
"We should have clothes that feel easy and
light," said Mary.
"Playing outdoors helps a lot," answered Ruth.
"We should remember to bend like a hinge,"
said George.
177
Miss Clive was ready to leave. "Those are
good answers," she called back over her shoulder.
"Next time I come I hope it won't rain. Then
we'll go outdoors and have our Indian dance on
the playground. I'll bring some Indian music
makers. One is a gourd with dried peas in it.
Another is a string of deer hoofs and horns on
a stick. We'll dance to Indian music."
Times for Rest and Sleep
The school bus dropped Ellen Peck at her
door every afternoon at three. Ellen always
unpacked her lunch box first. She rinsed the ther-
mos bottle with cold water and then filled it with
cold water. She set it on the shelf to be washed
in hot, soapy water with the dinner dishes.
178
Sometimes Ellen went out to play catch with
George, next door. Sometimes she lay down on
the couch for a little extra rest. Her grand-
mother believed it was a good thing to rest after
school. "When you rest, Ellen," said Grand-
mother, "you get a little extra chance to grow.
You aren't hopping up and down and wearing
out little bits of you. Your body takes the
chance to mend some of the worn-out bits and
to make some new ones."
The Pecks always had dinner early. Grand-
mother said Ellen ought to have dinner an hour
or more before she went to bed. Usually the
Pecks had dinner at six o'clock. Sometimes
Grandfather could not get away from his office
so early and he would telephone home. Grand-
mother got dinner just as usual, and Ellen ate
179
hers alone at the regular time while Grandmother
talked with her.
Ellen liked it best when Grandfather could get
home on time. Grandfather believed in fun with
meals, and he had many stories to tell. After
dinner, unless Grandfather was very late, Ellen
helped Grandmother with the dishes. Then she
usually read for a while quietly. At half past
seven Ellen went to bed. Nearly always, by that
time, she could hardly hold her eyes open.
Many Kinds of Beds
Ellen and Grandmother were on their way
upstairs. "Just think," said Ellen, "of all the
years and years that boys and girls have been
going to bed. I was thinking about a picture
in my World History. It showed cave men and
cave women and cave children going to bed.
They just crawled into a hole in the rock and lay
down on the ground like bears or wolves."
"Later, people began sleeping on piles of skins,"
said Grandmother. "Later still, they put their
piles of skins up on frames to keep them from
getting damp on the ground. They ran strips of
skins across from one side of the frame to the
other to make a netting to hold up their skin
covers."
180
5 'That was almost like a real bed, wasn't it?"
asked Ellen.
;'Yes, it was something like the beds made in
pioneer days. Then people had wooden bed
frames with ropes strung across to hold up the
straw mattress. When I was little, we had
wooden slats nailed across the bed frame. On
top of the slats were steel springs. On top of the
springs were feather beds."
"They were like big, fat pillows to cover the
whole bed, weren't they?" asked Ellen.
'Yes, they were just like big pillows. What
a lot of work it took to make up a feather bed
in the morning! We took it by one corner and
shook it. Then we beat it with our fists until it
was smooth and even. Feather beds were very
soft to sleep on."
"I have slats and springs in my bed," said
Ellen.
"Yes, and a mattress on top of the springs.
Your mattress has some more springs inside it,
and firm packing to keep the springs covered.
It makes a bouncy bed, but a firm one. It is a
good bed to go to sleep on," said Grandmother.
Ellen was brushing her teeth in the bathroom
while a warm bath ran into the tub. She
scrubbed out the wash bowl with soap and a
181
brush when she had finished her teeth. Then
she washed out her stockings and hung them on
frames to dry and scrubbed the bowl again. She
spread her underclothes to air on a chair, hung
her dress on a hanger, and got into the tub.
"A warm bath makes me feel sleepier than
ever," said Ellen as she came back to her bed-
room.
"Then you'll have a good rest," said Grand-
mother. "There are clean sheets on your bed
tonight."
" Good! " said EUen. " I like clean sheets. The
bed always seems to be extra smooth. And the
sheets have a sweet outdoor smell."
