I felt from the first that mere book education was
not all that the young people of that town needed. I began my work at
eight o'clock in the morning, and, as a rule, it did not end until ten
o'clock at night. In addition to the usual routine of teaching, I
taught the pupils to comb their hair, and to keep their hands and
faces clean, as well as their clothing. I gave special attention to
teaching them the proper use of the tooth-brush and the bath. In all
my teaching I have watched carefully the influence of the tooth-brush,
and I am convinced that there are few single agencies of civilization
that are more far-reaching.
There were so many of the older boys and girls in the town, as
well as men and women, who had to work in the daytime and still were
craving an opportunity for an education, that I soon opened a night-
school. From the first, this was crowded every night, being about as
large as the school that I taught in the day. The efforts of some of
the men and women, who in many cases were over fifty years of age, to
learn, were in some cases very pathetic.
My day and night school work was not all that I undertook. I
established a small reading-room and a debating society. On Sundays I
taught two Sunday-schools, one in the town of Malden in the afternoon,
and the other in the morning at a place three miles distant from
Malden.
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