New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-20

mother"
The four-year-old leaves his engine ana
comes running for when It's baking DAY
Leonard IL permitted TO Indulge In MS
fsyorite amusement-turning the little
knobs in the gas range.
Dangerous?
Well, Mrs. Arthur Noyes believes II u
less dangerous 10 teach her small son re-
straint I'm the use OF gas.
"He was only a tiny tot" she says
when he discovered that II was fun 70
turn the little knobs. lie must learn
that he must not touch them except when
they are TO be used made up my nina.
IL | simply tell him not to he VIII for
get. and some time We may have ter
r.ble disaster II II gets impressed on his
baby mind that the gas is to be turned on
only when mother tells him he VIII De
happy and proud 10 be helping mother.
Mrs Noyes is the chief expounder OF the
rew-old theory that IL Is better Tor emil
dren TO have pleasant work 10 do IN the
home than TO be dependent on toys ali
the time. Mrs. Noyes is chairman OF the
committee on children's work ana play
OF the Federation for Child Study, under
whose auspices an exhibition and confer
eI.ce is being held this week at the Ethi-
cal Culture Society. No West saith street.
In the exhibition lis the coffee mill with
which little Elizabeth grlnds her fathers
coffee every morning. There are egg
heaters. ice cream freezers, potato mash
era and other things that children love 10
turn. There are little rakcs and hoes Tor
children who are blessed with gardens
and there are home made doll houses
baby baskets. automobiles. hyinS ma
chimes. and even n beautiful mahogany
motor boat made by the boys OF Horace
Mann school.
Professor John Dewey and Ru1yard
Kipllng compete for the honor OF confirm
utlng the motto OF the exhibition on ono
wall IS Dewey's statement: "Partcipa-
ton I'm household tasks becomes an OPP
nortunity for education" on the other
is Kiplings story of How the Camel COT
His Hump:
1--WE all get humps, camelious humps
Riddles and grown-ups, too.
get II as well as you-oo-oo
II haven't enuf 10 do-oo-oo.'
The movement 10 make children happy
through work began In this generauoh'
when Huckleberry Finn whitewashed MS
fence but IL received a new impetus when
William A. Writ, superintendent OF
Schools In Gary. Ind, saw niue poy
citing sullen and bored on his front steps
ord his tired old mother hanging out
clothes.
The schools are doing this child
wrong" said the superintendent TO MN
self. 1--WE are cncourasng him Y MINK
that the world OF books is superior 10 the
workday world, and that being scholar
ia incompatible with helping with the
housework."
To-day the children Of Gary receive
their education through tools. They learn
10 do tinsmithIng. plumbing carpentry
sewing and cooking. Manufacturers WEI
come the coming OF men 10 their shops
Who understand the principles of ma
chinery, as was testified last hish' oy
Austin Levy, representing the Rhode ISL
and woollen mills
"pbilanthropies that provide play Tor
children are we'll under way said Mrs'
Moves THE movement to prevent chill
dren from being exploited In Industry Is
o,ao oc,,va Roth are essential. Yet II In
dghting child labor we deprive our chill
dren OF wholesome occupation ana let
tbom drift into idleness we shall be
do,no them almost as great wrong
C,,,tdror love TO do the things they see
t,oIr elders doing. They love to feel I'm
portant and help.
halr I'm
81 know the little son OF paher III
Neu York who is old enough so that he
wants 10 help In his fathers business' ne
,arta a lob. The law forbids; so IN
s,o,d NJ happily trundling cart around
The block, delivering bread mat boy -
forced TO loaf on the corners with gang
NJ oilers like himself, who are IN danger
Of forming dangerous, even criinihai'
habits.
children should be allowed TO help
u,othor md father almost as soon as they
can do ANYTHING. A baby eighteen months
old can break up macaronl' Al ,"o years
no can turn the water from MS oa'h'
and can measure out -four ana salt ana
sugar TO help mother make cake. MY boy
measured out all the materials lor MS
hirtbdav cake when he was four years
old.
Isn't he in the way Well, OF course
women who think the most important
thing in life IS TO get their houseworK
done quickly send their children out
with a nurse TO get them from underfoot.
That is where the trouble with the mod
ern American child begins. The mother
doesn't take trouble enough with IT. She
saves her time when it is little only TO
face a bigger problem when 1t grows up
undIsciplined and unresourceful.
Al the conference last night Dr. Fehx
Adler presided The speakers were Dr.
Louis F.. Bisch of the childrens' Hospi-
tails: DR.. Leonard 2. Ayers. OF the sage
Foundation. and Austin Levy. This after
noon Dr. Ira S. VILE Will preside. To-
morrow evening X. II. Reeder, head OF
the New York Orphan Asylum. VIII pre-