The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-08
A TALK OF UNDERGRADUATES.
Mrs. Olive Weston's Lecture on the
New Education

New Education
Mrs. Olive Weston delivered the first
Of her series of lectures at Hunter hall
last night. The audience was composed,
with few exceptions, Of school teachers
and persons interested in kindergarten
work. Mrs. Weston S remarks, however,
were not directed to teachers in particu-
lar, but proved of just as much interest
to the fathers and other non-teachers in
attendance
In commencing her lecture, Mrs. Wes-
| ton impressed upon her hearers the neces-
Sity of cooperation No great good, 80
she said can ever be ACCOMPLISHED in a
community by one individual alone.
Napoleon, without his veterans, was
| helpless. Horace Mann would not have
! deserved the name Of the father OF the
American public school system, if other
educators had not joined hands with him.
Great things can be accomplished by Co
operation, but the trouble lies in inducing
this working together. Everybody is in
terested in different things.
There is nOthingof universal interest,"
said Mrs. Weston, save, perhaps, the
baby. A tiny babe is great thing, and
whys Because, il il we see all the pOssi-
blIltleS of the future man or woman. In
that child lies the germ of all that is
great, grand and good; sleeping germs
' y
life of the plant, or the lower forms
of animal life, the character and
usefulness in the state of maturity de-
ponds upon the care and training in child
hood The child is father to the man.
and the honest man, the thief, the crimi-
nal and the just man are made under u
years of age"
Mrs. Weston showed the necessity of
the kindergarten work in early life. She
said that in Chicago and other large cities
these schools are established in the home
of filth and crime in the worst parts of
the cities. The amount of good they &C
complish is marvellous. "The first teacher
a child should have is its mother
To this end, the parent should
know the childs inner nature, and
the laws of its development. After
this training the child should pass to the
environment of more definite one-the
school,
The age which Mrs. Weston thinks
proper for entering children at kinder
garten school is years. She expressed
herself as astonished at the eagerness
with which the south took up the work.
Az the conclusion Of her remarks
Superintendent Baker spoke briefly, and
sand that he would like to give the sys-
TEN test MIR. Perry SolOmons spoke
with much warmth of the good the kim
dergartens can do, as shown by his
children. Mr.. Arthur j. O'Hara, principal
of st. Patrick's school, also addressed
the audience, and was followed by
Col. Mercer. In the course of his remarks
Col. Mercer said: Although, for the
present, Mrs. Weston S work may produce
no immediate effect, yet it will serve to
awaken the school authorities and show
them the need of some such system"
Mrs. Weston's next texture is at
o'clock this afternoon All who attend
will, no doubt, be well entertained. Mrs
Weston has been carrying on her present
work for nine years. Her home
is in Chicago, and she is spending
the winter in the south establishing
kindergarten associations in all the rep
resentative cities. She comes here from
Jacksonville, where she met with great
success in her work. In Chicago the
kindergarteus are part of the public
schools, and besides this there are four
normal schools for teachers of the system
Although but comparatively new in the
south, kindergartens have long been in
existence in the United States