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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10335-0.txt b/10335-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6eb7186 --- /dev/null +++ b/10335-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4374 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10335 *** + +CHILDREN'S RIGHTS + +_A BOOK OF NURSERY LOGIC_ + +BY + +KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN + + "A court as of angels, + A public not to be bribed. + Not to be entreated, + Not to be overawed." + + +1892 + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +I am indebted to the Editors of Scribner's Magazine, the Cosmopolitan, +and Babyhood, for permission to reprint the three essays which have +appeared in their pages. The others are published for the first time. + +It may be well to ward off the full seriousness of my title "Nursery +Logic" by saying that a certain informality in all of these papers +arises from the fact that they were originally talks given before +members of societies interested in the training of children. + +Three of them--"Children's Stories," "How Shall we Govern our +Children," and "The Magic of 'Together'"--have been written for this +book by my sister, Miss Nora Smith. + +K.D.W. + +NEW YORK, _August_, 1892. + + + + +CONTENTS + + THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD + CHILDREN'S PLAYS + CHILDREN'S PLAYTHINGS + WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ? + CHILDREN'S STORIES. _Nora A. Smith_ + THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO SOCIAL REFORM + HOW SHALL WE GOVERN OUR CHILDREN? _Nora A. Smith_ + THE MAGIC OF "TOGETHER." _Nora A. Smith_. + THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL + OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN + + + + +THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD + +"Give me liberty, or give me death!" + + +The subject of Children's Rights does not provoke much sentimentalism +in this country, where, as somebody says, the present problem of the +children is the painless extinction of their elders. I interviewed +the man who washes my windows, the other morning, with the purpose of +getting at the level of his mind in the matter. + +"Dennis," I said, as he was polishing the glass, "I am writing an +article on the 'Rights of Children.' What do you think about it?" +Dennis carried his forefinger to his head in search of an idea, for he +is not accustomed to having his intelligence so violently assaulted, +and after a moment's puzzled thought he said, "What do I think about +it, mum? Why, I think we'd ought to give 'em to 'em. But Lor', mum, +if we don't, they _take_ 'em, so what's the odds?" And as he left the +room I thought he looked pained that I should spin words and squander +ink on such a topic. + +The French dressmaker was my next victim. As she fitted the collar of +an effete civilization on my nineteenth century neck, I put the same +question I had given to Dennis. + +"The rights of the child, madame?" she asked, her scissors poised in +air. + +"Yes, the rights of the child." + +"Is it of the American child, madame?" + +"Yes," said I nervously, "of the American child." + +"Mon Dieu! he has them!" + +This may well lead us to consider rights as opposed to privileges. A +multitude of privileges, or rather indulgences, can exist with a total +disregard of the child's rights. You remember the man who said he +could do without necessities if you would give him luxuries enough. +The child might say, "I will forego all my privileges, if you will +only give me my rights: a little less sentiment, please,--more +justice!" There are women who live in perfect puddles of maternal +love, who yet seem incapable of justice; generous to a fault, perhaps, +but seldom just. + +_Who owns the child_? If the parent owns him,--mind, body, and soul, +we must adopt one line of argument; if, as a human being, he owns +himself, we must adopt another. In my thought the parent is simply a +divinely appointed guardian, who acts for his child until he attains +what we call the age of discretion,--that highly uncertain period +which arrives very late in life with some persons, and not at all with +others. + +The rights of the parent being almost unlimited, it is a very delicate +matter to decide just when and where they infringe upon the rights +of the child. There is no standard; the child is the creature of +circumstances. + +The mother can clothe him in Jaeger wool from head to foot, or keep +him in low neck, short sleeves and low stockings, because she thinks +it pretty; she can feed him exclusively on raw beef, or on vegetables, +or on cereals; she can give him milk to drink, or let him sip his +father's beer and wine; put him to bed at sundown, or keep him up till +midnight; teach him the catechism and the thirty-nine articles, or +tell him there is no God; she can cram him with facts before he has +any appetite or power of assimilation, or she can make a fool of him. +She can dose him with old-school remedies, with new-school remedies, +or she can let him die without remedies because she doesn't believe +in the reality of disease. She is quite willing to legislate for +his stomach, his mind, his soul, her teachableness, it goes without +saying, being generally in inverse proportion to her knowledge; for +the arrogance of science is humility compared with the pride of +ignorance. + +In these matters the child has no rights. The only safeguard is the +fact that if parents are absolutely brutal, society steps in, removes +the untrustworthy guardian, and appoints another. But society does +nothing, can do nothing, with the parent who injures the child's soul, +breaks his will, makes him grow up a liar or a coward, or murders +his faith. It is not very long since we decided that when a parent +brutally abused his child, it could be taken from him and made the +ward of the state; the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to +Children is of later date than the Society for the Prevention of +Cruelty to Animals. At a distance of a century and a half we can +hardly estimate how powerful a blow Rousseau struck for the rights of +the child in his educational romance, "Emile." It was a sort of gospel +in its day. Rousseau once arrested and exiled, his book burned by the +executioner (a few years before he would have been burned with it), +his ideas naturally became a craze. Many of the reforms for which he +passionately pleaded are so much a part of our modern thought that we +do not realize the fact that in those days of routine, pedantry and +slavish worship of authority, they were the daring dreams of an +enthusiast, the seeming impossible prophecy of a new era. Aristocratic +mothers were converts to his theories, and began nursing their +children as he commanded them. Great lords began to learn handicrafts; +physical exercise came into vogue; everything that Emile did, other +people wanted to do. + +With all Rousseau's vagaries, oddities, misconceptions, posings, he +rescued the individuality of the child and made a tremendous plea for +a more natural, a more human education. He succeeded in making people +listen where Rabelais and Montaigne had failed; and he inspired other +teachers, notably Pestalozzi and Froebel, who knit up his ragged seams +of theory, and translated his dreams into possibilities. + +Rousseau vindicated to man the right of "Being." Pestalozzi said +"Grow!" Froebel, the greatest of the three, cried "Live! you give +bread to men, but I give men to themselves!" + +The parent whose sole answer to criticism or remonstrance is "I have +a right to do what I like with my own child!" is the only impossible +parent. His moral integument is too thick to be pierced with any shaft +however keen. To him we can only say as Jacques did to Orlando, "God +be with you; let's meet as little as we can." + +But most of us dare not take this ground. We may not philosophize or +formulate, we may not live up to our theories, but we feel in greater +or less degree the responsibility of calling a human being hither, and +the necessity of guarding and guiding, in one way or another, that +which owes its being to us. + +We should all agree, if put to the vote, that a child has a right to +be well born. That was a trenchant speech of Henry Ward Beecher's on +the subject of being "born again;" that if he could be born right the +first time he'd take his chances on the second. "Hereditary rank," +says Washington Irving, "may be a snare and a delusion, but hereditary +virtue is a patent of innate nobility which far outshines the blazonry +of heraldry." + +Over the unborn our power is almost that of God, and our +responsibility, like His toward us; as we acquit ourselves toward +them, so let Him deal with us. + +Why should we be astonished at the warped, cold, unhappy, suspicious +natures we see about us, when we reflect upon the number of +unwished-for, unwelcomed children in the world;--children who at +best were never loved until they were seen and known, and were often +grudged their being from the moment they began to be. I wonder if +sometimes a starved, crippled, agonized human body and soul does not +cry out, "Why, O man, O woman--why, being what I am, have you suffered +me to be?" + +Physiologists and psychologists agree that the influences affecting +the child begin before birth. At what hour they begin, how far they +can be controlled, how far directed and modified, modern science is +not assured; but I imagine those months of preparation were given for +other reasons than that the cradle and the basket and the wardrobe +might be ready;--those long months of supreme patience, when the +life-germ is growing from unconscious to conscious being, and when a +host of mysterious influences and impulses are being carried silently +from mother to child. And if "beauty born of murmuring sound shall +pass into" its "face," how much more subtly shall the grave strength +of peace, the sunshine of hope and sweet content, thrill the delicate +chords of being, and warm the tender seedling into richer life. + +Mrs. Stoddard speaks of that sacred passion, maternal love, that "like +an orange-tree, buds and blossoms and bears at once." When a true +woman puts her finger for the first time into the tiny hand of +her baby, and feels that helpless clutch which tightens her very +heart-strings, she is born again with the new-born child. + +A mother has a sacred claim on the world; even if that claim rest +solely on the fact of her motherhood, and not, alas, on any other. Her +life may be a cipher, but when the child comes, God writes a figure +before it, and gives it value. + +Once the child is born, one of his inalienable rights, which we too +often deny him, is the right to his childhood. + +If we could only keep from untwisting the morning-glory, only be +willing to let the sunshine do it! Dickens said real children went out +with powder and top-boots; and yet the children of Dickens's time were +simple buds compared with the full-blown miracles of conventionality +and erudition we raise nowadays. + +There is no substitute for a genuine, free, serene, healthy, +bread-and-butter childhood. A fine manhood or womanhood can be built +on no other foundation; and yet our American homes are so often filled +with hurry and worry, our manner of living is so keyed to concert +pitch, our plan of existence so complicated, that we drag the babies +along in our wake, and force them to our artificial standards, +forgetting that "sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make haste." + +If we must, or fancy that we must, lead this false, too feverish life, +let us at least spare them! By keeping them forever on tiptoe we are +in danger of producing an army of conventional little prigs, who know +much more than they should about matters which are profitless even to +their elders. + +In the matter of clothing, we sacrifice children continually to the +"Moloch of maternal vanity," as if the demon of dress did not demand +our attention, sap our energy, and thwart our activities soon enough +at best. + +And the right kind of children, before they are spoiled by fine +feathers, do detest being "dressed up" beyond a certain point. + +A tiny maid of my acquaintance has an elaborate Parisian gown, which +is fastened on the side from top to bottom in some mysterious fashion, +by a multitude of tiny buttons and cords. It fits the dear little +mouse like a glove, and terminates in a collar which is an instrument +of torture to a person whose patience has not been developed from year +to year by similar trials. The getting of it on is anguish, and as to +the getting of it off, I heard her moan to her nurse the other night, +as she wriggled her curly head through the too-small exit, "Oh I only +God knows how I hate gettin' peeled out o' this dress!" + +The spectacle of a small boy whom I meet sometimes in the horse-cars, +under the wing of his predestinate idiot of a mother, wrings my very +soul. Silk hat, ruffled shirt, silver-buckled shoes, kid gloves, +cane, velvet suit, with one two-inch pocket which is an insult to his +sex,--how I pity the pathetic little caricature! Not a spot has he to +locate a top, or a marble, or a nail, or a string, or a knife, or a +cooky, or a nut; but as a bloodless substitute for these necessities +of existence, he has a toy watch (that will not go) and an embroidered +handkerchief with cologne on it. + +As to keeping children too clean for any mortal use, I suppose nothing +is more disastrous. The divine right to be gloriously dirty a large +portion of the time, when dirt is a necessary consequence of direct, +useful, friendly contact with all sorts of interesting, helpful +things, is too clear to be denied. + +The children who have to think of their clothes before playing with +the dogs, digging in the sand, helping the stableman, working in the +shed, building a bridge, or weeding the garden, never get half their +legitimate enjoyment out of life. And unhappy fate, do not many of us +have to bring up children without a vestige of a dog, or a sand heap, +or a stable, or a shed, or a brook, or a garden! Conceive, if you can, +a more difficult problem than giving a child his rights in a city +flat. You may say that neither do we get ours: but bad as we are, +we are always good enough to wish for our children the joys we miss +ourselves. + +Thrice happy is the country child, or the one who can spend a part of +his young life among living things, near to Nature's heart How blessed +is the little toddling thing who can lie flat in the sunshine and +drink in the beauty of the "green things growing," who can live among +the other little animals, his brothers and sisters in feathers and +fur; who can put his hand in that of dear mother Nature, and learn his +first baby lessons without any meddlesome middleman; who is cradled in +sweet sounds "from early morn to dewy eve," lulled to his morning nap +by hum of crickets and bees, and to his night's slumber by the sighing +of the wind, the plash of waves, or the ripple of a river. He is a +part of the "shining web of creation," learning to spell out the +universe letter by letter as he grows sweetly, serenely, into a +knowledge of its laws. + +I have a good deal of sympathy for the little people during their +first eight or ten years, when they are just beginning to learn life's +lessons, and when the laws which govern them must often seem so +strange and unjust. It is not an occasion for a big burning sympathy, +perhaps, but for a tender little one, with a half smile in it, as we +think of what we were, and "what in young clothes we hoped to be, and +of how many things have come across;" for childhood is an eternal +promise which no man ever keeps. + +The child has a right to a place of his own, to things of his own, to +surroundings which have some relation to his size, his desires, and +his capabilities. + +How should we like to live, half the time, in a place where the piano +was twelve feet tall, the door knobs at an impossible height, and the +mantel shelf in the sky; where every mortal thing was out of reach +except a collection of highly interesting objects on dressing-tables +and bureaus, guarded, however, by giants and giantesses, three times +as large and powerful as ourselves, forever saying, "mustn't touch;" +and if we did touch we should be spanked, and have no other method of +revenge save to spank back symbolically on the inoffensive persons of +our dolls? + +Things in general are so disproportionate to the child's stature, so +far from his organs of prehension, so much above his horizontal line +of vision, so much ampler than his immediate surroundings, that there +is, between him and all these big things, a gap to be filled only by +a microcosm of playthings which give him his first object-lessons. In +proof of which let him see a lady richly dressed, he hardly notices +her; let him see a doll in similar attire, he will be ravished with +ecstasy. As if to show that it was the disproportion of the sizes +which unfitted him to notice the lady, the larger he grows the bigger +he wants his toys, till, when his wish reaches to life-sizes, good-by +to the trumpery, and onward with realities.[1] + +[Footnote 1: E. Seguin.] + +My little nephew was prowling about my sitting-room during the absence +of his nurse. I was busy writing, and when he took up a delicate pearl +opera-glass, I stopped his investigations with the time-honored, "No, +no, dear, that's for grown-up people." + +"Hasn't it got any little-boy end?" he asked wistfully. + +That "little-boy end" to things is sometimes just what we fail to +give, even when we think we are straining every nerve to surround the +child with pleasures. For children really want to do the very same +things that we want to do, and yet have constantly to be thwarted for +their own good. They would like to share all our pleasures; keep the +same hours, eat the same food; but they are met on every side with the +seemingly impertinent piece of dogmatism, "It isn't good for little +boys," or "It isn't nice for little girls." + +Robert Louis Stevenson shows, in his "Child's Garden of Verses," that +he is one of the very few people who remember and appreciate this +phase of childhood. Could anything be more deliciously real than these +verses? + + "In winter I get up at night, + And dress by yellow candle light: + In summer, quite the other way, + I have to go to bed by day; + I have to go to bed and see + The birds still hopping on the tree, + And hear the grown-up people's feet + Still going past me on the street. + And does it not seem hard to you, + That when the sky is clear and blue, + And I should like so much to play, + I have to go to bed by day?" + +Mr. Hopkinson Smith has written a witty little monograph on this +relation of parents and children. I am glad to say, too, that it is +addressed to fathers,--that "left wing" of the family guard, which +generally manages to retreat during any active engagement, leaving the +command to the inferior officer. This "left wing" is imposing on all +full-dress parades, but when there is any fighting to be done it +retires rapidly to the rear, and only wheels into line when the smoke +of the conflict has passed out of the atmosphere. + +"Open your heart and your arms wide for your daughters," he says, +"and keep them wide open; don't leave all that to their mothers. An +intimacy will grow with the years which will fit them for another +man's arms and heart when they exchange yours for his. Make a chum of +your boy,--hail-fellow-well-met, a comrade. Get down to the level of +his boyhood, and bring him gradually up to the level of your manhood. +Don't look at him from the second story window of your fatherly +superiority and example. Go into the front yard and play ball with +him. When he gets into scrapes, don't thrash him as your father did +you. Put your arm around his neck, and say you know it is pretty bad, +but that he can count on you to help him out, and that you will, every +single time, and that if he had let you know earlier, it would have +been all the easier." + +Again, the child has a right to more justice in his discipline than we +are generally wise and patient enough to give him. He is by and by to +come in contact with a world where cause and effect follow each other +inexorably. He has a right to be taught, and to be governed by the +laws under which he must afterwards live; but in too many cases +parents interfere so mischievously and unnecessarily between causes +and effects that the child's mind does not, cannot, perceive the logic +of things as it should. We might write a pathetic remonstrance against +the Decline and Fall of Domestic Authority. There is food for thought, +and perhaps for fear, in the subject; but the facts are obvious, and +their inevitableness must strike any thoughtful observer of the times. +"The old educational regime was akin to the social systems with +which it was contemporaneous; and similarly, in the reverse of these +characteristics, our modern modes of culture correspond to our more +liberal religious and political institutions." + +It is the age of independent criticism. The child problem is merely +one phase of the universal problem that confronts society. It seems +likely that the rod of reason will have to replace the rod of birch. +Parental authority never used to be called into question; neither was +the catechism, nor the Bible, nor the minister. How should parents +hope to escape the universal interrogation point leveled at everything +else? In these days of free speech it is hopeless to suppose that even +infants can be muzzled. We revel in our republican virtues; let us +accept the vices of those virtues as philosophically as possible. + +A lady has been advertising in a New York paper for a German governess +"to mind a little girl three years old." The lady's English is +doubtless defective, but the fate of the governess is thereby +indicated with much greater candor than is usual. + +The mother who is most apt to infringe on the rights of her child (of +course with the best intentions) is the "firm" person, afflicted with +the "lust of dominion." There is no elasticity in her firmness to +prevent it from degenerating into obstinacy. It is not the firmness of +the tree that bends without breaking, but the firmness of a certain +long-eared animal whose force of character has impressed itself on the +common mind and become proverbial. + +Jean Paul says if "_Pas trop gouverner_" is the best rule in politics, +it is equally true of discipline. + +But if the child is unhappy who has none of his rights respected, +equally wretched is the little despot who has more than his own +rights, who has never been taught to respect the rights of others, and +whose only conception of the universe is that of an absolute monarchy +in which he is sole ruler. + +"Children rarely love those who spoil them, and never trust them. +Their keen young sense detects the false note in the character and +draws its own conclusions, which are generally very just." + +The very best theoretical statement of a wise disciplinary method that +I know is Herbert Spencer's. "Let the history of your domestic rule +typify, in little, the history of our political rule; at the outset, +autocratic control, where control is really needful; by and by an +incipient constitutionalism, in which the liberty of the subject gains +some express recognition; successive extensions of this liberty of the +subject; gradually ending in parental abdication." + +We must not expect children to be too good; not any better than we +ourselves, for example; no, nor even as good. Beware of hothouse +virtue. "Already most people recognize the detrimental results of +intellectual precocity; but there remains to be recognized the truth +that there is a moral precocity which is also detrimental. Our higher +moral faculties, like our higher intellectual ones, are comparatively +complex. By consequence, they are both comparatively late in their +evolution. And with the one as with the other, a very early activity +produced by stimulation will be at the expense of the future +character." + +In these matters the child has a right to expect examples. He lives in +the senses; he can only learn through object lessons, can only +pass from the concrete example of goodness to a vision of abstract +perfection. + + "O'er wayward childhood wouldst thou hold firm rule. + And sun thee in the light of happy faces? + Love, Hope and Patience, these must be thy graces, + And in thine own heart let them first keep school." + +Yes, "in thine own heart let them first keep school!" I cannot see why +Max O'Rell should have exclaimed with such unction that if he were to +be born over again he would choose to be an American woman. He has +never tried being one. He does not realize that she not only has in +hand the emancipation of the American woman, but the reformation of +the American man and the education of the American child. If that +triangular mission in life does not keep her out of mischief and make +her the angel of the twentieth century, she is a hopeless case. + +Spencer says, "It is a truth yet remaining to be recognized that the +last stage in the mental development of each man and woman is to be +reached only through the proper discharge of the parental duties. And +when this truth is recognized, it will be seen how admirable is the +ordination in virtue of which human beings are led by their strongest +affections to subject themselves to a discipline which they would else +elude." + +Women have been fighting many battles for the higher education these +last few years; and they have nearly gained the day. When at last +complete victory shall perch upon their banners, let them make one +more struggle, and that for the highest education, which shall include +a specific training for parenthood, a subject thus far quite omitted +from the curriculum. + +The mistaken idea that instinct is a sufficient guide in so delicate +and sacred and vital a matter, the comfortable superstition that +babies bring their own directions with them,--these fictions have +existed long enough. If a girl asks me why, since the function of +parenthood is so uncertain, she should make the sacrifices necessary +to such training, sacrifices entailed by this highest education of +body, mind, and spirit, I can only say that it is better to be ready, +even if one is not called for, than to be called for and found +wanting. + + + + +CHILDREN'S PLAYS + +"The plays of the age are the heart-leaves of the whole future life, +for the whole man is visible in them in his finest capacities and his +innermost being." + + +Mr. W.W. Newell, in his admirable book on "Children's Games," traces +to their proper source all the familiar plays which in one form or +another have been handed down from generation to generation, and are +still played wherever and whenever children come together in any +numbers. The result of his sympathetic and scholarly investigations +is most interesting to the student of childhood, and as valuable +philologically as historically. In speaking of the old rounds and +rhymed formulas which have preserved their vitality under the effacing +hand of Time, he says,-- + +"It will be obvious that many of these well-known game-rhymes were not +composed by children. They were formerly played, as in many countries +they are still played, by young persons of marriageable age, or even +by mature men and women.... The truth is, that in past centuries all +the world, judged by our present standard, seems to have been a little +childish. The maids of honor of Queen Elizabeth's day, if we may +credit the poets, were devoted to the game of tag, with which even +Diana and her nymphs were supposed to amuse themselves.... + +"We need not, however, go to remote times or lands for illustration +which is supplied by New England country towns of a generation ago. +Dancing, under that name, was little practiced; the amusement of young +people at their gatherings was "playing games." These games generally +resulted in forfeits, to be redeemed by kissing, in every possible +variety of position and method. Many of these games were rounds; but +as they were not called dances, and as man-kind pays more attention to +words than things, the religious conscience of the community, which +objected to dancing, took no alarm.... Such were the pleasures of +young men and women from sixteen to twenty-five years of age. Nor were +the participants mere rustics; many of them could boast as good blood, +as careful breeding, and as much intelligence, as any in the land. +Neither was the morality or sensitiveness of the young women of that +day in any respect inferior to what it is at present. + +"Now that our country towns are become mere outlying suburbs of +cities, these remarks may be read with a smile at the rude simplicity +of old-fashioned American life. But the laugh should be directed, not +at our own country, but at the bygone age. It must be remembered that +in mediaeval Europe, and in England till the end of the seventeenth +century, a kiss was the usual salutation of a lady to a gentleman whom +she wished to honor.... The Portuguese ladies who came to England with +the Infanta in 1662 were not used to the custom; but, as Pepys says, +in ten days they had 'learnt to kiss and look freely up and down.' +Kissing in games was, therefore, a matter of course, in all ranks.... + +"In respectable and cultivated French society, at the time of which we +speak, the amusements, not merely of young people but of their elders +as well, were every whit as crude. + +"Madame Celnart, a recognized authority on etiquette, compiled in 1830 +a very curious complete manual of society games recommending them as +recreation for _business men_.... 'Their varying movement,' she +says, 'their diversity, the gracious and gay ideas which these games +inspire, the decorous caresses which they permit, all this combines +to give real amusement. These caresses can alarm neither modesty +nor prudence, since a kiss in honor given and taken before numerous +witnesses is often an act of propriety.'" + +The old ballads and nursery rhymes doubtless had much of innocence and +freshness in them, but they only come to us nowadays tainted by the +odors of city streets. The pleasure and poetry of the original essence +are gone, and vulgarity reigns triumphant. If you listen to the words +of the games which children play in school yards, on sidewalks, and in +the streets on pleasant evenings, you will find that most of them, +to say the least, border closely on vulgarity; that they are utterly +unsuitable to childhood, notwithstanding that they are played with +great glee; that they are, in fine, common, rude, silly, and boorish. +One can never watch a circle of children going through the vulgar +inanities of "Jenny O'Jones," "Say, daughter, will you get up?" "Green +Gravel," or "Here come two ducks a-roving," without unspeakable +shrinking and moral disgust. These plays are dying out; let them die, +for there is a hint of happier things abroad in the air. + +The wisest mind of wise antiquity told the riddle of the Sphinx, if +having ears to hear we would hear. "Our youth should be educated in a +stricter rule from the first, for if education becomes lawless and +the youths themselves become lawless, they can never grow up into +well-conducted or meritorious citizens; and _the education must begin +with their plays_." + +We talk a great deal about the strength of early impressions. I wonder +if we mean all we say; we do not live up to it, at all events. "In +childish play deep meaning lies." "The hand that rocks the cradle is +the hand that rules the world." "Give me the first six years of a +child's life, and I care not who has the rest." "The child of six +years has learned already far more than a student learns in his entire +university course." "The first six years are as full of advancement as +the six days of creation," and so on. If we did believe these things +fully, we should begin education with conscious intelligence at the +cradle, if not earlier. The great German dramatic critic, Schlegel, +once sneered at the brothers Jacob and William Grimm, for what he +styled their "meditation on the insignificant." These two brothers, +says a wiser student, an historian of German literature, were animated +by a "pathetic optimism, and possessed that sober imagination which +delights in small things and narrow interests, lingering over them +with strong affection." They explored villages and hamlets for obscure +legends and folk tales, for nursery songs, even; and bringing to bear +on such things at once a human affection and a wise scholarship, their +meditation on the insignificant became the basis of their scientific +greatness and the source of their popularity. Every child has read +some of Grimm's household tales, "The Frog Prince," "Hans in Luck," +or the "Two Brothers;" but comparatively few people realize, perhaps, +that this collection of stories is the foundation of the modern +science of folk-lore, and a by-play in researches of philology and +history which place the name of Grimm among the benefactors of our +race. I refer to these brothers because they expressed one of the +leading theories of the new education. + +"My principle," said Jacob Grimm, "has been to undervalue nothing, +but to utilize the small for the illustration of the great." When +Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten, in the course of +his researches began to watch the plays of children and to study their +unconscious actions, his "meditation on the insignificant" became +the basis of scientific greatness, and of an influence still in its +infancy, but destined, perhaps, to revolutionize the whole educational +method of society. + +It was while he was looking on with delight at the plays of little +children, their happy, busy plans and make-believes, their intense +interest in outward nature, and in putting things together or taking +them apart, that Froebel said to himself: "What if we could give the +child that which is called education through his voluntary activities, +and have him always as eager as he is at play?" + +How well I remember, years ago, the first time I ever joined in a +kindergarten game. I was beckoned to the charming circle, and not only +one, but a dozen openings were made for me, and immediately, though I +was a stranger, a little hand on either side was put into mine, with +such friendly, trusting pressure that I felt quite at home. Then we +began to sing of the spring-time, and I found myself a green tree +waving its branches in the wind. I was frightened and self-conscious, +but I did it, and nobody seemed to notice me; then I was a flower +opening its petals in the sunshine, and presently, a swallow gathering +straws for nest-building; then, carried away by the spirit of the +kindergartner and her children, I fluttered my clumsy apologies for +wings, and forgetting self, flew about with all the others, as happy +as a bird. Soon I found that I, the stranger, had been chosen for the +"mother swallow." It was to me, the girl of eighteen, like mounting a +throne and being crowned. Four cunning curly heads cuddled under my +wings for protection and slumber, and I saw that I was expected to +stoop and brood them, which I did, with a feeling of tenderness and +responsibility that I had never experienced in my life before. Then, +when I followed my baby swallows back to their seats, I saw that the +play had broken down every barrier between us, and that they clustered +about me as confidingly as if we were old friends. I think I never +before felt my own limitations so keenly, or desired so strongly to be +fully worthy of a child's trust and love. + +Kindergarten play takes the children where they love to be, into +the world of "make-believe." In this lovely world the children are +blacksmiths, carpenters, wheelwrights; birds, bees, butterflies; +trees, flowers, sunbeams, rainbows; frogs, lambs, ponies,--anything +they like. The play is so characteristic, so poetic, so profoundly +touching in its simplicity and purity, so full of meaning, that it +would inspire us with admiration and respect were it the only salient +point of Froebel's educational idea. It endeavors to express the same +idea in poetic words, harmonious melody and fitting motion, appealing +thus to the thought, feeling, and activity of the child. + +Physical impressions are at the beginning of life the only possible +medium for awakening the child's sensibility. These impressions should +therefore be regulated as systematically as possible, and not left to +chance. + +Froebel supplies the means for bringing about the result in a +simple system of symbolic songs and games, appealing to the child's +activities and sensibilities. These he argues, ought to contain the +germ of all later instruction and thought; for physical and sensuous +perceptions are the points of departure of all knowledge. + +When the child imitates, he begins to understand. Let him imitate the +airy flight of the bird, and he enters partially into bird life. Let +the little girl personate the hen with her feathery brood of chickens, +and her own maternal instinct is quickened, as she guards and guides +the wayward motion of the little flock. Let the child play the +carpenter, the wheelwright, the wood-sawyer, the farmer, and his +intelligence is immediately awakened; he will see the force, the +meaning, the power, and the need of labor. In short, let him mirror in +his play all the different aspects of universal life, and his thought +will begin to grasp their significance. + +Thus kindergarten play may be defined as a "systematized sequence of +experiences through which the child grows into self-knowledge, +clear observation, and conscious perception of the whole circle of +relationships," and the symbols of his play become at length the truth +itself, bound fast and deep in heart knowledge, which is deeper and +rarer than head knowledge, after all. + +To the class occupied exclusively with material things, this phase of +Froebel's idea may perhaps seem mystical. There is nothing mystical +to children, however; all is real, for their visions have not been +dispelled. + + "Turn wheresoe'er I may, + By night or day, + The things which I have seen, I now can see no more." + +As soon as the child begins to be conscious of his own activities and +his power of regulating them, he desires to imitate the actions of his +future life. + +Nothing so delights the little girl as to play at housekeeping in her +tiny mansion, sacred to the use of dolls. See her whimsical attention +to dust and dirt, her tremendous wisdom in dispensing the work and +ordering the duties of the household, her careful attention to the +morals and manners of her rag-babies. + +The boy, too, tries to share in the life of a man, to play at his +father's work, to be a miniature carpenter, salesman, or what not. He +rides his father's cane and calls it a horse, in the same way that +the little girl wraps a shawl about a towel, and showers upon it the +tenderest tokens of maternal affection. All these examples go to show +that every conscious intellectual phase of the mind has a previous +phase in which it was unconscious or merely symbolic. + +To get at the spirit and inspiration of symbolic representation in +song and game, it is necessary first of all to study Froebel's "Mutter +und Kose-Lieder," perhaps the most strikingly original, instructive, +serviceable book in the whole history of the practice of education. +The significant remark quoted in Froebel's "Reminiscences" is this: +"He who understands what I mean by these songs knows my inmost +secret." You will find people who say the music in the book is poor, +which is largely true, and that the versification is weak, which is +often, not always, true, and is sometimes to be attributed to faulty +translation; but the idea, the spirit, the continuity of the plan, are +matchless, and critics who call it trifling or silly are those who +have not the seeing eye nor the understanding heart. Froebel's wife +said of it,-- + + "A superficial mind does not grasp it, + A gentle mind does not hate it, + A coarse mind makes fun of it, + A thoughtful mind alone tries to get at it." + +"Froebel[1] considers it his duty to picture the home as it ought to +be, not by writing a book of theories and of rules which are easily +forgotten, but by accompanying a mother in her daily rounds through +house, garden, and field, and by following her to workshop, market, +and church. He does not represent a woman of fashion, but prefers one +of humbler station, whom he clothes in the old German housewife style. +It may be a small sphere she occupies, but there she is the centre, +and she completely fills her place. She rejoices in the dignity of +her position as educator of a human being whom she has to bring into +harmony with God, nature, and man. She thinks nothing too trifling +that concerns her child. She watches, clothes, feeds, and trains it in +good habits, and when her darling is asleep, her prayers finish the +day. She may not have read much about education, but her sympathy +with the child suggests means of doing her duty. Love has made her +inventive; she discovers means of amusement, for play; she talks and +sings, sometimes in poetry and sometimes in prose. From mothers in his +circle of relations and friends, Froebel has learned what a mother can +do, and although he had no children of his own, his heart vibrated +instinctively with the feelings of a mother's joy, hope, and fear. He +did not care about the scorn of others, when he felt he must speak +with an almost womanly heart to a mother. His own loss of a mother's +tender care made him the more appreciate the importance of a mother's +love in early infancy. The mother in his book makes use of all the +impressions, influences, and agencies with which the child comes in +contact: she protects from evil; she stimulates for good; she places +the child in direct communication with nature, because she herself +admires its beauties. She has a right feeling towards her neighbors, +and to all those on whom she depends. A movement of arms and feet +teaches her that the child feels its strength and wants to use it. She +helps, she lifts, she teaches; and while playing with her baby's hands +and feet she is never at a loss for a song or story. + +[Footnote 1: Eleonore Heerwart.] + +"The mother also knows that it is necessary to train the senses, +because they are the active organs which convey food to the intellect. +The ear must hear language, music, the gentle accents and warning +voices of father and mother. It must distinguish the sounds of the +wind, of the water, and of pet animals. + +"The eyesight is directed to objects far and near, as the pigeons +flying, the hare running, the light flickering on the wall, the calm +beauty of the moon, and the twinkling stars in the dark blue sky." + +Of the effect of Froebel's symbolic songs and games, with +melodious music and appropriate gesture, kindergartners all speak +enthusiastically. They know that-- + +First: The words suggest thought to the child. + +Second: The thought suggests gesture. + +Third: The gesture aids in producing the proper feeling. + +We all believe thoroughly in the influence of mind on body, the inward +working outward, but we are not as ready to see the influence of body +on mind. Yet if mind or soul acts upon the body, the external gesture +and attitude just as truly react upon the inward feeling. "The soul +speaks through the body, and the body in return gives command to the +soul." All attitudes mean something, and they all influence the state +of mind. + +Fourth: The melody begets spiritual impressions. + +Fifth: The gestures, feeling, and melody unite in giving a sweet and +gentle intercourse, in developing love for labor, home, country, +associates, and dumb animals, and in unconsciously directing the +intellectual powers. + +Learning to sing well is the best possible means of learning to speak +well, and the exquisite precision which music gives to kindergarten +play destroys all rudeness, and does not in the least rob it of its +fun or merriment. + +"We cannot tell how early the pleasing sense of musical cadence +affects a child. In some children it is blended with the earliest, +haziest recollection of life at all, as though they had been literally +'cradled in sweet song;' and we may be sure that the hearing of +musical sounds and singing in association with others are for the +child, as for the adult, powerful influences in awakening sympathetic +emotion, and pleasure in associated action." + +Who can see the kindergarten games, led by a teacher who has grown +into their spirit, and ever forget the joy of the spectacle? It brings +tears to the eyes of any woman who has ever been called mother, +or ever hopes to be; and I have seen more than one man retire +surreptitiously to wipe away his tears. Is it "that touch of nature +which makes the whole world kin"? Is it the perfect self-forgetfulness +of the children? Is it a touch of self-pity that the radiant visions +of our childhood days have been dispelled, and the years have brought +the "inevitable yoke"? Or is it the touching sight of so much +happiness contrasted with what we know the home life to be? + +Sydney Smith says: "If you make children happy now, you will make them +happy twenty years hence by the memory of it;" and we know that virtue +kindles at the touch of this joy. "Selfishness, rudeness, and similar +weedy growths of school-life or of street-independence cannot grow in +such an atmosphere. For joy is as foreign to tumult and destruction, +to harshness and selfish disregard of others, as the serene, vernal +sky with its refreshing breezes is foreign to the uproar and terrors +of the hurricane." + +For this kind of ideal play we are indebted to Friedrich Froebel, and +if he had left no other legacy to childhood, we should exalt him for +it. + +If you are skeptical, let me beseech you to join the children in a +Free Kindergarten, and play with them. You will be convinced, not +through your head, perhaps, but through your heart. I remember +converting such a grim female once! You know Henry James says, "Some +women are unmarried by choice, and others by chance, but Olive +Chancellor was unmarried by every implication of her being." Now, this +predestinate spinster acquaintance of mine, well nigh spoiled by +years of school-teaching in the wrong spirit, was determined to think +kindergarten play simply a piece of nauseating frivolity. She tried +her best, but, kept in the circle with the children five successive +days, she relaxed so completely that it was with the utmost difficulty +that she kept herself from being a butterfly or a bird. It is always +so; no one can resist the unconscious happiness of children. + +As for the good that comes to grown people from playing with children +in this joyous freedom and with this deep earnestness of purpose, it +is beyond all imagination. If I had a daughter who was frivolous, or +worldly, or selfish, or cold, or unthoughtful,--who regarded life as a +pleasantry, or fell into the still more stupid mistake of thinking it +not worth living,--I should not (at first) make her read the Bible, or +teach in the Sunday-school, or call on the minister, or request +the prayers of the congregation, but I should put her in a good +Kindergarten Training School. No normal young woman can resist the +influence of the study of childhood and the daily life among little +children, especially the children of the poor: it is irresistible. + +Oh, these tiny teachers! If we only learned from them all we might, +instead of feeling ourselves over-wise! I never look down into the +still, clear pool of a child's innocent, questioning eyes without +thinking: "Dear little one, it must be 'give and take' between thee +and me. I have gained something here in all these years, but thou hast +come from thence more lately than have I; thou hast a treasure that +the years have stolen from me--share it with me!" + +Let us endeavor, then, to make the child's life objective to him. Let +us unlock to him the significance of family, social, and national +relationships, so that he may grow into sympathy with them. He loves +the symbol which interprets his nature to himself, and in his eager +play, he pictures the life he longs to understand. + +If we could make such education continuous, if we could surround +the child in his earlier years with such an atmosphere of goodness, +beauty, and wisdom, none can doubt that he would unconsciously grow +into harmony and union with the All-Good, the All-Beautiful, and the +All-Wise. + + + + +CHILDREN'S PLAYTHINGS + +"Books cannot teach what toys inculcate." + + +In the preceding chapter we discussed Froebel's plays, and found that +the playful spirit which pervades all the kindergarten exercises must +not be regarded as trivial, since it has a philosophic motive and a +definite, earnest purpose. + +We discussed the meaning of childish play, and deplored the lack of +good and worthy national nursery plays. Passing then to Froebel's +"Mother-Play," we found that the very heart of his educational idea +lies in the book, and that it serves as a guide for mothers whose +babies are yet in their arms, as well as for those who have little +children of four or five years under their care. + +We found that in Froebel's plays the mirror is held up to universal +life; that the child in playing them grows into unconscious sympathy +with the natural, the human, the divine; that by "playing at" the life +he longs to understand, he grows at last into a conscious realization +of its mysteries--its truth, its meaning, its dignity, its purpose. + +We found that symbolic play leads the child from the symbol to the +truth symbolized. + +We discovered that the carefully chosen words of the kindergarten +songs and games suggest thought to the child, the thought suggests +gesture, the melody begets spiritual feeling. + +We discussed the relation of body and mind; the effect of bodily +attitudes on feeling and thought, as well as the moulding of the body +by the indwelling mind. + +Froebel's playthings are as significant as his plays. If you examine +the materials he offers children in his "gifts and occupations," you +cannot help seeing that they meet the child's natural wants in a truly +wonderful manner, and that used in connection with conversations and +stories and games they address and develop his love of movement and +his love of rhythm; his desire to touch and handle, to play and work +(to be busy), and his curiosity to know; his instincts of construction +and comparison, his fondness for gardening and digging in the earth; +his social impulse, and finally his religious feeling. + +Froebel himself says if his educational materials are found useful, it +cannot be because of their exterior, which is as simple as possible, +and contains nothing new; but their worth is to be found exclusively +in their application. If you can work out his principles (or better +ones still when we find better ones) by other means, pray do it if you +prefer; since the object of the kindergartner is not to make Froebel +an _idol_, but an _ideal_. He seems to have found type-forms admirable +for awaking the higher senses of the child, and unlike the usual +scheme of object lessons, they tell a continued story. When the +object-method first burst upon the enraptured sight of the teacher, +this list of subjects appeared in a printed catalogue, showing the +ground of study in a certain school for six months:-- + +"_Tea, spiders, apple, hippopotamus, cow, cotton, duck, sugar, +rabbits, rice, lighthouse, candle, lead-pencil, pins, tiger, clothing, +silver, butter-making, giraffe, onion, soda_!" + +Such reckless heterogeneity as this is impossible with Froebel's +educational materials, for even if they are given to the child without +a single word, they carry something of their own logic with them. + +They emphasize the gospel of doing, for Froebel believes in positives +in teaching, not negatives; in stimulants, not deterrents. How +inexpressibly tiresome is the everlasting "Don't!" in some households. +Don't get in the fire, don't play in the water, don't tease the kitty, +don't trouble the doggy, don't bother the lady, don't interrupt, don't +contradict, don't fidget with your brother, and _don't_ worry me +now; while perhaps in this whole tirade, not a word has been said of +something to do. + +Let sleeping faults lie as long as possible while we quietly oust +them, little by little, by developing the good qualities. Surely the +less we use deterrents the better, since they are often the child's +first introduction to what is undesirable or wrong. I am quite sure +they have something of that effect on grown people. The telling us not +to do, and that we cannot, must not, do a certain thing surrounds it +with a momentary fascination. If your enemy suggests that there is a +pot of Paris green on the piazza, but you must not take a spoonful and +dissolve it in a cup of honey and give it to your maiden aunt who has +made her will in your favor, your innocent mind hovers for an instant +over the murderous idea. + +Froebel's play-materials come to the child when he has entered upon +the war-path of getting "something to do." If legitimate means fail, +then "let the portcullis fall;" the child must be busy. + +The fly on the window-pane will be crushed, the kettle tied to the +dog's tail, the curtains cut into snips, the baby's hair shingled,-- +anything that his untiring hands may not pause an instant,--anything +that his chubby legs may take his restless body over a circuit of a +hundred miles or so before he is immured in his crib for the night. + +The child of four or five years is still interested in objects, in the +concrete. He wants to see and to hear, to examine and to work with his +hands. How absurd then for us to make him fold his arms and keep his +active fingers still; or strive to stupefy him with such an opiate as +the alphabet. If we can possess our souls and primers in patience for +a while, and feed his senses; if we will let him take in living facts +and await the result; that result will be that when he has learned to +perceive, compare, and construct, he will desire to learn words, for +they tell him what others have seen, thought, and done. This reading +and writing, what is it, after all, but the signs for things and +thoughts? Logically we must first know things, then thoughts, then +their records. The law of human progress is from physical activity to +mental power, from a Hercules to a Shakespeare, and it is as true for +each unit of humanity as it is for the race. + +Everything in Froebel's playthings trains the child to quick, accurate +observation. They help children to a fuller vision, they lead them to +see. Did you ever think how many people there are who "having eyes, +see not"? + +Ruskin says, "Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but +thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, +prophecy, religion, all in one." + +A gentleman who is trying to write the biography of a great +man complained to me lately, that in consulting a dozen of his +friends--men and women who had known him as preacher, orator, +reformer, and poet--so few of them had anything characteristic and +fine to relate. "What," he said "is the use of trying to write +biography with such mummies for witnesses! They would have seen just +as much if they had had nothing but glass eyes in their heads." + +What is education good for that does not teach the mind to observe +accurately and define picturesquely? To get at the essence of an +object and clear away the accompanying rubbish, this is the only +training that fits men and women to live with any profit to themselves +or pleasure to others. What a biographer, for example, or at least +what a witness for some other biographer, was latent in the little boy +who, when told by his teacher to define a bat, said: "He's a nasty +little mouse, with injy-rubber wings and shoe-string tail, and bites +like the devil." There was an eye worth having! Agassiz himself could +not have hit off better the salient characteristics of the little +creature in question. Had that remarkable boy been brought into +contact, for five minutes only, with Julius Caesar, who can doubt that +the telling description he would have given of him would have come +down through all the ages? + +I do not mean to urge the adoption of any ultra-utilitarian standpoint +in regard to playthings, or advise you rudely to enter the realm of +early infancy and interfere with the baby's legitimate desires by any +meddlesome pedagogic reasoning. Choose his toys wisely and then leave +him alone with them. Leave him to the throng of emotional impressions +they will call into being. Remember that they speak to his feelings +when his mind is not yet open to reason. The toy at this period is +surrounded with a halo of poetry and mystery, and lays hold of the +imagination and the heart without awaking vulgar curiosity. Thrice +happy age when one can hug one's white woolly lamb to one's bibbed +breast, kiss its pink bead eyes in irrational ecstasy, and manipulate +the squeak in its foreground without desire to explore the cause +thereof! + +At this period the well-beloved toy, the dumb sharer of the child's +joys and sorrows, becomes the nucleus of a thousand enterprises, each +rendered more fascinating by its presence and sympathy. If the toy be +a horse, they take imaginary journeys together, and the road is doubly +delightful because never traveled alone. If it be a house, the child +lives therein a different life for every day in the week; for +no monarch alive is so all-powerful as he whose throne is the +imagination. Little tin soldier, Shem, Ham, and Japhet from the Noah's +Ark, the hornless cow, the tailless dog, and the elephant that won't +stand up, these play their allotted parts in his innocent comedies, +and meanwhile he grows steadily in sympathy and in comprehension +of the ever-widening circle of human relationships. "When we have +restored playthings to their place in education--a place which assigns +them the principal part in the development of human sympathies, we can +later on put in the hands of children objects whose impressions will +reach their minds more particularly." + +Dr. E. Seguin, our Commissioner of Education to the Universal +Exhibition at Vienna, philosophizes most charmingly on children's toys +in his Report (chapter on the Training of Special Senses). He says the +vast array of playthings (separated by nationalities) left at first +sight an impression of silly sameness; but that a second look +"discovered in them particular characters, as of national +idiosyncrasies; and a closer examination showed that these puerilities +had sense enough in them, not only to disclose the movements of the +mind, but to predict what is to follow." + +He classifies the toys exhibited, and in so doing gives us delightful +and valuable generalizations, some of which I will quote:-- + +"Chinese and Japanese toys innumerable, as was to have been expected. +Japanese toys much brighter, the dolls relieved in gold and gaudy +colors, absolutely saucy. The application of the natural and +mechanical forces in their toys cannot fail to determine the taste of +the next generation towards physical sciences. + +"Chinese dolls are sober in color, meek in demeanor, and comprehensive +in mien.... The favorite Chinese toy remains the theatrical scene +where the family is treated _à la Molière_. + +"Persia sends beautiful toys, from which can be inferred a national +taste for music, since most of their dolls are blowing instruments. + +"Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, have sent no dolls. Do they make none, under +the impression, correct in a low state of culture, that dolls for +children become idols for men? + +"The Finlanders and Laplanders, who are not troubled with such +religious prejudices, give rosy cheeks and bodies as fat as seals to +their dolls. + +"The French toy represents the versatility of the nation, touching +every topic, grave or grotesque. + +"From Berlin come long trains of artillery, regiments of lead, horse +and foot on moving tramways. + +"From the Hartz and the Alps still issue those wooden herds, more +characteristic of the dull feelings of their makers than of the +instincts of the animals they represent. + +"The American toys justify the rule we have found good elsewhere, that +their character both reveals and prefaces the national tendencies. +With us, toys refer the mind and habits of children to home economy, +husbandry, and mechanical labor; and their very material is durable, +mainly wood and iron. + +"So from childhood every people has its sympathies expressed or +suppressed, and set deeper in its flesh and blood than scholastic +ideas.... The children who have no toys seize realities very late, and +never form ideals.... The nations rendered famous by their artists, +artisans, and idealists have supplied their infants with many toys, +for there is more philosophy and poetry in a single doll than in a +thousand books.... If you will tell us what your children play with, +we will tell you what sort of women and men they will be; so let +this Republic make the toys which will raise the moral and artistic +character of her children." + +Froebel's educational toys do us one service, in that they preach a +silent but impressive sermon on simplicity. + +It is easy to see that the hurlyburly of our modern life is not wholly +favorable to the simple creed of childhood, "delight and liberty, when +busy or at rest," but we might make it a little less artificial than +we do, perhaps. + +Every thoughtful person knows that the simple, natural playthings of +the old-fashioned child, which are nothing more than pegs on which he +hangs his glowing fancies, are healthier than our complicated modern +mechanisms, in which the child has only to "press the button" and the +toy "does the rest." + +The electric-talking doll, for example--imagine a generation of +children brought up on that! And the toy-makers are not even content +with this grand personage, four feet high, who says "Papa! Mamma!" She +is _passée_ already; they have begun to improve on her! An electrician +described to me the other day a superb new altruistic doll, fitted +to the needs of the present decade. You are to press a judiciously +located button and ask her the test question, which is, if she will +have some candy; whereupon with an angelic detached-movement-smile +(located in the left cheek), she is to answer, "Give brother _big_ +piece; give me little piece!" If the thing gets out of order (and I +devoutly hope it will), it will doubtless return to a state of nature, +and horrify the bystanders by remarking, "Give me _big_ piece! Give +brother _little_ piece!" + +Think of having a gilded dummy like that given you to amuse yourself +with! Think of having to play,--to _play_, forsooth, with a model of +propriety, a high-minded monstrosity like that! Doesn't it make you +long for your dear old darkey doll with the raveled mouth, and the +stuffing leaking out of her legs; or your beloved Arabella Clarinda +with the broken nose, beautiful even in dissolution,--creatures "not +too bright or good for human nature's daily food"? Banged, battered, +hairless, sharers of our mad joys and reckless sorrows, how we +loved them in their simple ugliness! With what halos of romance we +surrounded them! with what devotion we nursed the one with the broken +head, in those early days when new heads were not to be bought at the +nearest shop. And even if they could have been purchased for us, would +we, the primitive children of those dear, dark ages, have ever thought +of wrenching off the cracked blonde head of Ethelinda and buying a +new, strange, nameless brunette head, gluing it calmly on Ethelinda's +body, as a small acquaintance of mine did last week, apparently +without a single pang? Never! A doll had a personality in those times, +and has yet, to a few simple backwoods souls, even in this day and +generation. Think of Charles Kingsley's song,--"I once had a sweet +little doll, dears." Can we imagine that as written about one of these +modern monstrosities with eyeglasses and corsets and vinaigrettes? + + "I once had a sweet little doll, dears, + The prettiest doll in the world, + Her face was so red and so white, dears, + And her hair was so charmingly curled; + But I lost my poor little doll, dears, + As I played on the heath one day, + And I sought for her more than a week, dears, + But I never could find where she lay. + + "I found my poor little doll, dears, + As I played on the heath one day; + Folks say she is terribly changed, dears, + For her paint is all washed away; + And her arms trodden off by the cows, dears, + And her hair not the least bit curled; + Yet for old sake's sake she is still, dears, + The prettiest doll in the world." + +Long live the doll! + + "Dolly-o'diamonds, precious lamb, + Humming-bird, honey-pot, jewel, jam, + Darling delicate-dear-delight-- + Angel-o'red, angel-o'white!" + +"Take away the doll, you erase from the heart and head feelings, +images, poetry, aspiration, experience, ready for application to real +life." + +Every mother knows the development of tenderness and motherliness +that goes on in her little girl through the nursing and petting and +teaching and caring for her doll. There is a good deal of journalistic +anxiety concerning the decline of mothers. Is it possible that +fathers, too, are in any danger of decline? It is impossible to +overestimate the sacredness and importance of the mother-spirit in the +universe, but the father-spirit is not positively valueless (so far +as it goes). The newspaper-pessimists talk comparatively little about +developing that in the young male of the species. In three years' +practical experience among the children of the poorer classes, and +during all the succeeding years, when I have filled the honorary and +honorable offices of general-utility woman, story-teller, song-singer, +and playmaker-in-ordinary to their royal highnesses, some thousands +of babies, I have been struck with the greater hardness of the small +boys; a certain coarseness of fibre and lack of sensitiveness which +makes them less susceptible, at first, to gentle influences. + +Once upon a time I set about developing this father spirit in a group +of little gamins whose general attitude toward the weaker sex, toward +birds and flowers and insects, toward beauty in distress and wounded +sensibility, was in the last degree offensive. In the bird games we +had always had a mother bird in the nest with the birdlings; we now +introduced a father bird into the game. Though the children had been +only a little time in the kindergarten, and were not fully baptized +into the spirit of play, still the boys were generally willing to +personate the father bird, since their delight in the active and manly +occupation of flying about the room seeking worms overshadowed their +natural repugnance to feeding the young. This accomplished, we played +"Master Rider," in which a small urchin capered about on a hobby +horse, going through a variety of adventures, and finally returning +with presents to wife and children. This in turn became a matter of +natural experience, and we moved towards our grand _coup d'état._ + +Once a week we had dolls' day, when all the children who owned them +brought their dolls, and the exercises were ordered with the single +view of amusing and edifying them. The picture of that circle of +ragged children comes before me now and dims my eyes with its pathetic +suggestions. + +Such dolls! Five-cent, ten-cent dolls; dolls with soiled clothes and +dolls in a highly indecorous state of nudity; dolls whose ruddy hues +of health had been absorbed into their mothers' systems; dolls made +of rags, dolls made of carrots, and dolls made of towels; but all +dispensing odors of garlic in the common air. Maternal affection, +however, pardoned all limitations, and they were clasped as fondly to +maternal bosoms as if they had been imported from Paris. + +"Bless my soul!" might have been the unspoken comment of these tiny +mothers. "If we are only to love our offspring when handsome and well +clothed, then the mother-heart of society is in a bad way!" + +Dolls' day was the day for lullabies. I always wished I might gather +a group of stony-hearted men and women in that room and see them melt +under the magic of the scene. Perhaps you cannot imagine the union of +garlic and magic, nevertheless, O ye of little faith, it may exist. +The kindergarten cradle stood in the centre of the circle, and the +kindergarten doll, clean, beautiful, and well dressed, lay inside the +curtains, waiting to be sung to sleep with the other dolls. One little +girl after another would go proudly to the "mother's chair" and rock +the cradle, while the other children hummed their gentle lullabies. At +this juncture even the older boys (when the influence of the music had +stolen in upon their senses) would glance from side to side longingly, +as much as to say,-- + +"O Lord, why didst Thou not make thy servant a female, that he might +dandle one of these interesting objects without degradation!" + +In such an hour I suddenly said, "Josephus, will you be the father +this time?" and without giving him a second to think, we began our +familiar lullaby. The radical nature, the full enormity, of the +proposition did not (in that moment of sweet expansion) strike +Josephus. He moved towards the cradle, seated himself in the chair, +put his foot upon the rocker, and rocked the baby soberly, while my +heart sang in triumph. After this the fathers as well as the mothers +took part in all family games, and this mighty and much-needed reform +had been worked through the magic of a fascinating plaything. + + + + +WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ? + +"What we make children love and desire is more important than what we +make them learn." + + +When I was a little girl (oh, six most charming words!)--it is not +necessary to name the year, but it was so long ago that children were +still reminded that they should be seen and not heard, and also that +they could eat what was set before them or go without (two maxims +that suggest a hoary antiquity of time not easily measured by the +senses),--when I was a little girl, I had the great good fortune to +live in a country village. + +I believe I always had a taste for books; but I will pass over that +early period when I manifested it by carrying them to my mouth, and +endeavored to assimilate their contents by the cramming process; +and also that later stage, which heralded the dawn of the critical +faculty, perhaps, when I tore them in bits and held up the tattered +fragments with shouts of derisive laughter. Unlike the critic, no more +were given me to mar; but, like the critic, I had marred a good many +ere my vandal hand was stayed. + +As soon as I could read, I had free access to an excellent medical +library, the gloom of which was brightened by a few shelves of +theological works, bequeathed to the family by some orthodox ancestor, +and tempered by a volume or two of Blackstone; but outside of these, +which were emphatically not the stuff my dreams were made of, I can +only remember a certain little walnut bookcase hanging on the wall of +the family sitting-room. + +It had but three shelves, yet all the mysteries of love and life and +death were in the score of well-worn volumes that stood there side +by side; and we turned to them, year after year, with undiminished +interest. The number never seemed small, the stories never grew tame: +when we came to the end of the third shelf, we simply went back and +began again,--a process all too little known to latter-day children. + +I can see them yet, those rows of shabby and incongruous volumes, the +contents of which were transferred to our hungry little brains. Some +of them are close at hand now, and I love their ragged corners, their +dog's-eared pages that show the pressure of childish thumbs, and their +dear old backs, broken in my service. + +There was a red-covered "Book of Snobs;" "Vanity Fair" with no cover +at all; "Scottish Chiefs" in crimson; a brown copy of George Sand's +"Teverino;" and next it a green Bailey's "Festus," which I only +attacked when mentally rabid, and a little of which went a +surprisingly long way; and then a maroon "David Copperfield," whose +pages were limp with my kisses. (To write a book that a child would +kiss! Oh, dear reward! oh, sweet, sweet fame!) + +In one corner--spare me your smiles--was a fat autobiography of +P.T. Barnum, given me by a grateful farmer for saving the life of +a valuable Jersey calf just as she was on the point of strangling +herself. This book so inflamed a naturally ardent imagination, that +I was with difficulty dissuaded from entering the arena as a circus +manager. Considerations of age or sex had no weight with me, and lack +of capital eventually proved the deterrent force. On the shelf above +were "Kenilworth," "The Lady of the Lake," and half of "Rob Roy." I +have always hesitated to read the other half, for fear that it should +not end precisely as I made it end when I was forced, by necessity, to +supplement Sir Walter Scott. Then there was "Gulliver's Travels," and +if any of the stories seemed difficult to believe, I had only to turn +to the maps of Lilliput and Brobdingnag, with the degrees of latitude +and longitude duly marked, which always convinced me that everything +was fair and aboveboard. Of course, there was a great green and gold +Shakespeare, not a properly expurgated edition for female seminaries, +either, nor even prose tales from Shakespeare adapted to young +readers, but the real thing. We expurgated as we read, child fashion, +taking into our sleek little heads all that we could comprehend +or apprehend, and unconsciously passing over what might have been +hurtful, perhaps, at a later period. I suppose we failed to get a very +close conception of Shakespeare's colossal genius, but we did get a +tremendous and lasting impression of force and power, life and truth. + +When we declaimed certain scenes in an upper chamber with sloping +walls and dormer windows, a bed for a throne, a cotton umbrella for a +sceptre, our creations were harmless enough. If I remember rightly, +our nine-year-old Lady Macbeths and Iagos, Falstaffs and Cleopatras, +after they had been dipped in the divine alembic of childish +innocence, came out so respectable that they would not have brought +the historic "blush to the cheek of youth." + +On the shelf above the Shakespeare were a few things presumably better +suited to childish tastes,--Hawthorne's "Wonder Book," Kingsley's +"Water Babies," Miss Edgeworth's "Rosamond," and the "Arabian Nights." + +There were also two little tales given us by a wandering revivalist, +who was on a starring tour through the New England villages, +"How Gussie Grew in Grace," and "Little Harriet's Work for the +Heathen,"--melodramatic histories of spiritually perfect and +physically feeble children who blessed the world for a season, but +died young, enlivened by a few pages devoted to completely vicious and +adorable ones who lived to curse the world to a good old age. + +Last of all, brought out only on state occasions, was a most seductive +edition of that nursery Gaboriau, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" with +colored illustrations in which the heads of the birds were made to +move oracularly, by means of cunningly arranged strips pulled from +the bottom of the page. This was a relic of infancy, our first +introduction to the literature of plot, counterplot, intrigue, and +crime, and the mystery of the murder was very real to us. This book, +still in existence, with all the birds headless from over-exertion, +is always inextricably associated in my mind with childish woes, as +a desire on my part to make the birds wag their heads was always +contemporaneous, to a second, with a like desire on my sister's part; +and on those rare days when the precious volume was taken down, one of +us always donned the penitential nightgown early in the afternoon and +supped frugally in bed, while the other feasted gloriously at the +family board, never quite happy in her virtue, however, since it +separated her from beloved vice in disgrace. That paltry tattered +volume, when it confronts me from its safe nook in a bureau drawer, +makes my heart beat faster and sets me dreaming! Pray tell me if any +book read in your later and wiser years ever brings to your mind such +vivid memories, to your lips so lingering a smile, to your eye so +ready a tear? True enough, "we could never have loved the earth so +well if we had had no childhood in it.... What novelty is worth that +sweet monotony where everything is known and loved because it is +known?" + +This autobiographical babble is excusable for one reason only. + +It is in remembering what books greatly moved us in earlier days; what +books wakened strong and healthy desires, enlarged the horizon of our +understanding, and inspired us to generous action, that we get +some clue to the books with which to surround our children; and a +reminiscence of this kind becomes a sort of psychological observation. +The moment we realize clearly that the books we read in childhood and +youth make a profound impression that can never be repeated later +(save in some rare crisis of heart and soul, where a printed page +marks an epoch in one's mental or spiritual life), then we become +reinforced in our opinion that it makes a deal of difference what +children read and how they read it. + +Agnes Repplier says: "It is part of the irony of life that our +discriminating taste for books should be built up on the ashes of an +extinct enjoyment." + +A book is such a fact to children, its people are so alive and so +heartily loved and hated, its scenes so absolutely real! Prone on the +hearth-rug before the fire, or curled in the window seat, they forget +everything but the story. The shadows deepen, until they can read +no longer; but they do not much care, for the window looks into an +enchanted region peopled with brilliant fancies. The old garden +is sometimes the Forest of Arden, sometimes the Land of Lilliput, +sometimes the Border. The gray rock on the river bank is now the cave +of Monte Cristo, and now a castle defended by scores of armed knights +who peep one by one from the alder-bushes, while Fair Ellen and the +lovely Undine float together on the quiet stream. + +For forming a truly admirable literary taste, I cannot indeed say much +in favor of my own motley collection of books just mentioned, for I +was simply tumbled in among them and left to browse, in accordance +with Charles Lamb's whimsical plan for Bridget Elia. More might have +been added, and some taken away; but they had in them a world of +instruction and illumination which children miss who read too +exclusively those books written with rigid determination down to their +level, neglecting certain old classics for which we fondly believe +there are no substitutes. You cannot always persuade the children of +this generation to attack "Robinson Crusoe," and if they do they +are too sophisticated to thrill properly when they come to Friday's +footsteps in the sand. Think of it, my contemporaries: think of +substituting for that intense moment some of the modern "tuppenny" +climaxes! + +I do not wish to drift into a cheap cynicism, and apotheosize the old +days at the expense of the new. We are often inclined to paint the +Past with a halo round its head which it never wore when it was the +Present. We can reproduce neither the children nor the conditions of +fifty or even twenty-five years ago. To-day's children must be fitted +for to-day's tasks, educated to answer to-day's questions, equipped +to solve to-day's problems; but are we helping them to do this in +absolutely the best way? At all events, it is difficult to join in the +paean of gratitude for the tons of children's books that are turned +out yearly by parental publishers. If the children of the past did not +have quite enough deference paid to their individuality, their likes +and dislikes, and if their needs were too often left until the needs +of everybody else had been considered,--on the other hand, they were +not surfeited with well-meant but ill-directed attentions. If the hay +was thrown so high in the rack that they could not pluck a single +straw without stretching up for it, why, the hay was generally worth +stretching for, and was, perhaps, quite as healthful as the sweet and +easily digested nursery porridge which some people adopt as exclusive +diet for their darlings nowadays. + +Let us look a little at some of the famous children's books of a past +generation, and see what was their general style and purpose. Take, +for instance, those of Mrs. Barbauld, who may be included in that +group of men and women who completely altered the style of teaching +and writing for children--Rousseau, de Genlis, the Edgeworths, +Jacotot, Froebel, and Diesterweg, all great teachers,--didactic, +deadly-dull Mrs. Barbauld, who composed, as one of her biographers +tells us, "a considerable number of miscellaneous pieces for the +instruction and amusement of young persons, especially females." +(Girls were always "young females" in those days; children were +"infants," and stories were "tales.") Who can ever forget those "Early +Lessons," written for her adopted son Charles, who appeared in the +page sometimes in a state of hopeless ignorance and imbecility, and +sometimes clad in the wisdom of the ancients? The use of the offensive +phrase "excessively pretty," as applied to a lace tidy by a very tiny +female named Lucy, brings down upon her sinful head eleven pages +of such moralizing as would only be delivered by a modern mamma on +hearing a confession of robbery or murder. + +All this does strike us as insufferably didactic, yet we cannot +approve the virulence with which Southey and Charles Lamb attacked +good Mrs. Barbauld in her old age; for her purpose was eminently +earnest, her views of education healthy and sensible for the time in +which she lived, her style polished and admirably quiet, her love +for young people indubitably sincere and profound, and her character +worthy of all respect and admiration in its dignity, womanliness, and +strength. Nevertheless, Charles Lamb exclaims in a whimsical burst of +spleen: "'Goody Two Shoes' is out of print, while Mrs. Barbauld's and +Mrs. Trimmer's nonsense lies in piles around. Hang them--the cursed +reasoning crew, those blights and blasts of all that is human in man +and child." + +Miss Edgeworth has what seems to us, in these days, the same overplus +of sublime purpose, and, though a much greater writer, is quite as +desirous of being instructive, first, last, and all the time, and +quite as unable or unwilling to veil her purpose. No books, however, +have ever had a more remarkable influence upon young people, and there +are many of them--old-fashioned as they are--which the sophisticated +children of to-day could read with pleasure and profit. + +Poor, naughty Rosamond! choosing the immortal "purple jar" out of +that apothecary's window, instead of the shoes she needed; and in a +following chapter, after pages of excellent maternal advice, taking +the hideous but useful "red morocco housewife" instead of the coveted +"plum." + +People may say what they like of Miss Edgeworth's lack of proportion +as a moralist and economist, but we have few writers for children at +present who possess the practical knowledge, mental vigor, and moral +force which made her an imposing figure in juvenile literature for +nearly a century. + +There has never been a time when the difficulty of making a good use +of books was as great as it is to-day, or a time when it required so +much decision to make a wise choice, simply because there is so much +printed matter precipitated upon us that we cannot "see the wood for +the trees." + +It is not my province to discriminate between the various writers for +children at the present time. To give a complete catalogue of useful +books for children would be quite impossible; to give a partial list, +or endeavor to point out what is worthy and what unworthy, would be +little better. No course of reading laid down by one person ever suits +another, and the published "lists of best books," with their solemn +platitudes in the way of advice, are generally interesting only in +their reflection of the writer's personality. + +I would not choose too absolutely for a child save in his earliest +years, but would rather surround him with the best and worthiest +books, and let him choose for himself; for there are elective +affinities and antipathies here that need not be disregarded,--that +are, indeed, certain indications of latent powers, and trustworthy +guides to the child's unfolding possibilities. + +"Books can only be profoundly influential as they unite themselves +with decisive tendencies." Provide the right conditions for mental +growth, and then let the child do the growing. If we dictate too +absolutely, we _en_velop instead of _de_veloping his mind, and weaken +his power of choice. On the other hand, we do not wish his reading to +be partial or one-sided, as it may be without intelligent oversight. + +I was telling bedtime stories, the other night, to a proper, wise, +dull little girl of ten years. When I had successfully introduced a +mother-cat and kittens to her attention, I plunged into what I thought +a graphic and perfectly natural conversation between them, when she +cut me short with the observation that she disliked stories in which +animals talked, because they were not true! I was rebuked, and tried +again with better success, until there came an unlucky figure of +speech concerning a blossoming locust-tree, that bent its green boughs +and laughed in the summer sunshine, because its flowers were fragrant +and lovely, and the world so green and beautiful. This she thought, on +sober second thought, a trifle silly, as trees never did laugh! Now, +that exasperating scrap of humanity (she is abnormal, to be sure) +ought to be locked up and fed upon fairy tales until she is able to +catch a faint glimpse of "the light that never was on sea or land." +Poor, blind, deaf little person, predestined, perhaps, to be the +mother of a lot of other blind, deaf little persons some day,--how I +should like to develop her imagination! + +Whatever children read, let us see that it is good of its kind, and +that it gives variety, so that no integral want of human nature shall +be neglected,--so that neither imagination, memory, nor reflection +shall be starved. I own it is difficult to help them in their choice, +when most of us have not learned to choose wisely for ourselves. A +discriminating taste in literature is not to be gained without effort, +and our constant reading of the little books spoils our appetite for +the great ones. + +Style is a matter of some moment, even at this early stage. Mothers +sometimes forget that children cannot read slipshod, awkward, +redundant prose, and sing-song vapid verse, for ten or twelve years, +and then take kindly to the best things afterward. + +Long before a child is conscious of such a thing as purity, +delicacy, directness, or strength of style, he has been acted upon +unconsciously, so that when the period of conscious choice comes, he +is either attracted or repelled by what is good, according to his +training. Children are fond of vivacity and color, and love a bit of +word painting or graceful nonsense; but there are people who strive +for this, and miss, after all, the true warmth and geniality that is +most desirable for little people. Apropos of nonsense, we remember +Leigh Hunt, who says that there are two kinds of nonsense, one +resulting from a superabundance of ideas, the other from a want of +them. Style in the hands of some writers is like war-paint to the +savage--of no perceptible value unless it is laid on thick. Our +little ones begin too often on cheap and tawdry stories in one or two +syllables, where pictures in primary colors try their best to +atone for lack of matter. Then they enter on a prolonged series of +children's books, some of them written by people who have neither +the intelligence nor the literary skill to write for a more critical +audience; on the same basis of reasoning which puts the young and +inexperienced teachers into the lowest grades, where the mind ought +to be formed, and assigns to the more practiced the simpler task of +_in_forming the already partially formed (or _de_formed) mind. + +There has never been such conscientious, intelligent, and purposeful +work done for children as in the last ten years; and if an +overwhelming flood of trash has been poured into our laps along with +the better things, we must accept the inevitable. The legends, myths, +and fables of the world, as well as its history and romance, are being +brought within reach of young readers by writers of wide knowledge and +trained skill. + +Knowing, then, as we do, the dangers and obstacles in the way, and +realizing the innumerable inspirations which the best thought gives to +us, can we not so direct the reading of our children that our older +boys and girls shall not be so exclusively modern in their tastes; so +that they may be inclined to take a little less Mr. Saltus, a little +more Shakespeare, temper their devotion to Mr. Kipling by small doses +of Dante, forsake "The Duchess" for a dip into Thackeray, and use +Hawthorne as a safe and agreeable antidote to Mr. Haggard? We need not +despair of the child who does not care to read, for books are not the +only means of culture; but they are a very great means when the mind +is really stimulated, and not simply padded with them. + +Mr. Frederic Harrison says: "Books are no more education than laws are +virtue. Of all men, perhaps the book-lover needs most to be reminded +that man's business here is to know for the sake of living, not to +live for the sake of knowing." + +But a child who has no taste for reading, who is utterly incapable of +losing himself in a printed page, quite unable to forget his childish +griefs, + + "And plunge, + Soul forward, headlong into a book's