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 Carrie S, Ne^wn 
 

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 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
The Kindergarten in the Home 
 
" In the sunlit garden, 
 Through our glad spring day, 
 Watch the happy little folks 
 Turning Work, to play." 
 
 — Froebel. 
 
Kindergarten 
 in the Home 
 
 A Book for Parents and for 
 All Interested in Child-Training 
 
 By 
 
 Carrie S. Newman 
 
 Illustrated by 
 Etheldred B. Barry 
 
 " The Angel Life within each child is more 
 precious than any other thing in the world." 
 — Andrea Hofer Proudfoot. 
 
 Boston % L. C. Page C& 
 Company 5, Mdccccix 
 
 m 
 
 •9mmegmmE3S£3BmmmmmK^ 
 
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 M* 
 
 Copyright, 1909, 
 
 By L. C. Page & Company 
 
 (incorporated) 
 
 Entered at Stationers' 1 Hall 
 
 First Impression, June, 1909 
 
 COLONIAL PRESS 
 Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. 
 Boston, U. S. A. 
 
 C!a. A, 
 
 2 4 3 6 7 9 
 
 JUL 
 
 12 
 
 T909 
 

 
 TO 
 
 THE DEAR SISTER, BROTHER, AND LITTLE NIECES 
 
 WHOSE HOME LIFE IS A CONSTANT SOURCE 
 
 OF INSPIRATION, 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK. 
 
" The distant stars were shilling long before their 
 rays reached our earth; the seed germinates in dark- 
 ness and is growing long before we can see its growth; 
 so in the depths of an infant soul a process goes on 
 which is hidden from our ken, yet upon which hangs 
 more than we can dream of good or ill, happiness, or 
 misery." — Feoebel. 
 
Preface 
 
 — * — 
 
 Each year of work in the Kindergarten 
 deepens the conviction that in Froebel's 
 writings are hidden rich gems for the 
 mother in her work of home building and 
 child nurture. 
 
 His style, however, is somewhat obscure, 
 and the busy mother with her limited time 
 for reading is not likely, unaided, to pene- 
 trate into his deep secrets. 
 
 It, therefore, becomes both the duty and 
 the privilege of those who have the leisure 
 and inclination to delve into these mines of 
 truth, to unearth and bring to the notice of 
 
 vii 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 those actively engaged in child nurture 
 these priceless gems. 
 
 To present in a simple and attractive form 
 some of the truths underlying Froebel's sys- 
 tem of education is the object of this book. 
 
 If, by its words, a deeper reverence for 
 
 child-nature is awakened in some breast ; if 
 
 new light is thrown upon the problems 
 
 which confront parents in their work; if 
 
 fresh inspiration and joy is kindled in some 
 
 heart and some home blessed thereby, its 
 
 mission will be fulfilled, and the writer 
 
 abundantly repaid for the hours spent upon 
 it. 
 
 Having found a source of light and in- 
 spiration one longs to lead other thirsty 
 souls to the same fountain. 
 
 The deep importance of the first years of 
 life, and the impressions gained then, grows 
 on one as the years go by, and makes one 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 long for the privilege of assisting, in some 
 
 humble way, In the great work of training 
 
 >. 
 the coming citizens of the world. 
 
 May it be true of this little book that 
 wherever it goes " the grass grows greener 
 still." Because of its message may some 
 little life unfold in greater beauty and per- 
 fection. 
 
 Careie S. Newman. 
 
 Toronto, May, 1909. 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The First Gift 
 
 II. Play with the Limbs . 
 
 III. The Falling Game 
 
 IV. The Constructive Faculty . 
 V. Christmas in the Home 
 
 VI. A Bowl of Bread and Milk 
 
 VII. The Mirror of Nature 
 
 page 
 
 1 
 
 53 
 
 85 
 
 131 
 
 165 
 
 195 
 
 231 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "In the sunlit garden," etc. — Froebel Frontispiece 
 
