The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1898-09-08
The Aim of the Kindergarten

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No other educator ever uttered words
of loftier counsel and encouragement or
labored more increasingly than this
great hearted lover of humanity. "He
did not preach like the learned. but his
speech was poweiful;' holy earnestness
and an inward cheerfulness shone forth
from his face, his heart knew not one
selfish aim, his soul knew naught but
love,-love for the hills and fields and
woods In which he saw his God, and a
glowing love for humanity, and child
hood in humanity, that left him neither
rest nor quiet. such was the man who
saw 1.-THE tree in the germ, the infinitely
great in the SMALL" the child of God in
the poorest human being, and who went
about with the command on his lips
Thou shalt treat thy child as mani
festation of the Divine Spirit in human
form, as the pledge of the love, the
nearness, the grace of God, as a gift
from God; thou shalt take care that the
divine image be not defaced; and thou
shalt with all thy strength work to pre-
serve it and shape in more beautifully"
v it'll this idea of education, as sacred
as it is lofty, Froebel called upon the
mothers of Germany to undertake the
task naturally intrusted to them of
moulding the little helpless jewels, left
by the Master at their dwellings, into
true men and women; of guarding and
polishing them till they shine with a
luminous ray. He recognized that God
made women natural mothers, and that
the natural mother ever has done many
right things without instruction and
direction, but that is not enougb-"Con-
scious insight is better than blind in
stinct."
Recognizing that the mothers influ-
ence is the first, the strongest, and
should be the best because during the
previous formative period of life, habits
and methods of thought and action are
80 deeply impressed upon the child, he
planned his system for mothers in the
home, and wrote the Mother Play Book
his supreme achievement-of which
he repeatedly says; ~ have here laid
down the fundamental ideas of my edu-
cational principles"
From experience as practical teach
er he learned later that although the
mother herself is expected to be the
foundation of love, jnstice, wisdom, and
sympathy to which her children turn,
she has not always the time or intelli-
gence to attend to the duties, and that
the children often come to school with
unawakened sympathies, unaroused in
tellects, and undisciplined wills. He
therefore called the young women to
service, and planned his institution, the
purpose of which is indicated by him.
self ITO take the oversight of chill.
dren before they are ready for school
life: to exert an influence over their
whole beings in correspondence with its
nature; to strengthen their bodily
powers; to exercise their senses; to en-
ploy the awakening mind; to make them
thouphtiully acquainted with the world
of nature and of man; to guide their
heart and soul in a right direction, and
lead them to the origin of all life and
to union with Him. For long time
he could not find satisfactory name
for his cause, but one day as he and two
friends were walking over mountain
pass, in answer to his oft repeated state
ment, "Oh If | could only think of a
name for my youngest born" thought
came to him. suddenly he stood still
as if riveted to the spot and his eyes
grew wonderfully bright-they took an
almost TRANSPORTED expression, and he
shouted to the mountains so that it
echoed to the four winds, Eureka !!
Kindergarten shall the institution be
called" kindergarten "a garden of
little children. What could have been
more beautiful? place where the child
may grow and develop through right
the plants of the garden. We all know
that if sunlight and air and moisture are
granted to plant it will unfold accord
ing to its inner nature into thing of
beauty. The gardener watches and
guards, protects and tends his plants
with Jealous care, but how many little
buds on the everlasting tree of life are
so guarded and guided that they will
unfold according to their divine nature,
and develope into a being of unse fish
ness and love of wisdom and intelligence?
With ruthless hands we try to mould
tn6m dCCOTulDR W Jul pau.
Character building is the true purpose
the real aim of the child garden, but
that is not the view ordinarily taken by
fathers and mothers. To many it is
simply place where the children are
amused, kept off the street and out of
the way of mother. What blessed
thing that there is new little world, a
sort of paradise, where some children
can live tout of the way of mother"
and expand physically, intellectually
and morally, where they can rnjoy the
society of equals, and be directed by
one who is child among the children,
Zone of Gods mothers" If she be true
Kindergartener. And it is just as bless.
ed a thing for the child whose mother
claims that he sht uld be kept with her
What is your fear? Your child cannot
be separated from you because of the
soul bond, the love between you. He
comes back with deeper, truer love,
and sympathy has been poured into
your lives which could never have been
known if always together. Then again,
the individuality of your child, the con-
ditions wherein he becomes a strong,
self-reliant individual can never be had
except by his being separated from you
for a time each day.
The kindergarten does not try to
mould the child into a prescribed form
as the potter does his clay; 1t looks upon
him as a being possessing at birth the
possibility of what he may become; its
aim is not instruction but development,
not pouring in but pouring out-self
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