The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-18
CHILDREN'S FANCIES.
CLARA CTERISTIC LIMITATIONS AND
 IDEALS OF GERMAN
And English School Children De-
 scribed by Themselves.

Generalizations are often misleading
 and only occasionally true; but they are
 sometimes most interesting Of al
 creatures under the sun, children lent
 themselves least to widely marked com
 parisonS; yet Miss Dodd has made this
 attempt on the basis of couple ot
 questions which were put by their
 teachers to one hundred and ninety six
 German school children and to six hun
 dred of their English contemporaries
 all of whom were between ten and four.
 teen years of age, The questions were
 as remarkable as the replies as guides
 to character.
 1. Which would you rather be, a man
 or Woman-and why?
 2. Which man or woman of whom you
 have ever heard or read would you most
 desire to he--and why?
 These Inquiries were calculated to re- veal character, and the result was a
 most interesting reflection of the ideas on men and matters, duty and drudg-
 cry, that lodge in childish minds Eng
 fish and German Miss Dodd has been
 impressed by the grave earnestness
 with which the latter attacked the pro-
 blems, and by the fact that "the sly touches of humor, of fancy, and rebel lion which are scattered throughout the papers of the English children are ab- sent The other points that have struck the writer are the prominence that the German children give to their civic and domestic duties, the docility of the German child in accepting and wishing to conform to the ideal types of character held up to them, and the touches of sentimentality in both boys and girls papers. Only 52 per cent. of the girls in Germany were allowed to have the first question put to them, and more than half of the remainder de- clined to discuss it at all, and many of them remarked, 'I wish to be a woman because woman's life is very beauti- full" or, T wish to be woman because 1t Is wrong to wish to be man" or, wish to be woman because it is a mo- ble duty to love husband and chill dren." It is curious that these German boys and girls rarely discuss their duty to their parents, while their duties to their future families seem to weigh heavily upon them. Only in one in- stance does German girl express any desire to escape responsibility She. says, IT is better to be woman be- cause women need not be soldiers" There is not a single instance in the eigbty-six papers of a German girl wishing to be a man. The English | girls answers form striking contrast. 1 They show independence of thought, freedom of expression, and variety of aspirations. Thirty-four per cent of | the English girls rebelled against wo- | mans life. They envied mems strength, i freedom and the glorious possibilities in f their lives for adventures.
 In answering the second question, as to their ideal characters, the German girls were touchingly faithful to the l concrete examples of the pious, domes- tic and devoted women held up to them in history. Fifty per cent of the girls wished to be like Queen Louise and 40 per cent took as their model the holy Elizabeth of the Wartburg. Very diff ferent is the English girl pupil She does not long to resemble pious queens and holy saints; she shows great deal of unregenerate humanity, which she naively expresses "As a pattern of virtue" remarks Miss Dodd, sshe is on a much lower plane than the German
  heroes are Florence Nightingale, MT. the Queen, Grace Darling, Shakespeare, Wellington, Nelson, Co., lumbus, Napoleon, Butler, Git was early In the war) Mme Patti Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Browning, Ellen Terry, Tennyson, ( Solomon, Ruskin, Mrs. Rylands and the ( Sleeping Beauty. Those who aspire to } be the Queen are materially minded. f They say that her majesty has Tots of money and jewels" and "a carriage to 2 tide in," and so on. But one little girl f If ten confessed, T mean to write when r grow up. I shall write dramas great 2 IT than Shakespeare's and novels great 1T than Dickens,'" l The German boy showed himself a patriot and ambitious on a practical I ,lane, while there are a few sentiment alists. The German boys sense of uty to their country was revealed as t trongly as the girls sense of duty to s heir family. T wish to be a man, be- O ause man may fall in love and mar R y," is the statement of youth of F welve; and another person of definite c Jews gives the following involved req on: T wish to be many~because I lean to marry, and a married woman as no free will. I wish to have free B ill. If I were a woman I would not larry.' "Tha German boy Is prudent eyond his years and weighed down." to lys Miss Dodd, with the responsibli- IT of his country and his future career " nd family The English boy, as he w lowed himself in his answer to this a, is a very different being. Sev- b1 lty-1ive per cent. or the English boys to ere perfectly frank in their expression tn
 their duty to themselves. They fir anted to be men in order to'have their VII way make a lot of money go 1t whenever you like, play football WI Id go to cricket matches on Saturday. fo Id similar reasons" co In considering the second question as DO whom they would desire to be, the sa erman boys heroes are chiefly in- He fred by the military spirit, the schol- tn, ly ideal, and hatred to England. Bis his arck, Butcher. the Kaiser and Freder- the Great are the chief military he- es. As these papers were given to the CT srman boys during a time of intense Ch