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LOVE AND LAW 
 
 IN 
 
 Child Training, 
 
 A Book for Mothers. 
 
 By 
 
 EMILIE POULSSON, 
 
 Author of "Nursery Finger Plays," "In the Child's 
 World," "Through the Farmyard Gate," etc. 
 
 "All's love, yet all's law." 
 
 Robert Browning. 
 
 1899. 
 
 MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY, 
 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 
 New York, Atlanta. K.\nsas City. 
 
 P 
 
/\^■b^5^% 
 
 Copyright, 1899, 
 
 By Milton Bradley Company, 
 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 
 8PEIN6FIELD PBIKiraO AND BINDING CO., 
 SPBINGKIKLD, MASS. 
 
Grateful acknowledgments are hereby 
 rendered to The Outlook for permission to 
 use "Christmas with the Children," which is 
 incorporated in "A Few Hints upon Keeping 
 Christmas"; to the Kindergarten Magazine 
 for "The Kindergarten Christmas Tree Trans- 
 planted to the Home," and to the Ladies' 
 Home Journal iox "Mrs. Ponsonby's Experi- 
 ment, ' ' copyrighted by the Curtis Publishing 
 Co. E. P. 
 
O I'amour d'une mere ! amour que nul n'oublie ! 
 Pain merveilleux, que Dieu partage et multiplie ! 
 Table toujours servie au paternel foyer ! 
 Chacun en a sa part, et tous I'ont tout entier. 
 
 Victor Hugo. 
 
 O mother-love ! love that no one ever forgets ! 
 Wonderful bread, that God divides and multiplies ! 
 Table always spread beside the paternal hearth ! 
 Each one has his part of it, and each one has it all. 
 
 "What your children ought to learn, how they should 
 be educated, is no arbitrary matter dependent on artifi- 
 cial passing fashion ; it depends on the fundamental prin- 
 ciples of the universe, of which human nature (and there- 
 fore child-nature, too) is a part, — on the eternal laws of 
 God, which are revealed to us in the life of nature and 
 of man. There can be no true basis of education, no 
 right training and teaching of little children, if these 
 laws and principles be not taken into account, any more 
 than the tiniest plant could attain perfection if the gar- 
 dener tried to rear it without regard to its dependence on 
 the sun, saying, ' What can such an immense globe so 
 many millions of miles away have to do with this in- 
 significant little primrose ' ? " 
 
 Translator's Preface to " Child and Child Na- 
 ture. " 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 When a young kindergartner, so fresh 
 from her training school that her diploma 
 ribbon is still unfaded, assumes the charge of 
 a mothers' class, her action is often misunder- 
 stood. She is supposed to claim that she feels 
 herself to be ready to tell mothers of experi- 
 ence how to bring up their children. As a 
 general rule, the kindergartner makes no such 
 claim. What she often does think is this : "The 
 kindergarten is the outcome of the mother's 
 art, — the justification of it, the extension of it. 
 Froebel wished to help the mother and believed 
 that he had found the means. It is strange indeed 
 then, if I, a kindergartner, who have studied 
 Froebel's kindergarten principles and methods 
 for two or three years and believe in them 
 profoundly, cannot tell these mothers what 
 the kindergarten is, and what some of Froebel's 
 ideas are with regard to the training of chil- 
 dren. It is strange, too, if I, who am the first 
 to take these little children from their mothers 
 and keep them with me half of each school 
 day, have nothing to say to these mothers as 
 to what I hope to do with their little ones ; 
 
6 Preface. 
 
 strange if I have no explanation to make as 
 to the influences which I intend to bring to 
 bear upon the children, the opportunities 
 which I mean to offer them." Such are the 
 modest and reasonable thoughts which urge 
 the young kindergartner forward and em- 
 bolden her to start her mothers' class, how- 
 ever presumptuous her action may be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 Though possessing some credentials of age 
 and experience which our hypothetical kin- 
 dergartner lacks, I offer to mothers, with an 
 equally simple intention, these few chapters, 
 which were first written for a mothers' class. 
 They attempt to give a simple presentation 
 of some of Froebel's ideas as I have under- 
 stood them, and of the practical bearing of 
 these ideas. The many extracts given from 
 books on kindergarten subjects will show how 
 little desirous I am of claiming originality 
 for the fundamental thoughts, and how anx- 
 ious to refer the reader to the rich fields of 
 knowledge which these books offer ; for gladly 
 do I admit that 
 
 ' ' What these strong masters wrote at large, in miles, 
 I follow in small copy in my acre. ' '' 
 
 Emilie Poulsson. 
 
 Boston, Mass., 1899. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. How Pi,AY Educates the Baby, 9 
 
 II. From Play to Earnest, 37 
 
 III. The Application of Kindergarten 
 
 Principles in the Child's Home 
 Life, 65 
 
 IV. From Nursery to Kindergarten and 
 
 Why, 107 
 
 V. Early Virtues, 137 
 
 VI. A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas, 167 
 
 VII. The Kindergarten Christmas Tree 
 
 Transplanted to the Home, 185 
 
 VIII. The Santa Claus Question, By Laura 
 
 E. Poulsson, 193 
 
 IX. Mrs. Ponsonby's Experiment, 203 
 
 X. Concerning a Pew Books on Child 
 
 Training, 219 
 
As the books from which quotations have been made 
 are referred to throughout this volume merely by their 
 titles, a list is appended, giving names of authors and 
 publishers, for the greater convenience of those readers 
 who wish to refer to the books. 
 
 Education of Man — Proebel. Translated by W. N. 
 Hailmann. D. Appleton & Co. New York. 
 
 Mottoes and Commentaries — Froebel. Translated 
 by Susan E. Blow. D. Appleton & Co. New York. 
 
 Symbouc Education — Susan E. Blow. D. Appleton & 
 Co. New York. 
 
 Mother Songs, Games, and Stories — Froebel. 
 Translated by Frances and Emily Lord. William 
 V Rice. Ivondon. 
 
 Froebel'S Mother Play Songs — Denton J. Snider. 
 Sigma Publishing Co. Chicago. 
 
 Child and Child Nature — Baroness vou Marenholtz 
 Billow. Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. London. 
 
 Reminiscences of Froebel — Baroness von Marenholtz 
 Bulow. Lee and Shepard. Boston. 
 
 Lectures to KindergarTnERS — Elizabeth p. Peabody. 
 D. C. Heath & Co. Boston. 
 
 A Study of Child Nature — Elizabeth Harrison. 
 Chicago Kindergarten College. 
 
 The Moral Instruction of Children — Felix Adler. 
 D. Appleton & Co. New York. 
 
 Levana — Jean Paul Richter. Ticknor & Fields (1863). 
 Boston. 
 
1 
 
 HOW PLAY EDUCATES THE BABY 
 
"And as the sun with fervent ray- 
 Draws each small flower to look above, 
 She draws her child' s soul forth to meet her own. ' ' 
 Mottoes and Commentaries. 
 
 " * * Stringing pretty words that make no sense, 
 And kissing full sense into empty words,. — 
 Which things are corals to cut life upon. 
 Although such trifles." 
 
 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 
 
 "* * The plays of infancy, — a round in that ladder 
 of experience over which the soul climbs toward self- 
 realization and self-knowledge. 
 
 Mottoes and Commentaries. 
 
HOW PIvAY EDUCATES THE BABY. 
 
 Among the pleasures which come to the 
 student of kindergarten is that of the gradual 
 discovery of unimagined meanings in some of 
 the commonest practices toward children. 
 
 When Froebel reveals to us that what we 
 had thought of merely as happy frolics with 
 baby are serviceable toward baby's develop- 
 ment, a fascinating interest attaches to the 
 simplest plays as we use or recall them, sub- 
 jecting them to this new test. 
 
 True, we search in vain for a psychologic 
 point, or for value of any kind, in some of the 
 nonsense jingles which have come down to 
 us ; and for a very good reason, — it is not 
 there ! Many of these jingles have no mean- 
 ing or educative bearing, and some again are 
 positively objectionable because of their silly 
 or coarse language or ideas. Take the ever- 
 popular ' ' I/ittle Pigs, ' ' and you have a simple, 
 merry play when you use the version which 
 runs : — 
 
 " This little pig went to market ; 
 This litle pig stayed at home ; 
 
12 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 This little pig had roast beef ; 
 This little pig had none. 
 This little pig cried 'Wee, wee, wee !' 
 All the way home ! " 
 
 But listen to this other version, also often 
 used : — 
 
 "This little pig said : 'I'll go steal wheat.' 
 This little pig said : 'Where ?' 
 This little pig said : 'In our neighbor's bam. ' 
 This little pig said : 'I'll go tell ! ' 
 This little pig said : 'Wee ! wee ! wee ! 
 I can't get over the barn door sill ! ' " 
 
 Miss Wiltse, an earnest student of child 
 nature, and one of those upon whose work 
 Prof. G. Stanley Hall based his now famous 
 article on "The Contents of Children's 
 Minds," comments with just severity on these 
 lines, when she says : — 
 
 "The particularly meretricious nursery 
 song, 'This little pig said: "I'll go steal 
 wheat,"' should not pass unnoticed. In this 
 we have boastfulness, curiosity, proposed 
 theft, talebearing, and defeated effort on the 
 part of the smallest pig, who cries with grief 
 because of his lack of strength. ' ' 
 
 Shall we not offer something better than 
 this to the child's dawning consciousness? 
 Shall the mother dull her own taste by the 
 use of such poor stuff? Surely we must dis- 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 13 
 
 criminate, though we need not be hyper-criti- 
 cal or hyper-psychological. 
 
 Perhaps you are already thinking that it is 
 assuming too much to attribute developing 
 power to any of these simple nursery doings, 
 but a little attention will, I think, give you 
 faith ; for, just as we discern beneath the 
 lightness and beauty of a blossom its serious 
 purpose of seed forming, so shall we find that 
 play is not merely antics and merry capers, 
 but that it contains and develops the germs of 
 future growths. Play is no less than an im- 
 portant means of education, and, for the infant 
 and child, the most important. The more we 
 study the growth of the mind, the more clearly 
 we shall see how these seeming trifles minister 
 to it. Ivct us study psychology with both the 
 baby and the book. They will explain each 
 other. In the meantime, perhaps we can, even 
 by a little consideration of the subject, get a 
 glimpse of the reasons for this instinctive and 
 universal playing with the baby. 
 
 ' ' Hardly you seem a Life at all, 
 
 Only a Somethiiig with hands and feet ; 
 Only a feeling that things are warm, 
 Only a longing for something to eat." 
 
 J. W. Chadwick. 
 
 That is baby as he manifests himself at first. 
 
14 iMtie and Law in Child Training. 
 
 The newly born, infant must adjust himself, so 
 to speak, to the conditions of existence. Heart, 
 lungs, food system, brain, — must all become 
 accustomed to their proper exercise. Air and 
 food, warmth and sleep, will adequately cherish 
 the physical life, and the vital functions are 
 soon established. 
 
 But baby is more and other than the 
 soft, rosy body, to be flannel-wrapped and 
 milk-fed ; not 
 
 ' ' Only a Something with hands and feet, ' ' 
 
 but Somebody^ a person, man in embryo. The 
 true mother discerns that he has other than 
 bodily needs ; and from his first drawing of 
 breath, if she begin no farther back, by faith 
 in that of which there is no sign, by mother 
 instinct, she addresses herself to the delicate 
 task of supplying spiritual nourishment. 
 What is as yet unmanifested by the child 
 must be nurtured in the child. 
 
 It is for this,- — although often (perhaps as 
 a usual thing) unwittingly, — that she croons 
 her bits of song over the unconscious darling ; 
 for this, that 
 
 ' ' her quick embrace 
 Presses his hand and buries his face 
 Deep where the heart-throbs sink and swell, 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 15 
 
 With a tenderness she can never tell, 
 
 Though she miirmur the words 
 
 Ofall the birds, — 
 Words she has learned to murmur well." 
 
 J. G. Holland. 
 
 Consciously or unconsciously practiced, the 
 pretty mother arts which may seem but the 
 exuberance and overflow of mother love are de- 
 signed to furnish those 
 
 ' ' gossamer links 
 By which the mianikin finds his way 
 Out from the shore of the great unknown, 
 Blind and waiting and alone, 
 Into the light of day." 
 
 J. G. Holland. 
 
 How mysterious it seems that the germs of 
 the wondrous powers and manifold faculties of 
 mankind should be in that strengthless, help- 
 less, thoughtless creature ! How incredible that 
 those delicate little limbs should ever become 
 the sinewy, powerful servants of the athlete ; 
 that those tiny hands, fluttering so aimlessly, 
 so uncontrolled, should ever wield with skill 
 and precision the mechanic's tool, the sculp- 
 tor's chisel, the artist's brush ! And how in- 
 comprehensible beyond all this even is it that 
 the baby mind, betrayed by so few signs, 
 responding to so few sensations, should ever 
 develop into the mind of the statesman, the 
 scientist, the philosopher, the poet ; that it 
 
1 6 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 should unfold, in short, that creative power 
 which is behind and beyond all achievement, 
 and which shows man's divine lineage. 
 
 When we contrast the weak, unconscious 
 infant with developed man, we are awed by 
 the immeasurable difference. Yet we know 
 that nothing has developed in the man which 
 did not exist potentially in the child ; we know 
 that all this mighty change is accomplished 
 by an infinitely gradual process of growth 
 from infinitely small beginnings ; — growth 
 which was dependent, as growth always is, on 
 two things : the inner force and the outer 
 conditions. Untiringly does nature teach us 
 this by countless parables. We are inclined 
 to consider the lesson trite because we have 
 seen it illustrated and heard the words so 
 many times ; but when we begin to apply its 
 truth, to use it as a test of our treatment of 
 children, the triteness vanishes. Let us con 
 again the oft-iterated lesson. 
 
 An acorn, to grow into the majestic oak, 
 must have not only within itself the potential, 
 active germ of the future tree, but must have 
 the outside help of soil and sun and rain. 
 The child's body attains the size and vigor of 
 the man's by the power within the bodily tis- 
 sues of assimilating the food which comes 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 1 7 
 
 from without. In like manner the child's 
 real self — the other than body, the soul, the 
 mind, the consciousness, the ego — is depend- 
 ent for its growth upon the incitement and 
 help received from the outer world. 
 
 We can draw a further parallel, for the 
 earliest mental food must correspond, in a 
 way, to the earliest physical food. It should 
 be supplied by the mother ; it must be sim- 
 ple, yet contain elements to nourish every 
 part ; it must not have much variety, — variety 
 having its rightful place at a later stage. The 
 quality of sameness which marks the early 
 physical diet of the child, indicates the cor- 
 responding characteristic — the repetition of 
 the familiar — which should prevail in the 
 mental diet likewise. 
 
 Now, the mother's play with the child 
 answers these conditions, and thus its instinc- 
 tive and universal use is explained. Even as 
 practiced by the most ignorant mother, play- 
 ing with the baby educates him, "leads out" 
 his power as nothing else will. Miss Elizabeth 
 Peabody speaks of the sad negative proof of 
 this, in the condition of the babies in a New 
 York Infant Asylum : 
 
 " There is one of these in New York city, 
 into which are received poor little things in 
 
1 8 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 the first weeks of their existence. Everything 
 is done for their bodily comfort which the 
 general human kindness can devise. They 
 have clean, warm cradles and clothes, good 
 milk, — in short, everything but that caress- 
 ing motherly play, which goes from the per- 
 sonal heart to the personal heart. That is one 
 thing which general charity cannot supply ; 
 it is the personal gift of God to the mother for 
 her child, and none but she can be the suffi- 
 cient medium of it, and therefore, undoubtedly 
 it is, that almost all new-born children in 
 foundling hospitals die ; or, if they survive, 
 are found to be feeble minded or idiotic. They 
 seem to sink into their animal natures, and 
 belie the legend ma^t written on their brows, 
 showing none of that beautiful fearlessness and 
 courageous affectionateness that characterize 
 the heartily welcomed, healthy, well-cared-for 
 human infant. On the contrary, they show a 
 dreary apathy, morbid fearfulness, or a bellig- 
 erent self-defense, anticipative of other forms 
 of the cruel neglect which has been their 
 dreary experience. ' ' 
 
 Lectdrks to Kindergartners. 
 
 The plays first used with the young infant 
 in almost every home are such as appeal to 
 the sense of contact, — the first form of that 
 which, in its higher, active, and specialized 
 degree, is the sense of touch. In some of 
 these plays the parts of the face are touched 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 19 
 
 and named as the mother says or sings the 
 simple rhyme ; for instance : — 
 
 " Brow, brow brinkie ; 
 Eye, eye winkie ; 
 Cheek, cheek cherry ; 
 Mouth, mouth merry ; 
 Chin chopper, chin chopper, chin." 
 
 Others are : — 
 
 " Knock at the door, 
 Peep in ! 
 Ivift up the latch, 
 And walk in ! 
 Take a seat right down there !" 
 
 ' ' Here sits the Lord Mayor ; 
 Here sit his two men ; 
 Here sits the cock 
 And here sits the hen ; 
 Here sit the little chickens 
 And here they run in ; 
 Chin chopper, chin chopper, chin chopper, chin!" 
 
 That Froebel had noticed such plays and set 
 due value upon them is evidenced, I think, 
 by some of the "Mother Communings," a 
 group of songs preceding the songs and games 
 which are ordinarily meant by Froebel' s 
 ' ' Mother Play. " The following lines are taken 
 from one of them ; and although no mention is 
 made of play, it is surely suggested by the 
 lines and implied in the mottoes which pref- 
 ace these "Mother Communings." 
 
20 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 "My baby 's as sweet as a flower can be ! 
 If any one doubts, let him just come and see. 
 
 His little head 's so round and bare, 
 
 So smooth and frank his forehead there ; 
 And with his eyes my child can see so far ; 
 His ear hears songs and knows how sweet they are ; 
 
 He smells the flowers with his little nose ; 
 
 Into that little mouth the nice soup goes ; 
 And while he sleeps, his cheeks grow red indeed. 
 What more can any little baby need ? ' ' 
 
 The effect of the gentle, playful touches 
 upon the child's face is to give rise to sen- 
 sations from these points. The plays with 
 baby's feet — such as "Shoe the horse," 
 "Pitty, patty, polt," "This little pig went 
 to market, ' ' which are used by almost every 
 mother, — serve a purpose similar to that of 
 the plays upon the face, only that they give 
 rise to sensations from other points. 
 
 "Shoe the horse, shoe the mare, 
 But let the little colt go bare." 
 
 " Ktty, patty, polt ! 
 Shoe the wild colt ; 
 Here a nail and there a nail, 
 Pitty, patty polt!" 
 
 The same is true with regard to those plays 
 in which the mother touches the hands or fin- 
 gers of the child ; for instance : — 
 
 "The rabbit, the rabbit 
 Went 'round the house 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 21 
 
 And 'round the house 
 And 'round the house 
 And went right in there ! " 
 
 At the words " 'round the house," draw a 
 circle on the baby's palm with your finger, and 
 at ' ' right in there ' ' give a gentle little poke 
 into his neck or chest. " 'Round the house" 
 may be repeated ad libitum. The intentness 
 with which baby will watch 3-our finger is 
 only equaled by his merriment over the sur- 
 prising " right in there ! " One of my baby 
 friends who had had this play with me only, 
 used to hold out his hand, palm uppermost, 
 whenever he saw me from afar. 
 
 ' ' Creep, Mouse, ' ' and similar plays in which 
 many parts of the body are touched success- 
 ively, must help to give an impression of the 
 unity of the body ; and it would seem well to 
 use plays of this kind rather often. 
 
 ' ' Creep, mousie, 
 From the barn 
 To the housie ; 
 Old cat 
 Catch the little mousie ! " 
 
 It should be noted that the child's attention, 
 though led toward his body by all these plays, 
 is at the same time led away from it by the 
 objects and activities represented in the play. 
 
2 2 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 This is an important characteristic to be kept 
 in mind. A young friend who had the care 
 of a baby relative, for a time, said: "Little 
 Peggy loves to have me ' creep ' my fingers all 
 over her ; and she will lie just as still as possi- 
 ble, evidently enjoying it very much." 
 
 " But do you not sing or talk to her, or make 
 the play mean anything to her? " was asked. 
 
 "Oh, no ! I don't have to. She enjoys it 
 without." 
 
 Such play is not advisable. Instinct usually 
 guides mothers to give their sportive caress- 
 ing some connection with nature or life 
 through the accompanying words. In this 
 way is avoided the risk of having the plays 
 give merely physical pleasure, empty of other 
 suggestion. Whatever is thus left empty runs 
 the chance of being worse than empty. 
 
 A sensation- is the elementary mental phe- 
 nomenon which results from the stimulation 
 of the outer extremity of an " in-carrying ' ' 
 nerve when this stimulation has been trans- 
 mitted to the brain centers. How physical 
 stimulation conveyed to the physical brain be- 
 comes metamorphosed into an idea possessed 
 by the mind is a baffling and mysterious 
 problem ; but this inexplicable translation is 
 accomplished in the infant mind as well as in 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 23 
 
 the adult mind. These sensations, then, 
 which the child is caused to experience 
 through play, become, when txanslated, the 
 initial hints toward self-realization. 
 
 The child's body is at first as vague, unreal- 
 ized, and undefined to him, as is the great 
 universe itself. The frequent experience of 
 sensations from the same points, which comes 
 from these plays, challenges or invites the soul 
 to begin its conscious, dominating possession 
 of the body. Baby begins to know himself, 
 though it is not until after his first year, 
 usually, that he completely differentiates his 
 own body as an object distinct from his envi- 
 ronment. 
 
 Preyer considers that painful experiences 
 and disagreeable feelings are the most influen- 
 tial among general sensations in aiding the 
 child to distinguish himself as an object among 
 other objects. 
 
 The mother's tenderness, however, comes 
 to the little one's aid with these caressing 
 plays, and by their sweet persuasion wins the 
 baby's consciousness to penetrate all parts of 
 the ' ' rose mesh ' ' behind which it waited, 
 veiled and enthralled. This is a preliminary 
 step toward the development of the individ- 
 ual's freedom, — " first, freedom in his body, 
 
24 Love and Lazu in Child Training. 
 
 then freedom froin his bod}' ; ' ' hence its 
 importance. 
 
 The sensation of contact is only one of the 
 modes of appeal in the mother's little plays. 
 The threefold nature of the child is to be ad- 
 dressed by a threefold form of expression : 
 movement, melody, and word. The mother 
 usually sings while playing with her baby ; 
 but even when she only talks to him, her 
 voice gradually penetrates his dull ear, culti- 
 vates his sense of hearing, and reaches, besides, 
 his emotional nature, while her words give 
 his mind a presentiment of a world of thought 
 beyond the gate of language. 
 
 "When happy baby moves his hands and feet. 
 In mother stirs the love of play most sweet, — 
 God-given hint, to teach her heaven doth send. 
 Through outward things his inner life to tend. 
 Through games and gentle dalliance she 's taught 
 To rouse his feeling, sense, and waking thought." 
 Mother Songs, Games, and Stories. 
 
 Everywhere Froebel yields himself as a 
 learner with faith in the mother. Watching 
 the ways in which the truly motherly mother, 
 though only by ignorant instinct, appealed to 
 the child's dormant consciousness, inviting it 
 forth, encouraging its every sign, and steadily 
 training the senses which are its ministers, 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 25 
 
 Froebel learned from the mother everything 
 which he afterward embodied in his teachings ; 
 but his philosophical insight showed him the 
 reason for all the mother's instinctive play, 
 and he, in turn, discloses the reason to her. 
 
 Froebel and his wife, Wilhelmine Hoffmeis- 
 ter, with some aid from other friends, collected 
 many of the plays in use in his own country, 
 and published them, with explanations and 
 pictures, in a book called '■'■ Mutter-und-Kose 
 Lieder^'' (Mother and Cosseting Songs), and 
 this book is now to be had in English in three 
 versions. The most recent and much the 
 best translation is by Miss Susan E. Blow. 
 
 Many of the plays which Froebel collected 
 are used in kindergartens, either as finger 
 plays or as circle games ; but the place of 
 places where they should be used is in the 
 home. " The kindergarten begins in the 
 mother's lap," says the Baroness von Biilow, 
 an exponent and co-worker of Froebel's ; and 
 the kindergarten and subsequent education 
 must be imperfect unless the germs of free, 
 self-active, harmonious development are nur- 
 tured by the mother from the child's early in- 
 fancy. Froebel confidently oflFers these songs 
 and games as the practical means by which 
 the mother is to assist her baby's development. 
 
26 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 But if Froebel learned his art from the moth- 
 ers, why do the mothers need his help? 
 
 That is a fair question, but not too difficult 
 to answer. One reason is that he oflFers to 
 each mother the collective wisdom of many. 
 Another reason is that his penetration into 
 child-nature and its needs enabled him to select 
 what was typical and universally valuable 
 from meaningless sing-song which the mothers 
 also used. And still another reason is that, 
 with his principles to guide her, the mother 
 can present the games " in a logically related 
 sequence, so that they become vital elements 
 in a developing process." 
 
 The child's threefold nature is never for- 
 gotten, although in different songs the physi- 
 cal, the mental, or the moral side may be 
 more strongly emphasized. In like manner, 
 the child's threefold relationship is never for- 
 gotten, although some of the songs deal more 
 explicitly with his relationship to Nature, 
 others with his relationship to Man, and still 
 others with his relationship to God. 
 
 ' ' The whole book is an attempt to deal 
 
 with minute beginnings ; — fine points leading 
 
 to fine issues which, in the end, are by no 
 
 means minute." 
 
 H. Courthope Bowen. 
 
 When mothers begin to consider play as of 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 27 
 
 any value, they are apt to take fright and 
 to question whether this utilization of play 
 as a means of education will not lead to 
 over-stimulation. Wise is the mother who is 
 ever on her guard against that danger, espe- 
 cially for the sensitive American child with the 
 race tendency to excitability and nervousness. 
 But there is absolutely nothing of the kind to 
 fear from the use of play as recommended by 
 Froebel. No one could be more tenderly 
 heedful than he of the young-child's physical 
 nature ; for, although he never stops with 
 that consideration, he bases everything upon 
 it. 
 
 *Every play which he gives is in response 
 to some manifestation on the part of the child, 
 — an answer of help to the indicated need. 
 The need is small, the power to receive out- 
 side help very small ; the mother's response. 
 
 *Possibly the Falling Play is the exception needed as 
 proof of the rule. Miss Blow says: "It has interested 
 me to observe that, differing in this respect from every 
 other game in the book, 'Falling-Falling' implies no 
 manifestation of the child as its point of departure but 
 springs unsolicited from the mother's heart. Love work- 
 ing from above downward is the condition of faith striv- 
 ing from below upward, and Froebel is hinting at rich 
 depths of thought and experience when he begins his 
 book with the picture of maternal devotion outrunning 
 all appeal and seeking to call forth an answer to itself." 
 
28 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 as Froebel portrays it, is in nice correspondence 
 to the infant's manifestation. 
 
 lyet the mother be very wary of allowing 
 her child to be a plaything for every chance 
 friend ; let her sedulously guard it from being 
 tickled and trotted and handled by affection- 
 ate but inconsiderate admirers. People often 
 pet and caress babies out of selfish impulse 
 rather than out of any thought for the baby's 
 pleasure or good. But let the mother not 
 disobey those promptings of the heart which 
 lead her, the baby's heaven-appointed minis- 
 ter, to play often with her bab}' ; adding, how- 
 ever, to the worth of what she does instinc- 
 tively by doing it intelligently. Insight into 
 what pla)^ can do will help her to defend her 
 baby's developing life from influences which 
 would unduly hasten that development or 
 thwart it on any side. 
 
 Froebel speaks usually of the mother's play- 
 ing with the baby. This does not mean that 
 no one else is to use the plays with the child, 
 but that whoever does use them should be as 
 intimate, wise, and loving a friend of the 
 baby's as the typical mother. 
 
 All the plays mentioned thus far might be 
 classed together, since they are alike in appeal- 
 ing to the sense of contact and in their effect 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 29 
 
 of inciting "tlie first feeble stirrings of self 
 consciousness." The baby's part in these 
 plays is by no means passive, although it is 
 the mother who plays them. The baby is 
 busy enough, active enough, with attending 
 to the sensations which crowd upon him as he 
 feels his mother's sportive touches, listens to 
 her "crooning words or wordless crooning," 
 and looks with searching eyes into her ani- 
 mated, smiling face. 
 
 What he has absorbed, however, soon de- 
 mands an outlet. The mother, delicately 
 sensitive to her baby's progress in develop- 
 ment, uses some slightly different plays at this 
 stage, although she scarcely realizes the change 
 or the effect of the change. What she does 
 is dictated by intuition alone. Having named 
 baby's features and the parts of his body to 
 him, she now calls on him for recitations of 
 these lessons, as it were ; and baby must re- 
 peatedly answer, by fumbling, uncertain ges- 
 tures, such questions as. Where is baby's 
 head? Baby's nose? Baby's ears? etc. , etc. 
 
 Froebel has taken this cue also, as may be 
 
 seen by another of his songs in the ' ' Mother 
 
 Communings." * Though irregular in form, 
 
 this naive version (from the Misses Lord's 
 
 * Mother Songs, Games, and Stories. Froebel. 
 
30 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 translation) has a certain charm of natural- 
 ness. We almost see the mother and baby in 
 their sweet and merry intercourse as we read 
 the rhyme, 
 
 ' ' Show me, dear, your little eyes — 
 They'll tell me if your heart is wise. 
 Smile with those sweet, rosy lips — 
 Who looks at roses, blessing sips. 
 Give me your little mouth, that is so sweet, 
 To kiss my blessing where the soft lips meet 
 And put your tiny hand within my own. 
 Hands holding hearts and neither left alone. 
 Around my neck one soft, weak arm can go. 
 ' It is so nice when mother holds me so. ' 
 And where's your little ear ? Oh, show me where ! 
 Show me your little head and fluffy hair ! 
 Now^ let your feet stand firm on mother's knee — 
 So close to her how happy you must be ! 
 She will gladly be the sun 
 Of your life, sweet little one. 
 But now, my dear, you'll softly rest 
 On darling mother's faithful breast. 
 And you and she will both feel blest. ' ' 
 
 In the play of ' ' How big is Baby ? So 
 big," it is now the baby's turn to stretch his 
 own little arms high above his head in re- 
 sponse to the question, instead of passively 
 allowing the mother to do it for him. 
 
