Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-17
THE CHILD AT PLAY
EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE
MUD PIE.
The Great Amusement Little Folk
Find In Making Things With
sand and Clay.
From the London Graphic.

have difficulties IN keeping CnIluleu
amused before the age arrives at which
the little ones can be received at school
The nurse the nursery governess and the
mother. albeit they are thoroughly trained
and UP to date. often find themselves con-
fronted by the difhcult problem: What
shall we do with our children at the trou-
blesome ageT' Tbs Is. indeed. the crying
question of the day in cottage and mansion
alike. Healthy surroundings. gardens with
out "child-traps' and much fertility Of re-
source on the part of all surrounding the
child may do much but it Is doubtful
whether these alone are sufficient withou,
q clearer understanding of childs Utmost
nature.
AS l write these words a sturdy urchin
of two and three-Quarters Is grubbing away
with delight on the village green. His
mother. strong and capable cottager
body and an alert mind. He Is well fed
well grown and as mischeyous as any
Puck. II he Is left alone with fire he
quietly piles boots or hats or papers into
the CRATE that he may have the delight OF
a blaze. Nero gloatng over burning
Rome was surely no more possessed with
delight than Is Jack at such a moment.
Just now he Is making mud pies'-shape-
less to anybody else. but beauti full to him,
doubtless. for in making them he Is obeying
the first primitive instinct of mankind to-
ward self-expression through manual ex-
orcise. or course. the process Is grubby
one. and l know that very shortly L shall
probably hear cry of expoStulatiOn and
see a regretful small boy with streaming
eyes being led away to tub by dirt-loath-
ing mother. who will strive for the next
few hours to keep her son good" by tying
him. so TO speak. to her apron string If
that mother realized that brain develop
ment with dirt Is better than dutiful in
difference without 1t her boy might enter
n
tub day instead of several.
"Thou Shalt Not in the Nursery
So much for the early development
chances of the well-cared-for child of the
masses When We begin to consider the
case Of the wealthy infant We find it, on
the whole. worse one than that of the
captured Jack. Nurse and nursery gov
erness and mother all vie with each other
to amuse and dress and clothe In the ac-
cepted way the infant OF tender years 1t
would often be better for him IL oppor-
tunities of mischief Were taken away from
his immediate neighborhood and he were
left to his own resources. with plenty of
modelling clay or sand to do what he
liked with How enhancing the words
do as You like may sometimes be to a
child few grown-ups realize WILDLY. Thou
shalt not! Is still fatally common in most
nurseries. and many well-meaning folk
still think they have failed In their duty
to children unless they have reduced their
exuberant spirits to the low level of those
of little boy who recently. after an hour
OF penance in house where Thou shalt
not" ruled pathetically asked his mother.
What is there that little boy may do,
mother?'
to see In every nursery. besides the useful
and almost Indispensable boxes of bricks
on which so much time and architectural
skill are usually expended during infancy.
n nd cd fn- -
days-the larger the better. for the sake
of the expanding brains that are to picture
Their developing thoughts on 1t; a good
supply or modelling clay and a set Of blank
papers on the walls. In which wonderful
pictures OF objects observed during the
daily walk may be drawn In colored chalks
both hands being used indifferently for the
purpose.
The Health Value of Thoughts.
Nurseries thus fitted would send out into
the world much more capable and we'll
balanced beings than do the nurseries con-
tanning cupboards full of ingeniously con-
structed toys. The fact is, the modern
child is done to death with the ideas of
other people. and he has small opportunity
of making himself ingenious. Originality
is choked in him by the continual necess ity
for attending to what is done to amuse
him. The links that should bind firmly
together the processes of impression and
expression In the childs brain are not
given time and opportunity to develop at
the right time. and dreaminess or vague
ness In after life is often the inevitable
result. Dreaminess and vagueness have
more ill-effect on health than Is generally
supposed. vital, practical thought has
wonderful power to invigorate the physical
system. and the vital, practical thinker
somehow exerts very powerful influence
on the health of all around him. We all
know how bracing he is at trying moments
In the intellectual world iplo
carries all before him because he thinks
clearly and effectively. The business man
who attracts admiration by his building
up of an intricate organization does so as
power acquired by his brain in early days,
when expression and play and develop
ment were as yet undivided.
This doctrine of the power OF EXPIRES
sions" In the work of building up charac-
ter has been elaborated on the physical
side by the well-known athlete Eustace
Miles. who maintains that in adult life, as
well as in child life. all the muscles should
be trained. and kept in training, by we'll
graduated and individually chosen exer-
cises. They should be trained In fact to
express desirable states of emotion only.
The mention of emotion reminds one that
the moral side of human nature is marvel
ously helped by the esta blish ment of a
habit or correct expression. Two-handed
drawing has been pleaded for from earliest
years. not so much for unitarian reasons
but because "two-handed expression" is
FULLER, completer. more healthful for mind
and body and therefore more conducive to
stable morality than the ordinary one
handed kind.
Emotional Balance.
The moral side of education. now so much
to the fore. Is when broadly considered,
largely a matter OF the correct balance Of
emotions. The most moral" citizen, using
the word In Its best sense. is not one who
has brought under control a particular I'M
desirable tendency and has. at the same
time, developed undesirable tendencies In
other directions Such a man Is often
proud of himself and bands himself with
others into society" bent on the speedy
regeneration Of humanity: but. as a human
being. he often proves failure dixie the
temperance advocate who gives way to
giuttony or the Christian" who allows
himself to fall into malice and hatred and
all uncharita bleness).
What we want today seems to be the
good fellow all round" who can play a
game, or eat a dinner. or listen patiently.
or act courteously. or invest wisely or do
any of the hundreds of acts that make up
everyday life with the control character
istic of well-balanced. well-deyeloped
brain. This Is the type of citizen likely to