profound, + Impassioned for its beauty and salt of truth," + +--such a child is to be pitied as missing one of the chief joys of +life. Such a child has no dear old book-friendships to look back upon. +He has no sweet associations with certain musty covers and time-worn +pages; no sacred memories of quiet moments when a new love of +goodness, a new throb of generosity, a new sense of humanity, were +born in the ardent young soul; born when we had turned the last page +of some well-thumbed volume and pressed our tear-stained childish +cheek against the window pane, when it was growing dusk without, and a +mother's voice called us from our shelter to "Lay the book down, dear, +and come to tea." For, to speak in better words than my own, "It +is the books we read before middle life that do most to mould our +characters and influence our lives; and this not only because our +natures are then plastic and our opinions flexible, but also because, +to produce lasting impression, it is necessary to give a great author +time and meditation. The books that are with us in the leisure of +youth, that we love for a time not only with the enthusiasm, but with +something of the exclusiveness, of a first love, are those that enter +as factors forever in our mental life." + + + + +CHILDREN'S STORIES + +"To be a good story-teller is to be a king among children." + + +The business of story-telling is carried on from the soundest of +economic motives, in order to supply a constant and growing demand. +We are forced to satisfy the clamorous nursery-folk that beset us on +every hand. + +Beside us stands an eager little creature quivering with expectation, +gazing with wide-open eyes, and saying appealingly, "Tell me a story!" +or perhaps a circle of toddlers is gathered round, each one offering +the same fervent prayer, with so much trust and confidence expressed +in look and gesture that none but a barbarian could bear to disappoint +it. + +The story-teller is the children's special property. When once his +gifts have been found out, he may bid good-by to his quiet snooze by +the fire, or his peaceful rest with a favorite book. Though he hide in +the uttermost parts of the house, yet will he be discovered and made +to deliver up his treasure. On this one subject, at least, the little +ones of the earth are a solid, unanimous body; for never yet was seen +the child who did not love the story and prize the story-teller. + +Perhaps we never dreamed of practicing the art of story-telling till +we were drawn into it by the imperious commands of the little ones +about us. It is an untrodden path to us, and we scarcely understand +as yet its difficulties and hindrances, its breadth and its +possibilities. Yet this eager, unceasing demand of the child-nature we +must learn to supply, and supply wisely; for we must not think that +all the food we give the little one will be sure to agree with him. +because he is so hungry. This would be no more true of a mental than +of a physical diet. + +What objects, then, shall our stories serve beyond the important one +of pleasing the little listeners? How can we make them distinctly +serviceable, filling the difficult and well-nigh impossible _rôle_ of +"useful as well as ornamental"? + +There are, of course, certain general benefits which the child gains +in the hearing of all well-told stories. These are, familiarity with +good English, cultivation of the imagination, development of sympathy, +and clear impression of moral truth. We shall find, however, that all +stories appropriate for young children naturally divide themselves +into the following classes:-- + +I. The purely imaginative or fanciful, and here belongs the so-called +fairy story. + +II. The realistic, devoted to things which have happened, and might, +could, would, or should happen without violence to probability. These +are generally the vehicle for moral lessons which are all the more +impressive because not insisted on. + +III. The scientific, conveying bits of information about animals, +flowers, rocks, and stars. + +IV. The historical, or simple, interesting accounts of the lives of +heroes and events in our country's struggle for life and liberty. + +There is a great difference in opinion regarding the advisability of +telling fairy stories to very young children, and there can be no +question that some of them are entirely undesirable and inappropriate. +Those containing a fierce or horrible element must, of course, be +promptly ruled out of court, including the "bluggy" tales of cruel +stepmothers, ferocious giants and ogres, which fill the so-called +fairy literature. Yet those which are pure in tone and gay with +fanciful coloring may surely be told occasionally, if only for the +quickening of the imagination. Perhaps, however, it is best to keep +them as a sort of sweetmeat, to be taken on, high days and holidays +only. + +Let us be realistic, by all means; but beware, O story-teller! of +being too realistic. Avoid the "shuddering tale" of the wicked boy who +stoned the birds, lest some hearer be inspired to try the dreadful +experiment and see if it really does kill. Tell not the story of the +bears who were set on a hot stove to learn to dance, for children +quickly learn to gloat over the horrible. + +Deal with the positive rather than the negative in story-telling; +learn to affirm, not to deny. + +Some one perhaps will say here, the knowledge of cruelty and sin must +come some time to the child; then why shield him from it now? True, +it must come; but take heed that you be not the one to introduce it +arbitrarily. "Stand far off from childhood," says Jean Paul, "and +brush not away the flower-dust with your rough fist." + +The truths of botany, of mineralogy, of zoology, may be woven into +attractive stories which will prove as interesting to the child as the +most extravagant fairy tale. But endeavor to shape your narrative so +dexterously around the bit of knowledge you wish to convey, that it +may be the pivotal point of interest, that the child may not suspect +for a moment your intention of instructing him under the guise of +amusement. Should this dark suspicion cross his mind, your power is +Weakened from that moment, and he will look upon you henceforth as a +deeply dyed hypocrite. + +The historic story is easily told, and universally interesting, if +you make it sufficiently clear and simple. The account of the first +Thanksgiving Day, of the discovery of America, of the origin of +Independence Day, of the boyhood of our nation's heroes,--all these +can be made intelligible and charming to children. I suggest topics +dealing with our own country only, because the child must learn to +know the near-at-hand before he can appreciate the remote. It is best +that he should gain some idea of the growth of his own traditions +before he wanders into the history of other lands. + +In any story which has to do with soldiers and battles, do not be too +martial. Do not permeate your tale with the roar of guns, the smell of +powder, and the cries of the wounded. Inculcate as much as possible +the idea of a struggle for a principle, and omit the horrors of war. + +We must remember that upon the kind of stories we tell the child +depends much of his later taste in literature. We can easily create a +hunger for highly spiced and sensational writing by telling grotesque +and horrible tales in childhood. When the little one has learned to +read, when he holds the key to the mystery of books, then he will seek +in them the same food which so gratified his palate in earlier years. + +We are just beginning to realize the importance of beginnings in +education. + +True, a king of Israel whose wisdom is greatly extolled, and whose +writings are widely read, urged the importance of the early training +of children about three thousand years ago; but the progress of +truth in the world is proverbially slow. When parents and teachers, +legislators and lawgivers, are at last heartily convinced of the +inestimable importance of the first six years of childhood, then the +plays and occupations of that formative period of life will no longer +be neglected or left to chance, and the exercise of story-telling will +assume its proper place as an educative influence. + +Long ago, when I was just beginning the study of childhood, and when +all its possibilities were rising before me, "up, up, from glory +to glory,"--long ago, I was asked to give what I considered the +qualifications of an ideal kindergartner. + +My answer was as follows,--brief perhaps, but certainly +comprehensive:-- + + The music of St. Cecilia. + The art of Raphael. + The dramatic genius of Rachel. + The administrative ability of Cromwell. + The wisdom of Solomon. + The meekness of Moses, and-- + The patience of Job. + +Twelve years' experience with children has not lowered my ideals one +whit, nor led me to deem superfluous any of these qualifications; in +fact, I should make the list a little longer were I to write it now, +and should add, perhaps, the prudence of Franklin, the inventive power +of Edison, and the talent for improvisation of the early Troubadours. + +The Troubadours, indeed, could they return to the earth, would wander +about lonely and unwelcomed till they found home and refuge in the +hospitable atmosphere of the kindergarten,--the only spot in the +busy modern world where delighted audiences still gather around the +professional story-teller. + +If I were asked to furnish a recipe for one of these professional +story-tellers, these spinners of childish narratives, I should suggest +one measure of pure literary taste, two of gesture and illustration, +three of dramatic fire, and four of ready speech and clear expression. +If to these you add a pinch of tact and sympathy, the compound should +be a toothsome one, and certain to agree with all who taste it. + +And now as to the kind of story our professional is to tell. In +selecting this, the first point to consider is its suitability to +the audience. A story for very little ones, three or four years old +perhaps, must be simple, bright, and full of action. They do not yet +know how to listen; their comprehension of language is very limited, +and their sympathies quite undeveloped. Nor are they prepared to take +wing with you into the lofty realms of the imagination: the adventures +of the playful kitten, of the birdling learning to fly, of the lost +ball, of the faithful dog,--things which lie within their experience +and belong to the sweet, familiar atmosphere of the household,--these +they enjoy and understand. + +It will be found also that the number of children to whom one is +talking is a prominent factor in the problem of selecting a story. +Two or three little ones, gathered close about you, may pay strict +attention to a quiet, calm, eventless history; but a circle of twenty +or thirty eager, restless little people needs more sparkle and +incident. + +If one is addressing a large number of children, the homes from which +they come must be considered. Children of refined, cultivated parents, +who have listened to family conversation, who have been talked to and +encouraged to express themselves,--these are able to understand much +more lofty themes than the poor little mites who are only familiar +with plain, practical ideas, and rough speech confined to the most +ordinary wants of life. + +And now, after the story is well selected, how long shall it be? It +is impossible to fix an exact limit to the time it should occupy, for +much depends on the age and the number of the children. I am reminded +again of recipes, and of the dismay of the inexperienced cook when she +reads, "Stir in flour enough to make a stiff batter." Alas! how is she +who has never made a stiff batter to settle the exact amount of flour +necessary? + +I might give certain suggestions as to time, such as, "Close while +the interest is still fresh;" or, "Do not make the tale so long as +to weary the children;" but after all, these are only cook-book +directions. In this, as in many other departments of work with +children, one must learn in that "dear school" which "experience +keeps." Five minutes, however, is quite long enough with the babies, +and you will find that twice this time spent with the older children +will give room for a tale of absorbing interest, with appropriate +introduction and artistic _dénouement_. + +As one of the chief values of the exercise is the familiarity with +good English which it gives, I need not say that especial attention +must be paid to the phraseology in which the story is clothed. Many +persons who never write ungrammatically are inaccurate in speech, and +the very familiarity and ease of manner which the story-teller must +assume may lead her into colloquialisms and careless expressions. Of +course, however, the language must be simple; the words, for the most +part, Saxon. No ponderous, Johnsonian expressions should drag their +slow length through the recital, entangling in their folds the +comprehension of the child; nor, on the other hand, need we confine +ourselves to monosyllables, adopting the bald style of Primers and +First Readers. It is quite possible to talk simply and yet with grace +and feeling, and we may be sure that children invariably appreciate +poetry of expression. + +The story should always be accompanied with gestures,--simple, free, +unstudied motions, descriptive, perhaps, of the sweep of the mother +bird's wings as she soars away from the nest, or the waving of the +fir-tree's branches as he sings to himself in the sunshine. This +universal language is understood at once by the children, and not +only serves as an interpreter of words and ideas, but gives life and +attraction to the exercise. + +Illustrations, either impromptu or carefully prepared beforehand, are +always hailed with delight by the children. Nor need you hesitate to +try your "'prentice hand" at this work. Never mind if you "cannot +draw." It must be a rude picture, indeed, which is not enjoyed by an +audience of little people. Their vivid imaginations will triumph over +all difficulties, and enable them to see the ideal shining through the +real. It is well now and then, also, to have the children illustrate +the story. Their drawings, if executed quite without help, are, most +interesting from a psychological standpoint, and will afford great +delight to you, as well as to the little artists themselves. + +The stories can also be illustrated with clay modeling, an idealized +mud-pie-making very dear to children. They soon become quite expert in +moulding simple objects, and enjoy the work with all the capacity of +their childish hearts. + +Now and then encourage the little ones to repeat what they remember of +the tale you have told, or to tell something new on the same theme. If +the story you have given has been within their range and on a familiar +subject, a torrent of infantile reminiscence will immediately gush +forth, and you will have a miniature "experience meeting." If you have +been telling a dog story, for instance,--"I hed a dog once't," cries +Jimmy breathlessly, and is just about to tell some startling incident +concerning him, when Nickey pipes up, "And so hed I, and the pound man +tuk him;" and so on, all around the circle in the Free Kindergarten, +each child palpitating with eagerness to give you his bit of personal +experience. + +Gather the little ones as near to you as possible when you are telling +stories, the tiniest in your lap, the others cuddled at your knee. +This is easily managed in the nursery, but is more difficult with a +large circle of children. With the latter you can but seat yourself +among the wee ones, confident that the interest of the story will hold +the attention of the older children. + +What a happy hour it is, this one of story-telling, dear and sacred to +every child-lover! What an eager, delightful audience are these little +ones, grieving at the sorrows of the heroes, laughing at their happy +successes, breathless with anxiety lest the cat catch the disobedient +mouse, clapping hands when the Ugly Duckling is changed into the +Swan,--all appreciation, all interest, all joy! We might count the +rest of the world well lost, could we ever be surrounded by such +blooming faces, such loving hearts, and such ready sympathy. + + + + +THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO SOCIAL REFORM + +"New social and individual wants demand new solutions of the problem +of education." + + +"Social reform!" It is always rather an awe-striking phrase. It seems +as if one ought to be a philosopher, even to approach so august a +subject. The kindergarten--a simple unpretentious place, where a lot +of tiny children work and play together; a place into which if the +hard-headed man of business chanced to glance, and if he did not stay +long enough, or come often enough, would conclude that the children +were frittering away their time, particularly if that same good man of +business had weighed and measured and calculated so long that he had +lost the seeing eye and understanding heart. + +Some years ago, a San Francisco kindergartner was threading her way +through a dirty alley, making friendly visits to the children of her +flock. As she lingered on a certain door-step, receiving the last +confidences of some weary woman's heart, she heard a loud but not +unfriendly voice ringing from an upper window of a tenement-house just +round the corner. "Clear things from under foot!" pealed the voice, in +stentorian accents. "The teacher o' the _Kids' Guards_ is comin' down +the street!" + +"Eureka!" thought the teacher, with a smile. "There's a bit of +sympathetic translation for you! At last, the German word has been put +into the vernacular. The odd, foreign syllables have been taken to the +ignorant mother by the lisping child, and the _kindergartners_ have +become the _Kids' Guards!_ Heaven bless the rough translation, +colloquial as it is! No royal accolade could be dearer to its +recipients than this quaint, new christening!" + +What has the kindergarten to do with social reform? What bearing have +its theory and practice upon the conduct of life? + +A brass-buttoned guardian of the peace remarked to a gentleman on a +street-corner, "If we could open more kindergartens, sir, we could +almost shut up the penitentiaries, sir!" We heard the sentiment, +applauded it, and promptly printed it on the cover of three thousand +reports; but on calm reflection it appears like an exaggerated +statement. I am not sure that a kindergarten in every ward of every +city in America "would almost shut up the penitentiaries, sir!" The +most determined optimist is weighed down by the feeling that it will +take more than the ardent prosecution of any one reform, however +vital, to produce such a result. We appoint investigating committees, +who ask more and more questions, compile more and more statistics, and +get more and more confused every year. "Are our criminals native or +foreign born?" that we may know whether we are worse or better than +other people? "Have they ever learned a trade?" that we may prove what +we already know, that idle fingers are the devil's tools; "Have they +been educated?"--by any one of the sorry methods that take shelter +under that much-abused word,--that we may know whether ignorance is +a bliss or a _blister_; "Are they married or single?" that we may +determine the influence of home ties; "Have they been given to the use +of liquor?" that we may heap proof on proof, mountain high, against +the monster evil of intemperance; "What has been their family +history?" that we may know how heavily the law of heredity has laid +its burdens upon them. Burning questions all, if we would find out the +causes of crime. + +To discover the why and wherefore of things is a law of human +thought. The reform schools, penitentiaries, prisons, insane asylums, +hospitals, and poorhouses are all filled to overflowing; and it +is entirely sensible to inquire how the people came there, and to +relieve, pardon, bless, cure, or reform them as far as we can. +Meanwhile, as we are dismissing or blessing or burying the +unfortunates from the imposing front gates of our institutions, new +throngs are crowding in at the little back doors. Life is a bridge, +full of gaping holes, over which we must all travel! A thousand evils +of human misery and wickedness flow in a dark current beneath; and the +blind, the weak, the stupid, and the reckless are continually falling +through into the rushing flood. We must, it is true, organize our +life-boats. It is our duty to pluck out the drowning wretches, receive +their vows of penitence and gratitude, and pray for courage and +resignation when they celebrate their rescue by falling in again. But +we agree nowadays that we should do them much better service if we +could contrive to mend more of the holes in the bridge. + +The kindergarten is trying to mend one of these "holes." It is a tiny +one, only large enough for a child's foot; but that is our bit of the +world's work,--to _keep it small!_ If we can prevent the little people +from stumbling, we may hope that the grown folks will have a surer +foot and a steadier gait. + +A wealthy lady announced her intention of giving $25,000 to some Home +for Incurables. "Why," cried a bright kindergartner, "_don't_ you give +twelve and a half thousand to some Home for _Curables_, and then your +other twelve and a half will go so much further?" + +In a word, solicitude for childhood is one of the signs of a growing +civilization. "To cure, is the voice of the past; to prevent, the +divine whisper of to-day." + +What is the true relation of the kindergarten to social reform? +Evidently, it can have no other relation than that which grows out of +its existence as a plan of education. Education, we have all glibly +agreed, lessens the prevalence of crime. That sounds very well; but, +as a matter of fact, has our past system produced all the results in +this direction that we have hoped and prayed for? + +The truth is, people will not be made much better by education until +the plan of educating them is made better to begin with. + +Froebel's idea--the kindergarten idea--of the child and its powers, +of humanity and its destiny, of the universe, of the whole problem of +living, is somewhat different from that held by the vast majority +of parents and teachers. It is imperfectly carried out, even in +the kindergarten itself, where a conscious effort is made, and is +infrequently attempted in the school or family. + +His plan of education covers the entire period between the nursery and +the university, and contains certain essential features which bear +close relation to the gravest problems of the day. If they could be +made an integral part of all our teaching in families, schools, and +institutions, the burdens under which society is groaning to-day +would fall more and more lightly on each succeeding generation. These +essential features have often been enumerated. I am no fortunate +herald of new truth. I may not even put the old wine in new bottles; +but iteration is next to inspiration, and I shall give you the result +of eleven years' experience among the children and homes of the poorer +classes. This experience has not been confined, to teaching. One does +not live among these people day after day, pleading for a welcome for +unwished-for babies, standing beside tiny graves, receiving pathetic +confidences from wretched fathers and helpless mothers, without facing +every problem of this workaday world; they cannot all be solved, even +by the wisest of us; we can only seize the end of the skein nearest to +our hand, and patiently endeavor to straighten the tangled threads. + +The kindergarten starts out plainly with the assumption that the moral +aim in education is the absolute one, and that all others are purely +relative. It endeavors to be a life-school, where all the practices of +complete living are made a matter of daily habit. It asserts boldly +that doing right would not be such an enormously difficult matter if +we practiced it a little,--say a tenth as much as we practice the +piano,--and it intends to give children plenty of opportunity for +practice in this direction. It says insistently and eternally, "Do +noble things, not dream them all day long." For development, action is +the indispensable requisite. To develop moral feeling and the power +and habit of moral doing we must exercise them, excite, encourage, and +guide their action. To check, reprove, and punish wrong feeling and +doing, however necessary it be for the safety and harmony, nay, for +the very existence of any social state, does not develop right feeling +and good doing. It does not develop anything, for it stops action, +and without action there is no development. At best it stops wrong +development, that is all. + +In the kindergarten, the physical, mental, and spiritual being +is consciously addressed at one and the same time. There is no +"piece-work" tolerated. The child is viewed in his threefold +relations, as the child of Nature, the child of Man, and the child +of God; there is to be no disregarding any one of these divinely +appointed relations. It endeavors with equal solicitude to instill +correct and logical habits of thought, true and generous habits of +feeling, and pure and lofty habits of action; and it asserts serenely +that, if information cannot be gained in the right way, it would +better not be gained at all. It has no special hobby, unless you would +call its eternal plea for the all-sided development of the child a +hobby. + +Somebody said lately that the kindergarten people had a certain stock +of metaphysical statements to be aired on every occasion, and that +they were over-fond of prating about the "being" of the child. It +would hardly seem as if too much could be said in favor of the +symmetrical growth of the child's nature. These are not mere "silken +phrases;" but, if any one dislikes them, let him take the good, +honest, ringing charge of Colonel Parker, "Remember that the whole boy +goes to school!" + +Yes, the whole boy does go to school; but the whole boy is seldom +educated after he gets there. A fraction of him is attended to in the +evening, however, and a fraction on Sunday. He takes himself in hand +on Saturdays and in vacation time, and accomplishes a good deal, +notwithstanding the fact that his sight is a trifle impaired already, +and his hearing grown a little dull, so that Dame Nature works at a +disadvantage, and begins, doubtless, to dread boys who have enjoyed +too much "schooling," since it seems to leave them in a state of coma. + +Our general scheme of education furthers mental development with +considerable success. The training of the hand is now being +laboriously woven into it; but, even when that is accomplished, we +shall still be working with imperfect aims, for the stress laid upon +heart-culture is as yet in no way commensurate with its gravity. We +know, with that indolent, fruitless half-knowledge that passes for +knowing, that "out of the heart are the issues of life." We feel, +not with the white heat of absolute conviction, but placidly and +indifferently, as becomes the dwellers in a world of change, that +"conduct is three fourths of life;" but we do not crystallize this +belief into action. We "dream," not "do" the "noble things." The +kindergarten does not fence off a half hour each day for moral +culture, but keeps it in view every moment of every day. Yet it is +never obtrusive; for the mental faculties are being addressed at the +same time, and the body strengthened for its special work. + +With the methods generally practiced in the family and school, I fail +to see how we can expect any more delicate sense of right and wrong, +any clearer realization of duty, any greater enlightenment of +conscience, any higher conception of truth, than we now find in the +world. I care not what view you take of humanity, whether you have +Calvinistic tendencies and believe in the total depravity of infants, +or whether you are a disciple of Wordsworth and apostrophize the child +as a + + "Mighty prophet! Seer blest, + On whom those truths do rest + Which we are toiling all our lives to find;" + +if you are a fair-minded man or woman, and have had much experience +with young children, you will be compelled to confess that they +generally have a tolerably clear sense of right and wrong, needing +only gentle guidance to choose the right when it is put before them. I +say most, not all, children; for some are poor, blurred human scrawls, +blotted all over with the mistakes of other people. And how do we +treat this natural sense of what is true and good, this willingness +to choose good rather than evil, if it is made even the least bit +comprehensible and attractive? In various ways, all equally dull, +blind, and vicious. If we look at the downright ethical significance +of the methods of training and discipline in many families and +schools, we see that they are positively degrading. We appoint more +and more "monitors" instead of training the "inward monitor" in each +child, make truth-telling difficult instead of easy, punish trivial +and grave offenses about in the same way, practice open bribery by +promising children a few cents a day to behave themselves, and weaken +their sense of right by giving them picture cards for telling the +truth and credits for doing the most obvious duty. This has been +carried on until we are on the point of needing another Deluge and a +new start. + +Is it strange that we find the moral sense blunted, the conscience +unenlightened? The moral climate with which we surround the child is +so hazy that the spiritual vision grows dimmer and dimmer,--and +small wonder! Upon this solid mass of ignorance and stupidity it is +difficult to make any impression; yet I suppose there is greater +joy in heaven over a cordial "thwack" at it than over most blows at +existing evils. + +The kindergarten attempts a rational, respectful treatment of +children, leading them to do right as much as possible for right's +sake, abjuring all rewards save the pleasure of working for others and +the delight that follows a good action, and all punishments save +those that follow as natural penalties of broken laws,--the obvious +consequences of the special bit of wrong-doing, whatever it may be. +The child's will is addressed in such a way as to draw it on, if +right; to turn it willingly, if wrong. Coercion in the sense of fear, +personal magnetism, nay, even the child's love for the teacher, may +be used in such a way as to weaken his moral force. With every free, +conscious choice of right, a human being's moral power and strength of +character increase; and the converse of this is equally true. + +If the child is unruly in play, he leaves the circle and sits or +stands by himself, a miserable, lonely unit until he feels again in +sympathy with the community. If he destroys his work, he unites the +tattered fragments as best he may, and takes the moral object lesson +home with him. If he has neglected his own work, he is not given the +joy of working for others. If he does not work in harmony with his +companions, a time is chosen when he will feel the sense of isolation +that comes from not living in unity with the prevailing spirit of good +will. He can have as much liberty as is consistent with the liberty +of other people, but no more. If we could infuse the _spirit_ of this +kind of discipline into family and school life, making it systematic +and continuous from the earliest years, there would be fewer morally +"slack-twisted" little creatures growing up into inefficient, +bloodless manhood and womanhood. It would be a good deal of trouble; +but then, life is a good deal of trouble anyway, if you come to that. +We cannot expect to swallow the universe like a pill, and travel on +through the world "like smiling images pushed from behind." + +Blind obedience to authority is not in itself moral. It is necessary +as a part of government. It is necessary in order that we may save +children dangers of which they know nothing. It is valuable also as +a habit. But I should never try to teach it by the story of that +inspired idiot, the boy who "stood on the burning deck, whence all +but him had fled," and from whence he would have fled if his mental +endowment had been that of ordinary boys. For obedience must not +be allowed to destroy common sense and the feeling of personal +responsibility for one's own actions. Our task is to train +responsible, self-directing agents, not to make soldiers. + +Virtue thrives in a bracing moral atmosphere, where good actions are +taken rather as a matter of course. The attempt to instill an idea of +self-government into the tiny slips of humanity that find their way +into the kindergarten is useful, and infinitely to be preferred to the +most implicit obedience to arbitrary command. In the one case, we may +hope to have, some time or other, an enlightened will and conscience +struggling after the right, failing often, but rising superior to +failure, because of an ever stronger joy in right and shame for wrong. +In the other, we have a "_good goose_" who does the right for the +picture card that is set before him,--a "trained dog" sort of child, +who will not leap through the hoop unless he sees the whip or the lump +of sugar. So much for the training of the sense of right and wrong! +Now for the provision which the kindergarten makes for the growth of +certain practical virtues, much needed in the world, but touched upon +all too lightly in family and school. + +The student of political economy sees clearly enough the need of +greater thrift and frugality in the nation; but where and when do we +propose to develop these virtues? Precious little time is given to +them in most schools, for their cultivation does not yet seem to be +insisted upon as an integral part of the scheme. Here and there an +inspired human being seizes on the thought that the child should +really be taught how to live at some time between the ages of six and +sixteen, or he may not learn so easily afterward. Accordingly, the +pupils under the guidance of that particular person catch a glimpse of +eternal verities between the printed lines of their geographies and +grammars. The kindergarten makes the growth of every-day virtues so +simple, so gradual, even so easy, that you are almost beguiled into +thinking them commonplace. They seem to come in, just by the way, as +it were, so that at the end of the day you have seen thought and +word and deed so sweetly mingled that you marvel at the "universal +dovetailedness of things," as Dickens puts it. They will flourish +better in the school, too, when the cheerful hum of labor is heard +there for a little while each day. The kindergarten child has "just +enough" strips for his weaving mat,--none to lose, none to destroy; +just enough blocks in each of his boxes, and every one of them, he +finds, is required to build each simple form. He cuts his square of +paper into a dozen crystal-shaped bits, and behold! each one of these +tiny flakes is needed to make a symmetrical figure. He has been +careless in following directions, and his form of folded paper does +not "come out" right. It is not even, and it is not beautiful. The +false step in the beginning has perpetuated itself in each succeeding +one, until at the end either partial success or complete failure +meets his eye. How easy here to see the relation of cause to effect! +"Courage!" says the kindergartner; "better fortune next time, for we +will take greater pains." "Can you rub out the ugly, wrong creases?" +"We will try. Alas, no! Wrong things are not so easily rubbed out, are +they?" "Use your worsted quite to the end, dear: it costs money." "Let +us save all the crumbs from our lunch for the birds, children; do not +drop any on the floor: it will only make work for somebody else." +And so on, to the end of the busy, happy day. How easy it is in the +kindergarten, how seemingly difficult later on! It seems to be only +books afterward; and "books are good enough in their own way, but they +are a mighty bloodless substitute for life." + +The most superficial observer values the industrial side of the +kindergarten, because it falls directly in line with the present +effort to make some manual training a part of school work; but twenty +or twenty-five years ago, when the subject was not so popular, +kindergarten children were working away at their pretty, useful +tasks,--tiny missionaries helping to show the way to a truth now fully +recognized. As to the value of leading children to habits of industry +as early in life as may be, that they may see the dignity and +nobleness of labor, and conceive of their individual responsibilities +in this world of action, that is too obvious to dwell upon at this +time. + +To Froebel, life, action, and knowledge were the three notes of one +harmonious chord; but he did not advocate manual training merely that +children might be kept busy, nor even that technical skill might be +acquired. The piece of finished kindergarten work is only a symbol of +something more valuable which the child has acquired in doing it. + +The first steps in all the kindergarten occupations are directed or +suggested by the teacher; but these dictations or suggestions are +merely intended to serve as a sort of staff, by which the child can +steady himself until he can walk alone. It is always the creative +instinct that is to be reached and vivified: everything else is +secondary. By reproduction from memory of a dictated form, by taking +from or adding to it, by changing its centre, corners, or sides,--by a +dozen ingenious preliminary steps,--the child's inventive faculty is +developed; and he soon reaches a point in drawing, building, modeling, +or what not, where his greatest delight is to put his individual ideas +into visible shape. The simple request, "Make something pretty of your +own," brings a score of original combinations and designs,--either the +old thoughts in different shape or something fresh and audacious which +hints of genius. Instead of twenty hackneyed and slavish copies of +one pattern, we have twenty free, individual productions, each the +expression of the child's inmost personal thought. This invests labor +with a beauty and power, and confers upon it a dignity, to be gained +in no other way. It makes every task, however lowly, a joy, because +all the higher faculties are brought into action. Much so-called "busy +work," where pupils of the "A class" are allowed to stick a thousand +pegs in a thousand holes while the "B class" is reciting arithmetic, +is quite fruitless, because it has so little thought behind it. + +Unless we have a care, manual training, when we have succeeded in +getting it into the school, may become as mechanical and unprofitable +as much of our mind training has been, and its moral value thus +largely missed. The only way to prevent it is to borrow a suggestion +from Froebel. Then, and only then, shall we have insight with power +of action, knowledge with practice, practice with the stamp of +individuality. Then doing will blossom into being, and "Being is the +mother of all the little doings as well as of the grown-up deeds and +heroic sacrifices." + +The kindergarten succeeds in getting these interesting and valuable +free productions from children of four or five years only by +developing, in every possible way, the sense of beauty and harmony and +order. We know that people assume, somewhat at least, the color of +their surroundings; and, if the sense of beauty is to grow, we must +give it something to feed upon. + +The kindergarten tries to provide a room, more or less attractive, +quantities of pictures and objects of interest, growing plants and +vines, vases of flowers, and plenty of light, air, and sunshine. A +canary chirps in one corner, perhaps; and very likely there will be +a cat curled up somewhere, or a forlorn dog which has followed the +children into this safe shelter. It is a pretty, pleasant, domestic +interior, charming and grateful to the senses. The kindergartner +looks as if she were glad to be there, and the children are generally +smiling. Everybody seems alive. The work, lying cosily about, is neat, +artistic, and suggestive. The children pass out of their seats to the +cheerful sound of music, and are presently joining in an ideal sort of +game, where, in place of the mawkish sentimentality of "Sally Walker," +of obnoxious memory, we see all sorts of healthful, poetic, childlike +fancies woven into song. Rudeness is, for the most part, banished. The +little human butterflies and bees and birds flit hither and thither +in the circle; the make-believe trees hold up their branches, and the +flowers their cups; and everybody seems merry and content. As they +pass out the door, good-bys and bows and kisses are wafted backward +into the room; for the manners of polite society are observed in +everything. + +You draw a deep breath. This is a _real_ kindergarten, and it is like +a little piece of the millennium. "Everything is so very pretty and +charming," says the visitor. Yes, so it is. But all this color, +beauty, grace, symmetry, daintiness, delicacy, and refinement, though +it seems to address and develop the aesthetic side of the child's +nature, has in reality a very profound ethical significance. We have +all seen the preternatural virtue of the child who wears her best +dress, hat, and shoes on the same august occasion. Children are tidier +and more careful in a dainty, well-kept room. They treat pretty +materials more respectfully than ugly ones. They are inclined to be +ashamed, at least in a slight degree, of uncleanliness, vulgarity, +and brutality, when they see them in broad contrast with beauty and +harmony and order. For the most part, they try "to live up to" the +place in which they find themselves. There is some connection between +manners and morals. It is very elusive and, perhaps, not very deep; +but it exists. Vice does not flourish alike in all conditions and +localities, by any means. An ignorant negro was overheard praying, +"Let me so lib dat when I die I may _hab manners_, dat I may know what +to say when I see my heabenly Lord!" Well, I dare say we shall need +good manners as well as good morals in heaven; and the constant +cultivation of the one from right motives might give us an unexpected +impetus toward the other. If the systematic development of the sense +of beauty and order has an ethical significance, so has the happy +atmosphere of the kindergarten an influence in the same direction. + +I have known one or two "solid men" and one or two predestinate +spinsters who said that they didn't believe children could accomplish +anything in the kindergarten, because they had too good a time. There +is something uniquely vicious about people who care nothing for +children's happiness. That sense of the solemnity of mortal conditions +which has been indelibly impressed upon us by our Puritan ancestors +comes soon enough, Heaven knows! Meanwhile, a happy childhood is an +unspeakably precious memory. We look back upon it and refresh our +tired hearts with the vision when experience has cast a shadow over +the full joy of living. + +The sunshiny atmosphere of a good kindergarten gives the young human +plants an impulse toward eager, vigorous growth. Love's warmth +surrounds them on every side, wooing their sweetest possibilities into +life. Roots take a firmer grasp, buds form, and flowers bloom where, +under more unfriendly conditions, bare stalks or pale leaves would +greet the eye,--pathetic, unfulfilled promises,--souls no happier +for having lived in the world, the world no happier because of their +living. "Virtue kindles at the touch of joy." The kindergarten takes +this for one of its texts, and does not breed that dismal fungus of +the mind "which disposes one to believe that the pursuit of knowledge +must necessarily be disagreeable." + +The social phase of the kindergarten is most interesting to the +student of social economics. Coöperative work is strongly emphasized; +and the child is inspired both to live his _own full_ life, and yet to +feel that his life touches other lives at every point,--"for we are +members one of another." It is not the unity of the "little birds," in +the couplet, who "agree" in their "little nests," because "they'd +fall out if they didn't," but a realization, in embryo, of the divine +principle that no man liveth to himself. + +As to specifically religious culture, everything fosters the spirit +out of which true religion grows. + +In the morning talks, when the children are most susceptible and ready +to "be good," as they say, their thoughts are led to the beauty of the +world about them, the pleasure of right doing, the sweetness of +kind thoughts and actions, the loveliness of truth, patience, and +helpfulness, and the goodness of the Creator to all created things. +No parent, of whatever creed or lack of creed, whether a bigot or +unbeliever, could object to the kind of religious instruction given in +the kindergarten; and yet in every possible way the child-soul and the +child-heart are directed towards everything that is pure and holy, +true and steadfast. + +If the child love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love +God whom he hath not seen? "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, +therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." There is a vast deal of +practical religion to be breathed into these little children of the +street before the abstractions of beliefs can be comprehended. They +cannot live on words and prayers and texts, the thought and feeling +must come before the expression. As Mrs. Whitney says, "The world is +determined to vaccinate children with religion for fear they should +take it in the natural way." + +Some wise sayings of the good Dr. Holland, in "Nicholas Minturn," +come to me as I write. Nicholas says, in discussing this matter of +charities, and the various means of effecting a radical cure of +pauperism, rather than its continual alleviation: "If you read the +parable of the Sower, I think that you will find that soil is quite as +necessary as seed--indeed, that the seed is thrown away unless a +soil is prepared in advance.... I believe in religion, but before I +undertake to plant it, I would like something to plant it in. The +sowers are too few, and the seed is too precious to be thrown away and +lost among the thorns and stones." + +Last, but by no means least, the admirable physical culture that goes +on in the kindergarten is all in the right direction. Physiologists +know as much about morality as ministers of the gospel. The vices +which drag men and women into crime spring as often from unhealthy +bodies as from weak wills and callous consciences. Vile fancies and +sensual appetites grow stronger and more terrible when a feeble +physique and low vitality offer no opposing force. Deadly vices are +nourished in the weak, diseased bodies that are penned, day after day, +in filthy, crowded tenements of great cities. If we could withdraw +every three-year-old child from these physically enfeebling and +morally brutalizing influences, and give them three or four hours a +day of sunshine, fresh air, and healthy physical exercise, we should +be doing humanity an inestimable service, even if we attempted nothing +more. + +I have tried, as briefly as I might in justice to the subject, to +emphasize the following points:-- + +I. That we must act up to our convictions with regard to the value of +preventive work. If we are ever obliged to choose, let us save the +children. + +II. That the relation of the kindergarten to social reform is simply +that, as a plan of education, it offers us valuable suggestions in +regard to the mental, moral, and physical culture of children, which, +in view of certain crying evils of the day, we should do well to +follow. + +The essential features of the kindergarten which bear a special +relation to the subject are as follows:-- + +1. The symmetrical development of the child's powers, considering him +neither as all mind, all soul, nor all body; but as a creature capable +of devout feeling, clear thinking, noble doing. + +2. The attempt to make so-called "moral culture" a little less +immoral; the rational method of discipline, looking to the growth of +moral, self-directing power in the child,--the only proper discipline +for future citizens of a free republic. + +3. The development of certain practical virtues, the lack of which +is endangering the prosperity of the nation; namely, economy thrift, +temperance, self-reliance, frugality industry, courtesy, and all +the sober host,--none of them drawing-room accomplishments and +consequently in small demand. + +4. The emphasis placed upon manual training, especially in its +development of the child's creative activity. + +5. The training of the sense of beauty, harmony, and order; its +ethical as well as aesthetical significance. + +6. The insistence upon the moral effect of happiness; joy the +favorable climate of childhood. + +7. The training of the child's social nature; an attempt to teach the +brotherhood of man as well as the Fatherhood of God. + +8. The realization that a healthy body has almost as great an +influence on morals as a pure mind. + +I do not say that the consistent practice of these principles will +bring the millennium in the twinkling of an eye, but I do affirm +that they are the thought-germs of that better education which shall +prepare humanity for the new earth over which shall arch the new +heaven. + +Ruskin says, "Crime can only be truly hindered by letting no man +grow up a criminal, by taking away the will to commit sin!" But, you +object, that is sheer impossibility. It does seem so, I confess, +and yet, unless you are willing to think that the whole plan of an +Omnipotent Being is to be utterly overthrown, set aside, thwarted, +then you must believe this ideal possible, somehow, sometime. + +I know of no better way to grow towards it than by living up to the +kindergarten idea, that just as we gain intellectual power by doing +intellectual work, and the finest aesthetic feeling by creating +beauty, so shall we win for ourselves the power of feeling nobly and +willing nobly by doing "noble things." + + + + +HOW SHALL WE GOVERN OUR CHILDREN? + +"Not the cry," says a Chinese author, "but the rising of a wild duck, +impels the flock to follow him in upward flight." + + +Long ago, in a far-off country, a child was born; and when his parents +looked on him they loved him, and they resolved in their simple hearts +to make of him a strong, brave, warlike man. But the God of that +country was a hungry and an insatiable God, and he cried out for human +sacrifice; so, when his arms had been thrice heated till they glowed +red with the flame of the fire, the mother cradled her child in them, +and his life exhaled as a vapor. + +A child was born in another country, and the tender eyes of his mother +saw that his limbs were misshapen and his life-blood a sickly current. +Yet her heart yearned over him, and she would have tended and trained +him and loved him better than all the rest of her strong, well-favored +brood; but when the elders of her people knew that the child was a +weakling, they decreed that he should die, and she bent her head to +the law, which was stronger than her love. + +In a third land a child was to be born, and the proud father made +ready gifts, and purchased silken robes, and prepared a feast for his +friends; but, alas! when the longed-for soul entered the world it was +housed in a woman-child's body, and straightway the joy was changed +into mourning. Bitter reproaches were heaped upon the mother, for were +there not enough women already on the earth? and the fiat went forth +that the babe should straightway be delivered from the trials of +existence. So, while its hold on life was yet uncertain, the husband's +mother placed wet cloths upon its lips, and soon the faint breath +stopped, and the white soul went fluttering heavenward again. + +In still another of God's fair lands a child entered the world, and he +grew toward manhood vigorous and lusty; but he heeded not his parents' +commands, and when his disobedience had been long continued, the +fathers of the tribe decreed that he should be stoned to death, for so +it was written in the sacred books. And as the youth was the absolute +property of his parents, and as by common consent they had full +liberty to deal with him as seemed good to them, they consented unto +his death, that his soul might be saved alive, and the evening sun +shone crimson on his dead body as it lay upon the sands of the desert. + + * * * * * + +At a later day and in a Christian country two children were born, one +hundred years apart, and the world had now so far progressed that +absolute power over the life of the offspring was denied the parents. +The one was ruled with iron rods; he was made to obey with a rigidity +of compliance and a severity of treatment in case of failure which +made obedience a slavish duty, and he was taught besides that he was a +child of Satan and an heir of hell. He found no joy in his youth, and +his miserable soul groveled in fear of the despot who dominated him, +and of the blazing eternity which he was told would be the punishment +for his sins. His will was broken; he was made weak where he might +have been strong; and he did evil because he had learned no power of +self-restraint: yet his people loved him, and they had done all these +things because they wished to purge him wholly from all uncleanness. + +The parents of the other child were warned of the lamentable results +of this gloomy training, and they said one to another: "Our darling +shall be free as air; his duties shall be made to seem like pleasures, +or, better still, he shall have no duty but his pleasure. He shall +do only what he wills, that his will may grow strong, and he can but +choose the right, for he knows no evil. We will hold up before him no +bugbear of future punishment, for doubtless there is no such thing; +and if there be, it will not be meted out to such a child. He will +love and obey his parents because they have devoted themselves to his +happiness, and because they have never imposed distasteful obligations +upon him, and when he grows to manhood he will be a model of wisdom +and of goodness." + +But, lo! the child of this training was as great a failure as the +child of austerity and gloom. He was capricious, lawless, willful, +disobedient, passionate; he thought of no one's pleasure save his own; +he cared for his parents only in so far as they could be of use to +him; and like a wild beast of the jungle he preyed upon the life +around him, and cared not whom he destroyed if his appetites were +satisfied. + +"In every field of opinion and action, men are found swinging from +one extreme to the other of life's manifold arcs of vibration." This +perpetual movement may be the essential condition of existence, for +death is cessation of motion; or it may be a never-ending effort of +the mind to reach an ideal which discloses itself so seldom as to make +its permanent abiding-place a matter of uncertainty. Doubtless there +is somewhere a middle to the arc, and in the lapse of ages the needle +may at last find the "pole-point of central truth" and be at rest; but +as yet, in every department of labor and thought, it is vibrating, and +after tarrying a while at one extreme it swings unsatisfied back to +the other. + +Nowhere are these extremes more noticeable than in the government of +children. Centuries ago, in the patriarchal period, the father of the +family seems also to have exercised the functions of a criminal judge; +but the uniting of the two sets of duties in one person does not +appear to have inspired the children with insurmountable awe, for +laws are found both in Numbers and Deuteronomy fixing the penalty of +disobedience, and of the striking of a parent by a child. + +Still later, the Roman father possessed arbitrary powers of life and +death over his children; but it is probable that natural affection and +a more advanced civilization commonly made the law a dead letter. + +Though the world in time grew to feel that life belonged to the being +who held it, not to those who gave it birth, still discipline has for +ages been directed more to the body than to the mind, with an idea +apparently that the pains of the flesh will save the soul. Pious +parents until within recent dates have regarded the flogging of +children as absolutely a religious obligation, and many a tender +mother has steeled her heart and strengthened her arm to give the +blows which she regarded as essential to the spiritual well-being of +her child. + +The birch rod and the Bible were the Parents' Complete Guide to +domestic management in Puritan days, and no one can deny that this +treatment, though rather a heroic one, seems to have produced fine, +strong, self-denying men and women. + +Governor Bradford, in 1648, speaks feelingly of the godliness of a +Puritan woman whose office it was to "sit in a convenient place in +the congregation, with a little birchen rod in her hand, and keep +the children in great awe;" and, from the frequency with which +chastisement is mentioned in early Puritan records, it seems pretty +clear that the sober little lads and lasses of the day did not suffer +from over-indulgence. + +When this wholesale whipping began to fall into disuse, many +philosophers prophesied the ruin of the race, but these gloomy +predictions have scarcely found their fulfillment as yet. + +There has been, however, a colossal change in discipline, from the +days when disobedience was punishable with death to the agreeable +moral suasion of the nineteenth century, as exemplified in the "fin de +siècle" nonsense rhyme:-- + + "There once was a hopeful young horse + Who was brought up on love, without force: + He had his own way, and they sugared his hay; + So he never was naughty, of course." + +The results of this delightful method of treatment seem rather +problematic, and the modern child is universally acknowledged to be no +improvement upon his predecessors in point of respect and filial piety +at least. + +A superintendent's report, written thirty years ago for one of the New +England States, regrets that, even then, home government had grown +lax. He wittily says that Young America is _rampant_, parental +influence _couchant_; and no reversal of these positions is as yet +visible in 1892. + +To those who note the methods by which many children are managed, it +is a matter of wonderment that the results in character and conduct +are not very much worse than they are. Dr. Channing wisely says, "The +hope of the world lies in the fact that parents cannot make of +their children what they will." Happy accidents of association and +circumstance sometimes nullify the harm the parent has done, and the +tremendous momentum of the race-tendency carries the child over many +an obstacle which his training has set in his path. + +It seems crystal-clear at the outset that you cannot govern a child if +you have never learned to govern yourself. Plato said, many centuries +ago: "The best way of training the young is to train yourself at the +same time; not to admonish them, but to be always carrying out your +own principles in practice," and all the wisdom of the ancients is in +the thought. If, then, you are a fit person to be trusted with the +government of a child, what goal do you propose to reach in your +discipline; what is your aim, your ideal? + +1. The discipline should be thoroughly in harmony with child-nature in +general, and suited to the age and development of the particular child +in question. + +2. It should appeal to the higher motives, and to the higher motives +alone. + +3. It should develop kindness, helpfulness, and sympathy. + +4. It should never use weapons which would tend to lower the child's +self-respect. + +5. It should be thoroughly just, and the punishment, or rather the +retribution, should be commensurate with the offense. + +6. It should teach respect for law, and for the rights of others. + +Finally, it should teach "voluntary obedience, the last lesson in +life, the choral song which rises from all elements and all angels," +and, as the object of true discipline is the formation of character, +it should produce a human being master of his impulses, his passions, +and his will. + +The journey's end being fixed, one must next decide what route will +reach it, and will be short, safe, economical, and desirable; and the +roads to the presumably ideal discipline are many and well-traveled. +Some of them, it is true, lead you into a swamp, some to the edge of +a precipice; some will hurl you down a mountain-side with terrific +rapidity; others stop half-way, bringing you face to face with a blank +wall; and others again will lose you entirely on a bleak and trackless +plain. But no matter which route you select, you will have the wise +company of a great many teachers, parents, and guardians, and an +innumerable throng of fair and lovely children will journey by your +side. + +The road of threat and fear, of arbitrary and over-severe punishment, +has been much traveled in all times, though perhaps it is a little +grass-grown now. + +The child who obeys you merely because he fears punishment is a slave +who cowers under the lash of the despot. Undue severity makes him a +liar and a coward. He hates his master, he hates the thing he is made +to do; there is a bitter sense of injustice, a seething passion of +revenge, forever within him; and were he strong enough he would rise +and destroy the power that has crushed him. He has done right because +he was forced to do so, not because he desired it; and since the +right-doing, the obedience, was neither the fruit of his reason nor +his love, it cannot be permanent. + +The feeling of justice is strong in the child's mind, and you have +constantly wounded that feeling. You have destroyed the sense of cause +and effect by your arbitrary punishments. You have corrected him for +disobedience, for carelessness, for unkindness, for untruthfulness, +for noisiness, and for slowness in learning his lessons. + +How is he to know which of these offenses is the greatest, if all have +received the same punishment? Why should giving him a good thrashing +teach him to be kind to his little sister? Why should he learn the +multiplication table with greater rapidity because you ferule him +soundly? Have you ever found pain an assistance to the memory? + +If he has little intellectual perception of the difference between +truth and falsehood, why should you suppose that smart strokes on any +portion of the body would quicken that perception? + +Is it not clear as the sun at noonday that, since he observes the +punishment to have no necessary relation to the offense, and since he +observes it to be light or severe according to your pleasure,--is it +not clear that he will suppose you to be using your superior strength +in order to treat him unfairly, and will not the supposition sow seeds +of hatred and rebellion in his heart? + +Another road to discipline is that of bribery. + +To endeavor to secure goodness in a child by means of bribery, to +promise him a reward in case he obeys you, is manifestly an absurdity. +You are destroying the very traits in his character you are presumably +endeavoring to build up. You are educating a human being who knows +good from evil, and who should be taught deliberately to choose the +right for the right's sake, who should do his duty because he knows +it to be his duty, not for any extraneous reward connected with it. +A spiritual reward will follow, nevertheless, in the feeling of +happiness engendered, and the child may early be led to find his +satisfaction in this, and in the approval of those he loves. + +There are, of course, certain simple rewards which can be used with +safety, and which the child easily sees to be the natural results of +good conduct. If his treatment of the household pussy has been kind +and gentle, he may well be trusted with a pet of his own; if he puts +his toys away carefully when asked to do so, father will notice the +neat room when he comes home; if he learns his lessons well and +quickly, he will have the more time to work in the garden; and the +suggestion of these natural consequences is legitimate and of good +effect. + +It is always safer, no doubt, to appeal to a love of pleasure in +children than to a fear of pain, yet bribes and extraneous rewards +inevitably breed selfishness and corruption, and lead the child +to expect conditions in life which will never be realized. Though +retribution of one kind or another follows quickly on the heels of +wrong-doing, yet virtue is commonly its own reward, and it is as well +that the child should learn this at the beginning of life. Froebel +says: "Does a simple, natural child, when acting rightly, think of +any other reward which he might receive for his action than this +consciousness, though that reward be only praise?... + +"How we degrade and lower the human nature which we should raise, how +we weaken those whom we should strengthen, when we hold up to them an +inducement to act virtuously!" + +Emulation is often harnessed into service to further intellectual +progress and the formation of right habits of conduct, and this +inevitably breeds serious evils. + +It is well to set before the child an ideal on which he may form +himself as far as possible; but when this ideal sits across the aisle, +plays in a neighboring back yard, or, worse still, is another child +in the same family, he is hated and despised. His virtues become +obnoxious, and the unfortunate evildoer prefers to be vicious, that +he may not resemble a creature whose praises have so continually been +sung that his very name is odious. + +If the child grows accustomed to the comparison of himself with others +and the endeavor to excel them, he becomes selfish, envious, and +either vain of his virtue and attainments, or else thoroughly +disheartened at his small success, while he grudges that of his +neighbor. George Macdonald says: "No work noble or lastingly good can +come of emulation, any more than of greed. I think the motives are +spiritually the same." + +To what can we appeal, then, in children, as motives to goodness, as +aids in the formation of right habits of thought and action? Ah! the +child's heart is a harp of many strings, and touched by the hand of a +master a fine, clear tone will sound from every one of them, while the +resultant strain will be a triumphant burst of glorious harmony. + +Touch delicately the string of love of approval, and listen to the +answer. + +The child delights to work for you, to please you if he can, to do +his tasks well enough to win your favorable notice, and the breath of +praise is sweet to his nostrils. It is right and justifiable that +he should have this praise, and it will be an aid to his spiritual +development, if bestowed with discrimination. Only Titanic strength of +character can endure constant discouragement and failure, and yet work +steadily onward, and the weak, undeveloped human being needs a word of +approval now and then to show him that he is on the right track, and +that his efforts are appreciated. Of course the kind and the frequency +of the praise bestowed depend entirely upon the nature of the child. + +One timid, self-distrustful temperament needs frequently to bask in +the sunshine of your approval, while another, somewhat predisposed to +vanity and self-consciousness, feeds a more bracing moral climate. + +There is no question that cleanliness and fresh air may be considered +as minor aids to goodness, and a dangerous outbreak of insubordination +may sometimes be averted by hastily suggesting to the little rebel a +run in the garden, prefaced by a thorough application of cool water +to the flushed face and little clenched hands; while self-respect may +often be restored by the donning of a clean apron. + +Beauty of surroundings is another incentive to harmony of action. It +is easier for the child to be naughty in a poor, gloomy room, scanty +of furniture, than in a garden gay with flowers, shaded by full-leafed +trees, and made musical by the voice of running water. + +Dr. William T. Harris says: "Beauty cannot create a new heart, but it +can greatly change the disposition," and this seems unquestionable, +especially with regard to the glory of God's handiwork, which makes +goodness seem "the natural way of living." Yet we would not wish our +children to be sybarites, and we must endeavor to cultivate in their +breasts a hardy plant of virtue which will live, if need be, on Alpine +heights and feed on scanty fare. + +It is a truism that interesting occupation prevents dissension, and +that idle fingers are the Devil's tools. + +A child who is good and happy during school time, with its regular +hours and alternated work and play, often becomes, in vacation, +fretful, sulky, discontented, and in arms against the entire world. + +The discipline of work, if of a proper kind, of a kind in which +success is not too long delayed, is sure and efficacious. Success, if +the fruit of one's own efforts, is so sweet that one longs for more of +the work which produced it. + +The reverse of the medal may be seen here also. The knotted thread +which breaks if pulled too impatiently; the dropped stitches that make +rough, uneven places in the pattern; the sail which was wrongly placed +and will not propel the boat; the pile of withered leaves which was +not removed, and which the wind scattered over the garden,--are +not all these concrete moral lessons in patience, accuracy, and +carefulness? + +We may safely appeal to public opinion, sometimes, in dealing with +children. The chief object in doing this "is to create a constantly +advancing ideal toward which the child is attracted, and thereby +to gain a constantly increasing effort on his part to realize this +ideal." There comes a time in the child's development when he begins +to realize his own individuality, and longs to see it recognized by +others. The views of life, the sentiments of the people about him, +are clearly noted, and he desires to so shape his conduct as to be +in harmony with them. If he sees that tale-bearing and cowardice are +looked upon with disgust by his comrades, he will be a very Spartan in +his laconicism and courage; if his father and older brothers can bear +pain without wincing, then he will not cry when he hurts himself. + +Oftentimes he is obdurate when reproved in private for a fault, but +when brought to the tribunal of the disapproval of other children, he +is chagrined, repents, and makes atonement. He is uneasy under the +adverse verdict of a large company, but the condemnation of one person +did not weigh with him. It is usually not wise, however, to appeal to +public opinion in this way, save on an abstract question, as the child +loses his self-respect, and becomes degraded in his own eyes, if his +fault is trumpeted abroad. + +Stories of brave deeds, poems of heroism, self-sacrifice, and loyalty, +have their places in creating a sentiment of ideality in the child's +breast,--a sentiment which remains fixed sometimes, even though it be +not in harmony with the feeling of the majority. + +Now and then some noble soul is born, some hero so thrilled with the +ideal that he rises far above the public sentiment of his day; but +usually we count him great who overtops his fellows by an inch or two, +and he who falls much below the level of ordinary feeling is esteemed +as almost beyond hope. + +To seek for the approval of others, even though they embody our +highest ideals, is truly not the loftiest form of aspiration; but it +is one round in the ladder which leads to that higher feeling, the +desire for the benediction of the spirit-principle within us. + +Although discipline by means of fear, as the word is commonly used, +cannot be too strongly condemned, yet there is a "godly fear" of which +the Bible speaks, which certainly has its place among incentives in +will-training. The child has not attained as yet, and it is doubtful +whether we ourselves have done so, to that supreme excellence of love +which absolutely casteth out fear. + +A writer of great moral insight says: "Has not the law of seed and +flower, cause and effect, the law of continuity which binds the +universe together, a tone of severity? It has surely, like all +righteous law, and carries with it a legitimate and wholesome fear. If +we are to reap what we have sown, some, perhaps most of us, may dread +the harvest." + +The child shrinks from the disapproval of the loved parent or teacher. +By so much the more as he reverences and respects those "in authority +over him" does he dread to do that which he knows they would condemn. +If he has been led to expect natural retributions, he will have a +wholesome fear of putting his hand in the fire, since he knows the +inevitable consequences. He understands that it is folly to expect +that wrong can be done with impunity, and shrinks in terror from +committing a sin whose consequences it is impossible that he should +escape. He knows well that there are other punishments save those of +the body, and he has felt the anguish which follows self-condemnation. +"There is nothing degrading in such fear, but a heart-searching +reverence and awe in the sincere and humble conviction that God's law +is everywhere." + +Such are some of the false and some of the true motives which can be +appealed to in will-training, but there are various points in their +practical application which may well be considered. + +May we not question whether we are not frequently too exacting with +children,--too much given to fault-finding? Were it not that the +business of play is so engrossing to them, and life so fascinating a +matter on the whole,--were it not for these qualifying circumstances, +we should harass many of them into dark cynicism and misanthropy at +a very early age. I marvel at the scrupulous exactness in regard to +truth, the fine sense of distinction between right and wrong, which we +require of an unfledged human being who would be puzzled to explain +to us the difference between a "hawk and a handsaw," who lives in the +realm of the imagination, and whose view of the world is that of a +great play-house furnished for his benefit. If we were one half as +punctilious and as hypercritical in our judgment of ourselves, we +should be found guilty in short order, and sentenced to hard labor on +a vast number of counts. + +There are many comparatively small faults in children which it is wise +not to see at all. They are mere temporary failings, tiny drops which +will evaporate if quietly left in the sunshine, but which, if opposed, +will gather strength for a formidable current. If we would sometimes +apply Tolstoi's doctrine of non-resistance to children, if we would +overlook the small transgression and quietly supply another vent for +the troublesome activity, there would be less clashing of wills, and +less raising of an evil spirit, which gains wonderful strength while +in action. + +Do we not often use an arbitrary and a threatening manner in our +commands to children, when a calm, gentle request, in a tone of +expectant confidence, would gain obedience far more quickly and +pleasantly? + +Some natures are antagonized by the shadow of a threat, even if it +accompanies a reasonable order; and if we acknowledge that the oil of +courtesy is a valuable lubricator in our dealings with grown people, +it seems proper to suppose that it would not be entirely useless +with children. We cannot expect to get from them what we do not give +ourselves, and it is idle to imagine that we can address them as we +would a disobedient dog, and be answered in tones of dulcet harmony. + +Again, what possible harm can there be in sometimes giving reasons for +commands, when they are such as the child would appreciate? We do not +desire to bring him up under martial rule; and if he feels the +wisdom of the order issued, he will be much more likely to obey it +pleasantly. Cases may frequently occur in which reasons either could +not properly be given, or would be beyond the child's power of +comprehension; but if our treatment of him has been uniformly frank +and affectionate, he will cheerfully obey, believing that, as our +commands have been reasonable heretofore, there is good cause to +suppose they may still be so. + +Educational opinion tends, more and more every day, to the absolute +conviction that the natural punishment, the effect which follows the +cause, is the only one which can safely be used with children. + +This is the method of Nature, severe and unrelenting it may be, but +calm, firm, and purely just. He who sows the wind must reap the +whirlwind, and he who sows thistles may be well assured that he will +never gather figs as his harvest. The feeling of continuity, of +sequence, is naturally strong in the child; and if we would lead him +to appreciate that the law is as absolute in the moral as in the +physical world, we shall find the ground already prepared for our +purpose. + +Much transgression of moral law in later years is due to the fatal +hope in the evil-doer's mind that he will be able to escape the +consequences of his sin. Could we make it clear from the beginning of +life that there is no such escape, that the mills of the gods will +grind at last, though the hopper stand empty for many a year,--could +we make this an absolute conviction of the mind, I am assured that it +would greatly tend to lessen crime. + +And this is one of the defects of arbitrary punishment, that it is +sometimes withheld when the heart of the judge melts over the sinner, +leading him to expect other possible exemptions in the future. Is it +not sometimes given in anger, also, when the culprit clearly sees it +to be disproportionate to the crime? + +Here appears the advantage of the natural punishment,--it is never +withheld in weak affection, it is never given in anger, it is entirely +disassociated from personal feeling. No poisoned arrow of injustice +remains rankling in the child's breast; no rebellious feeling that the +parent has taken advantage of his superior strength to inflict the +punishment: it is perceived to be absolutely _fair_, and, being fair, +it must be, although painful, yet satisfactory to that sense of +justice which is a passion of childhood. + +Our American children are as precocious in will-power as they are +keen-witted, and they need a special discipline. The courage, +activity, and pioneer spirit of the fathers, exercised in hewing their +way through virgin forests, hunting wild beasts in mountain solitudes, +opening up undeveloped lands, prospecting for metals through trackless +plains, choosing their own vocations, helping to govern their +country,--all these things have reacted upon the children, and they +are thoroughly independent, feeling the need of caring for themselves +when hardly able to toddle. + +Entrust this precocious bundle of nerves and individuality to a person +of weak will or feeble intelligence, and the child promptly becomes +his ruler. The power of strong volition becomes caprice, he does not +learn the habit of obedience, and thus valuable directive power is +lost to the world. + +"The lowest classes of society," says Dr. Harris, "are the lowest, +not because there is any organized conspiracy to keep them down, but +because they are lacking in directive power." The jails, the prisons, +the reformatories, are filled with men who are there because they were +weak, more than because they were evil. If the right discipline in +home and school had been given them, they would never have become the +charge of the nation. Thus we waste force constantly, force of mind +and of spirit sufficient to move mountains, because we do not insist +that every child shall exercise his "inherited right," which is, "that +he be taught to obey." + +It is a grave subject, this of will-training, the gravest perhaps that +we can consider, and its deepest waters lie far below the sounding of +my plummet. Some of the principles, however, on which it rests are as +firmly fixed as the bed of the ocean, which remains changeless though +the waves continually shift above:-- + +1. If we can but cultivate the _habit_ of doing right, we enlist in +our service one of the strongest of human agencies. Its momentum is so +great that it may propel the child into the course of duty before he +has time to discuss the question, or to parley with his conscience +concerning it. + +2. We must remember that "force of character is cumulative, and all +the foregone days of virtue work their health into this." The task +need not be begun afresh each morning; yesterday's strokes are still +there, and to-day's efforts will make the carving deeper and bolder. + +3. We may compel the body to carry out an order, the fingers to +perform a task; but this is mere slavish compliance. True obedience +can never be enforced; it is the fruit of the reason and the will, the +free, glad offering of the spirit. + +4. Though many motives have their place in early will-training,--love +of approval, deference to public opinion, the influence of beauty, +hopeful occupation, respect and rev for those in authority,--yet these +are all preparatory, the preliminary exercises, which must be well +practiced before the soul can spread her wings into the blue. + +5. There is but one true and final motive to good conduct, and that +is a hunger in the soul of man for the blessing of the spirit, a +ceaseless longing to be in perfect harmony with the principles of +everlasting and eternal right. + + + + +THE MAGIC OF "TOGETHER" + +"'Together' is the key-word of the nineteenth century." + + +It is an old, adobe-walled Mexican garden. All around it, close +against the brown bricks, the fleur-de-lis stand white and stately, +guarded by their tall green lances. The sun's rays are already +powerful, though it is early spring, and I am glad to take my book +under the shade of the orange-trees. In the dark leaf-canopy above me +shine the delicate star-like flowers, the partly opened buds, and the +great golden oranges, while tiny green and half-ripe spheres make a +happy contrast in color. The ground about me is strewn with flowers +and buds, the air is heavy with fragrance, and the bees are buzzing +softly overhead. I am growing drowsy, but as I lift my eyes from my +book they meet something which interests me. A large black ant is +tugging and pulling at an orange-bud, and really making an effort to +carry it away with him. It is once and a half as long as he, fully +twice as wide, and I cannot compute how much heavier, but its size and +weight are very little regarded. He drags it vigorously over Alpine +heights and through valley deeps, but evidently finds the task +arduous, for he stops to rest now and then. I want to help him, but +cannot be sure of his destination, and fear besides that my clumsy +assistance would be misinterpreted. + +Ah, how unfortunate! ant and orange-bud have fallen together into +the depths of a Colorado cañon which yawns in the path. The ant soon +reappears, but clearly feels it impossible to drag the bud up such a +precipice, and runs away on some other quest. What did he want with +that bud, I wonder? was it for food, or bric-a-brac, or a plaything +for the babies? Never mind,--I shall never know, and I prepare to read +again. But what's this? Here is my ant returning, and accompanied by +some friends. They disappear in the canon, helpfulness and interest +in every wave of their feelers. Their heads come into sight again, +and--yes! they have the bud. Now, indeed, events move, and the burden +travels rapidly across the smooth courtyard toward the house. Can they +intend to take it up on the flat roof, where we have lately suspected +a nest? Yes, there they go, straight up the wall, all putting their +shoulders to the wheel, and resting now and then in the chinks of the +crumbling adobes. Up the bud moves to the gutters,--I can see it gleam +as it is pulled over the edge,--they are out of sight,--the task is +done! How easy any undertaking, I think, when people are willing to +help. + + * * * * * + +In a high dormer window of a great city, in a nest of quilts and +pillows, sits little Ingrid. Her blue Danish eyes look out from a +pinched, snow-white face, and her thin hands are languidly folded in +her lap. She gazes far down below to the other side of the square, +where she can just see the waving of some green branches and an open +door. + +Her eyes brighten now, for a stream of little children comes pouring +from that door. "Look, mother!" she cries, "there are the children!" +and the mother leaves her washing, and comes with dripping hands to +see every tiny boy look up at the window and flourish his hat, and +every girl wave her handkerchief, or kiss her hand. They form a ring; +there is silence for a moment and then, 'mid great flapping of dingy +handkerchiefs and battered hats, a hearty cheer is heard. + +"They're cheering my birthday," cries Ingrid. "Miss Mary knows it's my +birthday. Oh, isn't it lovely!" And the thin hands eagerly waft some +grateful kisses to the group below. + +The scene has only lasted a few moments, the children have had their +run in the fresh air, and now they go marching back, pausing at the +door to wave good-by to the window far above. The mother carries +Ingrid back to her bed (it is a weary time now since those little feet +touched the floor); but the bed is not as tiresome as usual, nor the +washing as hard, for both hearts are full of sunshine. + +Afternoon comes,--little feet are heard climbing up the stair, +and Ingrid's name is called. The door opens, and two flushed and +breathless messengers stand on the threshold. "We've brung you a +birfday present," they cry; "it's a book, and we made it all our own +se'ves, and all the chilluns helped and made somefin' to put in it. +Miss Mary's down stairs mindin' the babies, and she sends you her +love. Good-by! Happy birfday!" + +"Happy birthday" indeed! Golden, precious, love-crowned birthday! Was +ever such a book, so full of sweet messages and tender thoughts! + +Ingrid knows how baby Tim must have labored to sew that red circle, +how John Jacob toiled over that weaving-mat, and Elsa carefully folded +the drove of little pigs. Everybody thought of her, and all the +"chilluns" helped, and how dear is the tangible outcome of the +thoughts and the helping! + + * * * * * + +Far back in the childhood of the world, the long-haired savage," +woaded, winter-clad in skins," went roaming for his food wherever he +might find it. He dug roots from the ground, he searched for berries +and fruits, he hid behind rocks to leap upon his living prey, yet +often went hungry to his lair at night, if the root-crop were short, +or the wild beast wary. + +But if the day had been a fortunate one, if his own stomach were +filled and his body sheltered, little cared he whether long-haired +savage number two were hungry and cold. "Every one for himself," would +he say, as he rolled himself in his skins, "and the cave-bear, or any +other handy beast, take the hindmost." The simplicity of his mental +state, his complete freedom from responsibility, assure us that +his digestion of the raw flesh and the tough roots must have been +perfection, and the sleep in those furred skins a dreamless one. + +What impending visitation of a common enemy, what sudden descent of a +fierce horde of strange, wild, long-forgotten creatures, first moved +him to ally himself with barbarians number two and three for their +mutual protection? And when long years of alliance in warfare, and +mutual distrust at all other times, had slipped away, and when savages +were turning into herdsmen and farmers and toolmakers, to what +leader among men did a system of exchange of commodities for mutual +convenience suggest itself? + +One would like to have met that painted savage who first suggested +combination in warfare, or that later politico-economist upon whom it +faintly dawned that mutual help was possible in other directions save +that of blood-shedding. + +A union born of the exigencies of warfare would be strengthened later +by the promptings of self-interest, and, lo! the experiment is no +longer an experiment, and the fact is proven that men may fight and +work together to their mutual profit and advancement. + +'Tis a simple proposition, after all, that ten times one is ten; and +the bees, the ants, the grosbeaks, and the beavers prove it so clearly +that any one of us may read, though we pass by never so quickly. Yet +all great truths appear in man's mind in very rudimentary form at +first, and each successive generation furnishes more favorable soil +for their growth and development. + +First, men joined hands in offensive and defensive alliance; second, +they found that, even when wars were over, still communication, +intercourse, and exchange of goods were desirable; third, they +discovered that no great enterprise which would better their condition +would be possible without coöperation; and, fourth, they began to band +themselves together here and there, not only for their own protection, +for their own gain, but to watch over the weak, to succor the +defenseless, and even to uphold some dear belief. + +The magic of "Together" has thus far reached, and who can tell what +Happy Valley, what fair Land of Beulah, it may summon into existence +in the future? + +The incalculable value of coöperation, the solemn truth that we are +members one of another, that we cannot labor for ourselves without +laboring for others, nor injure ourselves without injuring +others,--all this is intellectually appreciated by most men to-day, +all this is doubtless acknowledged; yet I cannot find that it has +obtained much recognition in education, nor is especially insisted +upon in the training of children. + +But surely, if children have any social tendencies,--and the fact +needs no proof,--these tendencies should be given direction from the +beginning toward benevolence, toward harmonious working together for +some common aim. This would be comparatively easy even in a nursery +containing three or four little people; and how much simpler when +school life begins, and when the powers of children are greatly +increased, while they are in hourly contact with a large number of +equals! + +"Society," as Dr. Hale says, "is the great charm and only value of +school life;" but this charm and this value are reduced to a minimum +in many schools. "Emulation, that devil-shadow of aspiration," so +often used as a stimulus in education, must forever separate the child +from his fellows. + +How can I have any Christian fellowship with a man when I am envying +him his successes and grudging him his honors? Am I not tempted +to withhold my help from my weak brother across the way, lest my +assistance place him on an equality with me? + +Again, the "monitor" system, as sometimes carried out, tends to +separation and engenders dislike and distrust. I am not likely to +desire close communion, except in the way of fisticuffs, with a boy +who has been spying upon me all day, or who has very likely "reported" +me as having committed divers venial offenses. + +It is the idea of some teachers that discipline is furthered if +children are trained to have as little as possible to do with each +other, and there is no question that this method does facilitate +a toe-the-line kind of government. It would probably be more +satisfactory to such a teacher if each child could be brought to +school in a sedan-chair, with only one window and that in front, and +could be kept in it during the whole session. + +As such a plan, however, is scarcely feasible; as children, with or +against our wills, have a natural and God-given instinct for each +other's company; as they keenly enjoy banding themselves together for +whatever purpose, should not education follow the suggestions which an +earnest study of child-nature can but give? + +Froebel, with those divinely curious eyes of his, saw deeper into the +child's mind and heart than any of his predecessors, and for every +faint stirring of life which he perceived provided adequate conditions +of development. True prophet of the coming day, his philosophy is +rich with suggestions for the cultivation of the social powers of +the child. No one ever felt more keenly than he the inseparable, the +organic connection of all life; and with deep spiritual insight he +provides nursery plays and songs by which the babe, even in his +mother's arms, may be led faintly to recognize in his being one of the +links of the great chain which girdles the universe. + +Later, when as a child of three or four years he makes his first step +into the world, and loosing his mother's hand, enters a larger family +of children of his own age, he is still led to feel himself a part +of a vast union, each member of which has ministered to him, and +numberless ways are opened by which he can join with others to give +back to the world some of the benefits he has enjoyed. Stories are +told and games are played which lead him to thank the kindly hands +which have furnished his daily bread, his warm clothing, and his +sweet, white bed at night. + +The feeling of gratitude, grown and strengthened, must overflow in +action. The world has done so much for him, what can he do for the +world? Is there not some little invalid who would greatly prize a +book of dainty pictures, embroidered, drawn, and painted by her +child-friends? Then he will join with his companions, and patiently +and lovingly fashion such a book. Is the class room somewhat bare and +colorless? Then he can give up some of his cherished work to make a +bright frieze about the walls. + +A national holiday is perhaps approaching. He will unite with all the +other babies in making flags, tri-colored chains, and rosettes to +deck the room appropriately, and to please the mothers, fathers, and +friends who are coming to celebrate the occasion. + +One of the greatest pleasures which is offered is that of being +allowed to "help" somebody. If a child is quick, neat, and careful, if +he has finished his bit of work, he may go and help the babies, and +very gently and very patiently he guides the chubby fingers, threads +the needles, or ties on little caps, and conquers refractory buttons. + +To be a "little helper," whether he is assisting his companions or the +grown-up people about him, grows to seem the highest honor within his +reach. He knows the joy of ministering unto others, and he feels that +"to help is to do the work of the world." + +Thus we endeavor to give external expression to the feelings stirring +in the heart of the child, knowing that "even love can grow cold" if +not nourished. The whole spirit of the work, if carried out as Froebel +intended, must tend directly toward social evolution, and the intense +personalism which is a distinguishing mark of our civilization, and +is clearly seen in our children, needs anointing with the oil of +altruism. + +The circle in which the children stand for the singing is itself a +perfect representation of unity. Hands are joined to make a "round and +lovely ring." If any child is unkind, or regardless of the rights of +others, it is easily seen that he not only makes himself unhappy, but +seriously mars the pleasure of all the other children. If he willfully +leaves the circle, a link in the chain is broken which can only be +mended when he repents his folly and pleasantly returns to his place. +Thus early he may be made to feel that all lives touch his own, and +that his indulgence in selfish passion not only harms himself, but is +the more blameworthy in that it injures others. + +The songs and games cannot be happily carried on unless each child +is not only willing to help, but willing also to give up his chief +desires now and then. All the children would like to be the flowers in +the garden, perhaps, but it is obvious that some must remain in the +circle, in order that the fence be perfect, and prevent stray animals +from destroying what we love and cherish. So there is constant +surrendering of personal desires in recognition of the fact that +others have equal rights, and that, after all, one part is as good as +another, since all are essential to the whole. + +In coöperative building, the children quickly see that the symmetrical +figure which four little ones have made together, uniting their +material, is infinitely larger and finer than any one of them could +have made alone. If they are making a village at their little tables, +one builds the church, another workshops and stores, others schools +and houses, while the remainder make roads, lay out gardens, plant +trees, and plough the fields. No one of the children had strength +enough, time enough, or material enough to build the village alone, +yet see how well and how quickly it is done when we all help! + +The sand-box, in which of course all children delight, lends itself +especially to coöperative exercises. They gather around it and plant +gardens with the bright-colored balls; they use it for geography, +moulding the hills, mountains, valleys, and tracing the rivers near +their homes; they arrange historical dramas, as "Paul Revere's Ride," +or the "Landing of the Pilgrims:" but no child does any one of these +things alone; there is constant and happy coöperation. + +It is the aim of one day's exercise, perhaps, to retrace with the +child the various steps by which his comfortable chair and his strong +work-table have come to him. + +Across one end of the sand-box, a group of children plant a forest +with little pine branches which they have brought. The wood-cutters +come, fell the trees, and cut away the boughs. Another party +of children bring the heavy teams, previously built from the +play-material, harness in the horses (taken from a Noah's Ark), and +prepare to carry off the logs. Now here come the road-makers, and they +lay out a smooth, hard road for the teams, reaching to the very bank +of the river, which another party of little ones has made. The logs +are tumbled into the stream; they float downward, are rafted, carried +to the mill; little sticks are furnished to represent the boards into +which they are sawn; and the lumber is taken to the cabinet-maker, +that he may fashion our furniture. + +Though there be twenty children around the sand-box, yet all have been +employed. Each has enjoyed his own work, yet appreciated the value of +his neighbor's. They have worked together harmoniously and the doing +has reacted upon the heart, and strengthened the feeling of unity +which is growing within. + +Such exercises cannot fail to teach the value and power of social +effort, and the necessity of subordinating personal desires to the +common good. Yet the development of individuality is not forgotten, +for "our power as individuals depends upon our recognition of the +rights of others." + +It is true that the social problem is an intricate one and cannot be +worked out, even partially, at any stage of education, unless the +leader of the children be a true leader, and be enthusiastically +convinced of the essential value of the principles on which the +problem is based. Yet this might be said with equal truth of any +educational aim, for the gospel must always have its interpreters, and +some will ever give a more spiritual reading and seize the truth which +was only half expressed, while others, dull-eyed, mechanical, "kill +with the letter." + +"After all," says Dr. Stanley Hall, "there is nothing so practical in +education as the ideal, nor so ideal as the practical;" and we may +be assured that the direction of the social tendencies of the child +toward high and noble aims, toward the sinking of self and the +generous thought of others,--that this is not only ideal, not only a +following after the purest light yet vouchsafed to us, but is at the +same time practical in its detailed workings, and in its adaptation to +the needs and desires of the day. + + + + +THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL + +"The nature of an educational system is determined by the manner in +which it is begun." + + +The question for us to decide to-day is not how we can interest people +in and how illustrate the true kindergarten, for that is already done +to a considerable extent; but, how we can convince school boards, +superintendents, and voters that the final introduction of the +kindergarten into the public school system is a thing greatly to +be desired. The kindergarten and the school, now two distinct, +dissimilar, and sometimes, though of late very seldom, antagonistic +institutions,--how will the one affect, or be affected by the other? + +As to the final adoption of the kindergarten there is a preliminary +question which goes straight to the root of the whole matter. At +present the state accepts the responsibility of educating children +after an arbitrarily fixed age has been reached. Ought it not, rather, +if it assumes the responsibility at all, to begin to educate the child +when he _needs education?