In addition to the usual routine of teaching, I
taught the pupils to comb their hair, and to keep their hands and faces
clean, as well as their clothing. I gave special attention to teaching
them the proper use of the toothbrush and the bath.
In all my teaching I have watched carefully the influence of the
toothbrush, and I am convinced that there are few single agencies of
civilization that are more far-reaching.
There were so many of the older boys and girls in the town, as well as
men and women, who had to work in the daytime but still were craving an
opportunity for some education, that I soon opened a night school.
From the first, this was crowded every night, being about as large as
the school that I taught in the day. The efforts of some of the men
and women, who in many cases were over fifty years of age, to learn,
were in some cases very pathetic.
My day- and night-school work was not all that I undertook. I
established a small reading-room and a debating society. On Sundays I
taught two Sunday-schools, one in the town of Malden in the afternoon,
and the other in the morning at a place three miles distant from
Malden. In addition to this, I gave private lessons to several young
men whom I was fitting to send to the Hampton Institute.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137