The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-29

thrown themselves. heart and soul, into
a campaign to clean up the village.
Recently they put to the test their
knowledge of first aid to the injured
upon a dog with a broken eg-on ~
the earliest known instances of %kindncss
tn a dumb animal on the part Of a
Moro boy.
II. then. these self-gespecting Boy
Scout principles have been so readily
assimilated by boys akin to savageS.
how much more easily will they I've
mastered by the quick witted Serbian
boys! Sterling independence is one OF
the foremost characteristics of the Ser
bian people. They have II by instinct
and hundreds of years under Turkish
oppression failed altogether to rob them
of 1t. My own belief is that the Serbian
boy would make an ideal Scout.
And II these are my plans for helping
the boys Of Serbia To help themselves.
what of the girls? Already the more
enlightened Serbian women have done
much toward the founding of the right
sort of feminist principles in the land.
Under the auspices of the "Zensl !
Savez" tthe Association Of Women), In
structors In hygiene. the Il raining of CHI
dren and all household matters are per-
odically sent In peace time from villas
t. village. At Belgrade, again. Nine.
| Grouitch has founded a school where
| peasant girls are admitted from the
age of 6. Each girl is trained Accord
ing to her aptitudc-some to domestic
4 work others. II sufficiently brilliant, for
4 %univcrrity career.
AS an avowcd feminist ! am inclined
10 think. too, that girls might he included
with boys in my scout scheme. on an
estate of 200 acres at BatCombe. in Dor
setshire. England, my friends Mr.. and
Mrs. George Montagu have started the
Little Commonwealth of which the
public rs yet knows far too little. Co
education is the root idea on which his
institution rests. Boys and girls are
educated side by side. for it is an open
question whether or not the separation
OF the sexes does not create the very
EVIL 1t IS designed to avoid.
4 C~oeducatiOnnI Experiment..
But the most move part about this
interesting experiment is that II is abso-
lutely self-governing. The Little Com
monwealth IL thus a commonwealth In
the most literal sense of the term. The
boys and girls make their own lava AT
a special leg slative court, composed OF
themselves, in which they are all SUI
premely interested, Self-discipline is by
this means inculcated as a substitute foi
obflltIlit ~ ~ Fhl''l 80 CIV
strange though il nay sound, under this
system the general, conduct Of the chill
dren has proved to be- infinitely better
thar IL would he otherwise.
Self-respect Is the dominating note IL
the atmosphere. Each young citizen de
sires, before all things. to stand we'll II
the eyes OF his fellows, Evidently, then
there is much TO be said for the as
sumption that II left to follow his owl
bent under natural. healthy conditions
a child tends TO do what IS right rather
than what is wrong.
The children OF the Little Common,
wealth are all trained TO definite occu
pations whereby they can earn theii
livelihood later on. The institution wal
designed primarily to show how the un
satisfactory reformatory system In Eng
land may be improved upon. Its in
mates, therefore, are all juvenile delin
auents. Blu the experiment as prac
tised upon them has worked so well tina
there is no reason why this same plaI
Of c~oeducation and self-goverrmen
should not he applied to the norma
child.
If in the neal future ! should seel
to establish somewhat similar juvenil,
colonies in Serbia II will seem at first
perhaps, that | am striving after tn,
unattainable. But 7 am full OF hop,
for the younger generation Of m.
adopted country. In the agriculture
and mining resources Of Serbia the!
have a splendid inheritance. if only the,
can he trained to make "A right an,
proper use of II.
And. after all. is It not true that "a
, the twig is bent the tree inclines'?