182
Going to Sleep
"You are not too sleepy to talk," said Grand-
mother.
"You always say my tongue is the last thing
about me to run down," said Ellen. She slipped
into bed between the fresh, clean sheets. "I
wonder what good sleeping positions are," she
said. "Miss Clive is very particular about our
positions in sitting, walking, and standing, but
she never says anything about sleeping."
"That's because, once you're asleep, you
change position without knowing it," Grand-
mother explained. "Miss Clive knows that it
wouldn't do much good to tell you about sleeping
positions. It is a good thing to stretch out
comfortably when you first get into bed. Later
you seem to get into all sorts of shapes. I
find you sometimes flat on your back with your
knees up in the air. You look happy and com-
fortable, so I let you alone."
"Oh, that makes me think," said Ellen. She
pulled the pillow out from under her head.
"Miss Clive said one day at school that sleeping
without a pillow would make people straighter.
I'm going to do without mine because I want to
grow straight."
183
"All right," said Grandmother. " Yours was a
low, flat pillow, anyway. It wouldn't hurt you
to sleep on a flat pillow. But do without one,
if you like."
Ellen went on. "She said that Japanese chil-
dren sleep with their heads on little blocks of wood.
I shouldn't think that would feel very good."
"It's all in getting used to it," said Grand-
mother. "The Japanese like their little block
pillows. They like them just as the Dutch like
wooden shoes and the Mexicans like big hats.
Now, suppose you let your tongue go to sleep.
Go to sleep all over. Let your body rest and
mend itself for tomorrow. That's what sleep is
for. I'll pull up your blankets. They are light
and warm. I'll open your window both top and
bottom. Now, good night! Sleep tight!"
184
Doing Things
Walk across the front of the room, acting out one
of the following characters by your posture. The
class should guess "who is passing by."
1. An Indian boy
2. A drum major or majorette leading a band
3. A sorrowful man
4. A woman with tight shoes
5. A happy, well-rested girl
6. A tired old man
7. A woman carrying a basket of berries or a jug
of water on her head
8. A baseball pitcher
9. A young child who has done something of
which he is ashamed
10. An army officer
Take part in a posture parade. Help your teacher
make a list of those who stand tall and walk with
ease and grace. Repeat the parade with each
marcher carrying a book on his head. How many
can march all the way around the room without
letting the book fall off or without touching it with
the hand to steady it?
Have a " radio" program. Let your best speakers
give talks on good posture, comfortable clothing, rest
and sleep.
Study kinds of beds. Make carefully in miniature
all the types of beds described in this unit. Label
each one and place them on exhibit in your museum.
Test Yourself
Choose from the list below the word needed to
make the sentence complete and true. Do not write
in this book.
1. Twice a year a seat and desk should be - - to
fit each child.
2. Your - - is really a stack of small bones with a
tough, rubbery between each two bones.
3. Your can swing your backbone into all
sorts of - — .
4. Your shoe should be - than your foot.
5. If you use a - — , it should be low.
6. The - - of your shoe should be nearly the same
as the - - of your foot.
backbone adjusted muscles positions
outline pillow larger cushion
UNIT XII
Play and Good Health
Play and work go hand in hand with health.
They are very much alike. When you dance, swim,
dig in the garden, or climb a hill, your muscles work
harder and your breath comes faster. Your body
gets a good workout.
Playing with others is good fun. You learn to
take your turn, to follow the rules of the game, to
be a good teammate, a good winner, and a good
loser.
Play Day at School
"Let's have a play day here at school," said
Joe. "Do you think we could, Miss Mason?"
"Perhaps," smiled Miss Mason. "What sort
of play day have you in mind?"
"Well, I thought maybe we might ask another
class to come here for the afternoon and have
games, and races — especially animal races."
"My cousin's class at the Center School has
some top-notch runners and jumpers in it," said
Andy. "Let's ask them. We're pretty good run-
ners and jumpers, ourselves."
"Let's have some dances, too," said Mary.
