-x 
 
 
A LESSON IN PATRIOTISM 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 THE INDIVIDUALITY OF THE CHILD 
 VERSUS THE SYSTEM 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 A REPORT OF THE ELIZABETH McCORMICK 
 OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 
 
 BY 
 
 SHERMAN C. KINGSLEY 
 
 DIRECTOR THE ELIZABETH MCCORMICK MEMORIAL FUND 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 THE ELIZABETH McCORMICK MEMORIAL FUND 
 
 315 PLYMOUTH COURT, CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 1913 
 

 COPYRIGHT, 1913 
 THE ELIZABETH MCCORMICK MEMORIAL FUND 
 
 First Edition, 5,000, January 10, ign 
 Second Edition, 5,000, March i, 1911 
 Third Edition, 5,000, January i, 1913 
 
 2Ci]e ILaRrsitif 
 
 , R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY 
 CHICAGO 
 
TO THE MEMORY OF ELIZABETH, DAUGH- 
 TER OF MR. AND MRS. CYRUS HALL McCOR- 
 MICK, A CHILD WHOSE RADIANT YOUNG 
 LIFE WAS SO MARKED BY DEEDS OF KIND- 
 LINESS TO OTHERS THAT THESE MINIS- 
 TRIES OF LOVE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO 
 CEASE WHEN, AT THE AGE OF TWELVE, 
 SHE WAS CALLED INTO THE PRESENCE OF 
 THE GREAT FRIEND OF ALL THE CHILDREN. 
 
 258681 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The open air school movement is one of the newer expres- 
 sions of an awakening public interest in the children of the 
 nation. It will be both natural and logical if conservation 
 principles and sentiment lead us step by step from coal and 
 iron, phosphates and oil, forests and water power, to the in- 
 trinsic conservation problem, the consideration of the men, 
 women and children who are to use these resources of 
 nature. 
 
 The greatest possibilities lie with the children. Roundly, 
 twenty millions of them are in the schools of the country. 
 They are spending one hundred million hours a day through 
 the school year under the direction of this definitely constituted 
 public function, in the environment and under the conditions 
 prescribed by the law. So far, the only efficiency tests applied 
 to measure the success of this great undertaking have been 
 those which gauge the ability of the children to pass from one 
 grade to the next in the series leading to the college. We do 
 not know whether the school experience has increased or 
 diminished bodily vigor or whether the use of school time 
 has done the most vital possible service in preparation for 
 what lies ahead. 
 
 The attention of an increasing number of people is focus- 
 ing on the large army of children, somewhere between 53 and 
 70 per cent of the total number the country over, who fall out 
 of school at or before the completion of the grammar grades. 
 Conspicuous in this group are those whose physical condi- 
 tion has stood in the way of school progress and has rendered 
 them incapable of taking with profit the usual school regime. 
 
 7 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 It is children of this class who have been gathered by friends 
 of the movement into the open air schools. 
 
 The results obtained through a modified regime which has 
 adapted the curriculum and the use of the school time to the 
 individual needs of these little people have been such that 
 the open air school idea has spread with great rapidity and 
 stimulates interest and co-operation in the schools wherever it 
 goes. The friends of the movement believe that it has a broad 
 significance and that it throws a strong light on the question 
 of retardation and the reasons why so many children at such 
 an early age part company with the schools. 
 
 The children dealt with in these schools are physically 
 sub-normal, but in most respects their problems are the same 
 as those of the rank and file of the short term children. They 
 come from the public schools and are, after all, mentally and 
 morally just such pupils as are found bending over the desks of 
 any school room in the land. 
 
 The open air school is a movement in behalf of all the 
 children. Each child has a right to fresh air; has a right to 
 his own individuality ; a right to be understood by the school, 
 as well as to be expected to understand the school system. 
 
 Two years ago a little book entitled '''Open Air Crusaders" 
 told the story of the first year-round open air school in 
 Chicago. It set forth in simple form the results of a year's 
 work with a small group of physically sub-normal pupils. 
 The smiling faces of these little open air crusaders carried a 
 message of health, encouragement and cheer the country 
 over. Everywhere it met with an instant response. Teachers, 
 physicians, nurses, tuberculosis societies, ministers, humble 
 fathers and mothers, school children, wrote for information. 
 It revealed a widespread, deep-seated interest in the public 
 schools. The first edition of 5,000 was soon exhausted and a 
 second edition of like number was published and distributed. 
 The books have gone to every state in the union and to nine- 
 
 8 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 teen different foreign countries. A large correspondence with 
 outside cities has resulted and the exchange of experiences is 
 increasing. 
 
 This third edition is based on a wider and longer experience. 
 The chapters which follow report on the operation of four 
 open air schools and seven open window rooms, and relate 
 the findings of the medical staff, the results of the different 
 experiments in feeding, clothing, and general administration. 
 
 This movement has again demonstrated the deep interest 
 of the public in our schools. The hearty and efficient co-opera- 
 tion of individuals and agencies at every point where help could 
 be extended indicates that there is a world of interest and 
 power to be drawn upon from the public for the furtherance 
 and improvement of our educational system. This co-opera- 
 tion has come from physicians, laymen, nurses, philanthropic 
 agencies, public and private, and civic bodies. The interest 
 and enthusiasm of the teachers and physicians have been 
 peculiarly gratifying. They have made the cause of these 
 little people their own and have spared nothing that they 
 could do. The same spirit has animated all those who have 
 had a part in the work and we wish to accord to one and all 
 our sincerest gratitude for their whole-hearted, efficient service. 
 
 SHERMAN C. KINGSLEY. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 I. THE OPEN AIR SCHOOL AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 
 
 SYSTEM 13 
 
 II. THE SCHOOL REGIME AND THE SHORT-TERM CHILD . 21 
 
 III. A COMMUNITY PROGRAM FOR FRESH AIR EDUCATION 31 
 
 IV. HOME AND SCHOOL A STUDY IN SOCIAL BACK- 
 
 GROUNDS 51 
 
 V. OPEN AIR SCHOOLS FROM THE TEACHER'S STANDPOINT 61 
 
 VI. OPEN AIR SCHOOLS FROM THE PHYSICIAN'S STANDPOINT 75 
 
 VII. EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING 85 
 
 VIII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF OPEN AIR SCHOOL WORK IN 
 
 CHICAGO 99 
 
 IX. How TO EQUIP AN OPEN AIR SCHOOL in 
 
 ADDENDA 
 
 Summary of Results, Chicago, 1911-12. 
 Comparison of Results, Chicago, March, 1912. 
 Parent's Consent Card, Chicago. 
 Sample Record Card, Chicago. 
 A Study in January School Attendance. 
 Bibliography. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Page 
 
 A LESSON IN PATRIOTISM Frontispiece 
 
 THE OPEN AIR SMILE 12 
 
 WHERE THE CHILDREN LIVE 15 
 
 SCHOOL GARDENING ON A CITY ROOF 19 
 
 EXERCISING ON THE ROOF 30 
 
 A CAMP ALGONQUIN SCHOOLROOM 34 
 
 WHERE THE VENTILATION PROBLEM is SOLVED 37 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY IN THE OPEN 40 
 
 THE ELIZABETH MCCORMICK OPEN AIR SCHOOL GARDEN 44 
 
 CLEVELAND OPEN AIR SCHOOL EXTERIOR 45 
 
 CLEVELAND OPEN AIR SCHOOL INTERIOR 47 
 
 SCHOOLGRAMS 49 
 
 CANDIDATES FOR THE OPEN AIR SCHOOL . . 50 
 
 INFECTION THROUGH FOOD 50 
 
 SLEEPING PERIOD IN THE FRANKLIN SCHOOL, CHICAGO 53 
 
 TENT SCHOOL OF CHICAGO TUBERCULOSIS INSTITUTE 57 
 
 EXTERIOR OF ELIZABETH MCCORMICK OPEN AIR SCHOOL NUMBER THREE 60 
 
 MAKING BRICKS AT THE CHARLOTTENBURG OPEN AIR SCHOOL ... 66 
 
 ENTRANCE TO THE CHARLOTTENBURG SCHOOL 67 
 
 AMERICA'S OPPORTUNITY 68 
 
 INTERIOR OF ELIZABETH MCCORMICK OPEN AIR SCHOOL NUMBER FOUR . 74 
 
 EXAMINATION BY THE PHYSICIAN IN CHARGE 80 
 
 TEMPERATURE AND PULSE ARE RECORDED DAILY 80 
 
 DINNER TIME 84 
 
 KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, OPEN AIR SCHOOL, EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR . . 93 
 
 OPEN AIR, OPEN MINDS 98 
 
 BOTANY AT CAMP 105 
 
 WRAPPING UP FOR THE AFTERNOON NAP 116 
 
 LIST OF CHARTS AND PLANS 
 
 DOES A SCHOOL SYSTEM AIMED AT THE COLLEGE HIT THE MARK? . . 20 
 
 RETARDATION AND ELIMINATION IN CHICAGO SCHOOLS 25 
 
 CONNECTION BETWEEN RETARDATION AND ELIMINATION 27 
 
 ROOF PLAN, ELIZABETH MCCORMICK OPEN AIR SCHOOL NUMBER ONE . 104 
 
 ROOF PLAN, ELIZABETH MCCORMICK OPEN AIR SCHOOL NUMBER Two . 107 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING ESKIMO SUITS 113 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING SLEEPING BAGS 114 
 
12 
 
THE OPEN AIR SCHOOL AND THE PUBLIC 
 SCHOOL SYSTEM 
 
 The open air school is one of many 
 movements through which boards of 
 ducation and an increasing number 
 of agencies and individuals co- 
 operating with the public school 
 system are to-day trying to serve 
 the rank and file of the children 
 of our country. Specifically, it 
 is one of the efforts in behalf 
 of the "ninety and nine." 
 
 The school system has so 
 long been aimed at the col- 
 lege and the one per cent of 
 
 the pupils who finally reach our educational goal and grad- 
 uate from the college that it may safely be assumed that 
 this one in the one hundred will continue to have ample 
 provision for training. Far from begrudging this opportunity 
 to the college student, a proud and generous public will 
 see that the college grows and that all the avenues of learning 
 leading to it are kept open and still further diversified and 
 enriched as time goes on, and all will glory in this fact. 
 
 But the day of the ninety and nine has arrived. They are 
 to have their innings. The sentiment voiced in a familiar 
 hymn, "There were ninety and nine that safely lay," seems to 
 have possessed our people and has lulled them into entire com- 
 placency about matters pertaining to the children and the 
 schools; but as applied to our school situation, this idea is 
 
 13 
 
CRUSADERS 
 
 taking us in the wrong direction and needs to be reversed; 
 for, as is now beginning to be understood and appreciated 
 quite generally, the trouble concerns the ninety and nine. 
 The one "far out on the hills away" is in college and is very 
 well taken care of so far as opportunity for education and 
 training is concerned. However, no one will urge that even 
 this one does not still need considerable thought and atten- 
 tion. 
 
 The open air school has grown out of very close and personal 
 relations and acquaintance with individual children and an 
 equally close understanding and familiarity with conditions 
 surrounding the child life of to-day. The children in these 
 schools are among the first of the ninety and nine to fall out 
 of school. They are part of that large army which in the 
 fifth grade begins effectively and finally to part company with 
 the school system, and which pours out in increasing numbers 
 until, the country over, about seventy per cent of all who 
 start are finally separated from school influence at or before 
 the completion of the eighth grade. A little over six per cent 
 finish the four-year high school course, and one out of the one 
 hundred finally graduates from college. 
 
 Physicians and social workers have been coming upon 
 these children who so early leave the school in increasing 
 numbers, and through new points of contact. One of the 
 newest avenues of introduction opens even before the child 
 is ready for school, through the Infant Welfare stations, baby 
 hospitals and baby dispensaries now rapidly multiplying in all 
 our cities. This has revealed the startling fact that being a 
 baby is the most hazardous occupation in the world; for one 
 out of every six dies before his first year has expired, and the 
 diseases and conditions which cause this frightful mortality 
 leave their mark on many of those who live and a little later 
 sends them to school with low vitality and weakened resistance. 
 
 Two hundred and eighty thousand baby deaths in a year 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 in our country tells a big story of the perils and the ignorance 
 prevailing in baby-land, through which all the candidates for 
 school must come. But the doctor and the social workers have 
 seen these children in many other relations in the juvenile 
 court, in the institutions for dependents and delinquents, in the 
 welfare departments of factories and stores, in insanitary tene- 
 
 FlFTY PER CENT OF THE CHILDREN OF THE UNITED STATES ARE NOW REARED 
 
 IN CITIES AND TOWNS 
 
 ments and homes where social workers have been trying to 
 throw props around disintegrating families, and particularly in 
 the conditions revealed through the tuberculosis clinics which 
 are coming to be a part of the social machinery in our large 
 cities. 
 
 The country has begun to realize that a profound change 
 has taken place. One hundred years ago only about three per 
 cent of our people lived under city conditions. It was 
 only about twenty-nine per cent in 1880, but according to 
 the last census about one half of the children of the nation are 
 now being reared under town and city environment. They 
 
 15 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 have gradually been taken from the farm and the ranch, from 
 the house with a garden and a yard, and the simpler and 
 more elemental conditions of life in the open have been re- 
 placed by those of the flat and the tenement. They have 
 gathered into the city centers from every county and hamlet 
 in our country, from the countrysides and villages, from farms 
 and gardens and vineyards of every country in the Old World. 
 Every city has its congested areas and is rearing a big per- 
 centage of its children in flat and tenement; the back yard gone 
 and the front yard cut away, and the children turned over to 
 the uncertain vicissitudes of the streets. 
 
 Along with this change has come another related to it and 
 equally profound. In the earlier day, and under simpler con- 
 ditions, the home was not only a place of nurture and care, 
 but of recreation, training in consecutiveness, responsibility, 
 initiative, and of general education. There was an opportu- 
 nity for the children to help about the house and take part in 
 many of the processes necessary to the home. They brought 
 in wood, fed and cared for the animals, planted in the spring, 
 helped to tend the garden and the crops in the summer and 
 harvest them in the fall; they churned, helped to cure meat, 
 they learned to do many other useful things. This life kept 
 them much out of doors and in the open. This has changed. 
 In the homes of the rich and well-to-do, ready-made and ready- 
 to-serve luxuries and necessities are provided for the children ; 
 in the homes of the poor, as many ready-made and ready-to- 
 serve necessities as can be afforded. The schools complain 
 that the children want to be entertained and that parents will 
 not stand back of the teacher for the drill and discipline of an 
 earlier day. Parents, on the other hand, rebel at the nervous 
 strain and the tax on the health and vitality of the child. 
 
 In so far as the public has been cognizant of this transition, 
 it has unconsciously assumed that the school would auto- 
 matically do for the children everything that the home has 
 
 16 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 yielded and that new conditions demand. Much progress 
 has been made in this direction, but without public under- 
 standing, backing and support it will be impossible for the 
 schools to assume all that has been given up by the home and 
 furthermore prepare the child for the equally profound change 
 in the industrial world to which he goes on leaving the school. 
 The schools have had a heavy task as it is, and continuing as 
 they have under the dominance of the college, they have pro- 
 ceeded in the best way they could, handling too many children 
 to the teacher, and with a sort of military precision about the 
 whole regime. Unlike the merchant or manufacturer, they 
 have not been concerned about raw material. In industrial 
 enterprises the business man must scan the world and must 
 know years in advance where to look for the raw material upon 
 which he may apply the magic of his manufacturing processes. 
 It is different with the schools. They have always known that 
 on every September morning when the new school year opened 
 there would be a roomful of children waiting before each 
 door. Then it has-been the business of each teacher to "shoo" 
 the brood which falls to her lot a certain intellectual distance, 
 invariably in the direction of the college on the hill. At the 
 end of the school year the opposite door opened and the children 
 dissolved back into the community. The community giveth 
 and the community taketh away. Each grade has so many 
 children; there are certain studies to make, so high a level in 
 marks required to pass. If the pupil fails in one thing he must 
 take the whole course over again. If he cannot handle one 
 item on the bill of fare he must eat the whole menu over. 
 
 One school in a prominent city of 25,000 thought it had no 
 retardation problem. One day a little girl was discovered who 
 had sat for five years in the same grade. A study of retarda- 
 tion was begun and a thousand retarded pupils were found in 
 that city. Chicago has found 69,000 children from one to 
 three years behind in their grades. 
 
 17 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 The problem of retardation is challenging the attention of 
 the nation. 
 
 When we come close to this army of children who have 
 fallen behind, we find all kinds of conditions prevailing among 
 them. When any city takes a map of its community and in- 
 dicates on the map the places where the retarded children live 
 in largest numbers, they are led back to the congested parts 
 of the city ; to unsanitary dwellings ; to the homes of the poor ; 
 to the tenements which kill babies and harbor and foster 
 consumptives; to the weak spots in the community. 
 
 The friends of the open air school movement, physicians, 
 social workers and nurses, know these little people; they have 
 become acquainted with children running temperatures of 
 101 to 1 02 degrees, sick with an active process of tuberculosis, 
 children whose home life and home conditions are such that 
 they cannot possibly go to school with profit, children who can- 
 not see the blackboard, who cannot hear the teacher's voice, 
 children with adenoids, with enlarged tonsils, with physical 
 defects of many kinds and of varying degrees in their blighting, 
 retarding influence. They have observed that a school 
 system that marches ruthlessly toward the college does no 
 give ample or adequate consideration to these children. These 
 workers have tried to find employment for such boys and 
 girls, and have been impressed by the inadequacy of their prep- 
 aration. The doctors have tried to strengthen and mend the 
 imperfect or broken mechanism of the bodies and to build a 
 basis for greater brain vigor. The social workers have tried 
 to give the children a chance and find them employment. 
 The inadequacy of their training and the pitiful spectacle of 
 these little weaklings trying to run that race which is only to 
 the strong is moving and pathetic. 
 
 The open air school with its special consideration, its 
 adaptation of the curriculum and regime of the school to the 
 needs of the children, and the thrilling spectacle of children 
 
 18 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 growing stronger, increasing their resistance and the vigor of 
 their minds, acquiring new eagerness and joy of life, has been 
 most gratifying. It has afforded another look into the school 
 system; it has shown the problems of these little people to be 
 akin to the problems of many other of the ninety and nine 
 who quit the schools immature in body and unprepared for 
 the duties of life. 
 
 The open air school is an appeal and a challenge for the 
 fresh air rights, for the sanitation and hygiene rights of every 
 
 SCHOOL GARDENING ON A CITY ROOF 
 
 one of the twenty million school children. It also offers an 
 appeal in behalf of the individuality of every child and a re- 
 ward to the teacher and the school system and to the state of 
 which they are a part for the recognition of that individuality. 
 We have been taught the value of manual training in re- 
 formatories. Some of our best lessons in teaching have come 
 from the schools of the feeble-minded; we have learned the 
 value of sunshine and fresh air from consumptives. How 
 sick or abnormal must children continue to be to get their 
 rights? 
 
 19 
 
20 
 
THE SCHOOL REGIME AND THE SHORT- 
 TERM CHILD 
 
 As a background for the material 
 set forth in this book, a glance at the 
 accompanying chart may be of inter- 
 est. It is a diagram based on figures 
 from the 1910 report of the public 
 schools of Chicago. The chart as 
 originally made was worked 
 out by Mr. E. A. Wreidt of the 
 Committee on Education of 
 the City Club of Chicago. It 
 is a graphic representation of 
 the falling out process and 
 
 shows the percentage of children retained in the successive 
 grades of the Chicago schools to the end of the high school 
 course. 
 