_ + +Thoughtful people are now awaking to the fact that this regulation is +an artificial, not a natural one, and that we have been wasting two +precious years which might not only be put to valuable uses, but would +so shape and influence after-teaching that every succeeding step +would be taken with greater ease and profit. We have been discreet in +omitting the beginning, so long as we did not feel sure how to begin. +But we know now that Froebel's method of dealing with four or five +year old babies, when used by a discreet and intelligent person, +justifies us in taking this delicate, debatable ground. + +So far, then, it is a question of law--a law which can be modified +just as soon and as sensibly as the people wish. Before, however, that +modification can become the active wish of the people, its importance +must be understood and its effects estimated. Could it be shown that +after-education will be hindered or in any way rendered more difficult +by the kindergarten, clearly all efforts to introduce it must cease. +Were it merely a matter of indifference, something that would neither +make nor mar the after-work of schools, then it would remain a matter +of choice or fancy, for individual parents to decide as they like; +but, if it can be shown that the work of the kindergarten will lay a +more solid foundation, or trace more direct paths for the workers of a +later period, then it behooves us to give it a hearty welcome, and to +work out its principles with zealous good will: and "working out" +its principles means, _not_ accepting it as a finality--a piece of +flawless perfection--but as a stepping-stone which will lead us nearer +to the truth. If it is a good thing, it is good for all; if it is +truth, we want it everywhere; but if this new department of education +and training is to gain ground, or accomplish the successful fruition +of its wishes, there must be perfect unity among teachers concerning +it. If they all understood the thing itself, and understood each +other, there could be no lack of sympathy; yet there has been +misunderstanding, conflict occasionally, and some otherwise worthy +teachers have used the kindergarten as a sort of intellectual +cuttle-fish to sharpen their conversational bills upon. + +Of course I am not blind to the fact that after we have determined +that we ought to have the kindergarten, there are many questions of +expediency: suitable rooms, expense of material, salaries, assistants, +age of children at entrance, system of government, number of children +in one kindergarten; and greatest of all, but least thought of, +strangely, the linking together of kindergarten and school, so that +the development shall be continuous, and the chain of impressions +perfect and unbroken. + +Suffice it to say that it has been done, and can be done again; but it +needs discretion, forethought, tact, earnestness, and unimpeachable +honesty of administration, for unless we can depend upon our school +boards and kindergartners _implicitly_, counting upon them for wise +coöperation, brooding care, and great wisdom in selection of teachers, +the experiment will be a failure. We have risks enough to run as it +is; let us not permit our little ones, more susceptible by reason of +age than any we have to deal with now,--let us not permit them to +become victims of politics, rings, or machine teaching. + +The kindergarten is more liable to abuse than any other department of +teaching. There is no ground in the universe so sacred as this. +But the difference between primary schools is just as great, only, +unfortunately, we have become used to it; and the kindergarten being +under fire, so to speak, must be absolutely ideal in its perfection, +or it is ruthlessly held up to scorn. + +There is a tremendous awakening all over the country with regard to +kindergarten and primary work, and this is well, since the greatest +and most fatal mistakes of the public school system have been made +_just here_; and the time is surely coming when more knowledge, +wisdom, tact, ingenuity, forethought, yes, and money, will be expended +in order to meet the demands of the case. The time is coming when the +imp of parsimony will no longer be mistaken for the spirit of economy; +when a woman possessed of ordinary human frailty will no longer be +required to guide, direct, develop, train, help, love, and be patient +with sixty little ones, just beginning to tread the difficult paths of +learning, and each receiving just one sixtieth of what he craves. The +millennium will be close at hand when we cease to expect from girls +just out of the high school what Socrates never attempted, and would +have deemed impossible. + +Look at Senator Stanford's famous Palo Alto stock farm. Each colt born +into that favored community is placed in a class of twelve. These +twelve colts are cared for and taught by four or five trained +teachers. No man interested in the training of fine horses ever +objects, so far as I know, to such expenditure of labor and money. The +end is supposed to justify the means. But when the creatures to be +trained are human beings, and when the end to be reached is not +race-horses, but merely citizens, we employ a very different process +of reasoning. + +That this subject of early training is a vitally interesting one to +thinking people cannot be denied. The kindergarten has become the +fashion, you say, cynically. This is scarcely true; but it is a fact +that the upper, the middle, and the lower classes among us begin +to recognize the existence of children under six years of age, +and realize that far from being nonentities in life, or unknown +quantities, they are very lively units in the sum of progressive +education. + +When we speak of kindergarten work among the children of the poor, and +argue its claims as one of the best means of taking unfortunate little +Arabs from the demoralizing life of the streets, and of giving their +aimless hands something useful to do, their restless minds something +good and fruitful to think of, and their curious eyes something +beautiful to look on, there is not a word of disapproval. People seem +willing to concede its moral value when applied to the lower classes, +but, when they are obliged to pay anything to procure this training +for their own children, or see any prospect of what they call an +already extravagant school system made more so by its addition, they +become prolific in doubts. In other words, they believe in it when you +call it _philanthropy_, but not when you call it _education_; and it +must be called the germ of the better education, toward which we are +all struggling, the nearest approach to the perfect beginning which we +have yet found. + +We see in the excellence of Froebel's idea, educationally considered, +its only claim to peculiar power in dealing with incipient hoodlumism. +It is only because it has such unusual fitness to child-nature, such a +store of philosophy and ingenuity in its appliances, and such a wealth +of spiritual truth in its aims and methods, that it is so great a +power with neglected children and ignorant and vicious parents. + +The principles on which Froebel built his educational idea may be +summed up briefly under four heads. First, All the faculties of the +child are to be drawn out and exercised as far as age allows. Second, +The powers of habit and association, which are the great instruments +of all education, of the whole training of life, must be developed +with a systematic purpose from the earliest dawn of intelligence. +Third, The active instincts of childhood are to be cultivated through +manual exercise (chiefly creative in character), which is made an +essential part of the training, and this manual exercise is to be +valued chiefly as a means of self-expression. Fourth, The senses are +to be trained to accuracy as well as the hand. The child must learn +how to observe what is placed before him, and to observe it truly, an +acquirement which any teacher of science or art will appreciate. To +work out these principles, Froebel devised his practical method of +infant education, and the very name he gave to the place where his +play lessons were to be used marks his purpose. No books are to be +seen in a kindergarten, because no ideas or facts are presented to the +child that he cannot clearly understand and verify. The object is not +to teach him arithmetic or geometry, though he learns enough of both +to be very useful to him hereafter; but to lead him to discover +_truths_ concerning forms and numbers, lines and angles, for himself. + +Thus in the play-lessons the teacher simply rules the order in which +the child shall approach a new thing, and gives him the correct +names which, henceforth, he must always use; but the observation of +resemblances and differences (that groundwork of all knowledge), the +reasoning from one point to another, and the conclusions he arrives +at, are all his own; he is only led to see his mistake if he makes +one. The child handles every object from which he is taught, and +learns to reproduce it. + +It is not enough to say that any ordinary system of object teaching in +the hands of an ingenious teacher will serve the purpose or take the +place of the kindergarten. People who say this evidently have no +conception of Froebel's plan, in which the simultaneous training of +head, heart, and hand is the most striking characteristic. + +The kindergarten is mainly distinguished from the later instruction of +the school by making the knowledge of facts and the cultivation of +the memory subordinate to the development of observation and to the +appropriate activity of the child, physical, mental, and moral. Its +aim is to utilize the now almost wasted time from four to six years, a +time when all negligent and ignorant mothers leave the child to chance +development, and when the most careful mother cannot train her +child into the practice of social virtues so well as the truly wise +kindergartner who works with her. "We learn through doing" is the +watchword of the kindergarten, but it must be a _doing_ which blossoms +into _being_, or it does not fulfill its ideal, for it is character +building which is to go on in the kindergarten, or it has missed +Froebel's aim. + +What does the kindergarten do for children under six years of age? +What has it accomplished when it sends the child to the primary +school? I do not mean what Froebel hoped could be done, or what is +occasionally accomplished with bright children and a gifted teacher, +or even what is done in good private kindergartens, for that is yet +more; but I mean what is actually done for children by charitable +organizations, which are really doing the work of the state. + +I think they can claim tangible results which are wholly remarkable; +and yet they do not work for results, or expect much visible fruit in +these tender years, from a culture which is so natural, child-like, +and unobtrusive that its very outward simplicity has caused it to be +regarded as a plaything. + +In glancing over the acquirements of the child who has left the +kindergarten, and has been actually _taught_ nothing in the ordinary +acceptation of the word, we find that he has worked, experimented, +invented, compared, reproduced. All things have been revealed in the +doing, and productive activity has enlightened and developed the mind. + +First, as to arithmetic. It does not come first, but though you +speak with the tongues of men and angels, and make not mention of +arithmetic, it profiteth you nothing. The First Gift shows one object, +and the children get an idea of one whole; in the Second they receive +three whole objects again, but of different form; in the Third +and Fourth, the regularly divided cube is seen, and all possible +combinations of numbers as far as eight are made. In the Fifth +Gift the child sees three and its multiples; in fractions, halves, +quarters, eighths, thirds, ninths, and twenty-sevenths. With the +Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Gifts the field is practically unlimited. + +Second, as to the child's knowledge of form, size, and proportion. His +development has been quite extensive: he knows, not always by name, +but by their characteristics, vertical, horizontal, slanting, and +curved lines; squares, oblongs; equal sided, blunt and sharp angled +triangles; five, six, seven and eight sided figures; spheres, +cylinders, cubes, and prisms. All this elementary geometry has, of +course, been learned "baby fashion," in a purely experimental way, but +nothing will have to be unlearned when the pupil approaches geometry +later in a more thoroughly scientific spirit. + +Third, as to the cultivation of language, of the power of expression, +we cannot speak with too much emphasis. The vocabulary of the +kindergarten child of the lower classes is probably greater than +that of his mother or father. You can see how this comes about. +The teachers themselves are obliged to make a study of simple, +appropriate, expressive, and explicit language; the child is led to +express all his thoughts freely in proper words from the moment he +can lisp; he is trained through singing to distinct and careful +enunciation, and the result is a remarkably good power of language. +I make haste to say that this need not necessarily be used for the +purposes of chattering in the school. + +The child has not, of course, learned to read and write, but reading +is greatly simplified by his accurate power of observation, and his +practice of comparing forms. The work of reading is play to a child +whose eye has been thus trained. As to writing, we precede it by +drawing, which is the sensible and natural plan. The child will have +had a good deal of practice with slate and lead pencil; will have +drawn all sorts of lines and figures from dictation, and have created +numberless designs of his own. + +If, in short, our children could spend two years in a good +kindergarten, they would not only bring to the school those elements +of knowledge which are required, but would have learned in some degree +how to _learn_, and, in the measure of their progress, _have nothing +to unlearn_. + +Let those who labor, day by day, with inert minds never yet awakened +to a wish for knowledge, a sense of beauty, or a feeling of pleasure +in mental activity, tell us how much valuable school time they would +save, if the raw material were thus prepared to their hand. "After +spending five or six years at home or in the street, without training +or discipline, the child is sent to school and is expected to learn at +once. He looks upon the strange, new life with amazement, yet without +understanding. Finally, his mind becomes familiar in a mechanical +manner, ill-suited to the tastes of a child, with the work and +exercises of primary instruction, the consequence being, very often, a +feeble body and a stuffed mind, the stuffing having very little more +effect upon the intellect than it has upon the organism of a roast +turkey." The kindergarten can remedy these intellectual difficulties, +beside giving the child an impulse toward moral self-direction, and a +capacity for working out his original ideas in visible and permanent +form, which will make him almost a new creature. It can, by taking the +child in season, set the wheels in motion, rouse all his best, finest, +and highest instincts, the purest, noblest, and most vivifying powers +of which he is possessed. + +There is a good deal of time spent in the kindergarten on the +cultivation of politeness and courtesy; and in the entirely social +atmosphere which is one of its principal features, the amenities of +polite society can be better practiced than elsewhere. + +The kindergarten aims in no way at making infant prodigies, but it +aims successfully at putting the little child in possession of every +faculty he is capable of using; at bringing him forward on lines he +will never need to forsake; at teaching within his narrow range what +he will never have to unlearn; and at giving him the wish to learn, +and the power of teaching himself. Its deep simplicity should always +be maintained, and no lover of childhood or thoughtful teacher would +wish it otherwise. It is more important that it should be kept pure +than that it should become popular. + +I have tried, thus, somewhat at length, to demonstrate that our +educational system cannot be perfect until we begin still earlier with +the child, and begin in a more childlike manner, though, at the same +time, earnestly and with definite purpose. In trying to make manhood +and womanhood, we sometimes treat children as little men and women, +not realizing that the most perfect childhood is the best basis for +strong manhood. + +Further, I have tried to show that Froebel's system gives us the only +rational beginning; but I confess frankly that to make it productive +of its vaunted results, it must be placed in the hands of thoroughly +trained kindergartners, fitted by nature and by education for their +most delicate, exacting, and sacred profession. + +Now as to compromises. The question is frequently asked, Cannot +the best things of the kindergarten be introduced in the primary +departments of the public school? The best thing of kindergartening +is the kindergarten itself, and nothing else will do; it would be +necessary to make very material changes in the primary class which +is to include a kindergarten--changes that are demanded by radically +different methods. + +The kindergarten should offer the child experience instead of +instruction; life instead of learning; practical child-life, a +miniature world, where he lives and grows, and learns and expands. No +primary teacher, were she Minerva herself, can work out Froebel's idea +successfully with sixty or seventy children under her sole care. + +You will see for yourselves that this simple, natural, motherly +instruction of babyhood cannot be transplanted bodily into the primary +school, where the teacher has fifty or sixty children who are beyond +the two most fruitful years which the kindergarten demands. Besides, +the teachers of the lower grades cannot introduce more than an +infinitesimal number of kindergarten exercises, and at the same time +keep up their full routine of primary studies and exercises. + +Any one who understands the double needs of the kindergarten and +primary school cannot fail to see this matter correctly, and as I +said before, we do not want a few kindergarten exercises, we want the +_kindergarten_. If teachers were all indoctrinated with the spirit of +Froebel's method, they would carry on its principles in dealing with +pupils of any age; but Froebel's kindergarten, pure and simple, +creates a place for children of four or five years, to begin their bit +of life-work; it is in no sense a school, nor must become so, or it +would lose its very essence and truest meaning. + +Let me show you a kindergarten! It is no more interesting than a good +school, but I want you to see the essential points of difference:-- + +It is a golden morning, a rare one in a long, rainy winter. As we turn +into the narrow, quiet street from the broader, noisy one, the sound +of a bell warns us that we are near the kindergarten building.... A +few belated youngsters are hurrying along,--some ragged, some patched, +some plainly and neatly clothed, some finishing a "portable breakfast" +thrust into their hands five minutes before, but all eager to be +there.... While the Lilliputian armies are wending their way from the +yard to their various rooms, we will enter the front door and look +about a little. + +The windows are wide open at one end of the great room. The walls are +tinted with terra cotta, and the woodwork is painted in Indian red. +Above the high wood dado runs a row of illuminated pictures of +animals,--ducks, pigeons, peacocks, calves, lambs, colts, and almost +everything else that goes upon two or four feet; so that the children +can, by simply turning in their seats, stroke the heads of their dumb +friends of the meadow and barnyard.... There are a great quantity of +bright and appropriate pictures on the walls, three windows full of +plants, a canary chirping in a gilded cage, a globe of gold-fish, an +open piano, and an old-fashioned sofa, which is at present adorned +with a small scrap of a boy who clutches a large slate in one hand, +and a mammoth lunch-pail in the other.... It is his first day, and he +looks as if his big brother had told him that he would be "walloped" +if he so much as winked. + +A half-dozen charming girls are fluttering about; charming, because, +whether plain or beautiful, they all look happy, earnest, womanly, +full to the brim of life. + + "A sweet, heart-lifting cheerfulness, + Like spring-time of the year, + Seems ever on their steps to wait." + +... They are tying on white aprons and preparing the day's +occupations, for they are a detachment of students from a kindergarten +training school, and are on duty for the day. + +One of them seats herself at the piano and plays a stirring march. The +army enters, each tiny soldier with a "shining morning face." Unhappy +homes are forgotten ... smiles everywhere ... everybody glad to +see everybody else ... happy children, happy teachers ... sunshiny +morning, sunshiny hearts ... delightful work in prospect, merry play +to follow it.... "Oh, it's a beautiful world, and I'm glad I'm in it;" +so the bright faces seem to say. + +It is a cosmopolitan regiment that marches into the free kindergartens +of our large cities. Curly yellow hair and rosy cheeks ... sleek +blonde braids and calm blue eyes ... swarthy faces and blue-black +curls ... woolly little pows and thick lips ... long arched noses and +broad flat ones. Here you see the fire and passion of the Southern +races, and the self-poise, serenity and sturdiness of Northern +nations. Pat is here with a gleam of humor in his eye ... Topsy, +all smiles and teeth,... Abraham, trading tops with Isaac, next in +line,... Gretchen and Hans, phlegmatic and dependable,... François, +never still for an instant,... Christina, rosy, calm, and +conscientious, and Duncan, as canny and prudent as any of his people. +Pietro is there, and Olaf, and little John Bull. + +What an opportunity for amalgamation of races, and for laying the +foundation of American citizenship! for the purely social atmosphere +of the kindergarten makes it a life-school, where each tiny citizen +has full liberty under the law of love, so long as he does not +interfere with the liberty of his neighbor. The phrase "Every man for +himself" is never heard, but "We are members one of another" is the +common principle of action. + +The circles are formed. Every pair of hands is folded, and bright eyes +are tightly closed to keep out "the world, the flesh," and the rest of +it, while children and teachers sing one of the morning hymns:-- + + "Birds and bees and flowers, + Every happy day, + Wake to greet the sunshine, + Thankful for its ray. + All the night they're silent, + Sleeping safe and warm; + God, who knows and loves them, + Will keep them from all harm. + + "So the little children, + Sleeping all the night, + Wake with each new morning, + Fresh and sweet and bright. + Thanking God their Father + For his loving care, + With their songs and praises + They make the day more fair." + +Then comes a trio of good-morning songs, with cordial handshakes and +scores of kisses wafted from finger-tips.... "Good-Morning, Merry +Sunshine," follows, and the sun, encouraged by having some notice +taken of him in this blind and stolid world, shines brighter than +ever.... The song, "Thumbs and Fingers say 'Good-Morning,'" brings two +thousand fingers fluttering in the air (10 x 200, if the sum seems too +difficult), and gives the eagle-eyed kindergartners an opportunity to +look for dirty paws and preach the needed sermon. + +It is Benny's birthday; five years old to-day. He chooses the songs he +likes best, and the children sing them with friendly energy.... "Three +cheers for Benny,--only three, now!" says the kindergartner.... They +are given with an enthusiasm that brings the neighbors to the windows, +and Benny, bursting with pride, blushes to the roots of his hair. The +children stop at three, however, and have let off a tremendous amount +of steam in the operation. Any wholesome device which accomplishes +this result is worthy of being perpetuated.... A draggled, forsaken +little street-cat sneaks in the door, with a pitiful mew. (I'm sure I +don't wonder! if one were tired of life, this would be just the place +to take a fresh start.) The children break into the song, "I Love +Little Pussy, Her Coat is so Warm," and the kindergartner asks the +small boy with the great lunch pail if he wouldn't like to give +the kitty a bit of something to eat. He complies with the utmost +solemnity, thinking this the queerest community he ever saw.... A +broken-winged pigeon appears on the window-sill and receives his +morning crumb; and now a chord from the piano announces a change of +programme. The children troop to their respective rooms fairly warmed +through with happiness and good will. Such a pleasant morning start to +some who have been "hustled" out of a bed that held several too many +in the night, washed a trifle (perhaps!), and sent off without a kiss, +with the echo of a sick mother's wails, or a father's oaths, ringing +in their ears! + +After a few minutes of cheerful preparation, all are busily at work. +Two divisions have gone into tiny, "quiet rooms" to grapple with the +intricacies of mathematical relations. A small boy, clad mostly in red +woolen suspenders, and large, high-topped boots, is passing boxes of +blocks. He is awkward and slow. The teacher could do it more quietly +and more quickly, but the kindergarten is a school of experience where +ease comes, by and by, as the lovely result of repeated practice.... +We hear an informal talk on fractions, while the cube is divided into +its component parts, and then see a building exercise "by direction." + +In the other "quiet room" they are building a village, each child +constructing, according to his own ideas, the part assigned him. One +of them starts a song, and they all join in-- + + "Oh! builders we would like to be, + So willing, skilled, and strong; + And while we work so cheerily, + The time will not seem long." + +"If we all do our parts well, the whole is sure to be beautiful," says +the teacher. "One rickety, badly made building will spoil our village. +I'm going to draw a blackboard picture of the children who live in the +village. Johnny, you haven't blocks enough for a good factory, and +Jennie hasn't enough for hers. Why don't you club together and make a +very large, fine one?" + +This working for a common purpose, yet with due respect for +individuality, is a very important part of kindergarten ethics. Thus +each child learns to subordinate himself to the claims and needs of +society without losing himself. "No man liveth to himself" is the +underlying principle of action. + +Coming back to the main room we find one division weaving bright paper +strips into a mat of contrasting color, and note that the occupation +trains the sense of color and of number, and develops dexterity in +both hands. + +But what is this merry group doing in the farther corner? These +are the babies, bless them! and they are modeling in clay. What an +inspired version of pat-a-cake and mud pies is this! The sleeves are +pushed up, showing a high-water mark of white arm joining little brown +paws. What fun! They are modeling the seals at the Cliff House (for +this chances to be a California kindergarten), and a couple of +two-year-olds, who have strayed into this retreat, not because there +was any room for them here, but because there wasn't any room for them +anywhere else, are slapping their lumps of clay with all their might, +and then rolling it into caterpillars and snakes. This last is not +very educational, you say, but "virtue kindles at the touch of joy," +and some lasting good must be born out of the rational happiness that +surrounds even the youngest babies in the kindergarten. + +The sand-table in this room represents an Italian or Chinese vegetable +garden. The children have rolled and leveled the surface and laid it +off in square beds with walks between. The planting has been "make +believe,"--a different kind of seed in each bed; but the children have +named them all, and labeled the various plats with pieces of paper, +fastened in cleft sticks. A gardener's house, made of blocks, +ornaments one corner, and near it are his tools,--watering-pot, hoe, +rake, spade, etc., all made in cardboard modeling. + +We now pass up-stairs. In one corner a family of twenty children are +laying designs in shining rings of steel; and as the graceful curves +multiply beneath their clever fingers, the kindergartner is telling +them a brief story of a little boy who made with these very rings a +design for a beautiful "rose window," which was copied in stained +glass and hung in a great stone church, of which his father was the +architect. + +Another group of children is folding, by dictation, a four-inch square +of colored paper. The most perfect eye-measure, as well as the most +delicate touch, is needed here. Constant reference to the "sharp" +angle, "blunt" angle, square corner and right angle, horizontal and +vertical lines, show that the foundation is being laid for a future +clear and practical knowledge of geometry, though the word itself is +never mentioned. + +There is one unhappy little boy in this class. He has broken the law +in some way, and he has no work. + +"That is a strange idea," said the woman visitor. "In my time work was +given to us as a punishment, and it seemed a most excellent plan." + +"We look at it in another way," said the kindergartner, smiling. "You +see, work is really the great panacea, the best thing in the world. +We are always trying to train the children to a love of industry and +helpful occupation; so we give work as a reward, and take it away as a +punishment." + +We pass into the sunny upper hall, and find some children surrounding +a large sand-table. The exercise is just finished, and we gaze upon +a miniature representation of the Cliff House embankment and curving +road, a section of beach with people standing (wooden ladies and +gentlemen from a Noah's Ark), a section of ocean, and a perfect Seal +Rock made of clay. + +"Run down-stairs, Timmy, please, and ask Miss Ellen if the seals are +ready." ... Timmy flies.... + +Presently the babies troop up, each carrying a precious seal extended +on two tiny hands or reposing in apron. They are all bursting with +importance.... Of course, the small Jonah of the flock tumbles up +the stairs, bumps his nose, and breaks his treasure.... There is an +agonized wail.... "_I bust my seal!_"... Some one springs to the +rescue.... The seal is patched, tears are dried, and harmony is +restored.... The animals are piled on the rocks in realistic +confusion, and another class comes out with twenty-five paper fishes +to be arranged in the waves of sand. + +Later on, the sound of a piano invites us to witness the kindergarten +play-time. + +Through kindergarten play the child comes to know the external world, +the physical qualities of the objects which surround him, their +motions, actions, and reactions upon each other, and the relations of +these phenomena to himself; a knowledge which forms the basis of +that which will be his permanent stock in life. The child's fancy is +healthily fed by images from outer life, and his curiosity by new +glimpses of knowledge from the world around him. + +There are plays and plays! The ordinary unguided games of childhood +are not to be confounded for an instant with the genuine kindergarten +plays, which have a far deeper significance than is apparent to the +superficial observer. "Take the simplest circle game; it illustrates +the whole duty of a good citizen in a republic. Anybody can spoil it, +yet nobody can play it alone; anybody can hinder its success, yet no +one can get credit for making it succeed." + +The play is over; the children march back to their seats, and settle +themselves to another period of work, which will last until noon. We +watch the bright faces, cheerful, friendly chatter, the busy figures +hovering over pleasant tasks, and feel that it has been good to pass a +morning in this republic of childhood. + +I have given you but a tithe of the whole argument, the veriest +bird's-eye view; neither is it romance; it is simple truth; and, that +being the case, how can we afford to keep Froebel and his wonderful +influence on childhood out of a system of free education which has +for its aim the development of a free, useful, liberty-loving, +self-governing people? It is too great a factor to be disregarded, and +the coming years will prove it so; for the value of such schools is no +longer a matter of theory; they have been tested by experience, and +have won favor wherever they have been given a fair trial But how +important a work they have to do in our scheme of public education is +clear only when we consider the conditions which our public schools +must meet nowadays. + +On the theory upon which the state undertakes the education of +its youth at all--the necessity of preparing them for intelligent +citizenship--a community might better economize, if economize it must, +anywhere else than on the beginning. An enormous immigrant population +is pressing upon us. The kindergarten reaches this class with great +power, and increases the insufficient education within the reach of +the children who must leave school for work at the age of thirteen or +fourteen. It increases it, too, by a kind of training which the child +gets from no other schooling, and brings him under influences which +are no small addition to the sum total of good in his life. + +The entire pedagogical world watches with interest the educational +awakening of which the kindergarten has been the dawn. If people +really want to make the experiment, if parents and tax-payers are +anxious to have for their younger children what seems so beneficent a +training, then let them accept no compromises, but, after taking the +children at a proper age, see to it that they get pure kindergarten, +true kindergarten, and _nothing_ but kindergarten till they enter the +primary school. Then they will be prepared for study, and begin it +with infinite zest, because they comprehend its meaning. Having had +that beautiful beginning, every later step will seem glad to the +child; he will not see knowledge "through a glass darkly, but face to +face," in her most charming aspect. + + + + +OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN + +"Where is thy brother Abel?" + + +We will suppose, for the sake of argument, that the rights of our own +children are secured; but though such security betokens an admirable +state of affairs, it does not cover the whole ground; there are always +the "other people's children." The still small voice is forever +saying, "Where is thy brother Abel?" + +There are many matters to be settled with regard to this brother +Abel, and we differ considerably as to the exact degree of our +responsibility towards him. Some people believe in giving him the +full privileges of brotherhood, in sharing alike with him in every +particular, and others insist that he is no brother of theirs at all. +Let the nationalists and socialists, and all the other reformers, +decide this vexed question as best they can, particularly with +regard to the "grown-up" Abels. Meanwhile, there are a few sweet and +wholesome services we can render to the brother Abels who are not big +enough to be nationalists and socialists, nor strong enough to fight +for their own rights. + +Among these kindly offices to be rendered, these practical agencies +for making Abel a happy, self-helpful, and consequently a better +little brother, we may surely count the free kindergarten. + +My mind convinces me that the kindergarten idea is true; not a perfect +thing as yet, but something on the road to perfection, something full +of vitality and power to grow; and my heart tells me that there is no +more beautiful or encouraging work in the universe than this of taking +hold of the unclaimed babies and giving them a bit of motherliness to +remember. The Free Kindergarten is the mother of the motherless, the +father of the fatherless; it is the great clean broom that sweeps the +streets of its parentless or worse than parentless children, to the +increased comfort of the children, and to the prodigious advantage of +the street. + +We are very much interested in the cleaning of city streets, and well +we may be; but up to this day a larger number of men and women have +concerned themselves actively about sweeping them of dust and dirt +than of sweeping them free of these children. If dirt is misplaced +matter, then what do you call a child who sits eternally on the +curbstones and in the gutters of our tenement-house districts? + +I believe that since the great Teacher of humanity spoke those simple +words of eternal tenderness that voiced the mother side of the divine +nature,--"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them +not,"--I believe that nothing more heartfelt, more effectual, has come +ringing down to us through the centuries than Froebel's inspired and +inspiring call, "Come! let us live with the children!" + +This work _pays_, in the best and the highest sense as well as the +most practical. + +It is true, the kindergartner has the child in her care but three +or four hours a day; it is true, in most instances, that the home +influences are all against her; it is true that the very people for +whom she is working do not always appreciate her efforts; it is true +that in many cases the child has been "born wrong," and to accomplish +any radical reform she ought to have begun with his grandfather; it is +true she makes failures now and then, and has to leave the sorry task +seemingly unperformed, giving into the mighty hand of One who bringeth +order out of chaos that which her finite strength has failed to +compass. She hears discouraging words sometimes, but they do not make +a profound impression, when she sees the weary yet beautiful days go +by, bringing with them hourly rewards greater than speech can testify! + +She sees homes changing slowly but surely under her quiet influence, +and that of those home missionaries, the children themselves; she gets +love in full measure where she least expected so radiant a flower to +bloom; she receives gratitude from some parents far beyond what she +is conscious of deserving; she sees the ancient and respectable +dirt-devil being driven from many of the homes where he has reigned +supreme for years; she sees brutal punishments giving place to sweeter +methods and kinder treatment; and she is too happy and too grateful, +for these and more encouragements, to be disheartened by any cynical +dissertations on the determination of the world to go wrong and the +impossibility of preventing it. + +It is easier, in my opinion, to raise money for, and interest the +general man or woman in, the free kindergarten than in any other +single charity. It is always comparatively easy to convince people of +a truth, but it is much easier to convince them of some truths than of +others. If you wish to found a library, build a hospital, establish a +diet-kitchen, open a bureau for woman's work, you are obliged to argue +more or less; but if you want money for neglected children, you have +generally only to state the case. Everybody agrees in the obvious +propositions, "An ounce of prevention"--"As the twig is bent"--"The +child is father to the man"--"Train up a child"--"A stitch in +time"--"Prevention is better than cure"--"Where the lambs go the +flocks will follow"--"It is easier to form than to reform," and so on +_ad infinitum_--proverbs multiply. The advantages of preventive work +are so palpable that as soon as you broach the matter you ought to +find your case proved and judgment awarded to the plaintiff, before +you open your lips to plead. + +The whole matter is crystal clear; for happily, where the protection +of children is concerned, there is not any free-trade side to the +argument. We need the public kindergarten educationally as the +vestibule to our school work. We need it as a philanthropic agent, +leading the child gently into right habits of thought, speech, and +action from the beginning. We need it to help in the absorption and +amalgamation of our foreign element; for the social training, the +opportunity for coöperation, and the purely republican form of +government in the kindergarten make it of great value in the +development of the citizen-virtues, as well as those of the +individual. + +I cannot help thinking that if this side of Froebel's educational idea +were more insisted on throughout our common school system, we should +be making better citizens and no worse scholars. + +If we believe in the kindergarten, if we wish it to become a part +of our educational system, we have only to let that belief--that +desire--crystallize into action; but we must not leave it for somebody +else to do. + +It is clearly every mother's business and father's +business,--spinsters and bachelors are not exempt, for they know not +in what hour they may be snatched from sweet liberty, and delivered +into sweeter slavery. It is a lawyer's business, for though it will +make the world better, it will not do it soon enough to lessen +litigation in his time. It is surely the doctor's business, and the +minister's, and that of the business man. It is in fact everybody's +business. + +The beauty of this kindergarten subject is its kaleidoscopic +character; it presents, like all truth, so many sides that you can +give every one that which he likes or is fitted to receive. Take the +aggressively self-made man who thinks our general scheme of education +unprofitable,--show him the kindergarten plan of manual training. He +rubs his hands. "Ah! that's common sense," he says. "I don't believe +in your colleges--I never went to college; you may count on me." + +Give the man of esthetic taste an idea of what the kindergarten does +in developing the sense of beauty; show him in what way it is a +primary art school. + +Explain to the musician your feeling about the influence of music; +show the physical-culture people that in the kindergarten the body has +an equal chance with mind and heart. + +Tell the great-hearted man some sad incident related to you by one of +your kindergartners, and as soon as he can see through his tears, show +him your subscription book. + +Give the woman who cannot reason (and there are such) an opportunity +to feel. There is more than one way of imbibing truth, fortunately, +and the brain is not the only avenue to knowledge. + +Finally, take the utter skeptic into the kindergarten and let +the children convert him. It commonly is a "him" by the way. The +mother-heart of the universe is generally sound on this subject. + +But getting money and opening kindergartens are not the only cares +of a Kindergarten Association. At least there are other grave +responsibilities which no other organization is so well fitted to +assume. These are the persistent working upon school boards until they +adopt the kindergarten, and, much more delicate and difficult, the +protection of its interests after it is adopted; the opening of +kindergartens in orphanages and refuges where they prove the most +blessed instrumentality for good; the spreading of such clear +knowledge and intelligent insight into the kindergarten as shall +prevent it from deterioration; the insistence upon kindergartners +properly trained by properly qualified training teachers; the gentle +mothering and inspiring and helping those kindergartners to realize +their fair ideals (for Froebel's method is a growing thing, and she +who does not grow with it is a hopeless failure); the proper equipment +and furnishing of class-rooms so that the public may have good +object-lessons before its eyes; the insistence upon the ultimate +ideals of the method as well as upon details and technicalities,--that +is, showing people its soul instead of forever rattling its dry bones. +And when all is said and done, the heaviest of the work falls upon the +kindergartner. That is why I am convinced that we should do everything +that sympathy and honor and money can do to exalt the office, so that +women of birth, breeding, culture, and genius shall gravitate to it. +The kindergartner it is who, living with the children, can make her +work an integral part of the neighborhood, the centre of its best +life. She it is, often, who must hold husband to wife, and parent +to child; she it is after all who must interpret the aims of the +Association, and translate its noble theories into practice. (Ay! and +there's the rub.) She it is, who must harmonize great ideal principles +with real and sometimes sorry conditions. A Kindergarten Association +stands for certain things before the community. It is the +kindergartner alone who can prove the truth, who can substantiate the +argument, who can show the facts. There is no more difficult +vocation in the universe, and no more honorable or sacred one. If a +kindergartner is looked upon, or paid, or treated as a nursery maid, +her ranks will gradually be recruited from that source. The ideal +teacher of little children is not born. We have to struggle on as best +we can, without her. She would be born if we knew how to conceive her, +how to cherish her. She needs the strength of Vulcan and the delicacy +of Ariel; she needs a child's heart, a woman's heart, a mother's +heart, in one; she needs clear judgment and ready sympathy, strength +of will, equal elasticity, keen insight, oversight; the buoyancy of +hope, the serenity of faith, the tenderness of patience. "The hope of +the world lies in the children." When we are better mothers, when men +are better fathers, there will be better children and a better world. +The sooner we feel the value of beginnings, the sooner we realize that +we can put bunglers and botchers anywhere else better than in nursery, +kindergarten, or primary school (there are no three places in the +universe so "big with Fate"), the sooner we shall arrive at better +results. + +I am afraid it is chiefly women's work. Of course men can be useful +in many little ways; such as giving money and getting other people +to give it, in influencing legislation, interviewing school boards, +securing buildings, presiding over meetings, and giving a general air +of strength and solidity to the undertaking. But the chief plotting +and planning and working out of details must be done by women. The +male genius of humanity begets the ideas of which each century has +need (at least it is so said, and I have never had the courage to deny +it or the time to look it up); but the female genius, I am sure, has +to work them out, and "to help is to do the work of the world." + +If one can give money, if only a single subscription, let her give +it; if she can give time, let her give that; if she has no time for +absolute work, perhaps she has time for the right word spoken in due +season; failing all else, there is no woman alive, worthy the name, +who cannot give a generous heartthrob, a warm hand-clasp, a sunny, +helpful smile, a ready tear, to a cause that concerns itself with +childhood, as a thank-offering for her own children, a pledge for +those the hidden future may bring her, or a consolation for empty +arms. + +There is always time to do the thing that _ought_ to be, that _must_ +be done, and for that matter who shall fix the limit to our powers of +helpfulness? It is the unused pump that wheezes. If our bounty be dry, +cross, and reluctant, it is because we do not continually summon and +draw it out. But if, like the patriarch Jacob's, our well is deep, it +cannot be exhausted. While we draw upon it, it draws upon the unspent +springs, the hill-sides, the clouds, the air, and the sea; and the +great source of power must itself suspend and be bankrupt before ours +can fail. + +The kindergarten is not for the poor child alone, a charity; neither +is it for the rich child alone, a luxury, corrective, or antidote; +but the ideas of which it tries to be the expression are the proper +atmosphere for every child. + +It is a promise of health, happiness, and usefulness to many an +unfortunate little waif, whose earthly inheritance is utter blackness, +and whose moral blight can be outgrown and succeeded by a development +of intelligence and love of virtue. + +The child of poverty and vice has still within him, however overlaid +by the sins of ancestry, a germ of good that is capable of growth, if +reached in time. Let us stretch out a tender strong hand, and touching +that poor germ of good lifting its feeble head in a wilderness of +evil, help it to live and thrive and grow! + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Children's Rights + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10335 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9abd8f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10335 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10335) diff --git a/old/10335-8.txt b/old/10335-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..47d70f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10335-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4798 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Children's Rights and Others +by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Children's Rights and Others + +Authors: Kate Douglas Wiggin + Nora Smith + +Release Date: November 29, 2003 [Eook #10335] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDREN'S RIGHTS *** + + + + +Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + + + + +CHILDREN'S RIGHTS + +_A BOOK OF NURSERY LOGIC_ + +BY + +KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN + + "A court as of angels, + A public not to be bribed. + Not to be entreated, + Not to be overawed." + + +1892 + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +I am indebted to the Editors of Scribner's Magazine, the Cosmopolitan, +and Babyhood, for permission to reprint the three essays which have +appeared in their pages. The others are published for the first time. + +It may be well to ward off the full seriousness of my title "Nursery +Logic" by saying that a certain informality in all of these papers +arises from the fact that they were originally talks given before +members of societies interested in the training of children. + +Three of them--"Children's Stories," "How Shall we Govern our +Children," and "The Magic of 'Together'"--have been written for this +book by my sister, Miss Nora Smith. + +K.D.W. + +NEW YORK, _August_, 1892. + + + + +CONTENTS + + THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD + CHILDREN'S PLAYS + CHILDREN'S PLAYTHINGS + WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ? + CHILDREN'S STORIES. _Nora A. Smith_ + THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO SOCIAL REFORM + HOW SHALL WE GOVERN OUR CHILDREN? _Nora A. Smith_ + THE MAGIC OF "TOGETHER." _Nora A. Smith_. + THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL + OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN + + + + +THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD + +"Give me liberty, or give me death!" + + +The subject of Children's Rights does not provoke much sentimentalism +in this country, where, as somebody says, the present problem of the +children is the painless extinction of their elders. I interviewed +the man who washes my windows, the other morning, with the purpose of +getting at the level of his mind in the matter. + +"Dennis," I said, as he was polishing the glass, "I am writing an +article on the 'Rights of Children.' What do you think about it?" +Dennis carried his forefinger to his head in search of an idea, for he +is not accustomed to having his intelligence so violently assaulted, +and after a moment's puzzled thought he said, "What do I think about +it, mum? Why, I think we'd ought to give 'em to 'em. But Lor', mum, +if we don't, they _take_ 'em, so what's the odds?" And as he left the +room I thought he looked pained that I should spin words and squander +ink on such a topic. + +The French dressmaker was my next victim. As she fitted the collar of +an effete civilization on my nineteenth century neck, I put the same +question I had given to Dennis. + +"The rights of the child, madame?" she asked, her scissors poised in +air. + +"Yes, the rights of the child." + +"Is it of the American child, madame?" + +"Yes," said I nervously, "of the American child." + +"Mon Dieu! he has them!" + +This may well lead us to consider rights as opposed to privileges. A +multitude of privileges, or rather indulgences, can exist with a total +disregard of the child's rights. You remember the man who said he +could do without necessities if you would give him luxuries enough. +The child might say, "I will forego all my privileges, if you will +only give me my rights: a little less sentiment, please,--more +justice!" There are women who live in perfect puddles of maternal +love, who yet seem incapable of justice; generous to a fault, perhaps, +but seldom just. + +_Who owns the child_? If the parent owns him,--mind, body, and soul, +we must adopt one line of argument; if, as a human being, he owns +himself, we must adopt another. In my thought the parent is simply a +divinely appointed guardian, who acts for his child until he attains +what we call the age of discretion,--that highly uncertain period +which arrives very late in life with some persons, and not at all with +others. + +The rights of the parent being almost unlimited, it is a very delicate +matter to decide just when and where they infringe upon the rights +of the child. There is no standard; the child is the creature of +circumstances. + +The mother can clothe him in Jaeger wool from head to foot, or keep +him in low neck, short sleeves and low stockings, because she thinks +it pretty; she can feed him exclusively on raw beef, or on vegetables, +or on cereals; she can give him milk to drink, or let him sip his +father's beer and wine; put him to bed at sundown, or keep him up till +midnight; teach him the catechism and the thirty-nine articles, or +tell him there is no God; she can cram him with facts before he has +any appetite or power of assimilation, or she can make a fool of him. +She can dose him with old-school remedies, with new-school remedies, +or she can let him die without remedies because she doesn't believe +in the reality of disease. She is quite willing to legislate for +his stomach, his mind, his soul, her teachableness, it goes without +saying, being generally in inverse proportion to her knowledge; for +the arrogance of science is humility compared with the pride of +ignorance. + +In these matters the child has no rights. The only safeguard is the +fact that if parents are absolutely brutal, society steps in, removes +the untrustworthy guardian, and appoints another. But society does +nothing, can do nothing, with the parent who injures the child's soul, +breaks his will, makes him grow up a liar or a coward, or murders +his faith. It is not very long since we decided that when a parent +brutally abused his child, it could be taken from him and made the +ward of the state; the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to +Children is of later date than the Society for the Prevention of +Cruelty to Animals. At a distance of a century and a half we can +hardly estimate how powerful a blow Rousseau struck for the rights of +the child in his educational romance, "Emile." It was a sort of gospel +in its day. Rousseau once arrested and exiled, his book burned by the +executioner (a few years before he would have been burned with it), +his ideas naturally became a craze. Many of the reforms for which he +passionately pleaded are so much a part of our modern thought that we +do not realize the fact that in those days of routine, pedantry and +slavish worship of authority, they were the daring dreams of an +enthusiast, the seeming impossible prophecy of a new era. Aristocratic +mothers were converts to his theories, and began nursing their +children as he commanded them. Great lords began to learn handicrafts; +physical exercise came into vogue; everything that Emile did, other +people wanted to do. + +With all Rousseau's vagaries, oddities, misconceptions, posings, he +rescued the individuality of the child and made a tremendous plea for +a more natural, a more human education. He succeeded in making people +listen where Rabelais and Montaigne had failed; and he inspired other +teachers, notably Pestalozzi and Froebel, who knit up his ragged seams +of theory, and translated his dreams into possibilities. + +Rousseau vindicated to man the right of "Being." Pestalozzi said +"Grow!" Froebel, the greatest of the three, cried "Live! you give +bread to men, but I give men to themselves!" + +The parent whose sole answer to criticism or remonstrance is "I have +a right to do what I like with my own child!" is the only impossible +parent. His moral integument is too thick to be pierced with any shaft +however keen. To him we can only say as Jacques did to Orlando, "God +be with you; let's meet as little as we can." + +But most of us dare not take this ground. We may not philosophize or +formulate, we may not live up to our theories, but we feel in greater +or less degree the responsibility of calling a human being hither, and +the necessity of guarding and guiding, in one way or another, that +which owes its being to us. + +We should all agree, if put to the vote, that a child has a right to +be well born. That was a trenchant speech of Henry Ward Beecher's on +the subject of being "born again;" that if he could be born right the +first time he'd take his chances on the second. "Hereditary rank," +says Washington Irving, "may be a snare and a delusion, but hereditary +virtue is a patent of innate nobility which far outshines the blazonry +of heraldry." + +Over the unborn our power is almost that of God, and our +responsibility, like His toward us; as we acquit ourselves toward +them, so let Him deal with us. + +Why should we be astonished at the warped, cold, unhappy, suspicious +natures we see about us, when we reflect upon the number of +unwished-for, unwelcomed children in the world;--children who at +best were never loved until they were seen and known, and were often +grudged their being from the moment they began to be. I wonder if +sometimes a starved, crippled, agonized human body and soul does not +cry out, "Why, O man, O woman--why, being what I am, have you suffered +me to be?" + +Physiologists and psychologists agree that the influences affecting +the child begin before birth. At what hour they begin, how far they +can be controlled, how far directed and modified, modern science is +not assured; but I imagine those months of preparation were given for +other reasons than that the cradle and the basket and the wardrobe +might be ready;--those long months of supreme patience, when the +life-germ is growing from unconscious to conscious being, and when a +host of mysterious influences and impulses are being carried silently +from mother to child. And if "beauty born of murmuring sound shall +pass into" its "face," how much more subtly shall the grave strength +of peace, the sunshine of hope and sweet content, thrill the delicate +chords of being, and warm the tender seedling into richer life. + +Mrs. Stoddard speaks of that sacred passion, maternal love, that "like +an orange-tree, buds and blossoms and bears at once." When a true +woman puts her finger for the first time into the tiny hand of +her baby, and feels that helpless clutch which tightens her very +heart-strings, she is born again with the new-born child. + +A mother has a sacred claim on the world; even if that claim rest +solely on the fact of her motherhood, and not, alas, on any other. Her +life may be a cipher, but when the child comes, God writes a figure +before it, and gives it value. + +Once the child is born, one of his inalienable rights, which we too +often deny him, is the right to his childhood. + +If we could only keep from untwisting the morning-glory, only be +willing to let the sunshine do it! Dickens said real children went out +with powder and top-boots; and yet the children of Dickens's time were +simple buds compared with the full-blown miracles of conventionality +and erudition we raise nowadays. + +There is no substitute for a genuine, free, serene, healthy, +bread-and-butter childhood. A fine manhood or womanhood can be built +on no other foundation; and yet our American homes are so often filled +with hurry and worry, our manner of living is so keyed to concert +pitch, our plan of existence so complicated, that we drag the babies +along in our wake, and force them to our artificial standards, +forgetting that "sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make haste." + +If we must, or fancy that we must, lead this false, too feverish life, +let us at least spare them! By keeping them forever on tiptoe we are +in danger of producing an army of conventional little prigs, who know +much more than they should about matters which are profitless even to +their elders. + +In the matter of clothing, we sacrifice children continually to the +"Moloch of maternal vanity," as if the demon of dress did not demand +our attention, sap our energy, and thwart our activities soon enough +at best. + +And the right kind of children, before they are spoiled by fine +feathers, do detest being "dressed up" beyond a certain point. + +A tiny maid of my acquaintance has an elaborate Parisian gown, which +is fastened on the side from top to bottom in some mysterious fashion, +by a multitude of tiny buttons and cords. It fits the dear little +mouse like a glove, and terminates in a collar which is an instrument +of torture to a person whose patience has not been developed from year +to year by similar trials. The getting of it on is anguish, and as to +the getting of it off, I heard her moan to her nurse the other night, +as she wriggled her curly head through the too-small exit, "Oh I only +God knows how I hate gettin' peeled out o' this dress!" + +The spectacle of a small boy whom I meet sometimes in the horse-cars, +under the wing of his predestinate idiot of a mother, wrings my very +soul. Silk hat, ruffled shirt, silver-buckled shoes, kid gloves, +cane, velvet suit, with one two-inch pocket which is an insult to his +sex,--how I pity the pathetic little caricature! Not a spot has he to +locate a top, or a marble, or a nail, or a string, or a knife, or a +cooky, or a nut; but as a bloodless substitute for these necessities +of existence, he has a toy watch (that will not go) and an embroidered +handkerchief with cologne on it. + +As to keeping children too clean for any mortal use, I suppose nothing +is more disastrous. The divine right to be gloriously dirty a large +portion of the time, when dirt is a necessary consequence of direct, +useful, friendly contact with all sorts of interesting, helpful +things, is too clear to be denied. + +The children who have to think of their clothes before playing with +the dogs, digging in the sand, helping the stableman, working in the +shed, building a bridge, or weeding the garden, never get half their +legitimate enjoyment out of life. And unhappy fate, do not many of us +have to bring up children without a vestige of a dog, or a sand heap, +or a stable, or a shed, or a brook, or a garden! Conceive, if you can, +a more difficult problem than giving a child his rights in a city +flat. You may say that neither do we get ours: but bad as we are, +we are always good enough to wish for our children the joys we miss +ourselves. + +Thrice happy is the country child, or the one who can spend a part of +his young life among living things, near to Nature's heart How blessed +is the little toddling thing who can lie flat in the sunshine and +drink in the beauty of the "green things growing," who can live among +the other little animals, his brothers and sisters in feathers and +fur; who can put his hand in that of dear mother Nature, and learn his +first baby lessons without any meddlesome middleman; who is cradled in +sweet sounds "from early morn to dewy eve," lulled to his morning nap +by hum of crickets and bees, and to his night's slumber by the sighing +of the wind, the plash of waves, or the ripple of a river. He is a +part of the "shining web of creation," learning to spell out the +universe letter by letter as he grows sweetly, serenely, into a +knowledge of its laws. + +I have a good deal of sympathy for the little people during their +first eight or ten years, when they are just beginning to learn life's +lessons, and when the laws which govern them must often seem so +strange and unjust. It is not an occasion for a big burning sympathy, +perhaps, but for a tender little one, with a half smile in it, as we +think of what we were, and "what in young clothes we hoped to be, and +of how many things have come across;" for childhood is an eternal +promise which no man ever keeps. + +The child has a right to a place of his own, to things of his own, to +surroundings which have some relation to his size, his desires, and +his capabilities. + +How should we like to live, half the time, in a place where the piano +was twelve feet tall, the door knobs at an impossible height, and the +mantel shelf in the sky; where every mortal thing was out of reach +except a collection of highly interesting objects on dressing-tables +and bureaus, guarded, however, by giants and giantesses, three times +as large and powerful as ourselves, forever saying, "mustn't touch;" +and if we did touch we should be spanked, and have no other method of +revenge save to spank back symbolically on the inoffensive persons of +our dolls? + +Things in general are so disproportionate to the child's stature, so +far from his organs of prehension, so much above his horizontal line +of vision, so much ampler than his immediate surroundings, that there +is, between him and all these big things, a gap to be filled only by +a microcosm of playthings which give him his first object-lessons. In +proof of which let him see a lady richly dressed, he hardly notices +her; let him see a doll in similar attire, he will be ravished with +ecstasy. As if to show that it was the disproportion of the sizes +which unfitted him to notice the lady, the larger he grows the bigger +he wants his toys, till, when his wish reaches to life-sizes, good-by +to the trumpery, and onward with realities.[1] + +[Footnote 1: E. Seguin.] + +My little nephew was prowling about my sitting-room during the absence +of his nurse. I was busy writing, and when he took up a delicate pearl +opera-glass, I stopped his investigations with the time-honored, "No, +no, dear, that's for grown-up people." + +"Hasn't it got any little-boy end?" he asked wistfully. + +That "little-boy end" to things is sometimes just what we fail to +give, even when we think we are straining every nerve to surround the +child with pleasures. For children really want to do the very same +things that we want to do, and yet have constantly to be thwarted for +their own good. They would like to share all our pleasures; keep the +same hours, eat the same food; but they are met on every side with the +seemingly impertinent piece of dogmatism, "It isn't good for little +boys," or "It isn't nice for little girls." + +Robert Louis Stevenson shows, in his "Child's Garden of Verses," that +he is one of the very few people who remember and appreciate this +phase of childhood. Could anything be more deliciously real than these +verses? + + "In winter I get up at night, + And dress by yellow candle light: + In summer, quite the other way, + I have to go to bed by day; + I have to go to bed and see + The birds still hopping on the tree, + And hear the grown-up people's feet + Still going past me on the street. + And does it not seem hard to you, + That when the sky is clear and blue, + And I should like so much to play, + I have to go to bed by day?" + +Mr. Hopkinson Smith has written a witty little monograph on this +relation of parents and children. I am glad to say, too, that it is +addressed to fathers,--that "left wing" of the family guard, which +generally manages to retreat during any active engagement, leaving the +command to the inferior officer. This "left wing" is imposing on all +full-dress parades, but when there is any fighting to be done it +retires rapidly to the rear, and only wheels into line when the smoke +of the conflict has passed out of the atmosphere. + +"Open your heart and your arms wide for your daughters," he says, +"and keep them wide open; don't leave all that to their mothers. An +intimacy will grow with the years which will fit them for another +man's arms and heart when they exchange yours for his. Make a chum of +your boy,--hail-fellow-well-met, a comrade. Get down to the level of +his boyhood, and bring him gradually up to the level of your manhood. +Don't look at him from the second story window of your fatherly +superiority and example. Go into the front yard and play ball with +him. When he gets into scrapes, don't thrash him as your father did +you. Put your arm around his neck, and say you know it is pretty bad, +but that he can count on you to help him out, and that you will, every +single time, and that if he had let you know earlier, it would have +been all the easier." + +Again, the child has a right to more justice in his discipline than we +are generally wise and patient enough to give him. He is by and by to +come in contact with a world where cause and effect follow each other +inexorably. He has a right to be taught, and to be governed by the +laws under which he must afterwards live; but in too many cases +parents interfere so mischievously and unnecessarily between causes +and effects that the child's mind does not, cannot, perceive the logic +of things as it should. We might write a pathetic remonstrance against +the Decline and Fall of Domestic Authority. There is food for thought, +and perhaps for fear, in the subject; but the facts are obvious, and +their inevitableness must strike any thoughtful observer of the times. +"The old educational regime was akin to the social systems with +which it was contemporaneous; and similarly, in the reverse of these +characteristics, our modern modes of culture correspond to our more +liberal religious and political institutions." + +It is the age of independent criticism. The child problem is merely +one phase of the universal problem that confronts society. It seems +likely that the rod of reason will have to replace the rod of birch. +Parental authority never used to be called into question; neither was +the catechism, nor the Bible, nor the minister. How should parents +hope to escape the universal interrogation point leveled at everything +else? In these days of free speech it is hopeless to suppose that even +infants can be muzzled. We revel in our republican virtues; let us +accept the vices of those virtues as philosophically as possible. + +A lady has been advertising in a New York paper for a German governess +"to mind a little girl three years old." The lady's English is +doubtless defective, but the fate of the governess is thereby +indicated with much greater candor than is usual. + +The mother who is most apt to infringe on the rights of her child (of +course with the best intentions) is the "firm" person, afflicted with +the "lust of dominion." There is no elasticity in her firmness to +prevent it from degenerating into obstinacy. It is not the firmness of +the tree that bends without breaking, but the firmness of a certain +long-eared animal whose force of character has impressed itself on the +common mind and become proverbial. + +Jean Paul says if "_Pas trop gouverner_" is the best rule in politics, +it is equally true of discipline. + +But if the child is unhappy who has none of his rights respected, +equally wretched is the little despot who has more than his own +rights, who has never been taught to respect the rights of others, and +whose only conception of the universe is that of an absolute monarchy +in which he is sole ruler. + +"Children rarely love those who spoil them, and never trust them. +Their keen young sense detects the false note in the character and +draws its own conclusions, which are generally very just." + +The very best theoretical statement of a wise disciplinary method that +I know is Herbert Spencer's. "Let the history of your domestic rule +typify, in little, the history of our political rule; at the outset, +autocratic control, where control is really needful; by and by an +incipient constitutionalism, in which the liberty of the subject gains +some express recognition; successive extensions of this liberty of the +subject; gradually ending in parental abdication." + +We must not expect children to be too good; not any better than we +ourselves, for example; no, nor even as good. Beware of hothouse +virtue. "Already most people recognize the detrimental results of +intellectual precocity; but there remains to be recognized the truth +that there is a moral precocity which is also detrimental. Our higher +moral faculties, like our higher intellectual ones, are comparatively +complex. By consequence, they are both comparatively late in their +evolution. And with the one as with the other, a very early activity +produced by stimulation will be at the expense of the future +character." + +In these matters the child has a right to expect examples. He lives in +the senses; he can only learn through object lessons, can only +pass from the concrete example of goodness to a vision of abstract +perfection. + + "O'er wayward childhood wouldst thou hold firm rule. + And sun thee in the light of happy faces? + Love, Hope and Patience, these must be thy graces, + And in thine own heart let them first keep school." + +Yes, "in thine own heart let them first keep school!" I cannot see why +Max O'Rell should have exclaimed with such unction that if he were to +be born over again he would choose to be an American woman. He has +never tried being one. He does not realize that she not only has in +hand the emancipation of the American woman, but the reformation of +the American man and the education of the American child. If that +triangular mission in life does not keep her out of mischief and make +her the angel of the twentieth century, she is a hopeless case. + +Spencer says, "It is a truth yet remaining to be recognized that the +last stage in the mental development of each man and woman is to be +reached only through the proper discharge of the parental duties. And +when this truth is recognized, it will be seen how admirable is the +ordination in virtue of which human beings are led by their strongest +affections to subject themselves to a discipline which they would else +elude." + +Women have been fighting many battles for the higher education these +last few years; and they have nearly gained the day. When at last +complete victory shall perch upon their banners, let them make one +more struggle, and that for the highest education, which shall include +a specific training for parenthood, a subject thus far quite omitted +from the curriculum. + +The mistaken idea that instinct is a sufficient guide in so delicate +and sacred and vital a matter, the comfortable superstition that +babies bring their own directions with them,--these fictions have +existed long enough. If a girl asks me why, since the function of +parenthood is so uncertain, she should make the sacrifices necessary +to such training, sacrifices entailed by this highest education of +body, mind, and spirit, I can only say that it is better to be ready, +even if one is not called for, than to be called for and found +wanting. + + + + +CHILDREN'S PLAYS + +"The plays of the age are the heart-leaves of the whole future life, +for the whole man is visible in them in his finest capacities and his +innermost being." + + +Mr. W.W. Newell, in his admirable book on "Children's Games," traces +to their proper source all the familiar plays which in one form or +another have been handed down from generation to generation, and are +still played wherever and whenever children come together in any +numbers. The result of his sympathetic and scholarly investigations +is most interesting to the student of childhood, and as valuable +philologically as historically. In speaking of the old rounds and +rhymed formulas which have preserved their vitality under the effacing +hand of Time, he says,-- + +"It will be obvious that many of these well-known game-rhymes were not +composed by children. They were formerly played, as in many countries +they are still played, by young persons of marriageable age, or even +by mature men and women.... The truth is, that in past centuries all +the world, judged by our present standard, seems to have been a little +childish. The maids of honor of Queen Elizabeth's day, if we may +credit the poets, were devoted to the game of tag, with which even +Diana and her nymphs were supposed to amuse themselves.... + +"We need not, however, go to remote times or lands for illustration +which is supplied by New England country towns of a generation ago. +Dancing, under that name, was little practiced; the amusement of young +people at their gatherings was "playing games." These games generally +resulted in forfeits, to be redeemed by kissing, in every possible +variety of position and method. Many of these games were rounds; but +as they were not called dances, and as man-kind pays more attention to +words than things, the religious conscience of the community, which +objected to dancing, took no alarm.... Such were the pleasures of +young men and women from sixteen to twenty-five years of age. Nor were +the participants mere rustics; many of them could boast as good blood, +as careful breeding, and as much intelligence, as any in the land. +Neither was the morality or sensitiveness of the young women of that +day in any respect inferior to what it is at present. + +"Now that our country towns are become mere outlying suburbs of +cities, these remarks may be read with a smile at the rude simplicity +of old-fashioned American life. But the laugh should be directed, not +at our own country, but at the bygone age. It must be remembered that +in mediaeval Europe, and in England till the end of the seventeenth +century, a kiss was the usual salutation of a lady to a gentleman whom +she wished to honor.... The Portuguese ladies who came to England with +the Infanta in 1662 were not used to the custom; but, as Pepys says, +in ten days they had 'learnt to kiss and look freely up and down.' +Kissing in games was, therefore, a matter of course, in all ranks.... + +"In respectable and cultivated French society, at the time of which we +speak, the amusements, not merely of young people but of their elders +as well, were every whit as crude. + +"Madame Celnart, a recognized authority on etiquette, compiled in 1830 +a very curious complete manual of society games recommending them as +recreation for _business men_.... 