 " She would swing the ball gently to and fro " . 8 
 
 " Holding him up before it " 11 
 
 " She came upon Jamie sulking behind a door " . 29 
 " Painting the pictures in old magazines occupied 
 
 much of his time " 38 
 
 " The little feet would kick against it " . . . 54 
 
 " Up which the children ran and then slid down " . 66 
 " On Saturdays they were allowed to try their 
 
 hands at washing " 77 
 
 " She would raise him by taking hold of his hands " 86 
 
 " Insisted that he should draw nowhere else " . 103 
 " The little game of hiding baby's face behind a 
 
 handkerchief " 109 
 
 " for several days the button - hook was seldom 
 
 out of her hands " 115 
 
 " Feeding and caring for these played an important 
 
 part in the daily life of the children " . . 121 
 " Sitting on the floor utterly absorbed in the con- 
 struction OF SOME WONDERFUL PIECE OF ARCHITEC- 
 TURE " 137 
 
 " Pointing out the good points and drawing his at- 
 tention TO SOME ERRORS " 151 
 
 " Sitting on the floor at Auntie's feet " . 
 
 " Uncle would show Jamie how to whittle " . 
 
 " Sang their little carols " 
 
 " nursie went with them to carry the presents " 
 " So sang Mrs. Brown as she sat with Robert " 
 " She took him again and again to see the cows " 
 " Each child had from babyhood his own little 
 
 GARDEN " 
 
 " They loved to peep out of the window " 
 
 158 
 179 
 184 
 185 
 196 
 211 
 
 233 
 
 248 
 
The 
 Kindergarten in the Home 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE FIRST GIFT 
 
 A little stranger had arrived at the 
 Brown homestead and as the dear mother 
 lay resting, with the precious bundle, 
 her first-born son, asleep beside her, her 
 thoughts travelled back over the past 
 months of joyful preparation. 
 
 There, in the bureau bought for this 
 special purpose, lay the dainty little gar- 
 ments it had been such a joy to fashion, 
 
 and side by side with the tiny shirts and 
 
 l 
 
2 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 jackets lay the coloured Kindergarten 
 balls she had made, " food for his heart 
 and mind," as she laughingly told her 
 friends. Thinking of the balls, she lifted 
 her eyes to what she called " the baby's 
 shelf," as on it were kept the books she 
 and the dear father had studied so ear- 
 nestly during the past months. There was 
 the valuable book on the care of the little 
 body, but more precious still were the 
 books telling how to care for the awaken- 
 ing mind and soul. Oh, what an earnest 
 prayer arose in her heart for blessings on 
 the dear friend who had first led her to 
 see that in her baby she would have not 
 only a little body to care for, but, won- 
 derful thought, an immortal soul, and 
 that to a very great extent the making 
 or marring of that soul lay in her 
 hands ! 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 3 
 
 As week after week she and her husband 
 had read and pondered on this gigantic 
 thought, the tremendous responsibility of 
 parenthood had taken hold of them and 
 touched them deeply, so that many times 
 a day the prayer rose spontaneously in 
 their hearts, " Father, make us fit to have 
 a little child to train.'' 
 
 Tears of joy sprang to her eyes as she 
 recalled the look on Frank's face as he 
 said to her at their last reading, " If every 
 man could gain an insight into this teach- 
 ing what different lives we should all live. 
 I feel bigger and stronger every time I dip 
 into one of these books." 
 
 Presently a smile hovered over her face 
 as she recalled the laughter and fun they 
 had learning to sing nursery rhymes and 
 play ball games that they might be ready 
 in every way for their little visitor. Then, 
 
4 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 too, what a depth of meaning they had 
 often found in these little songs that at 
 first sight seemed so simple! 
 
 " As soon as I am strong enough I must 
 gather some of my mother-friends together 
 and interest them in this study," was the 
 next thought of this awakened mother. 
 Frank coming in just then she told Mia 
 this thought. He heartily agreed, only 
 adding, " Why leave out the fathers? ' 
 
 During the first few weeks of our baby's 
 earthly life he nursed and slept, slept and 
 nursed as all good babies should. One 
 day during this time our mother ran in 
 to visit one of her neighbours and found 
 her ten-weeks' old baby lying in the cradle 
 sucking a rubber nipple. 
 
 " You must get one of these comforts 
 for your baby," said her friend. " They 
 are comforts indeed: as soon as he gets 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 5 
 
 restless we just put it in his mouth and 
 it keeps him quiet for a long time." 
 
