The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-05-05
GLOWING tribute TO
HRS. POLLOCK'S MEMORY
Founder of the kindergarten
in America HOnOred.
REPORT READ BEFORE CLUB
Life Work Of the Deceased Praised and
Her Struggle IN the Int e-es. of the
Movement Set Forth in LaudatoTy
Language Most Impressive Career.

/ The recent meeting Of the International
kindergarten Union in Bosto1 was char
acterized by glowing tributes to the
founder of the movement il this country,
the weII-known and beloved Mrs. Louise
/ Pollock. Fer many years Mrs. Pollock
had been a prominent figure in the edu
J catioEal set CT Washington. Congressional
support was denied the movement that is
/ beginning to be recognized as 4 most in
/ portant one in the educational system OF
( the country, and she sought and received
/ the financial assistance CT Presidents of
( the Republic, members Of their Cabinets.
! ard prominent men IN all walks Of public
life.
At the meeting Saturday night of the
/ kindergarten Club, at the home Of its
first director. Mrs. Randolph D. Hopkins,
/ 1926 Whitney Avenue northwest. at which
the daughter CT the deceased. and princi-
pal Of the Washington Normal School.
Miss Susan Plesner Pollock. was present.
the following paper. report Of the pro-
! eeedings at the Boston convention bear
ing upon the work OF the late Mrs. Pol
lock, was read:
Text Of thu Report.
con the eth Of last July Mrs. Louise
/ Pollock, Of Washington, founder OF the
! first kindergarten IN America. died while
al camp IN SkyIand, Va Her body was
carried to Washington and cremated two
days later, and en- the anniversary OF her
/ birth in October a memorial service held
II All Souls Church, in the same city. at
which prominent kindergartGers and
educators from distant places paid tribute
to her LIE and work Bet the International
Kindergarten Union had no opportunity
Of giving her memory. special honor until
1t met last week IN convention at Boston,
where Mrs. Pollock once worked. At this
convention Miss Miller OF Chicago Miss
DevereaUx of Lowell, and Miss Mckinney
OF Cleveland, were appointed as
neurology committee, and their most in
poTtant work was TO prepare sketch of
her life. That work is already completed
and viii be embodied IN the general re-
port OF the proceedings
1T begins with an account Of her death
and funeral, and of the memorial service
on October 20 She died ct her sons cabin,
Stony Man Camp, high up in the Blue
Ridge Mountains Of FiFs MIA, where a col
Cny of Washington people spends the
/ summer months On the afternoon of
July 25 her body was borne down the
mountain side, followed By a procession OF
/ residents OF the settlement and thu sur
rounding country The women and little
( children all wore white Near the spot
where the hearse to CARR the coffin TO the
/ depot waited. two little girls, daughters
OF the mountaineer pOStman, stood there
. also waiting They held their SuDbon-
/ nets in their hands, and a large box OF
wiIdhowers. With tears they gave the
blossoms to her.
/ Funeral at All Souls Church.
ssHer funeral was held the next day in
All Souls Church. Washington, in the
presence Of her children. grandchildren,
and children by adoption in the kinder
garten. The other service. held in the
autumn, was attended by a gathering rep
resentatiye OF Mrs. PoIIock's vide infiu-
ence- Dr. " L. Davidson. Rev. s. H
Greene. D. D, and DIT. E B. Pollard,
prominent educators in Washington, took
part in the service, and the presiding on
Ger was Dr. ". T. Harris, United States
Commissioner of Education A phrase by
/ Or. Harris. in which he said that the
word pioneer was not 50 appropriate for
Mrs. Pollock as 'eVangeI, summed up the
yyoTnau's great work Letters were read
/ from kindergartneFs and educators as far
away as South America and Germany.
s.The committees report concludes with
an account Of Mrs POIIoCk's life. This
woman who has done so much for the
/ E-frdsrgarten in America. came 10 Amer
/ lea. and here, with Eve little children IN
her home she studied FrOebel that she
might teach them. With the enthusiasm
OF her countrymen for accurate scholar
ship and true learning, she studied deep,
and inspired by FroebeI's philosophy, de-
te-nined to spread it throughout the
! country In Massachusetts,. back in the
! DAYS of the civil war, she established the
first pure kindergarten IN America She
/ was a pioneer. She had 70 face prejudice
and bigotry. Like all innoyators, she was
laughed at and ridiculed, but she did not
give IN
Glasses at Her Home.
"sbe had already had classes in her
home. inviting her chIdren's pIaymates to
fofn with them. when Nathaniel T. Allen,
principal Of the English and Classical
/ School at West Newton. asked her IL 1854
TO open this pioneer kindergarten there.
/ She had done more than this: she had be-
gun to attract attention by her literary
work. chiefly along educational lines. She
had translated four medical books for Dr..
Dio Lewis and a number of historical
stories. and in 1851 published her Child s
/ story Book" In 1853 she published a
translation of Lena Mergensterns Para
disc of Childhood" an important kinder
garteu book. Among her later works are
THE National Kindergarten Manual, "
| Ma tiOnaI kindergarten Songs and Plays, %
and her song book. Cheerful Echoes
Mrs. Pollock visited Berlin in 1874, for
| the purpose of studying the system Of
kindergarten as in operation there. On
| her return, to be near her daughter Su-
| san, she settled in the city of Washing
ton, where her Ise DToit Park kin1e-SaT
! ten was opened and her series Of lectures
70 mothers begun. Her sixty hygienic and
ffty-six educational rules, which she
wrote in connection with these lectures,
/ were first published in the New England
Journal Of Education IN 1877.
Memorial to Congress
'In 1850. through President Garfield.
she presented a memorial to Congress,
asking for an appropriation to found a
free national kindergarten normal school
III Washington. This was signed by all
the principal educators Of this country.
but was unsuccessful Then, to use her
own expression, she turned from Con-
! President Hayes wife and others opened
the Pensora Fee Kindergarten which
has since been sustained by subscriptions
from Presidents and members of Cabinets.
IN connection, she had a nursery maids