 Using Mr. Wreidt's diagram as a base, we have attempted 
 to suggest some of the employments open to the boys and girls 
 as they drop out of school in the lower grades, and have also 
 carried the idea through to the end of the college course to 
 show how many pupils out of one hundred finally get through 
 the college, which has so largely dominated the educational 
 system in this country. The percentage of students who 
 finish college is somewhere between one and two per cent ; 
 but since the college graduates both men and women, 
 they are given the excess showing. The part of the chart 
 which is our own is far from satisfactory, but we offer it 
 for whatever of suggestiveness it may afford in the discussion 
 
 21 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 concerning short term children and the dominance of the 
 school system by the college. The schools concern "all the 
 children of all the people," and our plea is that they should go 
 more effectively with the children who cannot go far. 
 
 Mr. Wreidt's figures for Chicago and the line depicting the 
 elimination is substantially the same as the result reached by 
 Professor Edward L. Thorndike of Teachers College, Colum- 
 bia, and published in a monograph entitled "Elimination of 
 Pupils from our Public Schools." Professor Thorndike's 
 work was based on figures from the schools of a number of 
 large cities, and while his figures indicate an earlier beginning 
 of the falling out process than is indicated in Mr. Wreidt's 
 chart, both are in agreement that the process begins early, 
 and the two are agreed as to the results at the end of the 
 grammar grades, viz. : that about seventy per cent of the 
 children leave school at or before the completion of the eighth 
 grade, and that about six per cent graduate from the high school. 
 
 Dr. Leonard P. Ayres in "Laggards in Our Schools," page 
 71, by a different method of computation and compilation, 
 shows a chart which places the number eliminated at the end 
 of the eighth grade at about fifty-three per cent instead of 
 seventy per cent (according to Prof. Thorndike's statement), 
 and concludes that about ten per cent finally graduate from 
 the high school instead of six per cent. 
 
 Many different reasons are assigned for this early separation 
 from school. Among them, however, are the economic situa- 
 tion, the failure of the school to grip the child's interest, and 
 questions of health. 
 
 Lack of success in school studies is doubtless one of the great- 
 est single causes which impel pupils to drop out of school. 
 
 To what extent this lack of success has a physical basis, 
 nobody knows. Medical examination has revealed many 
 facts concerning the physical conditions of school children, but 
 medical examination in most schools is very superficial and 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 detects only the more outward and apparent defects, such as 
 those of vision, hearing, adenoids and teeth. 
 
 The experience with children in the open air schools 
 throws some light on this phase of the problem because of the 
 closer relation, the more thorough examination and detail 
 medical work. 
 
 During the school year immediately preceding her admis- 
 sion to the open air Mildred had made repeated attempts to 
 attend the public school, but she was unable to climb the 
 stairs which led to the school room without suffering from 
 severe headaches, and her physician finally forbade her at- 
 tendance and advised her living out of doors. The only out- 
 doors accessible to Mildred, whose father was an Italian day 
 laborer trying to support a family of seven on a weekly wage 
 of $10, was the dust and dirt of the street. There was not 
 even a park within walking distance of her home, and car fare 
 was out of the question. After this enforced vacation she was 
 so eager to get back to school that she tried three times during 
 the following September, but succeeded in being present only 
 two and one half days in all. In February she heard of the 
 Open Air School, made application at once, and was admitted. 
 The physician's examination disclosed the fact that Mildred 
 was in the incipient stage of tuberculosis, and badly needed 
 fresh air and nourishing food. She got both at the Elizabeth 
 McCormick Open Air School. The elevator service to the 
 roof removed the necessity of climbing stairs. 
 
 Her headaches disappeared. She did not miss a day that 
 year, and completed the seventh grade work in half the re- 
 quired time. During the second year in the open air she 
 kept up a practically perfect record of attendance, and suc- 
 cessfully completed the eighth grade. The physician pro- 
 nounces her now entirely free from tuberculosis and able to 
 do light work. Her whole attitude toward life has changed 
 with the discovery that the discouragements of her early 
 
 23 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 school days were not necessarily to be typical of her after 
 experience. 
 
 Mildred was fortunate enough to be so far from well that 
 her poor attendance and irregular recitations could not be 
 attributed to stupidity. Tony, on the other hand, looked per- 
 fectly well. He belonged to that 
 large class of boys .^ which most teach- 
 ers dread to see ^F^\, entering the room; 
 overgrown, dull ^^kiyft^yil^ eyed, fond of teas- 
 ing, begrudging ^j^m H every moment 
 that must be given jji to school, he had 
 lagged behind ^U until at thirteen 
 he was only in the M fourth grade. His 
 teachers with f unanimity pro- 
 nounced him "hopeless." So 
 discouraging had been his record in 
 both scholarship and deportment 
 that a petition had already been filed 
 to have him transferred to the 
 parental school as unmanageable. 
 
 A visit to Tony's home re- 
 
 vealed some of the ^^P^R reasons for his de- 
 
 linquency. Tony TONY came to this coun- 
 
 try from Italy six years ago. He 
 
 had never been well since. The family lived in four small 
 rooms fronting on a dirty alley. Tony, with his two brothers, 
 slept in a dark bedroom which had but one window, and this 
 was never opened. 
 
 After a short period in the Open Air School he showed such 
 a desire to improve that he was allowed to try the fifth grade 
 work and in June was passed into the sixth grade. He became 
 tractable, a favorite with both teacher and pupils, and as 
 indicated, made two grades in less than a year. 
 
 Morris was very poor in his work when he first entered the 
 
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 This graph may be interpreted as follows: Of al 
 12 year old pupils enrolled in Chicago public schools 
 in 1910-11, 42.5% were over-age, or behind grade 
 53.5% Of the 15 year old children were over-age, etc 
 
 The graph shows, in general, that retardation, 01 
 over-age, increases rapidly the longer the childrer 
 stay in school. 
 
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 elimination (above 14 years) of the over-age pupils. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Courtesy Mr. E. A. Wreidt 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 Open Air School. He took no interest in his lessons and 
 required to be urged to accomplish any seat work at all. His 
 interest increased so rapidly, however, that one by one he 
 brought his favorite playmates to seek admittance to the 
 school. They were, to his disappointment, too well to be 
 admitted. As Morris's health improved he began to consider 
 the rest periods a waste of time, so anxious was he to spend 
 every minute possible upon his work. 
 
 In the closed window room Morris had never made trouble. 
 He lacked the initiative of Tony; but he had been absolutely 
 listless, and with no desire to remain in school. He will never 
 be a brilliant man, but he can become very useful, and his 
 attitude towards school will be friendly. 
 
 These stories are typical of experiences with children 
 in the open air schools. All these children were in the group 
 that would be called retarded and destined for an early separa- 
 tion from the school. In the studies made of retardation, it is 
 discovered that about thirty- three per cent of all the pupils 
 in the school belong in the retarded class. 
 
 This is not at all a problem concerning a few underde- 
 veloped or feeble-minded children. It is one affecting most 
 intimately perhaps 6,000,000 children in the United States. 
 
 The tendency everywhere is for the behind-grade children 
 to drop out of school. As shown elsewhere, the child who is 
 below grade eight at fourteen is more than twice as likely to 
 drop out as the child who has reached the eighth grade and 
 fifteen times as likely to drop out as the child above grade 
 eight. A common school education is regarded everywhere as 
 the minimum for a child brought up in America. But when 
 it is shown that 70 per cent of the children leave the schools 
 altogether at or before the completion of the eighth grade and 
 when it is further realized that this whole group averages about 
 a fifth grade accomplishment, the gravity of the situation be- 
 comes apparent. 
 
 26 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 In Chicago 65 per cent of the children leave school 
 at 14 years of age; 77 per cent leave before they are 16 
 years old. 
 
 Of those who leave school between 14 and 16 years of 
 age, nearly three fourths leave in grades below the eighth; 
 over one half leave in grade six or below; over one third 
 leave in grade five or below; only 4 per cent attend high 
 school. 
 
 Chances ) 
 
 below grade 8$^ 
 
 Chances ) ^^^^2 
 
 in grade 8 } 
 
 Chances j ^^^^^^MH^^^^^^^M^^^^^^^MHMI q 2 
 
 above grade 8 } 
 
 The chances* that a 1 4-year-old pupil will remain in 
 school are 2.1 times as great in grade 8 as they are below 
 grade 8, and 15.2 times as great above grade 8 as they 
 are below grade 8. 
 
 * " Chances" in the mathematical sense of "odds." 
 
 Courtesy Mr. E. A. Wreidt. 
 
 Here we have a condition where failure to make grades 
 further congests the schools and increases the number of 
 pupils to the teacher, while at the same time the congestion in 
 the schools, the large number of pupils to each teacher, the 
 inability to individualize and understand children, increases 
 the retardation. The pressure is constantly put on the 
 teacher to get her children through the grades in somewhat 
 the same fashion that a salesman is rated and compensated, 
 according to the amount of goods he delivers. The teacher 
 feels that she will be ranked by her ability to deliver the 
 children to the next grade. This is all natural enough, since 
 
 27 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 the school courses are dominated by the colleges and uni- 
 versities. The law is likewise inelastic and enables the 
 children to drop out at 14, making a definite age limit the 
 standard rather than the child's manual, intellectual, or 
 physical ability to begin work. 
 
 In this country we have not in any large way tested the 
 results of our schools and the experiment of rearing the chil- 
 dren so largely in town and city environment. A few years 
 ago England was led to an examination of her living conditions 
 and to consider her human resources. She sent her troops 
 to South Africa to fight some Dutch farmers. Under the 
 stress of the campaign, the men fell ill in large numbers. 
 They could not fight and endure as British armies fought in 
 the days when they were drawn from the yeomanry. When 
 England went back to Liverpool and London, Manchester, 
 and Birmingham to recruit the ranks, she found a condi- 
 tion among the people bred and reared in her congested 
 industrial centers that startled the empire awake. Statures 
 had shrunk and the men did not come up to grade. The stuff 
 that makes for day's work was disappearing from the arms 
 and legs of the sought-for soldiers. In order to get recruits the 
 standard had to be lowered. 
 
 Since then her statesmen and people have been busy trying 
 to devise ways to counteract the conditions that are bringing 
 these results. England is considering pension and insurance 
 plans of all kinds and is thoroughly aroused. 
 
 It ought not to require any such demonstration as this to 
 enlist the sympathy and action of the people in behalf of the 
 children. The facts concerning infant mortality that are 
 becoming known, the figures revealed in the work of medical 
 inspection, and the facts disclosed in children's courts and 
 institutions ought to be sufficient to influence the educational 
 policies of school authorities and to bring to the school people 
 that intelligent co-operation and backing from the public 
 
 28 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 that will make it possible to do for these children the thing best 
 calculated to insure useful and satisfactory lives to themselves 
 and to the community. To again quote from Dr. Ayres: 
 
 ; 'The administrative reforms which must be brought about 
 consist mainly of more thorough and better medical inspection, 
 courses of study which will more nearly fit trie abilities of the 
 average pupil, more flexible grading, and, most important of all, 
 a better knowledge of the facts. We must have better school 
 records and we must learn to interpret them more intelligently. 
 It is far from creditable that in hardly a city in the country 
 can the school authorities tell how many pupils begin school 
 each year, or how fast they advance, or what proportion 
 finish or why they fall out, or where and why they lose time." 
 
 Eat, eat, keep on eating, 
 Sleep, sleep, keep on sleeping, 
 Breathing fresh air night and day, 
 Happy in our work and play. 
 
 We're going to the country, 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 
 We'll take our blankets with us, 
 
 Our Eskimo suits of gray. 
 
 We'll take our teacher with us, 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 
 For off to fair Algonquin 
 
 We're on our way. 
 
 Now, if you'll kindly listen, 
 
 We'll tell you why 
 
 It's easy to grow husky 
 
 And never, never die. 
 
 We're going to the country, 
 
 It's truly so, 
 
 And it's eat and sleep and good fresh air 
 
 That makes us grow. 
 
A COMMUNITY PROGRAM FOR FRESH AIR 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 Getting fresh air into school- 
 rooms is not a problem peculiar 
 to great cities. It concerns 
 every community that sends 
 children indoors to school. In- 
 deed, the smaller the town the 
 more apt is the ventilation of 
 its public buildings to be poor. 
 The country church, where ^e 
 alternately roasts and fre s, 
 and the town hall whose n- 
 dows are black with the undis- 
 turbed cobwebs of generations 
 of hoary spiders, weekly contrib- 
 ute their share towa r tearing 
 down lung tissue jh the 
 sweet, clean air of the open fields has built up. 
 
 In such communities a ventilating system, once installed, 
 is regarded with superstitious awe. In a little Northern 
 Minnesota town, the same man, appropriately enough, is both 
 village undertaker and school janitor. He objects seriously 
 if his avocation of coffin making, carried on in the school 
 basement, is interrupted, especially by any complaint about 
 the quality of air in the school room. One act, however, will 
 bring him on the double-quick. If a teacher dares to open a 
 window, in sweeps this stanch defender of the system, ready 
 for a veritable set-to. So the pupils yawn day after day in an 
 
 31 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 attempt to focus stupefied brains on lessons that ought to be 
 interesting, while just outside the windows the Minnesota 
 sunshine sparkles through crisp, fragrant air blowing straight 
 from the pine woods where they are building sanatoria for the 
 benefit of consumptives. 
 
 A church janitor was asked about details of preparation for 
 an evening service at which it was especially desired to spirit- 
 ually refresh and invigorate the congregation. There was a 
 strong atmosphere of previous meetings in the stuffy, tight - 
 closed room. The janitor urged that opening windows or 
 doors would further chill the room, and explained that he 
 always relied on "gas and breath" to warm it up. 
 
 A superintendent of schools in a Wisconsin town reports 
 that in the year before she came to her present position two 
 teachers received letters from the board of education, warning 
 them that they stood in peril of dismissal if they continued 
 to open the windows of their class-rooms. 
 
 "There may be perfectly ventilated school buildings," says 
 Mrs. Ella Flagg Young, superintendent of the Chicago public 
 schools, "but it has never been my good fortune to visit one. 
 In the East and in the West, one recognizes the same stale 
 conditions in the atmosphere of school rooms. It is no reflec- 
 tion upon the architects and engineers of buildings in which 
 large numbers of persons are congregated to say that the 
 problem of ventilation is unsolved. The development of 
 sanitary science and the interest of members of the scientific 
 and medical professions in the possibilities underlying such 
 science, give promise of better conditions in the near future 
 with regard to ventilating and lighting buildings for the chil- 
 dren and young people than have yet been worked out." 
 
 Sir John Gorst in "The Children of the Nation," records 
 the results of a scientific investigation into the condition of the 
 atmosphere in schools in Manchester and Salford made by 
 Dr. Bayley of Owen's College. "He classified the schools 
 
 32 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 examined into five classes according to the degree of foul air 
 and smell which prevailed in them. No school rose to the 
 first or second class. There were only two in the third class, 
 and in them the class rooms were reported to have ' air very 
 oppressive, giving rise to headache.' In other schools, 'the 
 odor in the class rooms especially was simply unbearable.' 
 The air was tested for carbonic acid gas. The standard accepted 
 in the wards of hospitals is that if there are more than 6 parts 
 in 10,000 of carbonic acid gas, the air is regarded as polluted 
 and unfit for the patients to breathe. Not one of the schools 
 examined came within the unpolluted zone. In the best 
 school there were 7 parts in 10,000, and 10 in the class rooms; 
 in the worst 12.8 parts in 10,000, and 14.5 in the class rooms. 
 The air was also tested for micro-organisms. Pure mountain 
 air is quite free from micro-organisms, and air in the streets 
 of Paris contains only 25 per cubic foot, whereas it was found 
 in one of the Salford schools examined that in the infant school 
 there were 213 micro-organisms per cubic foot; in the boys' 
 school, 236 ; and in the girls' school, 286. In many town schools 
 there is now excellent ventilation, but many are still in the 
 condition in which Manchester schools were when examined 
 by Dr. Bay ley. In the country, especially, where there is the 
 best of air all around the schools waiting to be let in, the air 
 which the children are made to breathe is atrociously bad." 
 
 Bad ventilation is not confined to the schools. Theaters, 
 street cars, public halls and conveyances, transgress equally. 
 But the schools are the only places where the law compels 
 attendance. It is a serious matter when a school into which 
 a child is forced actually contributes to his decline. The dull 
 and backward pupil who cannot get his lessons is often kept 
 after school. He has sat for hours at a rigid desk in an un- 
 natural posture, in an overheated room, the overdry, thirsty 
 air sapping his already wilted system, the windows of the 
 school never opened because the janitor, the ventilating en- 
 
 33 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 gineer, and perhaps the teacher, who likes to have the ther- 
 mometer seventy-five or higher, say, No. To meet such con- 
 ditions, which are common in every part of the country, some. 
 sort of community plan for fresh air education is necessary. 
 
 In a recent number of a standard periodical, Burton Hend- 
 ricks described the steps which Chicago is taking in this direc- 
 tion under the title of " Oxygenizing a City." The three- 
 year-old son of a Chicago physician puts it with equal pic- 
 turesqueness when he says: " Well, daddy, it is time for me to 
 go out and fresh-air myself." 
 
 For several reasons a community plan for "fresh-airing 
 itself" properly begins with the public schools. They are the 
 only places where large public gatherings are compelled by 
 law, and as such they are directly under the control of the law. 
 The law cannot interfere with a man's home unless conditions 
 there constitute a nuisance. It can and does send his children 
 to school, even though health conditions there place the 
 school itself in the nuisance class. But public education 
 must not be miseducation. The school reaches into every 
 home and draws into itself for the precious period of childhood 
 each young life in its turn. Any lessons in right living suc- 
 cessfully taught in the schools immediately react upon the 
 home; for in reality it is the children, not adults, that make 
 the home. 
 
 The child who has sat all day in a well-ventilated school- 
 room will not submit to sleeping in a steam-heated flat with 
 all the windows closed. Children are more easily accustomed 
 to a change in temperature than adults; they respond more 
 quickly to the beneficial effects of the fresh air. The dis- 
 satisfaction with present methods of ventilation in the public 
 schools is so widespread among both parents and educators 
 that the ends sought by the fresh air school movement meet 
 with universal approval. 
 
 As a first step in a fresh air program, try the air the pupils 
 
 35 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 are getting now. Get an expert ventilating engineer from 
 another city to make careful tests in every school. The 
 local papers will be glad to publish the results. But do not 
 stop there. Get members of your Woman's Club to visit the 
 assembly halls and class rooms, and notice the effect upon your 
 own brains of the air which the children are compelled to 
 breathe five hours a day. A thermometer will give the 
 temperature and a simple device called a hygrometer (a little 
 instrument about the size of a watch and costing around two 
 dollars and a half) will give an idea as to the humidity. 
 
 A Chicago physician visited the schools in an Iowa town, 
 and found the thermometer ranging from 73 to 86, with condi- 
 tions of humidity correspondingly bad. He also visited a 
 number of factories in the town and found the conditions there 
 uniformly better than in the schools. 
 
 Undoubtedly, the temperature is often too high in most of 
 our schools, with consequent over-dryness of the air. The 
 range of temperature set by the Chicago school board is 
 minimum 68 and maximum 72. We are all familiar with the 
 discomfort of an overheated room, and while fresh, pure air is 
 the prime consideration, overheating causes its own discom- 
 forts and stupefying effects. 
 
