The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-08-13

narrow outlook his has been. He
brings her a faded pansy from the
yard and says, do you know what
kind of q tree this grew on?" Or he
produces a stone from his pocket and
announces that 1t grew in his garden.
His school life is awakening his inter-
est in the world around him, and now
he wishes to know the why, whence
and whittier Of things. With fifty chill
dren In her care, and the scheme Of
work to be accomplished in the first
year ever before her eyes, his teacher
does her best to crafty his awakening
mind. But the time is 80 limited and
the requirements so great that each
one of the fifty cannot be given the in
divldual attention that he needs. Over
and over again we hear the primary
teacher saying, ooh, how wish that
my children might have had Kinder
garten training"
We often hear 1t said that the Kin
dergarten is only a place for play. but
underlying this play there is world of
meaning. Through the spontaneous,
yet directed, play, the child learns to
invent, construct, discover, investigate.
He is led to a thoughtful consideration
of others rights, and he forms habit
of voluntary right action in little
things. Is not this alone of inestima-
BILE value? Is it not the most impor-
tant lesson to be learned by all citi-
zens OF our republic?
Passing by the ethical side, let us
consider the practical teaching of the
| Kindergarten. 1t takes the child,
whose only playground is the street,
who has no conception of obedience,
whose one principle of action is that
might makes right" and what does 1t
do for him? 1t develops a spirit of law
and order. 1t gives him sympathetic
| knowledge Of animals. and Of the occu-
| pations Of men. Plant life is also care
| fully observed. Birds and flowers are
not every day affairs to many of our
| children.
Manual training, about which so
much is said nowadays, has always
held prominent place in the Kinder
| garten. Little fingers are trained to
dexterity by the occupation, and later
on, writing presents but little difficulty
| to the well-trained muscles. 1t is al
most painful to watch the efforts of the
unframed child to hold his pencil dur
| ing the first writing lesson, while the
| Kindergarten child guides his with per-
| feet ease, This ease Of doing is what
| characterizes the Kindergarten child
| His manual training has been an ex-
cellent preparation for drawing and
| writing. His study and classficati
| Of form enables him to easily remem-
Der and recognize forms of words, so
| that reading presents but little difficult
! ty to him. Many of the occupations in
volve work with numbers, so his mind
| is not an entire blank in that direction.
| His interest in nature study has been
awakened and the primary teacher
can easily guide it along the best
paths. His happy life in the Kinder
garten has led him to expect an equal
ly happy life in the primary school, so
he is ready to apply himself cheerfully
to whatever work may be presented
him.
Tt Is an acknowledged fact that the
Kindergarten child learns more readi-
ly and covers more ground in a given
time than child who has not had the
training. Looking at it from an utif-
tartan standpoint, it would seem that
the Kindergarten is good inasmuch as
1t saves time.
When we consider the child's needs,
and see how fully the Kindergarten
satisfies them, it would seem that we
could not rest till opportunity for Kin
dergarten training be provided for ev-
cry child.
I have in mind a family of Italians,
consisting Of the parents and four chill
dren. They live in two rooms. The
oldest girl, aged Eve, is in the lowest
primary room at school. Knowing lit
tie Of our language, less Of obedience,
and nothing of cleanliness, she was not
ready for regular school work. So far
as possible she has received the train
ing she most needed. She is now a
loving, obedient little girl, who runs to