 " No," said our mother thoughtfully, 
 " I don't think I shall. It doesn't seem 
 to me that is a right principle to work on. 
 He isn't physically hungry, why then put 
 something into his mouth? It seems to 
 me the same thing as trying to satisfy an 
 older child who is restless because he is 
 unoccupied, by giving him a cake or some 
 candy. Is it not training him to seek sat- 
 isfaction in the physical nature rather 
 than in the intellectual and spiritual? " 
 
 " But how could you give a wee baby 
 intellectual and spiritual food? " was the 
 astonished answer. 
 
 " Come to our home this evening and I 
 will show you the coloured balls and tell 
 you about the songs and games we have 
 prepared for just this purpose," was her 
 
6 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 reply as she took her departure happy in 
 the thought of sharing with another the 
 great light that had come into her own 
 life. 
 
 As Baby Robert, as he had been named, 
 neared his third month he spent more time 
 wide awake. The parents wisely refrained 
 from taking him up as soon as he awa- 
 kened, and let him lie as long as he was 
 content. When he became restless, how- 
 ever, they hung the soft red ball where he 
 could watch it comfortably, sometimes 
 lowering it so that as he tossed his hands 
 about he would touch it and set it gently 
 in motion. Often they were rewarded by 
 chuckles and coos of delight. 
 
 Then the mother began regularly play- 
 ing with her baby, using the ball as his 
 first plaything, realizing that as he had 
 a three-fold nature and that play was the 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 7 
 
 means provided for educating the heart 
 and mind as well as the body in early life, 
 this was as essential to his development 
 as the daily food and bath and should be 
 as carefully planned for. 
 
 With the little fellow sitting on her lap, 
 she would swing the ball gently to and 
 fro by its string, singing " Here, there," 
 or "To and fro," or, suiting the action to 
 the words, " Up, Down," " Around and 
 around," or " Jump, ball, jump," baby's 
 eyes following the movement. At first 
 these games were played very gently and 
 just for a few minutes at a time, both the 
 length of time and the vigour being grad- 
 ually increased to keep pace with baby's 
 development. 
 
 One of the books studied both before 
 and after baby's arrival was " Pedagogics 
 of the Kindergarten," by Friedrich Froe- 
 
8 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 bel, the founder of the Kindergarten. 
 This, together with Kindergarten song 
 
 books by various authors, supplied them 
 with suggestions for these early games as 
 well as later ones. 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 9 
 
 This playtime soon became a great joy 
 not only to baby but to his father and 
 mother as well. 
 
 After several weeks' play with the red 
 ball, the blue ball was put in its place, 
 this followed by the yellow, then the three 
 played with together, and they soon be- 
 came familiar and dearly loved playmates, 
 care being taken to use the colour name 
 very often, talking and singing of " Red 
 Ball," " Blue Ball," or whichever was be- 
 ing used at the time. The orange, green 
 and violet were not given him till a later 
 period. 
 
 At first father or mother played the 
 game, while baby watched, but very soon 
 he could join in. He learned to grasp the 
 ball by having it put into his tiny palm 
 and the fingers closed gently around it, 
 and it was not long before he would laugh 
 
10 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 gaily when one of them took hold of the 
 string and pulled it out of his hand. His 
 hold became stronger each time this game 
 was played, showing that the muscles were 
 being developed by the exercise. Care 
 was taken that both hands were used in 
 these games that both sides of the body 
 should be equally developed. 
 
 One day about this time as Father was 
 carrying Robert across the room he no- 
 ticed his eyes fastened on the pendulum 
 of the clock as it swung to and fro. He 
 paused and holding him up before it swung 
 the little arm in imitation. It soon became 
 a regular thing thus to stop and imitate, 
 the swing of the pendulum and the tick- 
 tock of the clock, then to play that the 
 balls were pendulums. 
 
 Robert and his mother spent much time 
 every day out of doors, for this she con- 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 11 
 
 sidered very important for them both, and 
 there were few days so stormy that they 
 
 were not able, 
 well- wrapped, to 
 visit nature for 
 at least a few min- 
 utes. 
 
 " Above all things," 
 said this mother, " I 
 do not want our 
 child to be a hot- 
 house plant." 
 So every care was taken both before 
 
12 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 and after birth to give this little soul a 
 strong, healthy body to work with: good 
 wholesome food, cleanliness, plenty of 
 fresh air, wise physical exercise and high, 
 noble thoughts were to them the necessary 
 conditions for a healthy body, and these 
 they earnestly strove to supply. 
 