 Is it not easy to see how educative all this 
 play has been for the baby ? Notice what a 
 reasonable method has been pursued. Action 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 31 
 
 and word, thing and name, liave invariably 
 and repeatedly been associated. The ' ' les- 
 sons ' ' have always been short and interesting, 
 have contained just what the pupil was ready 
 for, have been given by the pupil's most be- 
 loved and most loving friend. We wonder 
 sometimes at the amount of varied knowledge 
 and varied power which the little child (say of 
 two or three years) possesses ; but under such 
 gracious conditions as are common for baby 
 learners, could not even the grown person, 
 callous to impressions though he may be, coin- 
 pared with the susceptible infant, learn with 
 rapidity and develop amazingly? 
 
 All babies do not have these gracious con- 
 ditions for development in an equal degree, to 
 be sure ; but the number of babies who do 
 enjoy them is constantly increasing. More- 
 over, the conditions will be more and more 
 gracious and perfect as mothers add knowledge 
 of child nature and knowledge of the laws of 
 development to love's divination, and fill out 
 what love, unaided, can only hint at. The 
 Mother Play book will help the mother to per- 
 fect her method, whether she studies the phi- 
 losophy of Froebel or simply learns and uses 
 the songs and games which he has given. 
 
 The physical activity which the mother's 
 
32 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 play encourages in the baby is the lawful 
 method of his physical development. A lit- 
 tle care on her part will make the plays the 
 means of giving variety of movement, exercis- 
 ing different sets of those soft, undeveloped 
 muscles so that all develop together. The 
 discerning mother, by her merry song and 
 sportive encouragement, will convert the in- 
 voluntary, spontaneous kicking of her lively 
 bab}'^ into a purposeful exercise of strength, 
 and she will use some equally enticing play 
 to encourage the free movement of the arms 
 from the shoulder. The left hand, as well as 
 the much-exercised right hand, will wield the 
 imaginary hammer, turn like the weathervane, 
 or swing like the clock pendulum. In a 
 collection of traditional mother plays which 
 the writer has made, chiefly from English, 
 American, and Scandinavian sources, it is 
 noticeable that the plays pertain to all the 
 separate parts of the face and body, although 
 a complete series has probably never been given 
 to an}"^ one child. 
 
 The first cycle of play had, as we have 
 seen, very simple words and motions. The 
 words were little more than merely a playful 
 naming of the parts touched. The motions, 
 mostly made by the mother, were few and def- 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 33 
 
 inite and interpretive, in their turn, of the 
 words used with them. 
 
 Next came the plays similar to these but 
 calling for a response from the baby. With 
 the baby's advancement the plays used need to 
 have and, in fact, do show, a fuller content ; 
 and they appeal still more to the baby's in- 
 dependent activity. They name a variety of 
 objects, or give some incident from nature or 
 life, and call for a succession of motions or of 
 forms which represent the objects mentioned, 
 thus taking the character of an illustrated 
 song. The baby knows his body to some de- 
 gree and uses it. His feet and legs will «now 
 get exercise in his efforts at standing and 
 walking. The eye seeks sights, the ear at- 
 tends to sounds, the hand grasps. All this 
 signifies an increasing mental receptivity or 
 readiness for impressions. 
 
 The general physical development is now 
 furthered by the child's spontaneous play, his 
 investigations and experiments. Therefore 
 the mother's play, on the physical side, con- 
 cerns itself now chiefly with the training of 
 the hand and fingers. Many of our tradi- 
 tional nursery plays and many of those in the 
 Mother Play book are finger plays. " Pat-a- 
 cake ' ' is perhaps the most familiar of this 
 
34 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 class. Although we play this and others with 
 bahies, the use of finger plays reaches through 
 a long period and through several stages of de- 
 velopment. They are useful and delightful to 
 the child in the nurseiy, the kindergarten, and 
 (tell it not to Mr. Gradgrind !) even in the first 
 grades of the primary school. 
 
 To come back to the baby, however, and 
 the question of the education which he gets 
 by means of play : — 
 
 How does baby use the finger play first ? 
 By imitation, }'ou will say. You plaj" " Pat- 
 a-cake " with him and for him, and some red- 
 letter da}- you see his dimpled hands aiming 
 at one another, the rosy palms hitting softly 
 together ; and immediately you are in an 
 ecstasy, as if no baby had ever done any- 
 thing so wonderful before ; and all because 
 baby has definitely imitated ! 
 
 Does imitation mean so much then? At 
 certain stages it seems to mean almost every- 
 thing. A brainless child cannot imitate — nor 
 can the newly bom infant do so, because its 
 brain is not yet sufficiently developed, says 
 Preyer. The psychologists attach so much 
 value to the timely practice of imitation that 
 the mother's instinctive encouragement of def- 
 inite imitation by definite plays is fully justi- 
 
How Play Educates the Baby. 35 
 
 fied. She follows out the hint given by the 
 child in the tendency to imitation which he 
 manifests, and re-inforces his efforts by giving, 
 through her plays, happy opportunities for the 
 baby to repeat again and again the same imi- 
 tations and thus insures that he shall reap the 
 full benefit of this natural tendency. 
 
 Among the imitations which the child is 
 constantly practicing, but more systematically 
 than those, the finger plays, which lead the 
 baby to imitate, help him to develop his power 
 to will and to do. He is attracted by the play, 
 he wishes and then wills to play it himself 
 Every time that he plays it, he gains not only 
 more ability to govern his hands, — to make 
 them obedient to his will, — but more ability 
 to govern all his movements and actions. 
 Also, he practices that translation of thought 
 into action which is so essential to forceful life. 
 
 Besides this, the baby gets some idea of the 
 great fact of cause. He feels that he himself 
 causes the motion of his fingers or hand, and 
 begins dimly to guess that there is some cause 
 behind all motion. This is the first feeble 
 spark which, slowly kindling through many 
 years, is to become the light of reason. 
 
 These effects, together with the strengthen- 
 ing effect upon the tiny lax fingers and soft 
 
36 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 hands, all finger plays have in common. A 
 supreme and particular value can be added if 
 the simple songs accompanying the motions 
 reach an ideal standard in subject and spirit. 
 
 This was the standard which Froebel set for 
 himself in the selection of songs and games 
 for the Mother Play book. 
 
 They tell of bird and flower, of clock and 
 weathervane, of animals in the farmyard, of 
 different workmen at their interesting occupa- 
 tions, of moon and stars, of church windows 
 and church bells. But while upon such simple 
 subjects, these plays embody or relate to some 
 typical fact, or symbolize some universal trutli. 
 
 They present those aspects of nature and 
 life which appeal to the child, and by which 
 the child's right relation to nature and man- 
 kind may be fostered ; while through their 
 inner meaning, — the universal truth which 
 they symbolize or suggest, — the plays give, 
 out of the spiritual life which environs the 
 child, just what will best nourish and develop 
 his spiritual nature. 
 
 Though attained only to the degree of an 
 infant's capacity, are not these results, which 
 we have seen to be reached through infantile 
 play, worthy to be included under the name of 
 education ? 
 
II 
 
 FROM PLAY TO EARNEST 
 
' ' Play on, gentle mother, play on with thy child, 
 But his deeper life never forget." 
 
 Mottoes and Commentaries. 
 
 " In mother's arms is baby's school. 
 His books these little plays ; 
 Within each one she leads his mind 
 The germ of some great thought to find 
 And treasure all his days. ' ' 
 
 Mottoes and Commentaries. 
 
 "Think not that he is all too young to teach ; 
 His little heart will like a magnet reach 
 And touch the truth for which you find no speech." 
 Mottoes and Commentaries. 
 
FROM PLAY TO EARNEST. 
 
 ' ' Animals play, not because they are young, 
 but they have a youth because they must 
 play. ' ' 
 
 This " neat sentence, " as Professor Baldwin 
 calls it in its original German, is from a large 
 book whose subject is the play of animals. 
 (Die Spiele der Thiere^ by Professor K. Groos. ) 
 
 Although the statement is somewhat para- 
 doxical, it conveys a strong sense of the im- 
 portance which the author attributed to the 
 play of the young animal as a result of his in- 
 vestigations. 
 
 The animal '•'■must play." Play is such a 
 necessity that his entire time and strength must 
 be devoted to it. He must have no bother 
 about his food or protection or shelter — not 
 he ! Father and mother lions may work for 
 a living, but baby lions have nothing to do 
 with that. Their prime duty is to play — ^ 
 to roll and tumble, to run and jump, to spring, 
 to pounce, to cuff each other, to chase, fight, 
 snarl, and roar. 
 
40 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 But is this play, even of the young animals, 
 merely the empty exuberance of physical 
 strength, with no effect and to no end ? De- 
 cidedly not, say the learned men of science. 
 
 Listen : " The actions in which the young 
 of animals tend normally and spontaneously 
 to indulge are those which th&Jinished activi- 
 ties later brought into operation are to require. ' ' 
 Those which the finished activities are to re- 
 quire ! Youth, then, is the young creature's 
 indispensable opportunity for preparation, and 
 play is his indispensable method of prepara- 
 tion, — the most direct, the most efficacious. 
 
 How well this tallies with Froebel's saying 
 that play is the great, serious game of life in 
 its beginnings, the preliminary practice which 
 prophesies and cultivates future power. 
 
 From the time of Plato, who was, I suppose, 
 the first to discern the value of play, philoso- 
 phers and educators have repeatedly proclaimed 
 its utility in the physical, mental, and moral 
 development of the young human being. Froe- 
 bel, however, was the first to make practical 
 application of the principle to the child's edu- 
 cation. It is as if he said : "If haphazard, 
 Mwdirected play is acknowledged to be so valu- 
 able, why not utilize this activity, give it some 
 system and guidance, and so aid the child in 
 
From Play to Earnest. 41 
 
 these natural, spontaneous efforts at self-edu- 
 cation ? " 
 
 Following out this thought, Froebel studied 
 children at play, studied their playthings, — 
 those which seemed most universally used, — 
 studied the mother's methods of employing 
 and amusing her children. His patient, phil- 
 osophic searching was only equaled by his love 
 and sympathy for childhood. As the out- 
 come of years of experience and study which 
 he devoted to this subject of play, we have 
 the kindergarten. 
 
 It would be interesting to follow the oft- 
 traced path from play to earnest, as we might, 
 starting from the child's spontaneous activi- 
 ties and seeing their relation to the ' ' finished 
 activities ' ' of artist, artisan, scientist, laborer, 
 statesman, preacher, or poet. Or, from the 
 same starting point of the child's activities, 
 we might follow another plain path from play 
 to earnest (the one which was first ' ' blazed ' ' 
 by Froebel) and show how gradual yet how 
 regular, how direct, is the progress by way of 
 the organized series of playthings which the 
 kindergarten provides. But I have chosen 
 rather to trace the progression along a still 
 different route — the route of the kindergar- 
 ten plays and games. The starting point for 
 
42 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 this route is the mother's instinctive play with 
 her child from infancy on. 
 
 Like the physical play-activity of the ani- 
 mal, the more complex play-activity of the 
 child is a rehearsal, as it were, of what he is to 
 do and to be in later life ; therefore care for 
 that later life demands care for his play. And 
 since play is the precursor of earnest, we un- 
 derestimate the play if we do not count in the 
 earnest element. 
 
 To the child, play is the earnest ; or, rather, 
 he knows neither play nor earnest. We name 
 his actions according to our own notions, and 
 often make egregious mistakes in our distinc- 
 tions. What we should do is to distinguish 
 between the passing and permanent qualities, 
 in order to allow the passing of the passing 
 and to aid the persistence of what should be 
 permanent. 
 
 The pretty petals of the blossoms are en- 
 joyed in their time ; but, although they drift 
 away in their pink and white prettiness on the 
 summer breeze, we do not lose the fruit which 
 has been developing beneath them. In spring- 
 time, the time of blossoms, rejoice in the mul- 
 titude of blossoms. In infancy and childhood, 
 the time of play, rejoice in the abundance of 
 play. Encourage it to the utmost, but remem- 
 
From Play to Earnest. 43 
 
 ber always the fruit of which it is the blos- 
 som and forerunner. Remember the earnest 
 at the heart of the play and continue your 
 care for that. This is Froebel's teaching. 
 
 Therefore, O mother, play with your baby. 
 Play such plays as have something earnest, 
 some vital truth, at the heart of them. When 
 you drop the play, do not drop the earnest. 
 Keep reinforcing it in ways that accord with 
 your child's successive stages of development. 
 Seeing the truth which is hidden in the child's 
 play, find the application of it which will fit 
 the life of your older boys and girls and of 
 your still older sons and daughters. 
 
 We kindergartners are all the time urging 
 strenuously upon mothers the necessity, the 
 value, of the mother's play with the baby ; 
 but our urgency for this is only because baby- 
 hood is so brief What can be done in it must 
 be done quickly. What is not done now for 
 the babies can never be done. ' ' You cannot 
 have what happens afterwards until you have 
 had what happens first. ' ' Some things which 
 you will wish to do later for your boy or girl, 
 you cannot do unless you make thebeginnings 
 now. 
 
 You may be making the beginnings in- 
 stinctively and unconsciously ; but we know 
 
44 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 that you may be just as unconsciously mak- 
 ing the beginnings of something which shall 
 thwart all your later eflforts for the child's 
 good. Our first insistence must be upon the 
 ' ' plays and gentle dalliance ' ' by which you 
 mothers rouse the^ ' ' feeling, sense, and waking 
 thought." 
 
 But although we kindergartners, learning 
 from Froebel, talk a great deal about your 
 playing with the baby because it is a case of 
 " now or never," we are not doing justice to 
 Froebel or his guidance if we are not equally 
 urgent and strenuous about your reinforcing 
 and enhancing the influence of the plays by 
 living in accordance with the truths which the 
 Froebel plays present, and ordering all your 
 dealings with the child by the guidance of the 
 same light. 
 
 Shall we take two or three instances of this 
 progress from play to earnest ? 
 
 Playing with her lively kicking baby, oppos- 
 ing the pressure of her hand to his vigorously 
 thrust out feet, the mother who is working 
 consciously and in the ways which Froebel 
 suggests for the baby's development will sing 
 some such song as the one which follows. (I 
 give a new version, thinking it may, perhaps, 
 strike you newly.) 
 
From Play to Earnest. 45 
 
 KICKING SONG. 
 
 Kick, little Baby, 
 
 Kick and grow strong ! 
 Press against Mother, 
 
 List to her song. 
 
 Such a strong baby ! 
 
 How his legs go ! 
 That's the way, Baby, 
 
 Stronger to grow. 
 
 Kicking and tossing 
 
 Up and then down, 
 Soon shall my baby 
 
 Trot through the town. 
 
 As the mother plays and sings, she may per- 
 haps ponder thus : — 
 
 Baby's life and force I meet, 
 Gently push his kicking feet ; 
 Gently thus his will incite. 
 Coaxing forth his puny might. 
 Thus his strength he learns to know, 
 Thus his strength shall greater grow. 
 
 She has given the baby the help which he 
 needed ; has given his indefinite activity a 
 hint of purpose ; has given him some slight 
 premonition, through this baby experience of 
 opposition, that an obstacle is a call for more 
 exertion, more strength. 
 
 So far, so good. But the mother has not 
 finished with the Kicking Play when the baby 
 needs it no longer. She must remember that 
 
46 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 struggle brings strength, whenever her in- 
 dulgent mother-love prompts her to clear away 
 from before the boy and girl the obstacles 
 which will call out their strength and increase 
 it in proportion to its exercise. She must not 
 sap sturdy endeavor by removing difl&cult 
 tasks, nor weaken the spirit's mettle by allow- 
 ing distasteful tasks to be done with gloom and 
 suUenness ; but by her own life and example, 
 as by a song in a bright key, she must cheer 
 the youthful strugglers on to meet all duties 
 with cheerfulness and to conquer all obstacles 
 with joy. While they struggle, she must be 
 patient She must not be like the one who, in 
 pitying helpfulness, cut the imprisoning co- 
 coon from which a moth was striving to free 
 itself. 
 
 ' ' ' Poor little prisoned waif ! ' I said, 
 ' You shall not struggle more ' ; 
 And tenderly I cut the threads 
 And watched to see it soar. 
 
 ' ' Alas ! a feeble chrysalis, 
 
 It dropped from its silken bed. 
 My help had been the direst harm, — 
 The pretty moth was dead ! 
 
 " I should have left it there to gain 
 
 The strength which struggle brings. 
 ' Tis stress and strain, Tvith moth or man. 
 Thai free the folded zvings." 
 
 Edna Dean Proctor. 
 
From Play to Earnest. 47 
 
 Hard earnest, bitter earnest, it will be, often- 
 times, if we estimate it during the struggle 
 stage ; but completed, it is, in its ultimate 
 reach,, the joyful, triumphant earnest of a 
 victorious and strengthened spirit. 
 
 Perhaps there is no more slight beginning, 
 nor a play which seems more insignificant as a 
 play or more truly a mere point of departure, 
 than the one which Froebel calls the ' ' All 
 Gone. ' ' I doubt whether any mother would 
 ever have thought of calling the instinctive 
 action upon which it is founded a "play," or 
 would ever have considered it worth embody- 
 ing in a song. But Froebel justifies his use 
 of it to anyone who will take the trouble to 
 read his analysis of the meanings suggested to 
 him by the mother's simple deed. 
 
 " All gone ! ' ' she says brightly, when the 
 baby looks into his empty bowl with a puzzled 
 and even troubled gaze ; — " All gone ! " The 
 reassuring tone ' ' comes natural, ' ' as we say, 
 and is the instinctive response to the baby's 
 evident wonder. The empty bowl arrests his 
 attention and he receives an impression of 
 loss, of destruction, which the mother, acting 
 instinctively, hastens to counteract by the 
 bright assurance of her tone. 
 
48 .iMve and Imw in Child Training. 
 
 Froebel simply helps the mother to a more 
 explicit correction of the impression of loss 
 and destruction. He would have her sing 
 merrily of the bread and milk being changed 
 into rosy cheeks and stout arms and sturdy 
 legs, thus turning the child's attention to the 
 complete truth of transformation, — destruc- 
 tion being only a part of the truth, only a 
 phase. Is it not good for the mother, too, as 
 well as the baby, to have this truth impressed 
 by a little song which shall cause her to dwell 
 longer upon it than if she simply said : ' ' All 
 gone ! " ? 
 
 ALI/ GONE! 
 All gone ! All gone ! 
 Where did the good supper go ? 
 
 All gone ! All gone ! 
 Gone to help Babykin grow. 
 
 Here in his face all so rosy and sweet, 
 Here in his arms and his hands and his feet, 
 Here from the top of his head to his toes. 
 This is where Babykin's good supper goes. 
 
 All gone ! All gone ! 
 Where did the good supper go ? 
 
 All gone ! All gone ! 
 Gone to help Babykin grow. 
 
 Froebel says to the mother, virtually : Sing 
 
 some such song as this often to your baby. 
 
 Later, both you and he shall find the glorious 
 
 truth hinted (only hinted !) in it easier to 
 
From Play to Earnest. 49 
 
 grasp, because the play will have started the 
 growth of those fine outreaching tendrils which 
 will surely and securely twine about that truth 
 — a truth helpful in your soul's greatest need. 
 But the play only starts the growth of the 
 tendrils. They may become atrophied or 
 stiffened to uselessness if you do no more than 
 play the ' 'All Gone ' ' song with the baby on 
 your knee. 
 
 "All gone ! " is the child's sad feeling 
 when some unusual pleasure or joyful expe- 
 rience has come to an end. But the mother, 
 if she knows how to suit her ' 'All Gone ' ' song 
 to other things than bread and milk, can make 
 the past joyful experience a lasting possession 
 with her cheery ' ' Don't you remember ? ' ' 
 
 Before I had ever heard of Froebel or his 
 "All Gone " song, I used to share in a happy 
 household play which was an excellent carry- 
 ing out of Froebel' s idea. We used to call it 
 "Let's remember," and each of us in turn 
 would call to mind and recount to the listen- 
 ing group some dear delight of past days. 
 Did we not thus sing a cheerful contradiction 
 to any "All gone!" such as some people 
 chant in minor cadences ? " Life may be full 
 of pleasure but empty of joy." If a habit of 
 reviewing past delights be cultivated, every 
 
50 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 smallest pleasure will yield an abundant meas- 
 ure of joy, and will surely tend to a permanent 
 joyousness of spirit. 
 
 The continuity of character is an important 
 idea which may be impressed upon children 
 by simple stories, and later emphasized by 
 the reading of noble biographies. The little 
 George Washington may seem very different 
 to the children from the grand hero and gen- 
 eral ; and the little Florence Nightingale, 
 whose first ' ' surgical case ' ' was a forlorn dog 
 with a broken leg, may be hard to trace in the 
 heroic nurse, the angel of many battlefields. 
 But children can understand that, although 
 childhood is fleeting, the influence of childish 
 deeds remains through all the external changes 
 from childhood to maturity. The cherry tree 
 (or whatever temptation to untruth it stood 
 for), the wounded dog (or whatever occasion 
 for sympathetic action it stood for), are ' 'All 
 gone ' ' ; but the character element called out 
 is seen to have continued. 
 
 How well I remember one mother's use of 
 this idea of the continuity of character with 
 her daughters when they were inclined to fret 
 over matters of dress. ' ' Who will know or 
 what will it matter ten years from now, that 
 you wore a plain old dress to school? Neither 
 
From Play to Earnest. 51 
 
 you nor anyone else will know or care. But 
 how you behaved and whether you learned your 
 lessons, — that will matter always.'''' 
 
 Do not misunderstand this instance. I do 
 not mean to imply that children's clothes have 
 no eflfect upon their character. On the con- 
 trary, I believe that peculiar dress may make 
 the child self-conscious ; that unduly fine 
 clothes may foster vanity and hinder physical 
 development ; that untidy and ugly clothes 
 may damage the child's self-respect as well as 
 his taste ; that tight clothing may even, as 
 Froebel says, fetter the spirit as well as the 
 body. That is, I believe that all such results 
 may follow ; not necessarily, but possibly. 
 
 But in the case referred to (I knew the girls, 
 especially one of them, intimately) the dresses 
 were suitable, and the mother was right in 
 placing the emphasis where she did, and thus 
 turning the girls' thoughts to the lasting 
 effects of their daily conduct. ' ' How you 
 behaved and whether you learned your les- 
 sons, that will matter always." The words 
 echoed long and certainly impressed upon 
 those girls the idea that while school dresses 
 might be outgrown and left behind, — "All 
 Gone," — the character formed in school days 
 would continue. 
 
52 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 In considering this ' ' Song of the Vanish- 
 ing," as one commentator calls it, we must 
 not neglect the warning which it brings. 
 Words and deeds once gone, are gone forever. 
 The lost day comes not back. The oppor- 
 tunity let slip is forever beyond our grasp. 
 In "Recollections of my Mother," by Susan 
 I. Ivcsley, we find an example of one mother's 
 way of showing children the opportunities 
 which they had missed : — 
 
 "Wheu we went to say good night to our mother she 
 would exclaim : ' And now, children, where are your 
 monuments f Then we made haste to bring her any 
 little task which we had completed, any small work 
 done, and received either her commendation or an em- 
 phatic urging to do better next time. But this was not 
 all. She would often remark on the friends who had 
 come and gone that day, and say : ' When I \ras out 
 to-day, I heard that Mrs. So-and-So called. She is old 
 and poor and had walked a long distance. Did you ask 
 her to stop, and give her a warm seat, and tell her to stay 
 to dinner or to wait till I came home? ' 
 
 " Alas ! intent on play, we had never thought of it. 
 
 " 'Well, Miss B. came this afternoon. She wanted a 
 book. Did you tell her that you would find out about it 
 and bring it to her ? ' 
 
 "No; we had not. 'O ! my dear children,' would be 
 the answer, given with some emotion, ' you've lost your 
 opportunity ! ' These words made an intense impression 
 upon my mind. Surely no loss could be so great as that, 
 the loss of an opportunity to do a kindness ! Ah ! if 
 children in that home grew up selfish and inconsiderate 
 of the claims or rights or needs of others, it was their 
 own fault, for they were better taught." 
 
From Play to Earnest. 53 
 
 To us (who have so often seen the unfailing 
 succession of the seasons) the apparent death 
 which every autumn brings, the miracle of 
 renewed life which we witness every spring, 
 tell an old story — we know that summer and 
 winter, seedtime and harvest, will not fail. 
 But each season is long to a child, and the 
 whole cycle of the seasons an age in his 
 estimation. 
 
 We must, then, not fail to remember con- 
 tinually how little the young child knows of 
 the sure reappearance of many things which 
 seem to him to be vanishing utterly. We 
 must give to him plenty of nature's innumer- 
 able ' ' earthly .stories with heavenly meanings, " 
 which tell of the continuity of life through 
 various evanescent forms. 
 
 To the "All Gone!" which the autumn 
 wind wails through bare trees and frost-deso- 
 lated gardens let us add the joyous refrain of 
 expectancy and faith by showing the protected 
 buds on every twig and branch and by telling 
 of the plants' re-awakening which will surely 
 come in the spring. In due time let us give 
 the wonderful science story of immortality 
 which Miss Morley has told so inimitably in 
 her book entitled, "A Song of I^ife." 
 
 "And what do we mean by dying? W&at is this 
 
54 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 thing named death ? What becomes of the body when it 
 is buried, of the flower when it falls, of the plant when it 
 has done its work? Walk, through the forest in the 
 autumn ; the dry leaves rustle underfoot and we call 
 them dead leaves. Could we watch these same leaves 
 from year to year, we should find that in time they dis- 
 appear. 
 
 "Where are they? They are fluttering, green, and full 
 of sap, in their old places on the trees ; they are breaking 
 out into the white bloom of the wild plum ; they are 
 throbbing in the heart of the wood-pigeon and painting 
 the sky with sunset colors. * * And yet men talk of 
 dead leaves, — call them dead because they would leave a 
 stiff' triangle of wood fiber and green tissue to mingle 
 with the universe. 
 
 ' ' Thus, too, with the bird. One day it lies down and 
 rises no more, and men would have us believe that it is 
 dead. The spirit which bound its countless cells into 
 one harmonious whole has loosed the bond. The bird's 
 body — its immortal body — is now free to enter other 
 forms of life. Like the cells of the fallen leaf, the cells 
 of the fallen bird dissolve, — they free the elements which 
 formed them ; and these elements, quite unchanged by 
 their long captivity, joyously greet the change, enter 
 into new^ and delightful combinations, — and lo ! our 
 whilom bird is now a lovely bit of vegetable life, the 
 same atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and 
 sulphur which formed its protoplasm being happily 
 united into the new protoplasm of the plant. Every 
 atom of the pretty bird's body is somewhere in nature, 
 active as ever, — helping the flowers to bloom, the birds 
 to sing, the bees to store up honey, the deer to run, and 
 the little mouse to hide." 
 
 A full discussion of the import of any of 
 these plays cannot be given here, so we will 
 
From Play to Earnest. 55 
 
 pass on now to consider some of the practical 
 lessons to be derived from another play of 
 Froebel's collection, the Tick-tack play. 
 
 In playing this, you help Baby to swing his 
 arms in time to the swinging of the pendulum, 
 instead of with a haphazard, chaotic move- 
 ment. In like manner, mother, must you 
 help him to adjust his life to the ' ' World 
 Order ' ' ; and the play leads you to earnest 
 matters, indeed. 
 
 Many mothers get so far as introducing 
 timeliness and regularity into the physical 
 events of the child's life, — his eating, sleep- 
 ing, bathing, etc., — but how few carry out the 
 important further implications of this play ! 
 
 How few extend the idea of timeliness so 
 that it regulates, as it should, the complete 
 life of the child ! Timeliness should be con- 
 sidered in the amusements provided for the 
 children, in the experiences which they are 
 allowed to share, and in their books,— through 
 whose pages they often participate vicariously 
 in experiences flagrantly unsuited to their 
 stages of development. Think of the amuse- 
 ments provided for little children, — the un- 
 suitable kind which they do not enjoy and 
 others, just as unsuitable, which they should 
 not enjoy. 
 
56 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 I remember a party, given by a fond grand- 
 mother, where no guest was over four years 
 of age (that being the maturity which the 
 grandson had reached), and many guests were 
 less than four years old. A Punch and Judy 
 show had been provided for the entertainment. 
 All the children were seated together, away 
 from tbeir natural protectors, in the front half 
 of the long drawing-room. 
 
 The show began. The awed little folks 
 were quiet with the wonder and the strange- 
 ness for a few minutes, but only for that brief 
 period. Some of the younger children and 
 the more timid older ones were soon frightened 
 at the, to them, general uncanniness of the 
 puppets and the incomprehensibly rough treat- 
 ment of the baby. (We all know how sweetly 
 tender a child's thought of a baby generally is !) 
 
 Serious attention gave place to bewilder- 
 ment ; the bright little faces became clouded, 
 then grief-puckered, and then, "after that — 
 the deluge." 
 
 There was soon a distracting chorus of out- 
 cries, wails, and sobs. With each child want- 
 ing its mother, and each mother hastening to 
 get to her child to comfort it, the drawing- 
 room was soon a scene of dire confusion, — 
 laughable, if one did not realize and pity the 
 
From Play to Earnest. 57 
 
 children's distress. Even the gorgeous, un- 
 suitable feast failed to console some of the 
 more sensitive children. And this was a pleas- 
 ure party ! 
 
 The trouble was that the lovely, intelligent 
 lady who gave the party had not learned the 
 lesson of the Tick-tack song, — "the right 
 thing at the right time. ' ' lyife's clock may 
 strike the right hour for the Punch and Judy 
 show, but it is a later hour than the dim, misty 
 dawn-time of early childhood. 
 
 Children's parties are, doubtless, offshoots 
 from the root of the true motherly instinct 
 which prompts the provision of companion- 
 ship of his peers for the child. But the off- 
 shoot sometimes presents curious freaks, does 
 it not? 
 
 We often see newspaper paragraphs describ- 
 ing children's parties. Can we wonder that 
 newspaper gossip should increase, that the 
 desire for publicity should be so common, 
 when we begin thus with our children, and 
 allow their unimportant doings to be chroni- 
 cled in print ? Let me give you two items, 
 the like of which you may find, alas ! in 
 almost any newspaper. 
 