"We could do the Sioux Indian dance Miss Clive
taught us, and then probably the Center School
could put on a dance, too."
"We could have some sandwiches for refresh-
ments," said Ellen.
" We could make some fruit punch from oranges
and lemons and brown sugar," said Peggy.
"We could play Taking Beans to Market, and
Dodge Ball, and Ringing the Bell, and London
Bridge, and have a Scarf Relay," said Joe.
"We could make programs and print directions
for the games," said Andy.
"I can see," laughed Miss Mason, "that we
are going to have more good ideas than we shall
know what to do with. We'll have to select
some committees. Who will be games chair-
man?"
"Joe ought to be because he thought of play
day in the first place," answered the class.
"Let's have Ruth for refreshment chairman,"
said Mary, "because she lives near the school.
Maybe her mother would let us make things at
their house the afternoon before."
"I know she will," said Ruth, "if we clean up
afterwards. She lets Phil and me make party
food in the kitchen, always, but we must be
sure to leave things neat and picked up when
we are done."
190
"We'll have to have a grounds committee,"
said Phil, "to get the playground raked up and
smooth."
"And there'll have to be an invitation com-
mittee," Ellen said, "to plan a nice, happy-
sounding invitation, and print it and send it."
"How are you going to do all this invitation
and program printing?" asked Miss Mason.
"Joe has an ink pad and a set of letters.
We can print them by hand," said Andy.
"I think there ought to be a way to mix us all
up in the games," said Johnny. "We oughtn't
to play the Center School just to beat them."
"That's a good suggestion," agreed Miss Ma-
son. "Will the games committee act on Johnny's
idea?"
The Committees at Work
At last the committees were picked out, and
everybody went to work. There was the biggest
buzz from the refreshment committee. Miss
Mason had told them they must be careful to
have things that would not cost much. They
decided on fruit punch to drink because Ellen's
grandmother would very likely give some bottles
of grape juice she had put up the year before.
Peggy thought her father would let them have £
191
box of oranges and lemons from the market.
Ruth was sure her mother would give some
brown sugar for sweetening, as well as a kitchen
to make punch in.
They decided on sandwiches to eat because
they could make them the afternoon before.
They could wrap them carefully in wax paper and
pile them in neat stacks. Then they could
wrap clean damp towels around the stacks so the
sandwiches would not dry out. Most of the
mothers, they decided, would be willing to give
a loaf of bread or some sandwich spread.
They had quite a time figuring out how many
loaves of bread they would need. Finally Peggy
192
i
I
asked permission to telephone her father to ask
how many slices there were in a loaf of bread.
"How many sandwiches apiece shall we want?"
asked Ruth. "We mustn't have enough to spoil
our appetites for supper after the party. But we
want enough so we won't look stingy."
They finally decided on four sandwiches apiece
made of half slices of bread. Then they had a
good problem in arithmetic. With four slices of
bread for each boy or girl, and with twenty
slices of bread in a long loaf, how many loaves
of bread would they need for forty children?
"It must all be whole-grain bread," said Ruth,
"and we'll use the crusts."
193
"Let's have a box on Miss Mason's desk,"
said Ellen, "and let anybody drop in a nickel
who wants to. That will give money to buy
paper napkins and paper cups for the punch."
The invitation committee got out an invitation
that they felt proud of:
To the Center School of Marshfield:
You are invited to a Play Day at the Chester
School on Friday, May fourteenth, at one-thirty.
If you can come, please come prepared to put on
a dance.
Please wear play clothes. Don't dress up.
The reception committee will meet you at the
front gate of the Chester School.
There will be games and refreshments.
Please answer soon.
The Center School answered promptly with a
hearty "yes."
Then there was a great deal to do, and it was
all fun. The committee on games got together a
collection of beanbags, a basketball for dodge
ball, three scarves for the scarf relay, two flags
for the beanbag game, a bell and a long table for
refreshments. They got rolls of blue, red, and
yellow crepe paper, chairs for Miss Mason and
Miss Bence, the Center School teacher, and a
few more chairs for anybody else who might
drop in.
