Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-16
fingers and performed his various other

fingers and performed his various other
tricks.
had been finished. at the suggestion of one
of the nursery children, that of Jack Hor
Ier, with which all children are familiar,
was taken up and told by a song with the
accompanying gestures. was the other.
1t was amusing to watch the tots sing
these songs with the exercises. They did it
with as much e2rncStneSS as If they were
members of a grand opera company, and
as though their lives, or rather fortunes.
depended on the manner in which they &C
compiished their duty in this respect.
When the singing finished. little arms
were folded on the desk in front and the
small company was at attention"
The children are making Christ mas pres
ents,'' said the teacher, and they are
greatly interested in this. They are going
TO surprise their parents, and their brothers
and sisters, you know
Making Christmas Presents.
Miss Green then distributed a lot of pa
pers and other material out of which the
children make the presents. At wcrd
they opened the packages. and at another
word of command they made them ready
for going to work upon them. Little Rachel.
one of the oldest children in the class, who
has nine brothers and sisters. was en-
broidertng some flowers upon a piece of
card board. and she took intense pleasure
in showing this to the visitor and explain
ing it. Another was embrOdering rabbit.
and they were all employed in this class of
work. Little Genevfeve, the blue-eyed HIT
tie girl of three years. was busy as the
rest. She was making some sort Of check
cred pattern with colored papers and was
as proud of it as If it had been silk dress.
Specimens were shown of some modelling
in clay which the children had done and
the blocks which they arrange in different
forms were shown. One of the girls, at the
direction of the teacher, made "beauti-
form - eI of ho
blocks. and then changed it cleverly into
another shape. Other examples of their eX-
pertness along these lines were displayed.
and they were greatly interested in all of
them, as was also the visitor.
Proud of the Record.
when the children come here they are
trained according to their faculties" Miss
Green said. ''and especially in regard to
moral tendencies. All the songs and what
ever they have to deal with have some
thing of a moral lesson in them. You know
it is the proud record of the system that
only one criminal was ever known to have
attended a kindergarten. One of our little
boy pupils, who attended here, was said to
have been the worst boy in the neighbor-
hood. His mother was continually in hot
water ON account of people complaining
that he had beaten every child with whom
he came in contact. When he had attended
the kindergarten for some little time he
was perfectly tractable and his nature has
been completely changed. This is only one
instance of many. With such a start as
the kindergarten gives child, it is no
wonder that their footsteps are kept from
the paths of crime. They are taught to
love one another. to obey their superiors
and to be good children in every particular.
The exercises open with prayer every
morning. l am sure that IL the children
could have nothing else they would be
satisfied with the assurance from Santa
Claus that the kindergarten will continue
the rest of the year"