 I do not feel that I am transgressing in giv- 
 ing these items with all their particulars of 
 
58 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 names and residences, for surely newspaper 
 items are public property. If I point my 
 moral and adorn my tale with them, I am only 
 making the ' ' ill wind " of such publicity blow 
 some good. 
 
 '• A children's party was given at the country residence 
 of Dr. Greenleaf on Wednesday afternoon. It was given 
 by Richard Greenleaf, Jr., a seven-year-old boy, who re- 
 ceived and entertained his guests without the assistance 
 of any older person. There was vocal music, fancy danc- 
 ing, a mock wedding, and a supper, at which Master 
 Greenleaf presided, and made a neat little speech. Prof. 
 Max Hart played for the dancing which followed." 
 
 "Miss Grace Magdalene Kennedy, daughter of Mr. and 
 Mrs. J. J. Kennedy, entertained a number of her little 
 friends at her parents' residence, No. 18 Sycamore street, 
 yesterday afternoon, from four to six o'clock, the occa- 
 sion being her sixth birthday. Games were indulged in, 
 and a collation was served. Later all were photographed. 
 Miss Gracie received many handsome presents as memen- 
 tos of the day, among them being a gold watch and chain 
 from her father. ' ' 
 
 Does it not seem a mockery for six-year-old 
 Grace to have a golden timepiece given to her 
 so " out of time " ? I wish that Mr. and Mrs. 
 Kennedy would join a parents' club or study 
 the Tick-tack song! 
 
 "The Moral Instruction of Children," by 
 Felix Adler, is a book which shows on every 
 page a careful consideration for the "right 
 time " in life ; a right time when this or that 
 
From Play to Earnest. 59 
 
 motive may be appealed to ; a " right time ' ' 
 for certain kinds of duties to become para- 
 mount. Here is one of Professor Adler's 
 .many significant suggestions : — 
 
 "During the later stage of adolescence, when the dan- 
 gers which arise from the awakening life of the senses 
 become great and imminent, the attention should be 
 directed to high intellectual aims, the social feelings 
 should be cultivated, and a taste for the pleasures of 
 the senses of sight and hearing, — namely, the pleasures 
 of music, painting, sculpture, etc., — should be carefully 
 developed. Artistic, intellectual, and social motives 
 should be brought into plaj; jointly, to meet the one great 
 peril of this period of life." 
 
 The Tick-tack play has, indeed, a far and 
 solemn reach of earnest ; for besides the appli- 
 cations alluded to, we must constantly remem- 
 ber to practice ourselves in doing the right 
 deed at the right time. Thus only can we 
 become masters of time ; and (see Professor 
 Snider's commentary on the Tick-tack) unless 
 we rule time, time will rule us and become a 
 terrible oppressor ; for time is the hardest 
 master in the world. Ennui is the vacancy 
 which comes from time unfilled. Unless we 
 fill time, empty time will impress its empti- 
 ness upon us. Well might we then cry out : 
 " I must kill time or time will kill me ! " 
 
 Have we not sometimes felt this? And 
 have we not seen this to be the condition into 
 
6o Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 which lack of sufficient rightful activity has 
 drawn some of our eager, restless young 
 people ? 
 
 The preventive is sure and within reach. 
 '■'■Fill time and fill it with your best self, — 
 every moment of it ; then you have conquered 
 time and won eternity. ' ' 
 
 Is not this a noble goal of earnest which 
 we have gained from the play which was our 
 starting point ? 
 
 Froebel says ("Reminiscences of Froebel ") 
 that his educational method allows its pupils 
 to learn by their own experiments from the 
 beginning, not only things and the relation 
 of things to each other, but also the real life 
 of the world of humanity. But of that real 
 world of humanity he would give to the young 
 child always the ideal side, — the real world 
 '•'•not divested of the nimbus of the beautiful 
 and the ideal." 
 
 And yet, does he not always present life in 
 a thoroughly "common-sensible" way, too 
 (as Hawthorne would call it) ? How practical 
 and how true is his introduction to the life of 
 business as given in the play of the Target ! 
 
 Since a target is not a very familiar object 
 to our little American children, we may sub- 
 
From Play to Earnest. 6i 
 
 stitute the kite as being better known to them 
 and as being an object in the making of which 
 we may keep the same suggestions of form, 
 position, and direction which the construction 
 of the target gives. 
 
 THE KITE. 
 
 Hurrah ! hurrah ! for the kite we'll make, 
 
 That the merry wind shall toss ! 
 This one little stick we put this way, 
 
 And another we lay across. 
 Then tightly together we fasten them 
 
 With a slim little, trim little nail, 
 And cover it all with a paper thin, 
 And the kite is ready for sale. 
 ' ' Who'll buy ? Who'll buy ? ' ' 
 ' ' How much for the kite ? ' ' 
 "Three cents you will have to pay." 
 " But that's too much ! Only two I have." 
 ' ' Then you cannot buy to-day. 
 Two cents for the stuff and one for the work 
 
 Makes three cents exactly right ; 
 And whoever cannot the fair price pay 
 Must go without the kite." 
 " For work and for stuff we must always pay, 
 Your price is fair and right ; 
 And so when I have three cents to spend 
 I'll come and buy the kite." 
 
 The original Target song has nothing cor- 
 responding to these last four lines, — that is, 
 to the buyer's acknowledgment of the justness 
 of the price and a hopeful outlook for his 
 making the purchase another day. For the 
 
62 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 suggestion of this ending I am indebted to the 
 Philadelphia kindergarten children, who used 
 always to wish to "run home to get another 
 penny " that they might buy the kite. 
 
 The child makes the target or kite. He 
 makes it only in' play, to be sure ; but, as we 
 have said, play is earnest to him. He takes 
 upon himself the character of the workman 
 who has made something and who values his 
 labor and the product of his labor. Or, he is 
 the buyer who at first thinks that the price of 
 the desired article ought to fit his money, but 
 finds that other considerations are stronger. 
 
 How natural is that first exclamation : ' ' But 
 that's too much ! Only two I have ! " Do we 
 not too often judge a price as exorbitant, be- 
 cause we think of the number of pennies we 
 have, rather than of the cost of the material 
 and the labor which have gone into the kite 
 or target, or whatever desired object we are 
 purchasing? I think that there are many of 
 us who would have been benefited by the 
 instilling of the lesson : ' ' For work and for 
 stufi" we must always pay. ' ' 
 
 Shall we not learn it now as we teach this 
 song to our children, — learn it by heart, so 
 that we shall see that the article which is 
 offered to us at so low a money price that work 
 
From Play to Earnest. 63 
 
 and stuff are not fairly paid for is too expen- 
 sive for us to buy? too extravagant, since it 
 has cost the degradation of human life, all the 
 sweat-shop horrors? 
 
 Ah ! yes ; this play, which is certainly a 
 play, can lead us into questions of terrible 
 earnestness, — the relation of capital and labor, 
 property rights, all the sociological questions 
 of our time. 
 
 You mothers of future voters, of future 
 business men, of future laborers and capital- 
 ists, of buyers and sellers, have you not great 
 work suggested to you by even this one aspect 
 alone of our little play ? 
 
 There is no need for me to multiply exam- 
 ples. All the Mother Plays given in Froebel's 
 book would instance the same wonderful possi- 
 bility of compass or progression from the triv- 
 ial-seeming play to the unfolding and contin- 
 uous application of its earnest meaning long 
 after the play has become one of the unre- 
 membered influences of babyhood. 
 
 Students of Froebel know well all that I 
 would fain make emphatic. Those who are 
 strangers to the cheerful and comprehensive 
 gospel of play are urged to make themselves 
 acquainted with it ; for truly the half has not 
 
64 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 been told of the educational value of play, of 
 the predisposition toward life truths which 
 may be given by play, or of the subsequent re- 
 inforcement of this early predisposition which 
 is necessary to develop from the play its grand 
 possibility of earnest. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE APPLICATION OF KINDERGAR- 
 TEN PRINCIPLES IN THE 
 CHILD'S HOME LIFE 
 
The mother's heart, it is urged, teaches clearly what 
 she should do for and with her child, and the attempt to 
 elevate an instinctive into a conscious procedure is as 
 harmful as it is absurd. This objection scarcely merits a 
 reply. Instinct has not prevented the Indian mother 
 from flattening her baby's skull, nor the Chinese mother 
 from cramping and deforming its feet, and all the scorn- 
 ful energy of Rousseau was needed to teach European 
 mothers the evil effects of long, close, swaddling gar- 
 ments. Since instinct has thus proved itself incapable of 
 caring for the body, it is folly to talk about trusting to it 
 the development of heart and mind. 
 
 Susan E. Blow. 
 
 Shall a mechanical experiment succeed infallibly, and 
 the one vital experiment of humanity remain a chance? 
 Is corn to grow by method and character by caprice ? 
 
 Henry Drummond. 
 
THE APPWCATION OF KINDERGAR- 
 TEN PRINCIPIyES IN THE CHILD'S 
 HOME IvIFE. 
 
 Kindergarten, as usually understood, is 
 an educational institution preliminary to the 
 school, suited to one particular period of child- 
 hood, to one special stage of development. 
 Because it so admirably supplies exactly what 
 the child needs at a certain stage, children 
 younger or older cannot derive the benefit 
 from it which they would if sent at the proper 
 time. " So it is, and not otherwise. ' ' But as 
 to the principles upon which the kindergarten 
 is founded, — that is decidedly another matter. 
 
 The kindergarten principles are true for the 
 whole of education, the whole of life ; and 
 they are of chief importance in the home be- 
 cause it is there that life and education begin. 
 How simultaneously these begin is suggested 
 by Jean Paul Richter, in "L,evana" : "At 
 last the child can say to his parents, ' Educate, 
 for I breathe.' " Not "Educate, for I am 
 now of school age " ; not " Educate, for I am 
 now of kindergarten age" ; not even " Edu- 
 
68 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 cate, for I am now beginning to understand 
 what you say and do " ; but ' ' Educate, for 
 I breathe, I am. Every touch, taste, and odor, 
 every sound, every sight, which assails my 
 senses ; every movement of my limbs, every 
 object and every person in my surroundings, 
 is educating me moment by moment. By all 
 these influences I am being trained or mis- 
 trained, aided by so much toward my develop- 
 ment, or hindered by so much. ' ' 
 
 That this inevitable home education shall 
 be good education, shall "lead out" the in- 
 dividual's best self and powers, shall train and 
 not mis-train, shall assist development and not 
 hinder it, is most important ; and the help 
 which kindergarten principles can give is help 
 of just this determining quality. 
 
 Do you say, as so many people do, that there 
 had been good training and education in the 
 home life before kindergarten was ever heard 
 of, or even before Froebel was bom ? Surely, 
 there had been ; but, as truly as law rules in 
 this lawful universe, it was because that train- 
 ing was in accordance with these laws or 
 principles which we are referring to now as 
 kindergarten principles because the kinder- 
 garten has translated them into practical 
 method. 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 69 
 
 Conformance to law is what brings the cer- 
 tain result ; whether it be conscious, intuitive, 
 or accidental conformance makes no difference. 
 Do you know the true story of the savages 
 who every spring took a long journey and 
 came back laden with branches of a certain 
 kind of tree which they waved about in their 
 groves with much ceremony, invoking the 
 blessing of fruitfulness upon their own trees ? 
 They knew nothing of staminate and pistillate 
 flowers, nor of the law of fertilization which 
 was fulfilled in their yearly practice ; but the 
 fruitfulness of their trees resulted from their 
 falling in with nature's laws, however igno- 
 rantly they did it. 
 
 Just so has it often been with parents in 
 their child-training. Love and experience 
 have taught them many things to do with 
 their children, which had good results because 
 these were the right things to do, not because 
 of the ignorance with which they were done. 
 
 The only path through a vast jungle may 
 be accidentally found by a few travelers. If a 
 multitude of travelers need to pass through 
 the jungle to reach their goal, will not more 
 of them find the path if conspicuous guide- 
 posts mark the way ? Will the travelers be 
 less likely to keep to the path for knowing 
 
70 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 that it leads to the goal, than they would if 
 walking in ignorance and uncertainty ? 
 
 Surely this would be a strange argument. 
 Equally against reason is it that knowledge of 
 the laws of human development should be 
 unnecessary to parents, because some mothers 
 and fathers have made lucky hits in their hap- 
 hazard experimenting, or followed the laws 
 without formulating them or even without 
 being conscious that such laws existed. 
 
 Whatever practice Froebel advocates is de- 
 rived from his knowledge of the lawful man- 
 ner of the child's natural unfolding. To prove 
 that his method is according to universal law 
 is not the purpose of these pages. It is amply 
 demonstrated in Froebel' s own writings and 
 in those of his best exponents. We will sim- 
 ply take a glance at some of the principles of 
 the kindergarten, and consider their applica- 
 tion in the home training. 
 
 The very name kindergarten carries with it 
 the suggestion of the founder's intent that 
 education should proceed according to nature. 
 In the child garden, the child is the plant and 
 the gardener's fostering nurture is to be the 
 model of the educator's nurture. 
 
 When a tender young plant is intrusted to 
 the gardener, his first care is to place it where 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 71 
 
 it will have good soil, moisture, space, air, 
 and sun, — all the right conditions for its 
 growth. Then he waits and watches with 
 hope and patience. When he sees the stem 
 pushing up, he is just as sure that the root, 
 which he does not see, is also growing. When 
 the plant puts forth its tiny tendrils, he pro- 
 vides something for them to grasp. He props 
 the plant up when it inclines too much to one 
 side, and even trims and prunes it when that 
 is necessary for symmetry. He permits no 
 rude touches, knowing that a pin prick now 
 on one of the leaves will cause a scar which 
 will last to the plant's maturity. He rejoices 
 in the promise of the buds when these appear, 
 but will not probe them to see the color of the 
 coming flowers or to hurry their opening. 
 The gardener knows that he must not exercise 
 any interfering care. He knows that the im- 
 pulse of growth in the plant must work ac- 
 cording to its own laws, and that he can only 
 assist the growth by providing right condi- 
 tions and keeping far away from the plant 
 anything which would be hurtful for it to 
 absorb. 
 
 How plain is the parallel ! We scarcely 
 need to trace it, yet perhaps we are not so 
 familiar with its practical outcome as with the 
 
72 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 general idea. Certainly Froebel's words on 
 this point are still true with reference to many 
 parents and educators. He says : — 
 
 ' ' We grant space and time to young plants 
 and animals because we know that in accord- 
 ance with the laws that live in them, they 
 will develop properly and grow well ; young 
 animals and plants are given rest, arbitrary 
 interference with their growth is avoided, be- 
 cause it is known that the opposite practice 
 would disturb their pure unfolding and sound 
 development ; but the young human being is 
 looked upon as a piece of wax, a lump of clay, 
 which man can mold into what he pleases. 
 O man, who roamest through garden and 
 field, through meadow and grove, why dost 
 thou close thy mind to the silent teaching of 
 nature? " Education of Man. 
 
 The first thing we must learn from nature 
 and the gardener is that the inner being has 
 the power of unfolding spontaneously, and 
 that this natural development shows us the 
 best course to pursue in our attempts to aid it. 
 
 ' ' The young human being (as it were, still 
 in the process of creation) would seek, although 
 still unconsciously as a product of nature, yet 
 decidedly and surely, that which is in itself 
 best ; and, moreover, in a form wholly adapted 
 to his condition, as well as to his disposition, 
 his powers, and means. Thus the duckling 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 73 
 
 hastens to the pond and into the water, while 
 the young chicken scratches the ground, and 
 the young swallow catches its food upon the 
 wing and scarcely ever touches the ground.' ' 
 
 Education op Man. 
 
 The child, when he kicks, reaches, grasps, 
 and tests each object by all his senses, is show- 
 ing how his development is naturally carried 
 on ; and education is learning to follow these 
 indications. Instead of trying to prescribe, to 
 determine, to interfere, education takes the 
 more suitable attitude of being passive, pro- 
 tective, observant. This passive attitude to- 
 ward the inner being of the child involves, 
 however, constant activity with regard to the 
 provision of right environment. The sur- 
 roundings must be carefully arranged for the 
 encouragement of all the highest tendencies, 
 the exercise of the worthiest impulses, and the 
 exclusion of everything pernicious. 
 
 The child's first environment is the mother 
 herself. Before birth the child was environed 
 in her body, and for some months after his 
 birth she should as protectingly hedge him 
 about and be the medium through which 
 everything comes to him. Thus, even as 
 all roads lead to Rome, this thought of the 
 environment leads, as so many others do, to 
 
74 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 the necessity for tlie mother to be pure and 
 noble, since she in her own being is now 
 spiritually, as she was bodily, the first and 
 closest environment of the child. Froebel 
 says : — 
 
 "At this stage of development the young 
 and growing human being is called ' Suckling, ' 
 and this he is in the fullest sense of the word ; 
 for sucking in (absorbing) is as yet the almost 
 exclusive activity of the child. * * * For 
 this reason even the first stage of development 
 is of the utmost importance for the present 
 and later life of the human being. It is highly 
 important for man's present and later life that 
 at this stage he absorb nothing morbid, low, 
 mean ; nothing ambiguous, nothing bad. The 
 looks, the countenances of attendants should, 
 therefore, be pure ; indeed, every phase of the 
 surroundings should be firm and sure, arousing 
 and stimulating confidence, pure and clear : 
 pure air, clear light, a clean room, however 
 needy it may be in other respects. For, alas ! 
 often the whole life of man is not sufficient to 
 efface what he has absorbed in childhood, the 
 impressions of early youth, simply because his 
 whole being * * * was opened to them and 
 wholly given up to them," — his receptive 
 powers being so great, his power of resistance 
 so small. 
 
 Besides this general condition of purity and 
 cheerfulness, we must provide in the child's 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 75 
 
 environment for the adequate encouragement 
 of his activities. Even the first movements of 
 the limbs, the baby's kickings and pushings, 
 may be met with right encouragement which 
 shall serve him well in his unconscious at- 
 tempts at exercise. Besides letting the baby 
 have the freedom from long, heavy clothing, 
 so that he may kick as vigorously as he will, 
 it will do him good to have something to kick 
 against, which shall ofier but slight resist- 
 ance ; — a pillow is good, and I have known 
 many babies to enjoy a tambourine. But the 
 best response to this activity is the mother's 
 playful opposition of her own hands, for she 
 can regulate her resistance according to the 
 baby's force of movement ; and, moreover, by 
 accompanying her actions by words and rael- 
 ody, she fosters the life of the mind and soul, 
 as well as the outward, bodily life. 
 
 The grasping, reaching, and clutching of 
 the baby hands is to be fully gratified also. 
 Do not interfere with baby's efforts to use his 
 hands and to study everything about him. 
 Every effort of his that is thwarted now will 
 entail "double, double, toil and trouble" 
 upon you and his other teachers later ; for 
 you and they will have to make up for that 
 stifled self-activity. If something that baby 
 
76 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 wants must be put out of reach, put something 
 else within reach. Even if 3'ou are not a 
 kindergartner, provide him with the First Gift 
 balls, and see that you (or some one else) play 
 with the balls often for brief periods with the 
 baby. He will get many simple yet enlight- 
 ening experiences of form, color, movement, 
 number and direction, as he gazes at the balls, 
 holds them, watches them swing suspended 
 by a string or being tossed or rolled to him in 
 your play with him, — this play also being 
 accompanied by songs and words. 
 
 Never mind if you have not learned any set 
 rhymes. Baby is only readj^ for the simplest 
 and shortest. The words should describe the 
 action or motion, in order that some definite- 
 ness of idea should be started and the associa- 
 tion between action and word, or object and 
 word, established. Remember how very lim- 
 ited the baby's powers are, and j'ou will have 
 more courage to attempt making your own little 
 songs. Just plaj' with the ball and tell in 
 singing what it is doing. Other playthings, 
 — rattle, rubber doll, etc., — are, of course, 
 given to baby as he begins to grasp and hold, 
 but the ball should not be omitted, as it fur- 
 nishes a standard and will take its place as 
 such in the child's mind. The rattle is con- 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 77 
 
 demned by some critics, but I think it must 
 be justifiable, else it would not have been so 
 universally sanctioned by use. The develop- 
 ment of music is said to have been from mere 
 noise to rhythmic sound ; and the rattle is a 
 means by which the baby can get those expe- 
 riences, although, obviously, he will need 
 more assistance from his friends in getting any 
 rhythm from his rattle than in getting the 
 chaotic noise which he himself so soon learns 
 to produce. 
 
 The transference of kindergarten material 
 to the home is not necessary, and may easily 
 be detrimental rather than advantageous. The 
 mother will do far better to put her effort into 
 the study of kindergarten principles, and in 
 their light to make use of home instrumental- 
 ities, than she will to study the technicalities 
 and tools of the kindergarten method. The 
 First Gift, however, as I have said, and the 
 Second Gift (comprising ball, cube, and cylin- 
 der of wood) are intended for the baby and 
 very little child ; and although their full value 
 as playthings cannot be deduced without pre- 
 vious study on the mother's part, the baby 
 will get more organized experiences of form, 
 substance, color, movement, etc., from these 
 than from a haphazard collection of toys. 
 
78 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 " As each new life is given to the world, 
 
 The senses — like a door that swings two ways — 
 
 Stand ever 'twixt its inner, waiting self 
 
 And that environment with which its lot 
 
 Awhile is cast. 
 
 A door that swings two ways : 
 
 Inward at first it turns, while Nature speaks, 
 ********* 
 
 Then outward, to set free an answering thought" 
 
 Mottoes and Commentaries. 
 
 The baby's spontaneous activity of body 
 and limbs is accompanied by an increasing 
 activity of his senses. This is no less essen- 
 tial to his development than is the exercise of 
 the body. Consequently the mother has an- 
 other opportunity, by means of the senses, of 
 rendering aid in the development and self- 
 education for which the infant is unconsciously 
 struggling. 
 
 Each sense must have sufficient stimulus 
 and judicious gratification. Thus will each in 
 its own way make true report, to that "inner, 
 waiting self," of all things in Nature's do- 
 main, — "the good or ill of each and how to 
 use. ' ' And as the mother bears the training 
 of the senses in mind, Froebel would have her 
 also remember the related mental or spiritual 
 quality which each physical sense suggests, 
 and realize that she may aflFect this, at the 
 same time : — 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 79 
 
 "Seeing that soul and sense are not at "war, 
 But each the other's gentle servitor." 
 
 Taste, the physical sense, suggests taste, the 
 aesthetic sense, and beyond that, the power of 
 discrimination which can be applied in highest 
 things. Right and proper as is the enjoyment 
 of fine flavors and savors, who would willingly 
 condemn her child to enjoyment on that plane 
 alone? Therefore, while letting the baby 
 have the experience of tasting sweet, sour, and 
 bitter, and calling his attention to the differ- 
 ing tastes by giving the differing names, we 
 shall not dwell merely upon the sense impres- 
 sion or the sense gratification. We shall see 
 to it that the training of the senses of taste 
 and smell especially shall so exercise the 
 child's powers of comparison and discrimina- 
 tion that they are made ready for use on 
 higher planes. 
 
 ' ' If, later, he is to become possessed of taste 
 in its sense of a feeling for the beautiful, he 
 must learn also to distinguish between the 
 more or less beautiful and harmonious, the 
 suitable and the non-suitable ; must be taught 
 to shade and group together colors, to weigh 
 and measure sizes and forms against one an- 
 other, etc." 
 
 Coaxing the baby to smell with fragrant 
 flowers we recognize as natural mother-play ; 
 
8o Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 but this should be followed by similar games 
 with fruits, vegetables, and other foods, — 
 anything odorous. As with flavors, it is bet- 
 ter to give a contrast of odors, so that the 
 child's attention may not rest upon the sense 
 impression, but that he may begin to compare 
 and discriminate. Opportunities occur every 
 day in every home of extending the exercise of 
 the senses. It may all be done playfully and 
 incidentally, with just a little suggestion on 
 the mother's part ; for it is exactly in line 
 with the investigating and experimenting in 
 which the child delights. Yet even if the 
 mother finds some trouble in keeping this in 
 mind and putting it into practice, she will be 
 rewarded when she sees the power of discrim- 
 ination coming to the child's aid in distin- 
 guishing between right and wrong. 
 
 The sense of touch is easih' and constantly 
 appealed to, but might be better trained if we 
 did not usually check its use and teach the 
 child to depend upon sight alone. This must 
 be done in many instances, of course ; but if 
 we were less quick with our " Don't touch," 
 and would let the young child verify the 
 reports of sight and touch, each by the other, 
 for a little longer period, his impressions would 
 be clearer, his knowledge more sure. Practice 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 8i 
 
 the children in distinguishing by touch alone 
 between different forms, fabrics, materials. 
 I/Ct them find things in the dark sometimes, 
 trusting to the eyes in their fingers, as the blind 
 children do, — telling, perhaps, how wonder- 
 fully the fingers do serve the sightless. All 
 kinds of manual work will train the sense of 
 touch, and home-life offers countless oppor- 
 tunities for little children and big to gain a 
 much more useful degree of delicacy of touch 
 than is commonly enjoyed. 
 
 The mother's voice gives the infant his first 
 music and makes the best appeal to his sense 
 of hearing and to his emotional nature. 
 Above the buzzing confusion of this noisy 
 world, his mother's croonings and lullabies 
 and songs will early be heard and loved. 
 
 The good modern fashion of leaving babies 
 to go to sleep by themselves, to the music of 
 their own cooings and chirpings, is by all 
 means to be adopted ; but the modem baby 
 ought to get, at some time in the day, as much 
 singing as fell to the lot of the old-fashioned 
 baby who was rocked to sleep. He needs the 
 singing as material for his derel oping sense 
 of hearing to act upon ; and he needs it as the 
 apperceptive center for all the music which is 
 to come to him in his later life. The lack of 
 
82 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 ability to sing and the deficiency in time and 
 tune from which many people suffer is proba- 
 bly owing to their lack of musical impressions 
 in susceptible infancy. 
 
 Out of doors, among the sights and sounds 
 of nature, the child's eyes and ears will find 
 plenty to busy them, and even the little baby 
 should have this varied stimulation to his 
 sense activity. lyct him see for himself and 
 hear for himself What attracts your senses 
 and gives you pleasure may not give as much 
 joy to him as some crude color or sound whose 
 charm to your own infantile senses you have 
 long since forgotten. 
 
 Provide the beautiful in his environment and 
 let it woo his opening senses. The prism in 
 the window will give him the sunbeams for 
 his playthings and the rainbow glory for a 
 toy. The pictures which hang on the nurserj' 
 wall will in time convey a message to him. 
 If well chosen they will nourish his moral 
 and aesthetic nature. I^et us note with Froe- 
 bel that the child's senses act together, each 
 sense piecing out the other's partial informa- 
 tion ; and let us be more liberal with opportu- 
 nities for this united action. Whenever we 
 can, let us allow the child to test objects by 
 all his senses. If, however, you wish to ex- 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 83 
 
 ercise one sense particularly, — as is intended, 
 
 for instance, in the Froebel "Tasting Song" 
 
 or " Flower Song," — let the child first get all 
 
 he can by that one sense unaided. Is not this 
 
 what mother instinct dictates in our old play 
 
 of 
 
 " Open your mouth and shut your eyes, 
 And I'll give you something to make you -wise" ? 
 
 The great point, however, is to cherish the 
 child's spontaneous activity, both of limbs 
 and senses, never to violate or repress it ; for 
 we can never give him anything of equal 
 value, anything so vitally necessary to his 
 development. Dr. Hall daringly enunciates 
 that for the first three or four years of the 
 child's life it is better that he should do the 
 wrong thing than to be stopped from doing 
 the wrong thing. Divert the activity into 
 some proper channel, direct it, guide it, but 
 beware of checking it. 
 
 If we discriminate, too, between the activity 
 which is not good for the child and the ac- 
 tivity which is only troublesome to the adult, 
 this will save a great many "don'ts." Evil 
 is mis-directed energy. Let us try to preserve 
 the energy. I^et us see how many of the 
 "don'ts "we can change into suggestions of 
 something to do. Have you noted that this 
 
84 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 activity of limbs and senses which is to be 
 encouraged, is nothing more nor less than the 
 child's natural "play"? Emerson shows 
 that he understood the deep purpose which 
 play serves : — 
 
 ' ' The child with his sweet pranks, the fool 
 of his senses, commanded by every sight and 
 sound, without any power to compare and rank 
 his sensations, abandoned to a whistle or a 
 painted chip, to a lead dragoon or a ginger- 
 bread dog, individualizing everything, gen- 
 eralizing nothing, delighted with every new 
 thing, lies down at night overpowered by the 
 fatigue which this day of continual pretty 
 madness has incurred. But Nature has an- 
 swered her purpose with the curly, dimpled 
 lunatic. She has tasked every faculty, has 
 secured the symmetrical growth of the bodily 
 frame, by all these attitudes and exertions, — an 
 end of the first importance which could not be 
 trusted to any care less perfect than her own. " 
 
 Essay on "Nature." 
 
 That play is a necessity in human develop- 
 ment, is much better understood now than 
 formerly. Whatever mistakes are being made 
 in the application of this idea will be elimi- 
 nated as the function and possibilities of play 
 become clearer to the general mind through 
 the experiments tried. The boy and girl need 
 activity, as do the infant and little child, but 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 85 
 
 Froebel prompts us to expect a change in its 
 character : — 
 
 "What formerly the child did only for the 
 sake of the activity, the boy now does for the 
 sake of the result or product of his activity. 
 The child's instinct of activity has in the boy 
 become a formative instinct. * * * How 
 cheerfully and eagerly the boy and girl at this 
 age begin to share the work of father and 
 mother. * * * Be careful and thought- 
 ful, at this point, O parents. You can here at 
 one blow destroy, at least for a long time, the 
 instinct of formative activity in your children, 
 if you repel their help as childish, useless, 
 of little avail, or as a hindrance. Do not 
 let the urgency of your business tempt you to 
 say : ' Go away, you only hinder me ! ' or ' I 
 am in a hurry ; leave me alone. ' Boys and 
 girls are thus disturbed in their inner activity. 
 They see themselves shut out from the whole 
 with which they felt themselves so intimately 
 united. Their inner power is aroused, but * 
 * * they do not know what to do with it ; 
 nay, it becomes a burden to them, and they be- 
 come fretful and indolent. * * * Who 
 has not, later on, heard the parents of such 
 children complain : ' When this boy was 
 small and could not help, he busied himself 
 about everything ; now that he knows some- 
 thing and is strong enough, he does not want 
 
 to do anything.' " 
 
 Education of Man. 
 