194
A Program for the Visitors
Friday was clear and bright. Promptly at
one-thirty Miss Bence and the pupils of the
Center School arrived at the front gate. Andy
and two other boys met them and shook hands
and gave each boy and girl two sheets of paper.
On one sheet were directions for the games.
The other was:
GRAND ORDER OF EVENTS
30 Parade
45 Sioux Indian Dance, by Chester School
00 Haymakers' Dance by Center School
15 Choosing Color Teams
20 Stunts
45 Games
00 Refreshments
Once everybody was inside the playground,
Joe rang the bell. With Joe at the head, all the
children lined up for a parade. Johnny, at the
foot, had a drum. Some of the children got out
pocket combs and covered them with paper to
toot through. Everybody else played he had a
horn. They marched round and round the play-
ground, playing "Yankee Doodle."
Then Joe rang the bell again. The Center
School dropped out to watch, and the Chester
195
School did the Sioux Indian Dance. They had
borrowed Miss dive's Indian music makers, and
they made a grand show and lots of cheerful
noise. The Center School followed with the Hay-
makers' Dance.
Three Color Teams
After the dances everybody lined up again
and counted off by threes. "The 'ones' are
'blues,'" explained Joe. "The 'twos' are 'yel-
lows/ and the 'threes' are 'reds." Joe and his
committee passed out armbands cut from the
crepe paper, so that the children were divided
into three color teams.
"Now we are not playing one school against
the other," said Joe, "but we are all playing
together. First we are going to have stunts.
The blues are to hop like kangaroos. The yel-
lows are to march like elephants in a circus
parade. The reds are to be horses prancing to
music. The team that wins this stunt will have
ten points. The team that wins each game will
get ten points, too."
"Wait just a minute," said Miss Mason. "I
think Miss Bence and I are going to have a little
help in judging." There was a sound of car
doors slamming beyond the playground fence.
196
In a minute Mr. Burns came in from the market.
Behind him were Miss Clive, Miss Brown, and
Dr. Wilson. They were to be judges.
The children cheered. The grounds committee
ran to get some more chairs from Mr. Hodge.
"My!" whispered Ruth to Peggy, "I'm glad
Mother told us we'd better make some extra
refreshments. She's coming over, too, with the
sandwiches and punch. But she says she won't
eat anything. Wouldn't it have been awful to
run out of food?"
The judges clapped so loudly at the horses that
everybody knew the reds had won the first ten
points. The blues scored in the scarf relay.
The yellows won in dodge ball. The blues got
another ten points in taking beans to market and
won in ringing the bell. The judges announced
that the blues had won the match. But it was
all fun for everybody, and they finished with
London Bridge for the crowd. The teachers, and
Dr. Wilson, and Miss Brown played too.
At four Ruth and her committee dashed across
to the Drake's house. Mrs. Drake helped them
carry their baskets and jugs. They set the long
table with piles of wrapped sandwiches, jugs of
lovely red punch, and stacks of paper cups and
napkins. Ruth and her committee stood behind
the table to serve. There was plenty for every-
body, and Dr. Wilson said it was "mighty good."
"Good-by, good-by," called the pupils of the
Center School. "We've had a lovely time. Next
year we'll invite you to come to see us."
Play and Work
When we work hard or play hard in the open
air, we breathe deeply and our hearts beat more
strongly. The more we use our muscles, the
stronger they get. Our minds freshen up. We
feel pleasanter and happier. Our minds and
muscles learn how to work together. Healthy,
active bodies mean healthy, active minds. And
healthy minds help to keep us feeling our best in
our bodies.
How play makes us eat! Baked fish, creamed
potatoes, and carrots disappear as if by magic.
198
Heaps of whole-grain bread and butter melt
away. Applesauce goes in last. Mother says
we "eat like horses" and that she is glad of it.
We sleep better after a good round of play in
the open air. Bedtime never seems to come too
soon. We can hardly stumble through tooth-
brushing and face-washing because we are so
sleepy. We are asleep almost before we get flat
in bed.