 In these outdoor rambles our mother 
 found that the objects which first attracted 
 her baby were animals. She was surprised 
 to find at what an early age the cat, dog, 
 chickens and flying birds appealed to him, 
 and she began at once to develop this love 
 for his " dumb brothers " by herself ex- 
 pressing sympathy by means of caresses 
 and kind words, often, too, laying the tiny 
 hand on the back of doggy or pussy and 
 so helping baby to pet them. Crumbs and 
 seeds were frequently taken with them to 
 draw the birds and chickens they met on 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 13 
 
 their way close about baby's carriage. 
 These little experiences were repeated 
 with the balls, indoors, and great was the 
 parents' delight when in answer to the 
 words, " My little bird," sung by one of 
 them, baby would swing his ball. 
 
 When Robert was strong enough to sit 
 on a quilt or rug on the floor he would 
 often amuse himself with his bright balls 
 for a long time, and many a jolly game 
 he and father had rolling and tossing the 
 balls or playing they were doggies run- 
 ning, pussies jumping or birds flying, and 
 great was the joy of both parents when 
 baby joined his little cooing, humming 
 sound to the song. Years after it was the 
 proud boast of Robert, " My father and I 
 have been chums since long before I could 
 walk." 
 
 He used to declare that he could remem- 
 
14 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 ber these plays of his first year, but that 
 was probably because one of his dearest 
 life-long treasures was a book containing 
 the history of his first seven years. There 
 on the first page was the photograph of 
 his parents on their wedding day, while 
 page two showed them at the time of his 
 birth with the house and the room in which 
 he was born. Then came photographs of 
 himself in many different positions, first 
 in long clothes, then in short, asleep in his 
 first bed, in his carriage, in mother's arms, 
 in father's, sitting alone and so on. Here 
 he saw himself taking his first steps, in 
 his first boys' suit; saw how he looked 
 when he first went to school. Here he 
 had a record of the first word he spoke, 
 the date when he first walked alone, and 
 accounts of his first games, his first pets, 
 his first friends, his owu quaint say- 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 15 
 
 ings, all written in the one dear hand- 
 writing. 
 
 " It must have been a lot of bother to 
 make this book/' he once said to his 
 mother. " Why did you do it? " 
 
 " Well, dear," was the answer, ".I had 
 often wished that I knew more of my own 
 early life. I questioned with one of our 
 Kindergarten writers, ' Should we not bet- 
 ter understand what we are if we knew 
 how we came to be? ' and so I felt it might 
 be a help to you children to have these 
 early records." 
 
 When Robert began to creep about, 
 which he did very early as he had from 
 the first been given plenty of opportunity 
 to kick and toss about his little limbs, his 
 father made a fence which could in a mo- 
 ment be set up in nursery or sitting room 
 or in fine weather on the lawn, and as 
 
16 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 quickly taken down, and in this fold with 
 his dear woolly lamb, his rag-doll and his 
 bright balls, he was as happy as a king 
 while mother sat near by with her sewing 
 or moved about attending to household 
 duties. 
 
 When the parents found that baby was 
 pleased with a sharp noise such as he 
 could make by pounding with a spoon they 
 knew he was ready for Froebel's second 
 gift, the wooden sphere, cube and cylinder. 
 So one day when father was rolling one 
 of the soft balls back and forth to baby, 
 who was being helped by mother to per- 
 form his part of the game, he exchanged 
 it for the wooden sphere and both were 
 interested to see the puzzled look on baby's 
 face as he heard the sound on the bare 
 floor. It was added to his playthings and 
 many of the old games played with it and 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 17 
 
 some new ones added, the addition of 
 ability to make sounds giving great pleas- 
 ure. 
 
 One of the games of which he never 
 tired was to watch the sphere roll round 
 and round on a plate as it was inclined 
 first this way and then that, while father 
 or mother sang, 
 
 " Around, Around ; 
 How happy now am I. 
 Around Around, 
 I turn now full of glee. 
 Be happy thou like me," 
 
 or some other rhyme improvised for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Robert had been playing with the balls 
 for some little time when his mother no- 
 ticed that he put out his hand as she car- 
 ried him past the round top of the balus- 
 trade post, and seemed much pleased when 
 
18 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 she stopped and let him touch it, showing 
 that he was beginning to notice the forms 
 about him and pick out the familiar ones. 
 Sometime before this he had put out his 
 little hands towards bright-coloured ob- 
 jects like his balls. 
 