86 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 In "The Home Training of Children " we 
 find these same ideas very simply stated : — 
 
 " It will be found, too, * * that chil- 
 dren weary, after a time, of the purposeless- 
 ness of play. In the rational young mind 
 arises a dim consciousness of the uselessness 
 of it all. He sees older people working, and 
 something accomplished by their work, — a 
 fence is built, a garden planted, bread is baked, 
 a room is swept, a dress is made. But all the 
 tremendous activity he has invested in play 
 leaves no tangible result. So the little boy or 
 girl comes shyly and tries to participate in the 
 ' grown-up ' activities. Too often the attempt 
 is sharply repressed. The little girl gets hold 
 of the scissors, or the little boy picks up the 
 hammer, and that is censured as mischief. 
 Even the wistful request, 'Can't I help you, 
 papa, — or mamma?' is many a time met 
 with a sharp denial, ' No ; I can do it quicker 
 and better alone.' So the earnest desire for 
 usefulness that, if encouraged, might have 
 developed hand and eye, thinking mind and 
 loving heart, is quenched in its beginnings ; 
 and the sense of his own inutility, from which 
 the child was trjdng to escape, is rudely thrust 
 back upon him. More and more the idea of 
 helping fades out, and the waste energy, un- 
 directed, runs to fretfulness, mischief, or even 
 more serious wrong. Hence it is that the most 
 efficient parents often have the most purpose- 
 less and incapable children. * * * T^e 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 87 
 
 first step in all industrial training is the op- 
 portunity to make blunders on a limited scale, 
 while they can be guarded against and cor- 
 rected, and their harmful results obviated. It 
 is true that it will take the efficient father or 
 mother longer to do the work and train the 
 child than it would to do the work and neglect 
 the child ; but the child is worth the extra 
 time, worth more than your cake or your gar- 
 den, or whatever else you are hastening to get 
 done. Even in the immediate present, it will 
 ordinarily be found to take less time to train 
 the child to usefulness than to correct and 
 punish the faults that spring from unutilized 
 and misdirected energy. ' ' 
 
 When the child shows that activity for 
 activity's sake no longer satisfies him, initiate 
 him gradually into useful activity, not only 
 letting him be busy with you but giving him 
 his own little duties and responsibilities ; — 
 slight enough for him not to be taxed by them, 
 but not to be regarded as slight by him or by 
 you, because of the eflFect which his regard and 
 faithful performance of them may have upon 
 his character. Froebel wrote : — 
 
 " Happy is it for a child if he be led to deal 
 with his duties adequately. * * * * 
 Duties are not burdens. Duty fulfilled leads 
 at last to light and all its high gifts ; this is 
 
88 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 why every healthy child likes and enjoys do- 
 ing duties, provided they speak to him quite 
 clearly, simply, and, above all, inexorably. 
 Fulfillment of duty strengthens body and mind, 
 and the consciousness of duty done gives in- 
 dependence ; even a child feels this. " 
 
 Mother Songs, Games, and Stories. 
 
 Notice that word inexorably. If, by teas- 
 ing or dallying or evading, the child is success- 
 ful in leaving his duty undone, not only is its 
 moral value to him impaired but the child is 
 robbed of the joy he might otherwise take in 
 it, for he is put out of the realm of law and 
 harmony by any capriciousness of dealing 
 with regard to duty. If the child who is al- 
 lowed to be the victim of his own whims could 
 voice his unrest, would he not use the poet's 
 words : — 
 
 " Me this nncliartered freedom tires ; 
 I feel the weight of chance desires ; 
 My hopes no more must change their name, 
 I long for a repose that ever is the same." 
 
 We must at times feel that duty is the 
 
 " Stem daughter of the voice of God," 
 
 but we have the restful consciousness also that 
 duty is "victory and law" and beauty; and 
 in the same breath in which we say " Stem 
 lyawgiver ! ' ' we continue : — 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 89 
 
 ' ' Yet thou dost wear 
 The godhead's most benignant grace ; 
 Nor know I anything so fair 
 As is the smile upon thy face." 
 
 Just as the child's whole being was engaged 
 in his unconsciously imitative play, so must 
 the older boy and girl put forth mind and soul 
 and strength in the productive activity of this 
 stage. Purpose and result they desire, it is 
 true; but mechanical drudgery, although it 
 might have purpose and result, would not 
 satisfy the boys and girls, and would retard 
 and impair development instead of aiding it. 
 The highest kind of activity is that creative 
 self-activity which allows free outlet for the 
 expression of that power which, great or small, 
 is the individual's distinctive possession. 
 
 Thus far we have been dwelling chiefly upon 
 what has been called Froebel's "star princi- 
 ple, " i. e. , education through self-activity ; but 
 we have guiding light from his other ideas. 
 One of these is his clear idea of child nature 
 as threefold, — his constant regard for body, 
 mind, and spirit as a subtly blended whole ; 
 separable in language only, never in reality. 
 
 Should the mother then consider the in- 
 fluence upon the child's mental and moral na- 
 ture when ministering to the first and plainest 
 
go Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 physical needs ? Assuredly, Froebel answers. 
 Notice how he speaks of the influence of food 
 and its lasting effect upon the whole being : — 
 
 "In these years of childhood the child's 
 food is a matter of great importance, not only 
 at the time (for the child may by its food be 
 made indolent or active, sluggish or mobile, 
 dull or bright, inert or vigorous), but, indeed, 
 for his entire future life. For impressions, in- 
 clinations, appetites, which the child may 
 have derived from his food, the turn it may 
 have given to his senses, and even to his life 
 as a whole, can only with difficulty be set aside 
 even when the age of self-dependence has been 
 reached. They are one with his whole phys- 
 ical life, and therefore intimately connected 
 with his spiritual life ; at any rate with his 
 sensations and feelings. Therefore, after the 
 mother's milk, the first food of the child should 
 be plain and simple, not more artificial and 
 refined than is absolutely needful, in no way 
 stimulating and exciting through an excess 
 of spices, nor rich, lest it hinder the inner 
 organs in their activity. Parents and nurses 
 should ever remember, as underlying every 
 precept in this direction, the following gen- 
 eral principle : that simplicity and frugality in 
 food and in other physical needs during the 
 years of childhood enhance man's power of at- 
 taining happiness and vigor, — true creative- 
 ness in every respect." 
 
 Education of Man. 
 
Kindergarten F^nciples in Home Life. 91 
 
 With all his idealism and occasional mys- 
 ticism, Froebel could be soundly practical ; — 
 as any mother agrees who reads all that he 
 has to say in " Education of Man " concern- 
 ing the physical care of the infant and young 
 child. He would never have us allow clothes 
 to become "impedimenta," as they so often 
 are to children ; nor such as to make the chil- 
 dren think too much of the appearance of 
 their clothes. 
 
 ' ' But, " says some thoughtful beauty lover, 
 "should not children have pretty things to 
 wear ? Is there not a value, as well as a dan- 
 ger, in beautiful clothes ? Can they not cul- 
 tivate the spirit by increasing the love of 
 beauty and the joy in it? " 
 
 Yes, surely, — if with the beauty of color, 
 texture, and form there is also the beauty of 
 suitability ; and if the atmospheric influence 
 of the family life is free from vanity and dis- 
 play. If your children see that the subject of 
 dress is not paramount with you ; if they see 
 that it takes, as an old-fashioned writer says, 
 "little of your time, less of your thoughts, 
 and none at all of your affections," they will 
 not give it disproportionate regard. Here, as 
 in many things, it is the mother's attitude 
 which determines the effect. The little girl 
 
92 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 who remarked that " the nuise wants you to 
 wear your best jacket, but mamma thinks about 
 the warmthness and the coolness," has grown 
 up without being vain or unduly regardful of 
 clothes. 
 
 The physical development is usually upper- 
 most in the mother's thought. She is apt to 
 make the child's bodily health and growth the 
 object of her constant care. Froebel would 
 say emphatically : ' ' This ought ye to have 
 done ' ' ; for he considers the physical develop- 
 ment as the means and model for the mental 
 and spiritual development. But he would 
 say no less emphatically, and perhaps more 
 solemnly, "but not to have left the other 
 undone." As school and home are drawn 
 closer together in conscious co-operation, by 
 means of mothers' meetings, parents' clubs, 
 child study circles, and educational reading 
 matter, the care for the all-sided development 
 of the child will certainly increase. 
 
 Another principle, also springing from the 
 idea of unity by which Froebel's mind was pos- 
 sessed, and which the mother can apply with 
 sure benefit to her child, is the principle of 
 educating him in his threefold relationship, — 
 his relationship to nature, to man, and to God. 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 93 
 
 In this, as in otter matters, Froebel instructs 
 ns to begin our training early in the child's 
 life. He would have the little babies taken 
 out of doors regularly and often, to spend as 
 much time among the scenes and objects of 
 nature as circumstances would allow. Thus 
 nature would be invested with a sweet famil- 
 iarity from the child's earliest recollections. 
 Even the city child need not be denied thiS' 
 intercourse with nature. The city streets are 
 a poor substitute for the open country, to be 
 sure ; but a child's horizon is not very wide, 
 and the city's green spots do give the essen- 
 tials, if made to yield all that can be gained 
 from them. A few trees, a plot of grass, un- 
 paved walks (especially when you may dig 
 along the edge, as you often may), will partly 
 suffice with little children for wood and field 
 and country road. Sparrows and pigeons, the 
 dogs and horses in the streets, are enough of 
 animal life with which to make a right be- 
 ginning. Sky and clouds, sun, moon, and 
 stars, are ready to bless the little dwellers in 
 the city, if they will but lift their seeking eyes 
 heavenward. 
 
 To take the child out into nature is not 
 enough, however ; it only gives us our starting- 
 point, our opportunity. We must gradually 
 
94 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 lead him to observe and to enjoy and, more 
 than all, to take the true attitude toward 
 nature. You are right when you talk to him 
 sympathetically about the animals, in the 
 mother's instinctive way. Do you not usually 
 say such things as "Good doggie," "Nice 
 pussy," "Dear little birdie," as you point 
 the creatures out, even to your very little chil- 
 dren? You are also right when you direct 
 his attention to beauty, saying, " Pretty, 
 pretty ! " as you show him bright colors or 
 objects. 
 
 Another help in awakening right feeling 
 toward nature is to sing little songs to the 
 children about what they see. I know one 
 mother who has often done this, and her 
 trusting little boy, a lovely child of four, 
 brought a tiny brown twig to her one day, 
 saying eagerly, " Sing it, mamma ! Sing it ! " 
 
 Let your child help you to water the plants, 
 however much his help hinders you ; and let 
 him scatter crumbs to the sparrows ; and, 
 even if he spills the milk sometimes, let him 
 feed the dog and cat. 
 
 " In caring for animals the child learns to 
 subordinate his pleasure to their good, purifies 
 his selfish love for them into a thoughtful, 
 protecting affection, and fosters in his heart 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Hotne IJfe. 95 
 
 that spirit of good-will and helpfulness which, 
 transferred from feeble and defenseless animals 
 to feeble and defenseless human beings, blos- 
 soms into the disinterested service c5f man- 
 kind." Symbolic Ebucation. 
 
 Is not this sufficient to show what it means 
 for the child to be in right relationship with 
 nature ? Would the mother willingly forego 
 these benefits to her child's mind and charac- 
 ter ? The watchfulness and care entailed upon 
 her by this principle are slight, out of all pro- 
 portion with the resulting gain to the child, — 
 "feather touches" at the right time, outweigh- 
 ing in effect ' ' hundredweights of words ' ' later. 
 Even before the child is old enough to do 
 these things and others similar, Froebel would 
 have him play at doing them, — just as the 
 child plays at walking before he can walk, 
 and plays at talking before he can talk, and 
 thus prepares his muscles, his mind and feel- 
 ings, for the time of real action. 
 
 As sympathy with nature is preparatory and 
 tributary, however, rather than an end in itself, 
 the confluent though larger and broader stream 
 of sympathy toward humanity must be noticed 
 in its rising, and its channel deepened and 
 widened. The child of man must be educated 
 as such in closer and more conscious relation- 
 
96 Ijyve and Law in Child Training. 
 
 ship to humanity than has heretofore been 
 accomplished. 
 
 The first human relationship which Froebel 
 would reveal to the child is naturally the 
 relationship of its mother, and this he does 
 through nature's examples of it Bird life 
 presents the most beautiful image of mother 
 love, so he gives us many bird songs and 
 plays ; for, as he says : — 
 
 " In the pretty picture 
 Of the nested birds 
 Baby reads his 'love song,' 
 
 Written without words. 
 
 Hears the nestlings calling, 
 
 And his heart calls, too ; 
 
 As they need their mother, 
 
 So his heart needs you." 
 
 Mottoes and Commentaries. 
 
 The mother may safely trust these pictures 
 and reflections of family love to prepare her 
 children for the true comprehension of mother 
 love and family ties. A friend, sketching a 
 beautiful bridge which she had found in a 
 country ramble, was watched by a little girl 
 who, as she saw the familiar object reproduced 
 in graceful line and curve on the sketching 
 block, exclaimed : "Why, I never knew that 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 97 
 
 the bridge was beautiful before ! ' ' And does 
 not Browning speak to the same purpose ? 
 
 "We're made so that we love 
 First when we see them painted, things we have passed 
 Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see." 
 
 It is because of this tendency of human 
 nature to see a reality more clearly through 
 its reflection that Froebel first fosters the feel- 
 ing of unity by means of plays and games 
 which give pictures of the ideal relationship. 
 
 Besides the family games, therefore, there 
 are games whose aim is to show the child his 
 true relationship to others than his family, — : 
 to those with whom he is connected by the 
 service which they render to him ; that is, to 
 those who supply our daily necessities of food, 
 shelter, clothing, etc. 
 
 This introduction to wider circles comes 
 about in the ordinary course of events. What 
 we learn from Froebel is to recognize that the 
 introduction should be gradual ; that the more 
 perfectly the child's affections are kept within 
 the right circle at one stage, the more strong 
 and true will his heart be in every relation of 
 life. Boarding-house life, much visiting, 
 early traveling, — anything which throws the 
 child among many people before his heart has 
 
98 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 centered itself on mother and home, — dissi- 
 pates his power of affection and cultivates 
 fickle-heartedness. The opposite dangers are : 
 self-centeredness, if the child is not rightly 
 trained as member of the family; "family 
 egotism," if the family is not regarded as a 
 member of a larger whole ; provincialism, if 
 he does not see his own village or city or state 
 in relation to something more inclusive. Any- 
 thing less than a conception of the solidarity 
 of the human race in time and eternity, and 
 the sublime conception of the unity of the 
 spirit of man with its Divine Source, confines 
 us within too narrow a circle and marks us 
 with some impress of limitation. 
 
 Because many parents do not themselves 
 perceive and feel the unity of mankind, and 
 do not realize the disastrous effect of their ill- 
 advised words, children are actually trained 
 into a violation of this unity. 
 
 A little girl who had had from her teacher 
 an explanation of taxation as the method by 
 which money was obtained to provide good 
 streets and roads, parks, lights, water, public 
 schools, etc., was much impressed and tried to 
 tell her mother all about it. The mother 
 quenched the little maid's enthusiasm with a 
 few scornful remarks about people having to 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 99 
 
 educate little " nigs " and "paddy-whacks" 
 when they had plenty to do with their money 
 without using it that way. 
 
 A young boy, hearing his first stories of 
 American history, was keenly sympathetic 
 with the Indians on account of their having 
 had their land taken from them by the whites. 
 He imagined his family dispossessed of the farm 
 which was their summer home, and the un- 
 happiness which would thus result. The boy's 
 father was one of those who judge the Indian 
 as wholly bad in his original state and wholly 
 unimprovable in the present or future ; and a 
 few talks with him froze the generous ardor of 
 the boy and gave him instead feelings of con- 
 tempt and vindictiveness. Was it a fair ex- 
 change ? Was the child, in either of these 
 instances, brought to a higher plane ? Has 
 not the world been hindered in its ethical 
 progress long enough by the practice, so uni- 
 versal, of passing on prejudices and unideal 
 views to a new generation ? 
 
 An active belief in the unity of all man- 
 kind is one of the most elevating influences 
 for each individual and for the whole. Who- 
 ever feels himself linked in close kinship with 
 the fine spirits of all ages and peoples, will, 
 because of this feeling, be the more afraid of 
 
loo Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 any disuniting deed ; while if he at the same 
 time feels himself indissolubly linked with 
 unfortunate humanity, he will the more stren- 
 uously strive for its uplifting. 
 
 By the application of this principle of spirit- 
 ual unity, all of the child's intercourse with 
 other human beings can be ennobled. He 
 can thus be trained in that fine kind of polite- 
 ness which has been defined so beautifully and 
 so completely in the spirit of this principle as 
 " the treatment of another as an ideal individ- 
 ual. " The Brahmin who always saluted his 
 youthful son in the same words with which he 
 addressed his most venerated friends : ' ' To 
 the divinity which is within you I do homage, ' ' 
 had discerned an application of the same idea, 
 which is especially good for parent and teacher 
 to ponder. 
 
 You have probably observed that the influ- 
 ence of the cultivation of true relations with 
 nature and with man led, in each case, toward 
 spiritual culture, thus strengthening the high- 
 est relationship and making the child more 
 truly the child of God. 
 
 All this hints at Froebel's method of educat- 
 ing the child in his relationship to God ; btit 
 there is so much that is different from the gen- 
 eral idea of what the religious training of 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. loi 
 
 young children should be in Froebel's idea 
 that it wins ground but slowly. Many a care- 
 ful exposition will need to be made before his 
 method is understood and practiced ; but in 
 this, as in the physical and mental training, 
 Froebel recognizes the law of development, and 
 his method here also is deeply consistent with 
 that law. So he says that religious nurture 
 must begin in early infancy ; that long before 
 religious instruction can be apprehended, the 
 unfolding soul is susceptible to religious im- 
 pressions and that therefore the ' ' atmosphere 
 of the child's life " is of first importance ; that 
 the spiritual nature can only develop by self- 
 activity, for 
 
 " He who would know the Creator must ex- 
 ercise his own creative power. Moreover, he 
 must exercise it consciously for the production 
 and representation of the good. The doing of 
 what is good is the tie between Creator and 
 creature. ' ' 
 
 The principle which is most likely to be un- 
 heeded in the child's home training is perhaps 
 that of letting the child be completely, at any 
 stage of development, what that stage calls for 
 and only that. , Our faith in what is to be de- 
 veloped is doubtless one of the influences nec- 
 essary to its best development ; but we exert 
 
I03 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 our influence wrongly when we let our ambi- 
 tion and impatience hurry the child forward, 
 demanding of him feelings and thoughts and 
 deeds other than his present development war- 
 rants. In this way we rob the present and the 
 future. The infant should be allowed its full 
 period of peaceful infancy ; the little child 
 should be completely and only a little child, 
 — with aspirations and dreams of "When I'm 
 a man," of course, but making the best haste 
 toward being a man of full stature by fulfill- 
 ing the stage of childhood naturally and com- 
 pletely. Boys and girls are too early treated 
 as youths and maidens, and too often are 
 granted the privileges of a later stage while be- 
 ing exempt from its duties ; and whereas the 
 duties and privileges of any stage taken to- 
 gether are just what the character needs, either 
 alone warps and damages it. 
 
 Shall we state these three principles again ? 
 The child develops through his own self- 
 activity ; and, therefore, if we would have 
 sound development, we must cherish and di- 
 rect that activity on every plane. Man is the 
 sum of all his deeds, — the deeds of his whole 
 life. The deeds of childhood are not ex- 
 cluded from that sum total, but, on the con- 
 
Kindergartett Principles in Home Life. 103 
 
 trary, are of large importance, — as trifling bits 
 of money put at compound interest in childhood 
 would make an important item in the bank 
 account of the man. 
 
 The child is a threefold unity. Heart, 
 head, and hand represent the three sides of 
 his nature. If the influence of each upon the 
 other is ignored by parents or educators, the 
 child's development will be unsymmetrical, 
 the man will be incomplete in a correspond- 
 ing degree. 
 
 The child is simultaneously in relation to 
 nature, man, and God. By regarding these 
 relationships in the education of the child, we 
 foster and train his sympathies ; and, without 
 sympathy, activity cannot but become ignoble. 
 Upon the fulfillment of all preceding stages 
 depends the perfection of the following stages 
 of development. The mannish boy often be- 
 comes the childish man. The little girl (or 
 boy) ridiculed out of playing with dolls before 
 the stage of development (not the number of 
 years, mind you !) has dictated the discarding, 
 will be the less completely motherly or fatherly 
 in later years. Many of us can think of in- 
 stances where a lack in development can be 
 traced to the cutting short of some earlier 
 stage. The minus quantity continually reap- 
 
I04 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 pears. There is seldom the overplus which 
 can cancel it. 
 
 Children reared in homes where the parents 
 are endeavoring to apply Froebel's principles, 
 will not be models of good conduct ; — how 
 can we expect it, if they are to be allowed 
 the natural faults of the immature, the un- 
 finished ? They will think as children, speak 
 as children, act as children. Too often the 
 conception of a "good child " is more that of 
 a miniature man or woman, than of anything 
 a child should be. We have more success in 
 getting children to behave like adults than we 
 should have in making the caterpillar behave 
 like the butterfly, which it is one day to become ; 
 but the effort is no more sensible or commend- 
 able in the one case than in the other. 
 
 "I will protect childhood," says Froebel, 
 " that it may not, as in earlier generations, be 
 pinioned, as in a straight jacket, in garments 
 of custom and ancient prescription that have 
 become too narrow for the new times. I shall 
 show the way (and, I hope, the means) that 
 every human soul may grow of itself, out of 
 its own individuality." 
 
 The mother and father who really possess 
 themselves of these principles, will still have 
 
Kindergarten Principles in Home Life. 105 
 
 problems in child training to perplex them, 
 problems arising from the child's personality 
 (or the parents' personality ! ) or from uncon- 
 trollable matters in the environment. But the 
 usual problems and all those whose solution 
 will have the most powerful influence upon 
 the child's development will be solvable with 
 little diflSculty if these principles are intelli- 
 gently applied in the child's home life. 
 
IV 
 
 FROM NURSERY TO KINDERGARTEN 
 AND WHY. 
 
We follow by stages the development of man » » * 
 and exert om^elves to give him at each of these stages 
 only that which he can bear, understand, and work with, 
 but which at the same time serves him as a ladder to the 
 next higher stage of development and cultivation. 
 
 Froebel. 
 
FROM NURSERY TO KINDERGARTEN 
 AND WHY. 
 
 Interest in psychology is so prevalent at the 
 present time that a little thought may well be 
 devoted to the somewhat remote but vitally 
 connected psychologic root to which we can 
 trace the necessity for the kindergarten at a 
 certain stage of child development. 
 
 Briefly reviewing what has been discussed 
 in a previous chapter, let us think of the 
 young infant in its first state of blank uncon- 
 sciousness. The mother's instinct teaches her 
 what to do to bring her baby gently, gradually, 
 naturally out of this state. Her first plays 
 with the young infant, her gentle caresses, and 
 playful touches, allure the waking soul to in- 
 tend itself into the various parts of the body. 
 In addition to these pleasant experiences of the 
 mother's caresses, the infant's acquaintance 
 with his body is furthered by other experi- 
 ences, many of which are of a painful sort ; 
 — biting his own fingers, hitting his head, 
 etc. And so, eventually, that stage of devel- 
 opment is reached which we might call bodily 
 
no Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 consciousness, in which the child is aware of 
 himself (that is, of his body) as a separate 
 object distinct from other objects about him. 
 
 Succeeding this bodily consciousness comes 
 personal consciousness, the dawn of which is 
 much earlier than the child's first use of the 
 personal pronoun I, though that increases the 
 exactness of the concept of self and favors - 
 its development. This whole period is pre- 
 eminently the period of " self-establishment " 
 for the child, and during this period it is right 
 and proper that everything should aid in es- 
 tablishing this new " self ' ' The mother real- 
 izes the child's individuality from the first, 
 and is the most important agent for its nurture, 
 which she begins early by her instinctive play. 
 Miss Peabody says : — 
 
 ' ' The deepest reason why a child should be 
 taken care of in its earliest infancy by its 
 mother, rather than by a person comparatively 
 uninterested in its personality, is this, — that 
 only a mother can respect a child's person- 
 ality sufficiently. ' ' 
 
 LECTURES TO KlNDERGARTNERS. 
 
 All through this period of self-establish- 
 ment the child's instincts direct him to care 
 only for himself ; the mother's instinct di- 
 rects her to help him in his endeavors to ex- 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. iii 
 
 tricate his individual self from the surround- 
 ing confusion of undistinguished beings and 
 things. 
 
 We cannot draw sharp lines of demarcation 
 for the various stages of consciousness, but 
 perhaps we might say that bodily conscious- 
 ness — the distinguishing of his own body 
 from other objects — is attained during the 
 first two years ; that the personal conscious- 
 ness founded upon this begins to come into 
 view at that time, and rises into clearness 
 probably during the next two years. Selfish- 
 ness, then, and self-will and self-assertion are 
 necessary and natural all this time, and exactly 
 what we must expect as predominant charac- 
 teristics. 
 
 ' ' But self-assertion in an ignorant child is 
 more apt than otherwise to be disorderly, dis- 
 cordant, and pei-haps destructive ; it therefore 
 provokes resistance in the unthinking, but 
 challenges the thoughtful to give guidance. 
 It is of life-and-death importance to the child 
 whether this force shall meet mere hard resist- 
 ance which shall utterly crush it or increase it 
 by reaction, or whether it shall meet with a 
 genial, sympathetic guidance to which it will 
 voluntarily and gladly surrender itself. A 
 mother loves this little ignorant force of self- 
 will and wants it to have free course. She 
 
112 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 cannot help desiring to have her child have its 
 own way. She does not want it to be opposed 
 by others. She will, as far as possible, fur- 
 ther or ' humor ' it, as we say. And when 
 she finds it necessary to control it, she will try 
 to do it by awakening the child's affectionate- 
 ness, and so captivating its fancy as to make 
 it feel that it is doing as it likes, though it be 
 something difierent from what it was impelled 
 to do at first ; in short, she inspires him to will 
 the better thing, and so educates the blind in- 
 stinct of self-assertion into a harmonizing and 
 beneficent power, and preserves the child's 
 dignity and nobleness instead of crushing its 
 
 personality. ' ' 
 
 Lectures to Kinbergartxers. 
 
 Because of all this, no person is equal to 
 the mother, no place is so suitable as the home, 
 for this early period of self-establishment. 
 
 But during this period another kind of con- 
 sciousness has been putting forth feeble signs, 
 and the time for its specific nurture is at hand. 
 The social instinct manifested so early by the 
 child's dislike to being left alone, and his 
 pleasure at the sight of other children, has 
 been growing, and the child must now be 
 helped toward social consciousness. 
 
 Self-establishment is only a milestone passed 
 on the way and not the goal ; or, rather, it is 
 the firm root upon which depends the stabilit)'^ 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 113 
 
 of the future spreading tree. Not to help a 
 child to the next stage would be a detriment 
 to his development, much like limiting the 
 tree's growth to its root, if that were possible, 
 and allowing no trunk and foliage to be lifted 
 into the free, clear air and sunshine. The 
 child must get into wider relations with his 
 kind than the family circle affords. He must 
 not be limited to the narrowness of his own 
 little self but must have a chance to add to 
 and enrich his personality. Such self-expan- 
 sion he gains only by the contact of his in- 
 dividual self with others, his equals, the larger 
 self of a community of other children. Again 
 I will quote from Miss Peabody, since I find in 
 one of her lectures exactly what I wish to say. 
 
 " The mother must remember that though 
 the first, she is not the only instrumentality 
 by which the Divine Providence works. The 
 time comes when she is compelled to deliver 
 her cherished darling up to other influences ; 
 when the child bursts out of the nursery, not 
 only self-asserting and affectionate, but put- 
 ting forth energies and seeking satisfaction of 
 sensibilities that cannot be met within that 
 narrow precinct. The kindergarten must, 
 then, succeed by complementing the nursery ; 
 and the child begin to take his place in the 
 company of his equals, to learn his place in 
 
1 14 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 their companionsliip, and still later to learn 
 •wider social relations and their involved duties. 
 No nursery, therefore, not even a perfect one, 
 can supersede the necessity of a kindergarten, " 
 where children shall come into cognizance of 
 the moral laws which are to restrain and guide 
 their self-assertion, and quicken and enlarge 
 their social affections. 
 
 * * * u 'piig time for transition from the 
 nursery to the kindergarten is definitely indi- 
 cated by two facts. Firstly, Divine Provi- 
 dence has so arranged general family events 
 that every mother must give up having the 
 child live, as it were, entirely within her life, 
 because she has other children to nurse, or 
 other social duties to do. And, secondly, 
 every child's growth in bodily strength and 
 conscious individuality makes him too strong 
 a force of will for so narrow a scope of rela- 
 tion as is afforded by one family. While 
 hitherto, to be outside of the single family in- 
 fluence was an evil, it would now be an evil to 
 confine the child entirely to it, narrowing his 
 heart and mind, and deforming his character. 
 He needs to be brought into relations with 
 equals who have other personal characteristics, 
 other relations with nature and the human 
 race than his own family. 
 
 " The instinct of the growing child, at this 
 period, to get out of doors to play with other 
 children, is unmistakable. To check this in- 
 stinct vexes or depresses him. ' ' 
 
 Lectures to Kindergartners. 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 115 
 
 In lyongfellow's poem, "To a Child," the 
 poet-father notes this instinctive desire for a 
 wider sphere of action in one of his own chil- 
 dren. 
 
 ■ < * * * * Restlessly, Impatiently, 
 Thou strivest, strugglest to be free. 
 The four walls of thy nursery 
 Are now like prison walls to thee. 
 No more thy mother's smiles, 
 No more the painted tiles, 
 Delight thee, nor the playthings on the floor 
 That won thy little beating heart before ; 
 Thou strugglest for the open door. 
 