Playing and working together with other peo-
ple help to make us "good fellows." We learn
that it takes teamwork to have a good game.
We learn that sometimes we have to step back
and let somebody else have a chance.
Outdoors in All Seasons
Sometimes it is hard to know which play time
in the year is best. In summer you can go out
wearing almost nothing and let your body brown
in the sun. And what fun it is to swim and to
play outdoor games in summer!
Before long it is fall, and time to go back to
school. The mornings and nights are sharp and
cold. You have to put on a light sweater over
summer cottons. But the nip in the air only
makes you run and hop a little faster.
Then comes winter. But still you play out-
199
doors. You wear warm woolens over your indoor
clothes. When it is snowing and wet you wear
rubbers or overshoes. You take cod-liver or
halibut-liver oil, too, every day in winter.
The first thing you know, it is spring again.
You can go out in light clothes and a sweater.
Boys begin rolling marbles. People start plant-
ing gardens. Perhaps you plant a row of beets,
yourself, because you like beets.
In every season of the year work and play
are fun for healthy bodies. Play in playgrounds
and parks, away from traffic. Play with safety
rules in mind. You will grow healthier, happier,
bigger, and stronger every year.
Vacation Trips
It was the last day of school. The fourth
grade class was full of plans for vacation.
Peggy and her father and mother were going to
hire a trailer and go for a month's trip. They
had a map, marked with good trailer camps.
They would be sure to stop only at the
marked ones. At those they were sure to find
good drinking water, rubbish cans for their gar-
bage, and clean toilets. Some of the marked
camps were United States government camps and
had public shower baths.
200
Phil and Ruth were going to stay in the city.
But their father was building a safe brick fire-
place in the back yard, and the family would
cook their suppers in the open on every clear
night. The fireplace would have a strong iron
grating to keep the wind from blowing burning
sparks about.
Andy already had a vegetable garden all his
own in a corner of his father's market garden.
Andy, after browning his skin slowly, was going
to work in his garden dressed only in a pair of
shorts and sandals. He would be so brown by
fall, he declared, that the class would think he
was painted.
Ellen was going to have a vegetable garden,
too. She would help her grandmother can beans,
corn, and tomatoes to eat in the winter. They
planned to put up baby carrots, too, when
they were sweetest and tenderest, and juicy little
beets about as big as a walnut.
Johnny said he would spend part of the early
summer in training. His father had promised
that they would climb a mountain on some good
week end. But Johnny had to get into good
condition first. He was to go on a day's hiking
and hill-climbing trip with some older boys every
week or so and train the muscles of his legs.
201
George said he was to stay in the city, too, for
the summer. But he had joined a class of boys
who were to go to the city beach nearly every
day and learn to swim. He promised to be care-
ful about the hot sun until he was well tanned.
By fall George hoped to know how to dog pad-
dle, do the side stroke, and swim under water.
Other children were going to do other things.
Some would have flower gardens. Some would
play every day in the city playgrounds on the
swings and slides. Some would take bus rides
into the country for a day and go blueberrying.
Some would help Father mow the lawns and run
errands for Mother. Some would go on trips to
the beach. But they were all sure that they
would spend all the time they could outdoors.
They would get plenty of sunshine and eat
plenty of vegetables.
The class promised to remember through the
summer the things that they had learned about
health that year. They were going to come
back to school brown and strong, with straight
backs, sturdy legs, clear eyes, and fresh minds.
They filed out past Miss Mason on their way
to summer sunlight.
«Good-by, good-by," they called. " We'll be
back in the fall."
202
Thinking and Talking Together
What do you think of the play day at the Chester
School? Was it well planned? Were the right com-
mittees chosen? Should there have been other com-
mittees? Did every committee from Miss Mason's
class have plenty of work to do?
If you had been a pupil of the fourth grade of the
Center School, would you have been pleased when
your class received the invitation from the fourth
grade of the Chester School? Do you think having
color teams was a good plan?
Do you like the Order of Events of the play day
at the Chester School? What changes would you
make if you were to have charge of a play program?
