Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-01-26
Ban FnnoiSoo Kini.uur,.u.


One Of the sunniest chcrl.I.. An IN
this broad land Is the Silver gtreei
kindergarten in San Francisco. The
work Of this school In its.inception vas
very great and sometimes very ds-
couraging.
The idea Of true threefold develop
ment-moral, mental. and physical--is
Ia ground work Of the kindergarten
Theory. and Il was necessary TO senar-
ate these small elves from their preyi-
Gus environment to keep them from
numbering each other before the real
poetry Of education could be put into
daily practice.
TWAS some time before they could 90
down stairs In line without precipitat-
ing each other head foremost by kicks
and furtive punches. The boy at the
end never failed to remind the boy at the
head that che d lay him out nat If he
got into the yard frsr'-a threat which
always embarrassed free and expedi-
tious exit.
To give a faint conception of the
crude material this school works upon,
take the saying of q 5-year-old boy,
who, when asked il he'd like to play
the drum for the children's march,
"went into fits of laughter, and be-
tween the paroxysms calculated: "a
drumP Well. I.should smile. Whatll
yer have nextP This is h-ll of a
school! ~ Writing of this incident,
Miss Smith, very naturally. follows the
blank cartridge in the urchin's last ex-
clamation with the parenthptic apology:
"Pardon this profanity. 1t is feeble
beside the remarks we hear every
day."
Two little fellows who had enioyed
the advantage of the school for time,
until they were beginning to show its
civilizing and Christianizing influence,
broke out into the following colloquy
one day, in the midst of their drawing:
Jack-You're chewing gum again,
Joe BraggP
Joe-Well, Miss Kate amt lookin'.
Jack-Well, God'll see you, sure
enough, yer know that, Joe Bragg!
Joe-Oh, God can't tell.
Jack-Yer needn't be so sure. Yer
oct yer life He'll stand by Miss Kate
every time.
The charity kindergarten does not
lose sight of the child at her school,
room door. sShe knows his home.
the prenatal and postnatal influences
which have made him what he is. She
knows the mother and father, the
amount of rent they pay, and whether
they have money to pay it. She is the
confidant of many a weary, heart-brok-
en-, discouraged, aye, and abused, wo-
man."
Here is the story of deserted wife,
who reclaimed a miserable husband
through her little son. one of the kind
ergarten fledglings:
''She began, at my suggestion, send
ing pieces of Jacks work to his father,
who was in the mines, and from whom
she had received no letters or money
for two years and half. We received
no answer, and made second trial.
Jack and l labored over beautiful in-
vention in drawing, with colored pen
ellis. (Jack was baby, AZ years old,
by the way.) Then we made two gold
and scarlet weaving mats into shav-
ing-case, aud, last of all, printed this
note, with infinite care and trouble:
Glove my papa. ! wish he'd come
40 see jack
.'Bravo! victory! An answer from
Y papa inclosing 800, asking if that was
really jacks work; and wasn't he an
awful smart boy, and if he looked like
him. After renewed attentions from
our side, Jacks papa came down from
the mines, found his wife more agree
able than he had imagined, and his boy
aperfect marvel. TIE final conse-
quence was that Jacks papa stayed ut
home, and has supported his family
ever since"