The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-11-30
General Session

The general session opened in the
main hall, at II o'clock. Clarence f.
Carroll, superintendent of Worcester
schools, presided. Devotional exercises
were conducted by Rev Willard Scott,
D. D., pastor of Piedmont Church. The
pupils of Grade 9, New Woodland
Street school, sang It Will Arise,
Cecil, and Chorus from Midsummer
Nights Dream" Mendelssohn.
James l.. Hughes inspector of
schools. Toronto, Canada, was intro
duced, and in language witty and terse
delivered an address from the subject
DO Justice and honor to the nature of
the child" He opened with a reference
to Henry Barnard as the author of the
system of public schools. He described
him as one of the greatest orators OF
the age. The sentence which formed
the topic of his address was written
by Dickens nearly so years ago. mis-
conception of child nature had possibly
done more to retard civilization than
any other cause. Christ was one who
understood child character. He put the
child in the midst of all. Dickens was
one of the first Englishmen to under
stand and to show what Christ meant.
The speaker then spoke of common
misconceptions of child nature, In
which he quite disposed of the doc
Urine OF OTlBlldl Sill the NAiiAN 49,
not love to do wrong, rather than
right But it is of the essence of child
nature to be doing something instead
of nothing The child is called bad
when he or she doesn't do things ac-
cording to our idea of how they should
be done He should receive help, and
material to do something with. The
child's love of doing is stronger than
love of mother. He loves to help his
e 1,,v,r M n
couraged it is worse for the child. 1t
is better that he should be doing some
thing that is not right, than that he
should lose the power to do.
The child is not naturally destruct-
i've He is rather constructive. He
likes to follow the rules of the game
In the kindergarten he prefers to make
symmetrical patterns, and not to make
those that are unsymmetricaL Encour-
age him and he is constructive enough.
He is destructive when he is discour-
aged, and his energies are turned into
wrong channels. Contempt for a child
spoils him little appreciation is
worth a great deal of criticism. The
boy with the most power is the one
oftenest in rebellion. The boy who
questions authority is the boy who has
the most active mind. True leadership
is not a domination and an interior
ence.
The child is not naturally deceitful.
He is on the contrary truthful and
frank, unless he is improperly treated.
The spiritual element in the child
should be encouraged. 1t will be the
dominating one if it is given room for
growth. Mothers should recognize the
three fold nature of their children, so
that undue care may not be given to
the physical and intellectual sides of
life
Mr.. Hughes was applauded. and his
address was received with great ia
vor.
President Carroll appointed the fol-
lowing to be members of a committee
to nominate officers: George E. Gray,
Maiden; Augustus H. Kelley, Boston;
H. P. Lewis, Worcester; John T.
Prince, Newton; Miss Gertrude Ed
mund, Lowell; Joseph G. Edgerly
Fitchburg; Will S. Munroe, Westfield;
George L. Aldrich. Brookline. He ap-
pointed the auditing committee, as fol-
lows Henry Whittemore, Framing
ham: H W. Kittredge, Westfield, and
George l. Aldrich, Brookline.
Benjamin c. Gregory, supervising
principal of Trenton, n. j., public
schools was the speaker at the pri-
mary section which was held in the
main hall at o'clock, and was one of
three sessions of sections, scheduled
at the same hour to be held in differ
ent parts of the building. The grammar
school section was put over until 2
o'clock and the high school SETON I'M
til $50.
When Mr.. Gregory opened his remarks