Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-02-04

laoleS LOT MS nurses ana his mother. But
coats! he had coats enough for his whole
tribe; as if his father had, maybe, been
moving his secondhand clothing store and
loaded down his little Joseph to save cart
age.
And Roland" was here also. "You
are an Englishman, are you not, Roland ?"
said the kindly lady who led me about
amorg those who loved her. And little
yellow headed Lord Roland gave her a
courtly bow in answer that Lorne himself
need not have been ashamed of. Let me
| observe that Roland's soft Saxon hair was
/ neatly combed and cared for, and his rosy
face was very clean. He is still in petit
coats. And his long, checkered dress.
reaching almost to his heels, reminded me
somewhat of an English ulster that had
not yet got its growth. But l must admit
that 1t was very clean, even to its ragged
strings. Dear, pretty, dimpled little Lord
Roland, of the San Francisco Free Kinder
garten maybe he at least has a mother.
| hope so, for he is as loving as a lamb.
"These are our two favorites," said the
principal finally, as she led two curious
! little creatures before me. | think she
must have at that moment dug them up
! Ohb Vi pNh, hGIG 81 SlldIl. So wee,
wee, us the Scotch would say. And one
was kanaka, as brown as nut, and as
sweet as nut l should say The other
had lousy and toSsy head of flax. Both
were very clean, but neither big enough TO
walk. They could barely toddle 1t did
not take very wise man to see that the
favorites" were favorites simply because
they were so small and helpless. Oh, what
, a glorious, good world this is, and always
will be, so long as woman remains in it to
help the helpless, to give all her strength
to those not strong enough to stand alone.
What do you think of these kindergar-
tens" | asked of the only policeman |
met in the vicinity of this place For
have known the man of old and | remem-
Der the time when drunken men Sbrawling
women, and dissolute children made MANY
policeman, instead of only the one now,
necessary in this quarter
He now quietly walked down the street
with me and said, after much praise and
favorable comment, IF | could open
plenty of kindergartens, sir, l could most
| shut up the penitentiary, SIR
| think the man with the club and but
tons is about right.
A dear, sweet friend of mine, or rather
of humanity, the wife of President Diaz,
has opened a house in the city of Mexico,
where working women may leave their
children through the day while out to serv-
ice. | am going to write her at once to
turn the place into kindergarten And
if some one, two, three, or ten good patient
and stout-hearted American girls will only
go down there to the City of Mexico and
show her how!
here append the printed report Of this
sort Of work in California. And l must
beg your pardon, dear reader, for getting
down out of the clouds and the sweet air
of the Sierras, into the dirt and back
| streets of San Francisco. But if you could
see the heart that these women put in their
work, if you could see the big work and
the small reward, the great praise and the
little pay, why, you would love them. and
you would go and see them and help them,
with best wishes and kind words And
you would love and adore Adolph Sutro.
Miss Croker, and all these other good and
great people in the background, who pav
the bills and make these big-little free
schools possible. But here is What the
head Of this largest school of the kind has
to say of the work in California generally
and her own place of work in particular as
we'll:
"The era of free kindergarten in Cali
fornia began with the year 1878, but some
thing had been done for the introduction
of the system into San Francisco a few
years previous.
There may have been various efforts
made to teach the kindergarten system in
California by persons possessing some
knowledge of FrebePs educational meth
DDS; but | can obtain no information COW
ering any successful attempt previous to that
of Frau Bertha Senior, who came to this
coast in 1873, and had for some wears a
large and flourishing Communication
kindergarten. She interested many rer-
sons IN the project, and a society was
formed which purchased a property on
Turk street for school purposes, and other
wise aided in the endeavor to plant this
system on California soil The society,
however, was dismembered at the end of
the year, and since then Frau Sender has
taught smaller classes in her own house.
She has now retired from active work. al
though she is much interested in all that
pertains to the kindergarten.
g As pupil, in her younger girlhood, of
Frpbel himself, and as a friend and pupil
of Frebers widow, Frau Senior has been
a most worthy exponent of the kinder
garten METHOD and any woman who in
dulges in a personal alteration of the unde-
niabiy great, as well as sincerely good,
educator can talk with her without hay
ing her high ideas of the man disturbed
or changed.
"This school on Silver street was the
first free kindergarten west of the Rocky
mountains, and the Directors of the San
Francisco Public kindergarten Society,
who were Its sponsors, were most wise and
efficient. On being called by them to
organize the new institution, | came from
private teaching in Southern California,
and had the rather difficult task of en-
deavoring to build, wisely and well,
foundation plan for future work of this
character among poor and neglected child
rem. The first Trustees of the society
were mostly German and Jewish ladies and
gentlemen, progressive in their ideas, en-
ergetic in their labors, and generous in
their contributions. 1t was their wish.
from the beginning, to interest the general
public, and not to fetter their work with
any narrow distinctions of class or sect.
Co Tic Society grew IN strength ana efh-
cheney, month by month, its members COM
ing from widely differing sources, but all
animated with so much good will toward
the beautiful and generous charity which
was their common care, that there could
not fail to be entire harmony. This society
is still in active service, though retaining
only two of its original officers, Judge
Heydenteldt and Miss Emma Marwedel.
Its kindergarten is now located on Seventh
and Market streets.
"All our first attempts, doubtless brist-
ling with the faults of inexperience, were
kindly accepted by the public with far
more enthusiasm than they deserved. In
deed, from the very beginning, kindergar-
ten work in California has had the most
signal success. The people have given
their raonev freolr and arladl,- tho Eindo--