The age-herald., 1902-03-20

& understood it is accepted as ex- \ . erting the broadest influence in de- % ~ veloping the whole child mentally, Y ' morally and physically J. H. % A Phillips.
 The meeting of the Woman's Club yes terday afternoon was devoted entirely to a discussion of the free klndergartens. Mrs J. H. Philips. president of the Free Kindergarten Association, Miss Snyder. the superintendent of the kindergartens and Mrs Laura Haggood O. Nell of the Bryan kindergarten lead in the discussion. There were talks by the club president and by Mrs. A. o. Lane and others and altogether the cause of the free kinder garten was never more earnestly agitat- ed in this city or it's results more clear ly emphasized than at the club meeting yesterday.
 The cooperation on the part of the Womans Club was not a new thing, for 1t has always advocated the free kinder gartens, but its action yesterday in re- gard to taking out five memberships in the Kindergarten Association and in ap- pointing a kindergarten committee indi- 1 cate that the club will be potent factor in promoting the free Kindergarten in this city.
 Mrs. Phillip was the first to address the club members.
 Among other things, she said that where l there was once opposition to the kinder garten movement in the South, there is now merely indifference to either It's claims on its progress. Continuing she said:
 "If every teacher, every mother, every | club woman were informed as to the true i aims and methods of the kindergarten, she would use her influence to popularize | the system. Wherever the kindergarten is understood 1t is accepted as exerting the broadest influence in developing the | whole child, mentally, morally and phy- 1 sically.
 ''There is no adequate reason why Bir- mingham should not have three or four kindergartens on each side of the city. l The objection Is the expense. This Is l short-sighted economy.
 "The kindergarten is expensive. That cannot be denied, but the question for | us to determine is at which end of the l line should the expense be paid. The ex- pense of the kindergarten is at the be- 1 ginning of the line and is paid to the city and state later on in better citizen ship. and increased production. On the | other hand, street schools and back alley education seem to be very cheap, but at the other end of the life line they increase the expenses of the state for courts of justice, reformatories. Jails and peniten- tiaries and poorhouses.
 "As an organized body Of women, thoughtful, earnest women," asked Mrs. Phillips, working to make the world bet ter, at which end of the line are you go- s.,.- pense to be paid?"
 Mrs. Phillips emphasized the needs of more Nndergartens. their results as al- ready seen in Birmingham, and she urged that the club women Inspect the kinder | gartens, and investigate for themselves l the reasons why the schools should be | supported.
 l Mrs. Phillips talk was followed by Mrs
 ONeal, who gave most interesting talk
 on the kindergartens, in which she re-
 called her personal experiences in tn,
 work.
 Mrs. O'Neal is a graduate Of the Birm . ingham training class, and is one of tht
 most thorough and competent young
 teachers
 She spoke first of the great plan of
 Froebel, the groundwork of the kinder.
 garten. Continuing she said:
 The activity that prompts instinctive
 pidS III lilc CIlllu IS nerve IOrce generated
 in the nerve cells. As electricity that is generated in battery must be utilized if its force be not lost, so the nerve force must be employed that the powers of the | child may develop. Science tells us that l this period of activity must come in every child's development
 Our object in the kindergarten is to take the child at it's period of greatest energy and direct its play to get the very 1 best results.
 How much better that he should be given something to do! How many children are fed daily on don't! How | few are told what to dol What the kin 1 dergarten has to show is happy healthy. | good natured children. They learn in their play to work, to construct, to invent. | to relate and speak correctly and what is best of all to love each other, to be Kind to each other, to help each other. Science says that early childhood is the most formative period and if is then the children need most attention. Have the mothers time to take charge of their children three hours each day-plan work and recreation for them. train them phy- sically' mentally and spiritually? It ia this we propose to do In the kinderear- ten"
 Miss Snyder did not expect to address the club, but she was asked to speak in formally Of her methods. She. Is a gradu- ate or the Training School of Louisville and since coming to Birmingham her work in the free Kindergarten has been pronounced to be unequaled by that of any kindergarten teacher in the South.
 Miss Snyder talked most interestingly of her methods, of her various personal ex- periences in kindergarten work; and so earnestly did she present the conditions as they exist in Birmingham that no women present failed to realize the great need of the kindergarten training LITTLE FOLKS ARE