 One of the elements of difficulty in the situation is the 
 method of dress on the part of both pupils and teachers. No 
 one can expect two girls sitting side by side to be comfortable 
 in the same temperature, one with heavy underwear and a 
 woolen dress, while the bare skin of the other shows through a 
 lingerie waist. If each one knows beforehand about where the 
 mercury will stand, there is a possibility of dressing accordingly, 
 and there need be no just grounds for complaint from the 
 parents. 
 
 Do not be dismayed if the new significance of ventilation 
 and fresh air discredits the system of which you have been 
 so proud. You have one great known quantity. There is 
 
 36 
 
37 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 an abundance of fresh air outside every door. A good teacher, 
 a live school board, or an interested citizen can often turn the 
 tide and get something done. "I now think," said a nurse, 
 "that my district school teacher saved me from tuberculosis. 
 I had pneumonia when I was seven and my chest was left 
 weak. The teacher opened all the windows and gave us 
 gymnastic and deep breathing exercises after each recitation. 
 We loved it because she liked it so well. All weakness of my 
 chest disappeared that year." 
 
 The ventilation of that little community school house was 
 just as bad as it ever had been, but the teacher dominated the 
 situation and saved the day. If your mechanical system is 
 so fussy that it is thrown out of commission when a window is 
 opened, turn it off, excuse the whole system for a few minutes, 
 open windows and doors and flush the room. 
 
 In working out a program, all the elements to be dealt with 
 must be understood. Medical inspection should be a part of 
 the school regime in every community. No program can be 
 complete without it. Every child has a physical individuality 
 as well as a mental, and it is as necessary to consider physical 
 condition as mental aptitude. The majority of children in 
 every community are probably fairly normal, and the thing 
 to be kept in mind all the time is that the whole one hundred 
 per cent have the right to proper ventilation and hygienic 
 conditions. 
 
 In Germany and Switzerland the law requires all the chil- 
 dren to get out of the school house into the open for ten or 
 fifteen minutes out of every individual hour. If your children 
 can't go outdoors so often they can exercise while windows 
 are open. 
 
 The friends of the open air school movement are interested 
 in all of the children and will be content with nothing short 
 of right conditions for the whole one hundred per cent. How- 
 ever, there are in school beside the normal children constitut- 
 
 38 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 ing the largest group, certain pupils who are anaemic and 
 physically sub -normal, and a third group, smaller but in 
 more definite need, where there are distinct evidences of 
 tubercular infection. 
 
 For children who are anaemic and underfed, easily ex- 
 hausted and nervous, the open window room, with its sup- 
 plemental feeding, its period of rest, better understanding 
 of the needs and possibilities of each individual child, is 
 something within reach of almost? any community. The 
 rigid desks can be removed and tables and chairs supple- 
 mented; cots put in the room, and the extra expense of cloth- 
 ing and food can be met by churches, women's clubs or other 
 organizations. For the third group, the open air school with 
 its more complete regime is best suited to the physical demands 
 of the children. 
 
 Building up the resistance of children is a necessary part 
 of the warfare against tuberculosis and it ought to be possible 
 to provide for any necessary feeding of school children through 
 the forces organized to combat the tuberculosis situation. 
 
 In every community of considerable size there should also 
 be provision for sanatorium treatment in cases of open tuber- 
 culosis among the children. This part should also be pro- 
 vided for through active co-operation with the forces dealing 
 with tuberculosis in the community. 
 
 In all three classes of children will be found nose and throat 
 defects, adenoids and enlarged tonsils, difficulties of ears and 
 eyes. Medical inspection should not only detect physical sub- 
 normalities but a follow-up system should correct them. 
 
 The principals of various graded schools in Louisville, 
 Kentucky, are this year requested by the Superintendent to 
 report the names of children who manifest a lack of vitality 
 and energy, or who become easily fatigued, as candidates for 
 the fresh air treatment. 
 
 The spectacle of a roomful of children, inattentive, yawn- 
 
 39 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 ing and listless, is a familiar sight. One morning a professor 
 said to a pupil: " Young man, do you know that you fell 
 asleep during the lecture this morning?" The youth replied: 
 "Now, isn't that funny? Do you know you are the third 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AT CAMP ALGONQUIN 
 
 professor who has spoken to me about that this morning?" 
 The rest period in these schools is very profitable to the chil- 
 dren. It is better for a roomful of children to make a success 
 of going to sleep for a period than to be making half successful 
 efforts to keep awake through a whole session. 
 
 Detroit offers a happy example in fresh air work. During 
 good weather whole classes are taken regularly to the lawns 
 
 40 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 which surround most of the schools, and lessons are studied 
 and recited in the open, with pupils 100 per cent attentive 
 and efficient. In the first two months of the experiment, 
 September to October, 1910, 6,326 class sessions were con- 
 ducted in this way. The verdict from teachers and pupils 
 was so heartily in its favor that the number of outdoor 
 classes has steadily increased ever since. "No teacher who 
 has tried it has found difficulty with the discipline," say the 
 principals. 
 
 Detroit is considered fortunate in the location of her 
 schools, but she is no more fortunate than every other city 
 ought to be. It is a public misfortune deliberately to choose 
 sites for school buildings where the very nature of the loca- 
 tion makes a playground with grass and trees forever im- 
 possible, or where noise and dirt hourly rack the nerves of 
 pupils. Few cities plan ahead for school sites. 
 
 Fletcher B. Dressier of the United States Bureau of Educa- 
 tion tells how an unusually intelligent board of education, com- 
 posed largely of college-bred men, including three physicians, 
 selected a school site. A new school building was to be erected 
 in their thriving town where people always gave hearty 
 support to any educational project. "There happened to be 
 for sale a rather large block of land in topographically the 
 lowest part of the town. It was a worthless piece of ground and 
 had been shunned even by manufacturing establishments 
 because it was low and wet. To the east was a livery stable, 
 on the west, a block away, a flouring mill and a railway with 
 noisy, smoky engines frequently tugging trains up a heavy 
 grade. To the south, running along the edge of the grounds, 
 was a little stream, which of necessity carried away surface 
 water from the public streets. The bed of this stream was 
 barely six feet lower than the foundation of the building. 
 Upon this site a large brick building was erected, and into it 
 hundreds of the children of the town were gathered." 
 
 41 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 A central location is desirable, but town planning ought to 
 make the schools one of the first considerations. 
 
 A growing town in Iowa reserves a block in every section 
 of given size for schoolhouse purposes. 
 
 Mr. Wm. A. Wirt, superintendent of schools of Gary, 
 Indiana, has made a notable contribution in his use of the 
 playground as an integral part of the school plant and regime. 
 Not only does it help to educate through recreation but it 
 gives pupils more time in the open and by rotating makes it 
 possible for a given school plant to care for more children. 
 Winnetka, Illinois, has recently adopted the Gary plan with 
 the result that all the children in all the schools of that town 
 are in the open much more than before. The duration of the 
 experiment is yet too brief to afford any conclusions but the 
 promo tors are giving their best thought and effort to the 
 schools and are focusing their attention on the children. They 
 are trying to make the school fit the children. 
 
 In our congested cities one asset has been, with but few 
 exceptions, entirely overlooked the roofs of buildings. Often 
 where the street air is polluted by smoke, gas and dirt, the air 
 three or four stories up will be found much purer and in more 
 active circulation. In congested parts of the city the roof 
 offers a good opportunity for additional playground space for 
 open air schools and open air classes. The roof ought to be 
 taken into consideration, always, when the school house is 
 built. However, in many buildings where this has not been 
 done, it costs comparatively little to render the roof accessible, 
 and a few benches or chairs and tents or awnings will do the 
 rest. 
 
 There are thousands of acres of unused roofs in every city, 
 in the fashionable apartment region, as well as in the tenement 
 district, beneath which people swelter in summer in a wholly 
 unnecessary fashion ; for relief is literally at their door. Here 
 is an opportunity to "sit on the lid" with a two-fold benefit. 
 
 42 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 No community program for fresh air is complete that ignores 
 the possibilities of the roof. 
 
 With the rediscovery of the benefits of outdoor life is 
 discernible a new type of architecture both for school build- 
 ings and dwellings. New apartments advertise sleeping 
 porches among their leading attractions. The " Wan ted 
 to Rent" columns of the press, with increasing frequency, 
 carry requests for bed-rooms with sleeping porches. The 
 perambulator of the scientifically-brought-up infant no longer 
 stands by the nursery fire during the baby's nap; it is out on 
 the porch or the screened-in veranda. 
 
 Says Dr. Thomas Carrington, in his recently published 
 book on " Fresh Air and How to Use It": "The increasing 
 demand for sleeping porches and other fresh air living apart- 
 ments has recently brought about numerous changes in the 
 planning of dwellings, and one may say perhaps without ex- 
 aggeration that a new type of architecture has been developed. 
 Sleeping porches, loggias, open air living and dining rooms, sun 
 parlors and numerous windows are replacing the rooms which 
 a few years ago were considered comfortable when snugly in- 
 closed, but which it is believed had much to do with the great 
 increase of tuberculous disease in the nineteenth century." 
 
 Following the introduction of fresh air info the school, must 
 come proper ventilation in the home, and in accomplishing this 
 end, the 20,000,000 school children are our greatest asset. 
 When the necessity of ventilation and hygienic living become 
 matters of conviction and general understanding, the well-to- 
 do will insist upon embodying the new ideas in their homes and 
 the necessity of a wage which will put the possibility of whole- 
 some, efficient living within the reach of every person who is 
 honestly helping to do the world's work will be more than ever 
 apparent. 
 
 For we must admit with Dr. S. A. Knopf, that the 
 "air which the masses get in a crowded tenement district 
 
 43 
 
W fc 
 
 S o 
 
 HK 
 
 IE 
 
 O 
 w 
 
 s 
 
 OQ 
 
 44 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 is not pure enough to make them strong, vigorous and resistent 
 to disease, even if they keep their windows open. Not until 
 we insist upon lower buildings and wider streets, particularly 
 in our tenement house districts, whereby more sunlight 
 can enter their habitations ; not until our old tenement houses, 
 
 A CLEVELAND, OHIO, OPEN AIR SCHOOL 
 
 and particularly our murderous lung-blocks, are replaced by 
 model tenement houses; not until we have interspaced these 
 model tenement houses by multiple parks and playgrounds; 
 not until this fearful congestion which is now the curse of our 
 civilization has been done away with ; not until the suburbs of 
 our large cities are utilized for individual homes of the masses ; 
 not until our facilities will enable the laborer to travel in com- 
 fort and with rapidity to his sanitary home; not until we have 
 
 45 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 given him the opportunity to live modestly but decently in a 
 home somewhat closer to nature than the dark, dreary tene- 
 ment houses of our overcrowded cities, will we be able to 
 speak of an improvement of hygiene of this class of city 
 dwellers." 
 
 Here the open air crusaders join hands with all the other 
 agencies for civic betterment. In trying to put this one vital 
 necessity, fresh air, within the reach of everyone we must help 
 along the Good Housing Commissions, the Playground Asso- 
 ciations, the Charity Organization Societies, the Public Health 
 Leagues, the Parent-Teacher Clubs, the Infant Welfare Com- 
 mittees, and all the other forces which are working together to 
 make our cities a safer place for us and for our children. 
 When school and home know the physical benefits of proper 
 ventilation, we shall not have to wait long for the passage of 
 ordinances which will compel theaters and churches to fall into 
 line. Offices and places of business all recognize the increased 
 efficiency of the employees which comes when good air is 
 supplied them. In one large office in Chicago last winter at 
 the end of each hour a man was detailed to open all the win- 
 dows and the employees were encouraged to leave their desks 
 and exercise freely for five minutes. The working efficiency of 
 the force was greatly increased. Our public conveyances, 
 and all inclosed spaces where large numbers of people meet 
 together for pleasure or for business, must conform to the 
 new standards of the community or lose their custom. 
 
 In the Child Welfare Exhibit in Chicago a section was set 
 apart for the Elizabeth McCormick Open Air Schools. The 
 little tent with open windows and the snow laden pine trees 
 were faithfully reproduced. Among the trees stood large 
 screens which described by photographs and printed signs 
 the work which the schools were doing in Chicago. One day 
 a little Italian girl who looked not more than twelve, stood for 
 a long time studying the screens. The attendant in charge 
 
 46 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 of the exhibit went up to her and explained about the schools, 
 showing her how the pupils gained in weight, and how they 
 learned better and grew strong and well in the outdoor air. 
 Thinking she had won a convert to the cause for the chiM ~ 
 
 How CLEVELAND CARES FOR HER SCHOOL CHILDREN 
 
 was painfully thin and pale the explainer asked in conclu- 
 sion, "And how would you like to go to such a school?" only 
 to be withered by the scornful reply, "Huh! no open air 
 school for me! Open air factory!" 
 
 Any community plan for fresh air education is incom- 
 plete which stops short with the schools and the homes, and 
 ignores the fact that in the factories, the department stores, the 
 offices, the dressmaking shops, and the tailoring establishments, 
 
 47 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 where the boys and girls of to-day will be working tomorrow, 
 conditions must also be made right. We pay heavy toll each 
 year in preventable deaths from foul air diseases for our dis- 
 regard of the simple requirements of nature. 
 
 Experts say that if all the epileptics and feeble-minded 
 persons could be completely segregated for the life of one 
 generation epilepsy and idiocy would be largely stamped out. 
 Perhaps if a single generation could grow up to maturity and 
 beget its children in the free gospel of the open air, tuberculosis, 
 pneumonia, grip, catarrh, and all the loathsome brotherhood of 
 foul air ills would pass away forever. 
 
 However that may be, our course is plain. It is our busi- 
 ness to get fresh air, in the schools, in the homes, in churches 
 and theaters and places of public resort, and in factories, 
 offices and shops. No community plan for fresh air educa- 
 tion can afford to ignore any place where men and women 
 and little children sleep or play or work. 
 
 The need of protecting the child is shown by the fact that 
 about fifty per cent of children living in the crowded districts 
 become infected by the time they are five years old. Regula- 
 tion of home conditions, better school hygiene, the segrega- 
 tion of actively tuberculous children, and open air schools for 
 those who have latent tuberculosis are measures that should 
 be applied more extensively; the more so because the child 
 shows a strong tendency to recover, and the application of open 
 air methods seems even more effectual in children than in adults 
 in preventing and curing the disease. 
 
 TRUDEAU. 
 
 4 8 
 
CHOOLGRAM; 
 
 HAT shall it profit a child if he gain 
 the whole curriculum and lose his 
 health? 
 
 HE only air available from dark till 
 sunrise is "night air." Breathe it. 
 
 WO things of which there is enough 
 for all fresh air and sunshine. Get 
 yours. 
 
 SWITZERLAND requires her school 
 children to be in the open air at least 
 ten minutes out of every school hour. 
 
 EACH your children to make a child- 
 hood friend of the open air. 
 
 QUESTION that should be asked 
 about the ventilating system of every 
 school Does it ventilate? 
 
 ;HE only night air that is injurious is 
 last night's. Open the window and 
 let it out. 
 
 49 
 
CANDIDATES FOR OPEN AIR SCHOOL TREATMENT 
 
 INFECTION THROUGH FOOD 
 
 The man, who is in the third degree of tuberculosis, and who coughs constantly, is cutting cabbage 
 for the winter supply of sauerkraut for the family 
 
 50 
 
HOME AND SCHOOL A STUDY IN SOCIAL 
 BACKGROUNDS 
 
 The open air schools of Chicago 
 are located in parts of the city 
 where the presence of a congested 
 population, housed in crowded 
 tenements, makes a fresh air ob- 
 ject lesson particularly desirable. 
 The prevalence of tuberculosis in 
 such districts led Dr. Trudeau to 
 express the belief that fully fifty 
 per cent of the children living 
 under such conditions become in- 
 fected by the time they are five 
 years old. "The air is so strong 
 in Michigan," said one young 
 Polish woman who returned unex- 
 pectedly soon from her first sum- 
 mer outing on the lake-shore, "it is too strong; it make me 
 sick." Her home was close to a railroad track with a gas 
 tank on one side and the stockyards on the other, and she 
 had grown up literally surrounded by smells. Her sallow 
 skin and colorless face showed plainly, as did her narrow 
 chest and stooping shoulders, the results of trying to live 
 without breathing any more than she could help. She is a 
 type familiar to every social worker. Bad housing, bad air, 
 bad food, the fatal trinity of the poor, take heavy toll among 
 the children; but perhaps even more to be pitied than those 
 who die are those who live, and for whom the most we can 
 
 51 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 reasonably hope is that they may take a feeble place in the 
 great army of the unfit. 
 
 Perhaps the heaviest burden laid upon charitable societies 
 from any single cause is that which results from tuberculosis. 
 It has for many years constituted a great relief problem, but 
 with the development of a system of tuberculosis clinics in any 
 large city, a new and magnified duty as well as a new opportu- 
 nity are laid upon the heart and conscience of its charity 
 workers. Every day brings to their attention, men, women 
 and children who can be saved if given a chance. This has 
 been demonstrated again and again in every large city, but 
 the price must be paid. We recently made a study of the 
 income in tw r o hundred families in which there is one or more 
 cases of tuberculosis. These families were living on an 
 average income of about six dollars a week. The average 
 number of rooms per family was a little over three. 
 
 You cannot have consumption in three rooms on six dollars 
 a week with any success. The poor cannot afford it; the 
 community cannot afford it. The entire budget of the best 
 financed charity organization in the world cannot adequately 
 provide diets, sleeping appliances for porches, better living 
 quarters, rent and an equivalent for wages which will give 
 necessary cessation from toil to the victims of the disease. 
 The only salvation is prevention. Direct warfare against the 
 "White Plague" must be supplemented by flank movements 
 which will make more and more territory impossible for the 
 disease. Increased resistance and bodily vigor are essential 
 and the foundations must be laid in childhood. 
 
 It is not easy and sometimes not possible, to avoid the 
 strain put upon persons by the stress of home and business 
 life, but it should be entirely within our power to modify or 
 altogether remove harmful conditions and excessive strain 
 in connection with school life. The futility of trying to 
 stretch every youthful mind to fit an "average" which exists 
 
 52 
 
s*1 
 
 iB 
 %%%& 
 a|e 
 
 H 8sJ 
 1141 
 
 53 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 only in imagination is as evident as the impropriety of forcing 
 a twelve-year-old body into a seat built for an eight-year-old. 
 In the attempt to adjust school conditions to the child, it 
 is necessary to know the kind of home from which he comes. 
 New York City now employs, in certain of its schools, visitors 
 who call at the homes of the pupils to secure just such informa- 
 tion on doubtful cases. The school-nurse, if she be a person 
 with a social viewpoint, can be of great service to the teacher 
 in interpreting unexcused absences and unprepared lessons. 
 She can also explain to the mother why Solomon must be 
 vaccinated, and can threaten the father with court if Tony 
 is kept out of school to sell papers. In the Elizabeth McCor- 
 mick schools a special nurse from the Municipal Tuberculosis 
 Sanitarium is detailed to work up co-operation in the home. 
 Her work takes her among almost every nationality repre- 
 sented in the melting-pot, as the following table shows: 
 
 NATIONALITIES REPRESENTED IN THE ELIZABETH McCORMIGK 
 OPEN AIR SCHOOLS, 1911-12 
 
 Jewish 79 Canadian 5 
 
 American 59 Austrian 5 
 
 Irish 38 French 3 
 
 German 37 Russian 3 
 
 Italian 33 Scotch 3 
 
 Bohemian 25 Hungarian 2 
 
 Polish 16 Belgian 2 
 
 Negro 12 Slav I 
 
 Swedish 8 Welch i 
 
 English 7 Dutch I 
 
 Norwegian . 6 Records incomplete . . . . 16 
 
 Roumanian . 
 