 Out ! out ! into the open air ! 
 Thy only dream is liberty ! " 
 
 Many a child who has developed beautifully 
 thus far in the happy home nursery, is in- 
 jured by not being transplanted from it at the 
 proper time. Budding powers and traits wither, 
 and the force which should have gone to their 
 unfolding is lost or perverted ; the develop- 
 ment lacks symmetry, and unlovely character- 
 istics often date from this time. This effect is 
 sometimes more apparent to outsiders than to 
 the mother, who, contented and unquestion- 
 ing, keeps her child in the home nursery. 
 
 Some mothers who notice a change in the 
 child at this period take it as a matter of 
 course, and as the to-be-expected manifesta- 
 
ii6 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 tion of total depravity. Other mothers, who 
 are thoughtfully observant, are puzzled at the 
 different disposition which the child seems to 
 be developing. The guidance and government 
 are the same as heretofore, yet they do not 
 seem to have the same effect. Repeatedly 
 have I heard mothers speak of this, often 
 specifying that the child, formerly tractable, 
 was now obstinate ; or, formerly tranquil, was 
 now fretful ; or, from being easily amused 
 and full of resource, was now often listless or 
 restlessly imsatisfied. Repeatedly also have I 
 had the testimony of mothers to the restora- 
 tive effect of kindergarten. Sufl&cient com- 
 panionship with other children of the same 
 age would serve this particular need of the 
 child, but the kindergarten serves it especially 
 well and meets other needs at the same time. 
 Everywhere we hear the kindergarten ex- 
 tolled as the saving, uplifting influence for the 
 children of the tenement houses. Pleaders for 
 its efficacy in this field find unanswerable argu- 
 ments with which to approach every mother 
 and father, every charitably disposed person, 
 every religious organization, and the public 
 at large. The manual training afforded by 
 the kindergarten is the claim which convinces 
 some ; the formation of correct mental habits 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 117 
 
 is easily demonstrated and appeals success- 
 fully to others ; while the culmination of these 
 two in the moral growth which the true kin- 
 dergarten nourishes, is the plea which reaches 
 the hearts and the purses of many. 
 
 These considerations appeal to educators, 
 to philanthropists, — to all thoughtful people ; 
 but even the thoughtless and careless are often 
 touched by the obvious joy and beauty which 
 the child of poverty finds in the kindergarten. 
 Childhood's title to happiness is owned as in- 
 alienable by imiversal consent. Childhood 
 without happiness seems too unnatural for 
 toleration. Owing to all these considerations, 
 the kindergarten is growing more and more 
 in favor with the entire public as a great up- 
 lifting agency for the children of the slums. 
 
 Many of the same arguments are just as 
 forcible when the kindergarten is viewed not 
 as a charity but as the foundation of the public 
 schools. Through a growing belief in its 
 value, it is gradually being introduced into 
 the educational system and will thus reach 
 most of the children of our land. 
 
 But there are still other children who are 
 not having kindergarten advantages and who 
 should not be deprived of them. The parents 
 of these children are like the shoemakers in 
 
ii8 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 the old proverb : " Blacksmiths' horses and 
 shoemakers' children often go barefoot. " For 
 this, many and often comically contrary rea- 
 sons are urged. Some parents say that it is 
 not worth while to send the child away from 
 home simply to spend the morning in play. 
 Others say that they could not think of setting 
 the child to work so young. One group of 
 mothers considers it too stimulating ; another 
 group is equally positive that it is not satisfy- 
 ing, — at least not as satisfying as lessons in 
 reading and arithmetic would be. 
 
 I have heard the expensiveness of the kin- 
 dergarten given as a reason for not sending 
 children whose mothers would not hesitate at 
 putting the price of the year's training in two 
 or three costumes for the child. Many moth- 
 ers urge the inconvenience of sending some 
 one with the child and for the child ; — the 
 housework is delayed, or the nurse ought to be 
 at her dinner, etc., etc. ; or perhaps there is 
 no iiurse at all. 
 
 I know that the expense is sometimes really 
 an obstacle, and the matter of getting the child 
 to and from kindergarten also not an incon- 
 siderable one. But for all those families who 
 would not avail themselves of the public 
 school kindergartens, the expense could be 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 119 
 
 compassed in some way, if the parents were 
 fully convinced of the grave importance of 
 this early training; — and the difficulties of 
 sending the child would vanish before deter- 
 mined purpose. Indifference is the real ob- 
 stacle, and this indifference seems to me to be 
 due to two misconceptions : the one, as to the 
 full purpose of the kindergarten ; the other, 
 as to the peculiar needs of the child in the 
 home of plenty or of luxury. 
 
 The kindergarten is a great child-saving in- 
 stitution. It is a great engine of reform. 
 What reform is more true and radical than 
 that which prevents the need of reform? That 
 telling, oft-quoted item from California about 
 the nine thousand kindergarten children from 
 the slums, of whom only one has ever been 
 arrested, is proof enough that the kindergarten 
 will deplete the prison. 
 
 Grand as this is, however, there arises a mis- 
 conception of the kindergarten from dwelling 
 upon such results alone without examining 
 further. The whole truth is much grander ; 
 for the kindergarten is not an institution for 
 the children of the submerged tenth only, nor 
 for these plus the constituency of the public 
 school. It is for all childhood of whatever 
 race or rank, of whatever spiritual endow- 
 
I20 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 ment or material condition. It is for the child 
 of genius and for the child of defective intellect. 
 It is for the child who is reaching out to 
 possess the external world in a normal way, bj' 
 all his senses ; and for the deaf child, the blind 
 child, and the child both deaf and blind, 
 whose remaining senses perform in a wonder- 
 ful measure the psychic offices of those which 
 are lacking. The kindergarten is not merely 
 a medicine to be prescribed for specific cases, 
 and unnecessary in others. It is like food or 
 oxygen ; — it is necessary for the sound as well 
 as for the unsound. It is development, it is 
 growth ; it is the nurture and culture of all 
 the unfolding powers of the human being. 
 
 Kindergartners and all advocates of kinder- 
 garten should keep well in view — in the fore- 
 ground — its fitness for universal application 
 in child-training ; for this is what many people 
 have not grasped. For instance, Mrs. Nabob, 
 who gives liberally of time and money to the 
 free kindergarten in her city, said to me that 
 she considered the kindergarten of inestimable 
 value to poor children who had such unlovely 
 homes ; but that, of course, children in a bet- 
 ter condition of life had no need of kindergar- 
 ten, with its ministry of beauty and love. 
 With this still in my ears, the next thing I 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 121 
 
 heard was an exactly opposite verdict from 
 her neighbor, who considered that kindergar- 
 ten methods were so luxurious, so expensive, 
 that they were suitable only for the children 
 of wealthy parents, such children needing the 
 beauty and refinement of the kindergarten be- 
 cause they were accustomed to these at home. 
 We continually find this incomplete compre- 
 hension of the kindergarten, and an accept- 
 ance of it for one class or another of children 
 because of some particular feature which hap- 
 pens to appeal to the observer. 
 
 The real reasons for the adoption of kin- 
 dergarten, for all classes and conditions of 
 children, are : because the kindergarten method 
 is based upon a loving understanding of child 
 nature ; because it recognizes, in its prac- 
 tices, that the mental and spiritual faculties of 
 man must, like everything else in the uni- 
 verse, proceed according to fixed laws ; be- 
 cause the true and complete development of 
 any individual can only be attained by fol- 
 lowing those laws ; because the kindergarten 
 method is the method of nature, — i. e., devel- 
 opment through self-activity ; because the 
 kindergarten provides suitable materials and 
 favorable environment for the joyous and prof- 
 itable exercise of that self-activity. 
 
122 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 These reasons are as strong for the child in 
 the palace as for the child in the hovel. There- 
 fore, speaking of kindergarten in its essential 
 purpose, all children need it for the same rea- 
 sons. Just as the first food of childhood is the 
 same in every class and condition, so the 
 earliest education should be the same. 
 
 ' ' What your children ought to learn, how 
 they should be educated, is no arbitrary mat- 
 ter dependent on artificial, passing fashion. 
 It depends on the fundamental principles of 
 the universe, of which human nature (and 
 therefore child nature, too) is a part ; on the 
 eternal laws of God, which are revealed to us 
 in the life of nature, and of man. There can 
 be no true basis of education, no right training 
 and teaching of little children, if these laws 
 and principles be not taken into account, any 
 more than the tiniest plant could attain per- 
 fection if the gardener tried to rear it without 
 regard to its dependence on the sun ; saying : 
 ' What can such an immense globe, so many 
 millions of miles away, have to do with this 
 insignificant little primrose ? ' " 
 
 Translator's Preface to " Chud, ajtd Chtld 
 Nature." 
 
 Not until this fuller and truer conception of 
 kindergarten takes the place of the partial idea 
 which now prevails so largely among certain 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 123 
 
 people, can we hope for the kindergarten to 
 be adopted by them for their own children. 
 
 Nor will this fuller understanding be con- 
 vincing enough. There is another miscon- 
 ception, as I said before, which is also in the 
 way : — a misconception with regard to the 
 needs of child-nature. These needs are not 
 met simply by the child's being in a home of 
 culture and luxury. An environment of pov- 
 erty develops some kinds of evil tendencies, 
 but no less certainly does the environment of 
 riches develop others. How the disadvantages 
 of poverty are especially met by the kinder- 
 garten is often told ; but the peculiar disadvan- 
 tages which threaten the proper development 
 of the child of wealth, and how the kindergar- 
 ten would meet them., are seldom considered. 
 With due respect to the advantages which the 
 mighty dollar can purchase, the disadvantages 
 which it brings to the child are certainly not 
 to be ignored. 
 
 In the first place, the child of wealth often 
 has as little, and sometimes not as much, of 
 genuine ' ' mothering ' ' as the tenement house 
 child whose mother works for her living. 
 Mother-love and mother-instinct are not always 
 enough to teach the woman hitherto engrossed 
 in society the importance of cherishing a close 
 
1 24 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 union with her child. Frequently, too much 
 of the mother's holy duty and pleasure is rele- 
 gated to the nurse who is so conveniently at 
 hand. This will be readily conceded, even 
 though we all know many mothers who are 
 devotion itself to their children, notwithstand- 
 ing that they utilize the services of one or two 
 nurses. One of the most faithful mothers I 
 ever knew, had two nurses and a governess to 
 help her with her five children. The best 
 mother is not she who is only a mother, wholly 
 absorbed in her motherly duties ; but she who, 
 making these motherly duties paramount, is 
 still faithful to the other relations of life. 
 
 It is special circumstances, rather than any 
 lack on the mother's part, which develop the 
 undesirable tendencies leading to special faults 
 in these children. In England, where the 
 children have almost a separate nursery world, 
 they are shielded from many of the influences 
 which beset the American child, who partici- 
 pates so much more in the life of the home, 
 hearing everything, seeing everything, exposed 
 to the excitement of the adult's complex life 
 and affected more or less by it. 
 
 This is greatly to his disadvantage. The 
 child is subjected to a multiplicity of impres- 
 sions, which succeed each other with such 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 125 
 
 rapidity that one impression is overlaid by 
 another before any has had time to become 
 fixed. This dissipates his power of attention 
 to impressions, and he can scarcely escape 
 superficiality of mind and character. His 
 toys and picture books are too many, and too 
 quickly replaced by new ones. They do not 
 become familiar and dear. Fickleness and 
 caprice, and a restless looking for novelty are 
 thus directly fostered. 
 
 In the kindergarten is found the influence to 
 counteract these tendencies. There the child 
 plays again and again with the same little box 
 of blocks, — only eight in number, and of one 
 shape. He finds how readily they respond to 
 his fancy, and takes delight in them day after 
 day. He has a similar experience with a few 
 sticks, a square of paper, a lump of clay. The 
 new idea dawns : ' ' How much can be done 
 with how little ! " Is not this a valuable idea 
 for him to grasp ? Is it not infinitely precious 
 compared with the joyless finding of little 
 in however much one has, which is the pitia- 
 ble condition of some of our young people ? 
 
 The kindergarten teaches the child the 
 superiority of the pleasure which comes from 
 the use of his own thought and power upon 
 simple material, and prepares him to under- 
 
126 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 stand Carlyle's noble thought, "Not what 
 I have, but what I do, is my kingdom." 
 The overpowering ' ' muchness ' ' of what the 
 child has too often crushes his power to do. 
 Therefore that his self-activity should be cher- 
 ished and directed is of priceless importance. 
 
 The child of poverty sometimes has an un- 
 natural, mature keenness which we deplore ; 
 but the child of ' ' better fortunes ' ' as we say, 
 is often equally unfortunate in the amount and 
 kind of mental food furnished to him by the 
 family life and conversation. Taking such 
 a child at three and a half or four years of age, 
 we find him possessed of a chaotic mass of 
 general information. His alert powers of ac- 
 quisition have gathered in a great many frag- 
 mentary, unrelated half-notions on a wide 
 range of subjects. 
 
 By the kindergarten training the child is 
 helped to organize and unify this scrappy, 
 varied knowledge ; for in the kindergarten all 
 things are regarded in their relation to one an- 
 other. The child learns to seek unity and 
 forms the habit of orderly connected thinking, 
 which is an essential of mental growth. Nor 
 is connected thinking an essential of mental 
 growth alone. Professor Adler, in his book 
 "The Moral Instruction of Children," ex- 
 
Front Nursery to Kindergarten. 127 
 
 plains clearly that ' ' the virtues depend in no 
 small degree on the power of serial and com- 
 plex thinking." His demonstration of the 
 moral defects arising from the lack of connect- 
 edness of ideas is a forceful warning. 
 
 In a household where there are many serv- 
 ants, the child is apt to be in such a relation 
 to them as is false and injurious. The child 
 is allowed to command before he has learned 
 to obey. He sees himself to be an object of 
 consideration and even deference to these 
 grown people. His untrained judgment can- 
 not withstand this, and the sentiment of rever- 
 ence, whose first form is in the child's looking 
 up to his elders, is marred in the budding and 
 thwarted in its growth. 
 
 As I said before, it is not always the fault 
 of the mother, but the circumstances are too 
 strong for her unaided. Some help she must 
 have. The kindergarten offers this help by 
 its teaching of respect for labor and the labor- 
 ers, and by showing the child his dependence 
 on the work of all. Its lesson is ever that all 
 live for each and each must live for all ; that 
 this is a world of universal brotherhood and 
 mutual service. 
 
 In many homes, whether there are servants 
 or not, the child is often waited upon too as- 
 
128 Love and Lxiw in Child Training. 
 
 siduously to allow his self-reliance to be prop- 
 erly cultivated. Teaching a child to do things 
 for himself is always more troublesome than 
 to do for him, and many nurses and some 
 mothers are likely to work for the present 
 smooth running of nursery affairs rather than 
 for the later effect upon the child's character. 
 The sturdy pleasure of doing for himself is 
 one of the gains to the kindergarten child ; 
 and he soon comes besides to the sweeter joy of 
 helpfulness. A sense of personal responsibility 
 is aroused also, for the tiny fellow finds himself 
 regarded as accountable for his own actions. 
 At home he too often discovers, with that as- 
 tuteness of which even a small child is capable, 
 that the servants are held responsible for his 
 failures and misdoings, although he alone may 
 have been to blame. 
 
 Children in such families as we are con- 
 sidering are less likely to have companionship 
 with those of their own age than the children 
 of poorer people. The latter are turned out 
 to play and can gratify the natural instinct of 
 association with their equals in age, while the 
 child whose mother seeks safety for him by 
 exclusiveness, walks along the avenue, lonely 
 and deprived of his rights, however kindly and 
 sympathetic his nurse may be. 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 139 
 
 ' ' No matter how closely and sympathetically 
 we may live with our children, we can never 
 come so close to childhood as a child can," 
 says Patterson Du Bois, a writer who shows 
 on every page of his writings an unusually 
 keen sympathy with the child's mind. Speak- 
 ing of his own little girl left companionless by 
 the death of her brother, he says : "In adapt- 
 ing herself so constantly to an adult environ- 
 ment, she must in a measure do violence to her 
 true nature. ' ' And again : ' ' The most child- 
 like adult is a miserable apology for a child. ' ' 
 
 Many of us have seen extreme cases where 
 a child has been exclusively associated with 
 adults, and where the eflfect has been a piti- 
 fully unchildlike child. We may not see so 
 clearly the injury done to the child in cases 
 less extreme, but the injury is there in just the 
 measure that the child's need has been denied 
 its rightful gratification. 
 
 Even other children in the family, although 
 better associates than the grown-up people, do 
 not answer a child' s need fully. To have social 
 relations with his equals in age and develop- 
 ment is an imperative necessity. This alone 
 gives him a standard by which to get a true 
 estimate of himself and a natural opportunity 
 for the growth of justice and unselfishness. 
 
130 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 "So shall the touch of other lives 
 Help and uplift his own. 
 Strong in himself he'll learn to be. 
 Yet glad that human sjfmpathy 
 May bind all hearts in one." 
 
 Mottoes and Commentaries. 
 
 Kindergarten at home, which is sometimes 
 resorted to, lacks this important element, — 
 societ}-, i. e., children in sufficient numbers 
 to form a social whole ; and therefore it cannot 
 answer the full purpose. The child needs to 
 see others as much the object of attention as 
 himself, — to be one of many. 
 
 ' ' Social union is the basis of all culture. 
 The play of children among themselves is es- 
 pecially the basis of all moral culture. * * 
 Without the various relations between man 
 and man, morals and culture vanish. The 
 desire for society is at the foundation of church 
 and state, and of all that makes human life 
 what it is. ' ' 
 
 Chtld and Chud Nature. 
 
 Every normal child has this desire for so- 
 ciety. Where is it so healthfully gratified as 
 in the kindergarten ? 
 
 A mother often fears the harm which vaax 
 come to her child from association with chil- 
 dren whose parents may not have the same 
 ideas or standards that she has. In the kin- 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 131 
 
 dergarten, under the supervision of the kin- 
 dergartner, the child enjoys the companionship 
 of the many without the opportunity for ab- 
 sorbing anything hurtful which the more 
 intimate play with one child might allow. 
 Attendance at kindergarten will leave the 
 child plenty of time for the free play by him- 
 self and with other children, which is also a 
 necessity for him ; but neither in the street, 
 with its promiscuous companionship, nor ' ' in 
 our own backyard, ' ' with a select group of lit- 
 tle friends, will the child find a substitute for 
 the kindergarten. There he and his play- 
 mates find an especial and satisfying joy, be- 
 cause their mental and spiritual as well as 
 physical activity are directed into the best 
 channels. 
 
 Much could still be said in demonstration 
 of the high claims made for the kindergarten. 
 The value of its instrumentalities, the sweet 
 persuasion of its methods, have been touched 
 upon only. The doubter should visit kinder- 
 garten, — several different kindergartens, — 
 and visit them repeatedly. What was ob- 
 served in one kindergarten or in one visit 
 might easily provoke unfair judgment upon 
 the kindergarten system ; for, unfortunately, 
 kindergartens in name are not always kinder- 
 
132 Ijwe and Law in Child Training. 
 
 gartens in reality, and kindergartners at best 
 are but human beings, after all, and mar their 
 work at times through their own flaws and 
 frailties. 
 
 The doubter, therefore, in addition to visit- 
 ing kindergarten, should study the theory of 
 kindergarten in the writings of Froebel and 
 others. The doubting mother is best con- 
 vinced by an actual trial of kindergarten for 
 her own children. One such mother said to 
 me after having been prevailed upon to ' ' try 
 it for awhile " : "I can believe anything that 
 is claimed for kindergarten now, because of 
 what it has done for my Eleanor. " 
 
 In conclusion, let us briefly review these ob- 
 servations. 
 
 The circumstances of his home life tend 
 to make the child whom we have been con- 
 sidering, inactive, superficial, self-regardful. 
 He needs the kindergarten because his home 
 life is against the development of definite, 
 related, mental perceptions, and therefore of 
 orderly thinking, which is an essential of men- 
 tal and moral power; because it is against 
 the development of self-reliance ; against the 
 development of a sense of personal responsi- 
 bility and the power of persistent work ; 
 
From Nursery to Kindergarten. 133 
 
 against the development of respect and rever- 
 erence, and of the idea of the supremacy of 
 thoughts over things. 
 
 The kindergarten offers the positive coun- 
 terbalancing training to offset every one of 
 these disadvantageous influences. It offers 
 free scope and legitimate exercise for all the 
 activities which at home are often checked, 
 overstimulated, or misdirected. 
 
 By its wholesome mixture of freedom and 
 restraint, of play and work, of love and law, 
 of regard for the individual child and for the 
 social whole of its community, the kindergar- 
 ten bridges the chasm between home and 
 school, making the transition a glad and grad- 
 ual one and starting our little life travelers on 
 their way with full scrip, — every power of 
 heart, mind, and body at its best. 
 
 The testimony of educators as to the ad- 
 equacy of the kindergarten to provide the 
 best basis for school work is constantly in- 
 creasing. 
 
 "The first apprehension of things comes 
 long before school instruction, and what is 
 taught with words must be based on that 
 which has been taken in through the senses. 
 If this first apprehension through the senses 
 is wanting, the foundation for the under- 
 
1 34 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 standing of what is taught will also be want- 
 ing. " Child and Chtt.p Nature. 
 
 Precisely this foundation of experience with 
 things, of lively observation, of quickening the 
 senses, is furnished by kindergarten training. 
 In Boston Public School Document No. 21 
 (easily obtained) any skeptic will find food for 
 thought, and any believer will find excellent 
 reinforcement of belief in kindergarten ; for 
 this document, issued when the adoption of 
 kindergartens into the Boston public school 
 system was being considered, contains the 
 testimony of the primary teachers with regard 
 to the eflFects of kindergarten training as ob- 
 served in the children who had come to them 
 from the kindergarten. The teachers were 
 asked to write especially concerning the posi- 
 tive intellectual growth and moral develop- 
 ment of these children. Eight5'-six of the 
 testimonies were favorable ; thirteen unfavor- 
 able. The conclusions supported bj'- the testi- 
 monies are as follows : — 
 
 " I. On the intellectual side, the effects of 
 kindergarten training are shown in highly 
 quickened powers of observation ; in the pos- 
 session of clear ideas, derived chiefly from sys- 
 tematically guided observations ; in the power 
 to express these ideas well in conversation ; in 
 
Frotn Nursery to Kindergarten. 135 
 
 the great readiness with wh ich the art of reading 
 is learned ; in the very considerable knowl- 
 edge of numbers and their relations objectively 
 acquired ; in some knowledge of forms and 
 colors ; in a considerable development and dis- 
 cipline of the active powers, as displayed in 
 the comparative ease with which the manual 
 arts of drawing, writing, and slate-work are 
 acquired. All this is not only a preparation 
 for the intellectual training usually regarded as 
 the peculiar function of the schools, but a very 
 substantial advancement in that training. 
 
 "2. On the moral side, the eflFects of good 
 kindergarten training are traceable in the first 
 manifestations of a sense of justice, — one child 
 learning to recognize the rights of other chil- 
 dren as limitations on his own rights ; in 
 habitual acts of kindness and generosity, evin- 
 cing a disposition to yield to others what may 
 gratify them but cannot be demanded by them 
 as a matter of right ; in polite manners ; in 
 truthfulness, its opposite never being fostered 
 by harsh discipline ; in an eager desire to 
 please the teacher ; and finally, to refer to a 
 characteristic which may certainly be ranked 
 as a virtue, in personal cleanliness and neat- 
 ness. Of course it is not said or implied that 
 moral training is absent from the primary 
 schools ; but it appears to be true that the 
 kindergarten training is peculiarly designed to 
 accomplish the ends of moral instruction." 
 
 Are there any children who would not be 
 
136 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 benefited by having such a beginning of edu- 
 cation ? of life ? Shall we not plead that all 
 children, the rich as well as the poor and 
 the middle class, have this right beginning, — 
 recognizing, first, that it is for all childhood, 
 irrespective of class or condition ; second, that 
 it provides counteracting influences for the 
 disadvantages of any particular environment ? 
 The kindergarten, the beginning. How- 
 ever strong our faith, we do not trust all to the 
 kindergarten. A plant may be brought to a 
 beautiful, vigorous growth and have every 
 bud and blossom upon it that the heart of the 
 gardener could desire to see ; but bud and 
 blossom are only promise. Fulfillment and 
 fruitage depend upon the continuance of proper 
 nurture and culture. On the other hand, 
 the risk is great that the best of later care will 
 not suffice to perfect the fruit if the young 
 plant is thwarted in development before or 
 during blossom time. 
 
V 
 EARLY VIRTUES. 
 
And step by step, since time began, 
 I see the steady gain of man. 
 
 John Greenleaf Whittier. 
 
 * * * » None of us 
 
 * * * is mad enough to say 
 
 We'll have a grove of oaks upon that slope. 
 And sink the need of acorns. 
 
 Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 
 
 Flower from root 
 And spiritual from natural, grade by grade, 
 In all our life. 
 
 Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 
 
EARLY VIRTUES. 
 
 In these days of much wrestling with prob- 
 lems of all sorts, physical and psychical, prob- 
 lems which, however diverse, bear toward the 
 same end of human progress, our thoughts 
 often turn to the little child, who was never 
 perhaps more truly and in every sense "in 
 our midst ' ' than now, — our greatest problem, 
 our surest hope. 
 
 Adult life sees in the new-bom generation 
 the longed-for Messiah. The humble shep- 
 herds rejoice, the wise men bring their pre- 
 cious gifts, the priests greet him with blessings, 
 and Mary croons his lullaby with tender love, 
 albeit with a mighty awe and reverence. 
 
 What promise there is in the young body 
 with its quick heart-beats, pulsating vigor and 
 growth, the unwarped mind, the pure soul ! 
 Such a being must have a grand power of go- 
 ing forward in the years to come. His in- 
 heritance of time looks so much greater than 
 our remaining portion that it seems to us cer- 
 tain to bring a wealth of opportunity equal to 
 his high powers. 
 
140 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 Yes, surely, in the child is the ever renewed 
 hope of the world. What we have not done, 
 he shall do. What we have not known, he 
 shall surely discover. 
 
 Hear how the poet sings the promise : — 
 
 ' ' Yesterday a babe was bom. 
 He shall do thy -waiting task ; 
 All thy questions he shall ask. 
 And the answers will be given 
 Whispered lightly out of heaven. 
 His shall be no stumbling feet, 
 Falling where they should be fleet ; 
 He shall hold no broken clue ; 
 Friends shall unto him be true ; 
 Men shall love him ; falsehood's aim 
 Shall not shatter his good name. 
 Day shall nerve his arm with light. 
 Slumber soothe him all the night ; 
 Summer's peace and winter's storm 
 Help him all his will perform. 
 'Tis enough of joy for thee 
 His high service to foresee. ' ' 
 
 Enough of joy for us, — yes ; but the joy is 
 not our only share in the glorious possibility. 
 We eagerly welcome the hope, we must not 
 shrink from the responsibility which is our 
 present portion in the fulfillment 
 
 Do we need to hold the subject up for con- 
 templation in order to be impressed with its 
 supreme importance ? I think not I think 
 
Early Virtues. 141 
 
 that we are ready to acknowledge that moral 
 and spiritual development is the acme of all 
 good, and our transcendent aim. Mothers 
 and teachers have countless homilies addressed 
 to them to convince them of its tremendous 
 importance, when they are already so appalled 
 that they scarcely dare face their sacred task. 
 Yet face it we must, and help comes from con- 
 sideration of the theoretic and broadly gen- 
 eral phase of the subject, as well as from the 
 homely practical side; therefore we will give 
 time to both. 
 
 Suppose we try to find in this, as in other 
 departments of training, a natural order to 
 which we shall make our efforts conform. We 
 see the wisdom and fitness of meeting each in- 
 stinct as it ripens. We see the folly of ex- 
 pecting results before that ripening time 
 arrives. The application of this idea to the 
 moral training, will, I am sure, simplify some 
 of its problems. 
 
 In a vague way there has been some distinc- 
 tion between the virtues expected of a child 
 and the virtues expected of a mature person, 
 but the distinction is not kept steadily in view. 
 We say, ' ' First the blade, then the ear, then 
 the full corn in the ear," but we are too im- 
 patient to wait until Autumn for the full com 
 
142 Zjjve and Law in Child Training. 
 
 after all, and we scan tlie tender green blades 
 with dissatisfaction and anxiety. 
 
 Does moral training then require less 
 thought than we had supposed ? By no 
 means. Should it have a later beginning ? By 
 no means again, and most emphatically no. 
 Very often, long before the parents have 
 thought of making a beginning they have 
 given direction to the child's moral develop- 
 ment which will be a lasting if not an ever- 
 lasting tendency ; and we shall not need less 
 thought but more, — a discrimination much 
 more delicate, and a clearer appreciation of 
 the early susceptibility of the young soul, if 
 we are to make our moral training sound and 
 effectual. An ideal more compatible with 
 childhood's powers and childhood's mode of 
 thought and feeling will be necessary also in 
 this work. 
 
 We need not wander about unaided, how- 
 ever ; for in moral education as in other de- 
 partments of education we find a guide in the 
 parallelism between the development of each 
 individual and of humanity as a whole. This 
 parallelism is accepted, not with reference to 
 details, but only with regard to the general 
 order in which instincts and tendencies are 
 developed. 
 
Early Virtues. 143 
 
 What this general order is we learn from the 
 many close studies of primitive man, the great 
 race child, whose manifestations are ' ' writ 
 large ' ' upon the pages of history. 
 
 Now theyfrj^ form of human virtue (accord- 
 ing to Ivccky and other students of the rise of 
 moral ideals in the race) ' ' is the courageous 
 endurance of suffering., this being the one con- 
 spicuous instance in early savage life of a 
 course of conduct opposed to natural impulses 
 and pursued through a belief that it is higher 
 and nobler than the opposite." 
 
