New-York tribune., 1910-02-20

..you cant cultivate the artistic tenn
,aranoent when you have little ones at
home" said The president o. ne Mothers
Kindergarten Club. Mrs oscar Nogt. as
she tried to settle comfortably on her tiny
kindergarten chair. Bu, she belied her
words by her actions. as she was busy
converting clay balls into 1ore ana
fruits while she talked
Twice a month this club, composed OF
mothers Of Greenpoint. Brooklyn, meets
At the Astral House. a social settlement
sl-nnorred i,- Pratt Institute, to learn the
kindergarten methods that ttey may know
how 20 teach and amUse their children
-.r,,en though the kindergarten is over
crowded. said Miss Grace Parsons the
head of Astral House. there are thlrtF ol
forty children more in the neishborhoou
who ought 70 belong. Their mothers are
so anxious 20 have them attend fhal thet
are v-j,,;n. 10 do anything 70 get them
here When ! tried 10 impress upon one
of them the other day that We had no
accommodations by showing her that We
hadn't even enough chairs. she said. on
III buv you chair and bring 1T here my
self It is for these disappointed mothers
nrtncinsIlv that we have opened these
classes. so that they may amuse theH
children al home with suitable pastines-
r2ut thev are by no means the only ones
that come We have an attendance vary
ing between twenty and forty members
each time including mothers OF pupils past
present and future. and even dotins
maiden aunt or two.
As TN. room in which the 'ciuo meets
is built like large corner store WIN
windows on two sides. q special policeman
has 20 h. detailed 20 keep the curious
paes.rs-by from manifesting 100 keen an
interest in the COINS on inside one 1T
tIe girl ct school time resented his inter
ference severely. I can look at my own
ma. cant u" she said. But ma shook
her head. Go home. Lizzie. she SAID
This amt no place for children
No. kindergarten though it was. 1t was
not for the kinder
1t might have been funny If the pupils
hadn't been SO enthusiastic and earnest
about their work. There they sat, some
fifteen OF them, on tiny stools around
table a foot and a half high. each with
a huge lump OF clay before her ana neT
ewes and ears open to anything which
Miss Annie S. Blake, Of the Pratt normal
department. might do or say Miss Blake
conducts a similar class for the mothers
of the little Brooklyn aristocrats at the
colIsp. but she says that she vouldn' Z
miss an afternoon Al the Astral House
for anything.
The main object OF my work. she said
70 The Tribune reporter. is 70 develop
these vomeu's ingenuity. that they may
work out AT home with inexpensive ma
teriaI the ideas they get here. Last week 5
lesson. on bead stringing, resulted IN seF-
eraI ingenious devices. One Of the women
who couldn't afford the expensive wooden
beads, dyed button mOulds in all the
prettv shades It's most effective. isn't 1t:
One has chopped UP macaroni and com
bined it with shoe buttons And here IS
one who has strung bells-what a pretty
l. idea i-and another used red kidney beans
The inventors OF these economies laughed
and looked conscious when Miss Blake
praised them. In fact. they laughed lot
almost as much as their own children did
in the morning classes. Though they Were
generally absorbed in silence by their in
terest in the work. they couldn't help re-
vealing their JOY over new invention or
twitting each other about iRcongruous pro-