 5 
 
 That the "Ghetto," "Little Italy" and the "Black Belt" 
 contribute more than their share of the children who come to 
 the open air school for treatment is to be expected by any one 
 familiar with the location of the schools and the conditions 
 under w r hich these citizens in the making must grow up. The 
 families from which they come are large: 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 
 6, 6, 6, run the averages of the families represented in the 
 
 54 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 eleven different schools. The average number of rooms for 
 the families represented in nine schools was four; for the other 
 two schools, five. The fathers worked, for the most part, 
 at unskilled trades, earning about $12.00 a week. In many 
 cases the mother had been left alone, to become the bread 
 winner for fatherless little ones and considered herself fortu- 
 nate if there were older brothers and sisters ready to contribute 
 their small earnings to eke out the 
 family support. 
 
 More often than not, the rooms 
 were dark and poorly ventilated. 
 Some of these children were sleeping 
 in bedrooms with no windows at all 
 or with ventilators that opened only 
 upon narrow courts. In one family 
 where the father had died of tuber- 
 culosis after a ten years' illness, and 
 where the mother had been coughing 
 and spitting blood for five years, there 
 were six children, four of them in the 
 first stages of tuberculosis, with intes- 
 tinal complications, probably tuber- 
 cular. Of the two bedrooms in their second floor rear flat, 
 one was fairly good, the other opened on the "bathroom and 
 had no other source of ventilation. 
 
 In John's basement home a kind landlord had sealed up all 
 the windows and it was impossible to open any of them. 
 
 Mildred and her sister slept in an eight-by-ten bedroom 
 which had one small window, less than one foot from the next 
 building. 
 
 Even where there were possibilities of ventilation, it was 
 sometimes hard to get it. Frances was one of thirteen children 
 who lived in a little frame cottage directly back of the stock- 
 yards. Her father had suffered many years from tuberculosis, 
 
 55 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 but the visiting nurse had never been able to induce him to take 
 the slightest precautions. He expectorated in the sink and on 
 the floor and forbade any one to open a window. The only out- 
 side air which this family of fifteen got at night came through a 
 broken window glass which they were too poor to replace. 
 
 Morris and his father, who had been coughing for a year, 
 slept together in a basement bedroom. The mother was 
 " afraid of the night air," and the one window could be opened 
 "just a crack." 
 
 Six out of ten tuberculous is the ghastly record of the 
 family from which Margaret and John came to the open air 
 school. They lived over a rag-shop, and not until the place 
 was finally condemned by the Health Department did the 
 family remove to more sanitary surroundings. 
 
 Not all the open air school pupils came from such surround- 
 ings, but the large majority of them did, and one of the most 
 hopeful things about the whole undertaking is the remarkable 
 way in which these children responded to better influences. 
 If the same response could be secured from the parents, the 
 battle would be half won; and most of them do respond to 
 evidences of sustained and vital interest in their children. 
 
 The nurse finds many mothers who are glad to co-operate 
 with the purposes of the school. They will gladly put a cot 
 on the porch roof, or change the sleeping arrangements of the 
 family so that the tubercular child may have a bed to himself 
 near an open window. They will get him to bed by eight 
 o'clock, despite his pleadings for the nickel show. They will 
 deprive themselves of proper clothing that he may be warmly 
 clad. In such homes, poor though they may be, the task is 
 comparatively easy; for where real destitution exists, aid may 
 always be secured through charitable agencies which stand 
 ready to provide extra beds, bedding, underwear, overcoats, 
 rubbers, special diets, and the expense of securing a better 
 apartment. 
 
 56 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 The discouraging element is found in the parent who 
 through ignorance, indifference, viciousness or laziness, will 
 take no part in helping the child. 
 
 To the foreign parent who is apt to regard his son as a 
 potential wage-earner and to resent any outside claim upon 
 him after his fourteenth year, the open air school must be 
 presented upon an economic basis. If he can once be con- 
 
 CAXVAS TENT IN SCHOOL YARD USED BY CHICAGO TUBERCULOSIS INSTITUTE 
 FOR ITS SUMMER SCHOOL 
 
 vinced that the only way in which his son will ever be any- 
 thing more than a burden to the family is to strengthen him 
 against disease through his school years, he may become a 
 strong advocate of fresh air as a curative agent. 
 
 Glancing over the family history cards of the pupils, the 
 investigator came to one where the nationality was marked 
 ''Unknown." The teacher explained that the mother was a 
 prostitute in the South Side levee. "No one knows who 
 or what his father is. The mother gives the child food some- 
 
 57 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 times, and shelter almost always, but there her responsi- 
 bilities cease. The truant officer found him one day and sent 
 him to us. What he has seen and heard we cannot surmise, 
 but of one thing I am certain: his mind is pure, even if his 
 body is tainted." 
 
 It is hard to make much impression on such homes. In 
 general, however, the interest in the open air school pupil 
 leads to a knowledge of his home, and, as a rule, interest springs 
 forth to meet interest and gratitude replies to sympathy. 
 
 Frank and Joseph lived with their mother and little sister 
 on the third floor rear of a crowded tenement. The father 
 deserted and went back to Bohemia just before the sister 
 was born. The mother made an uncertain living by finishing 
 coats, at which she seldom earned as much as three dollars a 
 week. The children helped by pulling basting thread. 
 When found, the woman was in the incipient stages of tuber- 
 culosis and her eyesight was failing fast. Dispensary treat- 
 ment and glasses were provided and the family was pensioned 
 for six months so that the mother could take a rest. She 
 obeyed instructions, responded readily to treatment, and is 
 now able to work a little, although the income still has to be 
 supplemented. It is needless to say that in this home the 
 attitude toward the open air school is distinctly one of co- 
 operation. 
 
 From the good American homes which are also represented 
 in the open air schools, come hearty expressions of gratitude 
 for the improvement in their children. ''As I told you a few 
 days ago," runs one letter, "I do very much appreciate the 
 work the open air school is doing. I have observed it closely 
 for over a year and more so this term since my son has been 
 attending it and it has done so much for him. As a result of 
 severe sickness a few years ago he had been very nervous 
 and easily excited. He used to come home from school under 
 high tension and often irritable and did not do as good work 
 
 58 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 in his studies as he was capable of doing. Since attending the 
 open air school, there has been a great change. He comes 
 home from school calm and good-natured and is doing much 
 better work in his studies. He has been gaining in weight 
 every week. We feel that the open air school is doing a great 
 deal for him in every way and we appreciate it very much." 
 
 For we have 
 
 Cold sprays that give us 
 
 Cheeks like the rose, 
 
 Temperatures that are normal, 
 
 This our record shows, 
 
 Appetites so hearty, 
 
 Our weight grows and grows. 
 
 We're the Elizabeth McCormick 
 
 Cold air Eskimos. 
 
 That goes. 
 
 59 
 
THE ROOF OF A PUBLIC BATH PRESSED INTO SERVICE AS AN OPEN AIR SCHOOL 
 
 60 
 
OPEN AIR SCHOOLS FROM THE TEACHER'S 
 STANDPOINT 
 
 "It is in the forest school, 1 ' says Dr. Henri 
 Schoen, writing of the Chariot tenburg school 
 and its preceptress, "that one may best see 
 how a little womanly love and attention succeed 
 in beautifying and transforming the lives of 
 children." 
 
 It is a pitiful thing to see a sick child whom 
 no physician's skill can cure, but it is a far more 
 pitiful thing to see a sick child doomed to linger 
 through a fretful childhood, a joyless youth and 
 an inefficient manhood when the right care at 
 the right moment might have made him a nor- 
 mal, healthy, useful human being. To give the right care at 
 the right moment is the special function of the open air school. 
 The hopefulness of the work calls forth a fine spirit of social 
 service in the teacher. 
 
 Sometimes it has meant real self-sacrifice. In one city, 
 rather than have the open air school discontinued during the 
 summer two teachers voluntarily gave their vacations to 
 the work without pay. In several places the whole labor of 
 preparing and serving the food has fallen upon the teacher, 
 who has cheerfully given up her noon periods and many 
 other hours legitimately hers with no other recompense than 
 that of seeing the children improve. 
 
 Ordinarily, however, taking charge of an open air school 
 means increased ease rather than increased difficulty in 
 accomplishing desired results. The largest average attendance 
 in any open air school from which reports could be secured 
 
 61 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 was thirty-five, with most schools admitting only twenty-five 
 and some only fifteen. The average number of pupils to one 
 teacher in the Chicago public schools is forty-one; in many 
 small town schools, it runs as high as sixty. 
 
 In a certain small town in Illinois last year, ninety-three 
 little children were found huddled together in a so-called 
 "kindergarten," in one room constructed to seat sixty-five. 
 
 The handbook of the Chicago Child Welfare Exhibit states 
 that in the New York City public schools 500,000 children 
 are in classes of more than thirty children; and 15,000 in 
 classes of more than sixty, and adds, "A class of thirty is 
 a good-sized class; one of sixty is monstrous." 
 
 The superintendent of schools in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 
 is quoted in a recent newspaper article as saying that in 
 one building visited upon his arrival in Pittsburgh he was 
 dumfounded to find, in one instance, one teacher with 136 
 pupils. 
 
 Granted the same kind of teacher and the same kind of pupils, 
 it would not be fair to expect the one with sixty youngsters to 
 accomplish as much with each -individual child as could the 
 teacher with twenty-five pupils. On the other hand, it must 
 be borne in mind that the sixty would be in one or two grades 
 while the twenty-five might range from first to the eighth 
 grade. 
 
 Where eight grades are included in the school, the work has 
 all the advantages and some of the disadvantages of the old- 
 fashioned district school. 
 
 The necessity for adjustment to a new teacher at every 
 promotion is eliminated. Promotions may be made when the 
 pupil is ready and need not be dependent upon any fixed 
 season of the year. Most important of all, the child has a 
 chance to learn through imitation. Significant in this respect 
 is the story of Wyburn. When the first Elizabeth McCormick 
 Open Air School was started on the roof of the Mary Crane 
 
 62 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 Nursery, Wyburn was a mere baby of four who, with his six- 
 year old brother, attended the day nursery. Both boys were 
 pale and undersized, with a family history of tuberculosis. 
 When the six-year-old was admitted to the roof, 
 school, Wyburn came too. As the teacher says: 
 " Wyburn was too young to enter school but he 
 was allowed to gather whatever crumbs of knowl- 
 edge he was able to assimilate. He learned to 
 read and write a little but care was taken not to 
 overtax his strength." He spent all his afternoons 
 asleep on the roof. Now, at six, he has completed 
 the second grade, and his physical condition is far 
 better than when he entered. He has learned 
 without effort and easily, largely from hearing the 
 recitations of the other pupils. He has not been 
 compelled to spend a third of his time in review 
 work, nor has his active little brain been befogged by bad 
 air or exhausted by effort too prolonged. 
 
 Another advantage which comes from close contact with 
 older pupils and seeing the work of the upper grades is the 
 desire which is aroused in the mind of the pupil to com- 
 plete a full school course. In the Chicago schools, 
 sixty-one per cent of the fourteen-year-old pupils 
 drop out as soon as they have reached the coveted 
 "work certificate age." Investigation has shown 
 that the pressure is not wholly economic. In many, 
 perhaps the majority, of these cases the children 
 might remain in school if they really wanted to. 
 
 William E. Wirt, superintendent of the schools 
 at Gary, Indiana, recognizes this fact when he 
 places his primary room next to the eighth grade 
 and his fifth grade next to the high school. 
 "Let the youngsters see something interesting just ahead of 
 them. Introduce them early to the laboratory and work-shop 
 
 63 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 which they may enter when they are ready arouse their 
 interest and their desire to learn and you will have no diffi- 
 culty in holding them through the course/' says Mr. Wirt. 
 
 The open air school children profit by the opportunity of ab- 
 sorbing from the upper grades much of the information which 
 under other conditions they would have drilled into them. The 
 task of instruction is proportionately easier for the teacher, and 
 it is the testimony of the supervising principal that the quality 
 of the work done in the ungraded rooms compares very favor- 
 ably with that done in the more closely graded rooms. 
 
 The teacher of an open air school has unusual opportu- 
 nities for knowing her pupils. She is not swamped at the 
 outset by large numbers. Twenty -five individualities can 
 be borne in mind where forty-five would leave only a blurred 
 impression. 
 
 "Jensa can concentrate for ten minutes, and no longer," 
 says the teacher of one open air school " At the end of that 
 time her attention wavers. Her writing grows unsteady and 
 fatigue begins. But if she can have a few moments of rest 
 from mental work, spent either in relaxation or exercise, she is 
 ready to take up her studies again with interest and effi- 
 ciency." The flexible arrangements of the open air school 
 permit this rest, which might be demoralizing to discipline 
 in an ordinary school, and the small number of children gives 
 opportunity for close observation. 
 
 The program of the open air school requires the teacher to 
 spend more time with her pupils outside of school hours than 
 is customary. The ordinary teacher never sees her children 
 loose from a desk or a "line" unless they have been "bad." 
 The open air school teacher eats at the same table with her 
 youngsters three times a day; she sees them laughing under 
 the shower-bath, and learns to look for the weekly gain in 
 weight as eagerly as they; she watches them as they lie asleep 
 on their canvas cots. 
 
 6 4 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 Where a few towns fortunate enough to have medical in- 
 spection can hope for perhaps one cursory examination of each 
 child a year, and the teacher's chief source of information is 
 her own observation, the open air school children are con- 
 stantly under the care of a physician who secures treatment for 
 adenoids and bad teeth and defective vision and all the other 
 minor ailments which hinder proper development. The close 
 relationship between body and mind can hardly be more 
 clearly demonstrated, and it is a relationship to which teachers, 
 as a class, need to give special attention. With the actual 
 physical condition of each child, then, the teacher cannot help 
 but be familiar. The nurse keeps her equally well informed on 
 the homes from which the pupils come Joe ceases to be a 
 " rather stupid little boy who 'sat in the third seat from the 
 front last year and failed to pass," and becomes a timid under- 
 fed lad from an insanitary rear tenement where bad air and 
 lack of sunshine are doing their best to choke out the ambition 
 which brought father and mother to America to make a 
 chance for the children and by the time various agencies have 
 been induced to lend a hand in re-establishing this ambition 
 under more favorable conditions, the relationship between 
 teacher and Joe is many degrees beyond that which is usual 
 in the school-room. 
 
 Says Miss Kate Kellogg, supervisor of the open air schools, 
 in her report to the Chicago board of education: "When a 
 teacher has twenty-five pupils who represent anywhere from 
 two to seven different grades; when her recitations are inter- 
 rupted by the call of a physician or nurse ; when entire classes 
 are put to rest for the day at the menacing demand of a 'rise 
 in temperature,' she is obliged to meet the situation with 
 cleverness and calm. How is she enabled to do this? Not 
 alone because she is breathing the purest air this smoky city 
 can bestow, but because her small number of pupils, her 
 comprehensive knowledge of their physical, mental and home 
 
 65 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 conditions, her interest in their all-around development have 
 brought her into a close human relationship with them not 
 often attainable under the conditions of the ordinary school- 
 room. She is their intimate friend as well as their teacher." 
 
 The reflex action of the outdoor life on the teacher can best 
 be stated by those who have experienced it. " Those who 
 
 BRICK MAKING AT THE CHARLOTTENBURG FOREST SCHOOL 
 
 have tried the outdoor work have been capable of more pro- 
 longed labor with far less fatigue," says the teacher of the 
 first Boston open air school. "The work is heavier in an 
 open air class but I feel much more able to accomplish it. 
 After the day's work I now return home fresh and do not 
 suffer from the usual headache and dryness of throat that 
 follow teaching in the ordinary room" comes from New York, 
 
 66 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 while an Elizabeth McCormick open air school teacher testi- 
 fies that backache, extreme fatigue, and nervousness have 
 been overcome by the fresh air and sunshine on the roof. 
 
 Any teacher who has known the experience of holding down 
 a roomful of restless children on a rainy day will be interested 
 
 THE FAMOUS WALDSCHULS OF CHARLOTTENBURG 
 
 in an account of one such day on the roof when the superin- 
 tendent of schools made an official call. A cold freezing rain 
 had been drizzling for twenty-four hours, the roof was slippery, 
 the day was gray and dark and the air full of a profound 
 chill. The electric lights in the study tent had been turned on. 
 It was one of those discouraging days when it is difficult not 
 to feel blue and when the teacher learns to anticipate poor 
 lessons, listless pupils, and an uncomfortable time. The 
 visitors to the open air school found the discouragement of 
 
 67 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 the day quite routed by the unaffected good spirits of the 
 children. They heard wide-awake recitations, saw a group 
 
 , 
 
 m 
 
 AMERICA'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 of alert and attentive children. One or two who came to 
 scoff remained to take notes. The conference which fol- 
 lowed set the stamp of official approval on the open air 
 school idea. 
 
 68 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 When these same children, a little later, refused to take a 
 vacation at Christmas time and came back, every one of them, 
 to ask that school be continued through the holiday week, ir 
 was only typical of the changed attitude toward things scholas- 
 tic which lessens so greatly the nervous strain on the teacher. 
 Guiding enthusiasm is much less strenuous than evoking it. 
 
 As a natural result of improving health and increasing 
 desire to learn, there comes a great improvement in scholarship. 
 The first year in an open air school will often see two or three 
 grades completed where before progress was halting or had 
 altogether ceased. The children accomplish in two thirds the 
 regular school time, as much or more as do their fellows in the 
 grades from which they came. Home studying is never 
 permitted. 
 
 The attempt which was made during 1911-12 to compare 
 open air school scholarship with the previous records of the 
 same children in the closed window rooms did not yield as 
 much data as had been hoped for because of the impossibility 
 of obtaining records for many children. In the Chicago 
 schools, scholarship is not marked until the fifth grade and 
 the gradings from that time on through the eighth grade are 
 preserved only on the child's report card or in the teacher's 
 class-book. This accounts for the large number of instances 
 where back records are not available. Of the one hundred 
 and ninety-five children for whom complete records could be 
 obtained, sixty-seven per cent gained in scholarship, twenty- 
 three per cent remained the same, and seven per cent lost. 
 Of the twenty-three per cent who remained the same, had 
 been in the open air schools during the one to two years 
 preceding and had been maintaining an average of over ninety 
 per cent. 
 
 In attendance, the records cover two hundred and four 
 children; 63 per cent gained, 7 per cent remained the same, and 
 30 per cent lost. In connection with the apparently large 
 
 69 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 number nearly one third whose attendance percentages were 
 less than those of the previous year, such records as these, 
 which, of course, had to be placed among the losses, are 
 significant. 
 
 1910-11 1911-12 1910-11 1911-12 
 
 97 95 99 95 
 
 97 90 100 99 
 94 92 100 99 
 
 98 95 99 93 
 100 97 97 94 
 100 97 
 
 It is further interesting to note that the percentage of 
 attendance for 1911-12 ran 94, 90, 96, 95 per cent for the open 
 air schools, and for the open window rooms 85, 90, 91, 88, 94, 
 89, 86 per cent. The largest falling off in attendance came 
 in rooms where no feeding was provided. 
 
