JACK O'HEALTH 3 OSfD PEG O'JOY Fairy Tale for Children BEATRICE SLflYTON HERBEN, M J). (Eantegt? library WITHDRAWN 26574 JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY A FAIRY-TALE BY BEATRICE SLAYTON HERBEN, M.D. WITH JINGLES BY SCHOOL CHILDREN OF PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 15 OF NEW YORK CITY ILLTTSTRATED BY FREDERICK RICHARDSON CHARLES SCRIBNEjifS SONS NEW YORK CHICAGO COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS APPROVED BY THE CHILD HEALTH COUNCIL PUBLISHED FOR THE NEW YORK TUBERCULOSIS ASSOCIATION IN CO-OPERATION WITH THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK AND THE HEALTH SERVICE, NEW YORK COUNTY CHAPTER AMERICAN RED CROSS 'PRINTED AT TH,E r SCRIBNER PRESS , ' NEW YORK, U. S. A. 26574 " How pretty that must be ! " Jack's and Peggy's eyes grew very large. "So after you have eaten fresh fruit and potatoes and carrots, or onions or spinach a And mother's nice bread ! Um ! Um ! Bread certainly is good when she makes it, fairy ! " It was a little rude for Jack to interrupt that way, but the Good Fairy knew how ex- cited he was. "Yes," she said. "I know how good it is ! After you have eaten all these good things you may have a piece of cake and a piece of candy, too, after dinner. Just be careful not to eat too much." 20 CHAPTER IY Soon Jack O'Health and Peg O'Joy went to school. At the door they saw the Good Fairy. She walked with the children to the schoolroom. On the way she said to them: "Please walk with your toes straight ahead, And you'll never have trouble, 'tis said, With flat feet and pains, With crutches and canes, For you'll step with a fairy-like tread." "We have to sit up straight at our desks, too," said Peggy and Jack, and how the Good Fairy laughed when they told about Humpty Dumpty ! " Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall ; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. 21 JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY How did it happen he met such a fate? Because he forgot to sit up straight." When school was called, all the children stood at their desks and played the good- morning game. The girls asked the questions, and the boys answered. This is what they said: " Where did you come from, little boy ? " " Out of the sunshine, with Peg O' Joy." "Where did you get your cheeks so red?" " My windows are open while I'm in bed." " But how does it happen you're never ill ? " " With pure fresh air my lungs I fill." " And why are you always so cheery and gay ? " " Oh, fresh air drives the blues away." " Why are you always on the 'A' side ? " "When I study my windows are open wide." 22 "COMB AXD BE HAPPY ALL THE DAY JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY " What will you be in your later years ? " " A good, strong, useful man, my dears." When recess came, Peggy ran to the drinking fountain to get a drink. And there was a fairy waiting for her! "Come, little comrades, come and play, Come and be happy all the day, Play in the sun if it's not too warm, Play in the house if there comes a storm." "Who said that?" "Those are the Play-Fairies." The Good Fairy flew outdoors. Jack and Peggy went out too. " Hello, Jack ! " called a playmate. " Take a taste of my lollypop." The Good Fairy whispered: " Never eat a lollypop half eaten by another, You will get a Goblin-Germ and he'll call in his brother." 24 CHAPTER Y By and by the children went home to lunch. While they were gone, the little Play- Fairies flew into the schoolroom and what do you suppose they did ? One stood on the teacher's desk and all the rest of the fairies sat on the children's desks. (They were too tiny to sit in the seats, you know.) And then they started to play school. " I am going to be Jack," said one. " He is the cleanest and healthiest boy in this school. He is so strong that the big boys all want him to play baseball and football with them." "And I want to be Peggy," said another. "She is strong and well, too, and can skate, jump rope, and play ball and never get tired." 25 JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY The fairies played there all the noon-hour until it was time for the children to return and then they flew out of doors. In the afternoon, Teacher asked a little boy a question. He did not answer. Peg and Jack heard the fairies talking about the boy who did not hear his teacher. "Perhaps his tonsils are too big. Maybe he has adenoids. These sometimes make people deaf." " Why, do you know," one fairy asked an- other, " that boy misses so much fun because he cannot hear as well as Jack does ? He does not even hear the birds sing. He never heard me whisper to him the other day when I tried to show him a little elf hiding under the leaves on that plant there in the win- dow. He misses such a lot of fun, poor boy!" 26 JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY "HE MISSES SUCH A LOT OF FUN, POOR BOY!' "He should go to his good friend, the doctor, and have his nose and throat ex- amined," said the other. One fairy jumped up on to Peggy's pencil and said : " Look at that little girl. The sun 27 JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY shines right upon her book. The light should come from behind over her left shoulder. "They say in my country Fairyland that if the sun shines directly into your eyes, you cannot see the lovely things hidden in the shadows. If the light comes from behind you, your eyes do not get tired and they can look into bright places and dark places and see everything. The sunlight on her page is too bright and when she looks up, that little girl will not be able to see her teacher! Dear! Dear ! Teacher must tell her what the Raggedy Man said." Said the Raggedy Man, with very deep sighs : "My! Sakes ! What a lot of mistakes Some little folks make in the use of their eyes ! 