The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-04-24
schools of the country which win

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the school education fit the child for
the practical duties of life, especially
industrial training in the high school
and to promote cooperation between
the home and the school. Thanks
were extended to President and Mrs
Roosevelt for their courtesies to the
congress. The state department re-
ceived also an expression of graft
tude for aid in extending invitations
to foreign countries to send dele
gates to the congress. The work of
Elmer Ellsworth Brown, United
States commissioner of education, for
the success of the congress was COM
mended as was that of the depart
ment of agriculture for pamphlets On
the pure food qeustion furnished the
congress, as well as for the informa-
ton given by DR.. Wiley, chief chem
list of the department, in his address
! to the congress. 1t was also de-
| clared that the mothers appreciate
the hearty support given the move
ment by the press.
Closing Exercises.
The invocation was pronounced by
| Rev. DR.. Frederick D. Power, pastor
of the Vermont Avenue Christian
church. DR.. G. Stanley Hall of Clark
University of Worcester, Mass, Who
was to have spoken on the 'Psychol-
ogy of Motherhood, was unable to
be present. Edward E. Allen, direc-
tor of the Perkins Institute of Bos-
ton, was in charge of the session of
a xrrhi M, 1es
upon the program as the session
for the blind" DR.. F. P. Lewis of
Buffalo, N. ", president of the New
York state commission to investi-
gate conditions of the blind, discuss
ed THE Prevention of Blindness.
In an interview with Star report
er regarding the work of the moth
ers' congress and the influence of the
organization upon the public schools
Mr. Horace Holden of White Plains,
N. Y, an interested spectator at sew
eral of the sessions of the congress,
had this to say:
The excellent reports that The
Star has given of the proceedings OF
the congress tor the welfare of the
child, held in Washington, without
doubt have raised unusual interest
in the progress of the fathers and
mothers of the next generation. Our
great American institution, the pub
lice school, is not only fulfilling it's
Institutional function, but is becom-
ing more widely educational in the
attention it is paying to the improve
ment of the social life and morals of
the community.
The attendance at our public
schools is so vast when compared
with that of our private institutions,
that the interest of the congress CEN
tered naturally in the former; yet
the private schools are not without
their sphere of usefulness and infiu-
ence upon Young America, and as
they draw their patronage from the
first families of the land they are en-
titled 10 their share of representation
Unfortunately the converting of the
congress was called to my notice at SO
late date that / was only able to
attend few of the sessions, and my
opportunity to speak of the work
and influence of the private schools,
andespecially of the boarding schools
of the east, which it was my purpose
to represent was limited.
THE boy at boarding school is a
vastly different subject of psycholo-
gical study from the one who attends
day school and remains under the
immediate influence of the family.
In the first place, he has more regu-
lar life thanthe boy WHO'S subject to
social demands at home, and his
hours of recitation, study and recrea-
ton are all arranged with the idea
of maximum mental and physical ex-
pansion. In the second place, he has
a better chance for the development
of character than the boy who is
held, as it were, tied to his mothers
apron strings.
Boarding schools do make mis-
take in permitting certain indis-
crminate association between older
and younger boys, which now OBJ
tains in many of the schools, despite |
their advertisements to the contrary
The interests of the boys beyond pu-
berity are so different from those of |
lads still in pre-adolescent years that |
both are injured by unrestrained in
timacy. A boy of IA or Is is sent to
the boarding school for the purpose
of better training for and expert
ence preparatory to college life than
home environment affords. The
younger boy usually goes because he
Is an unsolvable problem in the fam
lily. The school has to found him in
elementary subjects of study and in
still culture, obedience and self-res-
possibility as we'll The older boy,
with character we'll formed before
ne leaves home, need suffer no con-
but the temptations
which beset the younger boy in his
years-seven to fourteen
require, for counteraction infin-
tely greater attention and the ad-
of headmaster who
IAN truly stand in loco PARENTS.
Schools Numerous.
Boarding schools are numerous
n the east, and one may be found
o fit any purse and the requirements
If any boy above fourteen. The need
However, of a thoroughly satisfac-
DRY institution for the younger lad,
Though several schools are direct
ng their noblest and best efforts
n the direction of the junior depart