'Their varying movement,' she +says, 'their diversity, the gracious and gay ideas which these games +inspire, the decorous caresses which they permit, all this combines +to give real amusement. These caresses can alarm neither modesty +nor prudence, since a kiss in honor given and taken before numerous +witnesses is often an act of propriety.'" + +The old ballads and nursery rhymes doubtless had much of innocence and +freshness in them, but they only come to us nowadays tainted by the +odors of city streets. The pleasure and poetry of the original essence +are gone, and vulgarity reigns triumphant. If you listen to the words +of the games which children play in school yards, on sidewalks, and in +the streets on pleasant evenings, you will find that most of them, +to say the least, border closely on vulgarity; that they are utterly +unsuitable to childhood, notwithstanding that they are played with +great glee; that they are, in fine, common, rude, silly, and boorish. +One can never watch a circle of children going through the vulgar +inanities of "Jenny O'Jones," "Say, daughter, will you get up?" "Green +Gravel," or "Here come two ducks a-roving," without unspeakable +shrinking and moral disgust. These plays are dying out; let them die, +for there is a hint of happier things abroad in the air. + +The wisest mind of wise antiquity told the riddle of the Sphinx, if +having ears to hear we would hear. "Our youth should be educated in a +stricter rule from the first, for if education becomes lawless and +the youths themselves become lawless, they can never grow up into +well-conducted or meritorious citizens; and _the education must begin +with their plays_." + +We talk a great deal about the strength of early impressions. I wonder +if we mean all we say; we do not live up to it, at all events. "In +childish play deep meaning lies." "The hand that rocks the cradle is +the hand that rules the world." "Give me the first six years of a +child's life, and I care not who has the rest." "The child of six +years has learned already far more than a student learns in his entire +university course." "The first six years are as full of advancement as +the six days of creation," and so on. If we did believe these things +fully, we should begin education with conscious intelligence at the +cradle, if not earlier. The great German dramatic critic, Schlegel, +once sneered at the brothers Jacob and William Grimm, for what he +styled their "meditation on the insignificant." These two brothers, +says a wiser student, an historian of German literature, were animated +by a "pathetic optimism, and possessed that sober imagination which +delights in small things and narrow interests, lingering over them +with strong affection." They explored villages and hamlets for obscure +legends and folk tales, for nursery songs, even; and bringing to bear +on such things at once a human affection and a wise scholarship, their +meditation on the insignificant became the basis of their scientific +greatness and the source of their popularity. Every child has read +some of Grimm's household tales, "The Frog Prince," "Hans in Luck," +or the "Two Brothers;" but comparatively few people realize, perhaps, +that this collection of stories is the foundation of the modern +science of folk-lore, and a by-play in researches of philology and +history which place the name of Grimm among the benefactors of our +race. I refer to these brothers because they expressed one of the +leading theories of the new education. + +"My principle," said Jacob Grimm, "has been to undervalue nothing, +but to utilize the small for the illustration of the great." When +Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten, in the course of +his researches began to watch the plays of children and to study their +unconscious actions, his "meditation on the insignificant" became +the basis of scientific greatness, and of an influence still in its +infancy, but destined, perhaps, to revolutionize the whole educational +method of society. + +It was while he was looking on with delight at the plays of little +children, their happy, busy plans and make-believes, their intense +interest in outward nature, and in putting things together or taking +them apart, that Froebel said to himself: "What if we could give the +child that which is called education through his voluntary activities, +and have him always as eager as he is at play?" + +How well I remember, years ago, the first time I ever joined in a +kindergarten game. I was beckoned to the charming circle, and not only +one, but a dozen openings were made for me, and immediately, though I +was a stranger, a little hand on either side was put into mine, with +such friendly, trusting pressure that I felt quite at home. Then we +began to sing of the spring-time, and I found myself a green tree +waving its branches in the wind. I was frightened and self-conscious, +but I did it, and nobody seemed to notice me; then I was a flower +opening its petals in the sunshine, and presently, a swallow gathering +straws for nest-building; then, carried away by the spirit of the +kindergartner and her children, I fluttered my clumsy apologies for +wings, and forgetting self, flew about with all the others, as happy +as a bird. Soon I found that I, the stranger, had been chosen for the +"mother swallow." It was to me, the girl of eighteen, like mounting a +throne and being crowned. Four cunning curly heads cuddled under my +wings for protection and slumber, and I saw that I was expected to +stoop and brood them, which I did, with a feeling of tenderness and +responsibility that I had never experienced in my life before. Then, +when I followed my baby swallows back to their seats, I saw that the +play had broken down every barrier between us, and that they clustered +about me as confidingly as if we were old friends. I think I never +before felt my own limitations so keenly, or desired so strongly to be +fully worthy of a child's trust and love. + +Kindergarten play takes the children where they love to be, into +the world of "make-believe." In this lovely world the children are +blacksmiths, carpenters, wheelwrights; birds, bees, butterflies; +trees, flowers, sunbeams, rainbows; frogs, lambs, ponies,--anything +they like. The play is so characteristic, so poetic, so profoundly +touching in its simplicity and purity, so full of meaning, that it +would inspire us with admiration and respect were it the only salient +point of Froebel's educational idea. It endeavors to express the same +idea in poetic words, harmonious melody and fitting motion, appealing +thus to the thought, feeling, and activity of the child. + +Physical impressions are at the beginning of life the only possible +medium for awakening the child's sensibility. These impressions should +therefore be regulated as systematically as possible, and not left to +chance. + +Froebel supplies the means for bringing about the result in a +simple system of symbolic songs and games, appealing to the child's +activities and sensibilities. These he argues, ought to contain the +germ of all later instruction and thought; for physical and sensuous +perceptions are the points of departure of all knowledge. + +When the child imitates, he begins to understand. Let him imitate the +airy flight of the bird, and he enters partially into bird life. Let +the little girl personate the hen with her feathery brood of chickens, +and her own maternal instinct is quickened, as she guards and guides +the wayward motion of the little flock. Let the child play the +carpenter, the wheelwright, the wood-sawyer, the farmer, and his +intelligence is immediately awakened; he will see the force, the +meaning, the power, and the need of labor. In short, let him mirror in +his play all the different aspects of universal life, and his thought +will begin to grasp their significance. + +Thus kindergarten play may be defined as a "systematized sequence of +experiences through which the child grows into self-knowledge, +clear observation, and conscious perception of the whole circle of +relationships," and the symbols of his play become at length the truth +itself, bound fast and deep in heart knowledge, which is deeper and +rarer than head knowledge, after all. + +To the class occupied exclusively with material things, this phase of +Froebel's idea may perhaps seem mystical. There is nothing mystical +to children, however; all is real, for their visions have not been +dispelled. + + "Turn wheresoe'er I may, + By night or day, + The things which I have seen, I now can see no more." + +As soon as the child begins to be conscious of his own activities and +his power of regulating them, he desires to imitate the actions of his +future life. + +Nothing so delights the little girl as to play at housekeeping in her +tiny mansion, sacred to the use of dolls. See her whimsical attention +to dust and dirt, her tremendous wisdom in dispensing the work and +ordering the duties of the household, her careful attention to the +morals and manners of her rag-babies. + +The boy, too, tries to share in the life of a man, to play at his +father's work, to be a miniature carpenter, salesman, or what not. He +rides his father's cane and calls it a horse, in the same way that +the little girl wraps a shawl about a towel, and showers upon it the +tenderest tokens of maternal affection. All these examples go to show +that every conscious intellectual phase of the mind has a previous +phase in which it was unconscious or merely symbolic. + +To get at the spirit and inspiration of symbolic representation in +song and game, it is necessary first of all to study Froebel's "Mutter +und Kose-Lieder," perhaps the most strikingly original, instructive, +serviceable book in the whole history of the practice of education. +The significant remark quoted in Froebel's "Reminiscences" is this: +"He who understands what I mean by these songs knows my inmost +secret." You will find people who say the music in the book is poor, +which is largely true, and that the versification is weak, which is +often, not always, true, and is sometimes to be attributed to faulty +translation; but the idea, the spirit, the continuity of the plan, are +matchless, and critics who call it trifling or silly are those who +have not the seeing eye nor the understanding heart. Froebel's wife +said of it,-- + + "A superficial mind does not grasp it, + A gentle mind does not hate it, + A coarse mind makes fun of it, + A thoughtful mind alone tries to get at it." + +"Froebel[1] considers it his duty to picture the home as it ought to +be, not by writing a book of theories and of rules which are easily +forgotten, but by accompanying a mother in her daily rounds through +house, garden, and field, and by following her to workshop, market, +and church. He does not represent a woman of fashion, but prefers one +of humbler station, whom he clothes in the old German housewife style. +It may be a small sphere she occupies, but there she is the centre, +and she completely fills her place. She rejoices in the dignity of +her position as educator of a human being whom she has to bring into +harmony with God, nature, and man. She thinks nothing too trifling +that concerns her child. She watches, clothes, feeds, and trains it in +good habits, and when her darling is asleep, her prayers finish the +day. She may not have read much about education, but her sympathy +with the child suggests means of doing her duty. Love has made her +inventive; she discovers means of amusement, for play; she talks and +sings, sometimes in poetry and sometimes in prose. From mothers in his +circle of relations and friends, Froebel has learned what a mother can +do, and although he had no children of his own, his heart vibrated +instinctively with the feelings of a mother's joy, hope, and fear. He +did not care about the scorn of others, when he felt he must speak +with an almost womanly heart to a mother. His own loss of a mother's +tender care made him the more appreciate the importance of a mother's +love in early infancy. The mother in his book makes use of all the +impressions, influences, and agencies with which the child comes in +contact: she protects from evil; she stimulates for good; she places +the child in direct communication with nature, because she herself +admires its beauties. She has a right feeling towards her neighbors, +and to all those on whom she depends. A movement of arms and feet +teaches her that the child feels its strength and wants to use it. She +helps, she lifts, she teaches; and while playing with her baby's hands +and feet she is never at a loss for a song or story. + +[Footnote 1: Eleonore Heerwart.] + +"The mother also knows that it is necessary to train the senses, +because they are the active organs which convey food to the intellect. +The ear must hear language, music, the gentle accents and warning +voices of father and mother. It must distinguish the sounds of the +wind, of the water, and of pet animals. + +"The eyesight is directed to objects far and near, as the pigeons +flying, the hare running, the light flickering on the wall, the calm +beauty of the moon, and the twinkling stars in the dark blue sky." + +Of the effect of Froebel's symbolic songs and games, with +melodious music and appropriate gesture, kindergartners all speak +enthusiastically. They know that-- + +First: The words suggest thought to the child. + +Second: The thought suggests gesture. + +Third: The gesture aids in producing the proper feeling. + +We all believe thoroughly in the influence of mind on body, the inward +working outward, but we are not as ready to see the influence of body +on mind. Yet if mind or soul acts upon the body, the external gesture +and attitude just as truly react upon the inward feeling. "The soul +speaks through the body, and the body in return gives command to the +soul." All attitudes mean something, and they all influence the state +of mind. + +Fourth: The melody begets spiritual impressions. + +Fifth: The gestures, feeling, and melody unite in giving a sweet and +gentle intercourse, in developing love for labor, home, country, +associates, and dumb animals, and in unconsciously directing the +intellectual powers. + +Learning to sing well is the best possible means of learning to speak +well, and the exquisite precision which music gives to kindergarten +play destroys all rudeness, and does not in the least rob it of its +fun or merriment. + +"We cannot tell how early the pleasing sense of musical cadence +affects a child. In some children it is blended with the earliest, +haziest recollection of life at all, as though they had been literally +'cradled in sweet song;' and we may be sure that the hearing of +musical sounds and singing in association with others are for the +child, as for the adult, powerful influences in awakening sympathetic +emotion, and pleasure in associated action." + +Who can see the kindergarten games, led by a teacher who has grown +into their spirit, and ever forget the joy of the spectacle? It brings +tears to the eyes of any woman who has ever been called mother, +or ever hopes to be; and I have seen more than one man retire +surreptitiously to wipe away his tears. Is it "that touch of nature +which makes the whole world kin"? Is it the perfect self-forgetfulness +of the children? Is it a touch of self-pity that the radiant visions +of our childhood days have been dispelled, and the years have brought +the "inevitable yoke"? Or is it the touching sight of so much +happiness contrasted with what we know the home life to be? + +Sydney Smith says: "If you make children happy now, you will make them +happy twenty years hence by the memory of it;" and we know that virtue +kindles at the touch of this joy. "Selfishness, rudeness, and similar +weedy growths of school-life or of street-independence cannot grow in +such an atmosphere. For joy is as foreign to tumult and destruction, +to harshness and selfish disregard of others, as the serene, vernal +sky with its refreshing breezes is foreign to the uproar and terrors +of the hurricane." + +For this kind of ideal play we are indebted to Friedrich Froebel, and +if he had left no other legacy to childhood, we should exalt him for +it. + +If you are skeptical, let me beseech you to join the children in a +Free Kindergarten, and play with them. You will be convinced, not +through your head, perhaps, but through your heart. I remember +converting such a grim female once! You know Henry James says, "Some +women are unmarried by choice, and others by chance, but Olive +Chancellor was unmarried by every implication of her being." Now, this +predestinate spinster acquaintance of mine, well nigh spoiled by +years of school-teaching in the wrong spirit, was determined to think +kindergarten play simply a piece of nauseating frivolity. She tried +her best, but, kept in the circle with the children five successive +days, she relaxed so completely that it was with the utmost difficulty +that she kept herself from being a butterfly or a bird. It is always +so; no one can resist the unconscious happiness of children. + +As for the good that comes to grown people from playing with children +in this joyous freedom and with this deep earnestness of purpose, it +is beyond all imagination. If I had a daughter who was frivolous, or +worldly, or selfish, or cold, or unthoughtful,--who regarded life as a +pleasantry, or fell into the still more stupid mistake of thinking it +not worth living,--I should not (at first) make her read the Bible, or +teach in the Sunday-school, or call on the minister, or request +the prayers of the congregation, but I should put her in a good +Kindergarten Training School. No normal young woman can resist the +influence of the study of childhood and the daily life among little +children, especially the children of the poor: it is irresistible. + +Oh, these tiny teachers! If we only learned from them all we might, +instead of feeling ourselves over-wise! I never look down into the +still, clear pool of a child's innocent, questioning eyes without +thinking: "Dear little one, it must be 'give and take' between thee +and me. I have gained something here in all these years, but thou hast +come from thence more lately than have I; thou hast a treasure that +the years have stolen from me--share it with me!" + +Let us endeavor, then, to make the child's life objective to him. Let +us unlock to him the significance of family, social, and national +relationships, so that he may grow into sympathy with them. He loves +the symbol which interprets his nature to himself, and in his eager +play, he pictures the life he longs to understand. + +If we could make such education continuous, if we could surround +the child in his earlier years with such an atmosphere of goodness, +beauty, and wisdom, none can doubt that he would unconsciously grow +into harmony and union with the All-Good, the All-Beautiful, and the +All-Wise. + + + + +CHILDREN'S PLAYTHINGS + +"Books cannot teach what toys inculcate." + + +In the preceding chapter we discussed Froebel's plays, and found that +the playful spirit which pervades all the kindergarten exercises must +not be regarded as trivial, since it has a philosophic motive and a +definite, earnest purpose. + +We discussed the meaning of childish play, and deplored the lack of +good and worthy national nursery plays. Passing then to Froebel's +"Mother-Play," we found that the very heart of his educational idea +lies in the book, and that it serves as a guide for mothers whose +babies are yet in their arms, as well as for those who have little +children of four or five years under their care. + +We found that in Froebel's plays the mirror is held up to universal +life; that the child in playing them grows into unconscious sympathy +with the natural, the human, the divine; that by "playing at" the life +he longs to understand, he grows at last into a conscious realization +of its mysteries--its truth, its meaning, its dignity, its purpose. + +We found that symbolic play leads the child from the symbol to the +truth symbolized. + +We discovered that the carefully chosen words of the kindergarten +songs and games suggest thought to the child, the thought suggests +gesture, the melody begets spiritual feeling. + +We discussed the relation of body and mind; the effect of bodily +attitudes on feeling and thought, as well as the moulding of the body +by the indwelling mind. + +Froebel's playthings are as significant as his plays. If you examine +the materials he offers children in his "gifts and occupations," you +cannot help seeing that they meet the child's natural wants in a truly +wonderful manner, and that used in connection with conversations and +stories and games they address and develop his love of movement and +his love of rhythm; his desire to touch and handle, to play and work +(to be busy), and his curiosity to know; his instincts of construction +and comparison, his fondness for gardening and digging in the earth; +his social impulse, and finally his religious feeling. + +Froebel himself says if his educational materials are found useful, it +cannot be because of their exterior, which is as simple as possible, +and contains nothing new; but their worth is to be found exclusively +in their application. If you can work out his principles (or better +ones still when we find better ones) by other means, pray do it if you +prefer; since the object of the kindergartner is not to make Froebel +an _idol_, but an _ideal_. He seems to have found type-forms admirable +for awaking the higher senses of the child, and unlike the usual +scheme of object lessons, they tell a continued story. When the +object-method first burst upon the enraptured sight of the teacher, +this list of subjects appeared in a printed catalogue, showing the +ground of study in a certain school for six months:-- + +"_Tea, spiders, apple, hippopotamus, cow, cotton, duck, sugar, +rabbits, rice, lighthouse, candle, lead-pencil, pins, tiger, clothing, +silver, butter-making, giraffe, onion, soda_!" + +Such reckless heterogeneity as this is impossible with Froebel's +educational materials, for even if they are given to the child without +a single word, they carry something of their own logic with them. + +They emphasize the gospel of doing, for Froebel believes in positives +in teaching, not negatives; in stimulants, not deterrents. How +inexpressibly tiresome is the everlasting "Don't!" in some households. +Don't get in the fire, don't play in the water, don't tease the kitty, +don't trouble the doggy, don't bother the lady, don't interrupt, don't +contradict, don't fidget with your brother, and _don't_ worry me +now; while perhaps in this whole tirade, not a word has been said of +something to do. + +Let sleeping faults lie as long as possible while we quietly oust +them, little by little, by developing the good qualities. Surely the +less we use deterrents the better, since they are often the child's +first introduction to what is undesirable or wrong. I am quite sure +they have something of that effect on grown people. The telling us not +to do, and that we cannot, must not, do a certain thing surrounds it +with a momentary fascination. If your enemy suggests that there is a +pot of Paris green on the piazza, but you must not take a spoonful and +dissolve it in a cup of honey and give it to your maiden aunt who has +made her will in your favor, your innocent mind hovers for an instant +over the murderous idea. + +Froebel's play-materials come to the child when he has entered upon +the war-path of getting "something to do." If legitimate means fail, +then "let the portcullis fall;" the child must be busy. + +The fly on the window-pane will be crushed, the kettle tied to the +dog's tail, the curtains cut into snips, the baby's hair shingled,-- +anything that his untiring hands may not pause an instant,--anything +that his chubby legs may take his restless body over a circuit of a +hundred miles or so before he is immured in his crib for the night. + +The child of four or five years is still interested in objects, in the +concrete. He wants to see and to hear, to examine and to work with his +hands. How absurd then for us to make him fold his arms and keep his +active fingers still; or strive to stupefy him with such an opiate as +the alphabet. If we can possess our souls and primers in patience for +a while, and feed his senses; if we will let him take in living facts +and await the result; that result will be that when he has learned to +perceive, compare, and construct, he will desire to learn words, for +they tell him what others have seen, thought, and done. This reading +and writing, what is it, after all, but the signs for things and +thoughts? Logically we must first know things, then thoughts, then +their records. The law of human progress is from physical activity to +mental power, from a Hercules to a Shakespeare, and it is as true for +each unit of humanity as it is for the race. + +Everything in Froebel's playthings trains the child to quick, accurate +observation. They help children to a fuller vision, they lead them to +see. Did you ever think how many people there are who "having eyes, +see not"? + +Ruskin says, "Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but +thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, +prophecy, religion, all in one." + +A gentleman who is trying to write the biography of a great +man complained to me lately, that in consulting a dozen of his +friends--men and women who had known him as preacher, orator, +reformer, and poet--so few of them had anything characteristic and +fine to relate. "What," he said "is the use of trying to write +biography with such mummies for witnesses! They would have seen just +as much if they had had nothing but glass eyes in their heads." + +What is education good for that does not teach the mind to observe +accurately and define picturesquely? To get at the essence of an +object and clear away the accompanying rubbish, this is the only +training that fits men and women to live with any profit to themselves +or pleasure to others. What a biographer, for example, or at least +what a witness for some other biographer, was latent in the little boy +who, when told by his teacher to define a bat, said: "He's a nasty +little mouse, with injy-rubber wings and shoe-string tail, and bites +like the devil." There was an eye worth having! Agassiz himself could +not have hit off better the salient characteristics of the little +creature in question. Had that remarkable boy been brought into +contact, for five minutes only, with Julius Caesar, who can doubt that +the telling description he would have given of him would have come +down through all the ages? + +I do not mean to urge the adoption of any ultra-utilitarian standpoint +in regard to playthings, or advise you rudely to enter the realm of +early infancy and interfere with the baby's legitimate desires by any +meddlesome pedagogic reasoning. Choose his toys wisely and then leave +him alone with them. Leave him to the throng of emotional impressions +they will call into being. Remember that they speak to his feelings +when his mind is not yet open to reason. The toy at this period is +surrounded with a halo of poetry and mystery, and lays hold of the +imagination and the heart without awaking vulgar curiosity. Thrice +happy age when one can hug one's white woolly lamb to one's bibbed +breast, kiss its pink bead eyes in irrational ecstasy, and manipulate +the squeak in its foreground without desire to explore the cause +thereof! + +At this period the well-beloved toy, the dumb sharer of the child's +joys and sorrows, becomes the nucleus of a thousand enterprises, each +rendered more fascinating by its presence and sympathy. If the toy be +a horse, they take imaginary journeys together, and the road is doubly +delightful because never traveled alone. If it be a house, the child +lives therein a different life for every day in the week; for +no monarch alive is so all-powerful as he whose throne is the +imagination. Little tin soldier, Shem, Ham, and Japhet from the Noah's +Ark, the hornless cow, the tailless dog, and the elephant that won't +stand up, these play their allotted parts in his innocent comedies, +and meanwhile he grows steadily in sympathy and in comprehension +of the ever-widening circle of human relationships. "When we have +restored playthings to their place in education--a place which assigns +them the principal part in the development of human sympathies, we can +later on put in the hands of children objects whose impressions will +reach their minds more particularly." + +Dr. E. Seguin, our Commissioner of Education to the Universal +Exhibition at Vienna, philosophizes most charmingly on children's toys +in his Report (chapter on the Training of Special Senses). He says the +vast array of playthings (separated by nationalities) left at first +sight an impression of silly sameness; but that a second look +"discovered in them particular characters, as of national +idiosyncrasies; and a closer examination showed that these puerilities +had sense enough in them, not only to disclose the movements of the +mind, but to predict what is to follow." + +He classifies the toys exhibited, and in so doing gives us delightful +and valuable generalizations, some of which I will quote:-- + +"Chinese and Japanese toys innumerable, as was to have been expected. +Japanese toys much brighter, the dolls relieved in gold and gaudy +colors, absolutely saucy. The application of the natural and +mechanical forces in their toys cannot fail to determine the taste of +the next generation towards physical sciences. + +"Chinese dolls are sober in color, meek in demeanor, and comprehensive +in mien.... The favorite Chinese toy remains the theatrical scene +where the family is treated _à la Molière_. + +"Persia sends beautiful toys, from which can be inferred a national +taste for music, since most of their dolls are blowing instruments. + +"Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, have sent no dolls. Do they make none, under +the impression, correct in a low state of culture, that dolls for +children become idols for men? + +"The Finlanders and Laplanders, who are not troubled with such +religious prejudices, give rosy cheeks and bodies as fat as seals to +their dolls. + +"The French toy represents the versatility of the nation, touching +every topic, grave or grotesque. + +"From Berlin come long trains of artillery, regiments of lead, horse +and foot on moving tramways. + +"From the Hartz and the Alps still issue those wooden herds, more +characteristic of the dull feelings of their makers than of the +instincts of the animals they represent. + +"The American toys justify the rule we have found good elsewhere, that +their character both reveals and prefaces the national tendencies. +With us, toys refer the mind and habits of children to home economy, +husbandry, and mechanical labor; and their very material is durable, +mainly wood and iron. + +"So from childhood every people has its sympathies expressed or +suppressed, and set deeper in its flesh and blood than scholastic +ideas.... The children who have no toys seize realities very late, and +never form ideals.... The nations rendered famous by their artists, +artisans, and idealists have supplied their infants with many toys, +for there is more philosophy and poetry in a single doll than in a +thousand books.... If you will tell us what your children play with, +we will tell you what sort of women and men they will be; so let +this Republic make the toys which will raise the moral and artistic +character of her children." + +Froebel's educational toys do us one service, in that they preach a +silent but impressive sermon on simplicity. + +It is easy to see that the hurlyburly of our modern life is not wholly +favorable to the simple creed of childhood, "delight and liberty, when +busy or at rest," but we might make it a little less artificial than +we do, perhaps. + +Every thoughtful person knows that the simple, natural playthings of +the old-fashioned child, which are nothing more than pegs on which he +hangs his glowing fancies, are healthier than our complicated modern +mechanisms, in which the child has only to "press the button" and the +toy "does the rest." + +The electric-talking doll, for example--imagine a generation of +children brought up on that! And the toy-makers are not even content +with this grand personage, four feet high, who says "Papa! Mamma!" She +is _passée_ already; they have begun to improve on her! An electrician +described to me the other day a superb new altruistic doll, fitted +to the needs of the present decade. You are to press a judiciously +located button and ask her the test question, which is, if she will +have some candy; whereupon with an angelic detached-movement-smile +(located in the left cheek), she is to answer, "Give brother _big_ +piece; give me little piece!" If the thing gets out of order (and I +devoutly hope it will), it will doubtless return to a state of nature, +and horrify the bystanders by remarking, "Give me _big_ piece! Give +brother _little_ piece!" + +Think of having a gilded dummy like that given you to amuse yourself +with! Think of having to play,--to _play_, forsooth, with a model of +propriety, a high-minded monstrosity like that! Doesn't it make you +long for your dear old darkey doll with the raveled mouth, and the +stuffing leaking out of her legs; or your beloved Arabella Clarinda +with the broken nose, beautiful even in dissolution,--creatures "not +too bright or good for human nature's daily food"? Banged, battered, +hairless, sharers of our mad joys and reckless sorrows, how we +loved them in their simple ugliness! With what halos of romance we +surrounded them! with what devotion we nursed the one with the broken +head, in those early days when new heads were not to be bought at the +nearest shop. And even if they could have been purchased for us, would +we, the primitive children of those dear, dark ages, have ever thought +of wrenching off the cracked blonde head of Ethelinda and buying a +new, strange, nameless brunette head, gluing it calmly on Ethelinda's +body, as a small acquaintance of mine did last week, apparently +without a single pang? Never! A doll had a personality in those times, +and has yet, to a few simple backwoods souls, even in this day and +generation. Think of Charles Kingsley's song,--"I once had a sweet +little doll, dears." Can we imagine that as written about one of these +modern monstrosities with eyeglasses and corsets and vinaigrettes? + + "I once had a sweet little doll, dears, + The prettiest doll in the world, + Her face was so red and so white, dears, + And her hair was so charmingly curled; + But I lost my poor little doll, dears, + As I played on the heath one day, + And I sought for her more than a week, dears, + But I never could find where she lay. + + "I found my poor little doll, dears, + As I played on the heath one day; + Folks say she is terribly changed, dears, + For her paint is all washed away; + And her arms trodden off by the cows, dears, + And her hair not the least bit curled; + Yet for old sake's sake she is still, dears, + The prettiest doll in the world." + +Long live the doll! + + "Dolly-o'diamonds, precious lamb, + Humming-bird, honey-pot, jewel, jam, + Darling delicate-dear-delight-- + Angel-o'red, angel-o'white!" + +"Take away the doll, you erase from the heart and head feelings, +images, poetry, aspiration, experience, ready for application to real +life." + +Every mother knows the development of tenderness and motherliness +that goes on in her little girl through the nursing and petting and +teaching and caring for her doll. There is a good deal of journalistic +anxiety concerning the decline of mothers. Is it possible that +fathers, too, are in any danger of decline? It is impossible to +overestimate the sacredness and importance of the mother-spirit in the +universe, but the father-spirit is not positively valueless (so far +as it goes). The newspaper-pessimists talk comparatively little about +developing that in the young male of the species. In three years' +practical experience among the children of the poorer classes, and +during all the succeeding years, when I have filled the honorary and +honorable offices of general-utility woman, story-teller, song-singer, +and playmaker-in-ordinary to their royal highnesses, some thousands +of babies, I have been struck with the greater hardness of the small +boys; a certain coarseness of fibre and lack of sensitiveness which +makes them less susceptible, at first, to gentle influences. + +Once upon a time I set about developing this father spirit in a group +of little gamins whose general attitude toward the weaker sex, toward +birds and flowers and insects, toward beauty in distress and wounded +sensibility, was in the last degree offensive. In the bird games we +had always had a mother bird in the nest with the birdlings; we now +introduced a father bird into the game. Though the children had been +only a little time in the kindergarten, and were not fully baptized +into the spirit of play, still the boys were generally willing to +personate the father bird, since their delight in the active and manly +occupation of flying about the room seeking worms overshadowed their +natural repugnance to feeding the young. This accomplished, we played +"Master Rider," in which a small urchin capered about on a hobby +horse, going through a variety of adventures, and finally returning +with presents to wife and children. This in turn became a matter of +natural experience, and we moved towards our grand _coup d'état._ + +Once a week we had dolls' day, when all the children who owned them +brought their dolls, and the exercises were ordered with the single +view of amusing and edifying them. The picture of that circle of +ragged children comes before me now and dims my eyes with its pathetic +suggestions. + +Such dolls! Five-cent, ten-cent dolls; dolls with soiled clothes and +dolls in a highly indecorous state of nudity; dolls whose ruddy hues +of health had been absorbed into their mothers' systems; dolls made +of rags, dolls made of carrots, and dolls made of towels; but all +dispensing odors of garlic in the common air. Maternal affection, +however, pardoned all limitations, and they were clasped as fondly to +maternal bosoms as if they had been imported from Paris. + +"Bless my soul!" might have been the unspoken comment of these tiny +mothers. "If we are only to love our offspring when handsome and well +clothed, then the mother-heart of society is in a bad way!" + +Dolls' day was the day for lullabies. I always wished I might gather +a group of stony-hearted men and women in that room and see them melt +under the magic of the scene. Perhaps you cannot imagine the union of +garlic and magic, nevertheless, O ye of little faith, it may exist. +The kindergarten cradle stood in the centre of the circle, and the +kindergarten doll, clean, beautiful, and well dressed, lay inside the +curtains, waiting to be sung to sleep with the other dolls. One little +girl after another would go proudly to the "mother's chair" and rock +the cradle, while the other children hummed their gentle lullabies. At +this juncture even the older boys (when the influence of the music had +stolen in upon their senses) would glance from side to side longingly, +as much as to say,-- + +"O Lord, why didst Thou not make thy servant a female, that he might +dandle one of these interesting objects without degradation!" + +In such an hour I suddenly said, "Josephus, will you be the father +this time?" and without giving him a second to think, we began our +familiar lullaby. The radical nature, the full enormity, of the +proposition did not (in that moment of sweet expansion) strike +Josephus. He moved towards the cradle, seated himself in the chair, +put his foot upon the rocker, and rocked the baby soberly, while my +heart sang in triumph. After this the fathers as well as the mothers +took part in all family games, and this mighty and much-needed reform +had been worked through the magic of a fascinating plaything. + + + + +WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ? + +"What we make children love and desire is more important than what we +make them learn." + + +When I was a little girl (oh, six most charming words!)--it is not +necessary to name the year, but it was so long ago that children were +still reminded that they should be seen and not heard, and also that +they could eat what was set before them or go without (two maxims +that suggest a hoary antiquity of time not easily measured by the +senses),--when I was a little girl, I had the great good fortune to +live in a country village. + +I believe I always had a taste for books; but I will pass over that +early period when I manifested it by carrying them to my mouth, and +endeavored to assimilate their contents by the cramming process; +and also that later stage, which heralded the dawn of the critical +faculty, perhaps, when I tore them in bits and held up the tattered +fragments with shouts of derisive laughter. Unlike the critic, no more +were given me to mar; but, like the critic, I had marred a good many +ere my vandal hand was stayed. + +As soon as I could read, I had free access to an excellent medical +library, the gloom of which was brightened by a few shelves of +theological works, bequeathed to the family by some orthodox ancestor, +and tempered by a volume or two of Blackstone; but outside of these, +which were emphatically not the stuff my dreams were made of, I can +only remember a certain little walnut bookcase hanging on the wall of +the family sitting-room. + +It had but three shelves, yet all the mysteries of love and life and +death were in the score of well-worn volumes that stood there side +by side; and we turned to them, year after year, with undiminished +interest. The number never seemed small, the stories never grew tame: +when we came to the end of the third shelf, we simply went back and +began again,--a process all too little known to latter-day children. + +I can see them yet, those rows of shabby and incongruous volumes, the +contents of which were transferred to our hungry little brains. Some +of them are close at hand now, and I love their ragged corners, their +dog's-eared pages that show the pressure of childish thumbs, and their +dear old backs, broken in my service. + +There was a red-covered "Book of Snobs;" "Vanity Fair" with no cover +at all; "Scottish Chiefs" in crimson; a brown copy of George Sand's +"Teverino;" and next it a green Bailey's "Festus," which I only +attacked when mentally rabid, and a little of which went a +surprisingly long way; and then a maroon "David Copperfield," whose +pages were limp with my kisses. (To write a book that a child would +kiss! Oh, dear reward! oh, sweet, sweet fame!) + +In one corner--spare me your smiles--was a fat autobiography of +P.T. Barnum, given me by a grateful farmer for saving the life of +a valuable Jersey calf just as she was on the point of strangling +herself. This book so inflamed a naturally ardent imagination, that +I was with difficulty dissuaded from entering the arena as a circus +manager. Considerations of age or sex had no weight with me, and lack +of capital eventually proved the deterrent force. On the shelf above +were "Kenilworth," "The Lady of the Lake," and half of "Rob Roy." I +have always hesitated to read the other half, for fear that it should +not end precisely as I made it end when I was forced, by necessity, to +supplement Sir Walter Scott. Then there was "Gulliver's Travels," and +if any of the stories seemed difficult to believe, I had only to turn +to the maps of Lilliput and Brobdingnag, with the degrees of latitude +and longitude duly marked, which always convinced me that everything +was fair and aboveboard. Of course, there was a great green and gold +Shakespeare, not a properly expurgated edition for female seminaries, +either, nor even prose tales from Shakespeare adapted to young +readers, but the real thing. We expurgated as we read, child fashion, +taking into our sleek little heads all that we could comprehend +or apprehend, and unconsciously passing over what might have been +hurtful, perhaps, at a later period. I suppose we failed to get a very +close conception of Shakespeare's colossal genius, but we did get a +tremendous and lasting impression of force and power, life and truth. + +When we declaimed certain scenes in an upper chamber with sloping +walls and dormer windows, a bed for a throne, a cotton umbrella for a +sceptre, our creations were harmless enough. If I remember rightly, +our nine-year-old Lady Macbeths and Iagos, Falstaffs and Cleopatras, +after they had been dipped in the divine alembic of childish +innocence, came out so respectable that they would not have brought +the historic "blush to the cheek of youth." + +On the shelf above the Shakespeare were a few things presumably better +suited to childish tastes,--Hawthorne's "Wonder Book," Kingsley's +"Water Babies," Miss Edgeworth's "Rosamond," and the "Arabian Nights." + +There were also two little tales given us by a wandering revivalist, +who was on a starring tour through the New England villages, +"How Gussie Grew in Grace," and "Little Harriet's Work for the +Heathen,"--melodramatic histories of spiritually perfect and +physically feeble children who blessed the world for a season, but +died young, enlivened by a few pages devoted to completely vicious and +adorable ones who lived to curse the world to a good old age. + +Last of all, brought out only on state occasions, was a most seductive +edition of that nursery Gaboriau, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" with +colored illustrations in which the heads of the birds were made to +move oracularly, by means of cunningly arranged strips pulled from +the bottom of the page. This was a relic of infancy, our first +introduction to the literature of plot, counterplot, intrigue, and +crime, and the mystery of the murder was very real to us. This book, +still in existence, with all the birds headless from over-exertion, +is always inextricably associated in my mind with childish woes, as +a desire on my part to make the birds wag their heads was always +contemporaneous, to a second, with a like desire on my sister's part; +and on those rare days when the precious volume was taken down, one of +us always donned the penitential nightgown early in the afternoon and +supped frugally in bed, while the other feasted gloriously at the +family board, never quite happy in her virtue, however, since it +separated her from beloved vice in disgrace. That paltry tattered +volume, when it confronts me from its safe nook in a bureau drawer, +makes my heart beat faster and sets me dreaming! Pray tell me if any +book read in your later and wiser years ever brings to your mind such +vivid memories, to your lips so lingering a smile, to your eye so +ready a tear? True enough, "we could never have loved the earth so +well if we had had no childhood in it.... What novelty is worth that +sweet monotony where everything is known and loved because it is +known?" + +This autobiographical babble is excusable for one reason only. + +It is in remembering what books greatly moved us in earlier days; what +books wakened strong and healthy desires, enlarged the horizon of our +understanding, and inspired us to generous action, that we get +some clue to the books with which to surround our children; and a +reminiscence of this kind becomes a sort of psychological observation. +The moment we realize clearly that the books we read in childhood and +youth make a profound impression that can never be repeated later +(save in some rare crisis of heart and soul, where a printed page +marks an epoch in one's mental or spiritual life), then we become +reinforced in our opinion that it makes a deal of difference what +children read and how they read it. + +Agnes Repplier says: "It is part of the irony of life that our +discriminating taste for books should be built up on the ashes of an +extinct enjoyment." + +A book is such a fact to children, its people are so alive and so +heartily loved and hated, its scenes so absolutely real! Prone on the +hearth-rug before the fire, or curled in the window seat, they forget +everything but the story. The shadows deepen, until they can read +no longer; but they do not much care, for the window looks into an +enchanted region peopled with brilliant fancies. The old garden +is sometimes the Forest of Arden, sometimes the Land of Lilliput, +sometimes the Border. The gray rock on the river bank is now the cave +of Monte Cristo, and now a castle defended by scores of armed knights +who peep one by one from the alder-bushes, while Fair Ellen and the +lovely Undine float together on the quiet stream. + +For forming a truly admirable literary taste, I cannot indeed say much +in favor of my own motley collection of books just mentioned, for I +was simply tumbled in among them and left to browse, in accordance +with Charles Lamb's whimsical plan for Bridget Elia. More might have +been added, and some taken away; but they had in them a world of +instruction and illumination which children miss who read too +exclusively those books written with rigid determination down to their +level, neglecting certain old classics for which we fondly believe +there are no substitutes. You cannot always persuade the children of +this generation to attack "Robinson Crusoe," and if they do they +are too sophisticated to thrill properly when they come to Friday's +footsteps in the sand. Think of it, my contemporaries: think of +substituting for that intense moment some of the modern "tuppenny" +climaxes! + +I do not wish to drift into a cheap cynicism, and apotheosize the old +days at the expense of the new. We are often inclined to paint the +Past with a halo round its head which it never wore when it was the +Present. We can reproduce neither the children nor the conditions of +fifty or even twenty-five years ago. To-day's children must be fitted +for to-day's tasks, educated to answer to-day's questions, equipped +to solve to-day's problems; but are we helping them to do this in +absolutely the best way? At all events, it is difficult to join in the +paean of gratitude for the tons of children's books that are turned +out yearly by parental publishers. If the children of the past did not +have quite enough deference paid to their individuality, their likes +and dislikes, and if their needs were too often left until the needs +of everybody else had been considered,--on the other hand, they were +not surfeited with well-meant but ill-directed attentions. If the hay +was thrown so high in the rack that they could not pluck a single +straw without stretching up for it, why, the hay was generally worth +stretching for, and was, perhaps, quite as healthful as the sweet and +easily digested nursery porridge which some people adopt as exclusive +diet for their darlings nowadays. + +Let us look a little at some of the famous children's books of a past +generation, and see what was their general style and purpose. Take, +for instance, those of Mrs. Barbauld, who may be included in that +group of men and women who completely altered the style of teaching +and writing for children--Rousseau, de Genlis, the Edgeworths, +Jacotot, Froebel, and Diesterweg, all great teachers,--didactic, +deadly-dull Mrs. Barbauld, who composed, as one of her biographers +tells us, "a considerable number of miscellaneous pieces for the +instruction and amusement of young persons, especially females." +(Girls were always "young females" in those days; children were +"infants," and stories were "tales.") Who can ever forget those "Early +Lessons," written for her adopted son Charles, who appeared in the +page sometimes in a state of hopeless ignorance and imbecility, and +sometimes clad in the wisdom of the ancients? The use of the offensive +phrase "excessively pretty," as applied to a lace tidy by a very tiny +female named Lucy, brings down upon her sinful head eleven pages +of such moralizing as would only be delivered by a modern mamma on +hearing a confession of robbery or murder. + +All this does strike us as insufferably didactic, yet we cannot +approve the virulence with which Southey and Charles Lamb attacked +good Mrs. Barbauld in her old age; for her purpose was eminently +earnest, her views of education healthy and sensible for the time in +which she lived, her style polished and admirably quiet, her love +for young people indubitably sincere and profound, and her character +worthy of all respect and admiration in its dignity, womanliness, and +strength. Nevertheless, Charles Lamb exclaims in a whimsical burst of +spleen: "'Goody Two Shoes' is out of print, while Mrs. Barbauld's and +Mrs. Trimmer's nonsense lies in piles around. Hang them--the cursed +reasoning crew, those blights and blasts of all that is human in man +and child." + +Miss Edgeworth has what seems to us, in these days, the same overplus +of sublime purpose, and, though a much greater writer, is quite as +desirous of being instructive, first, last, and all the time, and +quite as unable or unwilling to veil her purpose. No books, however, +have ever had a more remarkable influence upon young people, and there +are many of them--old-fashioned as they are--which the sophisticated +children of to-day could read with pleasure and profit. + +Poor, naughty Rosamond! choosing the immortal "purple jar" out of +that apothecary's window, instead of the shoes she needed; and in a +following chapter, after pages of excellent maternal advice, taking +the hideous but useful "red morocco housewife" instead of the coveted +"plum." + +People may say what they like of Miss Edgeworth's lack of proportion +as a moralist and economist, but we have few writers for children at +present who possess the practical knowledge, mental vigor, and moral +force which made her an imposing figure in juvenile literature for +nearly a century. + +There has never been a time when the difficulty of making a good use +of books was as great as it is to-day, or a time when it required so +much decision to make a wise choice, simply because there is so much +printed matter precipitated upon us that we cannot "see the wood for +the trees." + +It is not my province to discriminate between the various writers for +children at the present time. To give a complete catalogue of useful +books for children would be quite impossible; to give a partial list, +or endeavor to point out what is worthy and what unworthy, would be +little better. No course of reading laid down by one person ever suits +another, and the published "lists of best books," with their solemn +platitudes in the way of advice, are generally interesting only in +their reflection of the writer's personality. + +I would not choose too absolutely for a child save in his earliest +years, but would rather surround him with the best and worthiest +books, and let him choose for himself; for there are elective +affinities and antipathies here that need not be disregarded,--that +are, indeed, certain indications of latent powers, and trustworthy +guides to the child's unfolding possibilities. + +"Books can only be profoundly influential as they unite themselves +with decisive tendencies." Provide the right conditions for mental +growth, and then let the child do the growing. If we dictate too +absolutely, we _en_velop instead of _de_veloping his mind, and weaken +his power of choice. On the other hand, we do not wish his reading to +be partial or one-sided, as it may be without intelligent oversight. + +I was telling bedtime stories, the other night, to a proper, wise, +dull little girl of ten years. When I had successfully introduced a +mother-cat and kittens to her attention, I plunged into what I thought +a graphic and perfectly natural conversation between them, when she +cut me short with the observation that she disliked stories in which +animals talked, because they were not true! I was rebuked, and tried +again with better success, until there came an unlucky figure of +speech concerning a blossoming locust-tree, that bent its green boughs +and laughed in the summer sunshine, because its flowers were fragrant +and lovely, and the world so green and beautiful. This she thought, on +sober second thought, a trifle silly, as trees never did laugh! Now, +that exasperating scrap of humanity (she is abnormal, to be sure) +ought to be locked up and fed upon fairy tales until she is able to +catch a faint glimpse of "the light that never was on sea or land." +Poor, blind, deaf little person, predestined, perhaps, to be the +mother of a lot of other blind, deaf little persons some day,--how I +should like to develop her imagination! + +Whatever children read, let us see that it is good of its kind, and +that it gives variety, so that no integral want of human nature shall +be neglected,--so that neither imagination, memory, nor reflection +shall be starved. I own it is difficult to help them in their choice, +when most of us have not learned to choose wisely for ourselves. A +discriminating taste in literature is not to be gained without effort, +and our constant reading of the little books spoils our appetite for +the great ones. + +Style is a matter of some moment, even at this early stage. Mothers +sometimes forget that children cannot read slipshod, awkward, +redundant prose, and sing-song vapid verse, for ten or twelve years, +and then take kindly to the best things afterward. + +Long before a child is conscious of such a thing as purity, +delicacy, directness, or strength of style, he has been acted upon +unconsciously, so that when the period of conscious choice comes, he +is either attracted or repelled by what is good, according to his +training. Children are fond of vivacity and color, and love a bit of +word painting or graceful nonsense; but there are people who strive +for this, and miss, after all, the true warmth and geniality that is +most desirable for little people. Apropos of nonsense, we remember +Leigh Hunt, who says that there are two kinds of nonsense, one +resulting from a superabundance of ideas, the other from a want of +them. Style in the hands of some writers is like war-paint to the +savage--of no perceptible value unless it is laid on thick. Our +little ones begin too often on cheap and tawdry stories in one or two +syllables, where pictures in primary colors try their best to +atone for lack of matter. Then they enter on a prolonged series of +children's books, some of them written by people who have neither +the intelligence nor the literary skill to write for a more critical +audience; on the same basis of reasoning which puts the young and +inexperienced teachers into the lowest grades, where the mind ought +to be formed, and assigns to the more practiced the simpler task of +_in_forming the already partially formed (or _de_formed) mind. + +There has never been such conscientious, intelligent, and purposeful +work done for children as in the last ten years; and if an +overwhelming flood of trash has been poured into our laps along with +the better things, we must accept the inevitable. The legends, myths, +and fables of the world, as well as its history and romance, are being +brought within reach of young readers by writers of wide knowledge and +trained skill. + +Knowing, then, as we do, the dangers and obstacles in the way, and +realizing the innumerable inspirations which the best thought gives to +us, can we not so direct the reading of our children that our older +boys and girls shall not be so exclusively modern in their tastes; so +that they may be inclined to take a little less Mr. Saltus, a little +more Shakespeare, temper their devotion to Mr. Kipling by small doses +of Dante, forsake "The Duchess" for a dip into Thackeray, and use +Hawthorne as a safe and agreeable antidote to Mr. Haggard? We need not +despair of the child who does not care to read, for books are not the +only means of culture; but they are a very great means when the mind +is really stimulated, and not simply padded with them. + +Mr. Frederic Harrison says: "Books are no more education than laws are +virtue. Of all men, perhaps the book-lover needs most to be reminded +that man's business here is to know for the sake of living, not to +live for the sake of knowing." + +But a child who has no taste for reading, who is utterly incapable of +losing himself in a printed page, quite unable to forget his childish +griefs, + + "And plunge, + Soul forward, headlong into a book's profound, + Impassioned for its beauty and salt of truth," + +--such a child is to be pitied as missing one of the chief joys of +life. Such a child has no dear old book-friendships to look back upon. +He has no sweet associations with certain musty covers and time-worn +pages; no sacred memories of quiet moments when a new love of +goodness, a new throb of generosity, a new sense of humanity, were +born in the ardent young soul; born when we had turned the last page +of some well-thumbed volume and pressed our tear-stained childish +cheek against the window pane, when it was growing dusk without, and a +mother's voice called us from our shelter to "Lay the book down, dear, +and come to tea." For, to speak in better words than my own, "It +is the books we read before middle life that do most to mould our +characters and influence our lives; and this not only because our +natures are then plastic and our opinions flexible, but also because, +to produce lasting impression, it is necessary to give a great author +time and meditation. The books that are with us in the leisure of +youth, that we love for a time not only with the enthusiasm, but with +something of the exclusiveness, of a first love, are those that enter +as factors forever in our mental life." + + + + +CHILDREN'S STORIES + +"To be a good story-teller is to be a king among children." + + +The business of story-telling is carried on from the soundest of +economic motives, in order to supply a constant and growing demand. +We are forced to satisfy the clamorous nursery-folk that beset us on +every hand. + +Beside us stands an eager little creature quivering with expectation, +gazing with wide-open eyes, and saying appealingly, "Tell me a story!" +or perhaps a circle of toddlers is gathered round, each one offering +the same fervent prayer, with so much trust and confidence expressed +in look and gesture that none but a barbarian could bear to disappoint +it. + +The story-teller is the children's special property. When once his +gifts have been found out, he may bid good-by to his quiet snooze by +the fire, or his peaceful rest with a favorite book. Though he hide in +the uttermost parts of the house, yet will he be discovered and made +to deliver up his treasure. On this one subject, at least, the little +ones of the earth are a solid, unanimous body; for never yet was seen +the child who did not love the story and prize the story-teller. + +Perhaps we never dreamed of practicing the art of story-telling till +we were drawn into it by the imperious commands of the little ones +about us. It is an untrodden path to us, and we scarcely understand +as yet its difficulties and hindrances, its breadth and its +possibilities. Yet this eager, unceasing demand of the child-nature we +must learn to supply, and supply wisely; for we must not think that +all the food we give the little one will be sure to agree with him. +because he is so hungry. This would be no more true of a mental than +of a physical diet. + +What objects, then, shall our stories serve beyond the important one +of pleasing the little listeners? How can we make them distinctly +serviceable, filling the difficult and well-nigh impossible _rôle_ of +"useful as well as ornamental"? + +There are, of course, certain general benefits which the child gains +in the hearing of all well-told stories. These are, familiarity with +good English, cultivation of the imagination, development of sympathy, +and clear impression of moral truth. We shall find, however, that all +stories appropriate for young children naturally divide themselves +into the following classes:-- + +I. The purely imaginative or fanciful, and here belongs the so-called +fairy story. + +II. The realistic, devoted to things which have happened, and might, +could, would, or should happen without violence to probability. These +are generally the vehicle for moral lessons which are all the more +impressive because not insisted on. + +III. The scientific, conveying bits of information about animals, +flowers, rocks, and stars. + +IV. The historical, or simple, interesting accounts of the lives of +heroes and events in our country's struggle for life and liberty. + +There is a great difference in opinion regarding the advisability of +telling fairy stories to very young children, and there can be no +question that some of them are entirely undesirable and inappropriate. +Those containing a fierce or horrible element must, of course, be +promptly ruled out of court, including the "bluggy" tales of cruel +stepmothers, ferocious giants and ogres, which fill the so-called +fairy literature. Yet those which are pure in tone and gay with +fanciful coloring may surely be told occasionally, if only for the +quickening of the imagination. Perhaps, however, it is best to keep +them as a sort of sweetmeat, to be taken on, high days and holidays +only. + +Let us be realistic, by all means; but beware, O story-teller! of +being too realistic. Avoid the "shuddering tale" of the wicked boy who +stoned the birds, lest some hearer be inspired to try the dreadful +experiment and see if it really does kill. Tell not the story of the +bears who were set on a hot stove to learn to dance, for children +quickly learn to gloat over the horrible. + +Deal with the positive rather than the negative in story-telling; +learn to affirm, not to deny. + +Some one perhaps will say here, the knowledge of cruelty and sin must +come some time to the child; then why shield him from it now? True, +it must come; but take heed that you be not the one to introduce it +arbitrarily. "Stand far off from childhood," says Jean Paul, "and +brush not away the flower-dust with your rough fist." + +The truths of botany, of mineralogy, of zoology, may be woven into +attractive stories which will prove as interesting to the child as the +most extravagant fairy tale. But endeavor to shape your narrative so +dexterously around the bit of knowledge you wish to convey, that it +may be the pivotal point of interest, that the child may not suspect +for a moment your intention of instructing him under the guise of +amusement. Should this dark suspicion cross his mind, your power is +Weakened from that moment, and he will look upon you henceforth as a +deeply dyed hypocrite. + +The historic story is easily told, and universally interesting, if +you make it sufficiently clear and simple. The account of the first +Thanksgiving Day, of the discovery of America, of the origin of +Independence Day, of the boyhood of our nation's heroes,--all these +can be made intelligible and charming to children. I suggest topics +dealing with our own country only, because the child must learn to +know the near-at-hand before he can appreciate the remote. It is best +that he should gain some idea of the growth of his own traditions +before he wanders into the history of other lands. + +In any story which has to do with soldiers and battles, do not be too +martial. Do not permeate your tale with the roar of guns, the smell of +powder, and the cries of the wounded. Inculcate as much as possible +the idea of a struggle for a principle, and omit the horrors of war. + +We must remember that upon the kind of stories we tell the child +depends much of his later taste in literature. We can easily create a +hunger for highly spiced and sensational writing by telling grotesque +and horrible tales in childhood. When the little one has learned to +read, when he holds the key to the mystery of books, then he will seek +in them the same food which so gratified his palate in earlier years. + +We are just beginning to realize the importance of beginnings in +education. + +True, a king of Israel whose wisdom is greatly extolled, and whose +writings are widely read, urged the importance of the early training +of children about three thousand years ago; but the progress of +truth in the world is proverbially slow. When parents and teachers, +legislators and lawgivers, are at last heartily convinced of the +inestimable importance of the first six years of childhood, then the +plays and occupations of that formative period of life will no longer +be neglected or left to chance, and the exercise of story-telling will +assume its proper place as an educative influence. + +Long ago, when I was just beginning the study of childhood, and when +all its possibilities were rising before me, "up, up, from glory +to glory,"--long ago, I was asked to give what I considered the +qualifications of an ideal kindergartner. + +My answer was as follows,--brief perhaps, but certainly +comprehensive:-- + + The music of St. Cecilia. + The art of Raphael. + The dramatic genius of Rachel. + The administrative ability of Cromwell. + The wisdom of Solomon. + The meekness of Moses, and-- + The patience of Job. + +Twelve years' experience with children has not lowered my ideals one +whit, nor led me to deem superfluous any of these qualifications; in +fact, I should make the list a little longer were I to write it now, +and should add, perhaps, the prudence of Franklin, the inventive power +of Edison, and the talent for improvisation of the early Troubadours. + +The Troubadours, indeed, could they return to the earth, would wander +about lonely and unwelcomed till they found home and refuge in the +hospitable atmosphere of the kindergarten,--the only spot in the +busy modern world where delighted audiences still gather around the +professional story-teller. + +If I were asked to furnish a recipe for one of these professional +story-tellers, these spinners of childish narratives, I should suggest +one measure of pure literary taste, two of gesture and illustration, +three of dramatic fire, and four of ready speech and clear expression. +If to these you add a pinch of tact and sympathy, the compound should +be a toothsome one, and certain to agree with all who taste it. + +And now as to the kind of story our professional is to tell. In +selecting this, the first point to consider is its suitability to +the audience. A story for very little ones, three or four years old +perhaps, must be simple, bright, and full of action. They do not yet +know how to listen; their comprehension of language is very limited, +and their sympathies quite undeveloped. Nor are they prepared to take +wing with you into the lofty realms of the imagination: the adventures +of the playful kitten, of the birdling learning to fly, of the lost +ball, of the faithful dog,--things which lie within their experience +and belong to the sweet, familiar atmosphere of the household,--these +they enjoy and understand. + +It will be found also that the number of children to whom one is +talking is a prominent factor in the problem of selecting a story. +Two or three little ones, gathered close about you, may pay strict +attention to a quiet, calm, eventless history; but a circle of twenty +or thirty eager, restless little people needs more sparkle and +incident. + +If one is addressing a large number of children, the homes from which +they come must be considered. Children of refined, cultivated parents, +who have listened to family conversation, who have been talked to and +encouraged to express themselves,--these are able to understand much +more lofty themes than the poor little mites who are only familiar +with plain, practical ideas, and rough speech confined to the most +ordinary wants of life. + +And now, after the story is well selected, how long shall it be? It +is impossible to fix an exact limit to the time it should occupy, for +much depends on the age and the number of the children. I am reminded +again of recipes, and of the dismay of the inexperienced cook when she +reads, "Stir in flour enough to make a stiff batter." Alas! how is she +who has never made a stiff batter to settle the exact amount of flour +necessary? + +I might give certain suggestions as to time, such as, "Close while +the interest is still fresh;" or, "Do not make the tale so long as +to weary the children;" but after all, these are only cook-book +directions. In this, as in many other departments of work with +children, one must learn in that "dear school" which "experience +keeps." Five minutes, however, is quite long enough with the babies, +and you will find that twice this time spent with the older children +will give room for a tale of absorbing interest, with appropriate +introduction and artistic _dénouement_. + +As one of the chief values of the exercise is the familiarity with +good English which it gives, I need not say that especial attention +must be paid to the phraseology in which the story is clothed. Many +persons who never write ungrammatically are inaccurate in speech, and +the very familiarity and ease of manner which the story-teller must +assume may lead her into colloquialisms and careless expressions. Of +course, however, the language must be simple; the words, for the most +part, Saxon. No ponderous, Johnsonian expressions should drag their +slow length through the recital, entangling in their folds the +comprehension of the child; nor, on the other hand, need we confine +ourselves to monosyllables, adopting the bald style of Primers and +First Readers. It is quite possible to talk simply and yet with grace +and feeling, and we may be sure that children invariably appreciate +poetry of expression. + +The story should always be accompanied with gestures,--simple, free, +unstudied motions, descriptive, perhaps, of the sweep of the mother +bird's wings as she soars away from the nest, or the waving of the +fir-tree's branches as he sings to himself in the sunshine. This +universal language is understood at once by the children, and not +only serves as an interpreter of words and ideas, but gives life and +attraction to the exercise. + +Illustrations, either impromptu or carefully prepared beforehand, are +always hailed with delight by the children. Nor need you hesitate to +try your "'prentice hand" at this work. Never mind if you "cannot +draw." It must be a rude picture, indeed, which is not enjoyed by an +audience of little people. Their vivid imaginations will triumph over +all difficulties, and enable them to see the ideal shining through the +real. It is well now and then, also, to have the children illustrate +the story. Their drawings, if executed quite without help, are, most +interesting from a psychological standpoint, and will afford great +delight to you, as well as to the little artists themselves. + +The stories can also be illustrated with clay modeling, an idealized +mud-pie-making very dear to children. They soon become quite expert in +moulding simple objects, and enjoy the work with all the capacity of +their childish hearts. + +Now and then encourage the little ones to repeat what they remember of +the tale you have told, or to tell something new on the same theme. If +the story you have given has been within their range and on a familiar +subject, a torrent of infantile reminiscence will immediately gush +forth, and you will have a miniature "experience meeting." If you have +been telling a dog story, for instance,--"I hed a dog once't," cries +Jimmy breathlessly, and is just about to tell some startling incident +concerning him, when Nickey pipes up, "And so hed I, and the pound man +tuk him;" and so on, all around the circle in the Free Kindergarten, +each child palpitating with eagerness to give you his bit of personal +experience. + +Gather the little ones as near to you as possible when you are telling +stories, the tiniest in your lap, the others cuddled at your knee. +This is easily managed in the nursery, but is more difficult with a +large circle of children. With the latter you can but seat yourself +among the wee ones, confident that the interest of the story will hold +the attention of the older children. + +What a happy hour it is, this one of story-telling, dear and sacred to +every child-lover! What an eager, delightful audience are these little +ones, grieving at the sorrows of the heroes, laughing at their happy +successes, breathless with anxiety lest the cat catch the disobedient +mouse, clapping hands when the Ugly Duckling is changed into the +Swan,--all appreciation, all interest, all joy! We might count the +rest of the world well lost, could we ever be surrounded by such +blooming faces, such loving hearts, and such ready sympathy. + + + + +THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO SOCIAL REFORM + +"New social and individual wants demand new solutions of the problem +of education." + + +"Social reform!" It is always rather an awe-striking phrase. It seems +as if one ought to be a philosopher, even to approach so august a +subject. The kindergarten--a simple unpretentious place, where a lot +of tiny children work and play together; a place into which if the +hard-headed man of business chanced to glance, and if he did not stay +long enough, or come often enough, would conclude that the children +were frittering away their time, particularly if that same good man of +business had weighed and measured and calculated so long that he had +lost the seeing eye and understanding heart. + +Some years ago, a San Francisco kindergartner was threading her way +through a dirty alley, making friendly visits to the children of her +flock. As she lingered on a certain door-step, receiving the last +confidences of some weary woman's heart, she heard a loud but not +unfriendly voice ringing from an upper window of a tenement-house just +round the corner. "Clear things from under foot!" pealed the voice, in +stentorian accents. "The teacher o' the _Kids' Guards_ is comin' down +the street!" + +"Eureka!" thought the teacher, with a smile. "There's a bit of +sympathetic translation for you! At last, the German word has been put +into the vernacular. The odd, foreign syllables have been taken to the +ignorant mother by the lisping child, and the _kindergartners_ have +become the _Kids' Guards!_ Heaven bless the rough translation, +colloquial as it is! No royal accolade could be dearer to its +recipients than this quaint, new christening!" + +What has the kindergarten to do with social reform? What bearing have +its theory and practice upon the conduct of life? + +A brass-buttoned guardian of the peace remarked to a gentleman on a +street-corner, "If we could open more kindergartens, sir, we could +almost shut up the penitentiaries, sir!" We heard the sentiment, +applauded it, and promptly printed it on the cover of three thousand +reports; but on calm reflection it appears like an exaggerated +statement. I am not sure that a kindergarten in every ward of every +city in America "would almost shut up the penitentiaries, sir!" The +most determined optimist is weighed down by the feeling that it will +take more than the ardent prosecution of any one reform, however +vital, to produce such a result. We appoint investigating committees, +who ask more and more questions, compile more and more statistics, and +get more and more confused every year. "Are our criminals native or +foreign born?" that we may know whether we are worse or better than +other people? "Have they ever learned a trade?" that we may prove what +we already know, that idle fingers are the devil's tools; "Have they +been educated?"--by any one of the sorry methods that take shelter +under that much-abused word,--that we may know whether ignorance is +a bliss or a _blister_; "Are they married or single?" that we may +determine the influence of home ties; "Have they been given to the use +of liquor?" that we may heap proof on proof, mountain high, against +the monster evil of intemperance; "What has been their family +history?" that we may know how heavily the law of heredity has laid +its burdens upon them. Burning questions all, if we would find out the +causes of crime. + +To discover the why and wherefore of things is a law of human +thought. The reform schools, penitentiaries, prisons, insane asylums, +hospitals, and poorhouses are all filled to overflowing; and it +is entirely sensible to inquire how the people came there, and to +relieve, pardon, bless, cure, or reform them as far as we can. +Meanwhile, as we are dismissing or blessing or burying the +unfortunates from the imposing front gates of our institutions, new +throngs are crowding in at the little back doors. Life is a bridge, +full of gaping holes, over which we must all travel! A thousand evils +of human misery and wickedness flow in a dark current beneath; and the +blind, the weak, the stupid, and the reckless are continually falling +through into the rushing flood. We must, it is true, organize our +life-boats. It is our duty to pluck out the drowning wretches, receive +their vows of penitence and gratitude, and pray for courage and +resignation when they celebrate their rescue by falling in again. But +we agree nowadays that we should do them much better service if we +could contrive to mend more of the holes in the bridge. + +The kindergarten is trying to mend one of these "holes." It is a tiny +one, only large enough for a child's foot; but that is our bit of the +world's work,--to _keep it small!