Evening star., 1907-11-17

of the kindergarten philosophers.
1t is from the individual study of infants that we
have learned most and in detail. | showed in
former article how the child repeats the history
of the race in its prehistoric and even prehuman
stages; how it is born most helpless because physlo
logically the youngest of all animals, so that its
period of education apprenticeship to life IS most
transforming and the influence of the environment
as compared with heredity is given such an un-
animals below are born vastly more mature, and
hence are far less plastic to their surroundings.
The child must learn to grasp and oppose its
thumb. Its loud cry shows that its parents have
long been able to protect and to forage for food as
far as its voice could reach. Were this otherwise
the human infant would be silent as are the young
preyed upon. The infant paddles with good swim
ming movements, if held in tepid water, during the
first few weeks of life, as if rehearsing a remote
aquatic stage of the 1t cllngs to cane, sup
porting its whole weight, because its tree dwelling
forebears had to do this or fall to their DEATH al
though before the end of the first six months this
power is in large degree lost. All the vast array
of facts of which these only few samples are
of the very greatest scientific value contributions
to the stages by which man was evolved. But as
they have less practical import, l leave them here
An Epidemic of Studying
NEXT came the many studies of vast masses OF
~ school children conducted by Professor Earl
Barnes of the Leland Stanford University, on such
topics childrens memories, ghosts their reactions
to various kinds of stories true and fairy plays and
games, interests, attitudes toward animals, pets,
punlshments, their letters, money ideals of
vocation, drawing, their religious notions, concepts
of truth, war, etc. all of which intensely sug
gestive for both parents and teachers.
By this time the issuing of questlonnalreS had
become almost epidemic. l collected and have
bound several volumes of these all sorts of topics
and by all conditions of people 10 answer some
of them would require a lifetime, and not few
were utterly unanswerable if all the scientific men
of the world had focused their knowledge upon
them. The early and middle 'oos were also the
period of overorganizaton, from which the work
grievousy suffered At least eleven States and
probably hundreds of local associations formed
with officers and constitutions number OF new
journals and other serials were started and failed
The movement was now rank and lush enough to
lift of incompetents into more or less prom
inence, and hundreds of insignificant "contribu
tlonS appeared.
which also no less overdone. 1t was called
cruel to the child, and all sorts of preposterous
travagances and often mmodesties were charged
against the students of children in large headlines,
especially by the yellow journals" luckless
woman normal teacher once took baby into
her class room for harmless demonstration Of re-
fexes, and in few days famous notorious
the country over. A distinguished professor who
taught his own children in the country and weighed
them and their food held up to execration
an unnatural parent. Another vowed amid the
applause of Boston teachers that for himself he
and his wife would love rather than study their
children. Another urged that no good could come
of the movement unless every step OF the study
was personally conducted by expert. The orthO-
dox academic philosophers in it all only
"unorganlzed mass of meaningless facts. We study
and women, not babies, they said. Others
saw good in the work because it not recOg
nzed in any academic faculty in Europe, assuming
that because it was largely American it must be vain.
l have a rich scrapbook collection of epithets
and arguments used against the movement which
would now be cruel to recall and so forbear. But
on the whole the criticism did good. 1t shook off
camp followers and made us all more careful.
Europe Became Interested
STEADILY, however, the quality of the work