The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-04-23
In the College Settlement House
on New High Street
THE CAROLINE M. SEVERANCE
That Is the Name Given II by the
Kindergarten Association
Small Tots of Various NationaIities Enjoy the
First Session With Visible Good
Results

The first fruits of the kindergarten
mass meeting held a few weeks ago were
borne yesterday morning by the COM
mencement of the Caroline M. Severance
Free kindergarten. in the College Settle
ment house, $50 New High street.
Mrs Severance has been the head and
front and mainstay of the Free Kinder
garten association in Los Angeles ever
since it started, ten or twelve years ago;
and it is due to her energy and untiring
patience in the face of many obstacles
that the association has been held to-
gether.
When the imperative need OF q free kin
dergarten in that locality was discovered
by the workers in the college settlement.
Mrs. Severance called a mass meeting for
the purpose of arousing renewed and
more widespread interest in the associa
ton and it's work.
Several Of the prominent educators in
and about the city took part in the pro-
gramme, viewed the kindergarten and its
influence from various standpoints, a
large sum was raised by subscription then
and there. and the first result is made
apparent in the actual starting of the
little school above mentioned.
The kindergarten association pays the
salaries of the teachers, the college set
Element furnishes the rooms their care
the use of the piano, and in measure
stands sponsor for the personnel of the
pupils. That is, the settlement workers,
En- wing the families of that section,
have chosen from the children those who
were particularly amenable to the kinder
garten influence.
Their accommodations are limited, and
twenty pupils are all that can be cared
for. Mrs. Lulu Mitchell, the head of the
school, has been studying faithfully for
the past two years, taking the regular
course, and Miss Gray is her assistant.
La Maestro. as the children call Mrs
Mitchell. has a sweet, lovabe face and Il
most winning personality that make her
peculiarly adapted to kindergarten work
She and Miss Gray were both present yes
terday in the little house on New High
street, where every day in the week good
work is being accomplished along settle
ment lines. which has been spoken of in
detail before in these columns.
Miss Foster and Miss Stoddart of the
Settlement ASSOCIATION were also present,
and eight or ten small people were deeply
absorbed in probably th If first expert
ence in anything that appealed to their
minds and hearts. These tots are be-
tween and years OF age; two are Arab
ians, others French. still others Italians
and the rest are Spanish Americans.
They revc in such picturesque names as
Abraham, Arnolfo, Bodilio and Hortense ;
Artemisia. Chita, Babita and Chinita !;
Pablo, Alberta and Rafael; names that it
will take all the advantages to be derived
from Il thorough absorption of the kin.
dergarten principles to live up to. They
assem- bed yesterday morning at o'clock
with mingled expressions of determina-
ton and despair; they didn't know what
was coming, put they meant to see it
through.
After songs and games and marches
ythI nh Oft IS = I,n
kindergarten school, the small people
grouped themselves about low table, in
little stubby legged chairs and were
treated to an introduction to the first
gift. y which means that a number of soft
worsted balls are displayed, little
couplet repeated over and over. explain,
ing the. shape and. cOlors. and tossing,
bouncing and swinging motions were
shown and explained.
Then each child was given number of
wooden beads, also round and of the
same colors as the balls lying on the Ia
BILE in front of them. and they were COM
pared with the balls an the sim ilari.y in
shape aud color We're pointed out, thereby
impressing the Lesson on the little minds,
which had, without knowingsit absorbed
the foundations for learning sound and
music, keeping time, recognizing diff
ferences in shapes, colors, and motions.
and incidentally learning order, polite
ness ana klnQneSS Tor OJnerS.
After the first gift had been explained.
there were more songs and games, little
hand exercises, and a farewell song: then
came the ceremony of accommodating hats
and a cordial leave-taking was gone
through with, and the first session of the
Caroline NJ. Severance Free kindergarten
was over.
The gradual change of expression on
the faces of those small beings during the
eyprpiSps a Sipht a ( Interesting "a il
was convincing. and the most aggravated
kindergarten skeptic would have been
obliged to confess that, as the lntellects
of the little people were touched and
played upon by the sweet-faced La Macs
ira. the method showed q force and a
subtleJy than which there is none more
potent.
1t is not a charity kindergarten,
that on New High street; it is free,
but the diminutive citizens must come
clearly and wholly clad, and yesterday
the newly made creases in trousers and
frilled pongee shirt of one small boy; the
daintily made and carefully Numbered
gowns of the little girls were good to look
upon.
The school lasts from 8 to IL every
morning, will be kept open all summer,
and, it is hoped, is but the beginning of
a number of such sc ools, the necessity
of which will be realized when it is stated
Inat tneTe are myrlauS OF cnlluren IN tne
vicinity of the CASTELAR, street public
school who are of the kindergarten age
in powers of intelligence who are living
and learning their lessons in life on the
streets, who swarm there every day, and
who, in numbers would easily ill a school
the size of the CASTELAR, street school.
The settlement school can accommo-
date but twenty of that number-what is
to be done with and for the rest?
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