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announcement, of summer session for 1899; same, Bulletin No. 29, etc., 1899-1900; Historical sketch of the State university of Iowa, J. L. Pickard, etc., 1899; Catalogue of the Peabody normal college for the year 1898-99.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE AND HYGIENE

BY

GILBERT B. MORRISON

Principal of the William McKinley High School, St. Louis, Missouri

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE AND HYGIENE

The school house is an infallible index of the educational status of the community in which it is located. It stands at once a monument and a history of the mistakes or successes, the ignorance or wisdom, the poverty or opulence, the parsimony or generosity of the people who have erected and maintained it. From the forbidding shanty on the country cross roads in the backwoods to the palatial edifice in the most enlightened city, this building tells a story in letters so plain and so unmistakable that "he who runs may read." The school house teaches not alone a lesson in architecture, but lessons in sanitation, in engineering, in æsthetics, and in pedagogics. The building from the school-room furnishings and devices for teaching to the finishing touches of the exterior, is a composite resultant of the work of teacher, superintendent, school director, engineer, and architect.

The growth of the American school house is commensurate with the growth of American education. From the four bare walls where the three R's were formerly taught to the modern laboratory or art room in which are combined the appliances for the best teaching and for the expression of the best taste, these material evidences epitomize the educational situation in our country. The consideration of school house building, therefore, becomes a question of the highest importance.

The necessary features to be secured in building a school house named in the order of their relative importance are, 1. Shelter; 2. Adequate space; 3. Warmth; 4. Ventilation; 5. Light; 6. Interior furnishings and appliances; 7. Beauty.

The ends to be attained in all of these features are essentially the same for all types of buildings from the one-room

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