The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-03
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

Do not let the German name. kinder
 sarten. blind you to the value of this kind of work. for there are approxi- mately S,S0NOo0 children of kindergar-
 ten age in our country for whom kin dergartens have not been provided. Now. I have been interested in kin dergartens for a quarter of century I got in line while lawyer living in i Atlanta, being made secretary of the free kindergarten association. This, of course, made it necessary for me to post myself about the work
 1
 Kindergarten is German word meaning garden of children" the name given by F'riederich Froebel to kind of play scnooT invented by him for furthering the physical, moral and intellectual growth of children between the ages of and '. It is bit of pleasant educational camou- flage by which little boys and girls are taught without hardly being con scious that they are learning through attention.
 Friederich Wilhelm Froebel. German educator, was born in 17S2 and died in 1 1852 and. therefore. he cannot be held accountable for the educational de- l bauchment of the German educational system which since 1S7O-71. or the 1 close of the Franco-Prussian war, per- meated the schools from bottom to top, starting in the lower grades and end- ing in the universities poisoned the minds of the people and caused them to set themselves up as supermen. Realizing the importance of train ing children of tender years, Frpbel opened in 1887 the first Kindergarten at Blankenburg. Later he gave him. self to training women as teachers, 1 but his labors were interrupted by the edict of 1852. forbidding the establish ! ment in Prussia of schools on the prin- ciples which he advocated It was a heavy blow to the now aging peda- gogue, for he had looked to the gov ernment of the 'Cultus-statt." Prussia, for support. but was met with de- nunciation-
 
 But this Is rot to be the life of the philosopher. philanth ropist and educa- tional reformer. but If 1t had been my purpose could have set out how, neg lected in his youth. the remembrance of his own early sufferings made him, in after life. the more eager in pro noting the happiness of children. His mother died in his infancy and his father, pastor. was absorbed in his pastoral work, attending to his parish but not to his family. He was passed on later from stepmotherly attention to maternal uncle. At the village school he was looked upon as a dunce
 Having said this much as a sidelfght must add that Froebel had an in- tense love of nature and spent much time in the woods. attracting the at tention of the celebrated Jahn (the Father Jahn" of the German gym nasts) by his ability to make all kinds of wonderful things from stones and cobwebs. After his struggles at the university of Jena. where his univer-
 
 of nine weeks for a debt of 30 shil- lings, and his study of architecture. school teaching and experience in the Lutzow corps in the campaign of 1913 against France. he intended to become 8 teacher of natural science. But fate had another career in store for him.
 
 Few of us know what is ahead of us or what circumstances will influ- ence our lives, His brother. a clergy man, died, and Froebel gave up his post as curator of the museum ofN mineralogy at Berlin and set out on foot for Griesham. where his widow lived, spending his very last groschen for. bread on the way. Arriving he undertook the education of his niece and snephews, and also Of two more nephews sent him by another brother. The great universities were running under full speed. but small note was made of the humble teacher of chil- dren, and yet the day was to come when his name and fame would ring around the world.
 Usually there is someone whose life influences another. In the case of Froebel it was Petallozzi. with whom he was associated for some time at i'eruoH, near NeuCndtel. Here, rom 1897 to 1909. Froebel was drinking in Retalossizanism at the fountainhead and qualifying himself to carry on the work begun by his master But, in spite of the bent of the Swiss educator F'roebel evolved a theory of education of his own, and to explain it he wrote The Education of Man"
 It seems that poverty has way of dog ging the steps of some of the worlds l great oenefactors. Froebel had years of struggle in which in spite of his high l ideals and lofty service he found great | difficulty in keeping the wolf from the ! door. The nobls pair. Langethal, Midden- | dorn, the two young men who had joined | their lives with Froebefs on the field of | battle, together with Barop, relation of | Middledorff, moved to Keilhau, and with | Froebel taught in the school which was to i become famous, although for many years l the quartet were in greatest straits for 1 money and at timess for even food itself. | The world has not yet fully learned that | 1t owes it's teachers a living, and the 1 wage paid them in. the twentieth cen tury Is an indictment against it's nig- gartliness.
 But back to. kindergartens. Towards the end of the eighteenth century Pesta- lozzi rlanned and Oberlin formed day asylums for young children Schools Of | this kind took in the Netherlands the name cf ''play-school," and in England, where they nave especially thriven, of infant schools" But Froebers idea of the kindergarten differed essentially from