They
had heard from the lips of other students about our insisting upon the
use of this, and so, to make a good impression, they brought at least
a tooth-brush with them. I remember that one morning, not long ago, I
went with the lady principal on her usual morning tour of inspection
of the girls' rooms. We found one room that contained three girls who
had recently arrived at the school. When I asked them if they had
tooth-brushes, one of the girls replied, pointing to a brush: "Yes,
sir. That is our brush. We bought it together, yesterday." It did
not take them long to learn a different lesson.
It has been interesting to note the effect that the use of the
tooth-brush has had in bringing about a higher degree of civilization
among the students. With few exceptions, I have noticed that, if we
can get a student to the point where, when the first or second tooth-
brush disappears, he of his own motion buys another, I have not been
disappointed in the future of that individual. Absolute cleanliness
of the body has been insisted upon from the first. The students have
been taught to bathe as regularly as to take their meals. This lesson
we began teaching before we had anything in the shape of a bath-house.
Most of the students came from plantation districts, and often we had
to teach them how to sleep at night; that is, whether between the two
sheets -- after we got to the point where we could provide them two
sheets -- or under both of them.
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