Look in your recipe books to see what refresh-
ments you could prepare and serve if you were to
entertain another class for a play day.
What are your plans for your next summer's va-
cation? Would you like to talk them over with your
classmates? You may like to tell whether you ex-
pect to stay home or go away. What are some of
the interesting things you can do at home? If you
are going away, what do you expect to do?
203
Doing Things
If you should decide that you would like to have a
play day, ask your teacher and principal if you may
do so. If you cannot invite a class from another
school, invite one from your own school or divide
your class into groups. Make all of your plans
very carefully and manage things so well that every-
body has a good time. Choose your own games,
dances, and stunts. Use the plan Miss Mason's
class used for mixing players, so that you play for
the fun of playing, and not "just to beat" another
group.
Turn back to the list of questions following Unit I.
On a clean sheet of paper write the truth in answer
to each of these questions. Be sure your answers
are correctly numbered. Have your mother or fa-
ther check your answers with you, then return the
paper to your teacher. It is quite likely that your
teacher will compare this set of answers with your
first set. Are you, your parents, and your teacher
able to see that you have made progress in ways of
Keeping Safe and Well?
Stories to Read
Around the Year, by Horace Mann Buckley and
Others.
Good stories of safety in many situations. Stories
of fires and what to do when help is needed.
The Book of Indians, by Rolling C. Rolling.
This beautifully illustrated book tells you of the
home life and exciting adventures of Indian children.
The Chisel-Tooth Tribe, by Wilfred Bronson.
This interesting book describes the "tools" of
several animals and shows in attractive pictures how
the clever creatures use their tools.
Exploring New Fields, by Parker and Harris.
This delightful book makes you a real explorer with
the boys and girls who formed an Explorer's Club.
See the maps the children made and the splendid
pictures of life in faraway countries.
How and Why Experiments, by G. W. Frasier and
Others.
You will find in this book interesting experiments
which will help you to understand how our bodies
work and how we hear.
How We Get Our Food, by Ethel K. Howard.
This book tells very clearly, by words and excellent
pictures, how we get our milk, meat, bread, fruit,
vegetables, and poultry.
205
Neighbors Near and Far, by Wahlert and Hahn.
When you go "To Market with Lorenzo," you will
see many things very different from those in an
"A" market in an American city, but you will like
this trip with Ben, Betty, and Susan. "The First
Chinese Puppets" and "How to Make a Shadow
Play" will interest you, too.
Our Town and City Animals, by Clarke and Keelor.
With this book you may visit the house of The See-
ing Eye, where dogs are educated as guides for the
blind. Read how a children's animal club managed
a pet show.
Our Wide, Wide World, by Craig and Baldwin.
Have you ever thought about how difficult it is for
wild animals to protect themselves against hunger
and starvation, against the cold of winter, and
against their natural enemies?
Sajo and the Beaver People, by Grey Owl.
A delightful story of two beaver kittens.
Toward Freedom, by Ruth Mills Robinson.
After Carol, in "Carol at School," has visited
several other clubs, she decides to join the Junior
Red Cross Club because she wants to be a nurse.
"A Camping Trip" tells you about some of Bill's
good times at a "Y" week-end camp.
Wheels Westward, by Elizabeth and Alexander.
"A Tale of Soap and Water," by Grace T. HaUock,
tells of soap-making in the American colonies, and
of the difficulties of keeping one's body, teeth, and
clothes clean in early Colonial days.
206
Words to Know
The following list of 258 words is selected partly on the
basis of health concepts to be learned, but includes chiefly
those words which have a rating of 3a or above in the revised
Thorndike word list.
