Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-02-06

dreams. Let him who has eyes to see
enlarge the picture and TX IT., great
relationship.
At the kindergarten is infinite life.
There is the evidence Of love and the
evidence Of neglect. There is the life
with the promise of blossom, and there
is the life under the dread Of blight.
The teacher has a great task. Her
mission is to bid them all to come un-
to her. and to lead them into vision OF
the kingdom Of heaven. Wherever love
is and the touch OF it. there is the king
dom. The teacher, looking over her
flock as the shepherd his sheep. must
have strange dreams and that order OF
faith which may remove mountains.
All things are possible with love; and.
alas! that there should be so much OF
restitution outside the kindergarten. 1t
is nothing il 1t be not h home OF In
SEPARATION. The Kindergarten herself
must be the way OF life.
The kindergarten is not so new as
some may think. Away back in 1882 a
German boy was born, n he bore the
name of Frederick Frobel. He became
famous as an educator, and yet, withal.
he was a soldier. He served against
the French in 1913 and 1914; but he
carried with him all the time the heart
of a child. He was a student at the
important universities of his time, and
he was the ounde Of important edu-
c%ational institutions. His greatest
work, and for which he is best remem-
bered, was in founding a kindergarten
in 1887, when he was 55 years OF age.
The seat Of the first kindergarten was
at B~lankenburg In Thuripgia. From
that beginning all the k~indergartens
have sprung; and from private instftu-
lions, available to the few, they have
become a public charge, available to
the many. The history Of nearly
everything good is the history Of civil
lization: and the history of civilization
is the story Of the spread Of the Christ
love in the. world. The mar Frobel
and his story should have place in the
teaching Of every kindergarten.
The kindergarten is a place for play
PLAY SO directed that it leads to the
door of knowledge. 1t is a place where
the love of knowing things is intro
duced by the love of play. 1t is a place
where the language of the child is
spoken, where problems are reduced to
the understanding of the child, and
where the thought presented is the
thought of a child. The teacher must
transform herself and be as a little
child, Her high profession is that of
an alchemist Of the mind.
The wee bit OF a CIR is nome iIoii
the kindergarten, with her eyes aglow.
She has been to school The cache
helped her off with her things. and
helped her to put them on again; and
the teacher said now look out for your
selfks mother had said in the morning
at the door. The wee bit Of a girl had
been to school; and what did she do?
She played. 1t was a first lesson in re-
sponsibility. 1t was very near the
starting point Of going alone; but that
lesson had not appeared at the school
nor on the way. The rudiments of the
best education are acquired in an un-
conscious way. Did h like her teach
er? The little eyes had joyful snap,
and the little tongue ran on volubly.
The main point had been won, and
without the Kindergarten could not
have been won. for with her help the
heart of the wee bit Of a girl had been
won. A share OF the love Of the child
had been transferred to the kindergar-
ten; ADD later, with the going of the
years, so it please God. the love was to
he transferred again and again. and
made inclusive or a larger world, where
men and women live. n work, and
help according to their strength. And
the wee bit Of a girl goes early to bed
to be ready for another day at the kim
dergartend> she thinks as a child of
the way on which she has started: but
the teacher. knows it is the way, in
plav and in strenuous endeavor. in joy
in sorrow, to the end. be it near or
far.
Love has its own com pensations, and
they are the richest of all the benefits
Of life. Work is play in the company
of love, and if it be not play it is a
holy ministrat ton with the comfort of
doing as one would be done by. The
Kindergarten is the open doc of life;
and to be there to welcome little chill
dren, and to be as one of them, to be
their mind and Of their thought, and
to know the way over which they must
is to be in sacred office, where the
light of glory shines.
The old may dream even as chill
the old may see the wee lit
tie girl in other years, the lesson Of re-
sponsibility better learned, standing at
the door to see another wee bit of a
girl off to the kindergarten, and saying
now look out for the cars. The way is
old, and never the same; and love is
old, and ever new. The old may dream,
and crown the dream with hope OF bet
ter things for all the children, and bet
still better things for all the
world. !
when I was a child. ] spake as a
child, I understood asa child, I thought
a child; but when l became a man,
I put away childish things"