Page:Labour and childhood.djvu/44

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LABOUR AND CHILDHOOD

favour doubtless, for every school in this city has now its installation of shower baths, and no one questions the utility of this kind of class-room. Entering the playground with its pollarded trees, one passes into a school with large and pleasant halls and rooms gay, healthful and pleasant to look upon. The floors are oiled. The doors are decorated! From the dressing-room one enters the bath-room where are two rows of troughs, with dripping boards round and douches. At bathing times the water is heated to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, cooling down gradually ends at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The whole installation cost only £150. Dr. Kuntz, the school doctor, reports, "The general results have been very satisfactory." All the class teachers and medical officers affirm that the appearance of the children is fresher and healthier and that the air in the school-room is greatly improved. And he adds, "This is true especially in all older schools, where the ventilation is less efficient than in the modern ones. The children show a distinctly increased capacity, and zest for learning. In school bathing, much depends upon the interest and energy displayed by the class teachers."

(This last pronouncement is just as true in England as in Germany. Success in England may almost be