 The provision of food at school, the bath, the toothbrush, 
 and the medical examinations furnish a basis for the study of 
 personal hygiene in a very concrete way. It is much easier 
 to demonstrate the value of a daily bath when you have before 
 you twenty -five youngsters who have barely half an hour ago 
 emerged, glowing, from a cold shower. Oral hygiene acquires 
 new interest when individual toothbrushes are the property of 
 the school. To record the daily thermometer and hygrometer 
 reading may be made part of the school program. In dozens of 
 different ways the wide-awake teacher can connect the school 
 work with the questions of diet, sleeping arrangements, hour 
 of retiring, proper clothing, and wholesome recreation which 
 so vitally affect these children and yet do it in such a way 
 that they are never rendered in the slightest degree self- 
 conscious. 
 
 The frequent visits of open air school teachers from other 
 cities to the Elizabeth McCormick schools led to correspond- 
 ence between the pupils in Chicago with those in several other 
 towns. English, geography and hygiene all benefit from the 
 ensuing interest in the letters. 
 
 70 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 The Open Air Smile and The Open Air Courier, the only 
 known newspapers published on a roof, reveal the trend of 
 thought and instruction in the schools by such items as these, 
 taken at random : 
 
 Votes for Women ! ! 
 
 Three pupils, all girls, have gained over ten pounds each since September 
 29th. (This was May 6th.) 
 
 Sarah G. gained n/4 pounds. 
 
 Martha R. gained 13% pounds. 
 
 Ethel P. gained 14^4 pounds. 
 Hurrah, Votes for Women ! One failed to gain and that one was a B O Y. 
 
 Last Wednesday was a very windy day. We had a great time getting in bed 
 and getting covered up. Mrs. W. read to us before we came up stairs, so when 
 we lay down we went to sleep at once. Everybody slept. When we did get 
 up the wind was still blowing and every cot was covered with snow. All the 
 children were surprised and said "Oh" and we were just as warm as "toast." 
 When we told our mothers we had hard work to make them believe that we were 
 sure enough asleep. 
 
 Both news-sheets are written by hand and appear bi-weekly. 
 The infinite pains taken to make the penmanship clear, and to 
 keep the pages free from blots have done more for the hand- 
 writing of the young compositors than months of copy-books, 
 and they are learning composition and rhetoric without know- 
 ing it. 
 
 The schools have not been in operation long enough to 
 warrant judgment as whether the children discharged are per- 
 manently cured. We know, however, that some of them have 
 for two years shown no evidence of a relapse into their former 
 condition. An examination of former pupils from the Char- 
 lottenburg school two years after they were discharged gave 
 evidence to the same effect. 
 
 However, if a pupil is discharged to go to work he ought to 
 have advice and assistance in securing employment. Last 
 year the office of the Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund 
 was notified that Marie, a promising little pupil in an open 
 window room, had that day attained her fourteenth birthday 
 and was compelled to leave school and go to work. A visit 
 
 71 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 to Marie's home disclosed a Belgian family neat and self- 
 supporting, but pressed by poverty almost to distraction. 
 The father was a day laborer who had indulged in the costly 
 luxury of too many children and was suffering from the results. 
 The income, however wisely spent, was plainly inadequate. 
 Marie was the oldest child, was a very attractive little girl, not 
 particularly bright, but attentive and studious and eager to 
 stay in the fresh air which the doctor had pronounced her 
 only hope of health. Yet she was bravely planning to go to 
 work in a factory because there was the only opening in un- 
 skilled labor which was familiar to her. Through the help 
 of the United Charities a chance was given her to take a posi- 
 tion at the Mary Crane Nursery, where she has been for the 
 last year in training as a nursery maid. The work was made 
 especially light for her. She shared the food and rest periods 
 of the open air school children on the roof until she was 
 strong enough to do without, and she was paid $3.00 a week 
 while learning her trade. To-day the physician pronounces 
 her absolutely free from the danger of tuberculosis which 
 threatened her, and she is in possession of a training in the care 
 of children which will always assure her of steady work under 
 pleasant surroundings with pay higher than she could hope for 
 in any factory. There is also the possibility that later she 
 can take the regular nurse's training if she continues to enjoy 
 the work. Marie has been given health and a future. That 
 she will suffer no relapse we feel reasonably assured. 
 
 We do know, however, that those who are forced out of the 
 open window rooms by promotion to higher grades for which 
 there is no open air provision, show decided falling off in weight 
 and general condition. But these children are forced out 
 before they are ready to go. If it seems impossible to the 
 boards of education to have an ungraded room in each build- 
 ing which will take care of the full eight grades, there should 
 certainly be two rooms with four grades in each so that a 
 
 72 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 pupil need not be compelled to automatically deprive himself 
 of the benefits of the fresh air by doing so well in his studies 
 that he has to be promoted. 
 
 The fact that over two hundred fresh air classes have been 
 established in the United States during the past few years 
 shows that the open air idea is advancing in favor with educa- 
 tional authorities. The reason is not far to seek. Improve- 
 ment in health means improvement in ability to learn. But 
 it means more than this. One superintendent on his way back 
 to Pennsylvania from the meeting of the Department of 
 Superintendence at St. Louis in 1911, said that to him the 
 most inspiring part of the whole meeting was the visit to the 
 St. Louis open air school. The contagious good spirits of the 
 children and the good fellowship between them and the teacher 
 he considered truly remarkable. 
 
 Sir John Gorst remarks the same thing of the Forest 
 School, when he says: "What struck me most was the air of 
 extraordinary joyfulness which pervaded the whole establish- 
 ment from the medical superintendent down to the smallest 
 and poorest child, and I marveled at the administrative ability 
 which had at so small cost provided such a great portion of 
 health and happiness to brighten at least the beginning of 
 life to these poor children." 
 
 The chance to do service like this appeals to every teacher. 
 
 73 
 
OPEN AIR SCHOOLS FROM THE PHYSICIAN'S 
 STANDPOINT 
 
 The medical staff of the Elizabeth 
 McCormick Open Air Schools, Dr. James 
 A. Britton, Dr. O. W. McMichael, Dr. 
 George B. Young, Mr. Frank E. Wing, 
 Dr. W. A. Evans, Dr. John A. Robison, 
 Dr. Henry B. Favill, Dr. Theodore B. 
 Sachs, Dr. A. C. Kleutgen, Dr. B. I. 
 Wyatt, Dr. D. B. McEachern and Dr. 
 H. O. Jones, met regularly every two 
 weeks during the school year for dis- 
 cussions and reports with the definite 
 idea of establishing certain conclusions 
 as to the management of open air 
 schools. After careful and detailed 
 consideration, they stood agreed upon 
 the following points: 
 
 NEED OF OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 
 
 There are in every large city large numbers of physically 
 sub-normal school children. Experiments in various cities 
 have shown that a large percentage of such children are 
 greatly benefited physically and mentally when placed in an 
 open air school or an open window room. 
 
 75 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 DEFINITION OF TERMS 
 
 The open air school is in reality only a shelter against 
 inclement weather, so constructed that the air is actually that 
 of the outside. 
 
 The open window room is an attempt to get the same condi- 
 tions as are possible in an open air school by using a room in a 
 regular school building and simply keeping the windows con- 
 stantly open. 
 
 CHILDREN TO BE ADMITTED TO BE EXCLUDED 
 
 No child shall be admitted without accurate knowledge 
 -of his physical condition. 
 
 The open air school should be reserved for the tuberculous 
 child, the open window room for other types of physical sub- 
 normality. 
 
 Children with severe organic disease, viz., heart, kidney, 
 and any communicable disease, open tuberculosis included, 
 should be excluded. 
 
 Note 
 
 Positive diagnosis of open tuberculosis can only be made 
 by rinding bacillus in the sputum or discharges, but persistent 
 cough with expectoration, persistent fever of 100 or over, moist 
 rales or an open sinus that cannot be protected entirely by 
 dressings should be considered sufficient cause for exclusion. 
 
 REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION 
 
 Child must bring written consent of parent to admission to 
 open air school, also written consent for a complete physical 
 examination, same to be conducted by physician, always in 
 presence of nurse, teacher, or parent. 
 
 76 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 EXAMINATIONS AND MEDICAL SUPERVISION 
 
 Pupils shall be given complete physical examinations by 
 physicians on admission and discharge and at other times for 
 any special indication. 
 
 Nurse shall inspect daily, recording temperature, pulse 
 and respiration. Weight shall be taken once a week. Child 
 should be stripped. 
 
 The standard physical examination shall include height, 
 weight, temperature, pulse, general development and nutri- 
 tion, condition of skin and glands, condition of eyes, ears, 
 nose, teeth and throat, chest formation, condition of heart 
 and lungs. (Children shall be sufficiently stripped to enable 
 accurate diagnosis.) 
 
 ESSENTIALS OF TREATMENT 
 
 Constant free circulation of outside air. 
 
 Children and teacher must be kept warm and comfortable. 
 Sufficient clothing must be provided. In extreme weather 
 windows may have to be closed, but room should be flushed 
 as often as weather will permit. 
 
 Rest at least one hour in middle of day. Visitors shall be 
 excluded during rest period. Any child running a tempera- 
 ture of 100 or over shall be put on rest. 
 
 Sufficient food, supplemented at home or at school. 
 
 Reduction of academic work done in special cases. 
 
 TEACHER 
 
 Since the work of the open air school teachers is of great 
 importance to the child and the educational system, the 
 salary should be made that of a teacher in a sub-normal 
 room, which would carry with it increased rather than 
 decreased pay. 
 
 77 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 SCHEDULE OF STUDIES 
 
 No home studying should be permitted. There should be 
 reduction of academic work in some cases. The school work 
 required of children should tend more and more to be governed 
 by the advice of physicians who are making such work a 
 specialty. 
 
 Conditions vary so much in the different schools that it is 
 impossible at present to draw up an absolute schedule to work 
 towards a standardization of the work. 
 
 RECORDS 
 
 There should be a card especially designed for recording 
 physical condition and progress. 
 
 A special card for obtaining the consent of parent to ad- 
 mission to open air and for complete physical examination 
 shall be issued by the department of health of Chicago. This 
 shall be kept on file with the other physical records of the 
 child. 
 
 On other points of medical management, the arrangements 
 differed at the various schools. At three of the open air 
 schools, a cold shower bath was given each child daily, followed 
 by a brisk rub with a turkish towel. At the fourth roof 
 school, the Graham, there were no facilities for bathing. None" 
 of the open window room children received shower baths, but 
 where the school building permitted, they were given warm, 
 cleansing baths once a week. 
 
 It was impossible to reach an agreement as to whether 
 the value of the daily shower bath at school offset the extra 
 expense and the time which is involved. On motion of the 
 staff, it was decided to consult Dr. S. Baruch of New York 
 City, on this question. His letter in reply contained so 
 
 78 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 many valuable suggestions that, with his permission, portions 
 of it are here reproduced: 
 
 "It gives me pleasure to be of service to your excellent 
 society and to say that your idea of the best bath for school 
 children is entirely in accord with my own. Your method 
 combines the refreshing effect of the cool or cold water upon 
 the nervous system with the cleansing action of the warm 
 bath. In a lecture before the Teachers College of Columbia 
 University last year, the former was emphasized because it is 
 usually neglected. Cleanliness of the person is necessary for 
 physiological and aesthetic reasons, but the godliness it fosters 
 is paramount. This may seem singular, coming from one who 
 has made bathing the masses a life mission, but I agree with 
 School Superintendent Maxwell who says: 'Baths before 
 books,' which is quite heretic. In my lectures the truth of 
 the dictum was demonstrated by examples from ancient and 
 modern history, that the spiritual effect of the bath is superior 
 to its physical action. 
 
 "It would not seem difficult for the average school having a 
 steam-heating plant and a fair water pressure to supply baths 
 for all pupils. Twenty- two years ago I devised a wholesale 
 rain bath of the warm and cold water for the New York 
 Juvenile Asylum, of which I was physician, which economizes 
 time, trouble and money. For refreshing effect the cold 
 bath should be brief and have good pressure, not less than 
 fifteen pounds, the more, the greater the stimulating action. 
 The duration should be as brief as you have it, but may be 
 advantageously prolonged a minute or less every day, but 
 stopped short of producing chilliness. The longer the cool 
 rain bath the more enduring its effect in producing refresh- 
 ment and alertness of mind. 
 
 u This rain bath is also the most useful for cleansing purposes 
 because the warm water and the soap are aided by the friction 
 of the water under pressure and there is no danger of contagion 
 
 79 
 
THE MONTHLY EXAMINATION BY THE PHYSICIAN IN CHARGE 
 
 TEMPERATURE AND PULSE WERE RECORDED TWICE DAILY 
 
 80 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 and no loss of time in cleansing large numbers. The friction 
 also neutralizes any possible relaxing effect of the warm 
 water." 
 
 The experience in the Chicago schools has been that while 
 the children, as a usual thing, object to the bath at first, in a 
 very few days they learn to like it and, strange as it may seem, 
 object to going without it. Although the order was given at 
 the opening of the first school in 1909 to discontinue baths for 
 any child who did not react properly, no such child has yet 
 appeared. 
 
 The length of the rest period and its position in the daily 
 schedule had also to be adapted to the conditions in the various 
 schools. In one roof school, the twenty-five pupils rested at 
 the same time in the afternoon, with the teacher in charge. 
 In the two adjacent schools at the Mary Crane Nursery and 
 the Hull House Boys' Club, each school was divided into 
 sections, one section resting while the other recited and then 
 reversing the process. The delegations from the two schools, 
 about twenty-five in all, rested under the same shelter tent, 
 in charge of the nurse. At the Franklin open window rooms 
 there were two rest periods, one before and one after the noon 
 recess, with all the room resting at the same time and the 
 teacher in charge. At the other schools, where there were 
 several grades in one room, the matron usually had charge of 
 two rest periods and rest and recitation went on alternately. 
 
 Such a period of quiet relaxation in the fresh air, away from 
 the noise of the street, proved of great value to the overstrung 
 nerves of these city children who came for the most part from 
 crowded homes where only one fifth of them slept alone. A 
 vivid picture of the conditions under which some of the little 
 pupils had to rest at home is found in a nurse's record : "Family 
 living in three rear rooms on second floor. There is a sus- 
 pender factory on the first floor and a carpenter shop on the 
 third. The small yard is littered with paper and shavings. 
 
 81 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 Toilets are in small sheds in yard. Bed-room, n by 14 feet, 
 contains two beds, five occupants. Sam sleeps with older 
 brother. Room has no outside window. The only light and 
 air come from sky-light about i>^by 7 feet, which the brothers 
 say they have to keep closed to keep out the bad air and the 
 noise. Upstairs in the front, the family have ten children 
 and several boarders, and in the rear there are nine children. 
 On the first floor in the front there are fourteen children and 
 the factory is in the rear. The yard and halls are full of 
 rats. Sam has a good appetite but not much to eat. For 
 breakfast he has dry bread and coffee, and coffee and soup 
 with bread for supper. He goes to bed at eight and gets up 
 at six." 
 
 At Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School Number 3, where 
 especial attention was paid to the duration of actual sleep, 
 the period ran from two to eighty-one minutes, with the 
 average about forty-five minutes. A child lying quietly, with 
 eyes closed, was assumed to be asleep. Mothers reported that 
 far from being more restless and wideawake at night, the 
 children slept better and were more ready to go to bed at eight, 
 the hour which the school physician set as bed-time. Per- 
 sistent staying out late at night was considered cause for 
 dismissal from school. 
 
 Local conditions made it impossible to weigh the children 
 stripped in more than three roof schools. 
 
 The medical examinations which each pupil had to take 
 before admission to the open air disclosed many physical ail- 
 ments which had undoubtedly contributed their share to 
 putting the children into the class of suspected tuberculosis. 
 In one school the children had an average of five decayed 
 teeth, and all had to go to the dental chair for extractions and 
 filling. In the same school of twenty-five pupils, twelve had 
 adenoids and tonsils removed. 
 
 The room which served for the dentists was also used for 
 
 82 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 a nose and throat clinic one day a week. Seventy-five opera- 
 tions have been performed during the eighteen months of the 
 clinic. In May, 1911, a dental clinic was opened at the 
 school. From May to June, 1911, 30 children received treat- 
 ment, and from September, 1911, to June, 1912, over 300 
 children. The attendance was most generously and efficiently 
 supplied by the North Side Branch of the Chicago Dental 
 Society. 
 
 Under this medical regime ninety per cent of the open air 
 pupils showed positive improvement. Of these fifteen per cent 
 were sufficiently improved to be discharged to the regular 
 school. The others remain in the open air, under observa- 
 tion. Of the eight per cent who did not show improvement, 
 two per cent were so seriously ill as to be admitted to sanitaria. 
 In a few cases, where the mother refused proper co-operation 
 at home, the child was dismissed, and in one or two others he 
 dropped out of his own accord before he showed any real 
 gains. 
 
 To the work of physicians and nurses who gave many hours 
 of over- time service freely to the children, the open air schools 
 of Chicago and every other city owe a big debt of gratitude. 
 
EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING 
 
 According to the estimate of 
 John Spar go, fully 2,000,000 
 children of school age in the 
 United States are badly under- 
 fed. The mere statement 
 of the possibility that there 
 might be in this coun- 
 try so large a number 
 of hungry boys and 
 girls aroused great 
 interest and various 
 
 schemes were at once proposed to supply them with food. 
 For twenty years, England has been wrestling with the same 
 problem, but the arguments for and against feeding at school, 
 provided by the State, are still contested as bitterly as ever. 
 This controversy also involves the food question in the 
 open air schools. In Germany, children whose parents can 
 afford it are charged a nominal sum for their attendance at 
 the open air school. Each father must fill out a card which 
 gives his trade, income, number in family and other facts which 
 affect his ability to pay for his child's schooling. Upon this 
 and other information gathered in doubtful cases, is based the 
 decision. For those who are considered really unable to pay, 
 the municipality provides. Similar provisions are made in 
 England. In the United States, boards of education, with 
 very few exceptions, will furnish the school books, desks, 
 black-boards and other school equipment, and will hire a 
 teacher at the regular rate. In some cities, the board has also 
 
 85 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 provided the open air equipment, but so far no school board 
 in America has provided free food for school children. The 
 . result has been that almost everywhere some private agency 
 has undertaken to provide food for the open air pupils. 
 
 During the first year of the Elizabeth McCormick open air 
 school, it was decided to charge those children, whose parents 
 were able to pay, ten cents a day to cover the cost of food. 
 A very short trial, however, demonstrated the fact that the 
 rigid enforcement of such a rule would eliminate from the 
 schools the very children who most needed the care. If the 
 parents who were able to pay for the child's food were unwilling 
 to do so, there was no means of compelling payment, since the 
 open air schools were part of the regular public school system 
 and the parents could easily have the child transferred. To the 
 majority of families represented in the Elizabeth McCormick 
 schools, even ten cents a day was absolutely prohibitive. 
 Most of them were already receiving assistance from the 
 charitable agencies of the city. 
 
 But open air schools with feeding ought not to be limited 
 to the poorer sections of the community. A recent develop- 
 ment in Chicago suggests one way of extending the work. 
 Through the efforts of the principal an open window room is 
 about to be started in the Armstrong school. The parents 
 of twenty children who attend that school have offered to 
 pay all expenses of food, extra equipment and medical super- 
 vision for the room. The teacher and school equipment will 
 be provided by the board of education. 
 
 The question of feeding has in some places doubtless pre- 
 vented or delayed the introduction of open air schools. Food 
 is the largest single item of expense. It ought to be appetiz- 
 ingly prepared and daintily served if it is to accomplish the 
 maximum amount of good. Service costs money and requires 
 room. While the initial expense of equipment, once incurred, 
 is over, the expense of food is constant and is increasing as food 
 
 86 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 values rise. Furthermore, some parents object to having 
 their children fed at school. 
 
