Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-13

also of Siam. spoke of the intelligence
of the Siamese children. who. with their
afiectionate dispositions. are easy to teach.
The hampering shackles of superstition.
she said are fast breaking. and the SIAM
ese like the japanese, are anxious TO
progress.
Ancient Persia's many strange customs,
now giving place to modern Innovations
in the care of children. were described bY
Mrs. James Cowles, the delegate from
Persia. The intelligent and Well-olrecteo
efforts of many Persian statesmen ana
teachers have succeeded in greatly amei-
iorating the conditions surrounding chill
den in the shah's kingdom. said MIS-
Cowles. and Persia may yet be expected
to take leading part in the reform move
ments which are spreading throughout
the orient.
Plea for the Mother.
A plea for the education of the mother
who has either a deaf or blind child was
made by Mrs. J. Scott Anderson, delegate
from the Swarthmore. Pa, branch, and
principal of school for deaf children in
that town. She spoke of the instruction
given to mothers of normal children by
those interested in 1.-The welfare OF the
child" but of the entire absence of helpful
guidance of parents of deaf or bind
child THE education of the young deaf
child in the schools has come to stay.
she said Splendid work Is being done In
the schools for little ones in Chicago.
Massachusetts,. Pennsylvania and New
York. but that times come when the chill
dren most go to their homes. and there
they are quite misunderstood She asked
that teachers of the blind and teachers of
the deaf all over the United States be re-
quested to aid in giving this instruction,
through the Parent-Teachers' Association
Mrs. Anderson. who is both parent and
teacher offered her own services to fur
Their the movement.
Wants Training School.
Mrs. Rosetta E. Lawson. president of
the Catherine Ferguson Child Study Club
of this city, made an urgent appeal for
the establishment CT a training school for
mothers. This plea was based on her OBJ
servations as missionary for the Baptist
Woman's Home Missionary Society. and
as such goes among the residents of con-
gested sections of this city, where the
conditions are SO detrimental to an ele-
waited moral status. Mrs. Lawson said
she had submitted to Judge DeLacy of
the Washington Juvenile Court some
thoughts she had cleaned from her daily
experience and he had Endorsed or cor
roborated them most heartily.
Something must be DONE" she said ito
relieve the conditions revealed through the
Presidents sanitary housing committee.
Our people have organized since that re-
port to do what they can to raise the
in the courts and alleys
Lecture on Children's Fairgrounds.
The address on child labor, which was
to have been given by Mr.. Charles p.
Neil' last night, had to be omitted be-
cause of the absence of the lecturer from
the city. The hour was spent in a pleas
ing stereopticon lecture on public recrea
ton grounds, which was given by Mr..
Graham Roneyn Taylor of Chicago. The
views presented many phases of play
other views of interiors and exte riors of
homes of the Submerged half" showing
why it is imperative that recreation space
be furnished children of the large cities
Il it is desired that fully two-thirds of
the dense population of cities like New
York and Chicago is not to grow up like
noXiOus weeds in a muck heap.
From the views exhibited and the tenor
of the talk that accompanied them it is
evident that Chicago has taken a great
recreation. One playground shown was
vacant 'lot twenty-five feet wide be-
tween two towering buildings. In it had
been erected swings, leaping bars and
machinery that could be easily procured.
and the lecturer, without intending 1t,
played pathetically upon heart strings as
he told of the supreme joy of the dirty
llttie youngsters VINO ndSIeneQ 10 soap
and water themselves for the privilege
of playing in that bare almost bleak
spot, where not tree nor shrub, not
even a spear of grass would grow.
The lecturer showed other views of the
children OF the slums whose only play
ground was on the top of garbage cart,
and yet others, where the children waded
in the filth of Shiny alley pools. because
there was no other place for them to so
outdoors, except into the crowded street,
MI, inh mt irNin for yfo
from the heavy traffic wagons which wait
for nothing and whose drivers count
human life of as little worth as the run
ming over a rat. Many of the pictures
deep, with hard bottom, which were pro-
vided for the children to wade in. Not
deep enoughto drown them, but sufficiently
deep for them to lie down in. or sit in and
have all the fun they liked splashing about,
and care-worn mothers could know that
they could not possibly get In over their
depth. Then there were pictures of little
children playing in the sand lots" each
with trOwel, hoe and spade, building min
iature forts and mount aims, and having
a great time in the health-giving sun and
air.
Prolonged applause followed the closing
Of Mr.. Taylor.
Greetings From Patriotic Bodies.
The greetings Of the National Woman's
Relief Corps were brought to the congress
by Mrs. Isabel Worrell Ball. past presi-
dent of the Department of the Potomac,
who stated that the Woman's Relief
Corps was the parent Of all women's or
ganizatons Mrs Ball made special
plea for the teaching Of love Of the coun-
try and its nag, as well as reverence for
the institutions of the country-lessons
which she said should be taught at the
mothers knee, and should be as much a
part of the child's education as the Bible
and its teachings, both making for good
citiZnnShiD Mrs Ball stated that the