Omaha daily bee., 1883-06-29

Dick Hall, w. f. Copeland, w. A. L.
Gibbon, with Christ. Specht, Henry
Livesey and DIR. A. A. Parker, all work.
ing devotedly and enthusiastically to pro-
mote Omaha's educational facilities.
oHILDRENs' MINDS.
While visiting the schools of the city
the representative Of this paper made
some particular Investigations in the
primary departments, particularly at the
Central school, as to the amount of gen.
eral information possessed by the little
ones, not with the idea of depreciating
the instruction afforded by their teachers
in any way, but simply as an amusing
study. A number of years ago an attempt
was made in Berlin to collect statistics in
regard to the notions entertained by chill
dren in primary schools regarding some
Of the commonest. objects of life and late
ly in Boston. DR.. g. Stanley Hall has
made some very painstaking experiments
in the primary schools there, and he pub
fishes the result in the last Princeton Re-
view. Gas a reasoning electric light, he
says, ''might honestly doubt the exist
ence Of such things as shadows, because,
however near or numerous, they are al
ways hidden from it, so the most intelli-
gent adults quite commonly fail to recog-
nize sides of their own children's souls
which can be seen only by strategy"
Among city girls, he found that 1S per
cent were ignorant of what a cow is, and
80 per cent were unable to locate their
ribs.
No such lamentable ignorance as this
was discovered in the survey Of the Omaha
schools, nor was it expected that there
would be, for western children are more
familiar with natural objects than Boston
children. A little girl from Boston who
had recently come to Omaha possessed,
her teacher said, ''quite an idea of writ
ing, evenly and continuously, but not
the general information. All the Omaha
children who were asked knew not only
what cow were, but how butter was
made. They located their ribs correctly
in every instance, but in all the primary
grades insisted that they had only two
ribs, one on each side. Not until the
fourth grade, G class, was reached was a
correct reply received, except in one
instance; a daughter of Mr.. Coos, in
Miss Buchanan's room, said that there
were twelve ribs on each side. And
there is a lingering suspicion in the re-
p%orter's mind that by the time he reached
the fourth grade his questions had pre-
ceded him and the children had been
quietly coached"
''GoD's FACE
The theories held by the youngsters
concerning the heavenly bodies revealed,
better than anything else, the peculiar
workings Of the infant mind. Quite a
number thought that the sun was sire"
quite as good a reply as an astronomer
could make; but many thought it was
made of clouds, or of gold, and hat the
moon was a mans face in the sky. Three
still held to the opinion that the moon
was made of green cheese, and one little
girl said, 81 think it is Gods face, sir"
Stockings, they said, came from ''the
store" from Santa Claus, from Califor-
| MIA, but close questioning Lowed they
all knew pretty well how stockings were
made. The word holiday" was the
cause of many funny remarks, when the
meaning of the first half of the word was
asked. One thought hat it had some
thing to do with 'hollow," another as
ISOLATED it with ''holly," another with
"hole, " a space in time. In the fourth
grade A, the correct answer came, a
''holy day." originally. The definitions
of its use included, because soldiers
were killed and we put flags ON theil
graves" ITO put flowers on papa's and
mammals graves" because the chill
dren were too tired to come to school.
- 5000 IL - Al
Seacher wanted to go somewhere" Thu
last is capital.
Being asked to name right and wron.
acts, there was a noticeable divergence
between the replies OF the girls and tn
boys, as also between the responses of thu
first grade and the higher ones. In tn,
first grade the little boys said it was RICH
to ''keep STILL" ''eat breakfast" ''di,
caves" help father" while it was wrong
to ''steal,h RUNAWAY" and "swear.
The girls thought it nice to ''ear1
money" ''work for mamma" ''take car
of the baby" and naughty to talk il
school," ''throw stones" or ''mak
mother nervous by noise" In the secon,
grade the religious idea seemed to com
to the front. The boys liked to go T.
church, to Sunday school, and ''give t
, the poor" the girls to "get tickets a
Sunday school," and were evidently littl
housekeepers, for they liked to Cirrus,
chairs" ''sweep," ''go to the store,
"keep %clean," and play with little brothe
!, and sister. The boys thought it bad t
: "play hockey" slight" ''tease papa fo
candy" and ''tell on each other" tn
, girls to "tell fibs, " ''run in the street,
, or ''get mad at sisters"
, In the third grade much the same re
, sponses were given. The boys woul
! "rake the yard" "chop wood" and tn
8 girls are getting old enough to "mak
!, beds" 'wash windows" and milk tn
! cow" One boy remarked it was "wron
to pull up mas flowers" and the girl
q said it was not right to ''break dishes,
, and ''break slate pencils" By the tim
9 we reach the fourth grade the answel
6 verge on etiquette. The girls woul
"step softly" ''close doors without Sian
!. ming ;" ''be ladylike;" the boys though
: it improper to ''slap," ''be sassy"
! ''pert;" one said it was a right act to ''li
your hat to a girl when you see her. an
!, another ''to pick up thing that CIR
: drop"