The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-01

as much home to the handicapped wait
as the palace on the hill is to the child
who lives in it. But the howell is a min
istry to the material. 1t Is a place in
which to eat, sleep and i've Children
here are handicapped in that there Is
no provision for the cultivation of the
spiritual or the sense of beauty The
sense perception is dormant To a
group of such children present beau
tiful picture or bouquet Of flowers
and notice how quickly it Is aroused
into activity.
A third species Of handicap is envI-
ronment. 1t is a source of constant
surprise to those who labor among the
denizens of the city, that they are as
moral as they are A lily will grow
better in natural soil than in a sewer.
slum child knows nothing about con-
formity to type but in the midst Of dirt
he never feels odd when in keeping
with his surroundings. When we real
ize that child has rights it will be a
crime to own such disease breeding,
unsanitary tenements as men make for
tunes out of in our cities. Perhaps the
handicapped children go to church, If
so that can happen but once q week,
and even that seems to him to be once
too often. OF course, the church is for
grown folks, but we force the children
to go, and one of the most pitiful sights
in the world is to see q boy or q girl
with lively Imagination trying hard
to be pious-or even to look pious when
there is not line of hymn, sermon or
"a, re Al;
derstandng, Then after an hour Of
what to them seems torture we usher
them into the Sunday school and expect
them to take the lessons as duck takes
to water. We put old wine into new
bottles and then look thunderstruck
when something bursts.
Now into this world Of the handicap
ped like an angel of light comes the
kindergarten. 1t cannot help the child
to choose it's parents nor change it's en-
vironment, but into the darkness of
hades it brings the light of heaven. The
value of the kindergarten may be briefly
summarized under three heads-econ-
omic, social and religious.
1t is a prophylactive of crime. More
kindergartens now will mean fewer pen
itentiaries later on. Reduced to a ques-
ton Of dollars and cents the kinder
garten is an economic investment which
will pay large dividends, 1t holds the
same relation to a rescue mission that
prevention does to cure.
The kindergarten can go into the pur-
lieus take a sprinkling of all nations,
black, white and yellow, and in a day
create a bond of sympathy which will
last life time.
Play involves playmates, and the play
Of the kindergarten is the social gene
sis of the future citizen. The crownipg
glory of the kindergarten Is the devel-
opment of the sense perception.
The Master was probing after the
sense perception when He took a lily,
a sparrow, a little child and discoursed
thereon to the crowd around Him. Then
long centuries elapsed during which
only psychologists were supposed to
possess such things as sense percept-
ions and men became too learned to
be simple. 1t almost takes a surgical
operation to get an idea into some
heads. Let US be grateful that this
Frobel, God given idea of naturalness
and simplicity, has taken such hold,
and let us rest not until the head of
the state and municipality has been
sufficiently operated upon to establish
a kindergarten for the handicapped in
every public school in the land.