 At first thought it does not seem possible 
 that this can be the most suitable form of vir- 
 tue to foster in the young infant ; but we soon 
 see that it is. Just as the savage had to learn, 
 to some degree, what his own powers and pos- 
 sibilities were, and would naturally develop 
 first whatever traits enhanced those powers 
 and possibilities, so the child needs, first of 
 all, to develop the character element of cour- 
 age, or bravery, or self-reliance as a precedent 
 or basis of other virtues. He must begin to 
 be before he can act. Froebel speaks tenderly 
 and clearly of fostering this trait early and in 
 its minute beginnings : — 
 
 ' ' In accordance with the spirit and destiny 
 
144 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 of humanity, man should be trained to learn, 
 by the endurance of small, insignificant suf- 
 fering, how to bear heavy suffering and bur- 
 dens that threaten destruction. If, then, 
 parents or attendants are firmly and surely 
 convinced that all that the fretting, restless 
 child may need at the time has been supplied, 
 — that all that is or can be injurious has been 
 removed, — they should calmly and quietly 
 leave the fretting, restless, or crying child to 
 himself ; calmly give him time to find him- 
 self. For if the little one has once or repeat- 
 edly compelled sympathy and help from others 
 in illusory suffering or slight discomfort, par- 
 ents and attendants have lost much, almost 
 all, and can scarcely retrieve their loss by 
 force ; for the little ones have so keen a sense, 
 so correct a feeling for the weakness of attend- 
 ants, that they would rather put forth their 
 native energy in the easier way of control of 
 others (for which the weakness of attendants 
 gives them the opportunity) than to exercise 
 and cultivate it in themselves in patience, 
 
 endurance, and activitv. " ^ 
 
 ' •" Education of Man. 
 
 The baby's power of endurance must be 
 taxed so slightly and by such trivial trials, 
 that the worth of it may seem equally insig- 
 nificant, — yet if infantile endurance be not 
 nurtured, there would as surely be a dearth of 
 this heroic virtue as that no tree can grow 
 where no seed has been nurtured. 
 
Early Virtues. 145 
 
 Naturally, this does not mean that if you 
 do not consciously and intentionally cultivate 
 them, your child's powers of endurance will 
 be left entirely uncultivated. Circumstances 
 cannot be controlled by the most foolishly 
 fond mother so but that her child gets some 
 training in bearing and suffering. But en- 
 lightened mother-love can make the training 
 more steady and gradual, can supplement and 
 modify what circumstances provide, and so 
 develop more of the hero-stuff in her child. 
 
 So in the cradle days of our children, as in 
 the infancy of the race, the practice of endur- 
 ance is and should be begun, though with the 
 smallest possible beginnings, — endurance on 
 the physical plane being the infinitesimal 
 germ which means, in its highest implication, 
 the grand attainment of spiritual heroism. 
 
 The next marked step in the moral life of 
 the child corresponds to that historic stage 
 where the individual savage begins to be 
 affected by relation with his fellows. Union 
 with them would be impossible without the 
 recognition by each of some laws which ruled 
 all. Hence, obedience to the will of the social 
 whole, founded upon man's relations to his 
 fellow men was early cultivated in the race, 
 
146 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 and obedience founded upon the closest hu- 
 man relationship, that of parent and child, is 
 paramount among the early virtues. Now 
 obedience is sometimes called an old-fash- 
 ioned virtue ; but, believe me, it belongs just 
 as certainly in the scheme of the New Educa- 
 tion — the aim of which is to bring the human 
 being to freedom through harmony with law. 
 
 In a universe of law, freedom and harmony 
 can only be obtained by obedience to law ; 
 hence obedience must be learned. But obedi- 
 ence with the goal of individual freedom in 
 view influences our method of training not so 
 much in the earliest stages as in the later. 
 The obedience required must correspond to 
 the stage of development. With the young 
 child, the mother is the embodiment and ex- 
 ponent of all law ; therefore it behooves her 
 to be a true exemplifier of it. If she deal 
 with the baby in a capricious, fickle, waver- 
 ing manner, — sometimes requiring obedience, 
 sometimes laughing at disobedience, making 
 it a matter of slight importance, — how has 
 she added to the difficulties of her child's com- 
 prehension of the absoluteness and majesty of 
 law ; and what unhappiness is she preparing 
 for him ! 
 
 If, on the other hand, she deal truly with 
 
Early Virtues. 147 
 
 him from the first, then law, presented to him 
 through this most loving medium, will take 
 on its right aspect as a bringer of peace and 
 harmony, and he will be predisposed to the 
 higher, direct obedience to law itself, of which 
 obedience to the mother is the first stage. 
 
 The mother's attitude will be greatly af- 
 fected by her ideal. (Who is it who says that 
 nothing is so practical as the ideal ? ) There- 
 fore even in the little everyday dilemmas of 
 the nursery, help is often to be found by paus- 
 ing and considering the kind of obedience we 
 aim to have the child attain to eventually, — 
 ' ' a free, seeing obedience to law, not to mere 
 authority ; to necessity, not to whims ; to in- 
 ner purpose, not to an external master. ' ' Un- 
 der the control of this ideal, the mother could 
 scarcely give unnecessary commands, com- 
 mands originating only in willfulness and in- 
 sisted upon through petty love of authority. 
 
 Remembering the educational laws to which 
 we so often advert, we see how the course of 
 training in obedience corresponds to other edu- 
 cation. We see that although ultimately obe- 
 dience is to be an inner voice, it must first be 
 to an external master. 
 
 The first obedience required from the child 
 is naturally with reference to its physical 
 
148 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 wants, — food, sleep, etc. Yielding to regular- 
 ity in these matters is preparation for orderly 
 living later. 
 
 " I do not maintain that regularity itself is 
 moral, but that it is favorable to morality be- 
 cause it curbs inclination. I do not say that 
 rules are always good, but that the life of im- 
 pulse is always bad. Even when we do the 
 good in an impulsive way we are encouraging 
 in ourselves a vicious habit. Good conduct 
 consists in regulating our life according to 
 good principles ; and a willingness to abide by 
 rules is the first, the indispensable condition of 
 moral growth. Now the habit of yielding to 
 rules may be implanted in a child even in the 
 cradle." 
 
 Moral Instruction of Children. 
 
 This reminds me of a passage in ' ' L,evana ' ' 
 where Jean Paul Richter bursts out in his own 
 emphatic way with : — 
 
 "I say again, let there be rules for chil- 
 dren. " "If you would picture to yourself 
 the most unhappy and most unfortunately cir- 
 cumstanced child, think of one who has been 
 brought up by chance merely ; without rule, 
 irritated and appeased without reason, * * * 
 wishing nothing else than the fulfillment of 
 his momentary desires — a ball thrown sport- 
 ively from love to hate — with sorrows that 
 
Early Virtues. 149 
 
 bring no strength, and joys which produce no 
 love." 
 
 This picture of a child brought up without 
 rule could only be matched for misery by a 
 picture of the child brought up without any 
 freedom from rules. A blind, implicit obedi- 
 ence, exacted too long from children, defrauds 
 them of the exercise of their own growing rea- 
 son and forming will. Irrational and feeble- 
 willed, is it any wonder that they fall a ready 
 prey to evil ? 
 
 " The united care both for a child's obedi- 
 ence and freedom is one of the most diflScult 
 requirements of education.". 
 
 IvKVANA. 
 
 The change in the mother's method must 
 be as gradual as the growth of reason itself. 
 Perhaps the danger with us liberty-loving 
 Americans is less that of granting freedom too 
 late than of leaving incomplete the establish- 
 ment of the principle of obedience. The law 
 beyond the parent's word will be easily given 
 to the child if the parent is true to law her- 
 self. 
 
 "But between the two, between educator 
 and pupil, between request and obedience, 
 there should invisibly rule a third something. 
 
150 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 to which educator and pupil are equally sub- 
 ject. This third something is the right, the 
 best* * The child, the pupil, has a very 
 keen feeling, a very clear apprehension, and 
 rarely fails to distinguish whether what the 
 educator, the teacher, or the father says or 
 requests is personal or arbitrary, or whether 
 it is expressed by him as a general law and 
 necessity." 
 
 Education of Man. 
 
 These familiar words from Froebel are well 
 reinforced by the following quotation from 
 Emerson in " The Over Soul " : — 
 
 " In dealing with my child, my Latin and 
 Greek, my accomplishments and my money, 
 stead me nothing. They are all lost on him ; 
 but as much soul as I have avails. If I am 
 merely willful, he gives me a Roland for an 
 Oliver, sets his will against mine, one for one, 
 and leaves me, if I please, the degradation of 
 beating him by my superiority of strength. 
 But if I renounce my will and act for the soul, 
 setting that up as umpire between us two, out 
 of his young eyes looks the same soul ; he 
 reveres and loves with me. " 
 
 The transference of the child's obedience 
 from the parent and teacher (the external 
 masters — the concrete embodiment of the 
 law) to this ever-commanding, invisible right 
 
Early Virtues. 151 
 
 can be begun in many simple ways. The 
 most practical, homely exemplification of 
 good methods by which the right kind of 
 early obedience can be secured is given in 
 "Gentle Measures in the Training of the 
 Young, ' ' by Jacob Abbott. A helpful discus- 
 sion of the subject is to be found also in " A 
 Study of Child Nature," by Elizabeth Harri- 
 son. The one golden word for the parent or 
 teacher, however, is steadfastness: — 
 
 " A friend once sent her twelve-year-old boy 
 away from the table to wash his hands. Upon 
 his return, she said : ' Will, why do you per- 
 sistently come to the table without washing 
 your hands, when you know that each time 
 you do it I send you away ! ' 
 
 " 'No,' answered the boy frankly, ' you for- 
 got to do it one time. ' 
 
 "That one break in the continuity of com- 
 mand had created in his mind the hope that 
 he might again escape the disagreeable duty. " 
 Study op Child Nature. 
 
 "It has been too much the case that the 
 discipline of the nursery has consisted of dis- 
 connected efforts to make children either do, or 
 refrain from doing, certain particular acts. 
 ' Do this and be rewarded, do that and be pun- 
 ished,' is the ordinary routine of family gov- 
 ernment." 
 
152 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 Instead of spasmodic, startling attempts 
 directed against a suddenly observed evil, we 
 should have constant watchfulness and gentle 
 nurture, and long, long patience. We must 
 be keenly observant of tendency, but must not 
 demand premature attainment. 
 
 ' ' I wish my little boy would try to be good 
 all the time," said Bobby's mamma, rocking 
 him to sleep. " I do, " replied Bobby, " but I 
 don't think I am big enough to do very well 
 at it yet." 
 
 Bobby was right. One has to try to be 
 good a long, long time before doing very well 
 at it. 
 
 Almost simultaneous with the manifestation 
 of force by the child, — his cries, hiskickings, 
 and pushings, and graspings, — is the dawn of 
 sympathy indicated by the first smile. The 
 mother's instinctive rejoicing in that flickering 
 response, elicited from her darling after many 
 coaxing trials, is justified by all that that first 
 smile means. It means, Froebel tells us, the 
 dawning of a feeling of community, a recogni- 
 tion of spirit by spirit, a response of spirit to 
 spirit. In its dawning, this feeling of com- 
 munity is only the feeling of unity with the 
 mother. In the brightness of its perfect day, 
 
Early Virtues. 153 
 
 itwould become an intense realization of spirit- 
 ual unity with all mankind. 
 
 The early training of the sympathies is re- 
 cognized in its full importance by Froebel ; 
 and the kindergarten system of education pro- 
 vides for such training along with its training 
 of the activities of the child. 
 
 Trivial, indeed, seem the beginnings ; but 
 how seldom is the beginning of anything pro- 
 portionate to its importance ! The mother is 
 making-the beginnings in the training of the 
 sympathies every time she meets the baby's 
 look with an answering smile, every time she 
 helps his fluttering hand to stroke his sister's 
 face and teaches him to say caressingly, ' ' dear 
 sister, ' ' or, in a case of distress, ' ' poor ! poor ! ' ' 
 or when she makes with him a great rejoicing 
 over papa's home-coming. 
 
 Froebel gives us the means for supplement- 
 ing this instinctive fostering of sympathy be- 
 tween the child and his family and for fostering 
 a wider human sympathy also ; these means 
 being the songs and games which image to 
 the child either family love and family ties or 
 his relation to those outside of the family 
 circle. 
 
 Many of the Froebel plays, and others pat- 
 terned after them, are permeated by the spirit 
 
154 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 of sympathy with nature, and will directly 
 nourish the same spirit in the little child. 
 The child is at one with nature and feels a 
 common life with it, attributing his own feel- 
 ings not only to animals and birds, but to 
 flowers and trees and stones, and to the very 
 stars of heaven. Instead of disturbing the 
 child's feeling of love and loving unity with 
 nature, the appreciative mother, whom Froe- 
 bel pictures, encourages it. She teaches her 
 baby to beckon to the pigeons, to feed the dog 
 and the cat, to play at watering the plants. 
 She sings songs to him about the father and 
 mother birds and the baby birds so tenderly 
 cared for ; songs about the joyous fishes in the 
 clear water, the animals sporting in the farm- 
 yard and carefully protected there ; songs 
 about the sun and moon, whose light, the 
 child fancies, is sent as a loving greeting to 
 him. And as the mother sings, the child not 
 only listens with joy, but, by representing 
 with his little fingers the playful fishes, the 
 flying pigeons, and the farmyard gate, is led 
 to fuller comprehension. 
 
 To be sure, such plays only prepare the 
 child to feel and think rightly about nature. 
 As soon as he can do in reality what he has 
 played at doing (feeding chickens, watering 
 
Early Virtues. 155 
 
 plants, shutting gates, etc.), let his sympathy 
 have the effective strengthening which comes 
 from service. Gradually a strong, conscious 
 sympathy and an unselfish, active love which 
 shall outlast his present vanishing stage of 
 unconscious oneness, will begin to grow in the 
 childish heart. 
 
 Perhaps you will think that I have been 
 describing the training of the affections rather 
 than of the sympathies. Naturally, each im- 
 plies the other, to some extent ; but do we 
 not need to place more emphasis upon the for- 
 mation of a habit of regarding each creature 
 from its own standpoint ? This is sympathy, 
 and impels to the truest love. 
 
 When Elizabeth Robin, a blind, deaf, and 
 dumb child, was a little girl and spending the 
 summer in the country, her friends tried to 
 give her, as nearly as possible, the acquaintance 
 with nature which an ordinary child has. 
 Among other things a toad was brought to her, 
 and her delight in the creature was so great 
 that she rebelled against letting it go free after 
 she had examined it. She loved ' ' Pat, ' ' as 
 she had named it, and wanted to keep it in a 
 box so that she could play with it as much as 
 she liked. Several talks and stories about 
 toads, however, brought Elizabeth into such 
 
156 Lxive and Law in Child Training. 
 
 sympathy with their pleasure in their own 
 way of living, that her face beamed with joy 
 as she set Pat free. Affection for the toad 
 would have let her keep it as a pet. Sympa- 
 thy enabled her to appreciate its preference 
 for freedom and its own home and to sacrifice 
 her selfish desire. 
 
 Begin to cultivate this attitude of mind in 
 children even during babyhood. For instance, 
 when the baby is out of doors and any little 
 creatures — spiders, caterpillars, etc., — chance 
 to light upon him, do not fling them off with 
 disgust, saying that they shall not come on 
 the precious baby, or that baby does not like 
 them ; but tell baby that the little creatures 
 are taking a walk, and if you remove them 
 do it gently and place them where they will 
 find something to eat or find their way home. 
 
 "Beware," says Froebel, " of greeting a 
 boy with ' Fie, throw that down ! That is 
 horrid ! ' or ' Drop that, it will bite you ! ' It 
 may be well to caution him about taking hold 
 of unknown creatures but not in such a way as 
 to make him timid, " or to induce a feeling of 
 repugnance or enmity. 
 
 Children's so-called cruelty to animals is 
 often the result of the careless behavior or 
 word of some adult. Have you read the hint 
 
Early Virtues. 157 
 
 given by some one, — a mother, I believe, — 
 about the treatment of the pet pussy ? ' ' When 
 the child pulls the cat's tail," so runs the 
 word, "don't tell him that the reason he 
 mustn't pull it is that the cat would scratch 
 him, but that he mustn't pull it because he 
 would hurt the cat. ' ' 
 
 There may be no cruelty in the heart of the 
 mother who gives the first reason ; but the 
 one way of speaking sways the child toward 
 the selfish point of view, the other turns his 
 attention to the effect of his action upon some- 
 thing other than himself. 
 
 Children are as susceptible to tender-heart- 
 edness in their elders as to other influences. 
 The dear old Uncle Toby of the following 
 anecdote probably never thought agdin of the 
 trivial episode which the ten-year-old boy 
 never forgot. 
 
 "My Uncle Toby had scarce a heart to 
 retaliate upon a fly. ' Go, ' says he one day at 
 dinner to an overgrown one which had buzzed 
 aboxit his nose and tormented him cruelly all 
 dinner time, and which, after infinite attempts 
 he had caught at last, as it flew by him ; — 
 *I'll not hurt thee,' says my Uncle Toby, 
 rising from his chair and going across the 
 room with the fly in his hand ; 'I'll not hurt 
 a hair of thy head. Go,' says he, lifting up 
 
158 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 the sash, and opening his hand as he spoke, 
 to let it escape ; ' go, poor devil, get thee 
 gone ; why should I hurt thee ? This world 
 is surely wide enough to hold both thee and 
 me.' 
 
 "I was but ten years old when this hap- 
 pened ; — but whether it was that the action 
 itself was more in unison with my nerves at 
 that age of pity, which instantly set my whole 
 frame into one vibration of most pleasurable 
 sensation ; or how far the manner and ex- 
 pression of it might go towards it ; — or in 
 what manner or by what secret magic a tone 
 of voice and harmony of movement, attuned 
 by mercy, might find a passage to my heart, I 
 know not. This I know, that the lesson of uni- 
 versal goodwill then taught and imprinted 
 by my Uncle Toby, has never since been 
 worn out of my mind ; and though I would 
 not depreciate what the study of the '■litercB 
 humaniores, ' at the university has done for me 
 in that respect, or discredit the other helps 
 of an expensive education bestowed upon me, 
 both at home and abroad since, — yet I often 
 think that I owe one half of my philan- 
 thropy to that one accidental impression." 
 
 Our category of virtues for early childhood 
 is scant only in seeming. Its implications are 
 very full and wide. 
 
 First in the brief list came endurance, — a 
 manly virtue, a heroic virtue, but one which 
 
Early Virtues. 159 
 
 the child must have in the child's degree as a 
 fundamental virtue. 
 
 Next to endurance came obedience ; — not 
 such obedience as would "break the child's 
 will, ' ' but such as would strengthen him to will 
 the right ; obedience required with the far- 
 seeing intent of bringing the child eventually 
 into harmony with law. Bndurance or self- 
 reliance, a virtue which refers to the indi- 
 vidual, takes but brief precedence over the 
 social virtues of obedience and sympathy ; 
 for 
 
 " Man was made of social earth, 
 Child and brother from his birth ; 
 Tethered by a liquid cord 
 Of blood through veins of kindred poured. 
 Next his heart the fireside band 
 Of father, mother, sister, stand." 
 
 Emerson. 
 
 True sympathy with his fellow creatures 
 and with lower life as well, is a virtue which 
 cannot be too assiduously fostered in the 
 young child. The pre-figuring plays, of such 
 a kind as to give even the baby an impression 
 of sympathetic union with his limited world 
 of man and nature, should be followed in due 
 time by the actual doing of sympathetic deeds. 
 Sympathy must be thus made a matter of 
 action or it will become empty sentimentality. 
 
l6o Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 The fostering care over the young child 
 which takes heed to this code of morals, will, 
 in so doing, provide a pure, sunny atmosphere 
 also favorable for many other beautiful traits 
 of character, as well as the individual virtue 
 of bravery and the social virtues of obedience 
 and sympathy. 
 
 A true, childish trustfiilness will surely be 
 engendered, and the demoralizing sentiment 
 of fear, which gives rise to other evils, will be 
 excluded. 
 
 Cheerfulness, that blessed brightener of any 
 age or condition, will irradiate the heart of the 
 brave, obedient child and will give him more 
 happiness than any indulgence could have pro- 
 cured him. 
 
 That sympathy which from baby days has 
 been trained to expression in loving deeds will 
 surely bear the blossom of unselfishness and 
 generosity. 
 
 The little child's lack of certain A^rtues 
 should not shock or surprise us, any more than 
 does his ignorance of certain advanced sub- 
 jects, — algebra and history, for instance. Time 
 and training are obvious necessities ; and the 
 right beginning is most essential of all, for if 
 we do not begin in the trul}'^ radical way we 
 
Early Virtues. i6i 
 
 shall injure the child by unreasonable treat- 
 ment. As the seed of the corn is different 
 from the blade, and the blade bears little re- 
 semblance to the full corn in the ear, so, many 
 of the virtues in the incipient stages are un- 
 like what they are in their later development. 
 It behooves us to recognize this difference. 
 
 The virtue of justice gives us an example 
 of this ; for justice, consideration for the 
 rights of others, is founded in the child's sense 
 of his own rights. We must be patient with 
 our little learners and their vociferous, stren- 
 uous claims of "That's mine ! " for only as 
 they learn meum will they acquire such a 
 knowledge of tuum as will lead to the intel- 
 ligent, voluntary doing of just deeds and to 
 the gradual establishment in their souls of the 
 ideal of universal justice. 
 
 The truly radical way of instilling the vir- 
 tue of gratitude is shown us in the Mother 
 Play book, which might also be called the 
 Book of the Evolution of the Virtues. Froe- 
 bel would train the child in giving care 
 before expecting him to appreciate the care 
 given to him, and in order to prepare him for 
 that appreciation in later years. It is right 
 and natural that the little ones should accept 
 
1 62 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 unthinkingly the love and protection of their 
 parents. They are so immersed in it that 
 they can know nothing of it, even as the fishes 
 of the poet's song knew not the sea "as they 
 swam its crystal clearness through." And 
 since the foundation of gratitude is obviously 
 the knowledge of the benefits received, as 
 obviously is gratitude a later virtue. Do not 
 neglect to prepare for it in the child's early 
 years, but do not expect it until your child has 
 learned through long experience in bestowing 
 care what your care of him means. Not un- 
 til then is it possible for fair gratitude to en- 
 ter his heart and gladden your life. 
 
 To care for things is to become careful — to 
 tend things is to grow tender — says Drum- 
 mond. And likewise to do deeds which merit 
 gratitude is the way to learn to be grateful, 
 says Miss Blow. 
 
 "When all treasures are tried, truth is the 
 best. ' ' But truth is not, to my thinking, a 
 child's virtue. It is the supreme attainment 
 of maturity. 
 
 To say that truth is not a childish virtue is 
 not saying that we should ignore its cultiva- 
 tion in childhood, but rather that we should 
 take more pains to teach truth by reason- 
 
Early Virtues. 163 
 
 able methods, and with an intelligent com- 
 prehension that it is not the easy dower of the 
 child, but so high a virtue that it demands 
 struggle for its attainment. The young child 
 needs long practice and much exercise in 
 telling the truth, and unvarying truthfulness 
 from those who deal with him. 
 
 It seems to me a great mistake to expect 
 truth to come naturally and easily to young 
 children. In the first place, they must make 
 a great many experiments in the use of lan- 
 guage before they can employ it with accu- 
 racy. And, secondly, they live so much in 
 the realm of imagination and are talked to 
 so much in a fanciful, sportive vein, that some 
 confusion must be the result. Sometimes 
 what might happen is so vividly pictured in 
 the mind of an imaginative child, that it 
 seems as real to him as what actually happens. 
 In all good faith, therefore, though in mental 
 confusion, — out of a bewildered mind rather 
 than an untrue heart, — comes the untruthful 
 statement. 
 
 Such a child should not be branded as un- 
 truthful. His imagination should have plenty 
 to feed it, plenty to work on outside of trivial 
 everyday matters. In simple justice, he 
 should receive help and training in distin- 
 
164 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 guishing between fancy and fact, training in 
 accuracy of all kinds. He is entitled to as 
 sympathetic a training in accuracy of speech 
 as would be due to a child who had some 
 physical difficulty in enunciating correctly. 
 
 While we ought to make allowance for 
 the imaginative child, whose difficulties are 
 better understood now than in former days, a 
 word of caution is also necessary with regard 
 to the matter-of-fact child, the child who sees 
 things exactly as they are — unrefracted 
 through any mist of their possibilities — and 
 who consequently reports them with accuracy. 
 This child's truth telling is as unconscious as 
 the other child's untruth. Do not mistake it 
 for an attained virtue — a deliberately chosen 
 course of conduct. Unless he, too, is taught 
 and trained to choose the truth, to value and 
 reverence it, his clear head and exact tongue 
 may, in later life, become the servants of a 
 false heart. 
 
 Let me quote now a few paragraphs from 
 Richter, whose love of little children was 
 such an understanding love : — 
 
 ' ' And now back to our dear children ! Dur- 
 ing the first five years they say neither what is 
 true nor what is false, — they merely talk. 
 Their talking is thinking aloud. 
 
Early Virtues. 165 
 
 " * * Further, at first they find great pleasure 
 in exercising their new art of speech, and so 
 they often talk nonsense only for the sake of 
 hearing their own acquisitions in language. 
 They frequently do not understand some word 
 that you have said, — little children, for in- 
 stance, often confuse to-day, to-morrow, yes- 
 terday, as well as numbers and degrees of 
 comparison, — and so give rather a mistaken 
 than a false reply. * * * 
 
 ' ' In all these cases, when the form of a lie is 
 not to be shown in any dark glass, say merely : 
 ' Don't make nonsense ! Speak seriously! ' 
 
 "If the child has promised something, 
 remind him frequently of it as the time ap- 
 proaches, but without using other words than 
 ' you said so, ' and at last compel him to the 
 performance. But if he has done something, 
 you cannot be too sparing in your inquiries, 
 which may easily become painful. The 
 younger the child is, the fewer questions you 
 ought to ask, the more ought you to seem all- 
 knowing or to remain ignorant. Do you not 
 understand that you apply a fiery trial * * to 
 children * * * when by your ill-concealed 
 anger and the prospect of punishment after 
 confession, you place them in the dangerous 
 position of choosing whether they shall obey 
 instinct or an idea ? 
 
 " The simple savage is full of deceit, both in 
 words and actions ; the peasant, under the in- 
 fluence of some trifling danger, will tell a 
 lie ; * * * and yet you can require in a child, 
 
1 66 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 whom you have to educate, the last and 
 noblest fruits of truth ? 
 
 "Truth, as a conscious virt?ue and sacrifice, 
 * * * truth, which would offer even a bloody 
 sacrifice to its word, as its word, is a godlike 
 blossom on an earthly plant ; therefore, it is 
 not the first but the last virtue, in order of 
 time." 
 
 One of the German legends relates that the 
 Christ-Child presented to a dreaming child 
 various noble characters as ideals. Great 
 warriors, kingly rulers, noble statesmen, were 
 thus brought before the little one, but only to 
 his discouragement. 
 
 "I can be none of these," sadly thought 
 the child, " they are all so mighty and wise." 
 
 At last the Christ-Child assumed the form 
 of a gentle, loving, obedient child. To this 
 the dreamer eagerly responded : " I can be 
 that! I must he that!" 
 
 Shall we not take to heart the truth which 
 is obvious in this little story ? The ideal which 
 we offer to the child must be a childlike ideal 
 in order to win his allegiance. We need not 
 fear but that this ideal will change and grow 
 with the child's growth. As he attains a 
 child's measure of attainment in the earlier vir- 
 tues, the ideal will reveal new beauties and 
 incite to greater effort. 
 
VI 
 
 A FEW HINTS ON KEEPING 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
A FEW HINTS ON KEEPING 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 As year after year comes to the same golden 
 climax of happy Christmas time, there are al- 
 ways people to whom the blessed season dawns 
 as something new. These are not only the 
 ' ' dear little dimpled darlings ' ' who have never 
 seen Christmas at all, but the parents who, 
 because of having children to introduce to 
 Christmas joys, find that the approach of the 
 holiday season brings with it new pleasure, 
 new plans, and some new questions. 
 
 As a starting point for a few hints intended 
 for such parents, one of the little kindergar- 
 ten songs occurs to me. Though slight and 
 scarcely poetical, it presents the different as- 
 pects of Christmas in a suggestive manner. 
 
 "Christmas! Merry Christmas ! 
 
 We greet it with glee, 
 With laughter and singing, 
 
 So joyful are we. 
 It brings us full stockings 
 
 Crammed down to the toe. 
 And fine Christmas trees 
 
 On whose boughs presents grow. 
 
1 70 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 "But we know a reason 
 
 That is better than these, 
 For welcoming Christmas day ; 
 
 Listen now, please. 
 Dear God sent a Christmas gift. 
 
 Long, long ago, 
 To make people happy 
 
 And better, we know. 
 And so we, too, try, 
 
 As the day comes each year. 
 To make our friends happy 
 
 And sad folks to cheer. 
 
 Oio. — " Christmas ! Merry Christmas ! 
 We greet it with glee, 
 With laughter and singing. 
 So joyful are we." 
 
 Here we have the suggestion of the jolly 
 Christmas with the stockings and the attendant 
 ideas of Santa Clans and his reindeer, and 
 the chimney mystery ; with the delightful 
 Christmas tree and its wondrous fruit ; and 
 then, after the joyful mention of these, a ten- 
 der, thoughtful recognition of the origin of 
 Christmas ; and finally, as the outcome of this, 
 deeds of love, not only to friends but to some 
 one in special need of love and service. This 
 seems to me to sketch the complete Christmas. 
 
 The Santa Claus idea has its advocates and 
 its disparagers, and there is force in what they 
 urge for and against the children's belief in 
 
A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas. 171 
 
 their patron saint. The only caution which 
 I think necessary to observe is with regard to 
 the manner of giving the idea and of explain- 
 ing it as a fanciful story when the child is 
 older. The mother must not make Santa 
 Claus too seriously real, and must not break 
 with rude abruptness the spell which she has 
 woven in earlier days. 
 
