Page:Labour and childhood.djvu/191

 scheme in toto. A great many other towns and districts have, as we have said already, adopted the general scheme, but altered the details. In some of these the consultation (or speech hour) is held only once in three months or once in six months. Doctors everywhere appear to be in touch with parents, to send full reports to them, and to invite their co-operation. Take, for example, a quotation from the letter sent by the Giessen school authorities to the parents of children in whom the first signs of spinal curvature have been noted by the school doctor: "The school teachers will take full notice of these symptoms in the school work for the future; we, however, entreat you to consult your own doctor and to help us, so that a permanent curvature may be averted."

Whether it be the result of the tact and gentleness of the method or whether due to some spontaneous awakening, it is hard to say. But certain it is that all over the Fatherland parents have responded and placed themselves on the side of the school doctor. The response comes, not only from the big towns; it is most hearty and practical in some of the little out-of-the-way villages.