_ If we can prevent the little people +from stumbling, we may hope that the grown folks will have a surer +foot and a steadier gait. + +A wealthy lady announced her intention of giving $25,000 to some Home +for Incurables. "Why," cried a bright kindergartner, "_don't_ you give +twelve and a half thousand to some Home for _Curables_, and then your +other twelve and a half will go so much further?" + +In a word, solicitude for childhood is one of the signs of a growing +civilization. "To cure, is the voice of the past; to prevent, the +divine whisper of to-day." + +What is the true relation of the kindergarten to social reform? +Evidently, it can have no other relation than that which grows out of +its existence as a plan of education. Education, we have all glibly +agreed, lessens the prevalence of crime. That sounds very well; but, +as a matter of fact, has our past system produced all the results in +this direction that we have hoped and prayed for? + +The truth is, people will not be made much better by education until +the plan of educating them is made better to begin with. + +Froebel's idea--the kindergarten idea--of the child and its powers, +of humanity and its destiny, of the universe, of the whole problem of +living, is somewhat different from that held by the vast majority +of parents and teachers. It is imperfectly carried out, even in +the kindergarten itself, where a conscious effort is made, and is +infrequently attempted in the school or family. + +His plan of education covers the entire period between the nursery and +the university, and contains certain essential features which bear +close relation to the gravest problems of the day. If they could be +made an integral part of all our teaching in families, schools, and +institutions, the burdens under which society is groaning to-day +would fall more and more lightly on each succeeding generation. These +essential features have often been enumerated. I am no fortunate +herald of new truth. I may not even put the old wine in new bottles; +but iteration is next to inspiration, and I shall give you the result +of eleven years' experience among the children and homes of the poorer +classes. This experience has not been confined, to teaching. One does +not live among these people day after day, pleading for a welcome for +unwished-for babies, standing beside tiny graves, receiving pathetic +confidences from wretched fathers and helpless mothers, without facing +every problem of this workaday world; they cannot all be solved, even +by the wisest of us; we can only seize the end of the skein nearest to +our hand, and patiently endeavor to straighten the tangled threads. + +The kindergarten starts out plainly with the assumption that the moral +aim in education is the absolute one, and that all others are purely +relative. It endeavors to be a life-school, where all the practices of +complete living are made a matter of daily habit. It asserts boldly +that doing right would not be such an enormously difficult matter if +we practiced it a little,--say a tenth as much as we practice the +piano,--and it intends to give children plenty of opportunity for +practice in this direction. It says insistently and eternally, "Do +noble things, not dream them all day long." For development, action is +the indispensable requisite. To develop moral feeling and the power +and habit of moral doing we must exercise them, excite, encourage, and +guide their action. To check, reprove, and punish wrong feeling and +doing, however necessary it be for the safety and harmony, nay, for +the very existence of any social state, does not develop right feeling +and good doing. It does not develop anything, for it stops action, +and without action there is no development. At best it stops wrong +development, that is all. + +In the kindergarten, the physical, mental, and spiritual being +is consciously addressed at one and the same time. There is no +"piece-work" tolerated. The child is viewed in his threefold +relations, as the child of Nature, the child of Man, and the child +of God; there is to be no disregarding any one of these divinely +appointed relations. It endeavors with equal solicitude to instill +correct and logical habits of thought, true and generous habits of +feeling, and pure and lofty habits of action; and it asserts serenely +that, if information cannot be gained in the right way, it would +better not be gained at all. It has no special hobby, unless you would +call its eternal plea for the all-sided development of the child a +hobby. + +Somebody said lately that the kindergarten people had a certain stock +of metaphysical statements to be aired on every occasion, and that +they were over-fond of prating about the "being" of the child. It +would hardly seem as if too much could be said in favor of the +symmetrical growth of the child's nature. These are not mere "silken +phrases;" but, if any one dislikes them, let him take the good, +honest, ringing charge of Colonel Parker, "Remember that the whole boy +goes to school!" + +Yes, the whole boy does go to school; but the whole boy is seldom +educated after he gets there. A fraction of him is attended to in the +evening, however, and a fraction on Sunday. He takes himself in hand +on Saturdays and in vacation time, and accomplishes a good deal, +notwithstanding the fact that his sight is a trifle impaired already, +and his hearing grown a little dull, so that Dame Nature works at a +disadvantage, and begins, doubtless, to dread boys who have enjoyed +too much "schooling," since it seems to leave them in a state of coma. + +Our general scheme of education furthers mental development with +considerable success. The training of the hand is now being +laboriously woven into it; but, even when that is accomplished, we +shall still be working with imperfect aims, for the stress laid upon +heart-culture is as yet in no way commensurate with its gravity. We +know, with that indolent, fruitless half-knowledge that passes for +knowing, that "out of the heart are the issues of life." We feel, +not with the white heat of absolute conviction, but placidly and +indifferently, as becomes the dwellers in a world of change, that +"conduct is three fourths of life;" but we do not crystallize this +belief into action. We "dream," not "do" the "noble things." The +kindergarten does not fence off a half hour each day for moral +culture, but keeps it in view every moment of every day. Yet it is +never obtrusive; for the mental faculties are being addressed at the +same time, and the body strengthened for its special work. + +With the methods generally practiced in the family and school, I fail +to see how we can expect any more delicate sense of right and wrong, +any clearer realization of duty, any greater enlightenment of +conscience, any higher conception of truth, than we now find in the +world. I care not what view you take of humanity, whether you have +Calvinistic tendencies and believe in the total depravity of infants, +or whether you are a disciple of Wordsworth and apostrophize the child +as a + + "Mighty prophet! Seer blest, + On whom those truths do rest + Which we are toiling all our lives to find;" + +if you are a fair-minded man or woman, and have had much experience +with young children, you will be compelled to confess that they +generally have a tolerably clear sense of right and wrong, needing +only gentle guidance to choose the right when it is put before them. I +say most, not all, children; for some are poor, blurred human scrawls, +blotted all over with the mistakes of other people. And how do we +treat this natural sense of what is true and good, this willingness +to choose good rather than evil, if it is made even the least bit +comprehensible and attractive? In various ways, all equally dull, +blind, and vicious. If we look at the downright ethical significance +of the methods of training and discipline in many families and +schools, we see that they are positively degrading. We appoint more +and more "monitors" instead of training the "inward monitor" in each +child, make truth-telling difficult instead of easy, punish trivial +and grave offenses about in the same way, practice open bribery by +promising children a few cents a day to behave themselves, and weaken +their sense of right by giving them picture cards for telling the +truth and credits for doing the most obvious duty. This has been +carried on until we are on the point of needing another Deluge and a +new start. + +Is it strange that we find the moral sense blunted, the conscience +unenlightened? The moral climate with which we surround the child is +so hazy that the spiritual vision grows dimmer and dimmer,--and +small wonder! Upon this solid mass of ignorance and stupidity it is +difficult to make any impression; yet I suppose there is greater +joy in heaven over a cordial "thwack" at it than over most blows at +existing evils. + +The kindergarten attempts a rational, respectful treatment of +children, leading them to do right as much as possible for right's +sake, abjuring all rewards save the pleasure of working for others and +the delight that follows a good action, and all punishments save +those that follow as natural penalties of broken laws,--the obvious +consequences of the special bit of wrong-doing, whatever it may be. +The child's will is addressed in such a way as to draw it on, if +right; to turn it willingly, if wrong. Coercion in the sense of fear, +personal magnetism, nay, even the child's love for the teacher, may +be used in such a way as to weaken his moral force. With every free, +conscious choice of right, a human being's moral power and strength of +character increase; and the converse of this is equally true. + +If the child is unruly in play, he leaves the circle and sits or +stands by himself, a miserable, lonely unit until he feels again in +sympathy with the community. If he destroys his work, he unites the +tattered fragments as best he may, and takes the moral object lesson +home with him. If he has neglected his own work, he is not given the +joy of working for others. If he does not work in harmony with his +companions, a time is chosen when he will feel the sense of isolation +that comes from not living in unity with the prevailing spirit of good +will. He can have as much liberty as is consistent with the liberty +of other people, but no more. If we could infuse the _spirit_ of this +kind of discipline into family and school life, making it systematic +and continuous from the earliest years, there would be fewer morally +"slack-twisted" little creatures growing up into inefficient, +bloodless manhood and womanhood. It would be a good deal of trouble; +but then, life is a good deal of trouble anyway, if you come to that. +We cannot expect to swallow the universe like a pill, and travel on +through the world "like smiling images pushed from behind." + +Blind obedience to authority is not in itself moral. It is necessary +as a part of government. It is necessary in order that we may save +children dangers of which they know nothing. It is valuable also as +a habit. But I should never try to teach it by the story of that +inspired idiot, the boy who "stood on the burning deck, whence all +but him had fled," and from whence he would have fled if his mental +endowment had been that of ordinary boys. For obedience must not +be allowed to destroy common sense and the feeling of personal +responsibility for one's own actions. Our task is to train +responsible, self-directing agents, not to make soldiers. + +Virtue thrives in a bracing moral atmosphere, where good actions are +taken rather as a matter of course. The attempt to instill an idea of +self-government into the tiny slips of humanity that find their way +into the kindergarten is useful, and infinitely to be preferred to the +most implicit obedience to arbitrary command. In the one case, we may +hope to have, some time or other, an enlightened will and conscience +struggling after the right, failing often, but rising superior to +failure, because of an ever stronger joy in right and shame for wrong. +In the other, we have a "_good goose_" who does the right for the +picture card that is set before him,--a "trained dog" sort of child, +who will not leap through the hoop unless he sees the whip or the lump +of sugar. So much for the training of the sense of right and wrong! +Now for the provision which the kindergarten makes for the growth of +certain practical virtues, much needed in the world, but touched upon +all too lightly in family and school. + +The student of political economy sees clearly enough the need of +greater thrift and frugality in the nation; but where and when do we +propose to develop these virtues? Precious little time is given to +them in most schools, for their cultivation does not yet seem to be +insisted upon as an integral part of the scheme. Here and there an +inspired human being seizes on the thought that the child should +really be taught how to live at some time between the ages of six and +sixteen, or he may not learn so easily afterward. Accordingly, the +pupils under the guidance of that particular person catch a glimpse of +eternal verities between the printed lines of their geographies and +grammars. The kindergarten makes the growth of every-day virtues so +simple, so gradual, even so easy, that you are almost beguiled into +thinking them commonplace. They seem to come in, just by the way, as +it were, so that at the end of the day you have seen thought and +word and deed so sweetly mingled that you marvel at the "universal +dovetailedness of things," as Dickens puts it. They will flourish +better in the school, too, when the cheerful hum of labor is heard +there for a little while each day. The kindergarten child has "just +enough" strips for his weaving mat,--none to lose, none to destroy; +just enough blocks in each of his boxes, and every one of them, he +finds, is required to build each simple form. He cuts his square of +paper into a dozen crystal-shaped bits, and behold! each one of these +tiny flakes is needed to make a symmetrical figure. He has been +careless in following directions, and his form of folded paper does +not "come out" right. It is not even, and it is not beautiful. The +false step in the beginning has perpetuated itself in each succeeding +one, until at the end either partial success or complete failure +meets his eye. How easy here to see the relation of cause to effect! +"Courage!" says the kindergartner; "better fortune next time, for we +will take greater pains." "Can you rub out the ugly, wrong creases?" +"We will try. Alas, no! Wrong things are not so easily rubbed out, are +they?" "Use your worsted quite to the end, dear: it costs money." "Let +us save all the crumbs from our lunch for the birds, children; do not +drop any on the floor: it will only make work for somebody else." +And so on, to the end of the busy, happy day. How easy it is in the +kindergarten, how seemingly difficult later on! It seems to be only +books afterward; and "books are good enough in their own way, but they +are a mighty bloodless substitute for life." + +The most superficial observer values the industrial side of the +kindergarten, because it falls directly in line with the present +effort to make some manual training a part of school work; but twenty +or twenty-five years ago, when the subject was not so popular, +kindergarten children were working away at their pretty, useful +tasks,--tiny missionaries helping to show the way to a truth now fully +recognized. As to the value of leading children to habits of industry +as early in life as may be, that they may see the dignity and +nobleness of labor, and conceive of their individual responsibilities +in this world of action, that is too obvious to dwell upon at this +time. + +To Froebel, life, action, and knowledge were the three notes of one +harmonious chord; but he did not advocate manual training merely that +children might be kept busy, nor even that technical skill might be +acquired. The piece of finished kindergarten work is only a symbol of +something more valuable which the child has acquired in doing it. + +The first steps in all the kindergarten occupations are directed or +suggested by the teacher; but these dictations or suggestions are +merely intended to serve as a sort of staff, by which the child can +steady himself until he can walk alone. It is always the creative +instinct that is to be reached and vivified: everything else is +secondary. By reproduction from memory of a dictated form, by taking +from or adding to it, by changing its centre, corners, or sides,--by a +dozen ingenious preliminary steps,--the child's inventive faculty is +developed; and he soon reaches a point in drawing, building, modeling, +or what not, where his greatest delight is to put his individual ideas +into visible shape. The simple request, "Make something pretty of your +own," brings a score of original combinations and designs,--either the +old thoughts in different shape or something fresh and audacious which +hints of genius. Instead of twenty hackneyed and slavish copies of +one pattern, we have twenty free, individual productions, each the +expression of the child's inmost personal thought. This invests labor +with a beauty and power, and confers upon it a dignity, to be gained +in no other way. It makes every task, however lowly, a joy, because +all the higher faculties are brought into action. Much so-called "busy +work," where pupils of the "A class" are allowed to stick a thousand +pegs in a thousand holes while the "B class" is reciting arithmetic, +is quite fruitless, because it has so little thought behind it. + +Unless we have a care, manual training, when we have succeeded in +getting it into the school, may become as mechanical and unprofitable +as much of our mind training has been, and its moral value thus +largely missed. The only way to prevent it is to borrow a suggestion +from Froebel. Then, and only then, shall we have insight with power +of action, knowledge with practice, practice with the stamp of +individuality. Then doing will blossom into being, and "Being is the +mother of all the little doings as well as of the grown-up deeds and +heroic sacrifices." + +The kindergarten succeeds in getting these interesting and valuable +free productions from children of four or five years only by +developing, in every possible way, the sense of beauty and harmony and +order. We know that people assume, somewhat at least, the color of +their surroundings; and, if the sense of beauty is to grow, we must +give it something to feed upon. + +The kindergarten tries to provide a room, more or less attractive, +quantities of pictures and objects of interest, growing plants and +vines, vases of flowers, and plenty of light, air, and sunshine. A +canary chirps in one corner, perhaps; and very likely there will be +a cat curled up somewhere, or a forlorn dog which has followed the +children into this safe shelter. It is a pretty, pleasant, domestic +interior, charming and grateful to the senses. The kindergartner +looks as if she were glad to be there, and the children are generally +smiling. Everybody seems alive. The work, lying cosily about, is neat, +artistic, and suggestive. The children pass out of their seats to the +cheerful sound of music, and are presently joining in an ideal sort of +game, where, in place of the mawkish sentimentality of "Sally Walker," +of obnoxious memory, we see all sorts of healthful, poetic, childlike +fancies woven into song. Rudeness is, for the most part, banished. The +little human butterflies and bees and birds flit hither and thither +in the circle; the make-believe trees hold up their branches, and the +flowers their cups; and everybody seems merry and content. As they +pass out the door, good-bys and bows and kisses are wafted backward +into the room; for the manners of polite society are observed in +everything. + +You draw a deep breath. This is a _real_ kindergarten, and it is like +a little piece of the millennium. "Everything is so very pretty and +charming," says the visitor. Yes, so it is. But all this color, +beauty, grace, symmetry, daintiness, delicacy, and refinement, though +it seems to address and develop the aesthetic side of the child's +nature, has in reality a very profound ethical significance. We have +all seen the preternatural virtue of the child who wears her best +dress, hat, and shoes on the same august occasion. Children are tidier +and more careful in a dainty, well-kept room. They treat pretty +materials more respectfully than ugly ones. They are inclined to be +ashamed, at least in a slight degree, of uncleanliness, vulgarity, +and brutality, when they see them in broad contrast with beauty and +harmony and order. For the most part, they try "to live up to" the +place in which they find themselves. There is some connection between +manners and morals. It is very elusive and, perhaps, not very deep; +but it exists. Vice does not flourish alike in all conditions and +localities, by any means. An ignorant negro was overheard praying, +"Let me so lib dat when I die I may _hab manners_, dat I may know what +to say when I see my heabenly Lord!" Well, I dare say we shall need +good manners as well as good morals in heaven; and the constant +cultivation of the one from right motives might give us an unexpected +impetus toward the other. If the systematic development of the sense +of beauty and order has an ethical significance, so has the happy +atmosphere of the kindergarten an influence in the same direction. + +I have known one or two "solid men" and one or two predestinate +spinsters who said that they didn't believe children could accomplish +anything in the kindergarten, because they had too good a time. There +is something uniquely vicious about people who care nothing for +children's happiness. That sense of the solemnity of mortal conditions +which has been indelibly impressed upon us by our Puritan ancestors +comes soon enough, Heaven knows! Meanwhile, a happy childhood is an +unspeakably precious memory. We look back upon it and refresh our +tired hearts with the vision when experience has cast a shadow over +the full joy of living. + +The sunshiny atmosphere of a good kindergarten gives the young human +plants an impulse toward eager, vigorous growth. Love's warmth +surrounds them on every side, wooing their sweetest possibilities into +life. Roots take a firmer grasp, buds form, and flowers bloom where, +under more unfriendly conditions, bare stalks or pale leaves would +greet the eye,--pathetic, unfulfilled promises,--souls no happier +for having lived in the world, the world no happier because of their +living. "Virtue kindles at the touch of joy." The kindergarten takes +this for one of its texts, and does not breed that dismal fungus of +the mind "which disposes one to believe that the pursuit of knowledge +must necessarily be disagreeable." + +The social phase of the kindergarten is most interesting to the +student of social economics. Coöperative work is strongly emphasized; +and the child is inspired both to live his _own full_ life, and yet to +feel that his life touches other lives at every point,--"for we are +members one of another." It is not the unity of the "little birds," in +the couplet, who "agree" in their "little nests," because "they'd +fall out if they didn't," but a realization, in embryo, of the divine +principle that no man liveth to himself. + +As to specifically religious culture, everything fosters the spirit +out of which true religion grows. + +In the morning talks, when the children are most susceptible and ready +to "be good," as they say, their thoughts are led to the beauty of the +world about them, the pleasure of right doing, the sweetness of +kind thoughts and actions, the loveliness of truth, patience, and +helpfulness, and the goodness of the Creator to all created things. +No parent, of whatever creed or lack of creed, whether a bigot or +unbeliever, could object to the kind of religious instruction given in +the kindergarten; and yet in every possible way the child-soul and the +child-heart are directed towards everything that is pure and holy, +true and steadfast. + +If the child love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love +God whom he hath not seen? "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, +therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." There is a vast deal of +practical religion to be breathed into these little children of the +street before the abstractions of beliefs can be comprehended. They +cannot live on words and prayers and texts, the thought and feeling +must come before the expression. As Mrs. Whitney says, "The world is +determined to vaccinate children with religion for fear they should +take it in the natural way." + +Some wise sayings of the good Dr. Holland, in "Nicholas Minturn," +come to me as I write. Nicholas says, in discussing this matter of +charities, and the various means of effecting a radical cure of +pauperism, rather than its continual alleviation: "If you read the +parable of the Sower, I think that you will find that soil is quite as +necessary as seed--indeed, that the seed is thrown away unless a +soil is prepared in advance.... I believe in religion, but before I +undertake to plant it, I would like something to plant it in. The +sowers are too few, and the seed is too precious to be thrown away and +lost among the thorns and stones." + +Last, but by no means least, the admirable physical culture that goes +on in the kindergarten is all in the right direction. Physiologists +know as much about morality as ministers of the gospel. The vices +which drag men and women into crime spring as often from unhealthy +bodies as from weak wills and callous consciences. Vile fancies and +sensual appetites grow stronger and more terrible when a feeble +physique and low vitality offer no opposing force. Deadly vices are +nourished in the weak, diseased bodies that are penned, day after day, +in filthy, crowded tenements of great cities. If we could withdraw +every three-year-old child from these physically enfeebling and +morally brutalizing influences, and give them three or four hours a +day of sunshine, fresh air, and healthy physical exercise, we should +be doing humanity an inestimable service, even if we attempted nothing +more. + +I have tried, as briefly as I might in justice to the subject, to +emphasize the following points:-- + +I. That we must act up to our convictions with regard to the value of +preventive work. If we are ever obliged to choose, let us save the +children. + +II. That the relation of the kindergarten to social reform is simply +that, as a plan of education, it offers us valuable suggestions in +regard to the mental, moral, and physical culture of children, which, +in view of certain crying evils of the day, we should do well to +follow. + +The essential features of the kindergarten which bear a special +relation to the subject are as follows:-- + +1. The symmetrical development of the child's powers, considering him +neither as all mind, all soul, nor all body; but as a creature capable +of devout feeling, clear thinking, noble doing. + +2. The attempt to make so-called "moral culture" a little less +immoral; the rational method of discipline, looking to the growth of +moral, self-directing power in the child,--the only proper discipline +for future citizens of a free republic. + +3. The development of certain practical virtues, the lack of which +is endangering the prosperity of the nation; namely, economy thrift, +temperance, self-reliance, frugality industry, courtesy, and all +the sober host,--none of them drawing-room accomplishments and +consequently in small demand. + +4. The emphasis placed upon manual training, especially in its +development of the child's creative activity. + +5. The training of the sense of beauty, harmony, and order; its +ethical as well as aesthetical significance. + +6. The insistence upon the moral effect of happiness; joy the +favorable climate of childhood. + +7. The training of the child's social nature; an attempt to teach the +brotherhood of man as well as the Fatherhood of God. + +8. The realization that a healthy body has almost as great an +influence on morals as a pure mind. + +I do not say that the consistent practice of these principles will +bring the millennium in the twinkling of an eye, but I do affirm +that they are the thought-germs of that better education which shall +prepare humanity for the new earth over which shall arch the new +heaven. + +Ruskin says, "Crime can only be truly hindered by letting no man +grow up a criminal, by taking away the will to commit sin!" But, you +object, that is sheer impossibility. It does seem so, I confess, +and yet, unless you are willing to think that the whole plan of an +Omnipotent Being is to be utterly overthrown, set aside, thwarted, +then you must believe this ideal possible, somehow, sometime. + +I know of no better way to grow towards it than by living up to the +kindergarten idea, that just as we gain intellectual power by doing +intellectual work, and the finest aesthetic feeling by creating +beauty, so shall we win for ourselves the power of feeling nobly and +willing nobly by doing "noble things." + + + + +HOW SHALL WE GOVERN OUR CHILDREN? + +"Not the cry," says a Chinese author, "but the rising of a wild duck, +impels the flock to follow him in upward flight." + + +Long ago, in a far-off country, a child was born; and when his parents +looked on him they loved him, and they resolved in their simple hearts +to make of him a strong, brave, warlike man. But the God of that +country was a hungry and an insatiable God, and he cried out for human +sacrifice; so, when his arms had been thrice heated till they glowed +red with the flame of the fire, the mother cradled her child in them, +and his life exhaled as a vapor. + +A child was born in another country, and the tender eyes of his mother +saw that his limbs were misshapen and his life-blood a sickly current. +Yet her heart yearned over him, and she would have tended and trained +him and loved him better than all the rest of her strong, well-favored +brood; but when the elders of her people knew that the child was a +weakling, they decreed that he should die, and she bent her head to +the law, which was stronger than her love. + +In a third land a child was to be born, and the proud father made +ready gifts, and purchased silken robes, and prepared a feast for his +friends; but, alas! when the longed-for soul entered the world it was +housed in a woman-child's body, and straightway the joy was changed +into mourning. Bitter reproaches were heaped upon the mother, for were +there not enough women already on the earth? and the fiat went forth +that the babe should straightway be delivered from the trials of +existence. So, while its hold on life was yet uncertain, the husband's +mother placed wet cloths upon its lips, and soon the faint breath +stopped, and the white soul went fluttering heavenward again. + +In still another of God's fair lands a child entered the world, and he +grew toward manhood vigorous and lusty; but he heeded not his parents' +commands, and when his disobedience had been long continued, the +fathers of the tribe decreed that he should be stoned to death, for so +it was written in the sacred books. And as the youth was the absolute +property of his parents, and as by common consent they had full +liberty to deal with him as seemed good to them, they consented unto +his death, that his soul might be saved alive, and the evening sun +shone crimson on his dead body as it lay upon the sands of the desert. + + * * * * * + +At a later day and in a Christian country two children were born, one +hundred years apart, and the world had now so far progressed that +absolute power over the life of the offspring was denied the parents. +The one was ruled with iron rods; he was made to obey with a rigidity +of compliance and a severity of treatment in case of failure which +made obedience a slavish duty, and he was taught besides that he was a +child of Satan and an heir of hell. He found no joy in his youth, and +his miserable soul groveled in fear of the despot who dominated him, +and of the blazing eternity which he was told would be the punishment +for his sins. His will was broken; he was made weak where he might +have been strong; and he did evil because he had learned no power of +self-restraint: yet his people loved him, and they had done all these +things because they wished to purge him wholly from all uncleanness. + +The parents of the other child were warned of the lamentable results +of this gloomy training, and they said one to another: "Our darling +shall be free as air; his duties shall be made to seem like pleasures, +or, better still, he shall have no duty but his pleasure. He shall +do only what he wills, that his will may grow strong, and he can but +choose the right, for he knows no evil. We will hold up before him no +bugbear of future punishment, for doubtless there is no such thing; +and if there be, it will not be meted out to such a child. He will +love and obey his parents because they have devoted themselves to his +happiness, and because they have never imposed distasteful obligations +upon him, and when he grows to manhood he will be a model of wisdom +and of goodness." + +But, lo! the child of this training was as great a failure as the +child of austerity and gloom. He was capricious, lawless, willful, +disobedient, passionate; he thought of no one's pleasure save his own; +he cared for his parents only in so far as they could be of use to +him; and like a wild beast of the jungle he preyed upon the life +around him, and cared not whom he destroyed if his appetites were +satisfied. + +"In every field of opinion and action, men are found swinging from +one extreme to the other of life's manifold arcs of vibration." This +perpetual movement may be the essential condition of existence, for +death is cessation of motion; or it may be a never-ending effort of +the mind to reach an ideal which discloses itself so seldom as to make +its permanent abiding-place a matter of uncertainty. Doubtless there +is somewhere a middle to the arc, and in the lapse of ages the needle +may at last find the "pole-point of central truth" and be at rest; but +as yet, in every department of labor and thought, it is vibrating, and +after tarrying a while at one extreme it swings unsatisfied back to +the other. + +Nowhere are these extremes more noticeable than in the government of +children. Centuries ago, in the patriarchal period, the father of the +family seems also to have exercised the functions of a criminal judge; +but the uniting of the two sets of duties in one person does not +appear to have inspired the children with insurmountable awe, for +laws are found both in Numbers and Deuteronomy fixing the penalty of +disobedience, and of the striking of a parent by a child. + +Still later, the Roman father possessed arbitrary powers of life and +death over his children; but it is probable that natural affection and +a more advanced civilization commonly made the law a dead letter. + +Though the world in time grew to feel that life belonged to the being +who held it, not to those who gave it birth, still discipline has for +ages been directed more to the body than to the mind, with an idea +apparently that the pains of the flesh will save the soul. Pious +parents until within recent dates have regarded the flogging of +children as absolutely a religious obligation, and many a tender +mother has steeled her heart and strengthened her arm to give the +blows which she regarded as essential to the spiritual well-being of +her child. + +The birch rod and the Bible were the Parents' Complete Guide to +domestic management in Puritan days, and no one can deny that this +treatment, though rather a heroic one, seems to have produced fine, +strong, self-denying men and women. + +Governor Bradford, in 1648, speaks feelingly of the godliness of a +Puritan woman whose office it was to "sit in a convenient place in +the congregation, with a little birchen rod in her hand, and keep +the children in great awe;" and, from the frequency with which +chastisement is mentioned in early Puritan records, it seems pretty +clear that the sober little lads and lasses of the day did not suffer +from over-indulgence. + +When this wholesale whipping began to fall into disuse, many +philosophers prophesied the ruin of the race, but these gloomy +predictions have scarcely found their fulfillment as yet. + +There has been, however, a colossal change in discipline, from the +days when disobedience was punishable with death to the agreeable +moral suasion of the nineteenth century, as exemplified in the "fin de +siècle" nonsense rhyme:-- + + "There once was a hopeful young horse + Who was brought up on love, without force: + He had his own way, and they sugared his hay; + So he never was naughty, of course." + +The results of this delightful method of treatment seem rather +problematic, and the modern child is universally acknowledged to be no +improvement upon his predecessors in point of respect and filial piety +at least. + +A superintendent's report, written thirty years ago for one of the New +England States, regrets that, even then, home government had grown +lax. He wittily says that Young America is _rampant_, parental +influence _couchant_; and no reversal of these positions is as yet +visible in 1892. + +To those who note the methods by which many children are managed, it +is a matter of wonderment that the results in character and conduct +are not very much worse than they are. Dr. Channing wisely says, "The +hope of the world lies in the fact that parents cannot make of +their children what they will." Happy accidents of association and +circumstance sometimes nullify the harm the parent has done, and the +tremendous momentum of the race-tendency carries the child over many +an obstacle which his training has set in his path. + +It seems crystal-clear at the outset that you cannot govern a child if +you have never learned to govern yourself. Plato said, many centuries +ago: "The best way of training the young is to train yourself at the +same time; not to admonish them, but to be always carrying out your +own principles in practice," and all the wisdom of the ancients is in +the thought. If, then, you are a fit person to be trusted with the +government of a child, what goal do you propose to reach in your +discipline; what is your aim, your ideal? + +1. The discipline should be thoroughly in harmony with child-nature in +general, and suited to the age and development of the particular child +in question. + +2. It should appeal to the higher motives, and to the higher motives +alone. + +3. It should develop kindness, helpfulness, and sympathy. + +4. It should never use weapons which would tend to lower the child's +self-respect. + +5. It should be thoroughly just, and the punishment, or rather the +retribution, should be commensurate with the offense. + +6. It should teach respect for law, and for the rights of others. + +Finally, it should teach "voluntary obedience, the last lesson in +life, the choral song which rises from all elements and all angels," +and, as the object of true discipline is the formation of character, +it should produce a human being master of his impulses, his passions, +and his will. + +The journey's end being fixed, one must next decide what route will +reach it, and will be short, safe, economical, and desirable; and the +roads to the presumably ideal discipline are many and well-traveled. +Some of them, it is true, lead you into a swamp, some to the edge of +a precipice; some will hurl you down a mountain-side with terrific +rapidity; others stop half-way, bringing you face to face with a blank +wall; and others again will lose you entirely on a bleak and trackless +plain. But no matter which route you select, you will have the wise +company of a great many teachers, parents, and guardians, and an +innumerable throng of fair and lovely children will journey by your +side. + +The road of threat and fear, of arbitrary and over-severe punishment, +has been much traveled in all times, though perhaps it is a little +grass-grown now. + +The child who obeys you merely because he fears punishment is a slave +who cowers under the lash of the despot. Undue severity makes him a +liar and a coward. He hates his master, he hates the thing he is made +to do; there is a bitter sense of injustice, a seething passion of +revenge, forever within him; and were he strong enough he would rise +and destroy the power that has crushed him. He has done right because +he was forced to do so, not because he desired it; and since the +right-doing, the obedience, was neither the fruit of his reason nor +his love, it cannot be permanent. + +The feeling of justice is strong in the child's mind, and you have +constantly wounded that feeling. You have destroyed the sense of cause +and effect by your arbitrary punishments. You have corrected him for +disobedience, for carelessness, for unkindness, for untruthfulness, +for noisiness, and for slowness in learning his lessons. + +How is he to know which of these offenses is the greatest, if all have +received the same punishment? Why should giving him a good thrashing +teach him to be kind to his little sister? Why should he learn the +multiplication table with greater rapidity because you ferule him +soundly? Have you ever found pain an assistance to the memory? + +If he has little intellectual perception of the difference between +truth and falsehood, why should you suppose that smart strokes on any +portion of the body would quicken that perception? + +Is it not clear as the sun at noonday that, since he observes the +punishment to have no necessary relation to the offense, and since he +observes it to be light or severe according to your pleasure,--is it +not clear that he will suppose you to be using your superior strength +in order to treat him unfairly, and will not the supposition sow seeds +of hatred and rebellion in his heart? + +Another road to discipline is that of bribery. + +To endeavor to secure goodness in a child by means of bribery, to +promise him a reward in case he obeys you, is manifestly an absurdity. +You are destroying the very traits in his character you are presumably +endeavoring to build up. You are educating a human being who knows +good from evil, and who should be taught deliberately to choose the +right for the right's sake, who should do his duty because he knows +it to be his duty, not for any extraneous reward connected with it. +A spiritual reward will follow, nevertheless, in the feeling of +happiness engendered, and the child may early be led to find his +satisfaction in this, and in the approval of those he loves. + +There are, of course, certain simple rewards which can be used with +safety, and which the child easily sees to be the natural results of +good conduct. If his treatment of the household pussy has been kind +and gentle, he may well be trusted with a pet of his own; if he puts +his toys away carefully when asked to do so, father will notice the +neat room when he comes home; if he learns his lessons well and +quickly, he will have the more time to work in the garden; and the +suggestion of these natural consequences is legitimate and of good +effect. + +It is always safer, no doubt, to appeal to a love of pleasure in +children than to a fear of pain, yet bribes and extraneous rewards +inevitably breed selfishness and corruption, and lead the child +to expect conditions in life which will never be realized. Though +retribution of one kind or another follows quickly on the heels of +wrong-doing, yet virtue is commonly its own reward, and it is as well +that the child should learn this at the beginning of life. Froebel +says: "Does a simple, natural child, when acting rightly, think of +any other reward which he might receive for his action than this +consciousness, though that reward be only praise?... + +"How we degrade and lower the human nature which we should raise, how +we weaken those whom we should strengthen, when we hold up to them an +inducement to act virtuously!" + +Emulation is often harnessed into service to further intellectual +progress and the formation of right habits of conduct, and this +inevitably breeds serious evils. + +It is well to set before the child an ideal on which he may form +himself as far as possible; but when this ideal sits across the aisle, +plays in a neighboring back yard, or, worse still, is another child +in the same family, he is hated and despised. His virtues become +obnoxious, and the unfortunate evildoer prefers to be vicious, that +he may not resemble a creature whose praises have so continually been +sung that his very name is odious. + +If the child grows accustomed to the comparison of himself with others +and the endeavor to excel them, he becomes selfish, envious, and +either vain of his virtue and attainments, or else thoroughly +disheartened at his small success, while he grudges that of his +neighbor. George Macdonald says: "No work noble or lastingly good can +come of emulation, any more than of greed. I think the motives are +spiritually the same." + +To what can we appeal, then, in children, as motives to goodness, as +aids in the formation of right habits of thought and action? Ah! the +child's heart is a harp of many strings, and touched by the hand of a +master a fine, clear tone will sound from every one of them, while the +resultant strain will be a triumphant burst of glorious harmony. + +Touch delicately the string of love of approval, and listen to the +answer. + +The child delights to work for you, to please you if he can, to do +his tasks well enough to win your favorable notice, and the breath of +praise is sweet to his nostrils. It is right and justifiable that +he should have this praise, and it will be an aid to his spiritual +development, if bestowed with discrimination. Only Titanic strength of +character can endure constant discouragement and failure, and yet work +steadily onward, and the weak, undeveloped human being needs a word of +approval now and then to show him that he is on the right track, and +that his efforts are appreciated. Of course the kind and the frequency +of the praise bestowed depend entirely upon the nature of the child. + +One timid, self-distrustful temperament needs frequently to bask in +the sunshine of your approval, while another, somewhat predisposed to +vanity and self-consciousness, feeds a more bracing moral climate. + +There is no question that cleanliness and fresh air may be considered +as minor aids to goodness, and a dangerous outbreak of insubordination +may sometimes be averted by hastily suggesting to the little rebel a +run in the garden, prefaced by a thorough application of cool water +to the flushed face and little clenched hands; while self-respect may +often be restored by the donning of a clean apron. + +Beauty of surroundings is another incentive to harmony of action. It +is easier for the child to be naughty in a poor, gloomy room, scanty +of furniture, than in a garden gay with flowers, shaded by full-leafed +trees, and made musical by the voice of running water. + +Dr. William T. Harris says: "Beauty cannot create a new heart, but it +can greatly change the disposition," and this seems unquestionable, +especially with regard to the glory of God's handiwork, which makes +goodness seem "the natural way of living." Yet we would not wish our +children to be sybarites, and we must endeavor to cultivate in their +breasts a hardy plant of virtue which will live, if need be, on Alpine +heights and feed on scanty fare. + +It is a truism that interesting occupation prevents dissension, and +that idle fingers are the Devil's tools. + +A child who is good and happy during school time, with its regular +hours and alternated work and play, often becomes, in vacation, +fretful, sulky, discontented, and in arms against the entire world. + +The discipline of work, if of a proper kind, of a kind in which +success is not too long delayed, is sure and efficacious. Success, if +the fruit of one's own efforts, is so sweet that one longs for more of +the work which produced it. + +The reverse of the medal may be seen here also. The knotted thread +which breaks if pulled too impatiently; the dropped stitches that make +rough, uneven places in the pattern; the sail which was wrongly placed +and will not propel the boat; the pile of withered leaves which was +not removed, and which the wind scattered over the garden,--are +not all these concrete moral lessons in patience, accuracy, and +carefulness? + +We may safely appeal to public opinion, sometimes, in dealing with +children. The chief object in doing this "is to create a constantly +advancing ideal toward which the child is attracted, and thereby +to gain a constantly increasing effort on his part to realize this +ideal." There comes a time in the child's development when he begins +to realize his own individuality, and longs to see it recognized by +others. The views of life, the sentiments of the people about him, +are clearly noted, and he desires to so shape his conduct as to be +in harmony with them. If he sees that tale-bearing and cowardice are +looked upon with disgust by his comrades, he will be a very Spartan in +his laconicism and courage; if his father and older brothers can bear +pain without wincing, then he will not cry when he hurts himself. + +Oftentimes he is obdurate when reproved in private for a fault, but +when brought to the tribunal of the disapproval of other children, he +is chagrined, repents, and makes atonement. He is uneasy under the +adverse verdict of a large company, but the condemnation of one person +did not weigh with him. It is usually not wise, however, to appeal to +public opinion in this way, save on an abstract question, as the child +loses his self-respect, and becomes degraded in his own eyes, if his +fault is trumpeted abroad. + +Stories of brave deeds, poems of heroism, self-sacrifice, and loyalty, +have their places in creating a sentiment of ideality in the child's +breast,--a sentiment which remains fixed sometimes, even though it be +not in harmony with the feeling of the majority. + +Now and then some noble soul is born, some hero so thrilled with the +ideal that he rises far above the public sentiment of his day; but +usually we count him great who overtops his fellows by an inch or two, +and he who falls much below the level of ordinary feeling is esteemed +as almost beyond hope. + +To seek for the approval of others, even though they embody our +highest ideals, is truly not the loftiest form of aspiration; but it +is one round in the ladder which leads to that higher feeling, the +desire for the benediction of the spirit-principle within us. + +Although discipline by means of fear, as the word is commonly used, +cannot be too strongly condemned, yet there is a "godly fear" of which +the Bible speaks, which certainly has its place among incentives in +will-training. The child has not attained as yet, and it is doubtful +whether we ourselves have done so, to that supreme excellence of love +which absolutely casteth out fear. + +A writer of great moral insight says: "Has not the law of seed and +flower, cause and effect, the law of continuity which binds the +universe together, a tone of severity? It has surely, like all +righteous law, and carries with it a legitimate and wholesome fear. If +we are to reap what we have sown, some, perhaps most of us, may dread +the harvest." + +The child shrinks from the disapproval of the loved parent or teacher. +By so much the more as he reverences and respects those "in authority +over him" does he dread to do that which he knows they would condemn. +If he has been led to expect natural retributions, he will have a +wholesome fear of putting his hand in the fire, since he knows the +inevitable consequences. He understands that it is folly to expect +that wrong can be done with impunity, and shrinks in terror from +committing a sin whose consequences it is impossible that he should +escape. He knows well that there are other punishments save those of +the body, and he has felt the anguish which follows self-condemnation. +"There is nothing degrading in such fear, but a heart-searching +reverence and awe in the sincere and humble conviction that God's law +is everywhere." + +Such are some of the false and some of the true motives which can be +appealed to in will-training, but there are various points in their +practical application which may well be considered. + +May we not question whether we are not frequently too exacting with +children,--too much given to fault-finding? Were it not that the +business of play is so engrossing to them, and life so fascinating a +matter on the whole,--were it not for these qualifying circumstances, +we should harass many of them into dark cynicism and misanthropy at +a very early age. I marvel at the scrupulous exactness in regard to +truth, the fine sense of distinction between right and wrong, which we +require of an unfledged human being who would be puzzled to explain +to us the difference between a "hawk and a handsaw," who lives in the +realm of the imagination, and whose view of the world is that of a +great play-house furnished for his benefit. If we were one half as +punctilious and as hypercritical in our judgment of ourselves, we +should be found guilty in short order, and sentenced to hard labor on +a vast number of counts. + +There are many comparatively small faults in children which it is wise +not to see at all. They are mere temporary failings, tiny drops which +will evaporate if quietly left in the sunshine, but which, if opposed, +will gather strength for a formidable current. If we would sometimes +apply Tolstoi's doctrine of non-resistance to children, if we would +overlook the small transgression and quietly supply another vent for +the troublesome activity, there would be less clashing of wills, and +less raising of an evil spirit, which gains wonderful strength while +in action. + +Do we not often use an arbitrary and a threatening manner in our +commands to children, when a calm, gentle request, in a tone of +expectant confidence, would gain obedience far more quickly and +pleasantly? + +Some natures are antagonized by the shadow of a threat, even if it +accompanies a reasonable order; and if we acknowledge that the oil of +courtesy is a valuable lubricator in our dealings with grown people, +it seems proper to suppose that it would not be entirely useless +with children. We cannot expect to get from them what we do not give +ourselves, and it is idle to imagine that we can address them as we +would a disobedient dog, and be answered in tones of dulcet harmony. + +Again, what possible harm can there be in sometimes giving reasons for +commands, when they are such as the child would appreciate? We do not +desire to bring him up under martial rule; and if he feels the +wisdom of the order issued, he will be much more likely to obey it +pleasantly. Cases may frequently occur in which reasons either could +not properly be given, or would be beyond the child's power of +comprehension; but if our treatment of him has been uniformly frank +and affectionate, he will cheerfully obey, believing that, as our +commands have been reasonable heretofore, there is good cause to +suppose they may still be so. + +Educational opinion tends, more and more every day, to the absolute +conviction that the natural punishment, the effect which follows the +cause, is the only one which can safely be used with children. + +This is the method of Nature, severe and unrelenting it may be, but +calm, firm, and purely just. He who sows the wind must reap the +whirlwind, and he who sows thistles may be well assured that he will +never gather figs as his harvest. The feeling of continuity, of +sequence, is naturally strong in the child; and if we would lead him +to appreciate that the law is as absolute in the moral as in the +physical world, we shall find the ground already prepared for our +purpose. + +Much transgression of moral law in later years is due to the fatal +hope in the evil-doer's mind that he will be able to escape the +consequences of his sin. Could we make it clear from the beginning of +life that there is no such escape, that the mills of the gods will +grind at last, though the hopper stand empty for many a year,--could +we make this an absolute conviction of the mind, I am assured that it +would greatly tend to lessen crime. + +And this is one of the defects of arbitrary punishment, that it is +sometimes withheld when the heart of the judge melts over the sinner, +leading him to expect other possible exemptions in the future. Is it +not sometimes given in anger, also, when the culprit clearly sees it +to be disproportionate to the crime? + +Here appears the advantage of the natural punishment,--it is never +withheld in weak affection, it is never given in anger, it is entirely +disassociated from personal feeling. No poisoned arrow of injustice +remains rankling in the child's breast; no rebellious feeling that the +parent has taken advantage of his superior strength to inflict the +punishment: it is perceived to be absolutely _fair_, and, being fair, +it must be, although painful, yet satisfactory to that sense of +justice which is a passion of childhood. + +Our American children are as precocious in will-power as they are +keen-witted, and they need a special discipline. The courage, +activity, and pioneer spirit of the fathers, exercised in hewing their +way through virgin forests, hunting wild beasts in mountain solitudes, +opening up undeveloped lands, prospecting for metals through trackless +plains, choosing their own vocations, helping to govern their +country,--all these things have reacted upon the children, and they +are thoroughly independent, feeling the need of caring for themselves +when hardly able to toddle. + +Entrust this precocious bundle of nerves and individuality to a person +of weak will or feeble intelligence, and the child promptly becomes +his ruler. The power of strong volition becomes caprice, he does not +learn the habit of obedience, and thus valuable directive power is +lost to the world. + +"The lowest classes of society," says Dr. Harris, "are the lowest, +not because there is any organized conspiracy to keep them down, but +because they are lacking in directive power." The jails, the prisons, +the reformatories, are filled with men who are there because they were +weak, more than because they were evil. If the right discipline in +home and school had been given them, they would never have become the +charge of the nation. Thus we waste force constantly, force of mind +and of spirit sufficient to move mountains, because we do not insist +that every child shall exercise his "inherited right," which is, "that +he be taught to obey." + +It is a grave subject, this of will-training, the gravest perhaps that +we can consider, and its deepest waters lie far below the sounding of +my plummet. Some of the principles, however, on which it rests are as +firmly fixed as the bed of the ocean, which remains changeless though +the waves continually shift above:-- + +1. If we can but cultivate the _habit_ of doing right, we enlist in +our service one of the strongest of human agencies. Its momentum is so +great that it may propel the child into the course of duty before he +has time to discuss the question, or to parley with his conscience +concerning it. + +2. We must remember that "force of character is cumulative, and all +the foregone days of virtue work their health into this." The task +need not be begun afresh each morning; yesterday's strokes are still +there, and to-day's efforts will make the carving deeper and bolder. + +3. We may compel the body to carry out an order, the fingers to +perform a task; but this is mere slavish compliance. True obedience +can never be enforced; it is the fruit of the reason and the will, the +free, glad offering of the spirit. + +4. Though many motives have their place in early will-training,--love +of approval, deference to public opinion, the influence of beauty, +hopeful occupation, respect and rev for those in authority,--yet these +are all preparatory, the preliminary exercises, which must be well +practiced before the soul can spread her wings into the blue. + +5. There is but one true and final motive to good conduct, and that +is a hunger in the soul of man for the blessing of the spirit, a +ceaseless longing to be in perfect harmony with the principles of +everlasting and eternal right. + + + + +THE MAGIC OF "TOGETHER" + +"'Together' is the key-word of the nineteenth century." + + +It is an old, adobe-walled Mexican garden. All around it, close +against the brown bricks, the fleur-de-lis stand white and stately, +guarded by their tall green lances. The sun's rays are already +powerful, though it is early spring, and I am glad to take my book +under the shade of the orange-trees. In the dark leaf-canopy above me +shine the delicate star-like flowers, the partly opened buds, and the +great golden oranges, while tiny green and half-ripe spheres make a +happy contrast in color. The ground about me is strewn with flowers +and buds, the air is heavy with fragrance, and the bees are buzzing +softly overhead. I am growing drowsy, but as I lift my eyes from my +book they meet something which interests me. A large black ant is +tugging and pulling at an orange-bud, and really making an effort to +carry it away with him. It is once and a half as long as he, fully +twice as wide, and I cannot compute how much heavier, but its size and +weight are very little regarded. He drags it vigorously over Alpine +heights and through valley deeps, but evidently finds the task +arduous, for he stops to rest now and then. I want to help him, but +cannot be sure of his destination, and fear besides that my clumsy +assistance would be misinterpreted. + +Ah, how unfortunate! ant and orange-bud have fallen together into +the depths of a Colorado cañon which yawns in the path. The ant soon +reappears, but clearly feels it impossible to drag the bud up such a +precipice, and runs away on some other quest. What did he want with +that bud, I wonder? was it for food, or bric-a-brac, or a plaything +for the babies? Never mind,--I shall never know, and I prepare to read +again. But what's this? Here is my ant returning, and accompanied by +some friends. They disappear in the canon, helpfulness and interest +in every wave of their feelers. Their heads come into sight again, +and--yes! they have the bud. Now, indeed, events move, and the burden +travels rapidly across the smooth courtyard toward the house. Can they +intend to take it up on the flat roof, where we have lately suspected +a nest? Yes, there they go, straight up the wall, all putting their +shoulders to the wheel, and resting now and then in the chinks of the +crumbling adobes. Up the bud moves to the gutters,--I can see it gleam +as it is pulled over the edge,--they are out of sight,--the task is +done! How easy any undertaking, I think, when people are willing to +help. + + * * * * * + +In a high dormer window of a great city, in a nest of quilts and +pillows, sits little Ingrid. Her blue Danish eyes look out from a +pinched, snow-white face, and her thin hands are languidly folded in +her lap. She gazes far down below to the other side of the square, +where she can just see the waving of some green branches and an open +door. + +Her eyes brighten now, for a stream of little children comes pouring +from that door. "Look, mother!" she cries, "there are the children!" +and the mother leaves her washing, and comes with dripping hands to +see every tiny boy look up at the window and flourish his hat, and +every girl wave her handkerchief, or kiss her hand. They form a ring; +there is silence for a moment and then, 'mid great flapping of dingy +handkerchiefs and battered hats, a hearty cheer is heard. + +"They're cheering my birthday," cries Ingrid. "Miss Mary knows it's my +birthday. Oh, isn't it lovely!" And the thin hands eagerly waft some +grateful kisses to the group below. + +The scene has only lasted a few moments, the children have had their +run in the fresh air, and now they go marching back, pausing at the +door to wave good-by to the window far above. The mother carries +Ingrid back to her bed (it is a weary time now since those little feet +touched the floor); but the bed is not as tiresome as usual, nor the +washing as hard, for both hearts are full of sunshine. + +Afternoon comes,--little feet are heard climbing up the stair, +and Ingrid's name is called. The door opens, and two flushed and +breathless messengers stand on the threshold. "We've brung you a +birfday present," they cry; "it's a book, and we made it all our own +se'ves, and all the chilluns helped and made somefin' to put in it. +Miss Mary's down stairs mindin' the babies, and she sends you her +love. Good-by! Happy birfday!" + +"Happy birthday" indeed! Golden, precious, love-crowned birthday! Was +ever such a book, so full of sweet messages and tender thoughts! + +Ingrid knows how baby Tim must have labored to sew that red circle, +how John Jacob toiled over that weaving-mat, and Elsa carefully folded +the drove of little pigs. Everybody thought of her, and all the +"chilluns" helped, and how dear is the tangible outcome of the +thoughts and the helping! + + * * * * * + +Far back in the childhood of the world, the long-haired savage," +woaded, winter-clad in skins," went roaming for his food wherever he +might find it. He dug roots from the ground, he searched for berries +and fruits, he hid behind rocks to leap upon his living prey, yet +often went hungry to his lair at night, if the root-crop were short, +or the wild beast wary. + +But if the day had been a fortunate one, if his own stomach were +filled and his body sheltered, little cared he whether long-haired +savage number two were hungry and cold. "Every one for himself," would +he say, as he rolled himself in his skins, "and the cave-bear, or any +other handy beast, take the hindmost." The simplicity of his mental +state, his complete freedom from responsibility, assure us that +his digestion of the raw flesh and the tough roots must have been +perfection, and the sleep in those furred skins a dreamless one. + +What impending visitation of a common enemy, what sudden descent of a +fierce horde of strange, wild, long-forgotten creatures, first moved +him to ally himself with barbarians number two and three for their +mutual protection? And when long years of alliance in warfare, and +mutual distrust at all other times, had slipped away, and when savages +were turning into herdsmen and farmers and toolmakers, to what +leader among men did a system of exchange of commodities for mutual +convenience suggest itself? + +One would like to have met that painted savage who first suggested +combination in warfare, or that later politico-economist upon whom it +faintly dawned that mutual help was possible in other directions save +that of blood-shedding. + +A union born of the exigencies of warfare would be strengthened later +by the promptings of self-interest, and, lo! the experiment is no +longer an experiment, and the fact is proven that men may fight and +work together to their mutual profit and advancement. + +'Tis a simple proposition, after all, that ten times one is ten; and +the bees, the ants, the grosbeaks, and the beavers prove it so clearly +that any one of us may read, though we pass by never so quickly. Yet +all great truths appear in man's mind in very rudimentary form at +first, and each successive generation furnishes more favorable soil +for their growth and development. + +First, men joined hands in offensive and defensive alliance; second, +they found that, even when wars were over, still communication, +intercourse, and exchange of goods were desirable; third, they +discovered that no great enterprise which would better their condition +would be possible without coöperation; and, fourth, they began to band +themselves together here and there, not only for their own protection, +for their own gain, but to watch over the weak, to succor the +defenseless, and even to uphold some dear belief. + +The magic of "Together" has thus far reached, and who can tell what +Happy Valley, what fair Land of Beulah, it may summon into existence +in the future? + +The incalculable value of coöperation, the solemn truth that we are +members one of another, that we cannot labor for ourselves without +laboring for others, nor injure ourselves without injuring +others,--all this is intellectually appreciated by most men to-day, +all this is doubtless acknowledged; yet I cannot find that it has +obtained much recognition in education, nor is especially insisted +upon in the training of children. + +But surely, if children have any social tendencies,--and the fact +needs no proof,--these tendencies should be given direction from the +beginning toward benevolence, toward harmonious working together for +some common aim. This would be comparatively easy even in a nursery +containing three or four little people; and how much simpler when +school life begins, and when the powers of children are greatly +increased, while they are in hourly contact with a large number of +equals! + +"Society," as Dr. Hale says, "is the great charm and only value of +school life;" but this charm and this value are reduced to a minimum +in many schools. "Emulation, that devil-shadow of aspiration," so +often used as a stimulus in education, must forever separate the child +from his fellows. + +How can I have any Christian fellowship with a man when I am envying +him his successes and grudging him his honors? Am I not tempted +to withhold my help from my weak brother across the way, lest my +assistance place him on an equality with me? + +Again, the "monitor" system, as sometimes carried out, tends to +separation and engenders dislike and distrust. I am not likely to +desire close communion, except in the way of fisticuffs, with a boy +who has been spying upon me all day, or who has very likely "reported" +me as having committed divers venial offenses. + +It is the idea of some teachers that discipline is furthered if +children are trained to have as little as possible to do with each +other, and there is no question that this method does facilitate +a toe-the-line kind of government. It would probably be more +satisfactory to such a teacher if each child could be brought to +school in a sedan-chair, with only one window and that in front, and +could be kept in it during the whole session. + +As such a plan, however, is scarcely feasible; as children, with or +against our wills, have a natural and God-given instinct for each +other's company; as they keenly enjoy banding themselves together for +whatever purpose, should not education follow the suggestions which an +earnest study of child-nature can but give? + +Froebel, with those divinely curious eyes of his, saw deeper into the +child's mind and heart than any of his predecessors, and for every +faint stirring of life which he perceived provided adequate conditions +of development. True prophet of the coming day, his philosophy is +rich with suggestions for the cultivation of the social powers of +the child. No one ever felt more keenly than he the inseparable, the +organic connection of all life; and with deep spiritual insight he +provides nursery plays and songs by which the babe, even in his +mother's arms, may be led faintly to recognize in his being one of the +links of the great chain which girdles the universe. + +Later, when as a child of three or four years he makes his first step +into the world, and loosing his mother's hand, enters a larger family +of children of his own age, he is still led to feel himself a part +of a vast union, each member of which has ministered to him, and +numberless ways are opened by which he can join with others to give +back to the world some of the benefits he has enjoyed. Stories are +told and games are played which lead him to thank the kindly hands +which have furnished his daily bread, his warm clothing, and his +sweet, white bed at night. + +The feeling of gratitude, grown and strengthened, must overflow in +action. The world has done so much for him, what can he do for the +world? Is there not some little invalid who would greatly prize a +book of dainty pictures, embroidered, drawn, and painted by her +child-friends? Then he will join with his companions, and patiently +and lovingly fashion such a book. Is the class room somewhat bare and +colorless? Then he can give up some of his cherished work to make a +bright frieze about the walls. + +A national holiday is perhaps approaching. He will unite with all the +other babies in making flags, tri-colored chains, and rosettes to +deck the room appropriately, and to please the mothers, fathers, and +friends who are coming to celebrate the occasion. + +One of the greatest pleasures which is offered is that of being +allowed to "help" somebody. If a child is quick, neat, and careful, if +he has finished his bit of work, he may go and help the babies, and +very gently and very patiently he guides the chubby fingers, threads +the needles, or ties on little caps, and conquers refractory buttons. + +To be a "little helper," whether he is assisting his companions or the +grown-up people about him, grows to seem the highest honor within his +reach. He knows the joy of ministering unto others, and he feels that +"to help is to do the work of the world." + +Thus we endeavor to give external expression to the feelings stirring +in the heart of the child, knowing that "even love can grow cold" if +not nourished. The whole spirit of the work, if carried out as Froebel +intended, must tend directly toward social evolution, and the intense +personalism which is a distinguishing mark of our civilization, and +is clearly seen in our children, needs anointing with the oil of +altruism. + +The circle in which the children stand for the singing is itself a +perfect representation of unity. Hands are joined to make a "round and +lovely ring." If any child is unkind, or regardless of the rights of +others, it is easily seen that he not only makes himself unhappy, but +seriously mars the pleasure of all the other children. If he willfully +leaves the circle, a link in the chain is broken which can only be +mended when he repents his folly and pleasantly returns to his place. +Thus early he may be made to feel that all lives touch his own, and +that his indulgence in selfish passion not only harms himself, but is +the more blameworthy in that it injures others. + +The songs and games cannot be happily carried on unless each child +is not only willing to help, but willing also to give up his chief +desires now and then. All the children would like to be the flowers in +the garden, perhaps, but it is obvious that some must remain in the +circle, in order that the fence be perfect, and prevent stray animals +from destroying what we love and cherish. So there is constant +surrendering of personal desires in recognition of the fact that +others have equal rights, and that, after all, one part is as good as +another, since all are essential to the whole. + +In coöperative building, the children quickly see that the symmetrical +figure which four little ones have made together, uniting their +material, is infinitely larger and finer than any one of them could +have made alone. If they are making a village at their little tables, +one builds the church, another workshops and stores, others schools +and houses, while the remainder make roads, lay out gardens, plant +trees, and plough the fields. No one of the children had strength +enough, time enough, or material enough to build the village alone, +yet see how well and how quickly it is done when we all help! + +The sand-box, in which of course all children delight, lends itself +especially to coöperative exercises. They gather around it and plant +gardens with the bright-colored balls; they use it for geography, +moulding the hills, mountains, valleys, and tracing the rivers near +their homes; they arrange historical dramas, as "Paul Revere's Ride," +or the "Landing of the Pilgrims:" but no child does any one of these +things alone; there is constant and happy coöperation. + +It is the aim of one day's exercise, perhaps, to retrace with the +child the various steps by which his comfortable chair and his strong +work-table have come to him. + +Across one end of the sand-box, a group of children plant a forest +with little pine branches which they have brought. The wood-cutters +come, fell the trees, and cut away the boughs. Another party +of children bring the heavy teams, previously built from the +play-material, harness in the horses (taken from a Noah's Ark), and +prepare to carry off the logs. Now here come the road-makers, and they +lay out a smooth, hard road for the teams, reaching to the very bank +of the river, which another party of little ones has made. The logs +are tumbled into the stream; they float downward, are rafted, carried +to the mill; little sticks are furnished to represent the boards into +which they are sawn; and the lumber is taken to the cabinet-maker, +that he may fashion our furniture. + +Though there be twenty children around the sand-box, yet all have been +employed. Each has enjoyed his own work, yet appreciated the value of +his neighbor's. They have worked together harmoniously and the doing +has reacted upon the heart, and strengthened the feeling of unity +which is growing within. + +Such exercises cannot fail to teach the value and power of social +effort, and the necessity of subordinating personal desires to the +common good. Yet the development of individuality is not forgotten, +for "our power as individuals depends upon our recognition of the +rights of others." + +It is true that the social problem is an intricate one and cannot be +worked out, even partially, at any stage of education, unless the +leader of the children be a true leader, and be enthusiastically +convinced of the essential value of the principles on which the +problem is based. Yet this might be said with equal truth of any +educational aim, for the gospel must always have its interpreters, and +some will ever give a more spiritual reading and seize the truth which +was only half expressed, while others, dull-eyed, mechanical, "kill +with the letter." + +"After all," says Dr. Stanley Hall, "there is nothing so practical in +education as the ideal, nor so ideal as the practical;" and we may +be assured that the direction of the social tendencies of the child +toward high and noble aims, toward the sinking of self and the +generous thought of others,--that this is not only ideal, not only a +following after the purest light yet vouchsafed to us, but is at the +same time practical in its detailed workings, and in its adaptation to +the needs and desires of the day. + + + + +THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL + +"The nature of an educational system is determined by the manner in +which it is begun." + + +The question for us to decide to-day is not how we can interest people +in and how illustrate the true kindergarten, for that is already done +to a considerable extent; but, how we can convince school boards, +superintendents, and voters that the final introduction of the +kindergarten into the public school system is a thing greatly to +be desired. The kindergarten and the school, now two distinct, +dissimilar, and sometimes, though of late very seldom, antagonistic +institutions,--how will the one affect, or be affected by the other? + +As to the final adoption of the kindergarten there is a preliminary +question which goes straight to the root of the whole matter. At +present the state accepts the responsibility of educating children +after an arbitrarily fixed age has been reached. Ought it not, rather, +if it assumes the responsibility at all, to begin to educate the child +when he _needs education?_ + +Thoughtful people are now awaking to the fact that this regulation is +an artificial, not a natural one, and that we have been wasting two +precious years which might not only be put to valuable uses, but would +so shape and influence after-teaching that every succeeding step +would be taken with greater ease and profit. We have been discreet in +omitting the beginning, so long as we did not feel sure how to begin. +But we know now that Froebel's method of dealing with four or five +year old babies, when used by a discreet and intelligent person, +justifies us in taking this delicate, debatable ground. + +So far, then, it is a question of law--a law which can be modified +just as soon and as sensibly as the people wish. Before, however, that +modification can become the active wish of the people, its importance +must be understood and its effects estimated. Could it be shown that +after-education will be hindered or in any way rendered more difficult +by the kindergarten, clearly all efforts to introduce it must cease. +Were it merely a matter of indifference, something that would neither +make nor mar the after-work of schools, then it would remain a matter +of choice or fancy, for individual parents to decide as they like; +but, if it can be shown that the work of the kindergarten will lay a +more solid foundation, or trace more direct paths for the workers of a +later period, then it behooves us to give it a hearty welcome, and to +work out its principles with zealous good will: and "working out" +its principles means, _not_ accepting it as a finality--a piece of +flawless perfection--but as a stepping-stone which will lead us nearer +to the truth. If it is a good thing, it is good for all; if it is +truth, we want it everywhere; but if this new department of education +and training is to gain ground, or accomplish the successful fruition +of its wishes, there must be perfect unity among teachers concerning +it. If they all understood the thing itself, and understood each +other, there could be no lack of sympathy; yet there has been +misunderstanding, conflict occasionally, and some otherwise worthy +teachers have used the kindergarten as a sort of intellectual +cuttle-fish to sharpen their conversational bills upon. + +Of course I am not blind to the fact that after we have determined +that we ought to have the kindergarten, there are many questions of +expediency: suitable rooms, expense of material, salaries, assistants, +age of children at entrance, system of government, number of children +in one kindergarten; and greatest of all, but least thought of, +strangely, the linking together of kindergarten and school, so that +the development shall be continuous, and the chain of impressions +perfect and unbroken. + +Suffice it to say that it has been done, and can be done again; but it +needs discretion, forethought, tact, earnestness, and unimpeachable +honesty of administration, for unless we can depend upon our school +boards and kindergartners _implicitly_, counting upon them for wise +coöperation, brooding care, and great wisdom in selection of teachers, +the experiment will be a failure. We have risks enough to run as it +is; let us not permit our little ones, more susceptible by reason of +age than any we have to deal with now,--let us not permit them to +become victims of politics, rings, or machine teaching. + +The kindergarten is more liable to abuse than any other department of +teaching. There is no ground in the universe so sacred as this. +But the difference between primary schools is just as great, only, +unfortunately, we have become used to it; and the kindergarten being +under fire, so to speak, must be absolutely ideal in its perfection, +or it is ruthlessly held up to scorn. + +There is a tremendous awakening all over the country with regard to +kindergarten and primary work, and this is well, since the greatest +and most fatal mistakes of the public school system have been made +_just here_; and the time is surely coming when more knowledge, +wisdom, tact, ingenuity, forethought, yes, and money, will be expended +in order to meet the demands of the case. The time is coming when the +imp of parsimony will no longer be mistaken for the spirit of economy; +when a woman possessed of ordinary human frailty will no longer be +required to guide, direct, develop, train, help, love, and be patient +with sixty little ones, just beginning to tread the difficult paths of +learning, and each receiving just one sixtieth of what he craves. The +millennium will be close at hand when we cease to expect from girls +just out of the high school what Socrates never attempted, and would +have deemed impossible. + +Look at Senator Stanford's famous Palo Alto stock farm. Each colt born +into that favored community is placed in a class of twelve. These +twelve colts are cared for and taught by four or five trained +teachers. No man interested in the training of fine horses ever +objects, so far as I know, to such expenditure of labor and money. The +end is supposed to justify the means. But when the creatures to be +trained are human beings, and when the end to be reached is not +race-horses, but merely citizens, we employ a very different process +of reasoning. + +That this subject of early training is a vitally interesting one to +thinking people cannot be denied. The kindergarten has become the +fashion, you say, cynically. This is scarcely true; but it is a fact +that the upper, the middle, and the lower classes among us begin +to recognize the existence of children under six years of age, +and realize that far from being nonentities in life, or unknown +quantities, they are very lively units in the sum of progressive +education. + +When we speak of kindergarten work among the children of the poor, and +argue its claims as one of the best means of taking unfortunate little +Arabs from the demoralizing life of the streets, and of giving their +aimless hands something useful to do, their restless minds something +good and fruitful to think of, and their curious eyes something +beautiful to look on, there is not a word of disapproval. People seem +willing to concede its moral value when applied to the lower classes, +but, when they are obliged to pay anything to procure this training +for their own children, or see any prospect of what they call an +already extravagant school system made more so by its addition, they +become prolific in doubts. In other words, they believe in it when you +call it _philanthropy_, but not when you call it _education_; and it +must be called the germ of the better education, toward which we are +all struggling, the nearest approach to the perfect beginning which we +have yet found. + +We see in the excellence of Froebel's idea, educationally considered, +its only claim to peculiar power in dealing with incipient hoodlumism. +It is only because it has such unusual fitness to child-nature, such a +store of philosophy and ingenuity in its appliances, and such a wealth +of spiritual truth in its aims and methods, that it is so great a +power with neglected children and ignorant and vicious parents. + +The principles on which Froebel built his educational idea may be +summed up briefly under four heads. First, All the faculties of the +child are to be drawn out and exercised as far as age allows. Second, +The powers of habit and association, which are the great instruments +of all education, of the whole training of life, must be developed +with a systematic purpose from the earliest dawn of intelligence. +Third, The active instincts of childhood are to be cultivated through +manual exercise (chiefly creative in character), which is made an +essential part of the training, and this manual exercise is to be +valued chiefly as a means of self-expression. Fourth, The senses are +to be trained to accuracy as well as the hand. The child must learn +how to observe what is placed before him, and to observe it truly, an +acquirement which any teacher of science or art will appreciate. To +work out these principles, Froebel devised his practical method of +infant education, and the very name he gave to the place where his +play lessons were to be used marks his purpose. No books are to be +seen in a kindergarten, because no ideas or facts are presented to the +child that he cannot clearly understand and verify. The object is not +to teach him arithmetic or geometry, though he learns enough of both +to be very useful to him hereafter; but to lead him to discover +_truths_ concerning forms and numbers, lines and angles, for himself. + +Thus in the play-lessons the teacher simply rules the order in which +the child shall approach a new thing, and gives him the correct +names which, henceforth, he must always use; but the observation of +resemblances and differences (that groundwork of all knowledge), the +reasoning from one point to another, and the conclusions he arrives +at, are all his own; he is only led to see his mistake if he makes +one. The child handles every object from which he is taught, and +learns to reproduce it. + +It is not enough to say that any ordinary system of object teaching in +the hands of an ingenious teacher will serve the purpose or take the +place of the kindergarten. People who say this evidently have no +conception of Froebel's plan, in which the simultaneous training of +head, heart, and hand is the most striking characteristic. + +The kindergarten is mainly distinguished from the later instruction of +the school by making the knowledge of facts and the cultivation of +the memory subordinate to the development of observation and to the +appropriate activity of the child, physical, mental, and moral. Its +aim is to utilize the now almost wasted time from four to six years, a +time when all negligent and ignorant mothers leave the child to chance +development, and when the most careful mother cannot train her +child into the practice of social virtues so well as the truly wise +kindergartner who works with her. "We learn through doing" is the +watchword of the kindergarten, but it must be a _doing_ which blossoms +into _being_, or it does not fulfill its ideal, for it is character +building which is to go on in the kindergarten, or it has missed +Froebel's aim. + +What does the kindergarten do for children under six years of age? +What has it accomplished when it sends the child to the primary +school? I do not mean what Froebel hoped could be done, or what is +occasionally accomplished with bright children and a gifted teacher, +or even what is done in good private kindergartens, for that is yet +more; but I mean what is actually done for children by charitable +organizations, which are really doing the work of the state. + +I think they can claim tangible results which are wholly remarkable; +and yet they do not work for results, or expect much visible fruit in +these tender years, from a culture which is so natural, child-like, +and unobtrusive that its very outward simplicity has caused it to be +regarded as a plaything. + +In glancing over the acquirements of the child who has left the +kindergarten, and has been actually _taught_ nothing in the ordinary +acceptation of the word, we find that he has worked, experimented, +invented, compared, reproduced. All things have been revealed in the +doing, and productive activity has enlightened and developed the mind. + +First, as to arithmetic. It does not come first, but though you +speak with the tongues of men and angels, and make not mention of +arithmetic, it profiteth you nothing. The First Gift shows one object, +and the children get an idea of one whole; in the Second they receive +three whole objects again, but of different form; in the Third +and Fourth, the regularly divided cube is seen, and all possible +combinations of numbers as far as eight are made. In the Fifth +Gift the child sees three and its multiples; in fractions, halves, +quarters, eighths, thirds, ninths, and twenty-sevenths. With the +Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Gifts the field is practically unlimited. + +Second, as to the child's knowledge of form, size, and proportion. His +development has been quite extensive: he knows, not always by name, +but by their characteristics, vertical, horizontal, slanting, and +curved lines; squares, oblongs; equal sided, blunt and sharp angled +triangles; five, six, seven and eight sided figures; spheres, +cylinders, cubes, and prisms. All this elementary geometry has, of +course, been learned "baby fashion," in a purely experimental way, but +nothing will have to be unlearned when the pupil approaches geometry +later in a more thoroughly scientific spirit. + +Third, as to the cultivation of language, of the power of expression, +we cannot speak with too much emphasis. The vocabulary of the +kindergarten child of the lower classes is probably greater than +that of his mother or father. You can see how this comes about. +The teachers themselves are obliged to make a study of simple, +appropriate, expressive, and explicit language; the child is led to +express all his thoughts freely in proper words from the moment he +can lisp; he is trained through singing to distinct and careful +enunciation, and the result is a remarkably good power of language. +I make haste to say that this need not necessarily be used for the +purposes of chattering in the school. + +The child has not, of course, learned to read and write, but reading +is greatly simplified by his accurate power of observation, and his +practice of comparing forms. The work of reading is play to a child +whose eye has been thus trained. As to writing, we precede it by +drawing, which is the sensible and natural plan. The child will have +had a good deal of practice with slate and lead pencil; will have +drawn all sorts of lines and figures from dictation, and have created +numberless designs of his own. + +If, in short, our children could spend two years in a good +kindergarten, they would not only bring to the school those elements +of knowledge which are required, but would have learned in some degree +how to _learn_, and, in the measure of their progress, _have nothing +to unlearn_. + +Let those who labor, day by day, with inert minds never yet awakened +to a wish for knowledge, a sense of beauty, or a feeling of pleasure +in mental activity, tell us how much valuable school time they would +save, if the raw material were thus prepared to their hand. "After +spending five or six years at home or in the street, without training +or discipline, the child is sent to school and is expected to learn at +once. He looks upon the strange, new life with amazement, yet without +understanding. Finally, his mind becomes familiar in a mechanical +manner, ill-suited to the tastes of a child, with the work and +exercises of primary instruction, the consequence being, very often, a +feeble body and a stuffed mind, the stuffing having very little more +effect upon the intellect than it has upon the organism of a roast +turkey." The kindergarten can remedy these intellectual difficulties, +beside giving the child an impulse toward moral self-direction, and a +capacity for working out his original ideas in visible and permanent +form, which will make him almost a new creature. It can, by taking the +child in season, set the wheels in motion, rouse all his best, finest, +and highest instincts, the purest, noblest, and most vivifying powers +of which he is possessed. + +There is a good deal of time spent in the kindergarten on the +cultivation of politeness and courtesy; and in the entirely social +atmosphere which is one of its principal features, the amenities of +polite society can be better practiced than elsewhere. + +The kindergarten aims in no way at making infant prodigies, but it +aims successfully at putting the little child in possession of every +faculty he is capable of using; at bringing him forward on lines he +will never need to forsake; at teaching within his narrow range what +he will never have to unlearn; and at giving him the wish to learn, +and the power of teaching himself. Its deep simplicity should always +be maintained, and no lover of childhood or thoughtful teacher would +wish it otherwise. It is more important that it should be kept pure +than that it should become popular. + +I have tried, thus, somewhat at length, to demonstrate that our +educational system cannot be perfect until we begin still earlier with +the child, and begin in a more childlike manner, though, at the same +time, earnestly and with definite purpose. In trying to make manhood +and womanhood, we sometimes treat children as little men and women, +not realizing that the most perfect childhood is the best basis for +strong manhood. + +Further, I have tried to show that Froebel's system gives us the only +rational beginning; but I confess frankly that to make it productive +of its vaunted results, it must be placed in the hands of thoroughly +trained kindergartners, fitted by nature and by education for their +most delicate, exacting, and sacred profession. + +Now as to compromises. The question is frequently asked, Cannot +the best things of the kindergarten be introduced in the primary +departments of the public school? The best thing of kindergartening +is the kindergarten itself, and nothing else will do; it would be +necessary to make very material changes in the primary class which +is to include a kindergarten--changes that are demanded by radically +different methods. + +The kindergarten should offer the child experience instead of +instruction; life instead of learning; practical child-life, a +miniature world, where he lives and grows, and learns and expands. No +primary teacher, were she Minerva herself, can work out Froebel's idea +successfully with sixty or seventy children under her sole care. + +You will see for yourselves that this simple, natural, motherly +instruction of babyhood cannot be transplanted bodily into the primary +school, where the teacher has fifty or sixty children who are beyond +the two most fruitful years which the kindergarten demands. Besides, +the teachers of the lower grades cannot introduce more than an +infinitesimal number of kindergarten exercises, and at the same time +keep up their full routine of primary studies and exercises. + +Any one who understands the double needs of the kindergarten and +primary school cannot fail to see this matter correctly, and as I +said before, we do not want a few kindergarten exercises, we want the +_kindergarten_. If teachers were all indoctrinated with the spirit of +Froebel's method, they would carry on its principles in dealing with +pupils of any age; but Froebel's kindergarten, pure and simple, +creates a place for children of four or five years, to begin their bit +of life-work; it is in no sense a school, nor must become so, or it +would lose its very essence and truest meaning. + +Let me show you a kindergarten! It is no more interesting than a good +school, but I want you to see the essential points of difference:-- + +It is a golden morning, a rare one in a long, rainy winter. As we turn +into the narrow, quiet street from the broader, noisy one, the sound +of a bell warns us that we are near the kindergarten building.... A +few belated youngsters are hurrying along,--some ragged, some patched, +some plainly and neatly clothed, some finishing a "portable breakfast" +thrust into their hands five minutes before, but all eager to be +there.... While the Lilliputian armies are wending their way from the +yard to their various rooms, we will enter the front door and look +about a little. + +The windows are wide open at one end of the great room. The walls are +tinted with terra cotta, and the woodwork is painted in Indian red. +Above the high wood dado runs a row of illuminated pictures of +animals,--ducks, pigeons, peacocks, calves, lambs, colts, and almost +everything else that goes upon two or four feet; so that the children +can, by simply turning in their seats, stroke the heads of their dumb +friends of the meadow and barnyard.... There are a great quantity of +bright and appropriate pictures on the walls, three windows full of +plants, a canary chirping in a gilded cage, a globe of gold-fish, an +open piano, and an old-fashioned sofa, which is at present adorned +with a small scrap of a boy who clutches a large slate in one hand, +and a mammoth lunch-pail in the other.... It is his first day, and he +looks as if his big brother had told him that he would be "walloped" +if he so much as winked. + +A half-dozen charming girls are fluttering about; charming, because, +whether plain or beautiful, they all look happy, earnest, womanly, +full to the brim of life. + + "A sweet, heart-lifting cheerfulness, + Like spring-time of the year, + Seems ever on their steps to wait." + +... They are tying on white aprons and preparing the day's +occupations, for they are a detachment of students from a kindergarten +training school, and are on duty for the day. + +One of them seats herself at the piano and plays a stirring march. The +army enters, each tiny soldier with a "shining morning face." Unhappy +homes are forgotten ... smiles everywhere ... everybody glad to +see everybody else ... happy children, happy teachers ... sunshiny +morning, sunshiny hearts ... delightful work in prospect, merry play +to follow it.... "Oh, it's a beautiful world, and I'm glad I'm in it;" +so the bright faces seem to say. + +It is a cosmopolitan regiment that marches into the free kindergartens +of our large cities. Curly yellow hair and rosy cheeks ... sleek +blonde braids and calm blue eyes ... swarthy faces and blue-black +curls ... woolly little pows and thick lips ... long arched noses and +broad flat ones. Here you see the fire and passion of the Southern +races, and the self-poise, serenity and sturdiness of Northern +nations. Pat is here with a gleam of humor in his eye ... Topsy, +all smiles and teeth,... Abraham, trading tops with Isaac, next in +line,... Gretchen and Hans, phlegmatic and dependable,... François, +never still for an instant,... Christina, rosy, calm, and +conscientious, and Duncan, as canny and prudent as any of his people. +Pietro is there, and Olaf, and little John Bull. + +What an opportunity for amalgamation of races, and for laying the +foundation of American citizenship! for the purely social atmosphere +of the kindergarten makes it a life-school, where each tiny citizen +has full liberty under the law of love, so long as he does not +interfere with the liberty of his neighbor. The phrase "Every man for +himself" is never heard, but "We are members one of another" is the +common principle of action. + +The circles are formed. Every pair of hands is folded, and bright eyes +are tightly closed to keep out "the world, the flesh," and the rest of +it, while children and teachers sing one of the morning hymns:-- + + "Birds and bees and flowers, + Every happy day, + Wake to greet the sunshine, + Thankful for its ray. + All the night they're silent, + Sleeping safe and warm; + God, who knows and loves them, + Will keep them from all harm. + + "So the little children, + Sleeping all the night, + Wake with each new morning, + Fresh and sweet and bright. + Thanking God their Father + For his loving care, + With their songs and praises + They make the day more fair." + +Then comes a trio of good-morning songs, with cordial handshakes and +scores of kisses wafted from finger-tips.... "Good-Morning, Merry +Sunshine," follows, and the sun, encouraged by having some notice +taken of him in this blind and stolid world, shines brighter than +ever.... The song, "Thumbs and Fingers say 'Good-Morning,'" brings two +thousand fingers fluttering in the air (10 x 200, if the sum seems too +difficult), and gives the eagle-eyed kindergartners an opportunity to +look for dirty paws and preach the needed sermon. + +It is Benny's birthday; five years old to-day. He chooses the songs he +likes best, and the children sing them with friendly energy.... "Three +cheers for Benny,--only three, now!" says the kindergartner.... They +are given with an enthusiasm that brings the neighbors to the windows, +and Benny, bursting with pride, blushes to the roots of his hair. The +children stop at three, however, and have let off a tremendous amount +of steam in the operation. Any wholesome device which accomplishes +this result is worthy of being perpetuated.... A draggled, forsaken +little street-cat sneaks in the door, with a pitiful mew. (I'm sure I +don't wonder! if one were tired of life, this would be just the place +to take a fresh start.) The children break into the song, "I Love +Little Pussy, Her Coat is so Warm," and the kindergartner asks the +small boy with the great lunch pail if he wouldn't like to give +the kitty a bit of something to eat. He complies with the utmost +solemnity, thinking this the queerest community he ever saw.... A +broken-winged pigeon appears on the window-sill and receives his +morning crumb; and now a chord from the piano announces a change of +programme. The children troop to their respective rooms fairly warmed +through with happiness and good will. Such a pleasant morning start to +some who have been "hustled" out of a bed that held several too many +in the night, washed a trifle (perhaps!), and sent off without a kiss, +with the echo of a sick mother's wails, or a father's oaths, ringing +in their ears! + +After a few minutes of cheerful preparation, all are busily at work. +Two divisions have gone into tiny, "quiet rooms" to grapple with the +intricacies of mathematical relations. A small boy, clad mostly in red +woolen suspenders, and large, high-topped boots, is passing boxes of +blocks. He is awkward and slow. The teacher could do it more quietly +and more quickly, but the kindergarten is a school of experience where +ease comes, by and by, as the lovely result of repeated practice.... +We hear an informal talk on fractions, while the cube is divided into +its component parts, and then see a building exercise "by direction." + +In the other "quiet room" they are building a village, each child +constructing, according to his own ideas, the part assigned him. One +of them starts a song, and they all join in-- + + "Oh! builders we would like to be, + So willing, skilled, and strong; + And while we work so cheerily, + The time will not seem long." + +"If we all do our parts well, the whole is sure to be beautiful," says +the teacher. "One rickety, badly made building will spoil our village. +I'm going to draw a blackboard picture of the children who live in the +village. Johnny, you haven't blocks enough for a good factory, and +Jennie hasn't enough for hers. Why don't you club together and make a +very large, fine one?" + +This working for a common purpose, yet with due respect for +individuality, is a very important part of kindergarten ethics. Thus +each child learns to subordinate himself to the claims and needs of +society without losing himself. "No man liveth to himself" is the +underlying principle of action. + +Coming back to the main room we find one division weaving bright paper +strips into a mat of contrasting color, and note that the occupation +trains the sense of color and of number, and develops dexterity in +both hands. + +But what is this merry group doing in the farther corner? These +are the babies, bless them! and they are modeling in clay. What an +inspired version of pat-a-cake and mud pies is this! The sleeves are +pushed up, showing a high-water mark of white arm joining little brown +paws. What fun! They are modeling the seals at the Cliff House (for +this chances to be a California kindergarten), and a couple of +two-year-olds, who have strayed into this retreat, not because there +was any room for them here, but because there wasn't any room for them +anywhere else, are slapping their lumps of clay with all their might, +and then rolling it into caterpillars and snakes. This last is not +very educational, you say, but "virtue kindles at the touch of joy," +and some lasting good must be born out of the rational happiness that +surrounds even the youngest babies in the kindergarten. + +The sand-table in this room represents an Italian or Chinese vegetable +garden. The children have rolled and leveled the surface and laid it +off in square beds with walks between. The planting has been "make +believe,"--a different kind of seed in each bed; but the children have +named them all, and labeled the various plats with pieces of paper, +fastened in cleft sticks. A gardener's house, made of blocks, +ornaments one corner, and near it are his tools,--watering-pot, hoe, +rake, spade, etc., all made in cardboard modeling. + +We now pass up-stairs. In one corner a family of twenty children are +laying designs in shining rings of steel; and as the graceful curves +multiply beneath their clever fingers, the kindergartner is telling +them a brief story of a little boy who made with these very rings a +design for a beautiful "rose window," which was copied in stained +glass and hung in a great stone church, of which his father was the +architect. + +Another group of children is folding, by dictation, a four-inch square +of colored paper. The most perfect eye-measure, as well as the most +delicate touch, is needed here. Constant reference to the "sharp" +angle, "blunt" angle, square corner and right angle, horizontal and +vertical lines, show that the foundation is being laid for a future +clear and practical knowledge of geometry, though the word itself is +never mentioned. + +There is one unhappy little boy in this class. He has broken the law +in some way, and he has no work. + +"That is a strange idea," said the woman visitor. "In my time work was +given to us as a punishment, and it seemed a most excellent plan." + +"We look at it in another way," said the kindergartner, smiling. "You +see, work is really the great panacea, the best thing in the world. +We are always trying to train the children to a love of industry and +helpful occupation; so we give work as a reward, and take it away as a +punishment." + +We pass into the sunny upper hall, and find some children surrounding +a large sand-table. The exercise is just finished, and we gaze upon +a miniature representation of the Cliff House embankment and curving +road, a section of beach with people standing (wooden ladies and +gentlemen from a Noah's Ark), a section of ocean, and a perfect Seal +Rock made of clay. + +"Run down-stairs, Timmy, please, and ask Miss Ellen if the seals are +ready." ... Timmy flies.... + +Presently the babies troop up, each carrying a precious seal extended +on two tiny hands or reposing in apron. They are all bursting with +importance.... Of course, the small Jonah of the flock tumbles up +the stairs, bumps his nose, and breaks his treasure.... There is an +agonized wail.... "_I bust my seal!