 It is the aim of the Elizabeth McCormick Fund, in its open 
 air work, to develop the schools to that point of simple effi- 
 ciency where the board of education, or some other public 
 agency, may fairly be asked to take over the whole responsi- 
 bility of operation. If this one question of feeding coul be 
 solved, matters would be greatly simplified. Moreover, since 
 the beginning of the movement people have questioned whether 
 it was really the fresh air or the food which caused the improve- 
 ment so quickly evident in the children. 
 
 During 1911-12, two experiments, one in New York and 
 one in Chicago, have been carried on to get evidence on this 
 point. 
 
 In New York, the Committee on the Prevention of Tuber- 
 culosis of the Charity Organization Society provides food for 
 eight fresh air classes. 
 
 1. The committee furnishes a hot lunch at noon and in 
 addition, milk and crackers both morning and afternoon. 
 Two such classes. 
 
 2. Lunch only, but no milk, morning or afternoon. Two 
 such classes. 
 
 3. Milk only, both morning and afternoon, the children 
 being allowed to bring their lunch or go home after it. Two 
 such classes. 
 
 4. No feeding at all in the class, the children being allowed 
 to bring their lunch or go home for it. Only one such class. 
 
 5. The Committee is also feeding the children in a regular 
 class of normal children in normal condition at one of the 
 schools, in order to make a comparative test with a class 
 fed in a similar manner but taught in the fresh air class room. 
 Only one such class. 
 
 The results of this experiment will probably be available 
 by the time this book is published. Copies of the report may 
 
 8? 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 be secured by addressing the Committee on the Prevention of 
 Tuberculosis of the Charity Organization Society, 105 E. 226. 
 Street, New York City. 
 
 "It is estimated," says the bulletin of the National Asso- 
 ciation for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, from 
 which the above description was also taken, "that where the 
 full lunch and also milk, both morning and afternoon, are pro- 
 vided, it costs 17 cents per day per child; for lunch only, about 
 10 cents per day per child; and milk only, twice a day, about 
 5 cents a day per child." 
 
 The Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund planned the 
 feeding for the various schools under its charge as follows : 
 
 Elizabeth McCormick Open Air Schools I and 2. Lunch of 
 milk or cocoa, bread and butter or bread and jelly, twice a 
 day; soup and bread, with an occasional dessert, at noon. 
 Average attendance, 50.* Average days present, no. Cost 
 of food per day per child, n cents. In School No. i the 
 record covers 31 children; 30 children gained an average of 4.31 
 pounds, i child remained the same, none lost. In School No. 
 2 the record covers 28 children; 24 children gained an average 
 of 5.225 pounds, 4 lost an average of 1.81 pounds. 
 
 These two schools were on adjoining roofs connected by a 
 bridge. The children shared the same dining-room, bathroom 
 and locker-room. There were three attendants: the matron, 
 whose duty it was to give baths, to see that the children were 
 properly clothed, to plan the meals, and to carry out the 
 physician's instructions as to the physical care of the children; 
 the assistant matron, who attended to the washing and clean- 
 ing and helped the matron ; and a young girl who assisted with 
 the preparation and serving of the meals. The soup for dinner 
 
 * The apparent discrepancy between the average attendance, 50, and the 
 number of children covered by the record, 59, is accounted for by the fact that 
 the record included all children who had been in attendance longer than one 
 school month. Some were promoted in January and others took their places, 
 etc. The same explanation applies to all the other schools. 
 
 88 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 was bought at cost from the Mary Crane Nursery. The 
 attending physician examined all applicants for admission, 
 planned the daily routine, and visited the school daily to in- 
 spect the pupils. The Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund 
 paid the salaries for physician, matron, assistant, and girl. 
 The daily per capita cost for this service was 21 cents. 
 
 Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School No. 3. Lunch of 
 milk or cocoa, bread and butter or bread and jelly twice daily. 
 Course dinner, of meat, vegetable and dessert at noon. 
 Average attendance, 25. Average days present, 165. Cost 
 of food per day, 14 cents. Record covers 25 children; 22 
 children gained an average of 8.6 pounds, i remained the 
 same, 2 lost; I, who was discharged to a sanitarium, 10.5 
 pounds, and another, 2.75 pounds. 
 
 This school was on the roof of a municipal bath building. 
 The shower baths on the first floor, a five-room flat on the 
 second floor and the roof were placed at the disposal of the 
 foundation by the board of health. There were three attend- 
 ants; matron, assistant matron, and cook. All the food 
 was prepared at the. school. The salaries of attending physi- 
 cian, matron, assistant matron, and cook, whose duties were 
 like those at Schools I and 2, as well as a slight additional fee 
 for janitor service, were paid by the Elizabeth McCormick 
 Memorial Fund. Per capita cost, daily, for service, 30 cents. 
 
 Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School No. 4. Lunch of 
 soup or stew, milk or cocoa, bread, etc., twice daily. Average 
 attendance, 30. Average days present, 97. Cost of food per 
 child per day, 5.5 cents. Record covers 29 children; 26 gained 
 an average of 3.875 pounds, 3 lost an average of 4.2 pounds. 
 
 School No. 4 was on the roof of the boiler house of the 
 Graham Public School. The matron prepared and served 
 two lunches for children of open air and open window rooms, 
 saw that the children were properly clothed, and took charge 
 of the rest period. Her assistant helped in the preparation of 
 
 89 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 the lunches and the general care of the lunch room. The 
 school physician was in attendance. No baths were given. 
 The Elizabeth McCormick Fund paid the salaries of matron 
 and assistant, but did not pay the physician who was furnished 
 by the board of health and the value of whose services are not 
 included in this computation. The same statement holds 
 true of all the open window rooms except the Franklin. Daily 
 per capita cost of service, 5 cents. 
 
 Graham Open Window Room. Same lunches as Graham 
 Open Air School, twice daily. Average attendance, 30. 
 Average days present, 127. Daily per capita cost of food, 5 
 cents. Record covers 32 children; 30 gained an average of 
 2.62 pounds, I remained the same, I lost l /^ pound. 
 
 The service for this room and for the open air school at the 
 Graham was taken care of by the two attendants whose duties 
 were described under the Elizabeth McCormick Open Air 
 School Number 4. The school physician was in attendance. 
 The Elizabeth McCormick Fund paid the salaries of matron 
 and assistant. Daily per capita cost for service, 5 cents. 
 
 Moseley Open Window Room. Two lunches daily, same 
 as above. Average attendance, 30. Average days present, 
 87. Cost of food per child per day, 6 cents. Record covers 
 42 children; 34 gained an average of 3.78 pounds, 3 remained 
 the same, 5 lost an average of 1.25 pounds. 
 
 At the Moseley School, one matron was able to prepare and 
 serve the lunches, clear up afterward, and watch the rest 
 period. The school physician was in attendance. The 
 Elizabeth McCormick Fund paid the matron's salary. Daily 
 per capita cost for service, 5 cents. 
 
 Hamline Open Window Room. Two lunches daily, 
 same as above. Average attendance, 25. Average days 
 present, 96. Cost of food, 5.5 cents. Record covers 38 
 children; 35 gained an average of 3.85 pounds, 2 remained the 
 same, i lost 2 pounds. 
 
 90 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 Here, one matron prepared and served lunches, kept lunch 
 room in order and took charge of rest period. The school 
 physician was in attendance. The Elizabeth McCormick 
 Fund paid the matron's salary. Daily per capita cost for 
 service, 4 cents. 
 
 Franklin Open Window Rooms i and 2. Two lunches 
 daily, same as above. Average attendance, 50 children. 
 Average days present, 126. Per capita cost of food, 6 cents. 
 In Room No. I, record covers 30 children; 28 gained an average 
 of 5.9 pounds, i remained the same, i lost 2.93 pounds. In 
 Room No. 2 the record covers 30 children; 28 gained an 
 average of 4.75 pounds, 2 lost an average of 1.75 pounds. 
 
 The matron here planned and served the lunches, visited 
 the homes of the pupils, took the temperatures in the afternoon. 
 Her assistant helped in preparing and serving the meals. The 
 attending physician was employed by the Elizabeth McCor- 
 mick Fund. He examined all applicants for admission to the 
 rooms, planned medical routine, and inspected daily. The 
 salaries of matron, assistant, and physician were paid by the 
 McCormick foundation. Daily per capita cost of service, 
 10 cents. 
 
 Franklin Open Window Room Number 3. Test room. 
 Open windows, rest on cot, medical and nursing attendance, but 
 no food. Average days present, 44. Record covers 20 chil- 
 dren; 5 gained an average of 1.6 pounds, 15 lost an average of 
 2.5 pounds. 
 
 Here the only cost was for the medical and nursing care. 
 The same physician and matron who had charge of the other 
 rooms at the Franklin served here. The Elizabeth McCor- 
 mick Fund paid both salaries. The daily per capita cost for 
 service was 7 cents. 
 
 Foster Open Window Room. Here no feeding was pro- 
 vided by the Elizabeth McCormick Fund, since a penny lunch 
 room was in operation in the school and it was planned to see 
 
 91 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 whether this form of feeding would meet the need. But the 
 principal of the school was fortunate enough to be offered 
 milk for the two lunches daily, free of charge. The children, 
 therefore, received the unheated milk and crackers twice and 
 could go to the penny lunch room at noon if they desired. 
 There was no cost, either for food or service. Record covers 
 33 children. Average days present, 47. 16 gained an average 
 of 1.6 pounds, i remained the same, 16 lost an average of 2.2 
 pounds. 
 
 This year the Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund is 
 paying for the medical service in all the open air and open 
 window rooms. We have also put the Foster School, where 
 the feeding was through the penny lunch and the Franklin 
 open window room, where no feeding at all was provided, on 
 the same basis as the other open window rooms with two 
 lunches daily. 
 
 At one school, the pupils are weighed, stripped, every 
 Friday afternoon and every Monday morning. Noticing the 
 regular loss of weight over the week-end vacation, which ran 
 from a few ounces to one or two pounds, the physician in charge 
 started a system of records of home-feeding, to be kept by 
 the children themselves, as part of their home work. These 
 reports were frequently verified by the nurse on her visit to 
 the home. Reports evidently incorrect were thrown out, 
 and sources of error avoided as far as possible. The records 
 throw light on home conditions which are responsible for 
 the lack of efficiency which many children show in school. 
 
 Says the report of the Tuberculosis Institute on the summer 
 schools: "It is the almost universal experience of the visiting 
 nurse that the children from the type of home represented in 
 the outdoor school as conducted in Chicago are fed on a 
 limited diet of bread, potatoes, fried meats and cheap deli- 
 catessen products. Certain nationalities have a leaning 
 toward fried fish, macaroni, canned tomatoes and hard 
 
 92 
 
fellii 
 
 OPEN AIR SCHOOL AT KENOSHA, WISCONSIN 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE KENOSHA SCHOOL THE EQUIPMENT OF THIS SCHOOL 
 WAS PRESENTED TO KENOSHA BY THE WISCONSIN ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS 
 ASSOCIATION AS A PRIZE FOR SELLING THE LARGEST NUMBER OF RED CROSS 
 CHRISTMAS SEALS. 
 
 93 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 boiled eggs, but almost invariably they refuse cooked cereals, 
 especially rice, vegetables other than those mentioned, soup, 
 unless of the coarsest variety, and numerous dishes common 
 in the average American home. Classes in domestic science 
 and food values, as well as in deep breathing and air values, 
 would do much to help this state of affairs, for malnutrition 
 is frequently the forerunner of tuberculosis in children." 
 
 Edward C. is one of the five small children for whom Mrs. C. 
 has done her best to provide since her husband's death. He was 
 in the open window room less than one month, in which time he 
 gained 3^ pounds. His records of his breakfasts at home follow : 
 
 May 28, Coffee, bread, butter. June 7, Tea, bread. 
 
 29, Coffee. 10, Tea, bread. 
 
 ' 31, Tea, bread, cake. n, Tea, bread. 
 
 June 3, Tea, cake. 13, Coffee. 
 
 4, Tea, bread. 14, Coffee, tea. 
 
 ' 5, Tea, bread. 17, Tea, bread, cake 
 
 6, Tea, bread. 19, Tea. 
 
 On June I3th, he records with evident pride: 
 
 DINNER 9 slices sandwiches 2 peases cake 
 
 i ice cream cone 5 banannas; 
 
 and since Clyde M., from the same school, records for the 
 same day: 
 
 DINNER 3 sandwiches ice-cream cone 
 
 2>2 bananas pop corn, 
 
 cracker jack 
 
 it is evident that a small orgy took place. 
 
 Edward's diagnosis on admission reads: "Malnutrition." 
 One little colored girl, who reports almost invariably no 
 dinner at noon, is found on further investigation to be eating 
 very hearty breakfasts, eggs, toast, corn-flakes, etc., usually 
 meat at night, and soup and milk at school. Here, apparently, 
 the lunches at school did away with the necessity of going 
 home at noon. 
 
 Another child came 29 mornings out of 143 with no break- 
 fast, although the record of the other home meals showed a 
 plentiful supply of good food available. 
 
 94 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 Molly F., an eight-year-old Russian Jewess, was diagnosed 
 as anaemic and nervous. Although she was in the open window 
 room 121 days, her weight was the same on discharge as on 
 admission, 56 pounds. Her percentage of scholarship this 
 year was 80, her percentage of attendance 67. Molly's father 
 kept a little shop down on South State Street, and the family 
 of seven occupied three beds in one chamber of the four-room 
 apartment. Her breakfast record from February to June 
 follows : 
 
 February I, 
 
 2, 
 5, 
 
 6, 
 7, 
 8, 
 9, 
 
 11, 
 
 14, 
 
 15, 
 
 1 6, 
 
 19, 
 
 23, 
 
 24, 
 
 26, 
 
 27, 
 
 28, 
 
 29, 
 
 2, 
 
 5, 
 
 6, 
 
 7, 
 
 8, 
 
 9, 
 
 1 1 , 
 
 12, 
 
 13, 
 
 14, 
 
 1 8, 
 
 19, 
 
 20, 
 
 21, 
 
 22, 
 
 25, 
 
 26, 
 
 27, 
 
 March 
 
 2 doughnuts, I glass milk, March 
 i slice bread. 
 
 3 cakes, I cup tea. April 
 Ice-cream, I cup tea, 
 
 cakes. 
 
 Tea, 4 cakes, cream 
 Doughnuts, tea. 
 3 cakes, 2 cups milk. 
 Sausage, I cake, 2 glasses 
 
 milk. 
 
 2 glasses milk, 3 cakes 
 Cake, milk. 
 Cake, milk. 
 Doughnuts, milk, fish. 
 Pie, milk, apples. 
 Apples, tea, 2 cakes May 
 
 Tea, meat, bread, apples. 
 Apples, cake, milk. 
 Bread, fish, milk, cake. 
 Cake, milk. 
 Cake, milk, fish. 
 
 2 cakes, cocoa. 
 
 1 cake, fish, tea. 
 
 3 cakes, tea. 
 Cakes, 2 glasses milk 
 Tea. 
 
 Tea, cake. 
 Cake, hot milk. 
 
 2 cakes, I glass milk. 
 2 cakes, i glass milk. 
 2 cakes, i glass milk. 
 
 Cake, milk. June 
 
 Cake, milk. 
 
 2 doughnuts, i glass milk. 
 
 1 cake, 2 glasses milk. 
 
 i cake. 
 
 1 cake, i cup tea. 
 None. 
 
 2 doughnuts, i plate sal- 
 mon, i cup cocoa. 
 
 95 
 
 28, Cake, sardines, cocoa. 
 
 29, 2 cakes, i cup tea. 
 
 4, 2 macaroons, i cup tea. 
 
 10, 2 eggs, i cup tea. 
 
 1 1 , i cake, i cup tea. 
 
 12, 2 cakes. 
 15, None. 
 
 17, i cake, I cup tea. 
 
 1 8, Milk, fish. 
 
 19, i cake. 
 
 22, i cake, i cup tea. 
 
 23, i cake. 
 
 24, i cake. 
 
 25, Pie, tea. 
 
 26, 2 cakes. 
 
 6, i cake, milk. 
 
 7, 2 fishes, i cake. 
 
 8, i cake, milk. 
 
 9, i cake, milk. 
 10, i cake, coffee. 
 
 13, I glass milk. 
 
 14, i cake. 
 
 15, i cake, i cup coffee. 
 
 1 6, i cake, tea. 
 
 17, i cake. 
 
 20, None. 
 
 21, i cake. 
 
 24, i cake, i glass milk. 
 
 25, 2 cakes, tea. 
 
 28, i cake, 2 glasses milk. 
 
 29, None. 
 
 3, None. 
 
 4, i cake. 
 
 5, i cake. 
 
 6, None. 
 
 7, i cake, I glass milk. 
 
 10, None. 
 
 11, 2 cakes, i cup tea. 
 13, i cake, i cup tea. 
 17, i cake, i cup tea. 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 On the basis of similar records for five months, one physician 
 estimates the average number of calories taken at home 
 by the children in his section of the city, which includes "Little 
 Italy," as about 450 calories. The menus at the open air 
 school are planned to give them in addition about 1,500 
 calories. The caloric values are worked out daily by the 
 matron in charge. Sample menus follow: 
 
 MENUS FOR SEPTEMBER, 1911 
 
 September 5 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (TOMATOES) 
 
 BROWNED BEEF PLAIN POTATOES 
 
 TOMATOES (STEWED) 
 
 FARINA PUDDING 
 
 September 6 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (BARLEY) 
 
 BEEF LOAF BAKED POTATOES 
 
 BEETS 
 
 PRUNES 
 
 September 7 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP 
 
 LAMB STEW BAKED POTATOES 
 
 STRING BEANS RADISHES 
 
 CHOCOLATE PUDDING 
 
 September 8 
 
 CREAMED LIMA BEAN SOUP 
 
 EGGS SCALLOPED POTATOES 
 
 CREAMED ONIONS 
 
 PEACHES 
 
 September n 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (RICE) 
 
 BEEF STEW BAKED POTATOES 
 
 PEAS WITH CARROTS 
 
 CONCORD GRAPES 
 
 September 12 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (PEAS) 
 CHOPPED BEEF PLAIN POTATOES 
 
 LETTUCE 
 TAPIOCA PUDDING 
 
 September 13 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (BARLEY) 
 
 SPARE RIBS MASHED POTATOES 
 
 SAUER KRAUT 
 
 RADISHES 
 RICE PUDDING 
 
 September 14 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP 
 ROUND STEAK BAKED POTATOES 
 
 SLICED TOMATOES 
 
 FARINA PUDDING 
 
 September 15 
 
 POTATO SOUP (CREAMED) 
 
 EGG SCALLOPED POTATOES 
 
 BEETS GRAPES 
 
 September 18 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP 
 BROWNED BEEF BAKED POTATOES 
 
 WAX BEANS 
 CHOCOLATE PUDDING 
 
 September 19 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (TOMATOES) 
 
 BEEF LOAF BAKED POTATOES 
 
 CAULIFLOWER 
 
 GRAPES 
 
 September 20 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (RICE) 
 
 LAMB STEW PLAIN POTATOES 
 
 PEAS AND CARROTS 
 
 PRUNES 
 
 September 21 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (BARLEY) 
 CHOPPED BEEF PLAIN POTATOES 
 
 PARSNIPS 
 RICE PUDDING 
 
 September 22 
 
 TOMATO SOUP (CREAMED) 
 
 FRIED POTATOES 
 
 SPAGHETTI (WITH TOMATO SAUCE) 
 FARINA PUDDING 
 
 September 25 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (TOMATO) 
 BROWNED BEEF BAKED POTATO 
 
 CORN 
 CHOCOLATE PUDDING 
 
 September 26 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (RICE) 
 
 SALT PORK BAKED POTATOES 
 
 BEETS 
 
 PRUNES 
 
 September 27 - 
 
 VEGETABLE SOUP (BARLEY) 
 
 BEEF LOAF PLAIN POTATOES 
 
 PEAS AND CARROTS 
 
 GRAPES 
 
 September 28 
 
 IRISH STEW 
 RICE PUDDING 
 
 September 2Q 
 
 TOMATO SOUP (CREAMED) 
 
 SPAGHETTI 
 
 PRUNES 
 
 96 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 The lunch hours and noon meal ought to be periods of 
 complete relaxation, with the atmosphere of the school room 
 entirely absent. Many of the children come from homes where 
 the family never all sit down together for a well-ordered meal. 
 They have grown up in the habit of snatching a baker's roll 
 from the kitchen table, pouring a cup of strong coffee from 
 the perpetually brewing coffee pot and eating their breakfast 
 on the doorstep. To bring children handicapped by such 
 lack of training into contact with those whose mothers have 
 taught them carefully, even if under the limitations of poverty, 
 is to give the untaught a big chance to profit by what they see. 
 
