The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-16
THE FATHER OF THE MAN.
MRS. TREAT ILLUSTRATES VALUE
OF CHTLDREN's EARLY TRAINING.

ton MemOriaI-The Principles of
The System, the Conceptions Upon
which 1t Is Based, It's Mode of
Procedure and Its Results Ex-
planned Clearly and EIoquentIy.
education Is Complete when One
Knows the Right and Wills to DO
It"--A Mind Filled With Beauty
Has No Room for UgHness.
Mrs. Lucretia W Treat addressed a
large, cultured and appreciative audience
OF the representative people of Savannah
at the Lawton Memorial last night. The
lecture, delivered under the auspices of the
Kate Baldwin Free Kindergarten, dealt
with kindergarten training and methods,
outlined the principles upon which the
system is based and opened up to the
minds of those not familiar with the sub
ject possibilities in Juvenile education to
which hitherto they had been strangers.
The address of Mrs. Treat was prefaced
by some remarks from Mr. Otis Ashmore,
superintendent of the educational system
of the county, who highly commended the
work of the kindergarten and said his
only regret was that the present school
laws of the state and the insuficiency of
the appropriations did not permit it's in
PRODUCTION as an adjunct to the county
public schools.
1.-The grandest discovery of modern
times" said Mr.. Ashmore, "is childhood.
In the history of the past we read OF chill
dren merely as incidents, principally as
among the slaughtered at some fallen
city. Even in later centuries, when such
barbarities had ceased to be tolerable or
tolerated the men and women of those
times had not been awakened to the i'm
portance of the child, they had never
come to realize the fact that Men are
but children of large growth" and that
that which is implanted in the mind of
the child will bear it's fruit in the years to
come 1t Is to the credit of the followers
of the Kindergarten system that much of
this ignorance has been dispelled.
I wish it were possible" continued MIR.
Ashmore, 'to Introduce the system in this
county Nothing could be of more value
or render more assistance. 1t will come,
and it is unfortunate that we are not in
position to have a kindergarten attach
ed to every public school in the city to-
day. There is no doubt in the mind of
every thinking educator that this will ul-
timately be the case"
MI ,. 1rtut was introduced Dy COi. Geo.
A. Mercer, president of the Board of Bdu-
cation, who, with Mr.. George J. Baldwin
and Mr.. Ashnlore, occupied seats with the
principal speaker on the stage The in
PRODUCTION was made with the easy and
graceful eloquence That characterizes al
ways the speeches of Col. Mercer.
AFTER considerable study of the subject,
extending over a considerable number of
years" said Col. Mercer, Il have been
convinced that every child born into this
world enters it with strongly preponder-
ating savage instincts. Instead of the
plumes of the angel, he is more apt to
wear the claws of the beast. The wild men
that have been found running a large in
many countries have mad more of the
lower animals than of the human animal
in their composition and characteristics.
They had reverted, possibly, to the origi-
ral savage type"
Therefore is it necessary that children
should be trained properly and that their
expanding minds should be warned and
encouraged to growth under the gentle in
f1uence of kindness and sympat thy rath-
er than warped or discolored by the cru
city of the vicious or the well-meant blum
ders of the ignorant. How pitiful is Dick
ems story of the education of little Paul
Dombey, under the tutelage of Mrs. Pin
chin. 1t was her theory that the mind of
a child should be opened like an oyster,
rather than permitted to expand like
flower.
The Kindergarten theory is different
It's advocates contend that the knife should
not be used a all, but that the instructor
should place before the child such dainty
and tempting mOrsels of beauty and truth
that its mouth will open of its own ac-
cord and take them in. Therefore it is my
privilege and great pleasure TO introduce
to you one of the most distinguished rep
resenlatives of this new theory of educa-
lion, Mrs L. W. Treat, president of the
Kindergarten Training School of Grand
Rapids, Mich"
Mrs. Treat made a favorable impression
from the first. Speaking in an easy con-
versational tone, without effort at ora
tory or display she yet charmed her au-
dience and illustrated with grown men
and women for her pupils the theory of
instruction to which she holds. The audi
ence were instructed, for they learned
much, possibly, that they had never known
before, but at the same time they were
pleased and greatly entertained.
THE centuries that are gone. "she said
have many of them been noted for some
particular work that has been done dur
ing these periods. 1t is predicted that the
stand, viii be known to future ages as
the Philanthropic century. In the Sc
curing of this title for the coming century
the kindergarten system of education and
its practical application viii bear their full
of their responsibility and earn their fun
share of the credit"
1--WE hear much nowadays about the
New Woman, but has IL ever occurred 10
you that we have the New Man ALSO. But
we have, and I can give you types of him
that were never heard of fifty years ago
There is the Political Poss, in the first
place. and his business representative. the
controller OF trusts and, on the other
hand, there is the professional phianthro-
pist. We have the New Man and the
New Woman. and we have, too, the New
Child. II is to deal correctly with this
child, the product of new life, changed
conditions and a different atmosphere
than has ever been known before, born in an
electric age and charged with vitality 10
his very finger tips, alive every inch of h m,
that the new system of education is ur-
gently needed. II is this new system that
the kindergarten supplies"
The new child is the problem of the
age. How are we going to deal with him?
How shall we meet this new problem,
coma with ffS difieu1tiaa and solva fbar,,