4
15
26
aisles
exactly
smudge
braces
paragraph
strict
metal
16
97
straightening
uniform
cleanliness
index
— /
particular
squealed
5
17
whooping cough
grooming
28
agent
7
20
award
bowels
runt
exhibit
8
21
fancier
elections
grunted
32
manage
rubbish
squeal
squirmed
disease
dried
9
wallow
lather
committees
wriggled
crumpled
11
23
Persian
33
splinters
errands
24
34
messenger
leashes
particles
14
mayor
35
examination
troublesome
glands
inspect
25
pores
sportsmanship
collection
sacs
207
36
55
67
armpits
affairs
halibut
especially
department
CO
filters
Do
37
extra
ingrowing
government
purify
cauliflower
grapefruit
lettuce
shampooing
reservoir
melons
sudsy
39
articles
56
garbage
hauled
pearly
streamers
demonstrate
peelings
69
miniature
pests
convenient
57
permission
44
bus
r?o
decoration
tanks
73
balance
45
blankets
59
inspectors
perky
mattress
messy
refrigerators
squatty
74
chilly
47
waterbugs
grams
community
61
77
janitor
energy
poached
48
storage
scrambled
chairman
63
78
AQ
liver
delicious
*±i?
rusty
thermos
poultry
steaks
65
porridge
81
50
procession
51
apricots
cellophane
graham
macaroni
restaurant
salmon
attractive
raisins
82
labeled
66
digest
museum
bakeries
fuss
Plasticine
vitamins
peevishly
208
83
90
114
alcohol
amusing
delicate
garage
behavior
eardrum
gasoline
discussion
115
tobacco
91
battery
84
recipe
injury
beer
92
118
brandy
beverages
lens
dissolve
102
119
drug
excites
prong
camera
developed
experiments
whiskey
103
manufactures
operation
wine
sturdy
.
squinting
85
104
picket
hospitals
necessary
122
prickly
soggy
review
semester
bulb
124
streak
105
talcum
varnish
or*
certificate
domestic
typewrite
86
125
actions
106
perfume
judgment
permanent
126
moisture
110
okra
nerves
audiometer
128
87
earphone
arrangements
ability
headpiece
illustrating
engineers
jiggled
vision
pilots
phonograph
129
89
fertilizer
reciting
switchboard
suggestions
135
guardian
111
fireproof
protector
unscrewed
hydrant
209
principal
158
176
system
squad
major
136
160
parade
basement
self-respect
178
extinguishers
163
gourd
coverall
181
137
smother
sausage
ski
bouncy
pioneer
141
164
slats
marionette
greased
184
146
handlebars
Japanese
circuit
telegrams
Mexicans
165
185
149
copperhead
characters
appreciation
courteous
neighborhood
official
coral
moccasin
poisonous
puttees
majorette
sorrowful
186
muscular
150
rattler
radio
annoy
166
189
outline
bouquet
refreshment
itches
153
193
topics
ivy
crusts
167
slices
154
improvement
angry
168
194
grouch
Association
crepe
lifebelts
dramatizations
196
undertow
slogans
kangaroo
155
171
201
doughnuts
adjusted
condition
traffic
172
sandals
157
backbone
203
sidewalk
rubbery
equipment
210
Index
Alcohol
good uses of, 84-85
bad effects of, 86-88
Apples, 68, 78, 80
Ash collection, 56
Audiometer, 110
Backbone, 172, 173, 174, 177
Bakery foods, cleanliness of,
65-66
Bananas, 78
Bath tub, care of, 44
Bathing
reasons for, 36
before going to bed, 181-182
Beans, 64
Beds
care of, 44, 45
in former times and now,
180-181
Bicycles, safety when riding,
164
Board of Health, 55
Boats, safety in, 154
Bread, 65-66
Breakfast menu, 78-79
Bus, safety on, 157-159
Butter, 61
Candy as a food, 76
Canned foods, 64
Cereal, 78
Cheese, 61
Chewing, reasons for, 103
Cleanliness
tools of, 29
of body, 32-38
of dishes, 43-44
in the house, 44-46
in the school, 47-50
in the town, 53-56
in the dairy, 57-58
in the market, 59-66