 The many pictures and rhymes about Santa 
 Claus, with the yearly wonder of the stock- 
 ing, are sufficient grounds, surely, for the 
 child's belief in him ; but as the child begins 
 to think and to ask close questions about 
 Santa Claus, shall we not take it as a hint that 
 we must begin to be less realistic in our stories 
 of him, that we must dwell more and more 
 upon the spirit of Santa Claus and gradually 
 eliminate the personality ? We enjoy the in- 
 nocent credulity which accepts our wonder 
 stories so trustingly that the child blows let- 
 ters up the chimney to Santa Claus, and puts 
 Santa Claus' name into the ' ' God blesses ' ' of 
 the evening prayer, or wants to make a present 
 for Santa, who is so kind. But we must be 
 careful that we do not encourage the credulity 
 overlong ; for, besides the shock which might 
 come from sudden disillusion, there is the 
 danger of inducing the child to pretend to a 
 
173 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 belief which he no longer really cherishes ; 
 and such pretending is quite certain to cause 
 untruth of word and manner. Belief in Santa 
 Clans should not be fostered after the child has 
 passed a certain stage of development. When 
 the child begins to doubt, let him doubt. 
 G. StanleyHallsays that the " long experience 
 in laying aside a lower for a higher phase of 
 culture, by doubting opportunely, judiciously, 
 and temperately, is one of the best elements 
 in education." 
 
 How then shall we help the child from the 
 Santa Clans idea into the reality of love and 
 generosity of which it is the symbol ? 
 
 One way which has proved successful is to 
 let the child be a Santa Claus to somebody, 
 giving some gift or doing some kindness, 
 without letting himself be known, — the 
 mother, meanwhile, keeping up the air of 
 mystery and making the experience as de- 
 lightful to the child as possible. Another 
 way is to attribute happy surprises which come 
 to yourself or the child or others to some 
 "Santa Claus," leading the child's thought 
 from the particular personality to a general 
 idea. But the happy fiction should not be 
 taken away without the larger, sweeter truth 
 being given in its place. The exchange may be 
 
A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas. 1/3 
 
 made almost insensibly to the child. As Miss 
 Patty Hill says, speaking on this same point: 
 "When the sun rises, the staxs fade ; they are 
 neither taken away nor extinguished. In the 
 presence of a brighter light they fade out of 
 sight." So let it be with the Santa Claus idea. 
 As Froebel says (although not with reference 
 to this particular illusion): — 
 
 "Let not the fond illusion pass away, 
 Until a true thought may its place supply." 
 
 In a poem by Julia C. R. Dorr, there is a 
 beautiful expression of the spiritual reality 
 behind the mythical Santa. The last stanza 
 contains the essential idea, and is often much 
 enjoyed by a child who is being let into the 
 secret of Santa Clans' real name : — 
 
 What is my name ? Ah ! who can tell. 
 Though in every land 'tis a magic spell ! 
 Men call me that and they call me this, 
 Yet the different names are the same, I wis. 
 Gift-Bearer to all the world am I, 
 Joy-Giver, Ivight-Bringer, where'er I fly ; 
 But the name I bear in the courts above, 
 My truest and holiest name, is Love ! 
 
 Julia C. R. Dorr. 
 
 So much for Santa Claus and the stockings. 
 The Christmas tree comes next in our song : — 
 
 "And fine Christmas trees 
 On whose boughs presents grow." 
 
174 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 A new species of this wonder-bearing tree has 
 sprung up since the kindergarten has prepared 
 the soil. The kindergarten Christmas trees, as 
 you probably know, bear fruit for the papas 
 and mammas ; and the children who have 
 worked for this glad result and who are the 
 givers, get a fullness ofjoy never known to the 
 child who is only a recipient of Christmas tree 
 fruits and not a cultivator of them for his 
 friends. 
 
 Some kindergarten-bred children who were 
 at the height of enjoyment over a home tree 
 of this kind, invited one of their playmates to 
 a private view of it. The ten-year-old sur- 
 veyed it in some astonishment ; for although 
 he evidently admired it, he could not under- 
 stand its lack of conventional decorations. 
 
 "Down town you can buy boxes full of 
 balls and all kinds of things, and little dolls 
 all dressed up, to trim Christmas trees with," 
 he remarked. 
 
 " Oh yes," responded his host, a boy of the 
 same age, "of course we could. But ours isn't 
 that kind of a tree. " And the proud and fond 
 glances which he and his brothers and sisters 
 bestowed upon their tree, with its home-made 
 trimmings, showed the utmost satisfaction. 
 On the schoolroom table were spread out the 
 
A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas. 175 
 
 larger gifts which were to be placed on or 
 about the tree later. 
 
 ' ' Down town, ' ' again remarked the visitor, 
 "you can buy all sorts of presents, — pocket- 
 books, and jewelry, and lots of splendid 
 things. ' ' 
 
 "But you can't buy these," was the re- 
 joinder. ' ' We made every single one ! Even 
 Baby [a boy of three] doesn't have to buy 
 presents. " 
 
 Whether the Christmas tree be of the kinder- 
 garten variety and the children the fruit 
 growers, or whether the parents prepare the 
 tree as a treat for the children, the tree is 
 such a delightful feature of Christmas that I 
 could wish its fragrant greenery to be enjoyed 
 in every home. " So much work and ex- 
 pense," do I hear? That is as you choose to 
 make it. Almost any amount of labor and 
 money may be spent upon a tree ; but the 
 blessed fact is that the joy given by the tree 
 has no proportionate relation to those things. 
 
 Our little child song does not stop with the 
 stockings and the Christmas trees : — 
 
 " But we know a reason 
 
 That is better than these 
 For welcoming Christmas day ; 
 I/isten now, please. 
 
1 76 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 Dear God sent a Christmas gift 
 
 Long, long ago, 
 To make people happy 
 
 And better, we know. ' ' 
 
 Througli simple stories and simple carols, 
 and through the talks to which these will 
 lead, the children will easily and readily feel 
 the connection between the origin and the 
 joyous observance of Christmas. As we sing 
 the same old carols year after year, the Christ- 
 mases will be linked together and fond associa- 
 tions formed which will always give pleasure. 
 The story of the baby laid in the manger, 
 will, of course, be the heart and center of all 
 our talks and stories at this season. The 
 baby, its strange little bed, its loving mother, 
 the star of wonder, the watching shepherds, 
 the wise men with the first Christmas gifts, 
 — what a precious, beautiful, childlike story 
 it is! 
 
 The wondrous life of the Man of Sorrows, 
 the sacrifice, the suffering, do not belong in 
 our Christmas stories. The babe Jesus, the 
 Christ child, — these are the subjects which 
 appeal to the children. 
 
 In "Beckonings of Little Hands," Patter- 
 son Du Bois speaks of one of his little boys 
 whose interest in any stories of Jesus was first 
 
A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas. "^77 
 
 aroused by a picture of Jesus in the Temple, 
 an(J the new conception that Jesus had been a 
 child. He asked : ' ' Did Jesus help people 
 when he was a boy ? " At another time he 
 said : " He was eight, wasn't he? " meaning 
 that Jesus was at one time a boy of the same 
 age as himself. " I could not get him," said 
 Mr. Du Bois, ' ' to show so much interest in 
 our Ivord's adult life ; he always reverted to 
 his childhood. " At one time I read St. I/uke's 
 story of the shepheirds' vision to two children, 
 — the younger one five years old. After I had 
 finished, I asked him to return the Bible to his 
 mother. Charlie started, but when he reached 
 the door of the room he came back and said 
 most earnestly : ' ' But, Miss P. , when you are 
 going to read any more stories like that, — 
 when you are going to read out of this book 
 again, you' 11 call me, won't you ? ' ' And when 
 he went to his mother he could not say enough 
 about the beautiful story which I had read. 
 For the sweetest modern version of the Christ- 
 mas story let me refer you to my favorite : 
 "The Story of Christmas," by Nora A. 
 Smith. It is to be found in "The Story 
 Hour" (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), and "A 
 Christmas Festival Service ' ' (Milton Bradley 
 Co.). 
 
lyS Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 Returning to our little song again, we find 
 in the last two lines the culmination of the 
 Christmas idea, although it is crudely and 
 baldly expressed : — 
 
 ' ' And so we, too, try. 
 
 As the day comes each year. 
 To make our friends happy 
 And sad folks to cheer." 
 
 To get the full joy of Christmas, the chil- 
 dren must be givers as well as receivers ; — 
 give to show love and to make some one 
 happy. Froebel recognized that the little 
 child should be initiated into the "more 
 blessed ' ' part, and the play in which he em- 
 bodies this idea is called " The Flower Basket." 
 The child puts his hands together to form a 
 basket and plays that it is filled with flowers 
 which he is to give to his parents. Love 
 felt, is to be expressed. A gift is to express 
 love. This is what the simple play says to 
 the child. The motto for the mother is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Try to give outward form to thought 
 That stirs a child's heart, day by day. 
 For even a child's love left unsought, 
 Unfostered, droops and dies away." 
 
 The Christmas giving should develop from 
 the daily loving ; then, in its reaction, it will 
 
A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas. 179 
 
 make the child more and more loving. The 
 right Christmas spirit cannot be aroused in a 
 few days of hurried work and carol practice. 
 It is too glorious a flower to grow in such 
 haste. In a Christmas celebration, for which 
 the children have been prepared too hastily, 
 there is as little living reality as in a paper 
 flower tied to a stick. 
 
 Let us try, then, to avoid all haste and mere 
 show with the children, when preparing for 
 Christmas. Let us be careful to take time to 
 speak tenderly and earnestly with each child 
 alone about his gifts and about the dear friends 
 to whom the gifts are to show his love. 
 
 It is perhaps more easy to make the child's 
 Christmas giving beneficial to him than to 
 prevent his being somewhat unfavorably af- 
 fected by his receiving. If you cannot pre- 
 vent his adoring friends from sending him too 
 many presents, you can, at least, put some of 
 the presents away until a future occasion. 
 The lesser number will be more enjoyed and 
 the presents which have been set aside will 
 also be more appreciated when their turn 
 comes. The best time to bring them out is at 
 some nursery crisis, — a disappointment, or 
 an illness, — or at an especially stormy, 
 " shut in ' ' time. A great number of presents 
 
i8o Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 is distracting to the child's mind, and prevents 
 him from getting the due amount of pleasure 
 from each one. If he is encouraged to count 
 them and to rejoice in the number of presents, 
 — that way lies sordidness. The choice of 
 presents depends upon circumstances to some 
 degree, but no circumstances alter the fact 
 that the present which gives the child the great- 
 est pleasure is one which calls upon him to 
 exert his imagination or his strength, — to do 
 something, — rather than the finished mech- 
 anism which perhaps lets him " press the 
 button ' ' but ' ' does all the rest. ' ' Remember 
 that the child's mental query will be : "What 
 can I do with it ? " Remember that he en- 
 joys the use of his powers and delights in 
 feeling himself to be the cause of an effect. 
 Remember, too, your own disappointment, 
 when your best efforts are thwarted by having 
 poor materials or tools ; and in buying such 
 things for a child see that they are of a kind 
 to encourage him to do, instead of discourag- 
 ing him. For instance, buy paints which will 
 reward him with good, pure color, instead of 
 the hard cakes with which even you could 
 only get dingy and disheartening results. 
 Even a few cakes of good paint will give the 
 child pleasant occupation, train his sense of 
 
A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas. i8i 
 
 color, increase his power and his delight in 
 exercising his power ; while the showy box of 
 many cakes of poor paint is nothing but a 
 disappointment and a discourager of activity. 
 In general, the primitive, simple toy or tool is 
 the best choice. That it is crude or plain is 
 no detriment, but it should be honest and 
 sound in its make-up, whether simple or elab- 
 orate. Buy only the book which you know 
 to be wholesome and suitable, in both text and 
 pictures. Better that the child should have 
 no book than a poor one ; and it would very 
 often be better that he should have no new 
 books added to his already too abundant sup- 
 ply. It you have read his old books to him 
 so often that you are tired of them, it may 
 easily be that he is but just ready for his great- 
 est enjoyment of them. If he does not care 
 to hear the same stories and rhymes repeatedly, 
 ask yourself whether you and his other friends 
 have not often suggested to him to have a 
 " new story ' ' when he would willingly have 
 listened to the old. 
 
 Although this applies with particular force 
 to the little child, older children, too, are 
 sometimes hurried into much reading because 
 of the many new books provided by their 
 older friends. "Haven't you read that nice 
 
1 82 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 book which Uncle John gave you ? And the 
 set of books from Aunt Ellen, have you read 
 them ? And the one Grandmamma sent you ? 
 Why! my dear, what will they think? You 
 must try to read them soon." So the child 
 makes haste to read the books, and, in all 
 likelihood, loses more than he gains. 
 
 And now a few words as to the child's right 
 feeling about the presents which he receives 
 and as to his thanking the donors : We are 
 all apt to argue from ourselves to others ; to 
 ascribe to other people our own feelings and 
 motives. The child, although he does it un- 
 consciously, is especiall)'^ prone to this ; there- 
 fore if you, by example and loving talks, train 
 him to give in the right spirit, to put love 
 into his gifts, to enjoy the thought of the 
 pleasure with which his gift will be received, 
 you will find him sweetly ready to accept gifts 
 in the same spirit. 
 
 " Come, Patty ! I can help you write some 
 of your ' thank you ' letters now, ' ' a mother 
 called to her little daughter, a day or two after 
 Christmas. Patty was being dressed for the 
 afternoon, and her nurse, a good-natured 
 woman without fine perceptions, said : " Yes, 
 there's the trouble ! It's all very well to get 
 presents; but to have to write letters and thank 
 
A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas. 183 
 
 people for them, — that's where the shoe 
 pinches." 
 
 Dear little Patty, comprehending the 
 nurse's tone better than the words, looked up 
 in amazement, and the ring of sincerity was 
 in her voice, as she exclaimed : " Why, Jen- 
 nie ! I always think it's so nice after Christ- 
 mas, — one of the nicest times, — ^when you 
 take out a present and write to the one who 
 gave it, to thank her for it, and tell what you 
 are going to do with it and where you will 
 keep it, or something. ' ' And, the last ribbon 
 tied, away flitted little Patty to her joyful 
 duty, and to the wise mother who knew so 
 well how to make it joyful. 
 
 These few hints are based upon the practi- 
 cal experience of many Christmases passed in 
 intimate relation with children, and therefore 
 are offered with the confident hope that they 
 will simplify some of the Christmas problems 
 for the parent, and make the glad time brighter 
 than ever for the little ones year by year, as 
 Christmas is thus anticipated, prepared for, 
 celebrated, and afterwards remembered. 
 
VII 
 
 THE KINDERGARTEN CHRISTMAS 
 
 TREE TRANSPLANTED 
 
 TO THE HOME. 
 
THE KINDERGARTEN CHRISTMAS 
 
 TREE TRANSPI.ANTED TO 
 
 THE HOME. 
 
 Like other growths, the Christmas tree dif- 
 fers greatly according to the forces which act 
 upon it and the conditions under which it is 
 placed. It flourishes equally under the most 
 opposite conditions, however ; and though the 
 fruit may be of coarser or finer texture in out- 
 ward appearance, the delicacy and richness of 
 the flavors is very persistent even under un- 
 favorable circumstances. 
 
 Whether the tree springs to fruition in a 
 hut or a palace, whether it be a mere twig of 
 green decorated with popcorn, or a forest king 
 with lofty top and wide spreading branches, 
 makes no difference in the incomparable flavor 
 of its fruit, so long as it ripens in the sunshine 
 of love and is nurtured in unselfishness. 
 
 There was once a family consisting of 
 father, mother, and four children. They had 
 the advantages of a sterling ancestry, of kind 
 hearts, of opportunities for liberal education, 
 and the advantages and disadvantages of great 
 
1 88 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 wealth, an elegant home, many servants, and 
 much society. The children being of the ages 
 of six, four, and two years, and the baby a few 
 months old, the mother found herself unable to 
 minister to all the differing needs of the little 
 flock. So she called to her assistance a gover- 
 ness, who was a kindergartner, to help her in 
 the training of her children's minds, manners, 
 and morals. 
 
 Christmas time drew on apace. " May we 
 have a Christmas tree ? ' ' asked the gover- 
 ness. 
 
 The father demurred. "Children in these 
 days have so much, " he said. ' ' With their 
 stockings filled by Santa Claus, and presents 
 from all their relations unto the third and 
 fourth cousins, it does not seem advisable. 
 We do not want our children to exhaust the 
 world and be blase before they are ten years 
 old. Would it not be better not to add the 
 Christmas tree ? ' ' 
 
 The mother fully concurred ; but the gov- 
 erness urged, .' ' We only want a little tree, and 
 it shall not surfeit the children. I/Ct us try it 
 this once ! ' ' 
 
 So it was agreed that the tree should be suf- 
 fered. 
 
 Then, oh ! the bus)', happy hours in the 
 
The Kindergarten Tree Transplanted. 189 
 
 kindergarten ! How the little fingers worked 
 and how the little tongues prattled ! How the 
 childish hearts swelled with joy and pride at 
 the thought of making something for mamma 
 and papa, and the grandmas and all the 
 friends ! How tuneful the little voices be- 
 came in the faithful practice of the carols 
 which were to please the friends when they 
 came to the Christmas tree ! 
 
 A few days before Christmas, the governess 
 and children, when out for their daily walk, 
 called at the houses of the grandmothers and 
 the uncles and the aunts, and delivered invita- 
 tions. 
 
 When the guests arrived, they found the 
 schoolroom beautified with green — wreaths 
 in the windows, holly on the mantel, — and 
 the children, as fresh and dainty as flowers, 
 awaiting them. Baby Ruth sat in mamma's 
 lap ; Carl, Philip, and Miriam greeted their 
 guests and showed them to their seats. Then 
 the children sang their carols and recited sim- 
 ple Christmas poems. 
 
 In all the previous practicing of the songs 
 and recitations, the idea had been kept before 
 the children that by singing sweetly and 
 clearly, and reciting with distinctness and in 
 the spirit of the poem, they would give the 
 
igo Love and Law in Child Training, 
 
 more pleasure to their friends ; and this proved 
 a sufficient incentive for faithful preparation. 
 Carl was a shy child, but a whisper from his 
 teacher, "Don't forget that grandma doesn't 
 hear very well," transferred his thoughts from 
 himself, and so put him at ease. Four-year- 
 old Philip recited his poem with an enjoyment 
 that was very contagious, and even little 
 Miriam had a share in this part of the enter- 
 tainment, as well as in the singing. She stood 
 close beside the teacher, and in baby accents 
 lisped out the old English rhyme : — 
 
 ' ' God bless the master of this house. 
 The mistress also ; 
 And all the little children 
 That round the table go ; 
 
 " And all the kin and kinsfolk 
 That dwell both far and near ; 
 I wish you a merry Christmas 
 And a happy New Year." 
 
 The last carol was "The Wonderful Tree," 
 of which the children sang three verses. Es- 
 pecially tender and sweet was their rendering 
 of the third verse, for it was the truthful ex- 
 pression of the feeling in their hearts, and so 
 simple and direct that it might have been 
 worded by themselves. 
 
The Kindergarten Tree Transplanted. 191 
 
 " But not for us children did this tree grow, 
 With its strange sweet fruit on each laden bough ; 
 For those we love we have made with care, 
 Bach pretty thing you see hanging there." 
 "May this wonderful tree 
 With its branches wide. 
 Bring joy to our friends 
 At Christmas tide ! " 
 
 After this came the distribution of the gifts. 
 On the low kindergarten table in the bay 
 window stood the Christmas tree, a marvel of 
 beauty to the children, and really pretty to 
 the eyes of their elders. Not one thing was 
 there upon it for the children themselves ; not 
 one thing either in gifts or decorations which 
 the children had not made. Everything had 
 been put upon the tree by the children them- 
 selves, with the slightest possible help from 
 the teacher. 
 
 The teacher merely aided in taking the 
 gifts from the tree, and the children trotted 
 about the room, giving to each friend the 
 presents made by their own little fingers. 
 
 It was an hour of purest happiness to all. 
 The children were wholly unconscious of 
 anything except the pleasure of their friends ; 
 the older people could' not but be touched 
 with the love shown by the little ones. The 
 mother and father saw with deep delight the 
 
192 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 radiant joy of the children, and realized the 
 significance of such an experience for them ; 
 while for the teacher it was a moment of glad 
 fruition. 
 
 When it was all over, the father said to the 
 governess, "I was opposed to the tree, you 
 remember ! but I must acknowledge that my 
 fears were groundless. Such a tree as this, is 
 good for us all. If it bloom every year in the 
 schoolroom it must prove an antidote for some 
 of the evils incident to our complex modern 
 life. It will certainly foster all that is good 
 and true in the children, and help to keep them 
 simple and loving." 
 
VIll 
 THE SANTA CLAUS QUESTION. 
 
*THE SANTA ClyAUS QUESTION. 
 
 By Laura E. PouI/SSOn. 
 
 A CONTRIBUTOR who is much interested in 
 the Santa Claus question writes of the diflS- 
 culties which she encounters from the over- 
 realistic details of the Santa Claus story which 
 the children under her care receive from their 
 parents. Confronted by such difficulties as 
 hers, no wonder that Santa's tenure of office 
 seems of doubtful value, if not actually per- 
 nicious ; and it cannot be denied that Santa 
 has at the present day quite a large constit- 
 uency of opposers. 
 
 It is claimed by some that the fiction of 
 Santa Claus leads to falsehood ; that the child 
 loses faith in the earnest and important state- 
 ments of the parent when he finds that the 
 statements made about Santa Claus are not 
 facts. " And yet," says our contributor, "to 
 take Santa Claus out of Christmas is like tak- 
 ing sunshine out of day. " Let us see if we 
 cannot help toward making out a case in favor 
 
 * Editorial in KINDERGARTEN REVIEW, Dec, 1898. 
 
196 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 of this jolly old fellow, with his magical power 
 to charm the young and rejuvenate the old. 
 
 The trouble is not with the Santa Claus 
 myth itself, but in the lack of imagination 
 and play spirit on the part of those who in 
 these days are passing the ancient tale along. 
 This is a realistic age. We are not content to 
 let Santa's reindeer come prancing directly 
 upon the roof of the house, presumably across 
 the path of the sky, — a natural short cut for 
 such a being as Santa, — or to let him drive 
 straight up the perpendicular side of the house 
 in a gloriously impossible manner. We are 
 not content to let his magical pack receive its 
 supply from a vague, illimitable store, unac- 
 countably produced. We have the children's 
 father stand a ladder against the side of the 
 house for Santa to climb up upon. We invent 
 an all-the-year-round toiling on the part of 
 the saint and his wife, in order to account rea- 
 sonably for the necessarily large production of 
 gifts ; etc. , etc. 
 
 In the experience of the contributor spoken 
 of, the parents had actually bought pigs' feet 
 and made tracks in the snow with them in 
 order to prove to the children that Santa with 
 his reindeer had really come to their house 
 during the previous night. 
 
Tlie Santa Claus Question. 197 
 
 Surely, it is our own realistic touches in 
 telling the story or in replying to the queries 
 brought forth by it, which do the damage com- 
 plained of. Left in its original simplicity, and 
 told as such tales ought to be told, — in merry 
 mood, with laughing mien and wonder tone, 
 with funny winks and shrugs asparryings of dif- 
 ficult questions, — the tale is harmless enough. 
 If Santa can only be left to manage his own af- 
 fairs, we simply acknowledging that his ways 
 are open to question on account of their 
 strangeness, the clue out of future difficulty is 
 put directly into the children's own hands. 
 The doubts which are sure to come into their 
 minds sooner or later have then suggestive an- 
 swer in the rollicking and extravagant eva- 
 sions which, though hitherto received with 
 round-eyed acceptance, are now recalled and 
 recognized as hints of the necessary relegation 
 of the tale to the region of the fantastic and 
 unreal. 
 
 The creation of Mrs. Santa Claus is one of 
 our latter day mistakes. At any rate, she cer- 
 tainly does not belong to the tale, per se, as 
 tradition has given it to us. Meddling with 
 the matrimonial aflFairs of others is dangerous, 
 at best ; and doubly so when well-meaning 
 people, for practical reasons, thrust upon those 
 
198 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 of another nature, yoke-fellows whom they 
 themselves consider suitable. 
 
 Why Santa came to us unmarried, we can 
 never tell. We may wish that he had mar- 
 ried and think that it would have been much 
 more suitable and natural if he had ; but he 
 didn't, and it would be better to accept the 
 fact and be done with it. What I^ouisa M. 
 Alcott has said concerning some bachelor 
 uncles and maiden aunts seems to be true 
 of Santa in his original presentation. ' ' In 
 this queer world of ours, fatherly and motherly 
 hearts often beat warm and wise in the breasts 
 of bachelor uncles and maiden aunts ; these 
 worthy creatures are a beautiful provision of 
 nature for the cherishing of other people's 
 children. They certainly get great comfort 
 out of it and receive much innocent affection 
 that would otherwise be lost. ' ' 
 
 And then about Santa Claus' workshop and 
 his working so busily all the year to make 
 the gifts with which he is laden at Christmas 
 time. Is not that too prosaic a method of pro- 
 duction to match the rest of the wonder story ? 
 Such an addition to the guileless tale was never 
 dreamed of in the old days. To add it now 
 is like putting a new and incongruous ' ' lean- 
 to" against a turreted, ivy-clad castle. 
 
The Santa Claus Question. 199 
 
 The moral about working for those we love 
 and the necessity of work to produce desired 
 results can be drawn from the life of the father 
 and the activities of the home and surround- 
 ing life. Pray let us leave the little folks' 
 saint in the enjoyment of his old-time, magical 
 perquisites. Let him not be deprived of his 
 delightful leisure, or, at least, of the disposal 
 of his own time, to which he has been so long 
 accustomed. Just think what a catastrophe 
 it would be if Santa should get nervous pros- 
 tration from overwork put upon him not by 
 one taskmaster but by multitudes of them all 
 over the land, each taskmaster at liberty to 
 enlarge Santa's factory to suit his own ener- 
 getic ideas of what the Christmas business de- 
 manded ! 
 
 No, no, no ! good story-tellers of to-day. 
 The fault does not lie in Santa Claus but in 
 ourselves. We put too little fun and fantasy 
 into our telling of the Christmas tale. We 
 must not seek to make reasonable or to prove 
 what was never intended to be so treated. 
 
 If over-curious questions obstruct the tell- 
 ing of the tale let them be tossed lightly aside 
 with a fine air of wishing to be free from such 
 hamperings. Be wholesomely humble and 
 ignorant. " How can I know, forsooth, when 
 
200 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 'tis not in the tale? I tell the tale as 'twas 
 told to me ! ' ' Such an admission will cause 
 many a matter-of-fact question to be waived, 
 and the child's interest will be increased rather 
 than lessened by the unexplained wonder. 
 
 Remember that it is not the religious side of 
 Christmas which is now under consideration. 
 That sweet and sacred part which is the true 
 life of it all is talked about with the children 
 at a quieter time, in some hour of endearing 
 intimacy. The impress of truth, which is so 
 scrupulously not to be given in the telling of 
 the Santa Clans myth, should then be put 
 upon the true Christmas tale as lovingly and 
 deeply as possible. The blessed Christmas 
 spirit permeating the day does not make a little 
 Christmas fun unhallowed and illegitimate. 
 
 In telling about Santa Claus, you and the 
 children are enjoying a play of fanc)' together ; 
 and if you are making it truly a play of fancy 
 for them, they will understand readily enough 
 the difference between that and an earnest 
 talk. As they learn a little more of life, they 
 will see more clearly through the veil of 
 brilliant impossibilities which fittingly envel- 
 ops the dear old Christmas myth, and you 
 will find that you have no faith-killing task of 
 enlightenment to perform. 
 
The Santa Claus Question. 201 
 
 Beware, then, of dangerous asseverations. 
 Don't tell any lies. Don't say that Santa 
 Claus really does live. Don't say that the 
 story is true. Don't try to ensure that the 
 children shall believe the story ; just tell it 
 and let it work its own independent way, and 
 no one's honesty will be damaged. The chil- 
 dren will either gradually see through the 
 make-believe, by their own powers, or some 
 one will puncture the airy balloon of their be- 
 lief earlier than is needful. 
 
 In either case, let the belief go. Who ever 
 tries to mend or reinflate a child's toy bal- 
 loon ? Get him another. The world is full 
 of wonder stories, — fanciful, true, and grand. 
 They are more plentiful than toy balloons, 
 and a new wonder story need never be lack- 
 ing to follow the old, when the old must be 
 laid aside. Yet the story of Santa Claus will 
 delight children at Christmas time long after 
 their individual belief in it has ceased to exist. 
 
MRS. PONSONBY'S EXPERIMENT. 
 
MRS. PONSONBY'S EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Mrs. Ponsonby is in the highest circle, 
 and is adjudged to belong there measured by 
 any standard, for she has enough family pres- 
 tige for Philadelphia, enough brains for Bos- 
 ton, enough style for New York, and enough 
 money for Chicago. These qualifications 
 make her an accepted leader, and long may 
 she live to inaugurate such innovations as her 
 beautiful variation of the old-time nursery 
 governess position. As a mother, Mrs. Pon- 
 sonby is devoted, yet sensible. Other duties 
 which she has no right to disregard claim 
 much of her time and strength, so that she 
 can no more give her children constant per- 
 sonal care than can the poor washerwoman 
 who must earn her children's bread. But 
 from her unwillingness to have the ordinary 
 nurse become her proxy in the children's ear- 
 liest years, she developed the present plan. 
 
 "If I can find the right young woman!" 
 Mrs. Ponsonby had said, realizing fully that it 
 requires an unusual person to fill an unusual 
 position. Where should she find a young 
 
2o6 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 lady of refinement, education, cheerfulness, 
 good sense, and loving disposition who would 
 be willing to take all the care of the children 
 and do the regular nursery work? 
 
 Mrs. Ponsonby inquired of some of her 
 friends, but they only smiled incredulously at 
 the idea. Mrs. Mack, of the employment of- 
 fice, had only the regulation nurse. The Lam- 
 bert Agency had only the regulation teacher. 
 At the "American and Foreign Bureau " Mrs. 
 Ponsonby was coldly informed that ' ' none of 
 our young ladies wish to engage in anything 
 menial." 
 
 Where then should she turn for ' ' the right 
 young woman " ? 
 
 At this juncture Mrs. Ponsonby fortunately 
 thought of one more resource, or her determi- 
 nation might have given way. "A kinder- 
 gartner would be the very thing ! ' ' and Mrs. 
 Ponsonby determined that she would immedi- 
 ately find one. Inquiry led her to Miss Ran- 
 dall, the teacher of a kindergarten class. 
 Here she found sympathy and encouragement 
 and — Miss Tyler. 
 
