The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-13
VACATION scnooL FOR PARENTS.

Vacation PLAY with Little Ones.
Spiritual "GrowinE Out of KnowJ-
edge"-How to Make Happy sum-
mer-What One Woman Did.
Wise mothers realize that their chill
dren have a knack of growing out OF
knowledge spiritually no. less than ply
sically, and count it among the bless
ings of vacation that 1t gives time to
make friends with their very own.
Whether the summer days are spent at
home or abroad. no mother who truly
loves her boys and girls can afford to
overlook the opportunity of summer
leisure. If she can manage to make
herself comrade. and leader in sports.
the problem of family government Is
in a fair way of solving itself.
Comradery and leadership require
something of tact and forethought.
There must be nothing which smacks
of infringement upon the true holiday
spirit. Suggestions even squirting at
school work are not to be endured. At
the same time 1t is easily possible to
make summer play fix and fructify
winter lessons. One woman at least
found IT so. She had summer charge
of nine children between the ages of
and IL. A shallow stream ran over
clean pebbles in front of the cottage.
with other pebbles heaping the banks.
There she set her charges to playing
geography, that is to say, to making OF
pebbles and water. islands, peninsu-
lars, continents, capes, promontories.
bays, CULTS, straits, seas, even oceans.
At first single things satisfied the con-
tinent builders. but long before the
summer sojourn ended they had built
hemispheres, with rivers and mountain
ranges duly running through. And it
took nothing from their enjoyment OF
the building, that Chicago lad insist
cd upon having Lake Michigan bigger
than the Pacific ocean, nor that the
Mississippi ran for once without the
suspicion of a crook between mouth
and source.
From abstract geography the transit
ton was easy to cities, and especially
to battlefields. Here the titular mother
showed herself invaluable--she knew
about soldiers and generals. and had
books which told of military .forma-
lions and the configuration of battle
scenes. Battles themselves inevitably
followed. 1t was thrilling to see lines
of proud. red coated tin soldiers man
euvred by three naughty British gem
erals and one private, advance to as
sault pebble-cotton-b bale breastworks,
behind which feminine Gen. jackson
waved a kitchen knife sword, and
shouted to her riiemen, who, like her
self, wore skirts: Aim for the whites
OF their eyes
Perry at Lake Erie was played low
er down. where the shallow stream ran
into another quite three feet deep The
flagship was a gorgeous thing of sails
and paint--chips chunks, and bit Of
plank, along with tin cans, leaking bad
ly through the holes in which their
stick masts were stepped. made up the
rest Of the fleet. Only the boys
fought in the naval battle-wading in
boldly to touch off the firecracker cam
non high on deck or slung at the mast
head. The girls We're sadly anxious
to be Indian allies. with paint and
feathers stuck in the hair, but since
both the British and Americans fiouted
them, they ran off with their heads
very high. and spent the whole after
noon working on the book of leaves.
The book of leaves was going home
to the littlest girls papa, who knew
everything about all the things that
grew All the children could help
with ii, under certain restrictions.
That Is to say, If they were sure they
wanted to badly enough to do careful
Continued on Page Twenty-four.