_"... Some one springs to the +rescue.... The seal is patched, tears are dried, and harmony is +restored.... The animals are piled on the rocks in realistic +confusion, and another class comes out with twenty-five paper fishes +to be arranged in the waves of sand. + +Later on, the sound of a piano invites us to witness the kindergarten +play-time. + +Through kindergarten play the child comes to know the external world, +the physical qualities of the objects which surround him, their +motions, actions, and reactions upon each other, and the relations of +these phenomena to himself; a knowledge which forms the basis of +that which will be his permanent stock in life. The child's fancy is +healthily fed by images from outer life, and his curiosity by new +glimpses of knowledge from the world around him. + +There are plays and plays! The ordinary unguided games of childhood +are not to be confounded for an instant with the genuine kindergarten +plays, which have a far deeper significance than is apparent to the +superficial observer. "Take the simplest circle game; it illustrates +the whole duty of a good citizen in a republic. Anybody can spoil it, +yet nobody can play it alone; anybody can hinder its success, yet no +one can get credit for making it succeed." + +The play is over; the children march back to their seats, and settle +themselves to another period of work, which will last until noon. We +watch the bright faces, cheerful, friendly chatter, the busy figures +hovering over pleasant tasks, and feel that it has been good to pass a +morning in this republic of childhood. + +I have given you but a tithe of the whole argument, the veriest +bird's-eye view; neither is it romance; it is simple truth; and, that +being the case, how can we afford to keep Froebel and his wonderful +influence on childhood out of a system of free education which has +for its aim the development of a free, useful, liberty-loving, +self-governing people? It is too great a factor to be disregarded, and +the coming years will prove it so; for the value of such schools is no +longer a matter of theory; they have been tested by experience, and +have won favor wherever they have been given a fair trial But how +important a work they have to do in our scheme of public education is +clear only when we consider the conditions which our public schools +must meet nowadays. + +On the theory upon which the state undertakes the education of +its youth at all--the necessity of preparing them for intelligent +citizenship--a community might better economize, if economize it must, +anywhere else than on the beginning. An enormous immigrant population +is pressing upon us. The kindergarten reaches this class with great +power, and increases the insufficient education within the reach of +the children who must leave school for work at the age of thirteen or +fourteen. It increases it, too, by a kind of training which the child +gets from no other schooling, and brings him under influences which +are no small addition to the sum total of good in his life. + +The entire pedagogical world watches with interest the educational +awakening of which the kindergarten has been the dawn. If people +really want to make the experiment, if parents and tax-payers are +anxious to have for their younger children what seems so beneficent a +training, then let them accept no compromises, but, after taking the +children at a proper age, see to it that they get pure kindergarten, +true kindergarten, and _nothing_ but kindergarten till they enter the +primary school. Then they will be prepared for study, and begin it +with infinite zest, because they comprehend its meaning. Having had +that beautiful beginning, every later step will seem glad to the +child; he will not see knowledge "through a glass darkly, but face to +face," in her most charming aspect. + + + + +OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN + +"Where is thy brother Abel?" + + +We will suppose, for the sake of argument, that the rights of our own +children are secured; but though such security betokens an admirable +state of affairs, it does not cover the whole ground; there are always +the "other people's children." The still small voice is forever +saying, "Where is thy brother Abel?" + +There are many matters to be settled with regard to this brother +Abel, and we differ considerably as to the exact degree of our +responsibility towards him. Some people believe in giving him the +full privileges of brotherhood, in sharing alike with him in every +particular, and others insist that he is no brother of theirs at all. +Let the nationalists and socialists, and all the other reformers, +decide this vexed question as best they can, particularly with +regard to the "grown-up" Abels. Meanwhile, there are a few sweet and +wholesome services we can render to the brother Abels who are not big +enough to be nationalists and socialists, nor strong enough to fight +for their own rights. + +Among these kindly offices to be rendered, these practical agencies +for making Abel a happy, self-helpful, and consequently a better +little brother, we may surely count the free kindergarten. + +My mind convinces me that the kindergarten idea is true; not a perfect +thing as yet, but something on the road to perfection, something full +of vitality and power to grow; and my heart tells me that there is no +more beautiful or encouraging work in the universe than this of taking +hold of the unclaimed babies and giving them a bit of motherliness to +remember. The Free Kindergarten is the mother of the motherless, the +father of the fatherless; it is the great clean broom that sweeps the +streets of its parentless or worse than parentless children, to the +increased comfort of the children, and to the prodigious advantage of +the street. + +We are very much interested in the cleaning of city streets, and well +we may be; but up to this day a larger number of men and women have +concerned themselves actively about sweeping them of dust and dirt +than of sweeping them free of these children. If dirt is misplaced +matter, then what do you call a child who sits eternally on the +curbstones and in the gutters of our tenement-house districts? + +I believe that since the great Teacher of humanity spoke those simple +words of eternal tenderness that voiced the mother side of the divine +nature,--"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them +not,"--I believe that nothing more heartfelt, more effectual, has come +ringing down to us through the centuries than Froebel's inspired and +inspiring call, "Come! let us live with the children!" + +This work _pays_, in the best and the highest sense as well as the +most practical. + +It is true, the kindergartner has the child in her care but three +or four hours a day; it is true, in most instances, that the home +influences are all against her; it is true that the very people for +whom she is working do not always appreciate her efforts; it is true +that in many cases the child has been "born wrong," and to accomplish +any radical reform she ought to have begun with his grandfather; it is +true she makes failures now and then, and has to leave the sorry task +seemingly unperformed, giving into the mighty hand of One who bringeth +order out of chaos that which her finite strength has failed to +compass. She hears discouraging words sometimes, but they do not make +a profound impression, when she sees the weary yet beautiful days go +by, bringing with them hourly rewards greater than speech can testify! + +She sees homes changing slowly but surely under her quiet influence, +and that of those home missionaries, the children themselves; she gets +love in full measure where she least expected so radiant a flower to +bloom; she receives gratitude from some parents far beyond what she +is conscious of deserving; she sees the ancient and respectable +dirt-devil being driven from many of the homes where he has reigned +supreme for years; she sees brutal punishments giving place to sweeter +methods and kinder treatment; and she is too happy and too grateful, +for these and more encouragements, to be disheartened by any cynical +dissertations on the determination of the world to go wrong and the +impossibility of preventing it. + +It is easier, in my opinion, to raise money for, and interest the +general man or woman in, the free kindergarten than in any other +single charity. It is always comparatively easy to convince people of +a truth, but it is much easier to convince them of some truths than of +others. If you wish to found a library, build a hospital, establish a +diet-kitchen, open a bureau for woman's work, you are obliged to argue +more or less; but if you want money for neglected children, you have +generally only to state the case. Everybody agrees in the obvious +propositions, "An ounce of prevention"--"As the twig is bent"--"The +child is father to the man"--"Train up a child"--"A stitch in +time"--"Prevention is better than cure"--"Where the lambs go the +flocks will follow"--"It is easier to form than to reform," and so on +_ad infinitum_--proverbs multiply. The advantages of preventive work +are so palpable that as soon as you broach the matter you ought to +find your case proved and judgment awarded to the plaintiff, before +you open your lips to plead. + +The whole matter is crystal clear; for happily, where the protection +of children is concerned, there is not any free-trade side to the +argument. We need the public kindergarten educationally as the +vestibule to our school work. We need it as a philanthropic agent, +leading the child gently into right habits of thought, speech, and +action from the beginning. We need it to help in the absorption and +amalgamation of our foreign element; for the social training, the +opportunity for coöperation, and the purely republican form of +government in the kindergarten make it of great value in the +development of the citizen-virtues, as well as those of the +individual. + +I cannot help thinking that if this side of Froebel's educational idea +were more insisted on throughout our common school system, we should +be making better citizens and no worse scholars. + +If we believe in the kindergarten, if we wish it to become a part +of our educational system, we have only to let that belief--that +desire--crystallize into action; but we must not leave it for somebody +else to do. + +It is clearly every mother's business and father's +business,--spinsters and bachelors are not exempt, for they know not +in what hour they may be snatched from sweet liberty, and delivered +into sweeter slavery. It is a lawyer's business, for though it will +make the world better, it will not do it soon enough to lessen +litigation in his time. It is surely the doctor's business, and the +minister's, and that of the business man. It is in fact everybody's +business. + +The beauty of this kindergarten subject is its kaleidoscopic +character; it presents, like all truth, so many sides that you can +give every one that which he likes or is fitted to receive. Take the +aggressively self-made man who thinks our general scheme of education +unprofitable,--show him the kindergarten plan of manual training. He +rubs his hands. "Ah! that's common sense," he says. "I don't believe +in your colleges--I never went to college; you may count on me." + +Give the man of esthetic taste an idea of what the kindergarten does +in developing the sense of beauty; show him in what way it is a +primary art school. + +Explain to the musician your feeling about the influence of music; +show the physical-culture people that in the kindergarten the body has +an equal chance with mind and heart. + +Tell the great-hearted man some sad incident related to you by one of +your kindergartners, and as soon as he can see through his tears, show +him your subscription book. + +Give the woman who cannot reason (and there are such) an opportunity +to feel. There is more than one way of imbibing truth, fortunately, +and the brain is not the only avenue to knowledge. + +Finally, take the utter skeptic into the kindergarten and let +the children convert him. It commonly is a "him" by the way. The +mother-heart of the universe is generally sound on this subject. + +But getting money and opening kindergartens are not the only cares +of a Kindergarten Association. At least there are other grave +responsibilities which no other organization is so well fitted to +assume. These are the persistent working upon school boards until they +adopt the kindergarten, and, much more delicate and difficult, the +protection of its interests after it is adopted; the opening of +kindergartens in orphanages and refuges where they prove the most +blessed instrumentality for good; the spreading of such clear +knowledge and intelligent insight into the kindergarten as shall +prevent it from deterioration; the insistence upon kindergartners +properly trained by properly qualified training teachers; the gentle +mothering and inspiring and helping those kindergartners to realize +their fair ideals (for Froebel's method is a growing thing, and she +who does not grow with it is a hopeless failure); the proper equipment +and furnishing of class-rooms so that the public may have good +object-lessons before its eyes; the insistence upon the ultimate +ideals of the method as well as upon details and technicalities,--that +is, showing people its soul instead of forever rattling its dry bones. +And when all is said and done, the heaviest of the work falls upon the +kindergartner. That is why I am convinced that we should do everything +that sympathy and honor and money can do to exalt the office, so that +women of birth, breeding, culture, and genius shall gravitate to it. +The kindergartner it is who, living with the children, can make her +work an integral part of the neighborhood, the centre of its best +life. She it is, often, who must hold husband to wife, and parent +to child; she it is after all who must interpret the aims of the +Association, and translate its noble theories into practice. (Ay! and +there's the rub.) She it is, who must harmonize great ideal principles +with real and sometimes sorry conditions. A Kindergarten Association +stands for certain things before the community. It is the +kindergartner alone who can prove the truth, who can substantiate the +argument, who can show the facts. There is no more difficult +vocation in the universe, and no more honorable or sacred one. If a +kindergartner is looked upon, or paid, or treated as a nursery maid, +her ranks will gradually be recruited from that source. The ideal +teacher of little children is not born. We have to struggle on as best +we can, without her. She would be born if we knew how to conceive her, +how to cherish her. She needs the strength of Vulcan and the delicacy +of Ariel; she needs a child's heart, a woman's heart, a mother's +heart, in one; she needs clear judgment and ready sympathy, strength +of will, equal elasticity, keen insight, oversight; the buoyancy of +hope, the serenity of faith, the tenderness of patience. "The hope of +the world lies in the children." When we are better mothers, when men +are better fathers, there will be better children and a better world. +The sooner we feel the value of beginnings, the sooner we realize that +we can put bunglers and botchers anywhere else better than in nursery, +kindergarten, or primary school (there are no three places in the +universe so "big with Fate"), the sooner we shall arrive at better +results. + +I am afraid it is chiefly women's work. Of course men can be useful +in many little ways; such as giving money and getting other people +to give it, in influencing legislation, interviewing school boards, +securing buildings, presiding over meetings, and giving a general air +of strength and solidity to the undertaking. But the chief plotting +and planning and working out of details must be done by women. The +male genius of humanity begets the ideas of which each century has +need (at least it is so said, and I have never had the courage to deny +it or the time to look it up); but the female genius, I am sure, has +to work them out, and "to help is to do the work of the world." + +If one can give money, if only a single subscription, let her give +it; if she can give time, let her give that; if she has no time for +absolute work, perhaps she has time for the right word spoken in due +season; failing all else, there is no woman alive, worthy the name, +who cannot give a generous heartthrob, a warm hand-clasp, a sunny, +helpful smile, a ready tear, to a cause that concerns itself with +childhood, as a thank-offering for her own children, a pledge for +those the hidden future may bring her, or a consolation for empty +arms. + +There is always time to do the thing that _ought_ to be, that _must_ +be done, and for that matter who shall fix the limit to our powers of +helpfulness? It is the unused pump that wheezes. If our bounty be dry, +cross, and reluctant, it is because we do not continually summon and +draw it out. But if, like the patriarch Jacob's, our well is deep, it +cannot be exhausted. While we draw upon it, it draws upon the unspent +springs, the hill-sides, the clouds, the air, and the sea; and the +great source of power must itself suspend and be bankrupt before ours +can fail. + +The kindergarten is not for the poor child alone, a charity; neither +is it for the rich child alone, a luxury, corrective, or antidote; +but the ideas of which it tries to be the expression are the proper +atmosphere for every child. + +It is a promise of health, happiness, and usefulness to many an +unfortunate little waif, whose earthly inheritance is utter blackness, +and whose moral blight can be outgrown and succeeded by a development +of intelligence and love of virtue. + +The child of poverty and vice has still within him, however overlaid +by the sins of ancestry, a germ of good that is capable of growth, if +reached in time. Let us stretch out a tender strong hand, and touching +that poor germ of good lifting its feeble head in a wilderness of +evil, help it to live and thrive and grow! + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Children's Rights + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDREN'S RIGHTS *** + +***** This file should be named 10335-8.txt or 10335-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/3/10335/ + +Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10335-8.zip b/old/10335-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9df0d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10335-8.zip diff --git a/old/10335.txt b/old/10335.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b8821c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10335.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4798 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Children's Rights and Others +by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin and Nora Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Children's Rights and Others + +Author: Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin + Nora Smith + +Release Date: November 29, 2003 [EBook #10335] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDREN'S RIGHTS *** + + + + +Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + + + + +CHILDREN'S RIGHTS + +_A BOOK OF NURSERY LOGIC_ + +BY + +KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN + + "A court as of angels, + A public not to be bribed. + Not to be entreated, + Not to be overawed." + + +1892 + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +I am indebted to the Editors of Scribner's Magazine, the Cosmopolitan, +and Babyhood, for permission to reprint the three essays which have +appeared in their pages. The others are published for the first time. + +It may be well to ward off the full seriousness of my title "Nursery +Logic" by saying that a certain informality in all of these papers +arises from the fact that they were originally talks given before +members of societies interested in the training of children. + +Three of them--"Children's Stories," "How Shall we Govern our +Children," and "The Magic of 'Together'"--have been written for this +book by my sister, Miss Nora Smith. + +K.D.W. + +NEW YORK, _August_, 1892. + + + + +CONTENTS + + THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD + CHILDREN'S PLAYS + CHILDREN'S PLAYTHINGS + WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ? + CHILDREN'S STORIES. _Nora A. Smith_ + THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO SOCIAL REFORM + HOW SHALL WE GOVERN OUR CHILDREN? _Nora A. Smith_ + THE MAGIC OF "TOGETHER." _Nora A. Smith_. + THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL + OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN + + + + +THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD + +"Give me liberty, or give me death!" + + +The subject of Children's Rights does not provoke much sentimentalism +in this country, where, as somebody says, the present problem of the +children is the painless extinction of their elders. I interviewed +the man who washes my windows, the other morning, with the purpose of +getting at the level of his mind in the matter. + +"Dennis," I said, as he was polishing the glass, "I am writing an +article on the 'Rights of Children.' What do you think about it?" +Dennis carried his forefinger to his head in search of an idea, for he +is not accustomed to having his intelligence so violently assaulted, +and after a moment's puzzled thought he said, "What do I think about +it, mum? Why, I think we'd ought to give 'em to 'em. But Lor', mum, +if we don't, they _take_ 'em, so what's the odds?" And as he left the +room I thought he looked pained that I should spin words and squander +ink on such a topic. + +The French dressmaker was my next victim. As she fitted the collar of +an effete civilization on my nineteenth century neck, I put the same +question I had given to Dennis. + +"The rights of the child, madame?" she asked, her scissors poised in +air. + +"Yes, the rights of the child." + +"Is it of the American child, madame?" + +"Yes," said I nervously, "of the American child." + +"Mon Dieu! he has them!" + +This may well lead us to consider rights as opposed to privileges. A +multitude of privileges, or rather indulgences, can exist with a total +disregard of the child's rights. You remember the man who said he +could do without necessities if you would give him luxuries enough. +The child might say, "I will forego all my privileges, if you will +only give me my rights: a little less sentiment, please,--more +justice!" There are women who live in perfect puddles of maternal +love, who yet seem incapable of justice; generous to a fault, perhaps, +but seldom just. + +_Who owns the child_? If the parent owns him,--mind, body, and soul, +we must adopt one line of argument; if, as a human being, he owns +himself, we must adopt another. In my thought the parent is simply a +divinely appointed guardian, who acts for his child until he attains +what we call the age of discretion,--that highly uncertain period +which arrives very late in life with some persons, and not at all with +others. + +The rights of the parent being almost unlimited, it is a very delicate +matter to decide just when and where they infringe upon the rights +of the child. There is no standard; the child is the creature of +circumstances. + +The mother can clothe him in Jaeger wool from head to foot, or keep +him in low neck, short sleeves and low stockings, because she thinks +it pretty; she can feed him exclusively on raw beef, or on vegetables, +or on cereals; she can give him milk to drink, or let him sip his +father's beer and wine; put him to bed at sundown, or keep him up till +midnight; teach him the catechism and the thirty-nine articles, or +tell him there is no God; she can cram him with facts before he has +any appetite or power of assimilation, or she can make a fool of him. +She can dose him with old-school remedies, with new-school remedies, +or she can let him die without remedies because she doesn't believe +in the reality of disease. She is quite willing to legislate for +his stomach, his mind, his soul, her teachableness, it goes without +saying, being generally in inverse proportion to her knowledge; for +the arrogance of science is humility compared with the pride of +ignorance. + +In these matters the child has no rights. The only safeguard is the +fact that if parents are absolutely brutal, society steps in, removes +the untrustworthy guardian, and appoints another. But society does +nothing, can do nothing, with the parent who injures the child's soul, +breaks his will, makes him grow up a liar or a coward, or murders +his faith. It is not very long since we decided that when a parent +brutally abused his child, it could be taken from him and made the +ward of the state; the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to +Children is of later date than the Society for the Prevention of +Cruelty to Animals. At a distance of a century and a half we can +hardly estimate how powerful a blow Rousseau struck for the rights of +the child in his educational romance, "Emile." It was a sort of gospel +in its day. Rousseau once arrested and exiled, his book burned by the +executioner (a few years before he would have been burned with it), +his ideas naturally became a craze. Many of the reforms for which he +passionately pleaded are so much a part of our modern thought that we +do not realize the fact that in those days of routine, pedantry and +slavish worship of authority, they were the daring dreams of an +enthusiast, the seeming impossible prophecy of a new era. Aristocratic +mothers were converts to his theories, and began nursing their +children as he commanded them. Great lords began to learn handicrafts; +physical exercise came into vogue; everything that Emile did, other +people wanted to do. + +With all Rousseau's vagaries, oddities, misconceptions, posings, he +rescued the individuality of the child and made a tremendous plea for +a more natural, a more human education. He succeeded in making people +listen where Rabelais and Montaigne had failed; and he inspired other +teachers, notably Pestalozzi and Froebel, who knit up his ragged seams +of theory, and translated his dreams into possibilities. + +Rousseau vindicated to man the right of "Being." Pestalozzi said +"Grow!" Froebel, the greatest of the three, cried "Live! you give +bread to men, but I give men to themselves!" + +The parent whose sole answer to criticism or remonstrance is "I have +a right to do what I like with my own child!" is the only impossible +parent. His moral integument is too thick to be pierced with any shaft +however keen. To him we can only say as Jacques did to Orlando, "God +be with you; let's meet as little as we can." + +But most of us dare not take this ground. We may not philosophize or +formulate, we may not live up to our theories, but we feel in greater +or less degree the responsibility of calling a human being hither, and +the necessity of guarding and guiding, in one way or another, that +which owes its being to us. + +We should all agree, if put to the vote, that a child has a right to +be well born. That was a trenchant speech of Henry Ward Beecher's on +the subject of being "born again;" that if he could be born right the +first time he'd take his chances on the second. "Hereditary rank," +says Washington Irving, "may be a snare and a delusion, but hereditary +virtue is a patent of innate nobility which far outshines the blazonry +of heraldry." + +Over the unborn our power is almost that of God, and our +responsibility, like His toward us; as we acquit ourselves toward +them, so let Him deal with us. + +Why should we be astonished at the warped, cold, unhappy, suspicious +natures we see about us, when we reflect upon the number of +unwished-for, unwelcomed children in the world;--children who at +best were never loved until they were seen and known, and were often +grudged their being from the moment they began to be. I wonder if +sometimes a starved, crippled, agonized human body and soul does not +cry out, "Why, O man, O woman--why, being what I am, have you suffered +me to be?" + +Physiologists and psychologists agree that the influences affecting +the child begin before birth. At what hour they begin, how far they +can be controlled, how far directed and modified, modern science is +not assured; but I imagine those months of preparation were given for +other reasons than that the cradle and the basket and the wardrobe +might be ready;--those long months of supreme patience, when the +life-germ is growing from unconscious to conscious being, and when a +host of mysterious influences and impulses are being carried silently +from mother to child. And if "beauty born of murmuring sound shall +pass into" its "face," how much more subtly shall the grave strength +of peace, the sunshine of hope and sweet content, thrill the delicate +chords of being, and warm the tender seedling into richer life. + +Mrs. Stoddard speaks of that sacred passion, maternal love, that "like +an orange-tree, buds and blossoms and bears at once." When a true +woman puts her finger for the first time into the tiny hand of +her baby, and feels that helpless clutch which tightens her very +heart-strings, she is born again with the new-born child. + +A mother has a sacred claim on the world; even if that claim rest +solely on the fact of her motherhood, and not, alas, on any other. Her +life may be a cipher, but when the child comes, God writes a figure +before it, and gives it value. + +Once the child is born, one of his inalienable rights, which we too +often deny him, is the right to his childhood. + +If we could only keep from untwisting the morning-glory, only be +willing to let the sunshine do it! Dickens said real children went out +with powder and top-boots; and yet the children of Dickens's time were +simple buds compared with the full-blown miracles of conventionality +and erudition we raise nowadays. + +There is no substitute for a genuine, free, serene, healthy, +bread-and-butter childhood. A fine manhood or womanhood can be built +on no other foundation; and yet our American homes are so often filled +with hurry and worry, our manner of living is so keyed to concert +pitch, our plan of existence so complicated, that we drag the babies +along in our wake, and force them to our artificial standards, +forgetting that "sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make haste." + +If we must, or fancy that we must, lead this false, too feverish life, +let us at least spare them! By keeping them forever on tiptoe we are +in danger of producing an army of conventional little prigs, who know +much more than they should about matters which are profitless even to +their elders. + +In the matter of clothing, we sacrifice children continually to the +"Moloch of maternal vanity," as if the demon of dress did not demand +our attention, sap our energy, and thwart our activities soon enough +at best. + +And the right kind of children, before they are spoiled by fine +feathers, do detest being "dressed up" beyond a certain point. + +A tiny maid of my acquaintance has an elaborate Parisian gown, which +is fastened on the side from top to bottom in some mysterious fashion, +by a multitude of tiny buttons and cords. It fits the dear little +mouse like a glove, and terminates in a collar which is an instrument +of torture to a person whose patience has not been developed from year +to year by similar trials. The getting of it on is anguish, and as to +the getting of it off, I heard her moan to her nurse the other night, +as she wriggled her curly head through the too-small exit, "Oh I only +God knows how I hate gettin' peeled out o' this dress!" + +The spectacle of a small boy whom I meet sometimes in the horse-cars, +under the wing of his predestinate idiot of a mother, wrings my very +soul. Silk hat, ruffled shirt, silver-buckled shoes, kid gloves, +cane, velvet suit, with one two-inch pocket which is an insult to his +sex,--how I pity the pathetic little caricature! Not a spot has he to +locate a top, or a marble, or a nail, or a string, or a knife, or a +cooky, or a nut; but as a bloodless substitute for these necessities +of existence, he has a toy watch (that will not go) and an embroidered +handkerchief with cologne on it. + +As to keeping children too clean for any mortal use, I suppose nothing +is more disastrous. The divine right to be gloriously dirty a large +portion of the time, when dirt is a necessary consequence of direct, +useful, friendly contact with all sorts of interesting, helpful +things, is too clear to be denied. + +The children who have to think of their clothes before playing with +the dogs, digging in the sand, helping the stableman, working in the +shed, building a bridge, or weeding the garden, never get half their +legitimate enjoyment out of life. And unhappy fate, do not many of us +have to bring up children without a vestige of a dog, or a sand heap, +or a stable, or a shed, or a brook, or a garden! Conceive, if you can, +a more difficult problem than giving a child his rights in a city +flat. You may say that neither do we get ours: but bad as we are, +we are always good enough to wish for our children the joys we miss +ourselves. + +Thrice happy is the country child, or the one who can spend a part of +his young life among living things, near to Nature's heart How blessed +is the little toddling thing who can lie flat in the sunshine and +drink in the beauty of the "green things growing," who can live among +the other little animals, his brothers and sisters in feathers and +fur; who can put his hand in that of dear mother Nature, and learn his +first baby lessons without any meddlesome middleman; who is cradled in +sweet sounds "from early morn to dewy eve," lulled to his morning nap +by hum of crickets and bees, and to his night's slumber by the sighing +of the wind, the plash of waves, or the ripple of a river. He is a +part of the "shining web of creation," learning to spell out the +universe letter by letter as he grows sweetly, serenely, into a +knowledge of its laws. + +I have a good deal of sympathy for the little people during their +first eight or ten years, when they are just beginning to learn life's +lessons, and when the laws which govern them must often seem so +strange and unjust. It is not an occasion for a big burning sympathy, +perhaps, but for a tender little one, with a half smile in it, as we +think of what we were, and "what in young clothes we hoped to be, and +of how many things have come across;" for childhood is an eternal +promise which no man ever keeps. + +The child has a right to a place of his own, to things of his own, to +surroundings which have some relation to his size, his desires, and +his capabilities. + +How should we like to live, half the time, in a place where the piano +was twelve feet tall, the door knobs at an impossible height, and the +mantel shelf in the sky; where every mortal thing was out of reach +except a collection of highly interesting objects on dressing-tables +and bureaus, guarded, however, by giants and giantesses, three times +as large and powerful as ourselves, forever saying, "mustn't touch;" +and if we did touch we should be spanked, and have no other method of +revenge save to spank back symbolically on the inoffensive persons of +our dolls? + +Things in general are so disproportionate to the child's stature, so +far from his organs of prehension, so much above his horizontal line +of vision, so much ampler than his immediate surroundings, that there +is, between him and all these big things, a gap to be filled only by +a microcosm of playthings which give him his first object-lessons. In +proof of which let him see a lady richly dressed, he hardly notices +her; let him see a doll in similar attire, he will be ravished with +ecstasy. As if to show that it was the disproportion of the sizes +which unfitted him to notice the lady, the larger he grows the bigger +he wants his toys, till, when his wish reaches to life-sizes, good-by +to the trumpery, and onward with realities.[1] + +[Footnote 1: E. Seguin.] + +My little nephew was prowling about my sitting-room during the absence +of his nurse. I was busy writing, and when he took up a delicate pearl +opera-glass, I stopped his investigations with the time-honored, "No, +no, dear, that's for grown-up people." + +"Hasn't it got any little-boy end?" he asked wistfully. + +That "little-boy end" to things is sometimes just what we fail to +give, even when we think we are straining every nerve to surround the +child with pleasures. For children really want to do the very same +things that we want to do, and yet have constantly to be thwarted for +their own good. They would like to share all our pleasures; keep the +same hours, eat the same food; but they are met on every side with the +seemingly impertinent piece of dogmatism, "It isn't good for little +boys," or "It isn't nice for little girls." + +Robert Louis Stevenson shows, in his "Child's Garden of Verses," that +he is one of the very few people who remember and appreciate this +phase of childhood. Could anything be more deliciously real than these +verses? + + "In winter I get up at night, + And dress by yellow candle light: + In summer, quite the other way, + I have to go to bed by day; + I have to go to bed and see + The birds still hopping on the tree, + And hear the grown-up people's feet + Still going past me on the street. + And does it not seem hard to you, + That when the sky is clear and blue, + And I should like so much to play, + I have to go to bed by day?" + +Mr. Hopkinson Smith has written a witty little monograph on this +relation of parents and children. I am glad to say, too, that it is +addressed to fathers,--that "left wing" of the family guard, which +generally manages to retreat during any active engagement, leaving the +command to the inferior officer. This "left wing" is imposing on all +full-dress parades, but when there is any fighting to be done it +retires rapidly to the rear, and only wheels into line when the smoke +of the conflict has passed out of the atmosphere. + +"Open your heart and your arms wide for your daughters," he says, +"and keep them wide open; don't leave all that to their mothers. An +intimacy will grow with the years which will fit them for another +man's arms and heart when they exchange yours for his. Make a chum of +your boy,--hail-fellow-well-met, a comrade. Get down to the level of +his boyhood, and bring him gradually up to the level of your manhood. +Don't look at him from the second story window of your fatherly +superiority and example. Go into the front yard and play ball with +him. When he gets into scrapes, don't thrash him as your father did +you. Put your arm around his neck, and say you know it is pretty bad, +but that he can count on you to help him out, and that you will, every +single time, and that if he had let you know earlier, it would have +been all the easier." + +Again, the child has a right to more justice in his discipline than we +are generally wise and patient enough to give him. He is by and by to +come in contact with a world where cause and effect follow each other +inexorably. He has a right to be taught, and to be governed by the +laws under which he must afterwards live; but in too many cases +parents interfere so mischievously and unnecessarily between causes +and effects that the child's mind does not, cannot, perceive the logic +of things as it should. We might write a pathetic remonstrance against +the Decline and Fall of Domestic Authority. There is food for thought, +and perhaps for fear, in the subject; but the facts are obvious, and +their inevitableness must strike any thoughtful observer of the times. +"The old educational regime was akin to the social systems with +which it was contemporaneous; and similarly, in the reverse of these +characteristics, our modern modes of culture correspond to our more +liberal religious and political institutions." + +It is the age of independent criticism. The child problem is merely +one phase of the universal problem that confronts society. It seems +likely that the rod of reason will have to replace the rod of birch. +Parental authority never used to be called into question; neither was +the catechism, nor the Bible, nor the minister. How should parents +hope to escape the universal interrogation point leveled at everything +else? In these days of free speech it is hopeless to suppose that even +infants can be muzzled. We revel in our republican virtues; let us +accept the vices of those virtues as philosophically as possible. + +A lady has been advertising in a New York paper for a German governess +"to mind a little girl three years old." The lady's English is +doubtless defective, but the fate of the governess is thereby +indicated with much greater candor than is usual. + +The mother who is most apt to infringe on the rights of her child (of +course with the best intentions) is the "firm" person, afflicted with +the "lust of dominion." There is no elasticity in her firmness to +prevent it from degenerating into obstinacy. It is not the firmness of +the tree that bends without breaking, but the firmness of a certain +long-eared animal whose force of character has impressed itself on the +common mind and become proverbial. + +Jean Paul says if "_Pas trop gouverner_" is the best rule in politics, +it is equally true of discipline. + +But if the child is unhappy who has none of his rights respected, +equally wretched is the little despot who has more than his own +rights, who has never been taught to respect the rights of others, and +whose only conception of the universe is that of an absolute monarchy +in which he is sole ruler. + +"Children rarely love those who spoil them, and never trust them. +Their keen young sense detects the false note in the character and +draws its own conclusions, which are generally very just." + +The very best theoretical statement of a wise disciplinary method that +I know is Herbert Spencer's. "Let the history of your domestic rule +typify, in little, the history of our political rule; at the outset, +autocratic control, where control is really needful; by and by an +incipient constitutionalism, in which the liberty of the subject gains +some express recognition; successive extensions of this liberty of the +subject; gradually ending in parental abdication." + +We must not expect children to be too good; not any better than we +ourselves, for example; no, nor even as good. Beware of hothouse +virtue. "Already most people recognize the detrimental results of +intellectual precocity; but there remains to be recognized the truth +that there is a moral precocity which is also detrimental. Our higher +moral faculties, like our higher intellectual ones, are comparatively +complex. By consequence, they are both comparatively late in their +evolution. And with the one as with the other, a very early activity +produced by stimulation will be at the expense of the future +character." + +In these matters the child has a right to expect examples. He lives in +the senses; he can only learn through object lessons, can only +pass from the concrete example of goodness to a vision of abstract +perfection. + + "O'er wayward childhood wouldst thou hold firm rule. + And sun thee in the light of happy faces? + Love, Hope and Patience, these must be thy graces, + And in thine own heart let them first keep school." + +Yes, "in thine own heart let them first keep school!" I cannot see why +Max O'Rell should have exclaimed with such unction that if he were to +be born over again he would choose to be an American woman. He has +never tried being one. He does not realize that she not only has in +hand the emancipation of the American woman, but the reformation of +the American man and the education of the American child. If that +triangular mission in life does not keep her out of mischief and make +her the angel of the twentieth century, she is a hopeless case. + +Spencer says, "It is a truth yet remaining to be recognized that the +last stage in the mental development of each man and woman is to be +reached only through the proper discharge of the parental duties. And +when this truth is recognized, it will be seen how admirable is the +ordination in virtue of which human beings are led by their strongest +affections to subject themselves to a discipline which they would else +elude." + +Women have been fighting many battles for the higher education these +last few years; and they have nearly gained the day. When at last +complete victory shall perch upon their banners, let them make one +more struggle, and that for the highest education, which shall include +a specific training for parenthood, a subject thus far quite omitted +from the curriculum. + +The mistaken idea that instinct is a sufficient guide in so delicate +and sacred and vital a matter, the comfortable superstition that +babies bring their own directions with them,--these fictions have +existed long enough. If a girl asks me why, since the function of +parenthood is so uncertain, she should make the sacrifices necessary +to such training, sacrifices entailed by this highest education of +body, mind, and spirit, I can only say that it is better to be ready, +even if one is not called for, than to be called for and found +wanting. + + + + +CHILDREN'S PLAYS + +"The plays of the age are the heart-leaves of the whole future life, +for the whole man is visible in them in his finest capacities and his +innermost being." + + +Mr. W.W. Newell, in his admirable book on "Children's Games," traces +to their proper source all the familiar plays which in one form or +another have been handed down from generation to generation, and are +still played wherever and whenever children come together in any +numbers. The result of his sympathetic and scholarly investigations +is most interesting to the student of childhood, and as valuable +philologically as historically. In speaking of the old rounds and +rhymed formulas which have preserved their vitality under the effacing +hand of Time, he says,-- + +"It will be obvious that many of these well-known game-rhymes were not +composed by children. They were formerly played, as in many countries +they are still played, by young persons of marriageable age, or even +by mature men and women.... The truth is, that in past centuries all +the world, judged by our present standard, seems to have been a little +childish. The maids of honor of Queen Elizabeth's day, if we may +credit the poets, were devoted to the game of tag, with which even +Diana and her nymphs were supposed to amuse themselves.... + +"We need not, however, go to remote times or lands for illustration +which is supplied by New England country towns of a generation ago. +Dancing, under that name, was little practiced; the amusement of young +people at their gatherings was "playing games." These games generally +resulted in forfeits, to be redeemed by kissing, in every possible +variety of position and method. Many of these games were rounds; but +as they were not called dances, and as man-kind pays more attention to +words than things, the religious conscience of the community, which +objected to dancing, took no alarm.... Such were the pleasures of +young men and women from sixteen to twenty-five years of age. Nor were +the participants mere rustics; many of them could boast as good blood, +as careful breeding, and as much intelligence, as any in the land. +Neither was the morality or sensitiveness of the young women of that +day in any respect inferior to what it is at present. + +"Now that our country towns are become mere outlying suburbs of +cities, these remarks may be read with a smile at the rude simplicity +of old-fashioned American life. But the laugh should be directed, not +at our own country, but at the bygone age. It must be remembered that +in mediaeval Europe, and in England till the end of the seventeenth +century, a kiss was the usual salutation of a lady to a gentleman whom +she wished to honor.... The Portuguese ladies who came to England with +the Infanta in 1662 were not used to the custom; but, as Pepys says, +in ten days they had 'learnt to kiss and look freely up and down.' +Kissing in games was, therefore, a matter of course, in all ranks.... + +"In respectable and cultivated French society, at the time of which we +speak, the amusements, not merely of young people but of their elders +as well, were every whit as crude. + +"Madame Celnart, a recognized authority on etiquette, compiled in 1830 +a very curious complete manual of society games recommending them as +recreation for _business men_.... 'Their varying movement,' she +says, 'their diversity, the gracious and gay ideas which these games +inspire, the decorous caresses which they permit, all this combines +to give real amusement. These caresses can alarm neither modesty +nor prudence, since a kiss in honor given and taken before numerous +witnesses is often an act of propriety.'" + +The old ballads and nursery rhymes doubtless had much of innocence and +freshness in them, but they only come to us nowadays tainted by the +odors of city streets. The pleasure and poetry of the original essence +are gone, and vulgarity reigns triumphant. If you listen to the words +of the games which children play in school yards, on sidewalks, and in +the streets on pleasant evenings, you will find that most of them, +to say the least, border closely on vulgarity; that they are utterly +unsuitable to childhood, notwithstanding that they are played with +great glee; that they are, in fine, common, rude, silly, and boorish. +One can never watch a circle of children going through the vulgar +inanities of "Jenny O'Jones," "Say, daughter, will you get up?" "Green +Gravel," or "Here come two ducks a-roving," without unspeakable +shrinking and moral disgust. These plays are dying out; let them die, +for there is a hint of happier things abroad in the air. + +The wisest mind of wise antiquity told the riddle of the Sphinx, if +having ears to hear we would hear. "Our youth should be educated in a +stricter rule from the first, for if education becomes lawless and +the youths themselves become lawless, they can never grow up into +well-conducted or meritorious citizens; and _the education must begin +with their plays_." + +We talk a great deal about the strength of early impressions. I wonder +if we mean all we say; we do not live up to it, at all events. "In +childish play deep meaning lies." "The hand that rocks the cradle is +the hand that rules the world." "Give me the first six years of a +child's life, and I care not who has the rest." "The child of six +years has learned already far more than a student learns in his entire +university course." "The first six years are as full of advancement as +the six days of creation," and so on. If we did believe these things +fully, we should begin education with conscious intelligence at the +cradle, if not earlier. The great German dramatic critic, Schlegel, +once sneered at the brothers Jacob and William Grimm, for what he +styled their "meditation on the insignificant." These two brothers, +says a wiser student, an historian of German literature, were animated +by a "pathetic optimism, and possessed that sober imagination which +delights in small things and narrow interests, lingering over them +with strong affection." They explored villages and hamlets for obscure +legends and folk tales, for nursery songs, even; and bringing to bear +on such things at once a human affection and a wise scholarship, their +meditation on the insignificant became the basis of their scientific +greatness and the source of their popularity. Every child has read +some of Grimm's household tales, "The Frog Prince," "Hans in Luck," +or the "Two Brothers;" but comparatively few people realize, perhaps, +that this collection of stories is the foundation of the modern +science of folk-lore, and a by-play in researches of philology and +history which place the name of Grimm among the benefactors of our +race. I refer to these brothers because they expressed one of the +leading theories of the new education. + +"My principle," said Jacob Grimm, "has been to undervalue nothing, +but to utilize the small for the illustration of the great." When +Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten, in the course of +his researches began to watch the plays of children and to study their +unconscious actions, his "meditation on the insignificant" became +the basis of scientific greatness, and of an influence still in its +infancy, but destined, perhaps, to revolutionize the whole educational +method of society. + +It was while he was looking on with delight at the plays of little +children, their happy, busy plans and make-believes, their intense +interest in outward nature, and in putting things together or taking +them apart, that Froebel said to himself: "What if we could give the +child that which is called education through his voluntary activities, +and have him always as eager as he is at play?" + +How well I remember, years ago, the first time I ever joined in a +kindergarten game. I was beckoned to the charming circle, and not only +one, but a dozen openings were made for me, and immediately, though I +was a stranger, a little hand on either side was put into mine, with +such friendly, trusting pressure that I felt quite at home. Then we +began to sing of the spring-time, and I found myself a green tree +waving its branches in the wind. I was frightened and self-conscious, +but I did it, and nobody seemed to notice me; then I was a flower +opening its petals in the sunshine, and presently, a swallow gathering +straws for nest-building; then, carried away by the spirit of the +kindergartner and her children, I fluttered my clumsy apologies for +wings, and forgetting self, flew about with all the others, as happy +as a bird. Soon I found that I, the stranger, had been chosen for the +"mother swallow." It was to me, the girl of eighteen, like mounting a +throne and being crowned. Four cunning curly heads cuddled under my +wings for protection and slumber, and I saw that I was expected to +stoop and brood them, which I did, with a feeling of tenderness and +responsibility that I had never experienced in my life before. Then, +when I followed my baby swallows back to their seats, I saw that the +play had broken down every barrier between us, and that they clustered +about me as confidingly as if we were old friends. I think I never +before felt my own limitations so keenly, or desired so strongly to be +fully worthy of a child's trust and love. + +Kindergarten play takes the children where they love to be, into +the world of "make-believe." In this lovely world the children are +blacksmiths, carpenters, wheelwrights; birds, bees, butterflies; +trees, flowers, sunbeams, rainbows; frogs, lambs, ponies,--anything +they like. The play is so characteristic, so poetic, so profoundly +touching in its simplicity and purity, so full of meaning, that it +would inspire us with admiration and respect were it the only salient +point of Froebel's educational idea. It endeavors to express the same +idea in poetic words, harmonious melody and fitting motion, appealing +thus to the thought, feeling, and activity of the child. + +Physical impressions are at the beginning of life the only possible +medium for awakening the child's sensibility. These impressions should +therefore be regulated as systematically as possible, and not left to +chance. + +Froebel supplies the means for bringing about the result in a +simple system of symbolic songs and games, appealing to the child's +activities and sensibilities. These he argues, ought to contain the +germ of all later instruction and thought; for physical and sensuous +perceptions are the points of departure of all knowledge. + +When the child imitates, he begins to understand. Let him imitate the +airy flight of the bird, and he enters partially into bird life. Let +the little girl personate the hen with her feathery brood of chickens, +and her own maternal instinct is quickened, as she guards and guides +the wayward motion of the little flock. Let the child play the +carpenter, the wheelwright, the wood-sawyer, the farmer, and his +intelligence is immediately awakened; he will see the force, the +meaning, the power, and the need of labor. In short, let him mirror in +his play all the different aspects of universal life, and his thought +will begin to grasp their significance. + +Thus kindergarten play may be defined as a "systematized sequence of +experiences through which the child grows into self-knowledge, +clear observation, and conscious perception of the whole circle of +relationships," and the symbols of his play become at length the truth +itself, bound fast and deep in heart knowledge, which is deeper and +rarer than head knowledge, after all. + +To the class occupied exclusively with material things, this phase of +Froebel's idea may perhaps seem mystical. There is nothing mystical +to children, however; all is real, for their visions have not been +dispelled. + + "Turn wheresoe'er I may, + By night or day, + The things which I have seen, I now can see no more." + +As soon as the child begins to be conscious of his own activities and +his power of regulating them, he desires to imitate the actions of his +future life. + +Nothing so delights the little girl as to play at housekeeping in her +tiny mansion, sacred to the use of dolls. See her whimsical attention +to dust and dirt, her tremendous wisdom in dispensing the work and +ordering the duties of the household, her careful attention to the +morals and manners of her rag-babies. + +The boy, too, tries to share in the life of a man, to play at his +father's work, to be a miniature carpenter, salesman, or what not. He +rides his father's cane and calls it a horse, in the same way that +the little girl wraps a shawl about a towel, and showers upon it the +tenderest tokens of maternal affection. All these examples go to show +that every conscious intellectual phase of the mind has a previous +phase in which it was unconscious or merely symbolic. + +To get at the spirit and inspiration of symbolic representation in +song and game, it is necessary first of all to study Froebel's "Mutter +und Kose-Lieder," perhaps the most strikingly original, instructive, +serviceable book in the whole history of the practice of education. +The significant remark quoted in Froebel's "Reminiscences" is this: +"He who understands what I mean by these songs knows my inmost +secret." You will find people who say the music in the book is poor, +which is largely true, and that the versification is weak, which is +often, not always, true, and is sometimes to be attributed to faulty +translation; but the idea, the spirit, the continuity of the plan, are +matchless, and critics who call it trifling or silly are those who +have not the seeing eye nor the understanding heart. Froebel's wife +said of it,-- + + "A superficial mind does not grasp it, + A gentle mind does not hate it, + A coarse mind makes fun of it, + A thoughtful mind alone tries to get at it." + +"Froebel[1] considers it his duty to picture the home as it ought to +be, not by writing a book of theories and of rules which are easily +forgotten, but by accompanying a mother in her daily rounds through +house, garden, and field, and by following her to workshop, market, +and church. He does not represent a woman of fashion, but prefers one +of humbler station, whom he clothes in the old German housewife style. +It may be a small sphere she occupies, but there she is the centre, +and she completely fills her place. She rejoices in the dignity of +her position as educator of a human being whom she has to bring into +harmony with God, nature, and man. She thinks nothing too trifling +that concerns her child. She watches, clothes, feeds, and trains it in +good habits, and when her darling is asleep, her prayers finish the +day. She may not have read much about education, but her sympathy +with the child suggests means of doing her duty. Love has made her +inventive; she discovers means of amusement, for play; she talks and +sings, sometimes in poetry and sometimes in prose. From mothers in his +circle of relations and friends, Froebel has learned what a mother can +do, and although he had no children of his own, his heart vibrated +instinctively with the feelings of a mother's joy, hope, and fear. He +did not care about the scorn of others, when he felt he must speak +with an almost womanly heart to a mother. His own loss of a mother's +tender care made him the more appreciate the importance of a mother's +love in early infancy. The mother in his book makes use of all the +impressions, influences, and agencies with which the child comes in +contact: she protects from evil; she stimulates for good; she places +the child in direct communication with nature, because she herself +admires its beauties. She has a right feeling towards her neighbors, +and to all those on whom she depends. A movement of arms and feet +teaches her that the child feels its strength and wants to use it. She +helps, she lifts, she teaches; and while playing with her baby's hands +and feet she is never at a loss for a song or story. + +[Footnote 1: Eleonore Heerwart.] + +"The mother also knows that it is necessary to train the senses, +because they are the active organs which convey food to the intellect. +The ear must hear language, music, the gentle accents and warning +voices of father and mother. It must distinguish the sounds of the +wind, of the water, and of pet animals. + +"The eyesight is directed to objects far and near, as the pigeons +flying, the hare running, the light flickering on the wall, the calm +beauty of the moon, and the twinkling stars in the dark blue sky." + +Of the effect of Froebel's symbolic songs and games, with +melodious music and appropriate gesture, kindergartners all speak +enthusiastically. They know that-- + +First: The words suggest thought to the child. + +Second: The thought suggests gesture. + +Third: The gesture aids in producing the proper feeling. + +We all believe thoroughly in the influence of mind on body, the inward +working outward, but we are not as ready to see the influence of body +on mind. Yet if mind or soul acts upon the body, the external gesture +and attitude just as truly react upon the inward feeling. "The soul +speaks through the body, and the body in return gives command to the +soul." All attitudes mean something, and they all influence the state +of mind. + +Fourth: The melody begets spiritual impressions. + +Fifth: The gestures, feeling, and melody unite in giving a sweet and +gentle intercourse, in developing love for labor, home, country, +associates, and dumb animals, and in unconsciously directing the +intellectual powers. + +Learning to sing well is the best possible means of learning to speak +well, and the exquisite precision which music gives to kindergarten +play destroys all rudeness, and does not in the least rob it of its +fun or merriment. + +"We cannot tell how early the pleasing sense of musical cadence +affects a child. In some children it is blended with the earliest, +haziest recollection of life at all, as though they had been literally +'cradled in sweet song;' and we may be sure that the hearing of +musical sounds and singing in association with others are for the +child, as for the adult, powerful influences in awakening sympathetic +emotion, and pleasure in associated action." + +Who can see the kindergarten games, led by a teacher who has grown +into their spirit, and ever forget the joy of the spectacle? It brings +tears to the eyes of any woman who has ever been called mother, +or ever hopes to be; and I have seen more than one man retire +surreptitiously to wipe away his tears. Is it "that touch of nature +which makes the whole world kin"? Is it the perfect self-forgetfulness +of the children? Is it a touch of self-pity that the radiant visions +of our childhood days have been dispelled, and the years have brought +the "inevitable yoke"? Or is it the touching sight of so much +happiness contrasted with what we know the home life to be? + +Sydney Smith says: "If you make children happy now, you will make them +happy twenty years hence by the memory of it;" and we know that virtue +kindles at the touch of this joy. "Selfishness, rudeness, and similar +weedy growths of school-life or of street-independence cannot grow in +such an atmosphere. For joy is as foreign to tumult and destruction, +to harshness and selfish disregard of others, as the serene, vernal +sky with its refreshing breezes is foreign to the uproar and terrors +of the hurricane." + +For this kind of ideal play we are indebted to Friedrich Froebel, and +if he had left no other legacy to childhood, we should exalt him for +it. + +If you are skeptical, let me beseech you to join the children in a +Free Kindergarten, and play with them. You will be convinced, not +through your head, perhaps, but through your heart. I remember +converting such a grim female once! You know Henry James says, "Some +women are unmarried by choice, and others by chance, but Olive +Chancellor was unmarried by every implication of her being." Now, this +predestinate spinster acquaintance of mine, well nigh spoiled by +years of school-teaching in the wrong spirit, was determined to think +kindergarten play simply a piece of nauseating frivolity. She tried +her best, but, kept in the circle with the children five successive +days, she relaxed so completely that it was with the utmost difficulty +that she kept herself from being a butterfly or a bird. It is always +so; no one can resist the unconscious happiness of children. + +As for the good that comes to grown people from playing with children +in this joyous freedom and with this deep earnestness of purpose, it +is beyond all imagination. If I had a daughter who was frivolous, or +worldly, or selfish, or cold, or unthoughtful,--who regarded life as a +pleasantry, or fell into the still more stupid mistake of thinking it +not worth living,--I should not (at first) make her read the Bible, or +teach in the Sunday-school, or call on the minister, or request +the prayers of the congregation, but I should put her in a good +Kindergarten Training School. No normal young woman can resist the +influence of the study of childhood and the daily life among little +children, especially the children of the poor: it is irresistible. + +Oh, these tiny teachers! If we only learned from them all we might, +instead of feeling ourselves over-wise! I never look down into the +still, clear pool of a child's innocent, questioning eyes without +thinking: "Dear little one, it must be 'give and take' between thee +and me. I have gained something here in all these years, but thou hast +come from thence more lately than have I; thou hast a treasure that +the years have stolen from me--share it with me!" + +Let us endeavor, then, to make the child's life objective to him. Let +us unlock to him the significance of family, social, and national +relationships, so that he may grow into sympathy with them. He loves +the symbol which interprets his nature to himself, and in his eager +play, he pictures the life he longs to understand. + +If we could make such education continuous, if we could surround +the child in his earlier years with such an atmosphere of goodness, +beauty, and wisdom, none can doubt that he would unconsciously grow +into harmony and union with the All-Good, the All-Beautiful, and the +All-Wise. + + + + +CHILDREN'S PLAYTHINGS + +"Books cannot teach what toys inculcate." + + +In the preceding chapter we discussed Froebel's plays, and found that +the playful spirit which pervades all the kindergarten exercises must +not be regarded as trivial, since it has a philosophic motive and a +definite, earnest purpose. + +We discussed the meaning of childish play, and deplored the lack of +good and worthy national nursery plays. Passing then to Froebel's +"Mother-Play," we found that the very heart of his educational idea +lies in the book, and that it serves as a guide for mothers whose +babies are yet in their arms, as well as for those who have little +children of four or five years under their care. + +We found that in Froebel's plays the mirror is held up to universal +life; that the child in playing them grows into unconscious sympathy +with the natural, the human, the divine; that by "playing at" the life +he longs to understand, he grows at last into a conscious realization +of its mysteries--its truth, its meaning, its dignity, its purpose. + +We found that symbolic play leads the child from the symbol to the +truth symbolized. + +We discovered that the carefully chosen words of the kindergarten +songs and games suggest thought to the child, the thought suggests +gesture, the melody begets spiritual feeling. + +We discussed the relation of body and mind; the effect of bodily +attitudes on feeling and thought, as well as the moulding of the body +by the indwelling mind. + +Froebel's playthings are as significant as his plays. If you examine +the materials he offers children in his "gifts and occupations," you +cannot help seeing that they meet the child's natural wants in a truly +wonderful manner, and that used in connection with conversations and +stories and games they address and develop his love of movement and +his love of rhythm; his desire to touch and handle, to play and work +(to be busy), and his curiosity to know; his instincts of construction +and comparison, his fondness for gardening and digging in the earth; +his social impulse, and finally his religious feeling. + +Froebel himself says if his educational materials are found useful, it +cannot be because of their exterior, which is as simple as possible, +and contains nothing new; but their worth is to be found exclusively +in their application. If you can work out his principles (or better +ones still when we find better ones) by other means, pray do it if you +prefer; since the object of the kindergartner is not to make Froebel +an _idol_, but an _ideal_. He seems to have found type-forms admirable +for awaking the higher senses of the child, and unlike the usual +scheme of object lessons, they tell a continued story. When the +object-method first burst upon the enraptured sight of the teacher, +this list of subjects appeared in a printed catalogue, showing the +ground of study in a certain school for six months:-- + +"_Tea, spiders, apple, hippopotamus, cow, cotton, duck, sugar, +rabbits, rice, lighthouse, candle, lead-pencil, pins, tiger, clothing, +silver, butter-making, giraffe, onion, soda_!" + +Such reckless heterogeneity as this is impossible with Froebel's +educational materials, for even if they are given to the child without +a single word, they carry something of their own logic with them. + +They emphasize the gospel of doing, for Froebel believes in positives +in teaching, not negatives; in stimulants, not deterrents. How +inexpressibly tiresome is the everlasting "Don't!" in some households. +Don't get in the fire, don't play in the water, don't tease the kitty, +don't trouble the doggy, don't bother the lady, don't interrupt, don't +contradict, don't fidget with your brother, and _don't_ worry me +now; while perhaps in this whole tirade, not a word has been said of +something to do. + +Let sleeping faults lie as long as possible while we quietly oust +them, little by little, by developing the good qualities. Surely the +less we use deterrents the better, since they are often the child's +first introduction to what is undesirable or wrong. I am quite sure +they have something of that effect on grown people. The telling us not +to do, and that we cannot, must not, do a certain thing surrounds it +with a momentary fascination. If your enemy suggests that there is a +pot of Paris green on the piazza, but you must not take a spoonful and +dissolve it in a cup of honey and give it to your maiden aunt who has +made her will in your favor, your innocent mind hovers for an instant +over the murderous idea. + +Froebel's play-materials come to the child when he has entered upon +the war-path of getting "something to do." If legitimate means fail, +then "let the portcullis fall;" the child must be busy. + +The fly on the window-pane will be crushed, the kettle tied to the +dog's tail, the curtains cut into snips, the baby's hair shingled,-- +anything that his untiring hands may not pause an instant,--anything +that his chubby legs may take his restless body over a circuit of a +hundred miles or so before he is immured in his crib for the night. + +The child of four or five years is still interested in objects, in the +concrete. He wants to see and to hear, to examine and to work with his +hands. How absurd then for us to make him fold his arms and keep his +active fingers still; or strive to stupefy him with such an opiate as +the alphabet. If we can possess our souls and primers in patience for +a while, and feed his senses; if we will let him take in living facts +and await the result; that result will be that when he has learned to +perceive, compare, and construct, he will desire to learn words, for +they tell him what others have seen, thought, and done. This reading +and writing, what is it, after all, but the signs for things and +thoughts? Logically we must first know things, then thoughts, then +their records. The law of human progress is from physical activity to +mental power, from a Hercules to a Shakespeare, and it is as true for +each unit of humanity as it is for the race. + +Everything in Froebel's playthings trains the child to quick, accurate +observation. They help children to a fuller vision, they lead them to +see. Did you ever think how many people there are who "having eyes, +see not"? + +Ruskin says, "Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but +thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, +prophecy, religion, all in one." + +A gentleman who is trying to write the biography of a great +man complained to me lately, that in consulting a dozen of his +friends--men and women who had known him as preacher, orator, +reformer, and poet--so few of them had anything characteristic and +fine to relate. "What," he said "is the use of trying to write +biography with such mummies for witnesses! They would have seen just +as much if they had had nothing but glass eyes in their heads." + +What is education good for that does not teach the mind to observe +accurately and define picturesquely? To get at the essence of an +object and clear away the accompanying rubbish, this is the only +training that fits men and women to live with any profit to themselves +or pleasure to others. What a biographer, for example, or at least +what a witness for some other biographer, was latent in the little boy +who, when told by his teacher to define a bat, said: "He's a nasty +little mouse, with injy-rubber wings and shoe-string tail, and bites +like the devil." There was an eye worth having! Agassiz himself could +not have hit off better the salient characteristics of the little +creature in question. Had that remarkable boy been brought into +contact, for five minutes only, with Julius Caesar, who can doubt that +the telling description he would have given of him would have come +down through all the ages? + +I do not mean to urge the adoption of any ultra-utilitarian standpoint +in regard to playthings, or advise you rudely to enter the realm of +early infancy and interfere with the baby's legitimate desires by any +meddlesome pedagogic reasoning. Choose his toys wisely and then leave +him alone with them. Leave him to the throng of emotional impressions +they will call into being. Remember that they speak to his feelings +when his mind is not yet open to reason. The toy at this period is +surrounded with a halo of poetry and mystery, and lays hold of the +imagination and the heart without awaking vulgar curiosity. Thrice +happy age when one can hug one's white woolly lamb to one's bibbed +breast, kiss its pink bead eyes in irrational ecstasy, and manipulate +the squeak in its foreground without desire to explore the cause +thereof! + +At this period the well-beloved toy, the dumb sharer of the child's +joys and sorrows, becomes the nucleus of a thousand enterprises, each +rendered more fascinating by its presence and sympathy. If the toy be +a horse, they take imaginary journeys together, and the road is doubly +delightful because never traveled alone. If it be a house, the child +lives therein a different life for every day in the week; for +no monarch alive is so all-powerful as he whose throne is the +imagination. Little tin soldier, Shem, Ham, and Japhet from the Noah's +Ark, the hornless cow, the tailless dog, and the elephant that won't +stand up, these play their allotted parts in his innocent comedies, +and meanwhile he grows steadily in sympathy and in comprehension +of the ever-widening circle of human relationships. "When we have +restored playthings to their place in education--a place which assigns +them the principal part in the development of human sympathies, we can +later on put in the hands of children objects whose impressions will +reach their minds more particularly." + +Dr. E. Seguin, our Commissioner of Education to the Universal +Exhibition at Vienna, philosophizes most charmingly on children's toys +in his Report (chapter on the Training of Special Senses). He says the +vast array of playthings (separated by nationalities) left at first +sight an impression of silly sameness; but that a second look +"discovered in them particular characters, as of national +idiosyncrasies; and a closer examination showed that these puerilities +had sense enough in them, not only to disclose the movements of the +mind, but to predict what is to follow." + +He classifies the toys exhibited, and in so doing gives us delightful +and valuable generalizations, some of which I will quote:-- + +"Chinese and Japanese toys innumerable, as was to have been expected. +Japanese toys much brighter, the dolls relieved in gold and gaudy +colors, absolutely saucy. The application of the natural and +mechanical forces in their toys cannot fail to determine the taste of +the next generation towards physical sciences. + +"Chinese dolls are sober in color, meek in demeanor, and comprehensive +in mien.... The favorite Chinese toy remains the theatrical scene +where the family is treated _a la Moliere_. + +"Persia sends beautiful toys, from which can be inferred a national +taste for music, since most of their dolls are blowing instruments. + +"Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, have sent no dolls. Do they make none, under +the impression, correct in a low state of culture, that dolls for +children become idols for men? + +"The Finlanders and Laplanders, who are not troubled with such +religious prejudices, give rosy cheeks and bodies as fat as seals to +their dolls. + +"The French toy represents the versatility of the nation, touching +every topic, grave or grotesque. + +"From Berlin come long trains of artillery, regiments of lead, horse +and foot on moving tramways. + +"From the Hartz and the Alps still issue those wooden herds, more +characteristic of the dull feelings of their makers than of the +instincts of the animals they represent. + +"The American toys justify the rule we have found good elsewhere, that +their character both reveals and prefaces the national tendencies. +With us, toys refer the mind and habits of children to home economy, +husbandry, and mechanical labor; and their very material is durable, +mainly wood and iron. + +"So from childhood every people has its sympathies expressed or +suppressed, and set deeper in its flesh and blood than scholastic +ideas.... The children who have no toys seize realities very late, and +never form ideals.... The nations rendered famous by their artists, +artisans, and idealists have supplied their infants with many toys, +for there is more philosophy and poetry in a single doll than in a +thousand books.... If you will tell us what your children play with, +we will tell you what sort of women and men they will be; so let +this Republic make the toys which will raise the moral and artistic +character of her children." + +Froebel's educational toys do us one service, in that they preach a +silent but impressive sermon on simplicity. + +It is easy to see that the hurlyburly of our modern life is not wholly +favorable to the simple creed of childhood, "delight and liberty, when +busy or at rest," but we might make it a little less artificial than +we do, perhaps. + +Every thoughtful person knows that the simple, natural playthings of +the old-fashioned child, which are nothing more than pegs on which he +hangs his glowing fancies, are healthier than our complicated modern +mechanisms, in which the child has only to "press the button" and the +toy "does the rest." + +The electric-talking doll, for example--imagine a generation of +children brought up on that! And the toy-makers are not even content +with this grand personage, four feet high, who says "Papa! Mamma!" She +is _passee_ already; they have begun to improve on her! An electrician +described to me the other day a superb new altruistic doll, fitted +to the needs of the present decade. You are to press a judiciously +located button and ask her the test question, which is, if she will +have some candy; whereupon with an angelic detached-movement-smile +(located in the left cheek), she is to answer, "Give brother _big_ +piece; give me little piece!" If the thing gets out of order (and I +devoutly hope it will), it will doubtless return to a state of nature, +and horrify the bystanders by remarking, "Give me _big_ piece! Give +brother _little_ piece!" + +Think of having a gilded dummy like that given you to amuse yourself +with! Think of having to play,--to _play_, forsooth, with a model of +propriety, a high-minded monstrosity like that! Doesn't it make you +long for your dear old darkey doll with the raveled mouth, and the +stuffing leaking out of her legs; or your beloved Arabella Clarinda +with the broken nose, beautiful even in dissolution,--creatures "not +too bright or good for human nature's daily food"? Banged, battered, +hairless, sharers of our mad joys and reckless sorrows, how we +loved them in their simple ugliness! With what halos of romance we +surrounded them! with what devotion we nursed the one with the broken +head, in those early days when new heads were not to be bought at the +nearest shop. And even if they could have been purchased for us, would +we, the primitive children of those dear, dark ages, have ever thought +of wrenching off the cracked blonde head of Ethelinda and buying a +new, strange, nameless brunette head, gluing it calmly on Ethelinda's +body, as a small acquaintance of mine did last week, apparently +without a single pang? Never! A doll had a personality in those times, +and has yet, to a few simple backwoods souls, even in this day and +generation. Think of Charles Kingsley's song,--"I once had a sweet +little doll, dears." Can we imagine that as written about one of these +modern monstrosities with eyeglasses and corsets and vinaigrettes? + + "I once had a sweet little doll, dears, + The prettiest doll in the world, + Her face was so red and so white, dears, + And her hair was so charmingly curled; + But I lost my poor little doll, dears, + As I played on the heath one day, + And I sought for her more than a week, dears, + But I never could find where she lay. + + "I found my poor little doll, dears, + As I played on the heath one day; + Folks say she is terribly changed, dears, + For her paint is all washed away; + And her arms trodden off by the cows, dears, + And her hair not the least bit curled; + Yet for old sake's sake she is still, dears, + The prettiest doll in the world." + +Long live the doll! + + "Dolly-o'diamonds, precious lamb, + Humming-bird, honey-pot, jewel, jam, + Darling delicate-dear-delight-- + Angel-o'red, angel-o'white!" + +"Take away the doll, you erase from the heart and head feelings, +images, poetry, aspiration, experience, ready for application to real +life." + +Every mother knows the development of tenderness and motherliness +that goes on in her little girl through the nursing and petting and +teaching and caring for her doll. There is a good deal of journalistic +anxiety concerning the decline of mothers. Is it possible that +fathers, too, are in any danger of decline? It is impossible to +overestimate the sacredness and importance of the mother-spirit in the +universe, but the father-spirit is not positively valueless (so far +as it goes). The newspaper-pessimists talk comparatively little about +developing that in the young male of the species. In three years' +practical experience among the children of the poorer classes, and +during all the succeeding years, when I have filled the honorary and +honorable offices of general-utility woman, story-teller, song-singer, +and playmaker-in-ordinary to their royal highnesses, some thousands +of babies, I have been struck with the greater hardness of the small +boys; a certain coarseness of fibre and lack of sensitiveness which +makes them less susceptible, at first, to gentle influences. + +Once upon a time I set about developing this father spirit in a group +of little gamins whose general attitude toward the weaker sex, toward +birds and flowers and insects, toward beauty in distress and wounded +sensibility, was in the last degree offensive. In the bird games we +had always had a mother bird in the nest with the birdlings; we now +introduced a father bird into the game. Though the children had been +only a little time in the kindergarten, and were not fully baptized +into the spirit of play, still the boys were generally willing to +personate the father bird, since their delight in the active and manly +occupation of flying about the room seeking worms overshadowed their +natural repugnance to feeding the young. This accomplished, we played +"Master Rider," in which a small urchin capered about on a hobby +horse, going through a variety of adventures, and finally returning +with presents to wife and children. This in turn became a matter of +natural experience, and we moved towards our grand _coup d'etat._ + +Once a week we had dolls' day, when all the children who owned them +brought their dolls, and the exercises were ordered with the single +view of amusing and edifying them. The picture of that circle of +ragged children comes before me now and dims my eyes with its pathetic +suggestions. + +Such dolls! Five-cent, ten-cent dolls; dolls with soiled clothes and +dolls in a highly indecorous state of nudity; dolls whose ruddy hues +of health had been absorbed into their mothers' systems; dolls made +of rags, dolls made of carrots, and dolls made of towels; but all +dispensing odors of garlic in the common air. Maternal affection, +however, pardoned all limitations, and they were clasped as fondly to +maternal bosoms as if they had been imported from Paris. + +"Bless my soul!" might have been the unspoken comment of these tiny +mothers. "If we are only to love our offspring when handsome and well +clothed, then the mother-heart of society is in a bad way!" + +Dolls' day was the day for lullabies. I always wished I might gather +a group of stony-hearted men and women in that room and see them melt +under the magic of the scene. Perhaps you cannot imagine the union of +garlic and magic, nevertheless, O ye of little faith, it may exist. +The kindergarten cradle stood in the centre of the circle, and the +kindergarten doll, clean, beautiful, and well dressed, lay inside the +curtains, waiting to be sung to sleep with the other dolls. One little +girl after another would go proudly to the "mother's chair" and rock +the cradle, while the other children hummed their gentle lullabies. At +this juncture even the older boys (when the influence of the music had +stolen in upon their senses) would glance from side to side longingly, +as much as to say,-- + +"O Lord, why didst Thou not make thy servant a female, that he might +dandle one of these interesting objects without degradation!" + +In such an hour I suddenly said, "Josephus, will you be the father +this time?" and without giving him a second to think, we began our +familiar lullaby. The radical nature, the full enormity, of the +proposition did not (in that moment of sweet expansion) strike +Josephus. He moved towards the cradle, seated himself in the chair, +put his foot upon the rocker, and rocked the baby soberly, while my +heart sang in triumph. After this the fathers as well as the mothers +took part in all family games, and this mighty and much-needed reform +had been worked through the magic of a fascinating plaything. + + + + +WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ? + +"What we make children love and desire is more important than what we +make them learn." + + +When I was a little girl (oh, six most charming words!)