 When the wooden cube was put amongst 
 his playthings he soon discovered that it 
 would not move like his ball, which ran 
 away from him at the slightest touch. 
 
 With the cubes and cylinder he began 
 his first building and amused himself for 
 longer and longer periods piling one upon 
 another and then pushing them down. 
 
 A lady who made the Browns a visit at 
 this time was greatly interested in little 
 Robert and his first educational steps and 
 had many questions to ask about it. u It 
 seems to me," she said one day, "a most 
 sensible idea to choose from out the great 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 19 
 
 chaos of forms and colours with which the 
 civilized child finds himself surrounded 
 when he awakens in this new world, those 
 which are typical and present them one 
 at a time so that he may get a few clear, 
 distinct impressions in place of many 
 vague, indistinct ones. It certainly must 
 be a wonderful help to the young mind 
 and build up the brain in a way which 
 would be impossible otherwise. Then, too, 
 to connect the sensation received through 
 the senses as he looks at and handles his 
 gifts with the proper terms and this by 
 means of song, the voice of love, is a most 
 happy thought." 
 
 Eobert was six months old when Mrs. 
 Brown decided to take into their home for 
 a few months the three children of her 
 widowed sister while she was absent in a 
 distant part of the country. " I am the 
 
20 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 more pleased to clo this because I have 
 always felt that Mary did not understand 
 her children and was making some serious 
 mistakes in their training, and this will 
 give me an opportunity to study them and 
 so be better able to advise her/' said she 
 to her husband. 
 
 " And the effort to understand and help 
 them will be the very best preparation for 
 understanding our own children," was his 
 answer. 
 
 The three little visitors were Jamie, who 
 had just passed his sixth birthday, Lulu, 
 four years of age, and May, aged two and 
 a half. 
 
 The nurse who had been with them since 
 Jamie's babyhood came to help take care 
 of them. She was a kind-hearted Scotch 
 woman who loved the children dearly but 
 thought it unwise to show her love. She 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 21 
 
 had been brought up on a system of re- 
 pression and strove to apply the same 
 methods with her young charges. " Chil- 
 dren must be obedient," were the words 
 most often on her lips, and Mrs. Gray was 
 often congratulated on having such an ex- 
 cellent nurse who took almost entire charge 
 of the children, leaving her much time to 
 devote to church and society duties. 
 
 Up to her light Nursie was a most ex- 
 cellent woman and as a mother's assistant 
 would have been most valuable, relieving 
 her of much of the physical care and strain 
 that she might be free to nourish the 
 higher nature of her children, but what 
 hireling however competent can take a 
 mother's place? Alas, how many of God's 
 little ones are bountifully, often luxuri- 
 ously, cared for in all external ways, while 
 their inner selves are stunted, dwarfed, 
 
22 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 starved for lack of intelligent care and 
 understanding ! 
 
 Nursie's chief concern was to keep her 
 little charges fresh and clean and to pro- 
 tect their bodies from all danger and dis- 
 ease; it was her proud boast that no 
 scratch or bruise Avas ever to be found 
 upon them. 
 
 That children grow by means of activity 
 of body and mind; that experimenting, 
 testing, trying their wings was an abso- 
 lute necessity for full development, and 
 that in developing we must often make 
 mistakes, and do a certain amount of 
 stumbling and falling, was a theory of 
 which she had never dreamed. She, good 
 woman, felt guilty if for a moment one of 
 them strayed out of her sight or met with 
 the slightest accident. " Always ask me 
 before you do anything; then you won't 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 23 
 
 get into trouble," was her kindly meant 
 but unwise advice. 
 
 However, of late even she had begun to 
 feel that something was wrong, whether 
 with the children or herself she hardly 
 knew. Master Jamie was sullen and dis- 
 contented, Lulu often so stubborn she 
 could do nothing with her, while Baby 
 May seemed the very personification of 
 mischief the moment her eye was off her. 
 
