The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-07
$2,6s5.T
Correct, March 9th, 1908
 HENRY G. NEWTON,


 Auditor.
 The treasIrers report was accepted in due form and was followed by an interesting report of the secretary, which is given herewith:
 The board of managers of the Elm City free kindergarten has a year of growth and progress to report to the association.
 The three schools at 95 Water street, at Welcome hall and the one conducted at the Leila day nursery have all continued their work under what are, on the whole, encouraging circumstances, the whole number reg istered in the three schools being 297. The average attendance has been high, especially in the first two schools. In fact the number of chill dren applying for admission at the Water school school was sd great that in April it became necessary to rent the store adjoining the one already occupied and remove the partition be- tween them, thus almost doubling the capacity of the school. This with the necessary change in the plumbing and extra janitor service entailed increased expenditure, but the attendance of the children has fully justified the outlay. During the summer, through the kindness of one of the managers, a bath tub was put into the school. a gift which the association acknowl- edges with gratitude.
 As is usual with the people with whom the hndergartens deal, the tub was at first regarded with suspicion, water in quantity being held as disa- greeaIble by the children and danger ous by their parents. But in the course of short time the tact of the teachers and especially of the visiting nurses, resulted in overcoming all such aversions so that by this time a bath is no longer an inf1iction to be dreaded and many cases of serious skin troubles have been cured which formerly could not be adequately treated.
 It is hoped that during the hot weeks of summer the association will be able to make the bath tub useful to the children and mothers of the neighborhood.
 At present we are able to report a clean bill of health in ali the schools.
 The association highly appreciates the vigilance of Miss Hill and Miss Markham, the district nurses who, to- gether with Dr. Rand at Water street and Dr. H. Merriman Steele at Well come hall, have brought about this happy condition.
 The school at Welcome hall pur- sues its way serenely with as large a number of children as can be taken care of there. Like the Water street school, the work is largely among the Italians and first knowledge of Eng fish is imparted along with the usual kindergarten training. This fact makes the teachers work the more difficult but also greatly increases it's value as 1t takes these little aliens, who would otherwise be running wild in the streets, and trains them not O0ly Ill DTuti, SgSltIllr Cltdiliintss, but also in thes English language. In short, in all the elements of our civil ization. The value of the visits of the teachers in the children's homes can also not be over-estimated. and the mothers meetings, the Thanksgiving and Christmas parties to which the parents are invited combine toward the improvement of the entire fami- ly.
 The managers acknowledge witt gratitude the entertainment given ir May for the benefit of the association by the Queen Esther branch of the Sunshine society, when the sum of s22f was a most welcome addition to the ! funds.
 I In November rummage sale was | held in Water street school. bringing | in a small but much needed amount | at that time.
 On December the annual Christmas | sale netted ss59.
 On its present basis the sum oi i S2400 is necessary to carry on ths work of the association and while there | are still hundreds of children of kin dergarten age unprovided for by the l city schols the managers are most anx- i ious to extend the work As formerly our chief source of rev enue comes from friends to whom wt apply by means of circulars sent out 1 This income is supplemented by 2 ! Christmas sale at the Lawn Club IT l December, and an entertainment oi some kind in the spring.
 The managers hope in presenting thi; report to the association to still fur