--it is not +necessary to name the year, but it was so long ago that children were +still reminded that they should be seen and not heard, and also that +they could eat what was set before them or go without (two maxims +that suggest a hoary antiquity of time not easily measured by the +senses),--when I was a little girl, I had the great good fortune to +live in a country village. + +I believe I always had a taste for books; but I will pass over that +early period when I manifested it by carrying them to my mouth, and +endeavored to assimilate their contents by the cramming process; +and also that later stage, which heralded the dawn of the critical +faculty, perhaps, when I tore them in bits and held up the tattered +fragments with shouts of derisive laughter. Unlike the critic, no more +were given me to mar; but, like the critic, I had marred a good many +ere my vandal hand was stayed. + +As soon as I could read, I had free access to an excellent medical +library, the gloom of which was brightened by a few shelves of +theological works, bequeathed to the family by some orthodox ancestor, +and tempered by a volume or two of Blackstone; but outside of these, +which were emphatically not the stuff my dreams were made of, I can +only remember a certain little walnut bookcase hanging on the wall of +the family sitting-room. + +It had but three shelves, yet all the mysteries of love and life and +death were in the score of well-worn volumes that stood there side +by side; and we turned to them, year after year, with undiminished +interest. The number never seemed small, the stories never grew tame: +when we came to the end of the third shelf, we simply went back and +began again,--a process all too little known to latter-day children. + +I can see them yet, those rows of shabby and incongruous volumes, the +contents of which were transferred to our hungry little brains. Some +of them are close at hand now, and I love their ragged corners, their +dog's-eared pages that show the pressure of childish thumbs, and their +dear old backs, broken in my service. + +There was a red-covered "Book of Snobs;" "Vanity Fair" with no cover +at all; "Scottish Chiefs" in crimson; a brown copy of George Sand's +"Teverino;" and next it a green Bailey's "Festus," which I only +attacked when mentally rabid, and a little of which went a +surprisingly long way; and then a maroon "David Copperfield," whose +pages were limp with my kisses. (To write a book that a child would +kiss! Oh, dear reward! oh, sweet, sweet fame!) + +In one corner--spare me your smiles--was a fat autobiography of +P.T. Barnum, given me by a grateful farmer for saving the life of +a valuable Jersey calf just as she was on the point of strangling +herself. This book so inflamed a naturally ardent imagination, that +I was with difficulty dissuaded from entering the arena as a circus +manager. Considerations of age or sex had no weight with me, and lack +of capital eventually proved the deterrent force. On the shelf above +were "Kenilworth," "The Lady of the Lake," and half of "Rob Roy." I +have always hesitated to read the other half, for fear that it should +not end precisely as I made it end when I was forced, by necessity, to +supplement Sir Walter Scott. Then there was "Gulliver's Travels," and +if any of the stories seemed difficult to believe, I had only to turn +to the maps of Lilliput and Brobdingnag, with the degrees of latitude +and longitude duly marked, which always convinced me that everything +was fair and aboveboard. Of course, there was a great green and gold +Shakespeare, not a properly expurgated edition for female seminaries, +either, nor even prose tales from Shakespeare adapted to young +readers, but the real thing. We expurgated as we read, child fashion, +taking into our sleek little heads all that we could comprehend +or apprehend, and unconsciously passing over what might have been +hurtful, perhaps, at a later period. I suppose we failed to get a very +close conception of Shakespeare's colossal genius, but we did get a +tremendous and lasting impression of force and power, life and truth. + +When we declaimed certain scenes in an upper chamber with sloping +walls and dormer windows, a bed for a throne, a cotton umbrella for a +sceptre, our creations were harmless enough. If I remember rightly, +our nine-year-old Lady Macbeths and Iagos, Falstaffs and Cleopatras, +after they had been dipped in the divine alembic of childish +innocence, came out so respectable that they would not have brought +the historic "blush to the cheek of youth." + +On the shelf above the Shakespeare were a few things presumably better +suited to childish tastes,--Hawthorne's "Wonder Book," Kingsley's +"Water Babies," Miss Edgeworth's "Rosamond," and the "Arabian Nights." + +There were also two little tales given us by a wandering revivalist, +who was on a starring tour through the New England villages, +"How Gussie Grew in Grace," and "Little Harriet's Work for the +Heathen,"--melodramatic histories of spiritually perfect and +physically feeble children who blessed the world for a season, but +died young, enlivened by a few pages devoted to completely vicious and +adorable ones who lived to curse the world to a good old age. + +Last of all, brought out only on state occasions, was a most seductive +edition of that nursery Gaboriau, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" with +colored illustrations in which the heads of the birds were made to +move oracularly, by means of cunningly arranged strips pulled from +the bottom of the page. This was a relic of infancy, our first +introduction to the literature of plot, counterplot, intrigue, and +crime, and the mystery of the murder was very real to us. This book, +still in existence, with all the birds headless from over-exertion, +is always inextricably associated in my mind with childish woes, as +a desire on my part to make the birds wag their heads was always +contemporaneous, to a second, with a like desire on my sister's part; +and on those rare days when the precious volume was taken down, one of +us always donned the penitential nightgown early in the afternoon and +supped frugally in bed, while the other feasted gloriously at the +family board, never quite happy in her virtue, however, since it +separated her from beloved vice in disgrace. That paltry tattered +volume, when it confronts me from its safe nook in a bureau drawer, +makes my heart beat faster and sets me dreaming! Pray tell me if any +book read in your later and wiser years ever brings to your mind such +vivid memories, to your lips so lingering a smile, to your eye so +ready a tear? True enough, "we could never have loved the earth so +well if we had had no childhood in it.... What novelty is worth that +sweet monotony where everything is known and loved because it is +known?" + +This autobiographical babble is excusable for one reason only. + +It is in remembering what books greatly moved us in earlier days; what +books wakened strong and healthy desires, enlarged the horizon of our +understanding, and inspired us to generous action, that we get +some clue to the books with which to surround our children; and a +reminiscence of this kind becomes a sort of psychological observation. +The moment we realize clearly that the books we read in childhood and +youth make a profound impression that can never be repeated later +(save in some rare crisis of heart and soul, where a printed page +marks an epoch in one's mental or spiritual life), then we become +reinforced in our opinion that it makes a deal of difference what +children read and how they read it. + +Agnes Repplier says: "It is part of the irony of life that our +discriminating taste for books should be built up on the ashes of an +extinct enjoyment." + +A book is such a fact to children, its people are so alive and so +heartily loved and hated, its scenes so absolutely real! Prone on the +hearth-rug before the fire, or curled in the window seat, they forget +everything but the story. The shadows deepen, until they can read +no longer; but they do not much care, for the window looks into an +enchanted region peopled with brilliant fancies. The old garden +is sometimes the Forest of Arden, sometimes the Land of Lilliput, +sometimes the Border. The gray rock on the river bank is now the cave +of Monte Cristo, and now a castle defended by scores of armed knights +who peep one by one from the alder-bushes, while Fair Ellen and the +lovely Undine float together on the quiet stream. + +For forming a truly admirable literary taste, I cannot indeed say much +in favor of my own motley collection of books just mentioned, for I +was simply tumbled in among them and left to browse, in accordance +with Charles Lamb's whimsical plan for Bridget Elia. More might have +been added, and some taken away; but they had in them a world of +instruction and illumination which children miss who read too +exclusively those books written with rigid determination down to their +level, neglecting certain old classics for which we fondly believe +there are no substitutes. You cannot always persuade the children of +this generation to attack "Robinson Crusoe," and if they do they +are too sophisticated to thrill properly when they come to Friday's +footsteps in the sand. Think of it, my contemporaries: think of +substituting for that intense moment some of the modern "tuppenny" +climaxes! + +I do not wish to drift into a cheap cynicism, and apotheosize the old +days at the expense of the new. We are often inclined to paint the +Past with a halo round its head which it never wore when it was the +Present. We can reproduce neither the children nor the conditions of +fifty or even twenty-five years ago. To-day's children must be fitted +for to-day's tasks, educated to answer to-day's questions, equipped +to solve to-day's problems; but are we helping them to do this in +absolutely the best way? At all events, it is difficult to join in the +paean of gratitude for the tons of children's books that are turned +out yearly by parental publishers. If the children of the past did not +have quite enough deference paid to their individuality, their likes +and dislikes, and if their needs were too often left until the needs +of everybody else had been considered,--on the other hand, they were +not surfeited with well-meant but ill-directed attentions. If the hay +was thrown so high in the rack that they could not pluck a single +straw without stretching up for it, why, the hay was generally worth +stretching for, and was, perhaps, quite as healthful as the sweet and +easily digested nursery porridge which some people adopt as exclusive +diet for their darlings nowadays. + +Let us look a little at some of the famous children's books of a past +generation, and see what was their general style and purpose. Take, +for instance, those of Mrs. Barbauld, who may be included in that +group of men and women who completely altered the style of teaching +and writing for children--Rousseau, de Genlis, the Edgeworths, +Jacotot, Froebel, and Diesterweg, all great teachers,--didactic, +deadly-dull Mrs. Barbauld, who composed, as one of her biographers +tells us, "a considerable number of miscellaneous pieces for the +instruction and amusement of young persons, especially females." +(Girls were always "young females" in those days; children were +"infants," and stories were "tales.") Who can ever forget those "Early +Lessons," written for her adopted son Charles, who appeared in the +page sometimes in a state of hopeless ignorance and imbecility, and +sometimes clad in the wisdom of the ancients? The use of the offensive +phrase "excessively pretty," as applied to a lace tidy by a very tiny +female named Lucy, brings down upon her sinful head eleven pages +of such moralizing as would only be delivered by a modern mamma on +hearing a confession of robbery or murder. + +All this does strike us as insufferably didactic, yet we cannot +approve the virulence with which Southey and Charles Lamb attacked +good Mrs. Barbauld in her old age; for her purpose was eminently +earnest, her views of education healthy and sensible for the time in +which she lived, her style polished and admirably quiet, her love +for young people indubitably sincere and profound, and her character +worthy of all respect and admiration in its dignity, womanliness, and +strength. Nevertheless, Charles Lamb exclaims in a whimsical burst of +spleen: "'Goody Two Shoes' is out of print, while Mrs. Barbauld's and +Mrs. Trimmer's nonsense lies in piles around. Hang them--the cursed +reasoning crew, those blights and blasts of all that is human in man +and child." + +Miss Edgeworth has what seems to us, in these days, the same overplus +of sublime purpose, and, though a much greater writer, is quite as +desirous of being instructive, first, last, and all the time, and +quite as unable or unwilling to veil her purpose. No books, however, +have ever had a more remarkable influence upon young people, and there +are many of them--old-fashioned as they are--which the sophisticated +children of to-day could read with pleasure and profit. + +Poor, naughty Rosamond! choosing the immortal "purple jar" out of +that apothecary's window, instead of the shoes she needed; and in a +following chapter, after pages of excellent maternal advice, taking +the hideous but useful "red morocco housewife" instead of the coveted +"plum." + +People may say what they like of Miss Edgeworth's lack of proportion +as a moralist and economist, but we have few writers for children at +present who possess the practical knowledge, mental vigor, and moral +force which made her an imposing figure in juvenile literature for +nearly a century. + +There has never been a time when the difficulty of making a good use +of books was as great as it is to-day, or a time when it required so +much decision to make a wise choice, simply because there is so much +printed matter precipitated upon us that we cannot "see the wood for +the trees." + +It is not my province to discriminate between the various writers for +children at the present time. To give a complete catalogue of useful +books for children would be quite impossible; to give a partial list, +or endeavor to point out what is worthy and what unworthy, would be +little better. No course of reading laid down by one person ever suits +another, and the published "lists of best books," with their solemn +platitudes in the way of advice, are generally interesting only in +their reflection of the writer's personality. + +I would not choose too absolutely for a child save in his earliest +years, but would rather surround him with the best and worthiest +books, and let him choose for himself; for there are elective +affinities and antipathies here that need not be disregarded,--that +are, indeed, certain indications of latent powers, and trustworthy +guides to the child's unfolding possibilities. + +"Books can only be profoundly influential as they unite themselves +with decisive tendencies." Provide the right conditions for mental +growth, and then let the child do the growing. If we dictate too +absolutely, we _en_velop instead of _de_veloping his mind, and weaken +his power of choice. On the other hand, we do not wish his reading to +be partial or one-sided, as it may be without intelligent oversight. + +I was telling bedtime stories, the other night, to a proper, wise, +dull little girl of ten years. When I had successfully introduced a +mother-cat and kittens to her attention, I plunged into what I thought +a graphic and perfectly natural conversation between them, when she +cut me short with the observation that she disliked stories in which +animals talked, because they were not true! I was rebuked, and tried +again with better success, until there came an unlucky figure of +speech concerning a blossoming locust-tree, that bent its green boughs +and laughed in the summer sunshine, because its flowers were fragrant +and lovely, and the world so green and beautiful. This she thought, on +sober second thought, a trifle silly, as trees never did laugh! Now, +that exasperating scrap of humanity (she is abnormal, to be sure) +ought to be locked up and fed upon fairy tales until she is able to +catch a faint glimpse of "the light that never was on sea or land." +Poor, blind, deaf little person, predestined, perhaps, to be the +mother of a lot of other blind, deaf little persons some day,--how I +should like to develop her imagination! + +Whatever children read, let us see that it is good of its kind, and +that it gives variety, so that no integral want of human nature shall +be neglected,--so that neither imagination, memory, nor reflection +shall be starved. I own it is difficult to help them in their choice, +when most of us have not learned to choose wisely for ourselves. A +discriminating taste in literature is not to be gained without effort, +and our constant reading of the little books spoils our appetite for +the great ones. + +Style is a matter of some moment, even at this early stage. Mothers +sometimes forget that children cannot read slipshod, awkward, +redundant prose, and sing-song vapid verse, for ten or twelve years, +and then take kindly to the best things afterward. + +Long before a child is conscious of such a thing as purity, +delicacy, directness, or strength of style, he has been acted upon +unconsciously, so that when the period of conscious choice comes, he +is either attracted or repelled by what is good, according to his +training. Children are fond of vivacity and color, and love a bit of +word painting or graceful nonsense; but there are people who strive +for this, and miss, after all, the true warmth and geniality that is +most desirable for little people. Apropos of nonsense, we remember +Leigh Hunt, who says that there are two kinds of nonsense, one +resulting from a superabundance of ideas, the other from a want of +them. Style in the hands of some writers is like war-paint to the +savage--of no perceptible value unless it is laid on thick. Our +little ones begin too often on cheap and tawdry stories in one or two +syllables, where pictures in primary colors try their best to +atone for lack of matter. Then they enter on a prolonged series of +children's books, some of them written by people who have neither +the intelligence nor the literary skill to write for a more critical +audience; on the same basis of reasoning which puts the young and +inexperienced teachers into the lowest grades, where the mind ought +to be formed, and assigns to the more practiced the simpler task of +_in_forming the already partially formed (or _de_formed) mind. + +There has never been such conscientious, intelligent, and purposeful +work done for children as in the last ten years; and if an +overwhelming flood of trash has been poured into our laps along with +the better things, we must accept the inevitable. The legends, myths, +and fables of the world, as well as its history and romance, are being +brought within reach of young readers by writers of wide knowledge and +trained skill. + +Knowing, then, as we do, the dangers and obstacles in the way, and +realizing the innumerable inspirations which the best thought gives to +us, can we not so direct the reading of our children that our older +boys and girls shall not be so exclusively modern in their tastes; so +that they may be inclined to take a little less Mr. Saltus, a little +more Shakespeare, temper their devotion to Mr. Kipling by small doses +of Dante, forsake "The Duchess" for a dip into Thackeray, and use +Hawthorne as a safe and agreeable antidote to Mr. Haggard? We need not +despair of the child who does not care to read, for books are not the +only means of culture; but they are a very great means when the mind +is really stimulated, and not simply padded with them. + +Mr. Frederic Harrison says: "Books are no more education than laws are +virtue. Of all men, perhaps the book-lover needs most to be reminded +that man's business here is to know for the sake of living, not to +live for the sake of knowing." + +But a child who has no taste for reading, who is utterly incapable of +losing himself in a printed page, quite unable to forget his childish +griefs, + + "And plunge, + Soul forward, headlong into a book's profound, + Impassioned for its beauty and salt of truth," + +--such a child is to be pitied as missing one of the chief joys of +life. Such a child has no dear old book-friendships to look back upon. +He has no sweet associations with certain musty covers and time-worn +pages; no sacred memories of quiet moments when a new love of +goodness, a new throb of generosity, a new sense of humanity, were +born in the ardent young soul; born when we had turned the last page +of some well-thumbed volume and pressed our tear-stained childish +cheek against the window pane, when it was growing dusk without, and a +mother's voice called us from our shelter to "Lay the book down, dear, +and come to tea." For, to speak in better words than my own, "It +is the books we read before middle life that do most to mould our +characters and influence our lives; and this not only because our +natures are then plastic and our opinions flexible, but also because, +to produce lasting impression, it is necessary to give a great author +time and meditation. The books that are with us in the leisure of +youth, that we love for a time not only with the enthusiasm, but with +something of the exclusiveness, of a first love, are those that enter +as factors forever in our mental life." + + + + +CHILDREN'S STORIES + +"To be a good story-teller is to be a king among children." + + +The business of story-telling is carried on from the soundest of +economic motives, in order to supply a constant and growing demand. +We are forced to satisfy the clamorous nursery-folk that beset us on +every hand. + +Beside us stands an eager little creature quivering with expectation, +gazing with wide-open eyes, and saying appealingly, "Tell me a story!" +or perhaps a circle of toddlers is gathered round, each one offering +the same fervent prayer, with so much trust and confidence expressed +in look and gesture that none but a barbarian could bear to disappoint +it. + +The story-teller is the children's special property. When once his +gifts have been found out, he may bid good-by to his quiet snooze by +the fire, or his peaceful rest with a favorite book. Though he hide in +the uttermost parts of the house, yet will he be discovered and made +to deliver up his treasure. On this one subject, at least, the little +ones of the earth are a solid, unanimous body; for never yet was seen +the child who did not love the story and prize the story-teller. + +Perhaps we never dreamed of practicing the art of story-telling till +we were drawn into it by the imperious commands of the little ones +about us. It is an untrodden path to us, and we scarcely understand +as yet its difficulties and hindrances, its breadth and its +possibilities. Yet this eager, unceasing demand of the child-nature we +must learn to supply, and supply wisely; for we must not think that +all the food we give the little one will be sure to agree with him. +because he is so hungry. This would be no more true of a mental than +of a physical diet. + +What objects, then, shall our stories serve beyond the important one +of pleasing the little listeners? How can we make them distinctly +serviceable, filling the difficult and well-nigh impossible _role_ of +"useful as well as ornamental"? + +There are, of course, certain general benefits which the child gains +in the hearing of all well-told stories. These are, familiarity with +good English, cultivation of the imagination, development of sympathy, +and clear impression of moral truth. We shall find, however, that all +stories appropriate for young children naturally divide themselves +into the following classes:-- + +I. The purely imaginative or fanciful, and here belongs the so-called +fairy story. + +II. The realistic, devoted to things which have happened, and might, +could, would, or should happen without violence to probability. These +are generally the vehicle for moral lessons which are all the more +impressive because not insisted on. + +III. The scientific, conveying bits of information about animals, +flowers, rocks, and stars. + +IV. The historical, or simple, interesting accounts of the lives of +heroes and events in our country's struggle for life and liberty. + +There is a great difference in opinion regarding the advisability of +telling fairy stories to very young children, and there can be no +question that some of them are entirely undesirable and inappropriate. +Those containing a fierce or horrible element must, of course, be +promptly ruled out of court, including the "bluggy" tales of cruel +stepmothers, ferocious giants and ogres, which fill the so-called +fairy literature. Yet those which are pure in tone and gay with +fanciful coloring may surely be told occasionally, if only for the +quickening of the imagination. Perhaps, however, it is best to keep +them as a sort of sweetmeat, to be taken on, high days and holidays +only. + +Let us be realistic, by all means; but beware, O story-teller! of +being too realistic. Avoid the "shuddering tale" of the wicked boy who +stoned the birds, lest some hearer be inspired to try the dreadful +experiment and see if it really does kill. Tell not the story of the +bears who were set on a hot stove to learn to dance, for children +quickly learn to gloat over the horrible. + +Deal with the positive rather than the negative in story-telling; +learn to affirm, not to deny. + +Some one perhaps will say here, the knowledge of cruelty and sin must +come some time to the child; then why shield him from it now? True, +it must come; but take heed that you be not the one to introduce it +arbitrarily. "Stand far off from childhood," says Jean Paul, "and +brush not away the flower-dust with your rough fist." + +The truths of botany, of mineralogy, of zoology, may be woven into +attractive stories which will prove as interesting to the child as the +most extravagant fairy tale. But endeavor to shape your narrative so +dexterously around the bit of knowledge you wish to convey, that it +may be the pivotal point of interest, that the child may not suspect +for a moment your intention of instructing him under the guise of +amusement. Should this dark suspicion cross his mind, your power is +Weakened from that moment, and he will look upon you henceforth as a +deeply dyed hypocrite. + +The historic story is easily told, and universally interesting, if +you make it sufficiently clear and simple. The account of the first +Thanksgiving Day, of the discovery of America, of the origin of +Independence Day, of the boyhood of our nation's heroes,--all these +can be made intelligible and charming to children. I suggest topics +dealing with our own country only, because the child must learn to +know the near-at-hand before he can appreciate the remote. It is best +that he should gain some idea of the growth of his own traditions +before he wanders into the history of other lands. + +In any story which has to do with soldiers and battles, do not be too +martial. Do not permeate your tale with the roar of guns, the smell of +powder, and the cries of the wounded. Inculcate as much as possible +the idea of a struggle for a principle, and omit the horrors of war. + +We must remember that upon the kind of stories we tell the child +depends much of his later taste in literature. We can easily create a +hunger for highly spiced and sensational writing by telling grotesque +and horrible tales in childhood. When the little one has learned to +read, when he holds the key to the mystery of books, then he will seek +in them the same food which so gratified his palate in earlier years. + +We are just beginning to realize the importance of beginnings in +education. + +True, a king of Israel whose wisdom is greatly extolled, and whose +writings are widely read, urged the importance of the early training +of children about three thousand years ago; but the progress of +truth in the world is proverbially slow. When parents and teachers, +legislators and lawgivers, are at last heartily convinced of the +inestimable importance of the first six years of childhood, then the +plays and occupations of that formative period of life will no longer +be neglected or left to chance, and the exercise of story-telling will +assume its proper place as an educative influence. + +Long ago, when I was just beginning the study of childhood, and when +all its possibilities were rising before me, "up, up, from glory +to glory,"--long ago, I was asked to give what I considered the +qualifications of an ideal kindergartner. + +My answer was as follows,--brief perhaps, but certainly +comprehensive:-- + + The music of St. Cecilia. + The art of Raphael. + The dramatic genius of Rachel. + The administrative ability of Cromwell. + The wisdom of Solomon. + The meekness of Moses, and-- + The patience of Job. + +Twelve years' experience with children has not lowered my ideals one +whit, nor led me to deem superfluous any of these qualifications; in +fact, I should make the list a little longer were I to write it now, +and should add, perhaps, the prudence of Franklin, the inventive power +of Edison, and the talent for improvisation of the early Troubadours. + +The Troubadours, indeed, could they return to the earth, would wander +about lonely and unwelcomed till they found home and refuge in the +hospitable atmosphere of the kindergarten,--the only spot in the +busy modern world where delighted audiences still gather around the +professional story-teller. + +If I were asked to furnish a recipe for one of these professional +story-tellers, these spinners of childish narratives, I should suggest +one measure of pure literary taste, two of gesture and illustration, +three of dramatic fire, and four of ready speech and clear expression. +If to these you add a pinch of tact and sympathy, the compound should +be a toothsome one, and certain to agree with all who taste it. + +And now as to the kind of story our professional is to tell. In +selecting this, the first point to consider is its suitability to +the audience. A story for very little ones, three or four years old +perhaps, must be simple, bright, and full of action. They do not yet +know how to listen; their comprehension of language is very limited, +and their sympathies quite undeveloped. Nor are they prepared to take +wing with you into the lofty realms of the imagination: the adventures +of the playful kitten, of the birdling learning to fly, of the lost +ball, of the faithful dog,--things which lie within their experience +and belong to the sweet, familiar atmosphere of the household,--these +they enjoy and understand. + +It will be found also that the number of children to whom one is +talking is a prominent factor in the problem of selecting a story. +Two or three little ones, gathered close about you, may pay strict +attention to a quiet, calm, eventless history; but a circle of twenty +or thirty eager, restless little people needs more sparkle and +incident. + +If one is addressing a large number of children, the homes from which +they come must be considered. Children of refined, cultivated parents, +who have listened to family conversation, who have been talked to and +encouraged to express themselves,--these are able to understand much +more lofty themes than the poor little mites who are only familiar +with plain, practical ideas, and rough speech confined to the most +ordinary wants of life. + +And now, after the story is well selected, how long shall it be? It +is impossible to fix an exact limit to the time it should occupy, for +much depends on the age and the number of the children. I am reminded +again of recipes, and of the dismay of the inexperienced cook when she +reads, "Stir in flour enough to make a stiff batter." Alas! how is she +who has never made a stiff batter to settle the exact amount of flour +necessary? + +I might give certain suggestions as to time, such as, "Close while +the interest is still fresh;" or, "Do not make the tale so long as +to weary the children;" but after all, these are only cook-book +directions. In this, as in many other departments of work with +children, one must learn in that "dear school" which "experience +keeps." Five minutes, however, is quite long enough with the babies, +and you will find that twice this time spent with the older children +will give room for a tale of absorbing interest, with appropriate +introduction and artistic _denouement_. + +As one of the chief values of the exercise is the familiarity with +good English which it gives, I need not say that especial attention +must be paid to the phraseology in which the story is clothed. Many +persons who never write ungrammatically are inaccurate in speech, and +the very familiarity and ease of manner which the story-teller must +assume may lead her into colloquialisms and careless expressions. Of +course, however, the language must be simple; the words, for the most +part, Saxon. No ponderous, Johnsonian expressions should drag their +slow length through the recital, entangling in their folds the +comprehension of the child; nor, on the other hand, need we confine +ourselves to monosyllables, adopting the bald style of Primers and +First Readers. It is quite possible to talk simply and yet with grace +and feeling, and we may be sure that children invariably appreciate +poetry of expression. + +The story should always be accompanied with gestures,--simple, free, +unstudied motions, descriptive, perhaps, of the sweep of the mother +bird's wings as she soars away from the nest, or the waving of the +fir-tree's branches as he sings to himself in the sunshine. This +universal language is understood at once by the children, and not +only serves as an interpreter of words and ideas, but gives life and +attraction to the exercise. + +Illustrations, either impromptu or carefully prepared beforehand, are +always hailed with delight by the children. Nor need you hesitate to +try your "'prentice hand" at this work. Never mind if you "cannot +draw." It must be a rude picture, indeed, which is not enjoyed by an +audience of little people. Their vivid imaginations will triumph over +all difficulties, and enable them to see the ideal shining through the +real. It is well now and then, also, to have the children illustrate +the story. Their drawings, if executed quite without help, are, most +interesting from a psychological standpoint, and will afford great +delight to you, as well as to the little artists themselves. + +The stories can also be illustrated with clay modeling, an idealized +mud-pie-making very dear to children. They soon become quite expert in +moulding simple objects, and enjoy the work with all the capacity of +their childish hearts. + +Now and then encourage the little ones to repeat what they remember of +the tale you have told, or to tell something new on the same theme. If +the story you have given has been within their range and on a familiar +subject, a torrent of infantile reminiscence will immediately gush +forth, and you will have a miniature "experience meeting." If you have +been telling a dog story, for instance,--"I hed a dog once't," cries +Jimmy breathlessly, and is just about to tell some startling incident +concerning him, when Nickey pipes up, "And so hed I, and the pound man +tuk him;" and so on, all around the circle in the Free Kindergarten, +each child palpitating with eagerness to give you his bit of personal +experience. + +Gather the little ones as near to you as possible when you are telling +stories, the tiniest in your lap, the others cuddled at your knee. +This is easily managed in the nursery, but is more difficult with a +large circle of children. With the latter you can but seat yourself +among the wee ones, confident that the interest of the story will hold +the attention of the older children. + +What a happy hour it is, this one of story-telling, dear and sacred to +every child-lover! What an eager, delightful audience are these little +ones, grieving at the sorrows of the heroes, laughing at their happy +successes, breathless with anxiety lest the cat catch the disobedient +mouse, clapping hands when the Ugly Duckling is changed into the +Swan,--all appreciation, all interest, all joy! We might count the +rest of the world well lost, could we ever be surrounded by such +blooming faces, such loving hearts, and such ready sympathy. + + + + +THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO SOCIAL REFORM + +"New social and individual wants demand new solutions of the problem +of education." + + +"Social reform!" It is always rather an awe-striking phrase. It seems +as if one ought to be a philosopher, even to approach so august a +subject. The kindergarten--a simple unpretentious place, where a lot +of tiny children work and play together; a place into which if the +hard-headed man of business chanced to glance, and if he did not stay +long enough, or come often enough, would conclude that the children +were frittering away their time, particularly if that same good man of +business had weighed and measured and calculated so long that he had +lost the seeing eye and understanding heart. + +Some years ago, a San Francisco kindergartner was threading her way +through a dirty alley, making friendly visits to the children of her +flock. As she lingered on a certain door-step, receiving the last +confidences of some weary woman's heart, she heard a loud but not +unfriendly voice ringing from an upper window of a tenement-house just +round the corner. "Clear things from under foot!" pealed the voice, in +stentorian accents. "The teacher o' the _Kids' Guards_ is comin' down +the street!" + +"Eureka!" thought the teacher, with a smile. "There's a bit of +sympathetic translation for you! At last, the German word has been put +into the vernacular. The odd, foreign syllables have been taken to the +ignorant mother by the lisping child, and the _kindergartners_ have +become the _Kids' Guards!_ Heaven bless the rough translation, +colloquial as it is! No royal accolade could be dearer to its +recipients than this quaint, new christening!" + +What has the kindergarten to do with social reform? What bearing have +its theory and practice upon the conduct of life? + +A brass-buttoned guardian of the peace remarked to a gentleman on a +street-corner, "If we could open more kindergartens, sir, we could +almost shut up the penitentiaries, sir!" We heard the sentiment, +applauded it, and promptly printed it on the cover of three thousand +reports; but on calm reflection it appears like an exaggerated +statement. I am not sure that a kindergarten in every ward of every +city in America "would almost shut up the penitentiaries, sir!" The +most determined optimist is weighed down by the feeling that it will +take more than the ardent prosecution of any one reform, however +vital, to produce such a result. We appoint investigating committees, +who ask more and more questions, compile more and more statistics, and +get more and more confused every year. "Are our criminals native or +foreign born?" that we may know whether we are worse or better than +other people? "Have they ever learned a trade?" that we may prove what +we already know, that idle fingers are the devil's tools; "Have they +been educated?"--by any one of the sorry methods that take shelter +under that much-abused word,--that we may know whether ignorance is +a bliss or a _blister_; "Are they married or single?" that we may +determine the influence of home ties; "Have they been given to the use +of liquor?" that we may heap proof on proof, mountain high, against +the monster evil of intemperance; "What has been their family +history?" that we may know how heavily the law of heredity has laid +its burdens upon them. Burning questions all, if we would find out the +causes of crime. + +To discover the why and wherefore of things is a law of human +thought. The reform schools, penitentiaries, prisons, insane asylums, +hospitals, and poorhouses are all filled to overflowing; and it +is entirely sensible to inquire how the people came there, and to +relieve, pardon, bless, cure, or reform them as far as we can. +Meanwhile, as we are dismissing or blessing or burying the +unfortunates from the imposing front gates of our institutions, new +throngs are crowding in at the little back doors. Life is a bridge, +full of gaping holes, over which we must all travel! A thousand evils +of human misery and wickedness flow in a dark current beneath; and the +blind, the weak, the stupid, and the reckless are continually falling +through into the rushing flood. We must, it is true, organize our +life-boats. It is our duty to pluck out the drowning wretches, receive +their vows of penitence and gratitude, and pray for courage and +resignation when they celebrate their rescue by falling in again. But +we agree nowadays that we should do them much better service if we +could contrive to mend more of the holes in the bridge. + +The kindergarten is trying to mend one of these "holes." It is a tiny +one, only large enough for a child's foot; but that is our bit of the +world's work,--to _keep it small!_ If we can prevent the little people +from stumbling, we may hope that the grown folks will have a surer +foot and a steadier gait. + +A wealthy lady announced her intention of giving $25,000 to some Home +for Incurables. "Why," cried a bright kindergartner, "_don't_ you give +twelve and a half thousand to some Home for _Curables_, and then your +other twelve and a half will go so much further?" + +In a word, solicitude for childhood is one of the signs of a growing +civilization. "To cure, is the voice of the past; to prevent, the +divine whisper of to-day." + +What is the true relation of the kindergarten to social reform? +Evidently, it can have no other relation than that which grows out of +its existence as a plan of education. Education, we have all glibly +agreed, lessens the prevalence of crime. That sounds very well; but, +as a matter of fact, has our past system produced all the results in +this direction that we have hoped and prayed for? + +The truth is, people will not be made much better by education until +the plan of educating them is made better to begin with. + +Froebel's idea--the kindergarten idea--of the child and its powers, +of humanity and its destiny, of the universe, of the whole problem of +living, is somewhat different from that held by the vast majority +of parents and teachers. It is imperfectly carried out, even in +the kindergarten itself, where a conscious effort is made, and is +infrequently attempted in the school or family. + +His plan of education covers the entire period between the nursery and +the university, and contains certain essential features which bear +close relation to the gravest problems of the day. If they could be +made an integral part of all our teaching in families, schools, and +institutions, the burdens under which society is groaning to-day +would fall more and more lightly on each succeeding generation. These +essential features have often been enumerated. I am no fortunate +herald of new truth. I may not even put the old wine in new bottles; +but iteration is next to inspiration, and I shall give you the result +of eleven years' experience among the children and homes of the poorer +classes. This experience has not been confined, to teaching. One does +not live among these people day after day, pleading for a welcome for +unwished-for babies, standing beside tiny graves, receiving pathetic +confidences from wretched fathers and helpless mothers, without facing +every problem of this workaday world; they cannot all be solved, even +by the wisest of us; we can only seize the end of the skein nearest to +our hand, and patiently endeavor to straighten the tangled threads. + +The kindergarten starts out plainly with the assumption that the moral +aim in education is the absolute one, and that all others are purely +relative. It endeavors to be a life-school, where all the practices of +complete living are made a matter of daily habit. It asserts boldly +that doing right would not be such an enormously difficult matter if +we practiced it a little,--say a tenth as much as we practice the +piano,--and it intends to give children plenty of opportunity for +practice in this direction. It says insistently and eternally, "Do +noble things, not dream them all day long." For development, action is +the indispensable requisite. To develop moral feeling and the power +and habit of moral doing we must exercise them, excite, encourage, and +guide their action. To check, reprove, and punish wrong feeling and +doing, however necessary it be for the safety and harmony, nay, for +the very existence of any social state, does not develop right feeling +and good doing. It does not develop anything, for it stops action, +and without action there is no development. At best it stops wrong +development, that is all. + +In the kindergarten, the physical, mental, and spiritual being +is consciously addressed at one and the same time. There is no +"piece-work" tolerated. The child is viewed in his threefold +relations, as the child of Nature, the child of Man, and the child +of God; there is to be no disregarding any one of these divinely +appointed relations. It endeavors with equal solicitude to instill +correct and logical habits of thought, true and generous habits of +feeling, and pure and lofty habits of action; and it asserts serenely +that, if information cannot be gained in the right way, it would +better not be gained at all. It has no special hobby, unless you would +call its eternal plea for the all-sided development of the child a +hobby. + +Somebody said lately that the kindergarten people had a certain stock +of metaphysical statements to be aired on every occasion, and that +they were over-fond of prating about the "being" of the child. It +would hardly seem as if too much could be said in favor of the +symmetrical growth of the child's nature. These are not mere "silken +phrases;" but, if any one dislikes them, let him take the good, +honest, ringing charge of Colonel Parker, "Remember that the whole boy +goes to school!" + +Yes, the whole boy does go to school; but the whole boy is seldom +educated after he gets there. A fraction of him is attended to in the +evening, however, and a fraction on Sunday. He takes himself in hand +on Saturdays and in vacation time, and accomplishes a good deal, +notwithstanding the fact that his sight is a trifle impaired already, +and his hearing grown a little dull, so that Dame Nature works at a +disadvantage, and begins, doubtless, to dread boys who have enjoyed +too much "schooling," since it seems to leave them in a state of coma. + +Our general scheme of education furthers mental development with +considerable success. The training of the hand is now being +laboriously woven into it; but, even when that is accomplished, we +shall still be working with imperfect aims, for the stress laid upon +heart-culture is as yet in no way commensurate with its gravity. We +know, with that indolent, fruitless half-knowledge that passes for +knowing, that "out of the heart are the issues of life." We feel, +not with the white heat of absolute conviction, but placidly and +indifferently, as becomes the dwellers in a world of change, that +"conduct is three fourths of life;" but we do not crystallize this +belief into action. We "dream," not "do" the "noble things." The +kindergarten does not fence off a half hour each day for moral +culture, but keeps it in view every moment of every day. Yet it is +never obtrusive; for the mental faculties are being addressed at the +same time, and the body strengthened for its special work. + +With the methods generally practiced in the family and school, I fail +to see how we can expect any more delicate sense of right and wrong, +any clearer realization of duty, any greater enlightenment of +conscience, any higher conception of truth, than we now find in the +world. I care not what view you take of humanity, whether you have +Calvinistic tendencies and believe in the total depravity of infants, +or whether you are a disciple of Wordsworth and apostrophize the child +as a + + "Mighty prophet! Seer blest, + On whom those truths do rest + Which we are toiling all our lives to find;" + +if you are a fair-minded man or woman, and have had much experience +with young children, you will be compelled to confess that they +generally have a tolerably clear sense of right and wrong, needing +only gentle guidance to choose the right when it is put before them. I +say most, not all, children; for some are poor, blurred human scrawls, +blotted all over with the mistakes of other people. And how do we +treat this natural sense of what is true and good, this willingness +to choose good rather than evil, if it is made even the least bit +comprehensible and attractive? In various ways, all equally dull, +blind, and vicious. If we look at the downright ethical significance +of the methods of training and discipline in many families and +schools, we see that they are positively degrading. We appoint more +and more "monitors" instead of training the "inward monitor" in each +child, make truth-telling difficult instead of easy, punish trivial +and grave offenses about in the same way, practice open bribery by +promising children a few cents a day to behave themselves, and weaken +their sense of right by giving them picture cards for telling the +truth and credits for doing the most obvious duty. This has been +carried on until we are on the point of needing another Deluge and a +new start. + +Is it strange that we find the moral sense blunted, the conscience +unenlightened? The moral climate with which we surround the child is +so hazy that the spiritual vision grows dimmer and dimmer,--and +small wonder! Upon this solid mass of ignorance and stupidity it is +difficult to make any impression; yet I suppose there is greater +joy in heaven over a cordial "thwack" at it than over most blows at +existing evils. + +The kindergarten attempts a rational, respectful treatment of +children, leading them to do right as much as possible for right's +sake, abjuring all rewards save the pleasure of working for others and +the delight that follows a good action, and all punishments save +those that follow as natural penalties of broken laws,--the obvious +consequences of the special bit of wrong-doing, whatever it may be. +The child's will is addressed in such a way as to draw it on, if +right; to turn it willingly, if wrong. Coercion in the sense of fear, +personal magnetism, nay, even the child's love for the teacher, may +be used in such a way as to weaken his moral force. With every free, +conscious choice of right, a human being's moral power and strength of +character increase; and the converse of this is equally true. + +If the child is unruly in play, he leaves the circle and sits or +stands by himself, a miserable, lonely unit until he feels again in +sympathy with the community. If he destroys his work, he unites the +tattered fragments as best he may, and takes the moral object lesson +home with him. If he has neglected his own work, he is not given the +joy of working for others. If he does not work in harmony with his +companions, a time is chosen when he will feel the sense of isolation +that comes from not living in unity with the prevailing spirit of good +will. He can have as much liberty as is consistent with the liberty +of other people, but no more. If we could infuse the _spirit_ of this +kind of discipline into family and school life, making it systematic +and continuous from the earliest years, there would be fewer morally +"slack-twisted" little creatures growing up into inefficient, +bloodless manhood and womanhood. It would be a good deal of trouble; +but then, life is a good deal of trouble anyway, if you come to that. +We cannot expect to swallow the universe like a pill, and travel on +through the world "like smiling images pushed from behind." + +Blind obedience to authority is not in itself moral. It is necessary +as a part of government. It is necessary in order that we may save +children dangers of which they know nothing. It is valuable also as +a habit. But I should never try to teach it by the story of that +inspired idiot, the boy who "stood on the burning deck, whence all +but him had fled," and from whence he would have fled if his mental +endowment had been that of ordinary boys. For obedience must not +be allowed to destroy common sense and the feeling of personal +responsibility for one's own actions. Our task is to train +responsible, self-directing agents, not to make soldiers. + +Virtue thrives in a bracing moral atmosphere, where good actions are +taken rather as a matter of course. The attempt to instill an idea of +self-government into the tiny slips of humanity that find their way +into the kindergarten is useful, and infinitely to be preferred to the +most implicit obedience to arbitrary command. In the one case, we may +hope to have, some time or other, an enlightened will and conscience +struggling after the right, failing often, but rising superior to +failure, because of an ever stronger joy in right and shame for wrong. +In the other, we have a "_good goose_" who does the right for the +picture card that is set before him,--a "trained dog" sort of child, +who will not leap through the hoop unless he sees the whip or the lump +of sugar. So much for the training of the sense of right and wrong! +Now for the provision which the kindergarten makes for the growth of +certain practical virtues, much needed in the world, but touched upon +all too lightly in family and school. + +The student of political economy sees clearly enough the need of +greater thrift and frugality in the nation; but where and when do we +propose to develop these virtues? Precious little time is given to +them in most schools, for their cultivation does not yet seem to be +insisted upon as an integral part of the scheme. Here and there an +inspired human being seizes on the thought that the child should +really be taught how to live at some time between the ages of six and +sixteen, or he may not learn so easily afterward. Accordingly, the +pupils under the guidance of that particular person catch a glimpse of +eternal verities between the printed lines of their geographies and +grammars. The kindergarten makes the growth of every-day virtues so +simple, so gradual, even so easy, that you are almost beguiled into +thinking them commonplace. They seem to come in, just by the way, as +it were, so that at the end of the day you have seen thought and +word and deed so sweetly mingled that you marvel at the "universal +dovetailedness of things," as Dickens puts it. They will flourish +better in the school, too, when the cheerful hum of labor is heard +there for a little while each day. The kindergarten child has "just +enough" strips for his weaving mat,--none to lose, none to destroy; +just enough blocks in each of his boxes, and every one of them, he +finds, is required to build each simple form. He cuts his square of +paper into a dozen crystal-shaped bits, and behold! each one of these +tiny flakes is needed to make a symmetrical figure. He has been +careless in following directions, and his form of folded paper does +not "come out" right. It is not even, and it is not beautiful. The +false step in the beginning has perpetuated itself in each succeeding +one, until at the end either partial success or complete failure +meets his eye. How easy here to see the relation of cause to effect! +"Courage!" says the kindergartner; "better fortune next time, for we +will take greater pains." "Can you rub out the ugly, wrong creases?" +"We will try. Alas, no! Wrong things are not so easily rubbed out, are +they?" "Use your worsted quite to the end, dear: it costs money." "Let +us save all the crumbs from our lunch for the birds, children; do not +drop any on the floor: it will only make work for somebody else." +And so on, to the end of the busy, happy day. How easy it is in the +kindergarten, how seemingly difficult later on! It seems to be only +books afterward; and "books are good enough in their own way, but they +are a mighty bloodless substitute for life." + +The most superficial observer values the industrial side of the +kindergarten, because it falls directly in line with the present +effort to make some manual training a part of school work; but twenty +or twenty-five years ago, when the subject was not so popular, +kindergarten children were working away at their pretty, useful +tasks,--tiny missionaries helping to show the way to a truth now fully +recognized. As to the value of leading children to habits of industry +as early in life as may be, that they may see the dignity and +nobleness of labor, and conceive of their individual responsibilities +in this world of action, that is too obvious to dwell upon at this +time. + +To Froebel, life, action, and knowledge were the three notes of one +harmonious chord; but he did not advocate manual training merely that +children might be kept busy, nor even that technical skill might be +acquired. The piece of finished kindergarten work is only a symbol of +something more valuable which the child has acquired in doing it. + +The first steps in all the kindergarten occupations are directed or +suggested by the teacher; but these dictations or suggestions are +merely intended to serve as a sort of staff, by which the child can +steady himself until he can walk alone. It is always the creative +instinct that is to be reached and vivified: everything else is +secondary. By reproduction from memory of a dictated form, by taking +from or adding to it, by changing its centre, corners, or sides,--by a +dozen ingenious preliminary steps,--the child's inventive faculty is +developed; and he soon reaches a point in drawing, building, modeling, +or what not, where his greatest delight is to put his individual ideas +into visible shape. The simple request, "Make something pretty of your +own," brings a score of original combinations and designs,--either the +old thoughts in different shape or something fresh and audacious which +hints of genius. Instead of twenty hackneyed and slavish copies of +one pattern, we have twenty free, individual productions, each the +expression of the child's inmost personal thought. This invests labor +with a beauty and power, and confers upon it a dignity, to be gained +in no other way. It makes every task, however lowly, a joy, because +all the higher faculties are brought into action. Much so-called "busy +work," where pupils of the "A class" are allowed to stick a thousand +pegs in a thousand holes while the "B class" is reciting arithmetic, +is quite fruitless, because it has so little thought behind it. + +Unless we have a care, manual training, when we have succeeded in +getting it into the school, may become as mechanical and unprofitable +as much of our mind training has been, and its moral value thus +largely missed. The only way to prevent it is to borrow a suggestion +from Froebel. Then, and only then, shall we have insight with power +of action, knowledge with practice, practice with the stamp of +individuality. Then doing will blossom into being, and "Being is the +mother of all the little doings as well as of the grown-up deeds and +heroic sacrifices." + +The kindergarten succeeds in getting these interesting and valuable +free productions from children of four or five years only by +developing, in every possible way, the sense of beauty and harmony and +order. We know that people assume, somewhat at least, the color of +their surroundings; and, if the sense of beauty is to grow, we must +give it something to feed upon. + +The kindergarten tries to provide a room, more or less attractive, +quantities of pictures and objects of interest, growing plants and +vines, vases of flowers, and plenty of light, air, and sunshine. A +canary chirps in one corner, perhaps; and very likely there will be +a cat curled up somewhere, or a forlorn dog which has followed the +children into this safe shelter. It is a pretty, pleasant, domestic +interior, charming and grateful to the senses. The kindergartner +looks as if she were glad to be there, and the children are generally +smiling. Everybody seems alive. The work, lying cosily about, is neat, +artistic, and suggestive. The children pass out of their seats to the +cheerful sound of music, and are presently joining in an ideal sort of +game, where, in place of the mawkish sentimentality of "Sally Walker," +of obnoxious memory, we see all sorts of healthful, poetic, childlike +fancies woven into song. Rudeness is, for the most part, banished. The +little human butterflies and bees and birds flit hither and thither +in the circle; the make-believe trees hold up their branches, and the +flowers their cups; and everybody seems merry and content. As they +pass out the door, good-bys and bows and kisses are wafted backward +into the room; for the manners of polite society are observed in +everything. + +You draw a deep breath. This is a _real_ kindergarten, and it is like +a little piece of the millennium. "Everything is so very pretty and +charming," says the visitor. Yes, so it is. But all this color, +beauty, grace, symmetry, daintiness, delicacy, and refinement, though +it seems to address and develop the aesthetic side of the child's +nature, has in reality a very profound ethical significance. We have +all seen the preternatural virtue of the child who wears her best +dress, hat, and shoes on the same august occasion. Children are tidier +and more careful in a dainty, well-kept room. They treat pretty +materials more respectfully than ugly ones. They are inclined to be +ashamed, at least in a slight degree, of uncleanliness, vulgarity, +and brutality, when they see them in broad contrast with beauty and +harmony and order. For the most part, they try "to live up to" the +place in which they find themselves. There is some connection between +manners and morals. It is very elusive and, perhaps, not very deep; +but it exists. Vice does not flourish alike in all conditions and +localities, by any means. An ignorant negro was overheard praying, +"Let me so lib dat when I die I may _hab manners_, dat I may know what +to say when I see my heabenly Lord!" Well, I dare say we shall need +good manners as well as good morals in heaven; and the constant +cultivation of the one from right motives might give us an unexpected +impetus toward the other. If the systematic development of the sense +of beauty and order has an ethical significance, so has the happy +atmosphere of the kindergarten an influence in the same direction. + +I have known one or two "solid men" and one or two predestinate +spinsters who said that they didn't believe children could accomplish +anything in the kindergarten, because they had too good a time. There +is something uniquely vicious about people who care nothing for +children's happiness. That sense of the solemnity of mortal conditions +which has been indelibly impressed upon us by our Puritan ancestors +comes soon enough, Heaven knows! Meanwhile, a happy childhood is an +unspeakably precious memory. We look back upon it and refresh our +tired hearts with the vision when experience has cast a shadow over +the full joy of living. + +The sunshiny atmosphere of a good kindergarten gives the young human +plants an impulse toward eager, vigorous growth. Love's warmth +surrounds them on every side, wooing their sweetest possibilities into +life. Roots take a firmer grasp, buds form, and flowers bloom where, +under more unfriendly conditions, bare stalks or pale leaves would +greet the eye,--pathetic, unfulfilled promises,--souls no happier +for having lived in the world, the world no happier because of their +living. "Virtue kindles at the touch of joy." The kindergarten takes +this for one of its texts, and does not breed that dismal fungus of +the mind "which disposes one to believe that the pursuit of knowledge +must necessarily be disagreeable." + +The social phase of the kindergarten is most interesting to the +student of social economics. Cooeperative work is strongly emphasized; +and the child is inspired both to live his _own full_ life, and yet to +feel that his life touches other lives at every point,--"for we are +members one of another." It is not the unity of the "little birds," in +the couplet, who "agree" in their "little nests," because "they'd +fall out if they didn't," but a realization, in embryo, of the divine +principle that no man liveth to himself. + +As to specifically religious culture, everything fosters the spirit +out of which true religion grows. + +In the morning talks, when the children are most susceptible and ready +to "be good," as they say, their thoughts are led to the beauty of the +world about them, the pleasure of right doing, the sweetness of +kind thoughts and actions, the loveliness of truth, patience, and +helpfulness, and the goodness of the Creator to all created things. +No parent, of whatever creed or lack of creed, whether a bigot or +unbeliever, could object to the kind of religious instruction given in +the kindergarten; and yet in every possible way the child-soul and the +child-heart are directed towards everything that is pure and holy, +true and steadfast. + +If the child love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love +God whom he hath not seen? "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, +therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." There is a vast deal of +practical religion to be breathed into these little children of the +street before the abstractions of beliefs can be comprehended. They +cannot live on words and prayers and texts, the thought and feeling +must come before the expression. As Mrs. Whitney says, "The world is +determined to vaccinate children with religion for fear they should +take it in the natural way." + +Some wise sayings of the good Dr. Holland, in "Nicholas Minturn," +come to me as I write. Nicholas says, in discussing this matter of +charities, and the various means of effecting a radical cure of +pauperism, rather than its continual alleviation: "If you read the +parable of the Sower, I think that you will find that soil is quite as +necessary as seed--indeed, that the seed is thrown away unless a +soil is prepared in advance.... I believe in religion, but before I +undertake to plant it, I would like something to plant it in. The +sowers are too few, and the seed is too precious to be thrown away and +lost among the thorns and stones." + +Last, but by no means least, the admirable physical culture that goes +on in the kindergarten is all in the right direction. Physiologists +know as much about morality as ministers of the gospel. The vices +which drag men and women into crime spring as often from unhealthy +bodies as from weak wills and callous consciences. Vile fancies and +sensual appetites grow stronger and more terrible when a feeble +physique and low vitality offer no opposing force. Deadly vices are +nourished in the weak, diseased bodies that are penned, day after day, +in filthy, crowded tenements of great cities. If we could withdraw +every three-year-old child from these physically enfeebling and +morally brutalizing influences, and give them three or four hours a +day of sunshine, fresh air, and healthy physical exercise, we should +be doing humanity an inestimable service, even if we attempted nothing +more. + +I have tried, as briefly as I might in justice to the subject, to +emphasize the following points:-- + +I. That we must act up to our convictions with regard to the value of +preventive work. If we are ever obliged to choose, let us save the +children. + +II. That the relation of the kindergarten to social reform is simply +that, as a plan of education, it offers us valuable suggestions in +regard to the mental, moral, and physical culture of children, which, +in view of certain crying evils of the day, we should do well to +follow. + +The essential features of the kindergarten which bear a special +relation to the subject are as follows:-- + +1. The symmetrical development of the child's powers, considering him +neither as all mind, all soul, nor all body; but as a creature capable +of devout feeling, clear thinking, noble doing. + +2. The attempt to make so-called "moral culture" a little less +immoral; the rational method of discipline, looking to the growth of +moral, self-directing power in the child,--the only proper discipline +for future citizens of a free republic. + +3. The development of certain practical virtues, the lack of which +is endangering the prosperity of the nation; namely, economy thrift, +temperance, self-reliance, frugality industry, courtesy, and all +the sober host,--none of them drawing-room accomplishments and +consequently in small demand. + +4. The emphasis placed upon manual training, especially in its +development of the child's creative activity. + +5. The training of the sense of beauty, harmony, and order; its +ethical as well as aesthetical significance. + +6. The insistence upon the moral effect of happiness; joy the +favorable climate of childhood. + +7. The training of the child's social nature; an attempt to teach the +brotherhood of man as well as the Fatherhood of God. + +8. The realization that a healthy body has almost as great an +influence on morals as a pure mind. + +I do not say that the consistent practice of these principles will +bring the millennium in the twinkling of an eye, but I do affirm +that they are the thought-germs of that better education which shall +prepare humanity for the new earth over which shall arch the new +heaven. + +Ruskin says, "Crime can only be truly hindered by letting no man +grow up a criminal, by taking away the will to commit sin!" But, you +object, that is sheer impossibility. It does seem so, I confess, +and yet, unless you are willing to think that the whole plan of an +Omnipotent Being is to be utterly overthrown, set aside, thwarted, +then you must believe this ideal possible, somehow, sometime. + +I know of no better way to grow towards it than by living up to the +kindergarten idea, that just as we gain intellectual power by doing +intellectual work, and the finest aesthetic feeling by creating +beauty, so shall we win for ourselves the power of feeling nobly and +willing nobly by doing "noble things." + + + + +HOW SHALL WE GOVERN OUR CHILDREN? + +"Not the cry," says a Chinese author, "but the rising of a wild duck, +impels the flock to follow him in upward flight." + + +Long ago, in a far-off country, a child was born; and when his parents +looked on him they loved him, and they resolved in their simple hearts +to make of him a strong, brave, warlike man. But the God of that +country was a hungry and an insatiable God, and he cried out for human +sacrifice; so, when his arms had been thrice heated till they glowed +red with the flame of the fire, the mother cradled her child in them, +and his life exhaled as a vapor. + +A child was born in another country, and the tender eyes of his mother +saw that his limbs were misshapen and his life-blood a sickly current. +Yet her heart yearned over him, and she would have tended and trained +him and loved him better than all the rest of her strong, well-favored +brood; but when the elders of her people knew that the child was a +weakling, they decreed that he should die, and she bent her head to +the law, which was stronger than her love. + +In a third land a child was to be born, and the proud father made +ready gifts, and purchased silken robes, and prepared a feast for his +friends; but, alas! when the longed-for soul entered the world it was +housed in a woman-child's body, and straightway the joy was changed +into mourning. Bitter reproaches were heaped upon the mother, for were +there not enough women already on the earth? and the fiat went forth +that the babe should straightway be delivered from the trials of +existence. So, while its hold on life was yet uncertain, the husband's +mother placed wet cloths upon its lips, and soon the faint breath +stopped, and the white soul went fluttering heavenward again. + +In still another of God's fair lands a child entered the world, and he +grew toward manhood vigorous and lusty; but he heeded not his parents' +commands, and when his disobedience had been long continued, the +fathers of the tribe decreed that he should be stoned to death, for so +it was written in the sacred books. And as the youth was the absolute +property of his parents, and as by common consent they had full +liberty to deal with him as seemed good to them, they consented unto +his death, that his soul might be saved alive, and the evening sun +shone crimson on his dead body as it lay upon the sands of the desert. + + * * * * * + +At a later day and in a Christian country two children were born, one +hundred years apart, and the world had now so far progressed that +absolute power over the life of the offspring was denied the parents. +The one was ruled with iron rods; he was made to obey with a rigidity +of compliance and a severity of treatment in case of failure which +made obedience a slavish duty, and he was taught besides that he was a +child of Satan and an heir of hell. He found no joy in his youth, and +his miserable soul groveled in fear of the despot who dominated him, +and of the blazing eternity which he was told would be the punishment +for his sins. His will was broken; he was made weak where he might +have been strong; and he did evil because he had learned no power of +self-restraint: yet his people loved him, and they had done all these +things because they wished to purge him wholly from all uncleanness. + +The parents of the other child were warned of the lamentable results +of this gloomy training, and they said one to another: "Our darling +shall be free as air; his duties shall be made to seem like pleasures, +or, better still, he shall have no duty but his pleasure. He shall +do only what he wills, that his will may grow strong, and he can but +choose the right, for he knows no evil. We will hold up before him no +bugbear of future punishment, for doubtless there is no such thing; +and if there be, it will not be meted out to such a child. He will +love and obey his parents because they have devoted themselves to his +happiness, and because they have never imposed distasteful obligations +upon him, and when he grows to manhood he will be a model of wisdom +and of goodness." + +But, lo! the child of this training was as great a failure as the +child of austerity and gloom. He was capricious, lawless, willful, +disobedient, passionate; he thought of no one's pleasure save his own; +he cared for his parents only in so far as they could be of use to +him; and like a wild beast of the jungle he preyed upon the life +around him, and cared not whom he destroyed if his appetites were +satisfied. + +"In every field of opinion and action, men are found swinging from +one extreme to the other of life's manifold arcs of vibration." This +perpetual movement may be the essential condition of existence, for +death is cessation of motion; or it may be a never-ending effort of +the mind to reach an ideal which discloses itself so seldom as to make +its permanent abiding-place a matter of uncertainty. Doubtless there +is somewhere a middle to the arc, and in the lapse of ages the needle +may at last find the "pole-point of central truth" and be at rest; but +as yet, in every department of labor and thought, it is vibrating, and +after tarrying a while at one extreme it swings unsatisfied back to +the other. + +Nowhere are these extremes more noticeable than in the government of +children. Centuries ago, in the patriarchal period, the father of the +family seems also to have exercised the functions of a criminal judge; +but the uniting of the two sets of duties in one person does not +appear to have inspired the children with insurmountable awe, for +laws are found both in Numbers and Deuteronomy fixing the penalty of +disobedience, and of the striking of a parent by a child. + +Still later, the Roman father possessed arbitrary powers of life and +death over his children; but it is probable that natural affection and +a more advanced civilization commonly made the law a dead letter. + +Though the world in time grew to feel that life belonged to the being +who held it, not to those who gave it birth, still discipline has for +ages been directed more to the body than to the mind, with an idea +apparently that the pains of the flesh will save the soul. Pious +parents until within recent dates have regarded the flogging of +children as absolutely a religious obligation, and many a tender +mother has steeled her heart and strengthened her arm to give the +blows which she regarded as essential to the spiritual well-being of +her child. + +The birch rod and the Bible were the Parents' Complete Guide to +domestic management in Puritan days, and no one can deny that this +treatment, though rather a heroic one, seems to have produced fine, +strong, self-denying men and women. + +Governor Bradford, in 1648, speaks feelingly of the godliness of a +Puritan woman whose office it was to "sit in a convenient place in +the congregation, with a little birchen rod in her hand, and keep +the children in great awe;" and, from the frequency with which +chastisement is mentioned in early Puritan records, it seems pretty +clear that the sober little lads and lasses of the day did not suffer +from over-indulgence. + +When this wholesale whipping began to fall into disuse, many +philosophers prophesied the ruin of the race, but these gloomy +predictions have scarcely found their fulfillment as yet. + +There has been, however, a colossal change in discipline, from the +days when disobedience was punishable with death to the agreeable +moral suasion of the nineteenth century, as exemplified in the "fin de +siecle" nonsense rhyme:-- + + "There once was a hopeful young horse + Who was brought up on love, without force: + He had his own way, and they sugared his hay; + So he never was naughty, of course." + +The results of this delightful method of treatment seem rather +problematic, and the modern child is universally acknowledged to be no +improvement upon his predecessors in point of respect and filial piety +at least. + +A superintendent's report, written thirty years ago for one of the New +England States, regrets that, even then, home government had grown +lax. He wittily says that Young America is _rampant_, parental +influence _couchant_; and no reversal of these positions is as yet +visible in 1892. + +To those who note the methods by which many children are managed, it +is a matter of wonderment that the results in character and conduct +are not very much worse than they are. Dr. Channing wisely says, "The +hope of the world lies in the fact that parents cannot make of +their children what they will." Happy accidents of association and +circumstance sometimes nullify the harm the parent has done, and the +tremendous momentum of the race-tendency carries the child over many +an obstacle which his training has set in his path. + +It seems crystal-clear at the outset that you cannot govern a child if +you have never learned to govern yourself. Plato said, many centuries +ago: "The best way of training the young is to train yourself at the +same time; not to admonish them, but to be always carrying out your +own principles in practice," and all the wisdom of the ancients is in +the thought. If, then, you are a fit person to be trusted with the +government of a child, what goal do you propose to reach in your +discipline; what is your aim, your ideal? + +1. The discipline should be thoroughly in harmony with child-nature in +general, and suited to the age and development of the particular child +in question. + +2. It should appeal to the higher motives, and to the higher motives +alone. + +3. It should develop kindness, helpfulness, and sympathy. + +4. It should never use weapons which would tend to lower the child's +self-respect. + +5. It should be thoroughly just, and the punishment, or rather the +retribution, should be commensurate with the offense. + +6. It should teach respect for law, and for the rights of others. + +Finally, it should teach "voluntary obedience, the last lesson in +life, the choral song which rises from all elements and all angels," +and, as the object of true discipline is the formation of character, +it should produce a human being master of his impulses, his passions, +and his will. + +The journey's end being fixed, one must next decide what route will +reach it, and will be short, safe, economical, and desirable; and the +roads to the presumably ideal discipline are many and well-traveled. +Some of them, it is true, lead you into a swamp, some to the edge of +a precipice; some will hurl you down a mountain-side with terrific +rapidity; others stop half-way, bringing you face to face with a blank +wall; and others again will lose you entirely on a bleak and trackless +plain. But no matter which route you select, you will have the wise +company of a great many teachers, parents, and guardians, and an +innumerable throng of fair and lovely children will journey by your +side. + +The road of threat and fear, of arbitrary and over-severe punishment, +has been much traveled in all times, though perhaps it is a little +grass-grown now. + +The child who obeys you merely because he fears punishment is a slave +who cowers under the lash of the despot. Undue severity makes him a +liar and a coward. He hates his master, he hates the thing he is made +to do; there is a bitter sense of injustice, a seething passion of +revenge, forever within him; and were he strong enough he would rise +and destroy the power that has crushed him. He has done right because +he was forced to do so, not because he desired it; and since the +right-doing, the obedience, was neither the fruit of his reason nor +his love, it cannot be permanent. + +The feeling of justice is strong in the child's mind, and you have +constantly wounded that feeling. You have destroyed the sense of cause +and effect by your arbitrary punishments. You have corrected him for +disobedience, for carelessness, for unkindness, for untruthfulness, +for noisiness, and for slowness in learning his lessons. + +How is he to know which of these offenses is the greatest, if all have +received the same punishment? Why should giving him a good thrashing +teach him to be kind to his little sister? Why should he learn the +multiplication table with greater rapidity because you ferule him +soundly? Have you ever found pain an assistance to the memory? + +If he has little intellectual perception of the difference between +truth and falsehood, why should you suppose that smart strokes on any +portion of the body would quicken that perception? + +Is it not clear as the sun at noonday that, since he observes the +punishment to have no necessary relation to the offense, and since he +observes it to be light or severe according to your pleasure,--is it +not clear that he will suppose you to be using your superior strength +in order to treat him unfairly, and will not the supposition sow seeds +of hatred and rebellion in his heart? + +Another road to discipline is that of bribery. + +To endeavor to secure goodness in a child by means of bribery, to +promise him a reward in case he obeys you, is manifestly an absurdity. +You are destroying the very traits in his character you are presumably +endeavoring to build up. You are educating a human being who knows +good from evil, and who should be taught deliberately to choose the +right for the right's sake, who should do his duty because he knows +it to be his duty, not for any extraneous reward connected with it. +A spiritual reward will follow, nevertheless, in the feeling of +happiness engendered, and the child may early be led to find his +satisfaction in this, and in the approval of those he loves. + +There are, of course, certain simple rewards which can be used with +safety, and which the child easily sees to be the natural results of +good conduct. If his treatment of the household pussy has been kind +and gentle, he may well be trusted with a pet of his own; if he puts +his toys away carefully when asked to do so, father will notice the +neat room when he comes home; if he learns his lessons well and +quickly, he will have the more time to work in the garden; and the +suggestion of these natural consequences is legitimate and of good +effect. + +It is always safer, no doubt, to appeal to a love of pleasure in +children than to a fear of pain, yet bribes and extraneous rewards +inevitably breed selfishness and corruption, and lead the child +to expect conditions in life which will never be realized. Though +retribution of one kind or another follows quickly on the heels of +wrong-doing, yet virtue is commonly its own reward, and it is as well +that the child should learn this at the beginning of life. Froebel +says: "Does a simple, natural child, when acting rightly, think of +any other reward which he might receive for his action than this +consciousness, though that reward be only praise?... + +"How we degrade and lower the human nature which we should raise, how +we weaken those whom we should strengthen, when we hold up to them an +inducement to act virtuously!" + +Emulation is often harnessed into service to further intellectual +progress and the formation of right habits of conduct, and this +inevitably breeds serious evils. + +It is well to set before the child an ideal on which he may form +himself as far as possible; but when this ideal sits across the aisle, +plays in a neighboring back yard, or, worse still, is another child +in the same family, he is hated and despised. His virtues become +obnoxious, and the unfortunate evildoer prefers to be vicious, that +he may not resemble a creature whose praises have so continually been +sung that his very name is odious. + +If the child grows accustomed to the comparison of himself with others +and the endeavor to excel them, he becomes selfish, envious, and +either vain of his virtue and attainments, or else thoroughly +disheartened at his small success, while he grudges that of his +neighbor. George Macdonald says: "No work noble or lastingly good can +come of emulation, any more than of greed. I think the motives are +spiritually the same." + +To what can we appeal, then, in children, as motives to goodness, as +aids in the formation of right habits of thought and action? Ah! the +child's heart is a harp of many strings, and touched by the hand of a +master a fine, clear tone will sound from every one of them, while the +resultant strain will be a triumphant burst of glorious harmony. + +Touch delicately the string of love of approval, and listen to the +answer. + +The child delights to work for you, to please you if he can, to do +his tasks well enough to win your favorable notice, and the breath of +praise is sweet to his nostrils. It is right and justifiable that +he should have this praise, and it will be an aid to his spiritual +development, if bestowed with discrimination. Only Titanic strength of +character can endure constant discouragement and failure, and yet work +steadily onward, and the weak, undeveloped human being needs a word of +approval now and then to show him that he is on the right track, and +that his efforts are appreciated. Of course the kind and the frequency +of the praise bestowed depend entirely upon the nature of the child. + +One timid, self-distrustful temperament needs frequently to bask in +the sunshine of your approval, while another, somewhat predisposed to +vanity and self-consciousness, feeds a more bracing moral climate. + +There is no question that cleanliness and fresh air may be considered +as minor aids to goodness, and a dangerous outbreak of insubordination +may sometimes be averted by hastily suggesting to the little rebel a +run in the garden, prefaced by a thorough application of cool water +to the flushed face and little clenched hands; while self-respect may +often be restored by the donning of a clean apron. + +Beauty of surroundings is another incentive to harmony of action. It +is easier for the child to be naughty in a poor, gloomy room, scanty +of furniture, than in a garden gay with flowers, shaded by full-leafed +trees, and made musical by the voice of running water. + +Dr. William T. Harris says: "Beauty cannot create a new heart, but it +can greatly change the disposition," and this seems unquestionable, +especially with regard to the glory of God's handiwork, which makes +goodness seem "the natural way of living." Yet we would not wish our +children to be sybarites, and we must endeavor to cultivate in their +breasts a hardy plant of virtue which will live, if need be, on Alpine +heights and feed on scanty fare. + +It is a truism that interesting occupation prevents dissension, and +that idle fingers are the Devil's tools. + +A child who is good and happy during school time, with its regular +hours and alternated work and play, often becomes, in vacation, +fretful, sulky, discontented, and in arms against the entire world. + +The discipline of work, if of a proper kind, of a kind in which +success is not too long delayed, is sure and efficacious. Success, if +the fruit of one's own efforts, is so sweet that one longs for more of +the work which produced it. + +The reverse of the medal may be seen here also. The knotted thread +which breaks if pulled too impatiently; the dropped stitches that make +rough, uneven places in the pattern; the sail which was wrongly placed +and will not propel the boat; the pile of withered leaves which was +not removed, and which the wind scattered over the garden,--are +not all these concrete moral lessons in patience, accuracy, and +carefulness? + +We may safely appeal to public opinion, sometimes, in dealing with +children. The chief object in doing this "is to create a constantly +advancing ideal toward which the child is attracted, and thereby +to gain a constantly increasing effort on his part to realize this +ideal." There comes a time in the child's development when he begins +to realize his own individuality, and longs to see it recognized by +others. The views of life, the sentiments of the people about him, +are clearly noted, and he desires to so shape his conduct as to be +in harmony with them. If he sees that tale-bearing and cowardice are +looked upon with disgust by his comrades, he will be a very Spartan in +his laconicism and courage; if his father and older brothers can bear +pain without wincing, then he will not cry when he hurts himself. + +Oftentimes he is obdurate when reproved in private for a fault, but +when brought to the tribunal of the disapproval of other children, he +is chagrined, repents, and makes atonement. He is uneasy under the +adverse verdict of a large company, but the condemnation of one person +did not weigh with him. It is usually not wise, however, to appeal to +public opinion in this way, save on an abstract question, as the child +loses his self-respect, and becomes degraded in his own eyes, if his +fault is trumpeted abroad. + +Stories of brave deeds, poems of heroism, self-sacrifice, and loyalty, +have their places in creating a sentiment of ideality in the child's +breast,--a sentiment which remains fixed sometimes, even though it be +not in harmony with the feeling of the majority. + +Now and then some noble soul is born, some hero so thrilled with the +ideal that he rises far above the public sentiment of his day; but +usually we count him great who overtops his fellows by an inch or two, +and he who falls much below the level of ordinary feeling is esteemed +as almost beyond hope. + +To seek for the approval of others, even though they embody our +highest ideals, is truly not the loftiest form of aspiration; but it +is one round in the ladder which leads to that higher feeling, the +desire for the benediction of the spirit-principle within us. + +Although discipline by means of fear, as the word is commonly used, +cannot be too strongly condemned, yet there is a "godly fear" of which +the Bible speaks, which certainly has its place among incentives in +will-training. The child has not attained as yet, and it is doubtful +whether we ourselves have done so, to that supreme excellence of love +which absolutely casteth out fear. + +A writer of great moral insight says: "Has not the law of seed and +flower, cause and effect, the law of continuity which binds the +universe together, a tone of severity? It has surely, like all +righteous law, and carries with it a legitimate and wholesome fear. If +we are to reap what we have sown, some, perhaps most of us, may dread +the harvest." + +The child shrinks from the disapproval of the loved parent or teacher. +By so much the more as he reverences and respects those "in authority +over him" does he dread to do that which he knows they would condemn. +If he has been led to expect natural retributions, he will have a +wholesome fear of putting his hand in the fire, since he knows the +inevitable consequences. He understands that it is folly to expect +that wrong can be done with impunity, and shrinks in terror from +committing a sin whose consequences it is impossible that he should +escape. He knows well that there are other punishments save those of +the body, and he has felt the anguish which follows self-condemnation. +"There is nothing degrading in such fear, but a heart-searching +reverence and awe in the sincere and humble conviction that God's law +is everywhere." + +Such are some of the false and some of the true motives which can be +appealed to in will-training, but there are various points in their +practical application which may well be considered. + +May we not question whether we are not frequently too exacting with +children,--too much given to fault-finding? Were it not that the +business of play is so engrossing to them, and life so fascinating a +matter on the whole,--were it not for these qualifying circumstances, +we should harass many of them into dark cynicism and misanthropy at +a very early age. I marvel at the scrupulous exactness in regard to +truth, the fine sense of distinction between right and wrong, which we +require of an unfledged human being who would be puzzled to explain +to us the difference between a "hawk and a handsaw," who lives in the +realm of the imagination, and whose view of the world is that of a +great play-house furnished for his benefit. If we were one half as +punctilious and as hypercritical in our judgment of ourselves, we +should be found guilty in short order, and sentenced to hard labor on +a vast number of counts. + +There are many comparatively small faults in children which it is wise +not to see at all. They are mere temporary failings, tiny drops which +will evaporate if quietly left in the sunshine, but which, if opposed, +will gather strength for a formidable current. If we would sometimes +apply Tolstoi's doctrine of non-resistance to children, if we would +overlook the small transgression and quietly supply another vent for +the troublesome activity, there would be less clashing of wills, and +less raising of an evil spirit, which gains wonderful strength while +in action. + +Do we not often use an arbitrary and a threatening manner in our +commands to children, when a calm, gentle request, in a tone of +expectant confidence, would gain obedience far more quickly and +pleasantly? + +Some natures are antagonized by the shadow of a threat, even if it +accompanies a reasonable order; and if we acknowledge that the oil of +courtesy is a valuable lubricator in our dealings with grown people, +it seems proper to suppose that it would not be entirely useless +with children. We cannot expect to get from them what we do not give +ourselves, and it is idle to imagine that we can address them as we +would a disobedient dog, and be answered in tones of dulcet harmony. + +Again, what possible harm can there be in sometimes giving reasons for +commands, when they are such as the child would appreciate? We do not +desire to bring him up under martial rule; and if he feels the +wisdom of the order issued, he will be much more likely to obey it +pleasantly. Cases may frequently occur in which reasons either could +not properly be given, or would be beyond the child's power of +comprehension; but if our treatment of him has been uniformly frank +and affectionate, he will cheerfully obey, believing that, as our +commands have been reasonable heretofore, there is good cause to +suppose they may still be so. + +Educational opinion tends, more and more every day, to the absolute +conviction that the natural punishment, the effect which follows the +cause, is the only one which can safely be used with children. + +This is the method of Nature, severe and unrelenting it may be, but +calm, firm, and purely just. He who sows the wind must reap the +whirlwind, and he who sows thistles may be well assured that he will +never gather figs as his harvest. The feeling of continuity, of +sequence, is naturally strong in the child; and if we would lead him +to appreciate that the law is as absolute in the moral as in the +physical world, we shall find the ground already prepared for our +purpose. + +Much transgression of moral law in later years is due to the fatal +hope in the evil-doer's mind that he will be able to escape the +consequences of his sin. Could we make it clear from the beginning of +life that there is no such escape, that the mills of the gods will +grind at last, though the hopper stand empty for many a year,--could +we make this an absolute conviction of the mind, I am assured that it +would greatly tend to lessen crime. + +And this is one of the defects of arbitrary punishment, that it is +sometimes withheld when the heart of the judge melts over the sinner, +leading him to expect other possible exemptions in the future. Is it +not sometimes given in anger, also, when the culprit clearly sees it +to be disproportionate to the crime? + +Here appears the advantage of the natural punishment,--it is never +withheld in weak affection, it is never given in anger, it is entirely +disassociated from personal feeling. No poisoned arrow of injustice +remains rankling in the child's breast; no rebellious feeling that the +parent has taken advantage of his superior strength to inflict the +punishment: it is perceived to be absolutely _fair_, and, being fair, +it must be, although painful, yet satisfactory to that sense of +justice which is a passion of childhood. + +Our American children are as precocious in will-power as they are +keen-witted, and they need a special discipline. The courage, +activity, and pioneer spirit of the fathers, exercised in hewing their +way through virgin forests, hunting wild beasts in mountain solitudes, +opening up undeveloped lands, prospecting for metals through trackless +plains, choosing their own vocations, helping to govern their +country,--all these things have reacted upon the children, and they +are thoroughly independent, feeling the need of caring for themselves +when hardly able to toddle. + +Entrust this precocious bundle of nerves and individuality to a person +of weak will or feeble intelligence, and the child promptly becomes +his ruler. The power of strong volition becomes caprice, he does not +learn the habit of obedience, and thus valuable directive power is +lost to the world. + +"The lowest classes of society," says Dr. Harris, "are the lowest, +not because there is any organized conspiracy to keep them down, but +because they are lacking in directive power." The jails, the prisons, +the reformatories, are filled with men who are there because they were +weak, more than because they were evil. If the right discipline in +home and school had been given them, they would never have become the +charge of the nation. Thus we waste force constantly, force of mind +and of spirit sufficient to move mountains, because we do not insist +that every child shall exercise his "inherited right," which is, "that +he be taught to obey." + +It is a grave subject, this of will-training, the gravest perhaps that +we can consider, and its deepest waters lie far below the sounding of +my plummet. Some of the principles, however, on which it rests are as +firmly fixed as the bed of the ocean, which remains changeless though +the waves continually shift above:-- + +1. If we can but cultivate the _habit_ of doing right, we enlist in +our service one of the strongest of human agencies. Its momentum is so +great that it may propel the child into the course of duty before he +has time to discuss the question, or to parley with his conscience +concerning it. + +2. We must remember that "force of character is cumulative, and all +the foregone days of virtue work their health into this." The task +need not be begun afresh each morning; yesterday's strokes are still +there, and to-day's efforts will make the carving deeper and bolder. + +3. We may compel the body to carry out an order, the fingers to +perform a task; but this is mere slavish compliance. True obedience +can never be enforced; it is the fruit of the reason and the will, the +free, glad offering of the spirit. + +4. Though many motives have their place in early will-training,--love +of approval, deference to public opinion, the influence of beauty, +hopeful occupation, respect and rev for those in authority,--yet these +are all preparatory, the preliminary exercises, which must be well +practiced before the soul can spread her wings into the blue. + +5. There is but one true and final motive to good conduct, and that +is a hunger in the soul of man for the blessing of the spirit, a +ceaseless longing to be in perfect harmony with the principles of +everlasting and eternal right. + + + + +THE MAGIC OF "TOGETHER" + +"'Together' is the key-word of the nineteenth century." + + +It is an old, adobe-walled Mexican garden. All around it, close +against the brown bricks, the fleur-de-lis stand white and stately, +guarded by their tall green lances. The sun's rays are already +powerful, though it is early spring, and I am glad to take my book +under the shade of the orange-trees. In the dark leaf-canopy above me +shine the delicate star-like flowers, the partly opened buds, and the +great golden oranges, while tiny green and half-ripe spheres make a +happy contrast in color. The ground about me is strewn with flowers +and buds, the air is heavy with fragrance, and the bees are buzzing +softly overhead. I am growing drowsy, but as I lift my eyes from my +book they meet something which interests me. A large black ant is +tugging and pulling at an orange-bud, and really making an effort to +carry it away with him. It is once and a half as long as he, fully +twice as wide, and I cannot compute how much heavier, but its size and +weight are very little regarded. He drags it vigorously over Alpine +heights and through valley deeps, but evidently finds the task +arduous, for he stops to rest now and then. I want to help him, but +cannot be sure of his destination, and fear besides that my clumsy +assistance would be misinterpreted. + +Ah, how unfortunate! ant and orange-bud have fallen together into +the depths of a Colorado canon which yawns in the path. The ant soon +reappears, but clearly feels it impossible to drag the bud up such a +precipice, and runs away on some other quest. What did he want with +that bud, I wonder? was it for food, or bric-a-brac, or a plaything +for the babies? Never mind,--I shall never know, and I prepare to read +again. But what's this? Here is my ant returning, and accompanied by +some friends. They disappear in the canon, helpfulness and interest +in every wave of their feelers. Their heads come into sight again, +and--yes! they have the bud. Now, indeed, events move, and the burden +travels rapidly across the smooth courtyard toward the house. Can they +intend to take it up on the flat roof, where we have lately suspected +a nest? Yes, there they go, straight up the wall, all putting their +shoulders to the wheel, and resting now and then in the chinks of the +crumbling adobes. Up the bud moves to the gutters,--I can see it gleam +as it is pulled over the edge,--they are out of sight,--the task is +done! How easy any undertaking, I think, when people are willing to +help. + + * * * * * + +In a high dormer window of a great city, in a nest of quilts and +pillows, sits little Ingrid. Her blue Danish eyes look out from a +pinched, snow-white face, and her thin hands are languidly folded in +her lap. She gazes far down below to the other side of the square, +where she can just see the waving of some green branches and an open +door. + +Her eyes brighten now, for a stream of little children comes pouring +from that door. "Look, mother!" she cries, "there are the children!" +and the mother leaves her washing, and comes with dripping hands to +see every tiny boy look up at the window and flourish his hat, and +every girl wave her handkerchief, or kiss her hand. They form a ring; +there is silence for a moment and then, 'mid great flapping of dingy +handkerchiefs and battered hats, a hearty cheer is heard. + +"They're cheering my birthday," cries Ingrid. "Miss Mary knows it's my +birthday. Oh, isn't it lovely!" And the thin hands eagerly waft some +grateful kisses to the group below. + +The scene has only lasted a few moments, the children have had their +run in the fresh air, and now they go marching back, pausing at the +door to wave good-by to the window far above. The mother carries +Ingrid back to her bed (it is a weary time now since those little feet +touched the floor); but the bed is not as tiresome as usual, nor the +washing as hard, for both hearts are full of sunshine. + +Afternoon comes,--little feet are heard climbing up the stair, +and Ingrid's name is called. The door opens, and two flushed and +breathless messengers stand on the threshold. "We've brung you a +birfday present," they cry; "it's a book, and we made it all our own +se'ves, and all the chilluns helped and made somefin' to put in it. +Miss Mary's down stairs mindin' the babies, and she sends you her +love. Good-by! Happy birfday!" + +"Happy birthday" indeed! Golden, precious, love-crowned birthday! Was +ever such a book, so full of sweet messages and tender thoughts! + +Ingrid knows how baby Tim must have labored to sew that red circle, +how John Jacob toiled over that weaving-mat, and Elsa carefully folded +the drove of little pigs. Everybody thought of her, and all the +"chilluns" helped, and how dear is the tangible outcome of the +thoughts and the helping! + + * * * * * + +Far back in the childhood of the world, the long-haired savage," +woaded, winter-clad in skins," went roaming for his food wherever he +might find it. He dug roots from the ground, he searched for berries +and fruits, he hid behind rocks to leap upon his living prey, yet +often went hungry to his lair at night, if the root-crop were short, +or the wild beast wary. + +But if the day had been a fortunate one, if his own stomach were +filled and his body sheltered, little cared he whether long-haired +savage number two were hungry and cold. "Every one for himself," would +he say, as he rolled himself in his skins, "and the cave-bear, or any +other handy beast, take the hindmost." The simplicity of his mental +state, his complete freedom from responsibility, assure us that +his digestion of the raw flesh and the tough roots must have been +perfection, and the sleep in those furred skins a dreamless one. + +What impending visitation of a common enemy, what sudden descent of a +fierce horde of strange, wild, long-forgotten creatures, first moved +him to ally himself with barbarians number two and three for their +mutual protection? And when long years of alliance in warfare, and +mutual distrust at all other times, had slipped away, and when savages +were turning into herdsmen and farmers and toolmakers, to what +leader among men did a system of exchange of commodities for mutual +convenience suggest itself? + +One would like to have met that painted savage who first suggested +combination in warfare, or that later politico-economist upon whom it +faintly dawned that mutual help was possible in other directions save +that of blood-shedding. + +A union born of the exigencies of warfare would be strengthened later +by the promptings of self-interest, and, lo! the experiment is no +longer an experiment, and the fact is proven that men may fight and +work together to their mutual profit and advancement. + +'Tis a simple proposition, after all, that ten times one is ten; and +the bees, the ants, the grosbeaks, and the beavers prove it so clearly +that any one of us may read, though we pass by never so quickly. Yet +all great truths appear in man's mind in very rudimentary form at +first, and each successive generation furnishes more favorable soil +for their growth and development. + +First, men joined hands in offensive and defensive alliance; second, +they found that, even when wars were over, still communication, +intercourse, and exchange of goods were desirable; third, they +discovered that no great enterprise which would better their condition +would be possible without cooeperation; and, fourth, they began to band +themselves together here and there, not only for their own protection, +for their own gain, but to watch over the weak, to succor the +defenseless, and even to uphold some dear belief. + +The magic of "Together" has thus far reached, and who can tell what +Happy Valley, what fair Land of Beulah, it may summon into existence +in the future? + +The incalculable value of cooeperation, the solemn truth that we are +members one of another, that we cannot labor for ourselves without +laboring for others, nor injure ourselves without injuring +others,--all this is intellectually appreciated by most men to-day, +all this is doubtless acknowledged; yet I cannot find that it has +obtained much recognition in education, nor is especially insisted +upon in the training of children. + +But surely, if children have any social tendencies,--and the fact +needs no proof,--these tendencies should be given direction from the +beginning toward benevolence, toward harmonious working together for +some common aim. This would be comparatively easy even in a nursery +containing three or four little people; and how much simpler when +school life begins, and when the powers of children are greatly +increased, while they are in hourly contact with a large number of +equals! + +"Society," as Dr. Hale says, "is the great charm and only value of +school life;" but this charm and this value are reduced to a minimum +in many schools. "Emulation, that devil-shadow of aspiration," so +often used as a stimulus in education, must forever separate the child +from his fellows. + +How can I have any Christian fellowship with a man when I am envying +him his successes and grudging him his honors? Am I not tempted +to withhold my help from my weak brother across the way, lest my +assistance place him on an equality with me? + +Again, the "monitor" system, as sometimes carried out, tends to +separation and engenders dislike and distrust. I am not likely to +desire close communion, except in the way of fisticuffs, with a boy +who has been spying upon me all day, or who has very likely "reported" +me as having committed divers venial offenses. + +It is the idea of some teachers that discipline is furthered if +children are trained to have as little as possible to do with each +other, and there is no question that this method does facilitate +a toe-the-line kind of government. It would probably be more +satisfactory to such a teacher if each child could be brought to +school in a sedan-chair, with only one window and that in front, and +could be kept in it during the whole session. + +As such a plan, however, is scarcely feasible; as children, with or +against our wills, have a natural and God-given instinct for each +other's company; as they keenly enjoy banding themselves together for +whatever purpose, should not education follow the suggestions which an +earnest study of child-nature can but give? + +Froebel, with those divinely curious eyes of his, saw deeper into the +child's mind and heart than any of his predecessors, and for every +faint stirring of life which he perceived provided adequate conditions +of development. True prophet of the coming day, his philosophy is +rich with suggestions for the cultivation of the social powers of +the child. No one ever felt more keenly than he the inseparable, the +organic connection of all life; and with deep spiritual insight he +provides nursery plays and songs by which the babe, even in his +mother's arms, may be led faintly to recognize in his being one of the +links of the great chain which girdles the universe. + +Later, when as a child of three or four years he makes his first step +into the world, and loosing his mother's hand, enters a larger family +of children of his own age, he is still led to feel himself a part +of a vast union, each member of which has ministered to him, and +numberless ways are opened by which he can join with others to give +back to the world some of the benefits he has enjoyed. Stories are +told and games are played which lead him to thank the kindly hands +which have furnished his daily bread, his warm clothing, and his +sweet, white bed at night. + +The feeling of gratitude, grown and strengthened, must overflow in +action. The world has done so much for him, what can he do for the +world? Is there not some little invalid who would greatly prize a +book of dainty pictures, embroidered, drawn, and painted by her +child-friends? Then he will join with his companions, and patiently +and lovingly fashion such a book. Is the class room somewhat bare and +colorless? Then he can give up some of his cherished work to make a +bright frieze about the walls. + +A national holiday is perhaps approaching. He will unite with all the +other babies in making flags, tri-colored chains, and rosettes to +deck the room appropriately, and to please the mothers, fathers, and +friends who are coming to celebrate the occasion. + +One of the greatest pleasures which is offered is that of being +allowed to "help" somebody. If a child is quick, neat, and careful, if +he has finished his bit of work, he may go and help the babies, and +very gently and very patiently he guides the chubby fingers, threads +the needles, or ties on little caps, and conquers refractory buttons. + +To be a "little helper," whether he is assisting his companions or the +grown-up people about him, grows to seem the highest honor within his +reach. He knows the joy of ministering unto others, and he feels that +"to help is to do the work of the world." + +Thus we endeavor to give external expression to the feelings stirring +in the heart of the child, knowing that "even love can grow cold" if +not nourished. The whole spirit of the work, if carried out as Froebel +intended, must tend directly toward social evolution, and the intense +personalism which is a distinguishing mark of our civilization, and +is clearly seen in our children, needs anointing with the oil of +altruism. + +The circle in which the children stand for the singing is itself a +perfect representation of unity. Hands are joined to make a "round and +lovely ring." If any child is unkind, or regardless of the rights of +others, it is easily seen that he not only makes himself unhappy, but +seriously mars the pleasure of all the other children. If he willfully +leaves the circle, a link in the chain is broken which can only be +mended when he repents his folly and pleasantly returns to his place. +Thus early he may be made to feel that all lives touch his own, and +that his indulgence in selfish passion not only harms himself, but is +the more blameworthy in that it injures others. + +The songs and games cannot be happily carried on unless each child +is not only willing to help, but willing also to give up his chief +desires now and then. All the children would like to be the flowers in +the garden, perhaps, but it is obvious that some must remain in the +circle, in order that the fence be perfect, and prevent stray animals +from destroying what we love and cherish. So there is constant +surrendering of personal desires in recognition of the fact that +others have equal rights, and that, after all, one part is as good as +another, since all are essential to the whole. + +In cooeperative building, the children quickly see that the symmetrical +figure which four little ones have made together, uniting their +material, is infinitely larger and finer than any one of them could +have made alone. If they are making a village at their little tables, +one builds the church, another workshops and stores, others schools +and houses, while the remainder make roads, lay out gardens, plant +trees, and plough the fields. No one of the children had strength +enough, time enough, or material enough to build the village alone, +yet see how well and how quickly it is done when we all help! + +The sand-box, in which of course all children delight, lends itself +especially to cooeperative exercises. They gather around it and plant +gardens with the bright-colored balls; they use it for geography, +moulding the hills, mountains, valleys, and tracing the rivers near +their homes; they arrange historical dramas, as "Paul Revere's Ride," +or the "Landing of the Pilgrims:" but no child does any one of these +things alone; there is constant and happy cooeperation. + +It is the aim of one day's exercise, perhaps, to retrace with the +child the various steps by which his comfortable chair and his strong +work-table have come to him. + +Across one end of the sand-box, a group of children plant a forest +with little pine branches which they have brought. The wood-cutters +come, fell the trees, and cut away the boughs. Another party +of children bring the heavy teams, previously built from the +play-material, harness in the horses (taken from a Noah's Ark), and +prepare to carry off the logs. Now here come the road-makers, and they +lay out a smooth, hard road for the teams, reaching to the very bank +of the river, which another party of little ones has made. The logs +are tumbled into the stream; they float downward, are rafted, carried +to the mill; little sticks are furnished to represent the boards into +which they are sawn; and the lumber is taken to the cabinet-maker, +that he may fashion our furniture. + +Though there be twenty children around the sand-box, yet all have been +employed. Each has enjoyed his own work, yet appreciated the value of +his neighbor's. They have worked together harmoniously and the doing +has reacted upon the heart, and strengthened the feeling of unity +which is growing within. + +Such exercises cannot fail to teach the value and power of social +effort, and the necessity of subordinating personal desires to the +common good. Yet the development of individuality is not forgotten, +for "our power as individuals depends upon our recognition of the +rights of others." + +It is true that the social problem is an intricate one and cannot be +worked out, even partially, at any stage of education, unless the +leader of the children be a true leader, and be enthusiastically +convinced of the essential value of the principles on which the +problem is based. Yet this might be said with equal truth of any +educational aim, for the gospel must always have its interpreters, and +some will ever give a more spiritual reading and seize the truth which +was only half expressed, while others, dull-eyed, mechanical, "kill +with the letter." + +"After all," says Dr. Stanley Hall, "there is nothing so practical in +education as the ideal, nor so ideal as the practical;" and we may +be assured that the direction of the social tendencies of the child +toward high and noble aims, toward the sinking of self and the +generous thought of others,--that this is not only ideal, not only a +following after the purest light yet vouchsafed to us, but is at the +same time practical in its detailed workings, and in its adaptation to +the needs and desires of the day. + + + + +THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL + +"The nature of an educational system is determined by the manner in +which it is begun." + + +The question for us to decide to-day is not how we can interest people +in and how illustrate the true kindergarten, for that is already done +to a considerable extent; but, how we can convince school boards, +superintendents, and voters that the final introduction of the +kindergarten into the public school system is a thing greatly to +be desired. The kindergarten and the school, now two distinct, +dissimilar, and sometimes, though of late very seldom, antagonistic +institutions,--how will the one affect, or be affected by the other? + +As to the final adoption of the kindergarten there is a preliminary +question which goes straight to the root of the whole matter. At +present the state accepts the responsibility of educating children +after an arbitrarily fixed age has been reached. Ought it not, rather, +if it assumes the responsibility at all, to begin to educate the child +when he _needs education?_ + +Thoughtful people are now awaking to the fact that this regulation is +an artificial, not a natural one, and that we have been wasting two +precious years which might not only be put to valuable uses, but would +so shape and influence after-teaching that every succeeding step +would be taken with greater ease and profit. We have been discreet in +omitting the beginning, so long as we did not feel sure how to begin. +But we know now that Froebel's method of dealing with four or five +year old babies, when used by a discreet and intelligent person, +justifies us in taking this delicate, debatable ground. + +So far, then, it is a question of law--a law which can be modified +just as soon and as sensibly as the people wish. Before, however, that +modification can become the active wish of the people, its importance +must be understood and its effects estimated. Could it be shown that +after-education will be hindered or in any way rendered more difficult +by the kindergarten, clearly all efforts to introduce it must cease. +Were it merely a matter of indifference, something that would neither +make nor mar the after-work of schools, then it would remain a matter +of choice or fancy, for individual parents to decide as they like; +but, if it can be shown that the work of the kindergarten will lay a +more solid foundation, or trace more direct paths for the workers of a +later period, then it behooves us to give it a hearty welcome, and to +work out its principles with zealous good will: and "working out" +its principles means, _not_ accepting it as a finality--a piece of +flawless perfection--but as a stepping-stone which will lead us nearer +to the truth. If it is a good thing, it is good for all; if it is +truth, we want it everywhere; but if this new department of education +and training is to gain ground, or accomplish the successful fruition +of its wishes, there must be perfect unity among teachers concerning +it. If they all understood the thing itself, and understood each +other, there could be no lack of sympathy; yet there has been +misunderstanding, conflict occasionally, and some otherwise worthy +teachers have used the kindergarten as a sort of intellectual +cuttle-fish to sharpen their conversational bills upon. + +Of course I am not blind to the fact that after we have determined +that we ought to have the kindergarten, there are many questions of +expediency: suitable rooms, expense of material, salaries, assistants, +age of children at entrance, system of government, number of children +in one kindergarten; and greatest of all, but least thought of, +strangely, the linking together of kindergarten and school, so that +the development shall be continuous, and the chain of impressions +perfect and unbroken. + +Suffice it to say that it has been done, and can be done again; but it +needs discretion, forethought, tact, earnestness, and unimpeachable +honesty of administration, for unless we can depend upon our school +boards and kindergartners _implicitly_, counting upon them for wise +cooeperation, brooding care, and great wisdom in selection of teachers, +the experiment will be a failure. We have risks enough to run as it +is; let us not permit our little ones, more susceptible by reason of +age than any we have to deal with now,--let us not permit them to +become victims of politics, rings, or machine teaching. + +The kindergarten is more liable to abuse than any other department of +teaching. There is no ground in the universe so sacred as this. +But the difference between primary schools is just as great, only, +unfortunately, we have become used to it; and the kindergarten being +under fire, so to speak, must be absolutely ideal in its perfection, +or it is ruthlessly held up to scorn. + +There is a tremendous awakening all over the country with regard to +kindergarten and primary work, and this is well, since the greatest +and most fatal mistakes of the public school system have been made +_just here_; and the time is surely coming when more knowledge, +wisdom, tact, ingenuity, forethought, yes, and money, will be expended +in order to meet the demands of the case. The time is coming when the +imp of parsimony will no longer be mistaken for the spirit of economy; +when a woman possessed of ordinary human frailty will no longer be +required to guide, direct, develop, train, help, love, and be patient +with sixty little ones, just beginning to tread the difficult paths of +learning, and each receiving just one sixtieth of what he craves. The +millennium will be close at hand when we cease to expect from girls +just out of the high school what Socrates never attempted, and would +have deemed impossible. + +Look at Senator Stanford's famous Palo Alto stock farm. Each colt born +into that favored community is placed in a class of twelve. These +twelve colts are cared for and taught by four or five trained +teachers. No man interested in the training of fine horses ever +objects, so far as I know, to such expenditure of labor and money. The +end is supposed to justify the means. But when the creatures to be +trained are human beings, and when the end to be reached is not +race-horses, but merely citizens, we employ a very different process +of reasoning. + +That this subject of early training is a vitally interesting one to +thinking people cannot be denied. The kindergarten has become the +fashion, you say, cynically. This is scarcely true; but it is a fact +that the upper, the middle, and the lower classes among us begin +to recognize the existence of children under six years of age, +and realize that far from being nonentities in life, or unknown +quantities, they are very lively units in the sum of progressive +education. + +When we speak of kindergarten work among the children of the poor, and +argue its claims as one of the best means of taking unfortunate little +Arabs from the demoralizing life of the streets, and of giving their +aimless hands something useful to do, their restless minds something +good and fruitful to think of, and their curious eyes something +beautiful to look on, there is not a word of disapproval. People seem +willing to concede its moral value when applied to the lower classes, +but, when they are obliged to pay anything to procure this training +for their own children, or see any prospect of what they call an +already extravagant school system made more so by its addition, they +become prolific in doubts. In other words, they believe in it when you +call it _philanthropy_, but not when you call it _education_; and it +must be called the germ of the better education, toward which we are +all struggling, the nearest approach to the perfect beginning which we +have yet found. + +We see in the excellence of Froebel's idea, educationally considered, +its only claim to peculiar power in dealing with incipient hoodlumism. +It is only because it has such unusual fitness to child-nature, such a +store of philosophy and ingenuity in its appliances, and such a wealth +of spiritual truth in its aims and methods, that it is so great a +power with neglected children and ignorant and vicious parents. + +The principles on which Froebel built his educational idea may be +summed up briefly under four heads. First, All the faculties of the +child are to be drawn out and exercised as far as age allows. Second, +The powers of habit and association, which are the great instruments +of all education, of the whole training of life, must be developed +with a systematic purpose from the earliest dawn of intelligence. +Third, The active instincts of childhood are to be cultivated through +manual exercise (chiefly creative in character), which is made an +essential part of the training, and this manual exercise is to be +valued chiefly as a means of self-expression. Fourth, The senses are +to be trained to accuracy as well as the hand. The child must learn +how to observe what is placed before him, and to observe it truly, an +acquirement which any teacher of science or art will appreciate. To +work out these principles, Froebel devised his practical method of +infant education, and the very name he gave to the place where his +play lessons were to be used marks his purpose. No books are to be +seen in a kindergarten, because no ideas or facts are presented to the +child that he cannot clearly understand and verify. The object is not +to teach him arithmetic or geometry, though he learns enough of both +to be very useful to him hereafter; but to lead him to discover +_truths_ concerning forms and numbers, lines and angles, for himself. + +Thus in the play-lessons the teacher simply rules the order in which +the child shall approach a new thing, and gives him the correct +names which, henceforth, he must always use; but the observation of +resemblances and differences (that groundwork of all knowledge), the +reasoning from one point to another, and the conclusions he arrives +at, are all his own; he is only led to see his mistake if he makes +one. The child handles every object from which he is taught, and +learns to reproduce it. + +It is not enough to say that any ordinary system of object teaching in +the hands of an ingenious teacher will serve the purpose or take the +place of the kindergarten. People who say this evidently have no +conception of Froebel's plan, in which the simultaneous training of +head, heart, and hand is the most striking characteristic. + +The kindergarten is mainly distinguished from the later instruction of +the school by making the knowledge of facts and the cultivation of +the memory subordinate to the development of observation and to the +appropriate activity of the child, physical, mental, and moral. Its +aim is to utilize the now almost wasted time from four to six years, a +time when all negligent and ignorant mothers leave the child to chance +development, and when the most careful mother cannot train her +child into the practice of social virtues so well as the truly wise +kindergartner who works with her. "We learn through doing" is the +watchword of the kindergarten, but it must be a _doing_ which blossoms +into _being_, or it does not fulfill its ideal, for it is character +building which is to go on in the kindergarten, or it has missed +Froebel's aim. + +What does the kindergarten do for children under six years of age? +What has it accomplished when it sends the child to the primary +school? I do not mean what Froebel hoped could be done, or what is +occasionally accomplished with bright children and a gifted teacher, +or even what is done in good private kindergartens, for that is yet +more; but I mean what is actually done for children by charitable +organizations, which are really doing the work of the state. + +I think they can claim tangible results which are wholly remarkable; +and yet they do not work for results, or expect much visible fruit in +these tender years, from a culture which is so natural, child-like, +and unobtrusive that its very outward simplicity has caused it to be +regarded as a plaything. + +In glancing over the acquirements of the child who has left the +kindergarten, and has been actually _taught_ nothing in the ordinary +acceptation of the word, we find that he has worked, experimented, +invented, compared, reproduced. All things have been revealed in the +doing, and productive activity has enlightened and developed the mind. + +First, as to arithmetic. It does not come first, but though you +speak with the tongues of men and angels, and make not mention of +arithmetic, it profiteth you nothing. The First Gift shows one object, +and the children get an idea of one whole; in the Second they receive +three whole objects again, but of different form; in the Third +and Fourth, the regularly divided cube is seen, and all possible +combinations of numbers as far as eight are made. In the Fifth +Gift the child sees three and its multiples; in fractions, halves, +quarters, eighths, thirds, ninths, and twenty-sevenths. With the +Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Gifts the field is practically unlimited. + +Second, as to the child's knowledge of form, size, and proportion. His +development has been quite extensive: he knows, not always by name, +but by their characteristics, vertical, horizontal, slanting, and +curved lines; squares, oblongs; equal sided, blunt and sharp angled +triangles; five, six, seven and eight sided figures; spheres, +cylinders, cubes, and prisms. All this elementary geometry has, of +course, been learned "baby fashion," in a purely experimental way, but +nothing will have to be unlearned when the pupil approaches geometry +later in a more thoroughly scientific spirit. + +Third, as to the cultivation of language, of the power of expression, +we cannot speak with too much emphasis. The vocabulary of the +kindergarten child of the lower classes is probably greater than +that of his mother or father. You can see how this comes about. +The teachers themselves are obliged to make a study of simple, +appropriate, expressive, and explicit language; the child is led to +express all his thoughts freely in proper words from the moment he +can lisp; he is trained through singing to distinct and careful +enunciation, and the result is a remarkably good power of language. +I make haste to say that this need not necessarily be used for the +purposes of chattering in the school. + +The child has not, of course, learned to read and write, but reading +is greatly simplified by his accurate power of observation, and his +practice of comparing forms. The work of reading is play to a child +whose eye has been thus trained. As to writing, we precede it by +drawing, which is the sensible and natural plan. The child will have +had a good deal of practice with slate and lead pencil; will have +drawn all sorts of lines and figures from dictation, and have created +numberless designs of his own. + +If, in short, our children could spend two years in a good +kindergarten, they would not only bring to the school those elements +of knowledge which are required, but would have learned in some degree +how to _learn_, and, in the measure of their progress, _have nothing +to unlearn_. + +Let those who labor, day by day, with inert minds never yet awakened +to a wish for knowledge, a sense of beauty, or a feeling of pleasure +in mental activity, tell us how much valuable school time they would +save, if the raw material were thus prepared to their hand. "After +spending five or six years at home or in the street, without training +or discipline, the child is sent to school and is expected to learn at +once. He looks upon the strange, new life with amazement, yet without +understanding. Finally, his mind becomes familiar in a mechanical +manner, ill-suited to the tastes of a child, with the work and +exercises of primary instruction, the consequence being, very often, a +feeble body and a stuffed mind, the stuffing having very little more +effect upon the intellect than it has upon the organism of a roast +turkey." The kindergarten can remedy these intellectual difficulties, +beside giving the child an impulse toward moral self-direction, and a +capacity for working out his original ideas in visible and permanent +form, which will make him almost a new creature. It can, by taking the +child in season, set the wheels in motion, rouse all his best, finest, +and highest instincts, the purest, noblest, and most vivifying powers +of which he is possessed. + +There is a good deal of time spent in the kindergarten on the +cultivation of politeness and courtesy; and in the entirely social +atmosphere which is one of its principal features, the amenities of +polite society can be better practiced than elsewhere. + +The kindergarten aims in no way at making infant prodigies, but it +aims successfully at putting the little child in possession of every +faculty he is capable of using; at bringing him forward on lines he +will never need to forsake; at teaching within his narrow range what +he will never have to unlearn; and at giving him the wish to learn, +and the power of teaching himself. Its deep simplicity should always +be maintained, and no lover of childhood or thoughtful teacher would +wish it otherwise. It is more important that it should be kept pure +than that it should become popular. + +I have tried, thus, somewhat at length, to demonstrate that our +educational system cannot be perfect until we begin still earlier with +the child, and begin in a more childlike manner, though, at the same +time, earnestly and with definite purpose. In trying to make manhood +and womanhood, we sometimes treat children as little men and women, +not realizing that the most perfect childhood is the best basis for +strong manhood. + +Further, I have tried to show that Froebel's system gives us the only +rational beginning; but I confess frankly that to make it productive +of its vaunted results, it must be placed in the hands of thoroughly +trained kindergartners, fitted by nature and by education for their +most delicate, exacting, and sacred profession. + +Now as to compromises. The question is frequently asked, Cannot +the best things of the kindergarten be introduced in the primary +departments of the public school? The best thing of kindergartening +is the kindergarten itself, and nothing else will do; it would be +necessary to make very material changes in the primary class which +is to include a kindergarten--changes that are demanded by radically +different methods. + +The kindergarten should offer the child experience instead of +instruction; life instead of learning; practical child-life, a +miniature world, where he lives and grows, and learns and expands. No +primary teacher, were she Minerva herself, can work out Froebel's idea +successfully with sixty or seventy children under her sole care. + +You will see for yourselves that this simple, natural, motherly +instruction of babyhood cannot be transplanted bodily into the primary +school, where the teacher has fifty or sixty children who are beyond +the two most fruitful years which the kindergarten demands. Besides, +the teachers of the lower grades cannot introduce more than an +infinitesimal number of kindergarten exercises, and at the same time +keep up their full routine of primary studies and exercises. + +Any one who understands the double needs of the kindergarten and +primary school cannot fail to see this matter correctly, and as I +said before, we do not want a few kindergarten exercises, we want the +_kindergarten_. If teachers were all indoctrinated with the spirit of +Froebel's method, they would carry on its principles in dealing with +pupils of any age; but Froebel's kindergarten, pure and simple, +creates a place for children of four or five years, to begin their bit +of life-work; it is in no sense a school, nor must become so, or it +would lose its very essence and truest meaning. + +Let me show you a kindergarten! It is no more interesting than a good +school, but I want you to see the essential points of difference:-- + +It is a golden morning, a rare one in a long, rainy winter. As we turn +into the narrow, quiet street from the broader, noisy one, the sound +of a bell warns us that we are near the kindergarten building.... A +few belated youngsters are hurrying along,--some ragged, some patched, +some plainly and neatly clothed, some finishing a "portable breakfast" +thrust into their hands five minutes before, but all eager to be +there.... While the Lilliputian armies are wending their way from the +yard to their various rooms, we will enter the front door and look +about a little. + +The windows are wide open at one end of the great room. The walls are +tinted with terra cotta, and the woodwork is painted in Indian red. +Above the high wood dado runs a row of illuminated pictures of +animals,--ducks, pigeons, peacocks, calves, lambs, colts, and almost +everything else that goes upon two or four feet; so that the children +can, by simply turning in their seats, stroke the heads of their dumb +friends of the meadow and barnyard.... There are a great quantity of +bright and appropriate pictures on the walls, three windows full of +plants, a canary chirping in a gilded cage, a globe of gold-fish, an +open piano, and an old-fashioned sofa, which is at present adorned +with a small scrap of a boy who clutches a large slate in one hand, +and a mammoth lunch-pail in the other.... It is his first day, and he +looks as if his big brother had told him that he would be "walloped" +if he so much as winked. + +A half-dozen charming girls are fluttering about; charming, because, +whether plain or beautiful, they all look happy, earnest, womanly, +full to the brim of life. + + "A sweet, heart-lifting cheerfulness, + Like spring-time of the year, + Seems ever on their steps to wait." + +... They are tying on white aprons and preparing the day's +occupations, for they are a detachment of students from a kindergarten +training school, and are on duty for the day. + +One of them seats herself at the piano and plays a stirring march. The +army enters, each tiny soldier with a "shining morning face." Unhappy +homes are forgotten ... smiles everywhere ... everybody glad to +see everybody else ... happy children, happy teachers ... sunshiny +morning, sunshiny hearts ... delightful work in prospect, merry play +to follow it.... "Oh, it's a beautiful world, and I'm glad I'm in it;" +so the bright faces seem to say. + +It is a cosmopolitan regiment that marches into the free kindergartens +of our large cities. Curly yellow hair and rosy cheeks ... sleek +blonde braids and calm blue eyes ... swarthy faces and blue-black +curls ... woolly little pows and thick lips ... long arched noses and +broad flat ones. Here you see the fire and passion of the Southern +races, and the self-poise, serenity and sturdiness of Northern +nations. Pat is here with a gleam of humor in his eye ... Topsy, +all smiles and teeth,... Abraham, trading tops with Isaac, next in +line,... Gretchen and Hans, phlegmatic and dependable,... Francois, +never still for an instant,... Christina, rosy, calm, and +conscientious, and Duncan, as canny and prudent as any of his people. +Pietro is there, and Olaf, and little John Bull. + +What an opportunity for amalgamation of races, and for laying the +foundation of American citizenship! for the purely social atmosphere +of the kindergarten makes it a life-school, where each tiny citizen +has full liberty under the law of love, so long as he does not +interfere with the liberty of his neighbor. The phrase "Every man for +himself" is never heard, but "We are members one of another" is the +common principle of action. + +The circles are formed. Every pair of hands is folded, and bright eyes +are tightly closed to keep out "the world, the flesh," and the rest of +it, while children and teachers sing one of the morning hymns:-- + + "Birds and bees and flowers, + Every happy day, + Wake to greet the sunshine, + Thankful for its ray. + All the night they're silent, + Sleeping safe and warm; + God, who knows and loves them, + Will keep them from all harm. + + "So the little children, + Sleeping all the night, + Wake with each new morning, + Fresh and sweet and bright. + Thanking God their Father + For his loving care, + With their songs and praises + They make the day more fair." + +Then comes a trio of good-morning songs, with cordial handshakes and +scores of kisses wafted from finger-tips.... "Good-Morning, Merry +Sunshine," follows, and the sun, encouraged by having some notice +taken of him in this blind and stolid world, shines brighter than +ever.... The song, "Thumbs and Fingers say 'Good-Morning,'" brings two +thousand fingers fluttering in the air (10 x 200, if the sum seems too +difficult), and gives the eagle-eyed kindergartners an opportunity to +look for dirty paws and preach the needed sermon. + +It is Benny's birthday; five years old to-day. He chooses the songs he +likes best, and the children sing them with friendly energy.... "Three +cheers for Benny,--only three, now!" says the kindergartner.... They +are given with an enthusiasm that brings the neighbors to the windows, +and Benny, bursting with pride, blushes to the roots of his hair. The +children stop at three, however, and have let off a tremendous amount +of steam in the operation. Any wholesome device which accomplishes +this result is worthy of being perpetuated.... A draggled, forsaken +little street-cat sneaks in the door, with a pitiful mew. (I'm sure I +don't wonder! if one were tired of life, this would be just the place +to take a fresh start.) The children break into the song, "I Love +Little Pussy, Her Coat is so Warm," and the kindergartner asks the +small boy with the great lunch pail if he wouldn't like to give +the kitty a bit of something to eat. He complies with the utmost +solemnity, thinking this the queerest community he ever saw.... A +broken-winged pigeon appears on the window-sill and receives his +morning crumb; and now a chord from the piano announces a change of +programme. The children troop to their respective rooms fairly warmed +through with happiness and good will. Such a pleasant morning start to +some who have been "hustled" out of a bed that held several too many +in the night, washed a trifle (perhaps!), and sent off without a kiss, +with the echo of a sick mother's wails, or a father's oaths, ringing +in their ears! + +After a few minutes of cheerful preparation, all are busily at work. +Two divisions have gone into tiny, "quiet rooms" to grapple with the +intricacies of mathematical relations. A small boy, clad mostly in red +woolen suspenders, and large, high-topped boots, is passing boxes of +blocks. He is awkward and slow. The teacher could do it more quietly +and more quickly, but the kindergarten is a school of experience where +ease comes, by and by, as the lovely result of repeated practice.... +We hear an informal talk on fractions, while the cube is divided into +its component parts, and then see a building exercise "by direction." + +In the other "quiet room" they are building a village, each child +constructing, according to his own ideas, the part assigned him. One +of them starts a song, and they all join in-- + + "Oh! builders we would like to be, + So willing, skilled, and strong; + And while we work so cheerily, + The time will not seem long." + +"If we all do our parts well, the whole is sure to be beautiful," says +the teacher. "One rickety, badly made building will spoil our village. +I'm going to draw a blackboard picture of the children who live in the +village. Johnny, you haven't blocks enough for a good factory, and +Jennie hasn't enough for hers. Why don't you club together and make a +very large, fine one?" + +This working for a common purpose, yet with due respect for +individuality, is a very important part of kindergarten ethics. Thus +each child learns to subordinate himself to the claims and needs of +society without losing himself. "No man liveth to himself" is the +underlying principle of action. + +Coming back to the main room we find one division weaving bright paper +strips into a mat of contrasting color, and note that the occupation +trains the sense of color and of number, and develops dexterity in +both hands. + +But what is this merry group doing in the farther corner? These +are the babies, bless them! and they are modeling in clay. What an +inspired version of pat-a-cake and mud pies is this! The sleeves are +pushed up, showing a high-water mark of white arm joining little brown +paws. What fun! They are modeling the seals at the Cliff House (for +this chances to be a California kindergarten), and a couple of +two-year-olds, who have strayed into this retreat, not because there +was any room for them here, but because there wasn't any room for them +anywhere else, are slapping their lumps of clay with all their might, +and then rolling it into caterpillars and snakes. This last is not +very educational, you say, but "virtue kindles at the touch of joy," +and some lasting good must be born out of the rational happiness that +surrounds even the youngest babies in the kindergarten. + +The sand-table in this room represents an Italian or Chinese vegetable +garden. The children have rolled and leveled the surface and laid it +off in square beds with walks between. The planting has been "make +believe,"--a different kind of seed in each bed; but the children have +named them all, and labeled the various plats with pieces of paper, +fastened in cleft sticks. A gardener's house, made of blocks, +ornaments one corner, and near it are his tools,--watering-pot, hoe, +rake, spade, etc., all made in cardboard modeling. + +We now pass up-stairs. In one corner a family of twenty children are +laying designs in shining rings of steel; and as the graceful curves +multiply beneath their clever fingers, the kindergartner is telling +them a brief story of a little boy who made with these very rings a +design for a beautiful "rose window," which was copied in stained +glass and hung in a great stone church, of which his father was the +architect. + +Another group of children is folding, by dictation, a four-inch square +of colored paper. The most perfect eye-measure, as well as the most +delicate touch, is needed here. Constant reference to the "sharp" +angle, "blunt" angle, square corner and right angle, horizontal and +vertical lines, show that the foundation is being laid for a future +clear and practical knowledge of geometry, though the word itself is +never mentioned. + +There is one unhappy little boy in this class. He has broken the law +in some way, and he has no work. + +"That is a strange idea," said the woman visitor. "In my time work was +given to us as a punishment, and it seemed a most excellent plan." + +"We look at it in another way," said the kindergartner, smiling. "You +see, work is really the great panacea, the best thing in the world. +We are always trying to train the children to a love of industry and +helpful occupation; so we give work as a reward, and take it away as a +punishment." + +We pass into the sunny upper hall, and find some children surrounding +a large sand-table. The exercise is just finished, and we gaze upon +a miniature representation of the Cliff House embankment and curving +road, a section of beach with people standing (wooden ladies and +gentlemen from a Noah's Ark), a section of ocean, and a perfect Seal +Rock made of clay. + +"Run down-stairs, Timmy, please, and ask Miss Ellen if the seals are +ready." ... Timmy flies.... + +Presently the babies troop up, each carrying a precious seal extended +on two tiny hands or reposing in apron. They are all bursting with +importance.... Of course, the small Jonah of the flock tumbles up +the stairs, bumps his nose, and breaks his treasure.... There is an +agonized wail.... "_I bust my seal!_"... Some one springs to the +rescue.... The seal is patched, tears are dried, and harmony is +restored.... The animals are piled on the rocks in realistic +confusion, and another class comes out with twenty-five paper fishes +to be arranged in the waves of sand. + +Later on, the sound of a piano invites us to witness the kindergarten +play-time. + +Through kindergarten play the child comes to know the external world, +the physical qualities of the objects which surround him, their +motions, actions, and reactions upon each other, and the relations of +these phenomena to himself; a knowledge which forms the basis of +that which will be his permanent stock in life. The child's fancy is +healthily fed by images from outer life, and his curiosity by new +glimpses of knowledge from the world around him. + +There are plays and plays! The ordinary unguided games of childhood +are not to be confounded for an instant with the genuine kindergarten +plays, which have a far deeper significance than is apparent to the +superficial observer. "Take the simplest circle game; it illustrates +the whole duty of a good citizen in a republic. Anybody can spoil it, +yet nobody can play it alone; anybody can hinder its success, yet no +one can get credit for making it succeed." + +The play is over; the children march back to their seats, and settle +themselves to another period of work, which will last until noon. We +watch the bright faces, cheerful, friendly chatter, the busy figures +hovering over pleasant tasks, and feel that it has been good to pass a +morning in this republic of childhood. + +I have given you but a tithe of the whole argument, the veriest +bird's-eye view; neither is it romance; it is simple truth; and, that +being the case, how can we afford to keep Froebel and his wonderful +influence on childhood out of a system of free education which has +for its aim the development of a free, useful, liberty-loving, +self-governing people? It is too great a factor to be disregarded, and +the coming years will prove it so; for the value of such schools is no +longer a matter of theory; they have been tested by experience, and +have won favor wherever they have been given a fair trial But how +important a work they have to do in our scheme of public education is +clear only when we consider the conditions which our public schools +must meet nowadays. + +On the theory upon which the state undertakes the education of +its youth at all--the necessity of preparing them for intelligent +citizenship--a community might better economize, if economize it must, +anywhere else than on the beginning. An enormous immigrant population +is pressing upon us. The kindergarten reaches this class with great +power, and increases the insufficient education within the reach of +the children who must leave school for work at the age of thirteen or +fourteen. It increases it, too, by a kind of training which the child +gets from no other schooling, and brings him under influences which +are no small addition to the sum total of good in his life. + +The entire pedagogical world watches with interest the educational +awakening of which the kindergarten has been the dawn. If people +really want to make the experiment, if parents and tax-payers are +anxious to have for their younger children what seems so beneficent a +training, then let them accept no compromises, but, after taking the +children at a proper age, see to it that they get pure kindergarten, +true kindergarten, and _nothing_ but kindergarten till they enter the +primary school. Then they will be prepared for study, and begin it +with infinite zest, because they comprehend its meaning. Having had +that beautiful beginning, every later step will seem glad to the +child; he will not see knowledge "through a glass darkly, but face to +face," in her most charming aspect. + + + + +OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN + +"Where is thy brother Abel?" + + +We will suppose, for the sake of argument, that the rights of our own +children are secured; but though such security betokens an admirable +state of affairs, it does not cover the whole ground; there are always +the "other people's children." The still small voice is forever +saying, "Where is thy brother Abel?" + +There are many matters to be settled with regard to this brother +Abel, and we differ considerably as to the exact degree of our +responsibility towards him. Some people believe in giving him the +full privileges of brotherhood, in sharing alike with him in every +particular, and others insist that he is no brother of theirs at all. +Let the nationalists and socialists, and all the other reformers, +decide this vexed question as best they can, particularly with +regard to the "grown-up" Abels. Meanwhile, there are a few sweet and +wholesome services we can render to the brother Abels who are not big +enough to be nationalists and socialists, nor strong enough to fight +for their own rights. + +Among these kindly offices to be rendered, these practical agencies +for making Abel a happy, self-helpful, and consequently a better +little brother, we may surely count the free kindergarten. + +My mind convinces me that the kindergarten idea is true; not a perfect +thing as yet, but something on the road to perfection, something full +of vitality and power to grow; and my heart tells me that there is no +more beautiful or encouraging work in the universe than this of taking +hold of the unclaimed babies and giving them a bit of motherliness to +remember. The Free Kindergarten is the mother of the motherless, the +father of the fatherless; it is the great clean broom that sweeps the +streets of its parentless or worse than parentless children, to the +increased comfort of the children, and to the prodigious advantage of +the street. + +We are very much interested in the cleaning of city streets, and well +we may be; but up to this day a larger number of men and women have +concerned themselves actively about sweeping them of dust and dirt +than of sweeping them free of these children. If dirt is misplaced +matter, then what do you call a child who sits eternally on the +curbstones and in the gutters of our tenement-house districts? + +I believe that since the great Teacher of humanity spoke those simple +words of eternal tenderness that voiced the mother side of the divine +nature,--"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them +not,"--I believe that nothing more heartfelt, more effectual, has come +ringing down to us through the centuries than Froebel's inspired and +inspiring call, "Come! let us live with the children!" + +This work _pays_, in the best and the highest sense as well as the +most practical. + +It is true, the kindergartner has the child in her care but three +or four hours a day; it is true, in most instances, that the home +influences are all against her; it is true that the very people for +whom she is working do not always appreciate her efforts; it is true +that in many cases the child has been "born wrong," and to accomplish +any radical reform she ought to have begun with his grandfather; it is +true she makes failures now and then, and has to leave the sorry task +seemingly unperformed, giving into the mighty hand of One who bringeth +order out of chaos that which her finite strength has failed to +compass. She hears discouraging words sometimes, but they do not make +a profound impression, when she sees the weary yet beautiful days go +by, bringing with them hourly rewards greater than speech can testify! + +She sees homes changing slowly but surely under her quiet influence, +and that of those home missionaries, the children themselves; she gets +love in full measure where she least expected so radiant a flower to +bloom; she receives gratitude from some parents far beyond what she +is conscious of deserving; she sees the ancient and respectable +dirt-devil being driven from many of the homes where he has reigned +supreme for years; she sees brutal punishments giving place to sweeter +methods and kinder treatment; and she is too happy and too grateful, +for these and more encouragements, to be disheartened by any cynical +dissertations on the determination of the world to go wrong and the +impossibility of preventing it. + +It is easier, in my opinion, to raise money for, and interest the +general man or woman in, the free kindergarten than in any other +single charity. It is always comparatively easy to convince people of +a truth, but it is much easier to convince them of some truths than of +others. If you wish to found a library, build a hospital, establish a +diet-kitchen, open a bureau for woman's work, you are obliged to argue +more or less; but if you want money for neglected children, you have +generally only to state the case. Everybody agrees in the obvious +propositions, "An ounce of prevention"--"As the twig is bent"--"The +child is father to the man"--"Train up a child"--"A stitch in +time"--"Prevention is better than cure"--"Where the lambs go the +flocks will follow"--"It is easier to form than to reform," and so on +_ad infinitum_--proverbs multiply. The advantages of preventive work +are so palpable that as soon as you broach the matter you ought to +find your case proved and judgment awarded to the plaintiff, before +you open your lips to plead. + +The whole matter is crystal clear; for happily, where the protection +of children is concerned, there is not any free-trade side to the +argument. We need the public kindergarten educationally as the +vestibule to our school work. We need it as a philanthropic agent, +leading the child gently into right habits of thought, speech, and +action from the beginning. We need it to help in the absorption and +amalgamation of our foreign element; for the social training, the +opportunity for cooeperation, and the purely republican form of +government in the kindergarten make it of great value in the +development of the citizen-virtues, as well as those of the +individual. + +I cannot help thinking that if this side of Froebel's educational idea +were more insisted on throughout our common school system, we should +be making better citizens and no worse scholars. + +If we believe in the kindergarten, if we wish it to become a part +of our educational system, we have only to let that belief--that +desire--crystallize into action; but we must not leave it for somebody +else to do. + +It is clearly every mother's business and father's +business,--spinsters and bachelors are not exempt, for they know not +in what hour they may be snatched from sweet liberty, and delivered +into sweeter slavery. It is a lawyer's business, for though it will +make the world better, it will not do it soon enough to lessen +litigation in his time. It is surely the doctor's business, and the +minister's, and that of the business man. It is in fact everybody's +business. + +The beauty of this kindergarten subject is its kaleidoscopic +character; it presents, like all truth, so many sides that you can +give every one that which he likes or is fitted to receive. Take the +aggressively self-made man who thinks our general scheme of education +unprofitable,--show him the kindergarten plan of manual training. He +rubs his hands. "Ah! that's common sense," he says. "I don't believe +in your colleges--I never went to college; you may count on me." + +Give the man of esthetic taste an idea of what the kindergarten does +in developing the sense of beauty; show him in what way it is a +primary art school. + +Explain to the musician your feeling about the influence of music; +show the physical-culture people that in the kindergarten the body has +an equal chance with mind and heart. + +Tell the great-hearted man some sad incident related to you by one of +your kindergartners, and as soon as he can see through his tears, show +him your subscription book. + +Give the woman who cannot reason (and there are such) an opportunity +to feel. There is more than one way of imbibing truth, fortunately, +and the brain is not the only avenue to knowledge. + +Finally, take the utter skeptic into the kindergarten and let +the children convert him. It commonly is a "him" by the way. The +mother-heart of the universe is generally sound on this subject. + +But getting money and opening kindergartens are not the only cares +of a Kindergarten Association. At least there are other grave +responsibilities which no other organization is so well fitted to +assume. These are the persistent working upon school boards until they +adopt the kindergarten, and, much more delicate and difficult, the +protection of its interests after it is adopted; the opening of +kindergartens in orphanages and refuges where they prove the most +blessed instrumentality for good; the spreading of such clear +knowledge and intelligent insight into the kindergarten as shall +prevent it from deterioration; the insistence upon kindergartners +properly trained by properly qualified training teachers; the gentle +mothering and inspiring and helping those kindergartners to realize +their fair ideals (for Froebel's method is a growing thing, and she +who does not grow with it is a hopeless failure); the proper equipment +and furnishing of class-rooms so that the public may have good +object-lessons before its eyes; the insistence upon the ultimate +ideals of the method as well as upon details and technicalities,--that +is, showing people its soul instead of forever rattling its dry bones. +And when all is said and done, the heaviest of the work falls upon the +kindergartner. That is why I am convinced that we should do everything +that sympathy and honor and money can do to exalt the office, so that +women of birth, breeding, culture, and genius shall gravitate to it. +The kindergartner it is who, living with the children, can make her +work an integral part of the neighborhood, the centre of its best +life. She it is, often, who must hold husband to wife, and parent +to child; she it is after all who must interpret the aims of the +Association, and translate its noble theories into practice. (Ay! and +there's the rub.) She it is, who must harmonize great ideal principles +with real and sometimes sorry conditions. A Kindergarten Association +stands for certain things before the community. It is the +kindergartner alone who can prove the truth, who can substantiate the +argument, who can show the facts. There is no more difficult +vocation in the universe, and no more honorable or sacred one. If a +kindergartner is looked upon, or paid, or treated as a nursery maid, +her ranks will gradually be recruited from that source. The ideal +teacher of little children is not born. We have to struggle on as best +we can, without her. She would be born if we knew how to conceive her, +how to cherish her. She needs the strength of Vulcan and the delicacy +of Ariel; she needs a child's heart, a woman's heart, a mother's +heart, in one; she needs clear judgment and ready sympathy, strength +of will, equal elasticity, keen insight, oversight; the buoyancy of +hope, the serenity of faith, the tenderness of patience. "The hope of +the world lies in the children." When we are better mothers, when men +are better fathers, there will be better children and a better world. +The sooner we feel the value of beginnings, the sooner we realize that +we can put bunglers and botchers anywhere else better than in nursery, +kindergarten, or primary school (there are no three places in the +universe so "big with Fate"), the sooner we shall arrive at better +results. + +I am afraid it is chiefly women's work. Of course men can be useful +in many little ways; such as giving money and getting other people +to give it, in influencing legislation, interviewing school boards, +securing buildings, presiding over meetings, and giving a general air +of strength and solidity to the undertaking. But the chief plotting +and planning and working out of details must be done by women. The +male genius of humanity begets the ideas of which each century has +need (at least it is so said, and I have never had the courage to deny +it or the time to look it up); but the female genius, I am sure, has +to work them out, and "to help is to do the work of the world." + +If one can give money, if only a single subscription, let her give +it; if she can give time, let her give that; if she has no time for +absolute work, perhaps she has time for the right word spoken in due +season; failing all else, there is no woman alive, worthy the name, +who cannot give a generous heartthrob, a warm hand-clasp, a sunny, +helpful smile, a ready tear, to a cause that concerns itself with +childhood, as a thank-offering for her own children, a pledge for +those the hidden future may bring her, or a consolation for empty +arms. + +There is always time to do the thing that _ought_ to be, that _must_ +be done, and for that matter who shall fix the limit to our powers of +helpfulness? It is the unused pump that wheezes. If our bounty be dry, +cross, and reluctant, it is because we do not continually summon and +draw it out. But if, like the patriarch Jacob's, our well is deep, it +cannot be exhausted. While we draw upon it, it draws upon the unspent +springs, the hill-sides, the clouds, the air, and the sea; and the +great source of power must itself suspend and be bankrupt before ours +can fail. + +The kindergarten is not for the poor child alone, a charity; neither +is it for the rich child alone, a luxury, corrective, or antidote; +but the ideas of which it tries to be the expression are the proper +atmosphere for every child. + +It is a promise of health, happiness, and usefulness to many an +unfortunate little waif, whose earthly inheritance is utter blackness, +and whose moral blight can be outgrown and succeeded by a development +of intelligence and love of virtue. + +The child of poverty and vice has still within him, however overlaid +by the sins of ancestry, a germ of good that is capable of growth, if +reached in time. Let us stretch out a tender strong hand, and touching +that poor germ of good lifting its feeble head in a wilderness of +evil, help it to live and thrive and grow! + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Children's Rights + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDREN'S RIGHTS *** + +***** This file should be named 10335.txt or 10335.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/3/10335/ + +Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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