Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1897-09-04

H. railroad. Returning the trains will
leave Newport at 1925 p. NJ. The fare tor
the round trip will be $3.50
Froebel and the kindergarten.
The following is from the pen Of Miss
Mary S. Dascomb of Westminster, the
teacher in this village:
Although the names of 'Coinenius and
Pestslozzi are frequently mentioned in con-
nection with the origin Of kindergarten
work, yet it was left with Friedrich Froebel
to give practical form to the scheme. In
order to e. clear iea of it one must
have some knowledge of the life of Froebel
He was born in Oberwussbach, Germany,
April 81, 1882 When only a small boy
he was thrust into the painful narrowness
of unfavorable circumstances. Very soon
after his birth his mother was taken from
him. His father was busy, active clergy
man with several parishes on his hands,
and with no time to devote to his half
starved little life, yearnirg for the love
and tender sympathy that only mother
can give. How his little heart bounded
at the prospect of another mother to enter
the home, ard with what feelings of I'M
bounded cbil1like love he received her.
But alas! this all ended too soon! f)r she
rejoiced ere long in the possession of son
OF her own. He said, 81 consider that my
mothers death decided more or less the
external circumstances of my whole life,
Influenced the whole environment and de-
velopment of my being" An ancle visited
En oh NJ Nd ohp ~
bitter influences that surrounded his life,
and he begged that the boy might come
and live with him. The new life was very
different. In his fathers house stern and
rigid rules must not be violated here, on
the contrary ,mildness and kindness regned
"There encountered mistrust here | was
trusted. There was under restraint ;
here had liberty. / have unfortunately
again and again observed during my career
that even the most active life, if its activity
and vitality be not properly understood
and urged ever onward, easily stiffens into
bony rigidity."
In comparing his own life with the buoy
ant, happy, free life of his companions and
penetrating more deeply into the lives of
the children, he was guided to the study Of
child culture hildg arten. This is what
the word kindergarten means. II desire
to educate men whose feet shall stand on
Gods earth, rooted fast in nature, while
their heads tower up to heaven, and read
its secret with steady gaze, whose feet shall
embrace both earth and heaven, shall enjoy
the life of earth and nature with all its
wealth of forms, and at the same time shall
recognize the purity and peace of heaven,
that unites in its love Gods earth with
Gods heaven"
You ask what the kindergarten is ?
You mean of course the ideal Kindergar-
ten founded on Froebel's broad educational
principles. The kindergarten receives the
child at the age Of three or four and grad
yates him at six or seven. The Kinder
garten aims to keep the growth of the child
constantly in view 1t aims to develop his
nature tremendously in all directions. 1t
trains the heart and band as well as the
head. 1t has been defined as ian organ
lied sequence of experiences, through
which the child grows into self-knowledge,
clear observation and conscious grasp OF
the whole circle of his relationship" The
child is the chief attraction of everything
that is done. His own individuality and
bis personal possibilities are sought out
and nurtured. The kindergarten does
not seek to destroy, but to fulfill. Froebel
says ''the child must be led from life
through life to life" In the gifts and
occupations, songs and games, and social
union, we find means adapted to this end.
"All is unity, all rests in unity, all springs
from unity, strives for and leads up to
unity, and returns to unity at last This
striving in unity and after unity is the
cause of the several aspects of human life >
Froebel's system of education is based on
this principle of the law OF opposites-tak.
ing in and giving out As the plant re.
in return beautiful foliage and perfumed
| flowers, SO it is with the human system as
| it re ceives food and nourishment and gives
out bone and tissue. Watch closely the
child as it takes in impressions through the
SENSE S and gives them forth in its activity
and repre- sensations of life.
During the life of every child there is q
period in which he wishes to investigate
everything which he comes in contact with
At this progressive period we are apt te
give him toys beyond his comprehension
Y on give him steamboat or some Other
highly -fnished toy, and he soon tires of il
and perhaps destroys it. Otherwise i
you give him a cube (divisible into eight
smaller ones) he would appreciate this ant
his inventive powers and imagination
would be developed and cultivated. Froe
bel, in his study of the child, saw how mucl
more interested he is in simple toys thai
with many elaborate ones. A child can
not understand or appreciate compli
Gated toy any more than the parent car
an intricate Chinese puzzle. Froebel ha
his gifts so arranged that they will b'
readily under stood and meet the needs o
child nature, at the same time following
law in their arrangement Froebel'
system of education COZ sists in a perfect,
natural law of mental development N
man has ever penetrated SO deeply int
the secret workings OF child's stul, AM
so succe ssfully ard Systematically discov
cred the means and their application for
development of the mind according to tn
laws of nature.
FIoebel's kindergarten material con
sists of gifts and occupations taking il
and giving out. He begins with the bal
in the very simplest manner pos sible. A
it gives the first impression of form. AM
being the most easily moved of all forms
is symbo'ical of life. The completeness o