The Portland daily press., 1900-06-30

the children, much may be accomplished
in comparatively short time. Photo
graphs taken ON the LIST OF August would
be quite unlike those taken on the LIST of
July. OF course, in the regular schools
the children are required to be neat and
properly clothed; but the home tendency
Is all downward, and the same children
who went out from school in comparative
cleanliness on the 25th Of June. will pre-
sent themselves at the gate of the play
grounds, on the 9th of July, unkempt
and In tatters. 1t il the work OF the
that neatness is not only necessary, but
desirable. The lem 9Th of the waiting list
for baths shows how easily the lesson Is
suggested to them The bath room is q
most important addition to the furnish
ing of the public playground.
The games should be varied. Kinder
garten games and songs must and will
always have place; but too much stress
en- mot be laid upon such games as the
chi dren can play In the street at home
games needing skill and dizziness, yet re-
curing slight equipment or none at all.
Drills OF every description, too, are as
charming to the girls as to the boys; and
charming, also, Is the story telling, not
by teacher but TO "teacher-recitals
Of adventures, real or imaginary, and the
dear old favorites filtered through the
childish brain, and coming out with all
manner OF startling additions and emen-
dations. Like an old sailor, the child of
the tenements dearly loves to spin yarns.
The summer sewing classes are thing
of terror and OF joy, of mirth and Of re
pining. In the first place, 1t Is not easy
to get teachers. Those of us who are in
the midst Of the children quickly learn to
care for them; but for the lay-sister of
snobbish or finical tendencies 1t requires
n certain amount Of altruism to devots
two or three afternoons week to unity
ing smutty knots and sharpening sticky
needles. All the childrt n, boys and girls
alike, are eager TO learn. Few of them
have ever threaded n needle; and no NOR
tai woman, however expert, can cope SIC
cessfully with more than six of them at
q time. They get themselves into all
manner of srdrls. The stitches cris-cross
madly to and for. The cloth becomes
diDgy brown, then dots itself with scar
let, as the tired little fingers are pricked
again and again. Here and there one
comes upon an embryo tailor seamstress,
but such cases are rare. The sewing clas-
ses are valuable; but, for the most part,
their value consists in their being one
more branch OF manual training, to teach
dizziness, accuracy, neatness, and pa
thence. Experience brings many a fact to
light; and one of them Is that, IN a place
where the children come and go at their
own sweet will, where Able comes today
and vanishes to give place to Adam on
the morrow, any graduation Of classes is
out of the question. Tiny rice bags, fin
ished at sitting and carried home to be
played with, prove as successful as any
thing. Squares of cloth for handkerohiefs
were instructive and luxurious; while
one self-sa ,riticing class of six babies
spent an entire summer in piecing a
dolls bed-quilt, to be given to the baby
sister of a seventh child, "'cause she has
whoopin' cough, an cant come to the
yard"
i For those who are thinking of organiz-
Ing such work, 1t should be remembered
that in 1t lies no martyrdom. The long
committee meetings OF the previous win
ter-meetings In which each detail must
be carefully considered-are the worst
dru 1gery OF the whole. Once face to face
with the children, all that is ended.
They are human, interesting, lovable;
and a summer spent among them cannot
fail to be both humanizing and broaden
ing in its influences. The tragic side is
always there, and the pathos; but mingled
with 1t and leavening IL is "A rich vein of
comedy, which now and then sweeps all
before 1t.
ANNA CHAPLIN RYAN.