New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1910-09-21
Winifred StOner Rivals Harvard
Pupil Who MatriCuIated at
Age of II. but Still Likes
Dolls and Outdoor Rompinq.
" TITLE Winifred Sackville Stoner,


3 Jr., the linguistic wonder Of
Ia 80 Palo Alto, Cal, seems in her
accomplishments to surpass all
Necords Of precocity.
/ The recorded feats of intellect of
Thomas Darlington Macaulay, Thomas
De Quincy, John Stuart Mill. Marga-
ret Fuller, Charlotte Bronte and other
famous characters of history pale be-
fore the fact that this little girl, only
eight years old, can carry on a CONVEX
sation in English, French, Spanish,
Latin, Esperanto, Japanese Russian,
German, Polish and Italian, while in
the first five she can think as well as
talk. .r -s
Her only known rival in early intel
lectual development is William James
Sidis, the boy who at the age of eleven
years entered Harvard last autumn.
But the accomplishments Of Sidis are
more especially in mathematics and
philosophy, while little Miss Stoner
shows her femininity by her acquisi-
Jtfon of languages. Withal she is
healthy, normal child, as fond of dolls
and play as any other little girl who
knows only one language.
i Parents Well Educated.
The father Of little Cherie, as her
pare@ts call her. is Colonel J. B. Stoner
. of the United States marine hospital
service, at present in command Of the
United States marine hospital at Port
" Townsend, Wash 1t was from Port
Townsend that the mother and child
went to Palo Alto in search Of bet
ter climate. The mother is a daugh-
ter Of the late Lord Sackville-West,
British ambassador to the United
States during President Clevelands
first administration. Mrs. Stoner is
president of the Women's Esperanto
Association Of North America and is
an authority on the subject of the pro-
posed international language.
'Her advancement" said her moth
or, lis not due TO anything but the
way in which she was educated. be-
gan with her when she was three
weeks old, developing her both mental
~ and physically, and the effect Of the
teaching and method is apparent. The
method used is the training Of William
James Sidis, the Boston lad. The
secret is to make their training play
= for them.
'At the age Of three she could op-
crate the typewriter. That is Won
SEerful method of training a child's
mind In writing On the typewriter
-L,o ~ -,
strument, but she learned also to spell
land to memorize what she was writ
ing Cherie began to compose verse
when she was three years old. and one
of her poems written at that age was
Unpublished in Puck
When little Winifred was summoned
she showed all the bashfulness of a
child She came into the room half
concealed behind her mothers skirts.
Personal Pathos In Verse.
"Wil you recite poem?'' suggested
Mrs Stoner.
Little Miss Poetess chose one of her
own efforts. This was her verse:
One day saw bumblebee bumbling on
rose,
And as stood admirtng him he stung me
4 on the nose.
( My nose in pain it swelled so large It
looked like a potato.
& SO daddy said. though mother thought
twas more like a tomato.
And now. dear children. this advice
Z hope you'll take from me,
{ And when you see bunblebee just let
that humble be.
'She wrote that after she had been
stung, but the pun was not Intention
al. think" said Mrs. Stoner, who
. would limit the scope OF her daugh-
/ ter's talent.
The poem on the bumblebee Is one
OF the pieces published In the book Of
y sSingles," which Miss Winifred Sack
vile Stoner published at the age Of
six. The child's most precocious and
tautobiographical poem is the second