 Dr. Kraft, in his excellent report on the Charlottenburg 
 Waldschule, comments on the training which the children 
 give each other. Under the skillful guidance of a wise teacher, 
 the imitative instinct can be made to work all for the good. 
 There is little likelihood of a boy deliberately copying bad 
 table manners when the general attitude of his mates is so 
 decidedly against it. But the emphasis on table etiquette 
 must never destroy the freedom of the meal. A simple form 
 of grace, jokes and stories, pleasant, unsupervised conversa- 
 tion, songs about the piano afterward, are not hard to have, 
 and they give the pupil a more natural chance for self-expres- 
 sion than he can get during the school period. 
 
 All children like "to help," and in rotation different groups 
 of them set the table, serve and clear away the things. They 
 are taught the proper position of knife and fork. They learn 
 to use napkins. Tooth brushes are given them and the 
 regular tooth brush drill after dinner together with the in- 
 sistence upon clean faces and hands at a table where it is 
 fashionable to be clean combine to make the food more enjoy- 
 able. 
 
 The effect upon the children is shown by the often quoted 
 remark of a boy in the summer school: "Good eats an' rest 
 make a feller feel good and he ain't a-goin' to do bad things." 
 
 97 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF OPEN AIR SCHOOL 
 WORK IN CHICAGO 
 
 Chicago was the sixth city in the United 
 States and the first in the west to establish 
 open air schools for physically subnormal 
 children. Germany led the way in 1904 
 with the now famous Waldschule at Char- 
 lottenburg. England and France followed 
 at Bos tall Wood and Lyons. In this coun- 
 try, Providence, New York City, Boston, 
 Pittsburgh and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
 had conducted schools in the open for periods 
 ranging from three to eighteen months. An 
 old school house, an unused ferry-boat, the 
 roof of a park refectory, a canvas tent, a 
 hospital balcony and an old dwelling-house, 
 respectively, were the expedients pressed 
 into service as a sort of manger makeshift 
 for this new enterprise. 
 
 In Chicago, as elsewhere in this country, private philan- 
 thropy financed the initial experiments. The first outdoor 
 school was made possible through the joint co-operation of 
 the board of education and the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute. 
 The part taken by the Board of Education was largely the 
 result of the active interest of Dr. Alfred Kohn, who, prior to 
 the arrangement with the Tuberculosis Institute, had pre- 
 sented to the board of education a plan for a similar school 
 for debilitated children, not necessarily tuberculous, to be 
 modeled somewhat after the Chariot tenburg school. Pro- 
 
 99 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 vision for feeding of these children, however, proved a stum- 
 bling block, and it became necessary to give up the school as 
 originally planned. Prior to the announcement of these 
 plans, the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, which had advocated 
 an outdoor school as one of its possible summer activities, was 
 in the field for a location for some form of outdoor provision 
 for a group of tuberculous children. 
 
 The plan of Dr. Kohn seemed to present the desired op- 
 portunity, and the Tuberculosis Institute offered to co-operate 
 with the board of education in the maintenance of such a 
 school. The offer was accepted and the school was opened 
 on the grounds of the Harvard School, Seventy-fifth Street 
 and Vincennes Road, on Tuesday morning, August 3, 1909. 
 
 The school building, grounds, equipment and teaching 
 staff were furnished by the school board, while the selection 
 of the children, the expense of food, transportation, cook, 
 nurse and medical service were assumed by the Tuberculosis 
 Institute. A large shelter tent and thirty reclining chairs 
 were secured for outdoor use; and range, cooking utensils, 
 dishes, knives, forks and spoons, kitchen and dining tables 
 and ice-box were installed in the basement of the school 
 building. The large assembly hall, piano, toilets and shower 
 baths were also placed at the disposal of the pupils. Mr. Wil- 
 liam E. Watt, principal of the Graham school, was secured 
 as principal of the outdoor school. He was assisted by two 
 teachers, also supplied by the board of education. 
 
 The Tuberculosis Institute placed one of its nurses on 
 half-time attendance at the school to watch the temperatures, 
 weight, pulse and general condition of the pupils. Careful 
 follow-up work into the homes of the children made it possible 
 to secure the co-operation of the parents to the fullest degree. 
 
 Of the thirty children chosen for the experiment, seventeen 
 were first-stage cases of tuberculosis, two had tubercular 
 glands, and eleven were pronounced pre-tubercular. Sixteen 
 
 IOO 
 
OPEN AIR CRUS ADDERS 
 
 had been and two were still directly exposed to tuberculosis 
 in their homes. In the case of the other fourteen there was 
 no evidence of direct exposure. None had passed to the 
 "open" or infectious stage. All such cases were excluded, 
 but two- thirds of the group on admission showed a tempera- 
 ture ranging from 99 to 100.2. 
 
 On discharge, only two showed a temperature above 99, 
 while the rest were practically normal. The total gain in 
 weight for the thirty children was 113 pounds, ranging from 
 one to seven pounds, while the average gain was 3.8 pounds. 
 
 Less than thirty days of intelligent care and feeding, of 
 exercise and rest in the open air, had transformed these chil- 
 dren who came limp, pallid, physically blighted, without 
 enough energy in the body to light the mind, into approximate- 
 ly normal pupils, alert, attentive and able to keep up sustained 
 interest in their school work. It was a remarkable demon- 
 stration, too valuable, people felt, to be discontinued. 
 
 The roof of the Mary Crane Nursery, with its tent equip- 
 ment, offered the best available site in Chicago. The first 
 year-round open air school in the city was opened in October, 
 1909. It was maintained through a contribution from the 
 Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund and was carried on 
 by the United Charities, the Board of Education and the 
 Tuberculosis Institute. Closely following this, the Public 
 School Extension Committee of the Chicago Woman's Club, 
 under the chairmanship of Mrs. A. W. Bryant, co-operated 
 with the school board in establishing two classes for anaemic 
 children in open window rooms, one in the Moseley and one 
 in the Hamline Schools. Here the regular regime was broken 
 by a rest period and lunches of bread and milk were served 
 twice each day. 
 
 The school board had also arranged for fresh air rooms in 
 the Graham School. Mr. Watt, the principal, enthusiastic 
 over the success of the summer school, argued that fresh air 
 
 101 
 
'* R CRUSADERS 
 
 would also be good for normal children. The Elizabeth 
 McCormick open air school aimed to meet the needs of 
 children who showed signs of tubercular infection. They 
 came from tuberculosis clinics, visiting nurses, settlements, 
 charity workers, public and private, from every agency that 
 dealt with physically backward children. The enrollment, 
 at first limited to twenty-five, was increased to thirty-five, 
 because the pressure for admission was so great. Four girls 
 too old for school work were given light work in the nursery 
 and shared in the benefits of the especially prepared food and 
 the rest period of the pupils. Still, many more were turned 
 away. In all, fifty-four made application for admission in 
 spite of the fact that the idea was new to Chicago, and many 
 people prophesied that the school could not and would not 
 with safety to the pupils be held on the roof during the winter. 
 
 To prevent the fulfilment of so dismal a prophesy, the 
 children were protected against the cold by picturesque 
 Eskimo suits made of heavy blankets which they slipped on 
 over their ordinary clothing. The peaked caps were sewed 
 firmly to the jackets and could be thrown back if desired. 
 Both boys and girls wore, tucked into lumbermen's boots, 
 loose-fitting blanket trousers which combined warmth with 
 the utmost freedom of movement. Thick gloves, extra 
 blankets, and soaps tones for use on extremely cold days com- 
 pleted the outfit, the expense of which was borne entirely by 
 the Elizabeth McCormick fund. All these garments were the 
 property of the school and each child was held responsible for 
 nightly putting his own suit into his own locker. For the teacher 
 a fur-lined coat and a fur cap were provided. In addition to 
 the clothing for school wear, in some cases it was found neces- 
 sary to provide underclothing, rubbers and overcoats which 
 remained the property of the individual children. 
 
 The day nursery on the roof of which the school was held 
 presented peculiar advantages as a laboratory for carrying on 
 
 102 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 such an experiment. The equipment of the building, which 
 included shower-bath and dispensary on the first floor, dining 
 room and kitchen on the third floor, store-room and tent on 
 the roof, toilet rooms on the first floor and roof, and elevator 
 service was given freely to the use of the school children. 
 
 The roof, illustrated on the following page, is completely 
 inclosed by a high framework covered by wire netting. 
 Against this netting young evergreen trees replaced during 
 the winter the vines which covered the meshes in the summer 
 months. The trees not only served the extremely practical 
 purpose of a good windbreak, but lent a perpetual air of Christ- 
 mas festivity to the place which was reflected in the joyous 
 faces and merry spirits of the children. 
 
 When Christmas Day really came, the little trees were 
 literally used for the purpose for which Nature had so evidently 
 created them, and stood about the roof bedecked with the 
 simple gifts which the children had made for themselves and 
 for the teacher, and covered with the glittering crystals of the 
 snow. Germany took her sick children to the pine forests 
 to school; Boston put her little patients into classrooms on 
 the roof; it remained for Chicago to bring the trees to the 
 children and give her pupils a forest school on a city roof. 
 
 Completely encircling the tent which stood among the 
 trees were windows which swung out, canopy fashion, making 
 an open zone clear around the tent. These windows could 
 be dropped on the side from which a storm might come. 
 
 The teacher, the supervisor of the school work, as well as 
 the desks, blackboards, and all equipment were provided by 
 the Board of Education. No heat whatever was furnished 
 in the tent, but heated soapstones were placed at the feet in 
 extremely cold weather. No one seemed to have difficulty 
 at any time in handling pen or pencil although the thermometer 
 often went below zero. 
 
 Outside of the inclosed tent was a large shelter tent which 
 
 103 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 consisted simply of a canvas top, without sides, to protect 
 from rain or extreme heat. Here the children took their daily 
 naps, tied up snugly in their warm sleeping bags and stretched 
 out full-length on canvas cots. The younger children, and 
 those who were least well, often spent the entire afternoon in 
 
 MARY CRANE NURSERY- CHICAGO 
 
 ROOF PLAN 
 
 POND & POND -ARCHITECTS 
 
 rest and no one was urged to come into the tent to school if 
 the teacher was convinced that the sleep would do him more 
 good. Though the physical development was thus appar- 
 ently put ahead of the mental growth, a glance at the record 
 of advancement made by the pupils shows clearly that the 
 mind was very far from suffering by such treatment. 
 
 At the other end of the shelter tent stood a long table on 
 which the hot lunch was served at nine and three-thirty. A 
 small store-room on the roof gave space for the dish cupboard 
 
 104 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 and gas stove where the lunches could easily be prepared by 
 the cook. On the other side of the store-room were lockers 
 for wraps and supplies. 
 
 Store-room, toilet and asbestos tent were already on the 
 roof; the shelter tent was the only addition to be made for the 
 
 BOTANY AT CAMP 
 
 school. The Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund, which 
 provided for the expenses of conducting the school, also financed 
 the Infant Welfare Work for which these buildings on the roof 
 had been previously erected. 
 
 With this equipment the school was carried on from 
 October to June. In June, pupils and teacher went for one 
 
 105 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 month to Camp Algonquin, the summer camp maintained by 
 the United Charities, where the women and children of the 
 poorer districts of the city are given two-week outings. The 
 beautiful grounds on the bank of the Fox River, the roomy 
 cottages, the immaculate cleanliness of dormitory and dining- 
 hall, the joys of camp-fires, baseball, swimming pool, oaks 
 and brook impressed more deeply upon the minds of the chil- 
 dren the high standards of personal conduct and pleasant 
 home life which it had been one special aim of the roof school 
 to inculcate. 
 
 The changes also afforded opportunity to regulate absolutely 
 all the conditions affecting the pupils in a way quite impossible 
 in the city, where they must return at night to homes which, 
 in spite of the most conscientious efforts of the visiting nurses, 
 sometimes undid, in large measure, the good received during 
 the day. 
 
 There were, then, during the school year 1909-10, three 
 distinct classes of children cared for by three distinct agencies : 
 the normal pupils in the lowered temperature rooms at the 
 Graham school; the anaemic children, with rest period and two 
 lunches, in the fresh air rooms equipped by the School Ex- 
 tension Committee of the Woman's Club; and the tubercular 
 boys and girls in the fresh air tent on the roof, where Eskimo 
 suits, sleeping outfits, three meals a day and medical and 
 nursing attendance were provided by the Elizabeth McCormick 
 Memorial Fund. The same condition existed through the 
 following year, 1910-11, with the addition of one open air 
 school on the roof of a municipal bath building, given rent 
 free by the board of health, and two open window rooms for 
 anaemic children in the Franklin School, all three operated 
 by the Elizabeth McCormick Fund. 
 
 So much general interest had been aroused by the first 
 Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School, and so many inquiries 
 poured in about its methods, that the trustees of the founda- 
 
 106 
 
OPEN ^SIT2 
 SCHOOL TSOOA 
 
 F ELIZABETH M C CORAAICK 
 
 OPEN AIR SCHOOL Al 2 
 POND <5 PO/HD ARCITECTS 
 
 107 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 tion decided to prepare a detailed report of the work which 
 should be available for free distribution. A little book under 
 the title of "Open Air Crusaders" was the result, and two edi- 
 tions of five thousand each were practically exhausted within 
 the year. This was based on the one school and covered only 
 its first full year. 
 
 In 1911, the board of education requested the Elizabeth 
 McCormick Memorial Fund to assume the responsibility for 
 all the open air school work carried on in the Chicago public 
 schools and to attempt to standardize the methods which 
 should be employed in the conduct of such schools. 
 
 The medical side of the work was under the general super- 
 vision of a staff composed of the physicians in attendance at 
 the several schools, the Commissioner of Health, and others 
 expert in tuberculosis work. 
 
 There were in operation eleven schools, four distinctly open 
 air schools and seven open window rooms. The roof of the 
 Hull House Boy's Club was pressed into service as an open 
 air school, and another was on the roof of the engine house 
 at the Graham School. The fourth was on the roof of the 
 Cregier bath. All of the open window rooms were in school 
 buildings. 
 
 The medical attendance at the Elizabeth McCormick Open 
 Air Schools One, Two and Three, and for the open window 
 rooms at the Franklin, was provided by the foundation. At 
 the Hamline, Foster, Moseley and Graham, the school physi- 
 cians provided by the board of health were given extra time in 
 which to make the examinations and inspect the pupils. The 
 matrons and attendants, food and equipment at all the schools 
 were provided by the McCormick foundation. The work will 
 be continued on much the same lines during 1912-13. 
 
 For the last two months of the school year, a statistician 
 was engaged to gather all the available facts concerning the 
 children in attendance at the open air and open window rooms, 
 
 1 08 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 particularly such as concerned their previous school record. 
 The physical gains made in the open air school were an undis- 
 puted fact, borne out by many records, but it was especially 
 desired to compare the attendance and scholarship ~ef_ -each 
 pupil not with some "normal child, " and not with the average 
 of his fellows in the public schools, but with his own past 
 record. Owing to the fact that in the Chicago schools scholar- 
 ship is not recorded under the fourth grade and attendance 
 record books need only be preserved one year, the past records 
 in many cases proved impossible to get. It was, of course, 
 impossible, except in the case of really sick children, to com- 
 pare the physical gains made this year with those of previous 
 years, because ordinarily, until the child entered the open air, 
 no school records of his physical progress had been kept. 
 
 The facts tabulated were taken from the records of the 
 nurses, teachers, and doctors who had charge of the open air 
 work. No child was included in the tabulation who had been 
 in attendance less than one school month. The inquiry 
 covered 367 pupils. Of these, 277 are still in the open air; 
 55 have been returned to the regular school room; 9 had to 
 be sent to sanitaria or hospitals. Of these remaining, 1 7 cannot 
 be traced; 4 have gone to work, and 5 have moved away. 
 
 Ninety per cent of those whose present condition is known 
 show decided improvement in health, spirit, and intellectual 
 power. 
 
 109 
 
no 
 
HOW TO EQUIP AN OPEN AIR SCHOOL 
 
 
 r , Within the last 
 
 f *-*** " * 
 
 j. . two years a de- 
 
 r^*. -* T~~""~ " 
 
 1^ come in the let- 
 
 ters of inquiry 
 concerning open 
 air schools. Peo- 
 ple who used to write, "What do you think of open air schools? " 
 and "Don't the children catch cold?" are now asking, "What 
 kind of foot covering is best?" and "How many feedings a 
 day do you find necessary?" Reports from other cities 
 show various methods of adapting local conditions to the 
 needs of the open air and visitors bring word of practical 
 devices for increasing comfort or lessening expense. The 
 value of the open air school is established, but the best methods 
 of operation are still in process of evolution. 
 
 The structure of the building which is to be used for open 
 air work varies with the locality. A most encouraging indica- 
 tion of the awakening interest in the question of ventilation 
 is shown by the number of architects and engineers who have 
 written, many of them within the last year, for copies of 
 the last edition of "Crusaders." The new Eagle School of 
 Cleveland, with its entire top floor designed for open air work, 
 is a realization in stone and brick of the new idea. Boston 
 and New York have voted, through their boards of education, 
 that each new school building erected shall have a specially 
 designed room in which the physically sub-normal child may 
 receive open air treatment. 
 
 in 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 The adaptation of school rooms usually means simply the 
 installation of windows which are made to open more widely 
 than the ordinary window, either by swinging out on a cord, 
 by dropping down into a sash, or by swinging on a hinge, like 
 a French window. In some instances these windows open on 
 a balcony or a roof where the children may rest or play in 
 favorable weather. The whole purpose is to get as much air 
 and sunshine as possible into the room. 
 
 Many cities have erected small, separate structures either 
 on roofs or in school yards for the accommodation of the 
 twenty-five children who are the average unit for the open air 
 school. St. Louis went into the outskirts of the city for a site 
 and put up a frame structure with kitchen, toilet facilities, 
 school room and veranda. This made an expensive under- 
 taking, but the results have already justified it. The school 
 has been in session six days a week, with no pause for vaca- 
 tions, since the day of its opening and within nine months, 
 fourteen of the twenty-five pupils have been discharged to the 
 ordinary schools, as cured. 
 
