The record-union., 1898-01-02

least agreea bic part of piling them back
In the wagon, gives just the curative eN-
ercise needed for the enfeebled arms and
legs.
In small nurseries the many devices or
the kindergartens to produce form, ito
make something as the children say,
are very helpful. and afford great va
riety They take up very little room,
are inexpensive. and exercise invention
and patience. Three or four children will
often be extremely interested and
amused by the efforts of one of their
number to construct chair or basket
and be satisfied to advise and suggest.
These educational toys lose their best
influence If the children are not encour-
aged to put them together for them
selves
For very young children a sand box
is easily the greatest joy in the world
of play In what the charm lies. who
shall guess? Through all the months
of This past summer, looking down
upon sandy beach, I have in vain
tried To find out the secret of its fasci-
nation. 1t is there, it cannot be elm
mattel it is ever enduring. A dozen
or more active children, from fourteen
TO babyhood, have had no desire to
roam, but on narrow strip of beach
have daily built forts TO be washed
away by the next tide; have spent
hours of merry eagerness in merely
making holes without any apparent
end. Grave men and women have
helped them, seemingly as much anus
ed as the youngsters, and been hard
working and ingenious in warding off
the surely victorious waves. Ladies
have spent hours in letting the warm
particles fall through their delicate fin
gers, listlessly lifting handful after
handful as if under a spell. And only
yesterday l watched a solitary. we'll
dressed man of perhaps forty years, sit
down in the sunshine, turn back his
spotless cuffs, and, barring his arm, de-
lberately dig down into the sand at
his side until he had made a hole large
enough to cover his arm above the ell
bow.
Let the cause of the sand charm lie
where it may, there is no doubt that
the usefulness of the sand box can
not be overrated. In a small nursery
a large one is impossible, but l have
seen an ingenious arrangement made
by using a zinc trough set in a light
box, after the fashion Of a window
box for flowers, and fastened TO a small
table, before which a child could and
did sit for an hour at a time, filling
and reillling various little shapes small
flower pots, patty pans" and the like
and turning them out on the board of
a high chair
modern fallacy is to occupy the
child's whole day with some sestema-
tized employment and instruction-les-
sons, music, dancing. one following the
other, with the small brain ever on a
strain to accomplish something Spon-
taneity of action and repose to the
brain ore absolutely needful to child
life. This is what their country days
have given them every hour; they are
ito one thing constant never,"and in
constantly varying postures and guild
ed by ever varying Inspirations, which
sunshine, or flowers, or animal life give
to their ideas, increasingly find new de-
lights. That a moderate rule of occu-
patton and instruction is unavoidable
and vitality necessary as the mind de-
velops goes without saying. but do not
reduce their lives into obedience to an
iniiexible metronome, nor make their
days uniform, and, above ALL do not
feel bound to offer their minds constant
employment or amusement; let the
young brains evolve pursuits and plans
for themselves within wholesome gen
eral boundaries.
Let them have opportunity to think
and develop for themselves what is in
dividual, IS you would insure their hap
plneSs, and particularly enforce the
need 20 be satisfied with few accesso-
ries. Let them be inventive and exer-
else imagination in their plays: they
Will be happier now and feel the gain
in after years.
And with this freedom of the mind,
making it possible that for an hour at
least they have somewhere a place out
of doors where they can move accord
ing to their unchecked volition. A reg
ulated walk, a stereotyped stroll up this
street and down that, will not suffice.
Half an hours game of tag" or of any
play which involves fellowship and fun.
will do more to keep the summer roses
bright than anything else you can con-
trive. Would that all children We're
country children; but, failing this. let
us study the more subtle causes of
country gain, which do not all lie in
the atmosphere-New York Evening
Post