The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-03-29
TESTIMONY FOR KINDERGARTEN,
Refining Influence Among Children
Of San Francisco.
Free Kindergarten Have Taken Babies
Prom the CurbstOne-TOunB Lives
In New Atmosphere.

The excellent work of the K; L
ergarten in San Francisco is 81 n
to some extent in the followin K
tract from Mrs. Cooper's annu re-
port of the Golden Gate Kinder
garten for,i893:
Ip':5s not fail to give you the teSti;;
IRONY of one of our most successful
primary principals, who has been in
the school department for over twen-
ty-five years. Superintendent SWEET,
a notable educator, in his annual re-
port, has the following. He save:
The training received in the Free
kindergarten schools Is having a
marked effect on the children that
enter the receiving classes OF the pub
lie schools. / asked Miss Agnes Man
ming, principal of the Webster School,
one Of the largest primary schools in
the city, to give me written opinion
on this point, and received the follow.
ing statement:
iSupeTintendent SUett:
DEAR SIR: wish to tell you why
1 am 80 strongly in favor of Kinder
gartens.
NV school is in a crowded neighbor-
tenement houses and from the narrow
streets south of Market street.
Before the days OF the kindergarten
these children, as soon as they could
crawl, spent their walking lives on
the sidewalks. From the age of two
to six years they pursued the educa-
ton of the street. The consequences
were that at six they came to US with
fund of information OF the worst ues-
criptiOn, and q vocabulary that might
excite the envy of the Barbary Coast.
At the commencement of each new
year they tumbled over each other In
their rude haste to take up the unex-
plored life of school. They were in
tens, fifties, hundreds in our yards.
The novelty being past, the hard
struggle commenced of keeping them
from Joining the army of truants, and
leading them into habits Of work and
cleanliness. When L made my ap-
pearance it was the signal for snch
asides, "Cheese it ~ "Lie low"
HHere's the boss, kids ~
A freckle-faced, blue-eyed, inno-
cent-looking boy would shock ana
astound us by swearing as roundly as
a Nevada mule-driver. he had -FOUR
years of street training, and 1t was up
hill work to uproot the i'll weeds 80
rankly sown, and q slow task Guilt
waiting q different and better crop.
The Kindergartens have changed
all this. They have taken the babies
that used to be consigned to the curb
stone, trained and guided them along
q path of development. They have
wisely attempted no examining of the
infant brain with premature scholar
ship. They have surrounded the
young lives with fresh atmosphere.
They have passed the hours in pleas
ant games, taught a purer language
a3Sl 9sd- the littlO feet into n nav civil
iZation.
The children of tenement-houses
and narrow streets still come in tens,
fifties and hundreds to begin life in
new school at the beginning OF each
school year. I hear no more, how
ever, the wild phrases OF the Barbary
Coast or the mule-drivers' oaths. The
little ones are clean, self-respe citing,
eager for knowledge. They have opin-
ions of their own on many Things,
and are quite anxious to express
them. They neither know how to
read nor to write. They have been
taught to see, to observe, to tell about
what they see and hear. They have
been taught to respect older people,
to be honest, to tell the truth.
1t is q rare thing now to find a child
that does not know 1t is wrong 10
steal. If you meet one you may be
sure he has never been in Kinder
Qarten. 1t used to be a common
thing to find blase villains of six, who
would steal anything on which they
could lay their hands. They were al
ways Finding" their neighbors' pen
ellis, sponges, strings, pictures, books
or stray toys. When caught in the
act, they would grin in your face and
tell YOU, "Them as finds, keeps"
[ think you will now understand
why I am so strongly in favor OF
Kindergartens.
AGNES NJ. MANNING,
Webster School, July q, 1892.
/ have also received the invaluable
testimony from Chief Crowley of our
police department. 1t speaks volumes
in behalf of our work:
OFFICE CHIEF OF POLICE,
SAN FRANCISCO, August IS, 1897.
Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, President OF
Golden Gate kindergarten Asso'
citation:
DEAR MADAM: 1 can cheerfully
bear witness to the good accomplished
by the establishment of the Free
Kindergartens in this city.
NV opinion in this matter IS oase9
upon the reports that have received
from police officers.
Very respectfully,
p. CROWLEY,
"a 81