The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-10-31

studying astronomy and some other branches. 81
speaks eight languages; she can recite thousal
poems and she has written nearly five hundr
poems and jingles herself.
Winifred plays the piano well. With no lessor
except the game of making up stories on the piano
she read over page of Schubert's "Serenade
close the book and play it accurately and with mu
expression She also hear a difficult selecti
played and keen is her concentration she CO
Immediately sit down at the piano and play
Winifred draws we'll and paints admirably. Like
Browning. would imagine she will hardly
know which to choose for her life work, music,
art writing. but she is very decided to what
she expects to do Winfred is going to earn and
buy and be the editor Of great children's maya
zine
In tracing Winifred's development chronology
caIly it may be said that she:
Used pClysyllables in conversation at the age
of one year; read at the age of sixteen months;
wrote her own name hotel registers and be
gan keeping diary at the age of two; learned
the musical notes and played simple airs the
piano and amazed adopts at spelling at three:
learned the Latin declens1ons and conjugations
as singing exercises and received a diploma in
Esperanto at four; wrote stories and jngles for
the newspapers, spoke eight languages, translated
Mother Goose rhymes into Esperanto, learned
the waltz twO-step and three-step at five; learned
the outlines of Greek, Roman and Scandinavian
mythologies at seven; composed poem naming
and locating all the bones in the human body at
eight; and elected president of the Junior
Peace League of America at ten.
How readers account for the fact that
Winifred is perfectly normal, happy child, romp
ing singing, loving and lovable, gay the
nary she is giving the freedom of the entire house
and teaching to whistle and to keep perfect time
to all the music that she whistles? Winifred has
a hundred dolls. AS fast she learns anything
she imparts it to her dolls and pets She is
ardentIy devoted to sports. She swims, races,
plays ball dances and physically she is well
as she is mentally. Her little muscles are strong
as armor bolts. She is large ordinary
twelve-year-old girl and walk five miles with
out the least fatigue
Winifreds father is a colonel and surgeon in
the Marine hospital service of the United States
Now he is stationed at Pittsburgh From him
Winifred undoubtedly gets her splendid physical
care and she is a perfectly well child She is
practical like her father, and possesses all her
mothers love of art and music and the gift Of
writing.
No less remarkable is the little girls mother.
Mrs. Stoner in her book, Natural Education,
seems to find nothing in little Winifred's devel-
opment that might not be attained in any healthy,
naturally bright child. If this is conceded for the
sake Of argument, it would have to be admitted
that very very few children would have the ad-
vantages of the extraordinary cleverness Of
born teacher, such as Winifred's In fact, Mrs
Stoner has employed methods peculiarly her own
1t might be said that Mrs. Stoner has given ten
years of constant labor to the education Of her
daughter labor that not merely constant, but
that was intelligent and imaginative as well.
For the whole secret of Winifred's learning has
been the play spirit Whatever she was taught,