American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-08-17
educational department.
Kindergartens.

tience characteristic of the German tenn
permanent, combined with the philosophi-
cal tendency Of the German Intellect
The poets have long classed children and
flowers together; it remained to Frebel
to show the similarity between the right
culture of the child and the plant.
A gardener does not endeayor to make all
his plants blossom into roses or cammellias;
he knows he could:not if he would. lie
is charmed with Nature endless variety,
and wishes not to thwart her own sweet
plan. In the Kindergarten the tadiridu-
aijtY of the child is never sacrificed to
routine instruction. On the contrary, its
development is indirectly encouraged by
the play given to all the mental faculties.
| As for instance, the artistic element is at
once appealed to, and, molding in clay,
drawing with chalk or peueil, or when too
young to handle the pencil, pricking with
pin the outlines of birds, etc, drawn on
paper by the teacher, form part of every
days exercises.
The social instinct of children is graft
fed by the society of their equals in the
kindergarten, and yet they are kept under
healthful restriction by the wise and new
er-ceasng oversight Of the genial teacher.
They have the pleasure Of playing and
working in company, but at the same time
rival pretensions and the thousand and
one forms of the selfish instinct are check
ed by an appeal to the affections or the
conscience.
Children are eager to learn. Their
restless curiosity is well known to all pre-
occupied mothers, who find it impossible
to slake this perpetual thirst of mind
yet they soon tire of one subject, and are
disgusted with the book or the teacher
that wearies their attention. In the
kindergarten while it is the aim of the
teacher to occupy constantly, the child
is never allowed to feel weary of learning,
and thus form habits of inattention. In
struction is invested with all the charm
and variety that Nature offersin the count
less SUGGESTIONS and changes Of the out
ward world.
Again: In childhood the senses are in
their fullest activity. The child observes
details which quite escape the duller
senses of the adult In the Kindergar-
ten this fact is seized upon as the basis of
all instructions of scientific character.
Objects themselves are presented for in
vestigation and examination. Leaves,
plants, insects, shells, and--animals are
the subject-colored prints, all find their
appropriate place and use in the Kinder
garten. Observations are 6ragn ont of
the children in regard to these objects;
thus they learn to think for themselves,
and also to cypress each thought as it ri
ses.
Too much cannot be said in favor of
any system of education which cultivates
this po,cer Of WteroRce The gift of
speech, that golden gift--the distinguishing
characteristic of man--is the very iacul-
ty whose culture we seem most often to
leave to chance. How few people talk
half as we'll as they can think How
few, however large their powers of obser-
walton, can so describe place or thing as
to make it a LIVING reality to the auditor.
What an immense motive power does
that man wield who is capable of pour
ing his living, burning thought into the
crystal forms of language, leaving them
as " things of beauty forever" in the
memory of his fellows. Is it not worth
while to begin the cultivation of this
wonderful power even in childhood
The teacher of the kindergarten, like
the flower garden, preserves and cultivates
the mental popularity of each child
while destroying those hurtful weeds of
selfishness and forwardness that spring
up in every mind, however fair its ten
dcncies but is not satisfied with this a
lone. 1t has been well said, that the
mind can afford to wait for the body, be
cause it survives it; but that the body
cannot wait for the mind. If the educa-
ton of the mind takes precedence of
that of the body, the latter is stunted or
irretrievably ruined; not unfrequently
dragging down the mind into its deformi-
ty. 1t is not necessary to sacrafce Ell
| ther the mortal or immortal in education.
The mind and body should grow togeth-
er, and we believe both viii develop more
harmoniously if both be wisely exercised.
The true Kindergarten provides for both
the mental and physical restlessness of
children. The utmost freedom of mo-
ton, consistent with regard to the COM
fort of others, is allowed while plays and
songs representing the labors Of the far