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174
LABOUR AND CHILDHOOD

their wont into the far, far past—and are pointing also with their pale fingers, into the far future. Only weakness can be so bold and so convincing.

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It is strange but true, that thoughts seem to pass like a wind from one civilized country to another, or rather to encircle them all in one mysterious and rapid movement. The recent sudden awakening as to the needs of child life in every country is a case in point. The first school doctors were formally engaged in England and in Germany in the same year, 1891. The first American school doctor was formally appointed at Boston in 1894. In 1896 the first steps were taken at Wiesbaden to put medical inspection of schools in Germany on a firm basis. In 1897 the first Cleansing Committee was formed in England. In 1896 the first Board of advice for School Hygiene was instituted by an Imperial Ordnance in Japan. In the same year the New World of the West roused herself suddenly like a young eagle. For seven years New York had been putting her huge house in order as regards school children's health and conditions with such fiery haste and zeal that everything one writes on the subject seems to be old before the ink is dry. She is hurry-