28 JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY But people who know how to use them like me, Can look to the top of the distant-est tree, And they might see the ocean beyond it, you know. Whang ! Ho! Why, certainly so ! They might see the ocean beyond it, you know." The teacher did not hear the fairy telling Peggy about the Raggedy Man. However, she told them a story of a boy who grew up to serve his country as the commander-in-chief of the army. When he was a small boy and his father asked him what he was going to be when he grew up, his answer was : " I'd like to be so many things, When I am grown up tall, 29 'A FINE AND TRUE AMERICAN" JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY 'Tis hard to choose which is the best There is among them all. But all the while I'm growing up There is one thing I can be A fine and true American For all the world to see." CHAPTER YI After this story school was soon over. Jack and Peggy went out to play until supper-time. There were the Play-Fairies standing in a row, saying : " I take a deep breath in, I let the deep breath out, For good deep breathing all the time Brings health, without a doubt." All the boys and girls stood in a row. They did just as the fairies did. As they were playing, a little boy sneezed. He did not cover his mouth. A million Goblin-Germs flew into the air. The Play- Fairies called to the Sun-Fairies to come and catch them. 32 JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY "Have a clean handkerchief ever}' day Use it to cover a cough or sneeze, This will help to keep away All the bad goblins that cause disease." "Children, come here and I will tell you a story," said the Good Fairy. This is what she told them : " There is a very bad Goblin- Germ. He is so tiny that you cannot see him. We caU him T. B. T. B. stands for a long word. This long word is the name of a disease. It is tuberculosis. If T. B. gets into the body, he makes the body very sick. He hurts more people than any other Goblin- Germ. If a person with this germ spits or sneezes, without covering his mouth, the tiny Goblin-Germs called T. B. fly into the air. Well people breathe them in, and then they may get sick too." MIDSUMMER NIGHT IN VEGETABLE LAND JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY "Do they never get well again?" asked Peggy. "Yes. If we know soon enough that the T. B. Goblins have gone into the lungs." "We will never spit. We will ask all grown-up people not to spit," cried all the children together. Then the children went to playing again and they played until the sun went down. "Supper is ready!" called Jack's mother. In they all went and mother brought the good food to the table. There was Jack's favorite soup with lima beans in it and baked potato with milk gravy. Mother gave a big juicy baked apple and a sugar cooky to each of them. My! what a supper it was! Every- thing tasted so good ! Each child had a glass of milk which tasted especially good to Jack and Peggy, for it had been kept fresh and sweet in the ice-box. 35 CHAPTER YII After supper the Go-to-Bed-Early Fairies came. " Little children, do you know When to bed at night you go, Clothing which at play you wear Should at night be hung to air." So Peg O'Joy and Jack O'Health hung up their clothes. Then they went to the bath- room and the Go-to-Bed-Early Fairies sang the Old King Cole song again. Teeth were cleaned. Faces were washed. Hands were washed. Hair was brushed. Then they scam- pered to bed. " I'll open the windows ! " said Peggy. "The moon is up," said Jack, "and the good fairies will come with the fresh air." 36 JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY At the very moment he spoke what should the children see but a tiny figure flying to the window-sill ! Then another came, another, and another! They folded their vel- vety wings slowly and softly, and when the Go-to-Bed-Early Fairies beckoned to them they tiptoed into the room. " I think they are the Sleepy-Fairies," Peggy whispered to Jack. " It is such a queer feeling that comes when I look at them. I cannot keep my eyes open." Drowsy little Peggy climbed into bed. The last thing Jack O'Health said to Peg O'Joy that night was this: " I learned about the Barefoot Boy And his life in the open air, And I wish that I could live with him As a king of the hillsides fair. 37 THE SLEEPY-FAIRIES JACK O'HEALTH AND PEG O'JOY Though we must live 'tween city walls, Kings we too can be For nature has given the gift of health To him and you and me." The Good Fairy smiled at all the Sleepy- Fairies. Before they could tuck in the blankets around each child, Peg O'Joy and Jack O'Health were fast asleep. 39 MARGARET CARNEGIE LIBRARY MILLS COLLEGE THIS BOOK DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW Books not returned on time are subject to a fine of lOc per volume per day. UCJUUIIUM IIJUUNM. LBRMTT ftOSTI A 000 028 777 1 26574 613 (26574) H534J