 So when Mrs. Brown with much trep- 
 idation suggested that as soon as the chil- 
 dren felt at home she should take charge 
 of them during the morning and leave her 
 free to assist with the housework and sew- 
 ing, much to her surprise Nursie made no 
 objection, though she said, "I'm afraid, 
 Ma'am, you'll find them a handful. They 
 are very hard to manage, though they've 
 been so carefully brought up." 
 
24 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 During the first days while Nursie was 
 in full charge both Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
 kept their eyes and ears wide open in their 
 anxiety to understand the children and 
 the particular needs of each. With their 
 knowledge of and sympathy with child- 
 nature they were not long in putting their 
 ringer on the source of the sullenness and 
 discontent almost habitually pictured on 
 Jamie's face, and of the stubborn fits 
 Nursie complained of in Lulu. 
 
 They saw that Nursie 's training con- 
 sisted very largely of an almost continuous 
 series of " Don'ts." When the children 
 were taken out of doors they were nat- 
 urally seized with a desire to examine 
 everything within sight, to run and jump 
 and caper as all young things should, but 
 Nursie 's idea was to take them for a walk, 
 little May holding her hand and Lulu and 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 25 
 
 Jamie walking before her, according to 
 her ideas, " Like a little lady and gentle- 
 man." Any attempt to run on ahead, to 
 jump off the sidewalk, to examine the 
 hundreds of curious things in the grass 
 or the little ponds, was quickly repressed, 
 " They'd make themselves hot, or soil their 
 clothes, or fall and hurt themselves." And 
 so we have the sight, sad indeed to one 
 who understands child-nature, its needs 
 and grand possibilities, but which may be 
 seen in any city on any pleasant summer 
 day, of little children starched and be- 
 frilled, compelled to walk up and down the 
 board walks as sedately as if they were 
 eighty years of age, blind and deaf to the 
 wonders with which the great world is 
 everywhere teeming, God's lesson books 
 spread out before the childish eyes, Nature 
 crying out " Look, touch, handle, learn," 
 
26 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 but ignorance commanding " Leave it 
 alone, you 11 soil your clothes/' 
 
 Mrs. Brown, with Robert in his carriage 
 accompanied Nurse and the children on 
 one of these walks. A few days afterward 
 she said, " Nurse, suppose I take the chil- 
 dren out this morning so you can sort the 
 clothes and see to the mending. But put 
 on some plain clothes and their stout shoes, 
 so that it won't matter if they should soil 
 them." Nurse looked her disapproval of 
 the latter request, for of all things she 
 loved to see them daintily dressed when 
 they went out, but the prospect of a morn- 
 ing free from the children, together with 
 the quiet determination in Mrs. Brown's 
 face and voice, kept her silent. 
 
 When the children returned from their 
 walk with rosy cheeks and tongues which 
 could not move quickly enough in their 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 27 
 
 desire to tell Uncle Frank, whom they had 
 met on their way home, of all they had seen 
 and done, they looked askance at their 
 dusty shoes and dirty hands and said in 
 a whisper, " What will Nursie say? " 
 
 But Auntie only laughed, and leading 
 them round to the side door helped them 
 off with their shoes, saying, " Now run 
 up to Nursie and ask her to wash your 
 hands and faces and give you your slip- 
 pers." 
 
 After lunch Lulu as well as May, much 
 to Nursie's surprise, was ready for a nap, 
 and Jamie amused himself for a long time 
 sorting the leaves, stones and flowers which 
 he had brought home. Under Uncle's di- 
 rection he made holes in the top of a box 
 for a home for a beautiful caterpillar he 
 had found and, joy of joys to the hungry 
 young naturalist— and what child is not 
 
28 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 that? — had not only been allowed but en- 
 couraged to bring home and keep as a pet. 
 
 The next day and for several days after- 
 wards the rain poured down, so instead of 
 a walk Mrs. Brown had to devise indoor 
 work and play. Early in the morning she 
 came upon Jamie sulking behind a door. 
 She waited until Nurse had gone into an- 
 other room, then followed and inquired 
 about it. 
 
 " He has some nonsense about going 
 out to get leaves for a caterpillar or some- 
 thing of that kind. Of course he can't 
 go out in the rain/' was the reply. 
 
