The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-03-11

"a nv giving tire dormant facilities a spur
20 Li,her action; tn; what We do not
fuIIy understand, | think, Is what 10 s
Kind Of work is dong iOI wonen-ior the
daughtals. the future mothers OF the ma
ton. IL IL giving them BeT and conse-
Grated views o( childhood and motneI-
mood, as we'll as Of the profession o.!
teaching; giving them method oil eo1-
cation after natures own heart, when
,ho,, nav nae in the "sweet. sale corner
Of the household fire." behind the heads
of their own children, or for the children
of others. DIR. Wm. T. Harris, our
United States Commissioner OF Educa-
ton. Saws: There is no philosophy Tor
tba youn1 woman to be compared with
the philosophy that Froebel has put into
his work with the children" And again
he writes: "Perhaps the greatest merit
of FroebePs system is found in the Tact
that IL furnishes a deep philosophy Tor
the teachers. Most Uedagogfe works
furnish only a code OF management lor
the school room. Froebel gives view
of the world Ia substantial agreement
STith the spiritual systems Of philosophy
that have prevailed in all times. 1t Is, L
am persnaded, this fact that explains the
almogt fanatical zeal OF his followers
and. what is far more significant, the
fact that those who read his work are al.
ways growing in insight, and In power CT
higher achievement"
When DIR. Harris, educator, Philoso-
pher and metaphysician speaks thus, We
NAV be we'll assured that kindergarten
training has, indeed, Wes-denned
value in mind and soul culture.
Froebel, more than any otner euuca-
tor, perhaps, satisfies the soul as wen 40
tbs mind of the student. Many othef
men preceded him, he was only the
growth of his time; but he reduEed iheo-
Ties To practice and trans ported the vague
and shadovy dreams of other educators
into q rich world Of reality. Th-re can
he no happier people than those who be-
lieva in FroebePs principles They have
a beacon star of faith in their work
faith in the universally and immutabil-
ity Of the law of love when it Is applied
intelIikently, faith in childhood and Its
original purity, faith in humanity and lis
ultimate destiny.
To those who study this new education
life is no longer q mystery. Many 3 girl
has said, when the purpose OF the KIN
dergarten began to dawn upon her, that
she then first understood the meaning OF
life. Can there be q more eloquent COM
mentary on the value of the study when
such an exclamation is heard from a
Young girl lust entering life, with all its
hopes and entertainments shining before
her eyes2
The fact that the kindergarten is in
truth a school of life for women IS as yet
but imperfectly understood. AT the
graduation exercises of a training school
which 1 attended last year a gentleman
sat beside me who appeared much inter-
ested in the occasion. At the close of
the programme he remarked TO me- and
I quote the remark because it is one
which is often made: This class OF
young women seems 80 charming and In
telIIRent one cannot but regret that their
teachers devotion and their own talents
should be so largely lost, for suppose
me- &c of them will marry in q few years,
and like their plano-playing and their
French, this newly acquired knowledge
will be quickly dropped"
"My dear sir" replied, "you cannot
have a conception OF what kindergarten
training means. I suppose many OF
these young women will marry.
wi | even go so lar as 10
hope il. They are not vowed to /
cslibacy, as far rs / am aware, and a
man would be blind and stupid indeed
who could pass them by, but the beauty
of kindergarten training is this-it will
not only make them better kindergart-
ners and teachers and governesses, bat |
better sisters, better wives and mothers, |
yes, and sweeter, more cheerful old !
maids, simply because it makes them !
better women"
This was all my answer at the time,
but l might have gone on to say-the |
IL it be true training, so adj |
Tres es the deepest, TRUST instincts /
If women that its hold grows more and |
more irresistible the farther the student |
advances. An idea, a conception, it Is !
20 large, so many sided, that year after |
year. as ons bends her energies to it's full |
she finds that what she |
Jaw 1t first was but dim outline of the |
'eal thing, as the landscape that looked |
blurred and confused in the morning |
mist grows ever clearer under the rays of |
he MONDAY sun. 1t has that in it /
which ought TO make q woman more |
broad-minded, earnest logi- |
al, original, self-reliant and patient. Ii |
does not then the soil is too barren for |
he growth OF such sweet flowers, but at /
my rate the nature will be enriched un-
Ter its Influence, girlish thoughtlessness
md frivolty slips off like an outer gar
nent aud the true woman stands re-
7ealed, bright, earnest, tender, strong
lot perfect, but longing to be and trying /
% be-a woman who has lived with chill |
iren, beloved because she has loved, get
ing because she has given, growing be-
,ause she has lived, developing because |
he has thought, happy because she has
conferred happiness, good, or at least |
better, through trying to make others |
better. |
No woman need be ashamed of enthu- |
Iiasm in such q woi K, though her enthu- |
.issm must always be tempered with dis
,retion and eaTnestness. She must be-
ieve in her vocation with all her heart
and foster the deep conviction that she
has her hand on one of the levers which
is going to move the world toward Gods
hope and thought OF it. If We love the
first add best, our life-work,
small or large next, and put into it all
the grace and force of q sweet and strong
then and then only, can We
draw others to a higher level than the
one we stand upon, that
The good begun by rs may onward flow
In many. a branching stream and wider
grow"
Never tell US, then, dear masculine
critics, that this sort Of work will be-