 Kenosha, for a very small amount, erected a shack that 
 served admirably. The necessity of putting in plumbing and 
 gas was avoided by using the conveniences of a near-by school 
 building. 
 
 All through California, little one-story, open window 
 buildings are springing up. Toilet facilities are provided 
 but no kitchen, since less feeding is usual in the milder climate. 
 
 In Chicago, a tent, either of wood or asbestos board, about 
 14 by 17, with double canvas roof and windows swinging 
 open all around, has been found the most serviceable for the 
 school tent on the roof. In two of the four tents provided 
 by the McCormick foundation, no heat at all is furnished; 
 in one, a single coil of steam-pipe runs up from the flat below; 
 and in one, which is located directly over the boiler room of 
 a public school building, four coils of steam-pipe pass around 
 
 112 
 
HOOD 
 
 AF placed on fold of goods. 
 
 FC straight edge of goods: stitch in flat seam. 
 
 ABC face line, folded back when in use. 
 
 EDC line where hood is attached to collar of suit. 
 
 x tapes to tie hood closely about the face. 
 
 IZ- 
 
 c L- 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING THE ESKIMO SUITS. 
 
 (By Request.) 
 
 The Eskimo suits are simply double-breasted pajamas cut 
 from heavy woolen blankets. The suits are to be worn over 
 the other clothing, so large sizes are used and the legs and 
 sleeves are shortened to fit the individual. To the collars are 
 fastened hoods with tape so placed as to tie snugly about the 
 face in severe weather. The outfit is completed by a pair of 
 heavy felt boots, the soles covered with material like the suit, 
 with a thick interlining of paper. 
 
INSIDE SLEEPING BAG OUTSIDE 
 
 MEAD 
 
 80" -, 
 
 FOOTPIECE 
 
 
 O6 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 X 
 
 1 X 
 
 tf 
 
 Z x 
 
 x 
 
 
 y 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ..1 
 
 r- 
 
 ' 
 
 rooTPiECt 
 
 
 1- 
 
 X X 
 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING SLEEPING-BAG. 
 
 (By Request) 
 
 Inside: Shoddy woolen blanket 60 inches by 80 inches. 
 
 Footpiece: 1-6 of blanket, added to center of lower line. 
 
 Outside: Dark brown canvas, 28 inches wide, cut in three 
 strips, 64 inches, 64 inches and 94 inches, respectively, and 
 stitched together as shown in cut. 
 
 Edges of canvas are folded back to cover edges of blanket, 
 leaving i inch edge of double canvas. 
 
 Crosses show position of 12 -inch tapes. 
 
 In use, flaps are folded in order as indicated. 
 
 114 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 the room, just above the wainscoting. Although the children's 
 feet are kept warm in the rooms without heat, by providing 
 soaps tones and boots, it is done with much less difficulty in 
 the rooms where the floor is somewhat warmed. Fresh air, not 
 cold air, is, after all, the end to be reached. In all four schools 
 the meals are served in a warm room; the bath-rooms are 
 warmed, of course, and there is always a warm place close at 
 hand to which a child may go if chilled. 
 
 The school equipment of desks, book-case, teacher's desk, 
 movable black-board and the various small articles which are 
 needed for school purposes are supplied by the board of 
 education. 
 
 The individual equipment for each child includes : 
 
 Eskimo suit (Made to order) $4.00 
 
 i double wool blanket 6 . 50 
 
 Canvas folding cot (special, 28 x 66 in.) 2.50 
 
 Sleeping bag (canvas, lined with cheap blanket) 2.00 
 
 Felt boots .90 
 
 Mocha kid gloves, fleece-lined .85 
 
 Thermometer .25 
 
 Tooth brush .10 
 
 Paper napkins .10 
 
 Record sheets .10 
 
 Towels i . oo 
 
 Laundry 1 . 50 
 
 Miscellaneous disinfectants . 20 
 
 Total $20.00 
 
 On entrance, each child is given a number, which appears 
 on every article of his individual equipment and on his locker. 
 The excitement of fitting suits, boots and gloves to twenty- 
 five eager children cannot be gone through with every morn- 
 ing. 
 
 The Eskimo suits are made in the sewing room of the Mary 
 Crane Day Nursery, from the patterns illustrated on page 113. 
 Since they are worn over ordinary clothing, it is necessary 
 to order at least a two years' larger size for each child. 
 
 115 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 After trial of both, we have found the suits made to 
 order better than the ready-made suits which may now be 
 procured. The home-made suits are more ample and 
 more securely put together, and therefore wear better than 
 
 GETTING READY FOR THE AFTERNOON NAP 
 
 the factory-made. When a child leaves the school, his suit 
 is washed and disinfected and made ready for his successor. 
 
 The foot covering has been a source of much difficulty. 
 The problem is to find something that is warm, light and 
 durable. Many schools have padded sitting-out bags into 
 which the children thrust their feet while in school. Others 
 use leggings and overshoes. We have found nothing better 
 than the lumberman's felt boot with the soles reinforced by 
 double thicknesses of heavy blanket. These boots come to 
 the knee and the trousers of the Eskimo suits are tucked into 
 them. They give much more freedom of movement than is 
 
 116 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 possible when the sitting-out bags are used. One pair of boots, 
 with patching, should last a child during the school year, for of 
 course there are many days when they need not be worn. 
 
 Warm gloves, one size large, sewed to a tape which is 
 fastened to the back of the collar, under the Eskimo hood, 
 keep the hands warm and permit the use of pen or pencil. 
 
 The sleeping-bags, also illustrated on page 114, are more 
 cheaply and satisfactorily made than bought. The heavy 
 blanket-lined canvas is not too heavy to go to the laundry, 
 and like all the blankets used during the rest period, it can 
 be thoroughly disinfected before a change in ownership. 
 
 A very short trial served to convince us that cots were 
 much better for the rest period than steamer chairs. In the 
 steamer chair, the shoulders are hunched together, contracting 
 the chest at the very time when it most needs expansion, and 
 it is impossible to relax as completely as on the cots. The 
 cots for the Chicago schools are made to order by a Chicago 
 manufacturer, who gives us a specially reinforced light weight 
 folding cot, with adjustable head piece, for $2.50. A child 
 can easily fold it and carry it to the locker room. 
 
 For extremely cold weather, hot soapstones prove very 
 comfortable at hands and feet. They are awkward things to 
 handle, however, and until the soapstone box was devised, 
 blankets were occasionally burned. Now each child trots 
 cheerfully along to school, swinging his box by the leather 
 handle, and the blankets no longer suffer. 
 
 A fur-lined coat with high fur collar, an electric pad for the 
 hands, and either felt boots or fleece-lined shoes make the 
 teacher comfortable. 
 
 If baths are to be given, the ordinary equipment of towels, 
 soap, rubber caps and the like must be provided. In three 
 Chicago roof schools a cold shower bath is given every child 
 every day. Pocket combs and nail files in the bath-room 
 wrought amazing improvement on hands and heads. 
 
 117 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 In the open window room, where the temperature is sup- 
 posed to be kept about fifty-five degrees, we have provided 
 sweaters and stocking caps when the children could not buy 
 them themselves. The location of the room, its exposure and its 
 relation to nearby buildings make so much difference in the 
 case of ventilation, that even in the same building we find 
 wide ranges of temperature in rooms which we are trying to 
 keep the same. Experiments in such rooms have disclosed 
 pockets in which the air is not circulating properly in spite of 
 open windows. The amount of clothing, then, varies with 
 the room. The one inflexible rule is that the child must be 
 comfortable. The work ought always to be done under the 
 direction and supervision of a competent physician who can 
 devote sufficient time to insure wise arrangement. 
 
 118 
 
ADDENDA 
 
SUMMARY OF RESULTS IN FOUR OPEN AIR 
 SCHOOLS, CHICAGO, 1911-12 
 
 In the four schools, there were enrolled, for periods of over 
 one month, 127 children. The effort was made to compare 
 the record made by these children in the open air schools 
 with the previous record which they had made in the closed 
 schools. In some cases it was found impossible to trace the 
 back record. In such instances the number of children for 
 whom the record was incomplete was deducted from the total 
 and the basis of comparison was only that number of pupils 
 whose records were complete. 
 
 In attendance, complete records were secured for 92 children. Of these, 
 61, or 66.3 per cent, gained; 10, or 10.8 percent, remained the same; 
 21, or 22.8 per cent, lost. 
 
 Per cent 
 In School No. 3, the percentage of attendance for the room this year was 96.3 
 
 Last year, for the same room, it was 91 .6 
 
 The four children who came from closed rooms brought records of . . 45 . 5 
 In School No. 4, the percentage of attendance for the room this year was 95 . 9 
 The 25 children out of 32 for whom last year's records could be obtained, 
 
 had made last year, in a closed room 81.5 
 
 The largest recorded gain in attendance was 67.0 
 
 In scholarship, complete records were secured for 94 children. Of these, 
 66, or 70.2 per cent, gained; 25, or 26.6 per cent, remained the same; 
 3, or 3.1 per cent, lost. 
 In School No. 3, the percentage of scholarship for the room last year was 77 .9 
 
 This year it was 82 . 6 
 
 In School No. 4, the percentage of scholarship last year was . . . . 74.4 
 
 (This in closed room) 
 The percentage of scholarship for the same children this year was . . 86 . 6 
 
 In weight, the records cover only the present year and record the gains made 
 in the open air school only. Records are complete for 113 children. Of these, 
 104, or 92 per cent, gained; 7, or 6.1 per cent, lost; 2, or 1.7 per cent, remained 
 the same. 
 
 121 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 Comparison of results in six 
 March, 1912. 
 
 Chicago schools through 
 
 SCHOLARSHIP 
 
 OPEN CLOSED 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 
 School No. i ... 
 
 . 81.5 81.7 
 
 
 
 School No. 2 . . . 
 
 . 81.1 73.8 
 
 Totaling and averaging, 
 
 the 
 
 Graham Open Air . 
 
 . 87.0 74.3 
 
 open air leads by 3 per cent. 
 
 
 Graham Open Window 
 
 .80.8 80. i 
 
 
 
 Hamline .... 
 
 . 86.4 90.4 
 
 
 
 Moseley .... 
 
 79-7 78.1 
 
 
 
 ATTENDANCE 
 
 OPEN CLOSED 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 
 School No. i ... 
 
 . 97.2 100.0 
 
 
 
 School No. 2 ... 
 
 . 89.0 96.9 
 
 Totaling and averaging, 
 
 the 
 
 Graham Open Air . 
 
 . 90.0 41.4 
 
 open air leads by 6 per cent. 
 
 
 Graham Open Window 
 
 . 90.4 89.7 
 
 
 
 Hamline .... 
 
 . 88.8 95.7 
 
 
 
 Moseley .... 
 
 .87.9 85.0 
 
 
 
 DEPORTMENT 
 
 OPEN CLOSED 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 
 School No. i ... 
 
 . 95.0 91.9 
 
 
 
 School No. 2 
 
 . 91.0 82.5 
 
 Totaling and averaging, 
 
 the 
 
 Graham Open Air . 
 
 . 94.3 91.2 
 
 open air leads by 5 per cent. 
 
 
 Graham Open Window 
 
 .90.8 80. i 
 
 
 
 Hamline .... 
 
 . 96.0 90.4 
 
 
 
 Moseley .... 
 
 . 87.5 90.0 
 
 
 
 Division of Child Hygiene Parent's Consent Card 
 
 To the Parents of 
 
 Address 
 
 Your child attending the School 
 
 shows evidence of the following condition: 
 
 In the interest of the child's welfare kindly give permission to have a 
 thorough examination of the child made by the school doctor. 
 
 Parents can be present at the examination if they desire. 
 
 Please sign this card and return it to the School. 
 
 G. B. YOUNG, 
 
 Commissioner of Health 
 
 Parent's Signature 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 
 
 
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 C/2 o O *J 'o J 
 
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 Percentage of atten 
 Percentage of schol; 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4) 
 O 
 
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 Weight on admissio 
 
 Chest expansion on 
 
 if 1 
 
 ! ! 1 1 
 f s 1 1 
 
 J PH Pi 
 
 By doctor. . . . 
 Summing up of resu 
 
 123 
 
A STUDY IN JANUARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 
 
 Average daily temperature in Chicago during January, 1912, 11.9 degrees above 
 
 zero. 
 
 Percentage of attendance is given in all cases. 
 Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School No. I, on the roof of the Mary 
 
 Crane Nursery 93-6 
 
 Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School No. 2, on the roof of the Hull 
 
 House Boys' Club 97.0 
 
 Foster School, of which these two open air schools are a part . . . . 92 . 8 
 Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School No. 3, on the roof of the Cregier 
 
 Public Bath 97 . 26 
 
 Franklin Open Window Room No. I 93-3 
 
 Franklin Open Window Room No. 2 89 . 8 
 
 Franklin School, of which the open air school and the open window rooms 
 
 are a part 93 . 8 
 
 Graham Open Air School 91.3 
 
 Graham Open Window Room - 94 . 9 
 
 Graham School, of which the Open Air School and the open window room are 
 
 a part 88 . 4 
 
 Hamline Open Window Room 96.3 
 
 Hamline School 93-2 
 
 Moseley Open Window Room 86 . o 
 
 Moseley School 87.4 
 
 This gives a total percentage for the open air and open window rooms, 
 
 taken together, of 93 . 3 
 
 For the schools of which they are a part, a total of 90 . 6 
 
 For the entire grammar school system of the city 92.3 
 
 Thus the open air pupils' attendance averaged 2^2 per cent higher than that 
 of their former classmates in the ordinary school buildings, and I per cent higher 
 than the attendance all over the city. 
 
 124 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 
 
 Allen, William H. Civics and Health. Ginn and Co., Boston, 1909. Illus- 
 trated. 403 pp. Price $1.25. 
 Ayres, Leonard P. Laggards in Our Schools. A Study of Retardation and 
 
 Elimination in our City School Systems. Charities Publication Committee 
 
 of Russell Sage Foundation, 105 E. 22nd St., New York City, 1909. 252 pp. 
 
 Price $i .50. 
 
 Board of Education, City of Chicago. 58th Annual Report. 
 Breckenridge, Sophonisba P., and Abbott, Edith. The Delinquent Child and the 
 
 Home. Charities Publication Committee of Russell Sage Foundation, 105 E. 
 
 22nd St., New York City, 1911. Price $2.00. 
 Burbank, Luther. The Training of the Human Plant. The Century Company, 
 
 New York City. 99 pp. Price 60 cents. 
 Carrington, Dr. Thomas Specs. Fresh Air and How to Use It. The National 
 
 Association for the Sudy and Prevention of Tuberculosis, 105 E. 22nd St., 
 
 New York City, 1912. 250 pp. Price $1.00. 
 Cornell, Walter B. Health and Medical Inspection of School Children. Price 
 
 $3 . oo net. 
 Biennial Report of the County Superintendent of Schools, Cook County, 111., 
 
 1908-1910. Room 546, County Bldg., Chicago. 
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 Report of Deportment of Social Investigation of Chicago School of Civics 
 
 and Philanthropy, 31 W. Lake St., Chicago. 56 pp. Price, 25 cents. 
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 Charities Publication Committee of Russell Sage Foundation, 105 E. 22nd 
 
 St., New York City, 1910. 286 pp. Price $i .00. 
 Key, Ellen. The Century of the Child. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York City, 
 
 "1911. 339PP- Price $1.50. 
 Perry, Clarence Arthur. Wider Use of the School Plant. Charities Publication 
 
 Committee of Russell Sage Foundation, 105 E. 22nd St., New York City, 
 
 1910. Illustrated. 404 pp. Price $1.25. 
 Report of the Proceedings of the Education Section of the National Conference 
 
 on the Prevention of Destitution. P. S. King & Son, Orchard House, West- 
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 Report of the Proceedings of the Public Health Section of the National Con- 
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 Report of Vocational Training in Chicago and in other Cities. By a Committee 
 
 of the City Club of Chicago. The City Club, 315 Plymouth Court, Chicago, 
 
 1912. 3i5pp. Price $1.50. 
 Talbert, Ernest L. Opportunities in School and Industry for Children of the 
 
 Stockyards District. Published by the University of Chicago Press, 
 
 64 pp. Price 25 cents. 
 Smith, William Hawley. All the Children of all the People. The Macmillan 
 
 Company, New York City, 1912. 345 pp. Price $i .50. 
 Spargo, John. The Bitter Cry of the Children. The Macmillan Company, 
 
 New York City, 1909. Illustrated. 337pp. Price $1.50. 
 
 1 Works specially consulted in preparation of third edition. 
 
 125 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 
 
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 Russell Sage Foundation 
 
 Baginsky, Adolf. Uber Waldschulen und Walderholungstatten. Zeits. fur 
 
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 jahrsschrift fur offentliche Gesundheitspflege. September, 1906, Bd. 39, 
 
 Heft 2, pp. 305-322. 
 
 Verhandlagen der 7. Jahresversammlung des Deutschen Vereins fur Schul- 
 
 gesundheitspflege, Verlag von Teubner, Berlin. 
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 Leopold Voss, Hamburg. 
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 Shepard, Winona, Minn. 
 
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 Crowley, Ralph H. Report by the Medical Superintendent on the Thackley 
 
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 126 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
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 1910, Boston. (Franklin Park, Boston, School.) 
 Huetzer, Dr. Walderholungstatten und Waldschule. Centralblatt fur 
 
 allgemeine Gesundheitspflege, 1906. 25 Jahr., Heft 1-2, pp. 72-77. 
 Henderson, C. H. Outdoor Schools. The World's Work, January, 1909. 
 
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 Hyams, Isabel F., and Minot, Dr. James. Boston's Outdoor School. 
 
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 by the Boston Association for the Relief and Control of Tuberculosis, 4 
 
 Joy St.) 
 Kaufman, Eunice H. School in the Forest. The Outlook, December 5, 
 
 1908, pp. 793-795. New York City. 
 
 (A description of the Forest School at Charlottenburg, Germany.) 
 Kingsley, Sherman. Tuberculous Children on a City Roof. The Survey, 
 
 March 5, 1910. New York City. Pp. 863-866. 
 
 (An account of the school carried on by the United Charities of Chicago.) 
 Koenig, Inspector. Die Waldschule in Miilhausen. Strassburger Druckerei 
 
 and Verlagsanstalt. 
 Kraft, Dr. A. Waldschulen. Verlag Art Institut, Orel Fiissli, 1908. 
 
 Zurich. 28 pp. 
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 Commons, April 18, 1908. Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 9799. New York City. 
 
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 No. 23. Playground Association of America, i Madison Ave., New York. 
 
 School of Outdoor Life. Charities and the Commons, December, 1908. 
 
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 pp. 71-107. 
 
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 of Education. Special Reports on Educational Subjects. London, 
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 127 
 
OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 
 
 The National Importance of Outdoor Schools. The British Journal of 
 
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 & Co., New York City. 
 
 Open-air Schools. Published by the Royal Sanitary Institute, Margaret 
 
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 1907, pp. 260266. 
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 July, 1908, pp. 383-385. Battle Creek, Michigan. 
 
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 Talbot, Winthrop F. The Physical Basis of Attention. Ad. and Proc. 
 of Nat. Ed. Ass'n, 1908, pp. 932936. 
 
 Thiel, Peter J. Die Waldschule in der freien Natur, eine padagogische 
 Notwendigkeit und Moglichkeit. International Kongress fur Schul- 
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 (Account of the fresh-air-room experiment in the Graham School, Chicago.) 
 
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 128 
 
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