Now, Hazel’s mother was a widow who washed so much for other people that she had neither time nor strength to care for her own children; besides, Hazel had few dresses, and on this Monday morning all of them were soiled. When the child reached home and told Mrs. Jordan what Miss Gebhard had said, her mother wept in self-pity. “Nobody cares how hard I work,” she wailed; “all the notice I get is to be insulted. You just stay home from school and I’ll go and see Tom Ellis and ask him if a widow has got to dress her children up fine before she can send them to public school.” As soon as the washing she was then doing was “on the line,” she went to see Mr. Ellis, a member of the school board, and told him that Hazel had been sent home from school because she wasn’t dressed up to suit the teacher. Miss Gebhard was a little alarmed because Hazel did not return, and was agitated when she saw Mr. Ellis, the most influential member of the school board, standing in the doorway of her school-room. All of the pupils stared while Mr. Ellis catechized Miss Gebhard as to why she sent Hazel Jordan home. In vain she explained that she said nothing about her clothes. She could see that Mr. Ellis thought she had acted unwisely, as he reiterated, “Her mother’s a hard-working widow, you know, and her feelings are hurt.” It seemed clear to Miss Gebhard that she had blundered. She called upon Mrs. Jordan, who wept at her own poverty and seemed unlikely to be able to distinguish between cleanliness and richness of dress. Miss Gebhard decided that the matter of cleanliness was too difficult for her to handle and made no further recommendations on the subject during the year. CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT Examine the hands and faces of several other children before inspecting Hazel. If more than one needs to wash his hands, send all to the lavatory, or to the pump, and ask them to return to the school-room clean. COMMENTS If children are spoken to kindly about the condition of their hands and several are sent at once to wash, they will take less offense. It will seem then a matter of school-room practice rather than a personal affront. Drills or plays are often used to bring about habits of cleanliness. ILLUSTRATION (FIRST GRADE) [Sidenote: “Sanitary Brigade”] Miss Barry organized her first grade room into a “Sanitary Brigade.” Every one’s own ten fingers were the private soldiers over which each one’s face was the captain. One child in each row, appointed by the teacher each Monday morning, was the Lieutenant General of his row, and Miss Barry was the Major General of them all.