of teeth, 100-102
of ears, 116
before going to bed, 181-182
Clothes
care of, 44-45
for cold weather, 163
well-fitting, 176
for the different seasons,
199-200
Coasting, safety when, 161-
162
Coatrooms, 48
Cod-liver oil, 67
Coffee, 84
211
Comb and brush, care of, 37 Fish
Cream, 61
Dairy, visit to a, 57-58
Dentist, visits to, 98-100
Desks, care of, 49-50
Dinner menu, 81
Dishes, how to wash, 43-
44
Ears
tests for, 110-111
parts of, 113-114
protecting the, 115-116
Eggs
cold storage, 61-62
as food, 62, 77, 78
Eyeglasses, 119-121
Eyes
parts of, 117-118
care of, 119-122
Face, washing the, 33
Fair play at home, 11-13
Feet, care of, 37-38
Fingernails, care of, 33
Fire, what to do in case of,
136-138
Fire drills, 133-135
Fire prevention, 135-136,
166
First aid
for cinders in the eye, 122
kit for, 140, 165
how kept fresh, 63
as food, 77
Food
how kept clean and fresh,
59-66
for healthy growth, 71-81
for sound teeth, 102-103
Fruit
dried, 64-65
vitamins in, 66-68
in the menu, 77, 78, 80
Fruit juices, 84
Garbage collection, 56
Good citizens, 8-11
Good sports, 10-11
Grooming, 17, 25-27, 29-38
Habits
of posture, 172-173
of eating, 179
of rest and sleep, 179, 180-
184
Hair, care of, 36-37
Halibut-liver oil, 67
Hands, care of, 32-33
Hearing, sense of, 110-116
Hiking, safety rules for, 165-
166
House, cleaning the, 44-46
Light for reading, 122
Liver as food, 63
212
Lost, what to do if, 166
Lunches, 79-80
Manners at meals, 82
Marionette play, 141-147
Market, visit to a, 59-68
Meat
how kept fresh, 63
as food, 77
Menus, 77-81
Milk
how kept clean, 57-58, 60-
61
a food for growth, 76, 77, 78
in the menu, 77, 78, 79
Molasses, 78
Mushrooms, poisonous, 166
Nose, clearing the, 34, 116
Oatmeal, 78
Oil sacs, 36
Oranges, 78
Peas, 64
Pillows, 183 184
Play
safety in, 139-140, 156-157
for good posture, 174
for good health, 187, 198-
200
Play day at school, 189-198
Playground, care of, 48
Poison ivy, 166
Pores of the skin, 35
Posture, good
in sitting, 171-172
importance of, 173
right shoes for, 175
in standing and walking, 176
for sleeping, 183-184
Prunes, 78
Pure food" laws, 64
Rats, an experiment with,
71-76
Rest, 178-184
Rubbish cans, 56
Safety
from fire, 133-138
at school, 138-140
play to illustrate, 141-147
at the beach, 153-154
on the street, 155-157
on the bus, 157-159
with dogs, 160-161
in winter, 161-163
on bicycles, 164
on a hike, 165-166
Salad, 79-80
School nurse, work of, 4-5,
110-112
Seeing, sense of, 117-123
Senses, the five, 108-127
Shoes, right kind of, 174-175
Skating, safety when, 162
Skin, care of, 35-36
213
Sleep, 174, 180-184
Smell, sense of, 125
Smoking, effects of, 89
Snakes, harmless and dan-
gerous, 165-166
Street, safety on, 155-157
Street cleaning, 56
Sunburn, avoiding, 155
Sweat glands, 35-36
Swimming, safety when,
153-154
Taste, sense of, 126-127
Tea, 84
Teamwork
in the home, 43-46
at school, 47-50, 189-199
Teeth
care of, 93-95, 98-102
kinds of, 95-96
uses of, 97
foods for, 102-103
Tobacco, 89
Toenails, care of, 38
Tomato juice, 78
Touch, sense of, 123-124
Towel, using one's own,
34
Traffic squad, 158
Trailer camps, 200
Vacation plans, 200-201
Vegetables
for vitamins, 66—68
in the menu, 77, 79-80
Vitamins, 66-68
Water
before breakfast, 78
from the bubbler, 140
drinking, on a hike, 165
Water supply, 55
Whole-grain bread, 65, 77,
78
214
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