The Washington herald., 1916-04-22

Friedrich Froebel, that great man
who worked out the principles of the
kindergarten as a first step in the edu-
cation OF little children, says in one
OF his books, Seek to give outward
form to the feelings that stir the
chiId's heart" This is a good rule for
mothers to adopt in training their
children.
Sit down for a few quiet moments.
dear mothers, and mediate on this
saying. Do you not see wonderful pos
sibilities from the application of such
a principle?
The heart of a little child Is like a
garden. The seeds of all virtues are
there, and perhaps, too, the seeds of
all vices. As the mother-gardener en-
Courages and draws forth the good and
prunes away the evil, so she brings to
flower in her children goodness and
sweetness and unselfshness and self
denial and all the virtues that make
living a sources of joy and happiness.
INTENDED, the noxious weeds flourish
just as they do in the soil of an actual
garden and the home becomes the
scene OF a constant battle of jarring
temperaments.
Don't think I am laying too great
responsibility upon mothers for the
kind of children they send out into
the world. I believe it is wholly owing
to the kind of gardening the mother
has done that her children bring forth
that fruit of the spirit, love, joy,
peace"-that makes of this earth a
Kingdom of heaven" or grow up to
be "tares," hindrances rather than helps
In this busy world of men.
To put this theory to practical ap-
plicstion we must set a very definite
ideal before US and then get a clear
thought Of just how we purpose to
work that ideal out. The trouble with
most of us is that our training is hap
hazard. We wish to train our children
to be unselhsh, to practice self-deniaI,
but we do not think out any definite
plan for doing so. l know some
mothers in our clubs who think they
are teaching children self-denial and
unselfshness by rousing their pity for
children less fortunate than them
selves, but they never complete the
lesson by creating the opportunity to
help those other children. Such work
ing of the feelings without its natural
outcome in action is actually hurtful.
1t is in this way that those sickly,
sentimental people whom we all know
people who seem to get a real pleas
ure out of wringing their hands and
mourning over the woes of the world
but who ask plalntively what possible
help they could be IL you suggest the
need of it to them.
At one of our recent club meetings, we
had a lively discussion Of this subject.
Some OF the mothers present questioned
the possibility of really teaching their
children to be self-denying.
Children are born selfish or unset
fish" one Of them maintained, land it's
like whistling to the wind to expect to
make them anything else"
OF course we all disagreed with her.
One earnest little woman, who had
never before had the courage to take
part in our discussions, got up and told
known from childhood, whom she char
acterized as the most selfish person
she had ever met
She was made so by her mother.
too" she went on vehemently. II re-
member once that We found an unfor-
tunate family in our little village; there
was very little poverty there for most
of US owned our own homes and few
people actually suffered want But this
family had drifted in from somewhere
and the father was a shiftless do-little
who never worked steadfastly at any
thing. The mother made what she could
by washing and cleaning for the rest of
US, but she fell Ill and at Christmas time
IL was learned that they had almost
nothing to eat in the house and abso-
lutely nothing to make Christmas with.
We children, of course, heard our
parents talking about 1t, and we all
wanted to make Christmas for the little
poor children We were busy collect
ing our toys and from one and another
we got together an astonishing number
OF Christmas presents for those child
rem. With another girl, 1 went to the
home Of this one I spoke of, and we
found Helen as excited and enthusias-