 Miss Randall had a secret thought that 
 the arrangement would demand quite as much 
 of the mother as of the new sort of governess, 
 and wondered whether Mrs. Ponsonby were 
 
Mrs. Ponsonby^s Experiment. 307 
 
 the right kind of a mother. Time only could 
 tell ; but Mrs. Ponsonby's clear eyes, thought- 
 ful questions, and well-considered plans prom- 
 ised well, and Miss Randall gave her God- 
 speed to the project. 
 
 The children were three and a half and two 
 years of age, respectively — ' ' almost babies, 
 but growing so fast," as their mother said. 
 
 Every day Miss Tyler bathed and dressed 
 the children, opened their beds and her own, 
 and breakfasted with the children in the day 
 nursery, having a good opportunity at this 
 meal, and at the early tea, to train the little 
 folks in table etiquette. After breakfast the 
 children went to papa and mamma for an hour 
 or so, giving Miss Tyler time for the work in 
 the nurseries. After this. Miss Tyler took 
 the children out to walk. 
 
 Perhaps no one thing showed more the dif- 
 ference between the bringing up of the little 
 Ponsonbys and other children than this same 
 walk hour. No dreary dragging up and down 
 the fashionable avenue for the Ponsonbys! 
 No tiresome standing around held in the 
 nurse's firm clutch while she gossiped with her 
 friends ! Not a bit of it ! The little Ponson- 
 bys were out-of-doors to have a good time, 
 and as they grew old enough Miss Tyler usu- 
 
2o8 Love and Lm,w in Child Training. 
 
 ally took them to some interesting place — the 
 park, the river bank, or some quiet street where 
 the boys could be free and jolly, and play to 
 their hearts' content. Even if they needed 
 to go down the avenue in which the nurses de- 
 lighted to congregate with their little charges, 
 the Ponsonbys were encouraged to enjoy in 
 gentle fashion whatever variation the street 
 afforded, hiding behind trees, running races 
 between lamp-posts, and, in general, learning 
 to incorporate whatever the street afforded 
 into their play — guided by the always atten- 
 tive, always sympathetic Miss Tyler. Coast- 
 ing, sliding, and even skating and bicycle rid- 
 ing and sea bathing were all enjoyed in their 
 season by the little Ponsonbys under Miss Ty- 
 ler's supervision, as they grew old enough to 
 taste such delights. After the outdoor play 
 came the nap. At first, both the boys were 
 tucked away for a rest ; but when the older 
 outgrew the necessity. Miss Tyler read to him 
 or set him to some work or play for which 
 "little brother " was not quite big enough. 
 At the one o'clock meal — the children's din- 
 ner and the grown-ups' luncheon — Miss Ty- 
 ler sat between the boys, guiding them through 
 its formalities so unobtrusively that Mr. and 
 Mrs. Ponsonby and their friends could enjoy 
 
Mrs. Ponsonby^s Experiment. 309 
 
 with unalloyed pleasure the presence of the 
 children. The early tea was a freer meal 
 again for the children, Miss Tyler sitting with 
 them. 
 
 Miss Tyler usually dined later with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Ponsonby. Occasionallyher delicate tact 
 . dictated otherwise, and she would join in the 
 children's tea instead, understanding quite as 
 well as Mrs. Ponsonby herself, and without 
 any false sensitiveness, that it was not fitting 
 that she should always be in evidence. This 
 line of conduct added to, rather than detracted 
 from, Miss Tyler's dignity, and gave Mrs. 
 Ponsonby the comfortable feeling that no sore- 
 ness would be created if she should occasion- 
 ally ask Miss Tyler to take her tea with the 
 children instead of dining downstairs. 
 
 Bedtime was one of the delightful hours. 
 Miss Tyler again did all the undressing and 
 bathing (except in so far as she trained the 
 children to help themselves), attended with 
 care to the ventilation and bed coverings, 
 etc. , mamma generally coming up for a frolic 
 or at least a tender good night. 
 
 Miss Tyler's place in the household was 
 unmistakably established at the outset. She 
 was always ' ' Miss Tyler ' ' to every one, as to 
 the children. Mr. and Mrs. Ponsonby lived 
 
2IO Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 up to their real appreciation of Miss Tyler's 
 ladyhood, and thus set the current in the right 
 direction for their friends and servants. On 
 the other hand, Miss Tyler had much to do 
 with keeping the place thus carefully made for 
 her. In fact, it is always to be noticed that 
 while any position is more or less what the 
 occupant of that position makes it, it is pecul- 
 iarly true of a place which is somewhat anom- 
 alous, like this in Mrs. Ponsonby's house- 
 hold. Miss Tyler was scrupulously careful 
 not to make work for the servants in doing 
 her nursery work, and also about not requir- 
 ing any personal services from them, prefer- 
 ring to keep well within bounds, rather than 
 being eager to get all that Mrs. Ponsonby 
 would willingly have granted. 
 
 Mrs. Ponsonby wisely arranged that Miss 
 Tyler should have some time free from the 
 children. On Fridays the whole afternoon 
 and evening were hers. On Tuesdays she had 
 the afternoon, but generally went back to give 
 the children their tea and put them to bed. 
 If Miss Tyler wished to go out any evening of 
 the week one of the servants could listen in 
 case the children awoke. When Miss Tyler 
 was out Mr. and Mrs. Ponsonby always gave 
 as much time as they could to the children, 
 
Mrs. Ponsonby'^ s Experiment. 211 
 
 and lyinda, the German seamstress, was nurse 
 for the time being. These were the days when 
 the children went driving with their papa and 
 mamma, or made calls on grandmamma and 
 other relatives. 
 
 As the children grew Miss Tyler found time 
 for some kindergarten work ; but she says that 
 she has made far more use of her kindergarten 
 principles than of kindergarten materials, and 
 that she has particularly been applying Froe- 
 bel's motto, 
 
 "Come, let us live with our children." 
 
 The rooms assigned to Miss Tyler and the 
 children in the Ponsonby mansion are most 
 advantageously arranged. First is the day 
 nursery ; back of that the children's room and 
 Miss Tyler's room side by side, with a door 
 between, and back of that the bath room and 
 a dressing room belonging to this suite. Not 
 many houses have such accommodations, and 
 even where they exist many mothers would 
 set them apart for the occasional visitor, and 
 tuck Miss Tyler and the children into closer 
 quarters. But this arrangement is one of 
 Mrs. Ponsonby' s wise strokes. Here Miss 
 Tyler has full sway and full responsibility. 
 Her callers are ushered into parlor, reception 
 
212 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 room, or library, just as it may chance, but her 
 friends are welcomed in these rooms, which 
 she feels to be her home within a home. 
 
 The day nursery is fast taking on the char- 
 acter of a schoolroom, though kindergarten 
 blocks, blackboard, and large globe do not 
 yet crowd out the beloved rocking-horse and 
 toy closet. The furnishings of the room are 
 very interesting and educative. Between the 
 windows stands a tall case containing stuffed 
 birds, not on shelves in a grim row, but 
 perched on a tree in lifelike attitudes. In a 
 corner is another case where the wonders of 
 insect life are displayed, the collection being 
 one of Mr. Ponsonby's much-prized treasures. 
 Over the alcove in which the toy closet stands 
 is draped a large American flag. The pic- 
 tures are not heterogeneous ones which would 
 do as well for any other room, but are all of 
 special significance. 
 
 About this room there must surely ever 
 cluster many memories. Not only would its 
 character tend to this, but Miss Tyler insures 
 it by her skillful use of all its interesting con- 
 tents — weaving them into stories, using them 
 for illustrations to lessons, and connecting 
 them with songs and poems. The bedrooms 
 are as simple as possible — mere sleeping 
 
Mrs. Ponsonby's Experiment. 213 
 
 rooms — but the bath room and dressing room 
 have every appointment for comfort and con- 
 venience. All the daily care of these rooms is 
 taken by Miss Tyler, the weekly cleaning be- 
 ing done by the chambermaid. 
 
 When Mrs. Ponsonby first considered her 
 plan and thought how much it demanded of 
 the person who should realize it, she pondered 
 seriously the question of salary. She knew 
 she was asking a young woman to give many 
 more hours of work per day than most teach- 
 ing demanded, and to forego much freedom. 
 She also counted — this wise and thoughtful 
 Mrs. Ponsonby — that the young lady would 
 be obliged to dress more handsomely than the 
 average teacher ordinarily does, to be in keep- 
 ing with her surroundings. Reasoning thus, 
 Mrs. Ponsonby decided upon a very generous 
 salary, and feels now that Miss Tyler has not 
 only fully earned it but that her devotion and 
 faithful care of her charges can never be paid 
 with money. 
 
 Mrs. Ponsonby does not forget to give Miss 
 Tyler the refreshment of an absolute vacation 
 occasionally — a week, at least, every spring 
 and fall, and at some time in the year a longer 
 one. On the last of these happy occasions 
 Miss Tyler was put into a state of ecstatic grat- 
 
214 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 itude to Mrs. Ponsonby by the gift of a beau- 
 tiful evening dress, not only the material, but 
 the making by Mrs. Ponsonby' s own dress- 
 maker, and under Mrs. Ponsonby' s interested 
 supervision. The little boys enjoyed their 
 dear Miss Tyler's joy, and when they saw her 
 arrayed in the beautiful completed gown 
 ready for their mamma's inspection, "little 
 brother" said with ardor, "Oh, Miss Tyler, 
 when you go to a party I think the ladies and 
 gentlemen will not call you Miss Tyler at all ! 
 They will call you 'the lovely maiden."' 
 
 Now comes the application and moral of this 
 true tale. Are there not other children who 
 would be benefited by the influence of an ed- 
 ucated, refined young woman during their 
 early impressionable years? Are there not 
 other young women who would take such po- 
 sitions? Are there not other mothers who 
 would be glad to have such intelligent, sym- 
 pathetic training in all these details for their 
 children? 
 
 Mrs. Ponsonby 's success has tempted several 
 people into trying, but with varying results. 
 One calculating high-flyer of fashion went to 
 Miss Randall and asked to be supplied with a 
 kindergartner like Miss Tyler. ' ' Of course, ' ' 
 said she, "if she takes the nurse's place, she 
 
Mrs. Ponsonby's Experimejtt. 315 
 
 will have to do the children's washing." Is 
 it strange that Miss Randall had no one to fill 
 that place? Another mother tried in vain. 
 She wished to get a young lady because she 
 thought it would be cheaper than to have a 
 nurse and governess both, and she had to pay 
 her cook so much that she must retrench 
 somewhere ! Such women would probably 
 never be blessed with a Miss Tyler. 
 
 Miss Tyler's example was followed, too. 
 One young woman who thought herself of "just 
 the right kind " to be with ' ' such people ' ' as 
 the Ponsonbys, had an opportunity, but she de- 
 prived herself of the position during her month 
 of trial. In the afternoons when she was in the 
 library with the children, this obtuse young 
 lady lolled about in attitudes neglig^es^ in 
 easy chairs or on the sofa, regardless of the 
 presence of the elders of the family ; and this 
 was only one instance out of many which 
 showed her lack of perception. 
 
 Another young kindergartner had an egg- 
 shell dignity which could not stand the wear 
 and tear of the unusual circumstances. Still 
 another young woman failed because she did 
 not respect the privacy of the family life into 
 which she had been admitted, but discussed 
 outside of the house, and with the servants as 
 
2i6 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 well, bits of family news and family happen- 
 ings, which were not especially important or 
 private, but concerning which she should have 
 been as silent as if she knew them not. 
 
 I fear that none of these will ever find a Mrs. 
 Ponsonby who desires their services ! 
 
 But it is not only the dwellers in high 
 places who might have the relief and comfort 
 of this arrangement. The surroundings need 
 not be so elegant, the rooms so perfectly ap- 
 pointed, the salary enormously high. In fact, 
 many of the difficulties belonging to an elab- 
 orate household like the Ponsonbys' would 
 be unknown in a less stately house. But let 
 any mother who is tempted to try it ask her- 
 self whether she is willing to make the posi- 
 tion honorable, fairly remunerative and not 
 too absorbing of the time and strength of the 
 one who undertakes it. 
 
 And let the young woman who thinks of 
 such a position as affording a beautiful oppor- 
 tunity for usefulness of a high order, ask her- 
 self whether she enters into it "for sweet 
 childhood's sake," and whether she will allow 
 a conventional pride to make her feel that she 
 is demeaning herself by any work which the 
 children's physical needs, as well as their men- 
 tal needs could demand of her. 
 
Mrs. Ponsonby^ s Experiment. 217 
 
 Doubtless this account of " Mrs. Ponsonby's 
 Experiment" seems like a millennial fancy, 
 rather than the true tale it is. Mrs. Ponson- 
 by's name was not Ponsonby, nor was Miss 
 Tyler's name Tyler, but the two experiment- 
 ers, both of whom I know, are living verities. 
 The bright-faced young lady I first met when 
 I visited the training class in which she was 
 then taking her kindergarten course. 
 
 Since watching this experiment, which be- 
 came an experience, and lasted for years, a 
 few others similar to it have come to my 
 knowledge. Speed the day when we shall no 
 longer count as rarities such instances of pa- 
 rental wisdom, and of a young woman's right- 
 minded devotion to womanly work in this as 
 yet novel sphere. 
 
CONCERNING A FEW BOOKS ON 
 CHILD TRAINING. 
 
CONCERNING A FEW BOOKS ON 
 CHILD-TRAINING. 
 
 The child is the mother's chief text-book, 
 and a beautiful, entrancing, perplexing vol- 
 ume it is. Read it she must in some fashion 
 — superficially, studiously, or reverently. 
 What she is in herself and what she brings 
 to the study determine what benefit she shall 
 derive from it for herself and her child. 
 
 To one mother the child is little more than 
 the "funny column" of a newspaper. His 
 most serious questions and investigating deeds 
 are read as jokes. To another mother the 
 book of the child is a wonder tale of the ex- 
 travagant, disjointed sort. She sees no con- 
 nection between the various events, recog- 
 nizes no law of cause and effect operating 
 under what she reads. She feels no necessity 
 of remembering the chapters or pages after 
 reading them, often even skipping the first few 
 chapters entirely, as of no account ; whereas 
 the style, tone, and direction of the whole de- 
 velopment in this living text-book depend 
 
222 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 greatly upon the mother's penetration into the 
 meaning of the introductory pages. 
 
 In these times, however, there is an in- 
 creasing number of mothers who are studying 
 the child in an earnest, devoted manner, bring- 
 ing all the powers of heart and head to the 
 study. The heart alone is counted as less ade- 
 quate than aforetime. The intellect enters 
 into partnership, and both, acting together, 
 are guiding the mother toward a science and 
 art of motherhood, whose upward impetus will 
 tell in the progress of humanity. 
 
 No mother who determines to study this 
 science of motherhood, need sigh for opportu- 
 nity. First and foremost she has her chil- 
 dren and other people's children, and mem- 
 ories of her own child life. Then she has, in 
 almost every city and town, the mothers' class 
 or club. At any rate she has the chance of 
 forming such a club. She has also, in news- 
 papers and magazines, innumerable articles 
 which contribute more or less help, for the 
 subject of child development is so prominent 
 at present, that the press needs must, in its 
 reflection of life, give attention to this topic as 
 one of prevailing interest. 
 
 Books also there are in plenty. Doctors, 
 learned professors, college presidents, and min- 
 
Books on Child Training. 223 
 
 isters, have written, and continue to write 
 them, as do kindergartners, mothers, and 
 grandmothers. 
 
 At the meetings of a certain mothers' class, 
 the book table was a regular feature. Upon 
 it the kindergartner laid from week to week 
 the books which would have the most direct 
 bearing upon the topics taken up in the lec- 
 ture and discussion ; and as the class was or- 
 ganized for the study of kindergarten, the 
 books offered in connection made quite a com- 
 plete course in kindergarten reading, although 
 some books not avowedly kindergarten books 
 were included. 
 
 Knowing that the readers were busy moth- 
 ers, the number of books was purposely kept 
 small ; * and I will make this list even less 
 comprehensive, in the belief that it will thus 
 tempt a greater number of mothers to under- 
 take the perusal of all the books. As two 
 books will be given under each heading, the 
 course can easily be halved, although each 
 book is mentioned for some quality which no 
 other supplies. 
 
 * For a further list of books on kindergarten, and on 
 child training, etc., see the Library List published by the 
 International Kindergarten Union. It may be obtained 
 (price two cents) from Miss Mary D. Runyan, Teachers' 
 College, New York city. 
 
224 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 First of all come two dear, old-fashioned 
 books: "The Mother's Book," by Lydia 
 Maria Child, and "Gentle Measures in the 
 Management of the Young," by Jacob Abbott 
 
 "The Mother's Book " is out of print, but 
 can be found in libraries and in secondhand 
 bookshops. Although Mrs. Child was a con- 
 temporary of Froebel, and this book was first 
 published in 1830, it is quite certain that the 
 author did not derive her wise thoughts upon 
 the mother's work from him, although, like 
 him, she acknowledged her indebtedness to 
 the mothers whom she had talked with and 
 observed. 
 
 The plain brown volume was familiar to 
 me all through my childhood, and Lydia 
 Maria Child was one of the revered household 
 names, for my mother read and re-read the 
 book and kept it at hand for easy reference, 
 quoted it without stint, and earnestly tried 
 to follow its teachings. "What does 'The 
 Mother's Book ' say ? " was almost as much a 
 finality, when we had hoped to prevail by 
 wordy arguments over her gentle denials or 
 reproofs, as that other dictum, ' ' If you think 
 it's right, do it" We always felt ourselves 
 without a loophole of escape from the respon- 
 sibility' of decision when these words were 
 
Books on Child Training. 235 
 
 uttered. It was not, " If you do not mind the 
 consequences," or "If you do not care about 
 pleasing me" ; but, '■'■Ifyou think it is right^ 
 do it," with its implied negative, "If you do 
 not think it is right, donH do it." 
 
 The reference to "The Mother's B6ok" was 
 but another way of making the appeal to the 
 abstract right of the matter, and was there- 
 fore powerful in like manner. 
 
 After many years, during which I had had 
 much to do with children, and had taken the 
 kindergarten course of study, I came across 
 the book again. Great was my delight and 
 interest to find how ' ' new-fashioned ' ' the 
 old-fashioned book was ; to find how thor- 
 oughly in accord many of its ideas were with 
 what I had gained in my kindergarten study. 
 The opening sentence, "Few people think 
 that the management of very young babes has 
 anything to do with their future dispositions , 
 and characters, yet I believe it has more influ- 
 ence than can be easily calculated," shows 
 that Mrs. Child was of Froebel's mind as well 
 as of his time, and that he would have found 
 her ready to adopt all that he says about the 
 importance of the impressions made in earliest 
 infancy, the importance of the spiritual at- 
 mosphere surrounding the infant, of the culti- 
 
226 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 vation of the senses, of rooting everything in 
 the feelings rather than the intellect because 
 the infant and little child is a creature of feel- 
 ing more than of thought, of the need of em- 
 plojnnents suited to the child's activities, of 
 the value of dwelling on the positive in morals 
 and conduct, — on the true, the beautiful, and 
 the good, — rather than on the negative. Thus 
 the book is full of that instinctive motherly 
 wisdom upon which Froebel's whole system 
 is based. 
 
 This is true also concerning Jacob Abbott's 
 book, although he treats more of principles 
 than does Mrs. Child. His book has the 
 quaint and cumbersome sub- title : — 
 
 "The Principles on which a firm parental 
 authority may be established and maintained 
 without violence or anger, and the right de- 
 velopment of the moral and mental capacities 
 be promoted, by methods in harmony with 
 the structure and characteristics of the human 
 mind. ' ' 
 
 His method of treating different subjects 
 will be seen by a glance at one chapter chosen 
 at random. The subject is ' ' Commendation 
 and Encouragement." First come some re- 
 marks on the general tendency to pass over 
 without comment the right doing and good be- 
 
Books on Child Training. 227 
 
 havior of children, but to notice with censure 
 and reproach every lapse into wrong doing. 
 The rest of the chapter is divided under dif- 
 ferent headings, as follows : — 
 
 "One Method. Another Method. Habit to 
 be Formed. The Principle Involved. Origin 
 of the Error. Important Caution. The Two 
 Methods Exemplified. How Faults are to be 
 Corrected. The Principle of Universal Ap- 
 plication." 
 
 The spirit of the whole book is most sym- 
 pathetic. The abundance of examples pre- 
 sented of the ways of wise and unwise mothers 
 in their child-training, enliven the writer's de- 
 liberate, repetitious style and turn so bright a 
 light on his propositions and arguments that 
 these are made perfectly plain to every reader. 
 
 The reason why these two books, which are 
 not kindergarten books, make a good intro- 
 duction to a course on kindergarten is pre- 
 cisely this : that they are, as I have already 
 said, full of that instinctive motherly wisdom 
 which was to Froebel a fount of inspiration. 
 
 Now we come to books written from the 
 kindergarten standpoint. 
 
 Suppose you have only a few moments at a 
 time in which to read, and that you bring 
 a weary brain, though a hungry mind, to 
 
228 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 your reading. Then the book for you is Nora 
 A. Smith's "Children of the Future," for the 
 essays in it are brief and bright yet full of 
 earnest seed thoughts. In the first short es- 
 say you get a view of the helpfulness of child 
 study, which will probably stimulate you to 
 attack some more extended treatise or under- 
 take systematic study. Perhaps the most di- 
 rectly helpful pages are those in which the 
 sullen child, the selfish child, the child of pas- 
 sionate temper, and the untruthful child are 
 portrayed by this keen observer, and which 
 suggest to the parent simple yet radically cur- 
 ative modes of treatment. 
 
 " Children's Rights," by Kate Douglas 
 Wiggin, has also the great merit of putting 
 some wholesome truths in an entertaining 
 way, and it sometimes arouses an interest 
 where other books would fail. 
 
 Of all our initiative books, however, "A 
 Study of Child Nature," by Elizabeth Harri- 
 son, is probably the most useful for mothers. 
 It is sound and comprehensive as an exposi- 
 tion of Froebel's ideas, while simple and clear 
 in its style and full of apt illustrative anec- 
 dotes. 
 
 If the mother's reading on the subject of 
 kindergarten is to be limited to one book, this 
 
Books on Child Training. 229 
 
 of Miss Harrison's should, I believe, be the 
 choice. Generally speaking, it would serve 
 the purpose better than any writing of Froe- 
 bel's own. 
 
 It is almost a pity that the very valuable 
 book, "Lectures to Kindergartners," by Eliz- 
 abeth P. Peabody, has so limiting a title, since, 
 on that account, mothers are less apt to read 
 it. The lectures were originally given in 
 training classes for kindergartners, but they 
 are no less suitable for mothers. What char- 
 acterizes Miss Peabody's interpretation of 
 Froebel is her emphasis on spiritual nurture. 
 Intensely spiritual herself, she was sensitive 
 to Froebel' s ideas on the subject of the child's 
 spiritual development and religious nurture. 
 Among the mothers who read this book there 
 will be some who care little for it ; but for 
 those who like it at all, it has a deep and last- 
 ing interest. As it is among the ' ' old ' ' kin- 
 dergarten books, " Ivcctures to Kindergart- 
 ners " is less read in these days than it ought 
 to be. This is true likewise of ' ' Child and 
 Child Nature," although the latter is a very 
 different kind of book. 
 
 "Child and Child Nature" is a translation 
 from the writing of one of Froebel' s most ar- 
 dent disciples, one who seemed to be able to 
 
230 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 enter into the profundity of his thought and 
 whose "Reminiscences of Froebel" with its 
 recorded memories of conversations with him, 
 has preserved for us much valuable matter 
 which we should otherwise have missed. 
 "Child and Child Nature" demands more 
 thoughtful reading than the books previously 
 mentioned, but the preliminary reading of 
 these will add to the enjoyment of the more 
 difficult treatise. 
 
 Perhaps some mothers, whether reading by 
 themselves or reading together in a mothers' 
 class, would prefer to enter at once upon Froe- 
 bel' s own writings. This may be the best 
 plan in some cases, but, in my experience, a 
 more gradual acquaintance with his philoso- 
 phy, acquired through the medium of writers 
 whose style is less obscure, is more certain to 
 induce a ready acceptance of kindergarten 
 ideas than when the average reader is at once 
 confronted with the new thoughts clothed in 
 the clumsy language of the original books. 
 
 In many mothers' classes, held by kinder- 
 gartners, " The Mother Play Book " is the 
 first to be used, and it seems natural that it 
 should be to those who thoroughly know this 
 "kindergarten bible," as it is called. But 
 even in the excellent translation by Miss Blow, 
 
Books on Child Training. 331 
 
 which we now delight in, mothers are apt to 
 be somewhat shy of this book unless they have 
 had a little preparation for its study. 
 
 Miss Blow's translation is in two volumes. 
 Every mother should own first the volume for 
 use with the children, ' ' Songs and Games of 
 Froeb'el's Mother Play," if it is not possible to 
 have the two at once ; and then the ' ' Mottoes 
 and Commentaries," which is the volume for 
 the mothers. This I advocate, because, if she 
 possesses the first volume, the mother can be 
 using the plays and pictures with her chil- 
 dren, and that is the important thing. Play 
 without the comprehension by the mother of 
 all that it may accomplish for the child is of 
 more value than such comprehension without 
 the play. 
 
 A mere reading of ' ' Mottoes and Commen- 
 taries ' ' will elicit but a meager portion of its 
 meaning. It is emphatically a book to be 
 studied with one who loves it and can show 
 you its treasures of wisdom. Lacking a leader 
 in bodily presence, there are three guides ready 
 to help you, — three books. The latest is Miss 
 Blow's " Letters to a Mother on the Phi- 
 losophy of Froebel," which discusses, in a 
 manner both scholarly and practical, some of 
 the songs and games of Froebel' s Mother 
 
232 Lave and Law in Child Training. 
 
 Play; "Symbolic Education," also by Miss 
 Blow, has several chapters devoted to the 
 Mother Play Book ; and "Froebel's Mother 
 Play Songs: A Commentary," by Denton 
 J. Snider, contains explanations of the first 
 twenty songs, that is, all those in the first 
 half of Froebel's collection. 
 
 Of Froebel's other writings, the most im- 
 portant is "The Education of Man." I have 
 never seen mothers who were not impressed 
 by the tenderness and understanding with 
 which Froebel wrote of the young infant, — its 
 nature and its needs, — and he is no less sym- 
 pathetic and keen with regard to the child in 
 its later development. 
 
 Froebel's Letters, of which we have two 
 collections, one translated by Emilie Michae- 
 lis and H. Keatley Moore and the other by 
 Arnold H. Heineman, have much in them 
 for the mother also. "Pedagogics of the 
 Kindergarten ' ' and ' ' Education by Develop- 
 ment," translated by Josephine Jarvis, are 
 books of a more technical nature, and will at- 
 tract and benefit the kindergartner more than 
 the non-professional student; although in 
 these, as in anything which Froebel writes, 
 thoughts for the mother and about her influ- 
 ence and her work are abundant. 
 
Books on Child Training. 233 
 
 As additional reading matter "Froebel's 
 Educational Laws for All Teachers, ' ' by James 
 ly. Hughes, should be taken at whatever point 
 along the course there is an opportunity for it. 
 Whether or not any of her children are beyond 
 the kindergarten, the mother should know 
 what beautiful possibilities there are for the 
 application of Froebel's educational laws 
 throughout the school life of her children ; for 
 the more widespread such knowledge is, the 
 more likely is it that the beautiful possibility 
 will be changed to beautiful reality. 
 
 Another supplementary book is "The 
 Study of a Child, ' ' by Louise E. Hogan. This 
 is preeminently the book of child study for 
 mothers who are desirous of making a com- 
 plete and valuable record of a child's develop- 
 ment. It is written by a mother about her 
 own child — a faithful record of the develop- 
 ment of a happy, healthy boy up to the age 
 of seven and a half years. The proof of the 
 mother's wise method of observation is in the 
 child's unconsciousness of it, which is shown 
 throughout the book. But not only a good 
 way to study the child is to be gained from 
 this attractive volume. The mother who 
 writes has been obliged to tell us, though only 
 incidentally, a good deal of herself in describ- 
 
234 Love and Law in Child Training. 
 
 ing her child's life ; and no book of intended 
 suggestion and advice could be more helpful 
 than this, in which we see a mother's tender 
 sympathy, intelligent watchfulness, and wise 
 control all constantly exercised, and note the 
 beautiful result of a child's free, self-active de- 
 velopment. We see again that Wisdom's ways 
 are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are 
 peace, in this portrayal of serene and sunny 
 life. 
 
 It is sometimes the case that a pater- or 
 mater-familiar is not inclined to attack a whole 
 book on kindergarten, but would be willing 
 to read a short article. Fortunate is it, in- 
 deed, that we have some of our precious goods 
 done up in small parcels to suit such readers. 
 In The Outlook for April 29, 1899, is to be 
 found one of these valuable essays. It is en- 
 titled, "The Kindergarten in America," and 
 is written by Hamilton W. Mabie. No brief 
 article could do more justice to the kinder- 
 garten as standing for the spiritual element in 
 education. The other essay sounds with no 
 uncertain sound the conviction of its author, 
 that kindergarten is grounded upon a univer- 
 sal philosophy, and is already started upon its 
 course in conquest of the world. I quote a 
 couple of paragraphs with the hope that they 
 
Books on Child Training. 235 
 
 will send you to the book, " Causes and Con- 
 sequences," by John Jay Chapman, and in- 
 duce you to read the whole chapter on ' ' Edu- 
 cation : Froebel." 
 
 "I have two boys, aged seven and four. 
 They required a governess, and I got one. 
 After a couple of months, during which the 
 usual experiences in the training of young 
 children were gone through, I discovered that 
 it was I who was being educated. My mind 
 was being swayed and drawn to a point of 
 view. I was in contact with a method so pro- 
 found that it seemed as if I were dealing with 
 or, rather, being dealt with by the forces of 
 nature. I was in the presence of great genius. 
 What was it ? The text-book on Froebel, by 
 Hughes, in the International Series on Educa- 
 tion, made the matter clear. * * * * 
 
 " But more important than Froebel's formu- 
 lation of these great truths was his formulation 
 of subsidiary truths. I do not mean his labored 
 systems, but his practical suggestions^ born of 
 experience^ as to how to help another person to 
 develops''