 Mrs. Brown made no comment, but after 
 some pleasant chat about the style for 
 Lulu's new dress — a subject very dear to 
 Nursie's heart— in which she gave up her 
 own idea and allowed Nurse to have her 
 way, thinking, " It will pay to give in in 
 
30 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 these external matters for the sake of win- 
 ning in the higher/ ' she said, " Don't you 
 think we might put on Jamie's coat and 
 rubbers and let him run out for the leaves? 
 It won't take a minute if I go with him 
 and it will make kim happy." Winning a 
 somewhat reluctant agreement, she ran off 
 to comfort Jamie's heart, whispering to 
 her husband as she passed him in the hall, 
 " You can't imagine how diplomatic I'm 
 growing." 
 
 Coming upstairs, broom and dust-pan 
 in hand, later in the morning jSTursie was 
 surprised and mystified at the happy scene 
 in the nursery. Baby Eobert sat in the 
 centre of the group on the floor holding 
 one of his beloved balls, and from time to 
 time imitating the others, who just now 
 were listening breathlessly to Auntie as 
 she told them a wonderful story about 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 31 
 
 Jamie 's caterpillar; how if he fed it every 
 day with some of the green leaves he had 
 found it upon, it would spin a tiny nest 
 in which it would go to sleep, then by and 
 by wake up no longer a creeping cater- 
 pillar but a glorious butterfly such as they 
 had often seen flying about. The children 
 then played that the balls were caterpillars 
 crawling on the ground, eating green 
 leaves, then spinning a cocoon and going 
 to sleep to finally wake up beautiful but- 
 terflies sipping honey from imaginary flow- 
 ers made by the left hand while the right 
 hand held the ball, accompanying the game 
 with the little song " Fuzzy little Cater- 
 pillar/ 9 found in the Finger-Play Book 
 by Emilie Poullson, the pictures of which 
 greatly interested them. 
 
 Presently Lulu jumped up, and running 
 to a bouquet of real flowers on the table 
 
m KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 let her butterfly (ball) sip the honey there, 
 and the other children quickly followed. 
 
 " I didn't know there was honey in flow- 
 ers/' said Jamie. 
 
 To which Auntie answered by breaking 
 off a nasturtium bloom and letting him 
 taste the drop of sweet juice hidden in it. 
 She then suggested that each should find 
 about the room all the objects of the same 
 colour as the ball he held, making the 
 agreement that they should not touch any- 
 thing, but tell her what they found. 
 
 While she was busy with Robert a gay 
 party of discoverers was at work in this 
 and adjoining rooms, and there were con- 
 tinual shouts of " Auntie, this curtain's 
 red; " " Auntie, your pincushion has some 
 blue on it," etc. 
 
 As it was now time for Robert's morn- 
 ing nap, Auntie called the children to her, 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 33 
 
 and, giving to each of them a saucer full 
 of Kindergarten beads (large wooden beads 
 of the six colours of the spectrum, indigo 
 being omitted as too difficult for the chil- 
 dren to discriminate) and a shoe-string, 
 she left them to the ever-fascinating 
 stringing of beads. 
 
 This box of beads was a great source of 
 joy all through the winter to the two 
 younger children, and for sometime to 
 Jamie also. 
 
 At first simply stringing the beads satis- 
 fied them, afterwards they enjoyed having 
 a set task given them, such as, thread all 
 the red, all the green, all the yellow; one 
 yellow, one violet; two blue, three red, and 
 repeat till the string is full. Sometimes 
 they played the beads were fruit and 
 picked out the oranges, the red apples or 
 the grapes, either stringing them or ar- 
 
34 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 ranging them in rows. Jamie liked to 
 play he was store-keeper and sell the dif- 
 ferent fruits and vegetables to the others. 
 Then, that they might learn the source of 
 these things, Auntie would suggest that 
 they play they were trees or vines and 
 fasten the coloured balls on for fruit. 
 
 The beads are not all spheres, but cubes 
 and cylinders as well, and sometimes the 
 children came to Auntie and Nurse as they 
 sat sewing, selling spools (cylinders) of 
 coloured silk or boxes (cubes) containing 
 all sorts of wonderful things, when Auntie 
 would say, " Yes, I'll take four spools of 
 green silk," or " Give me five boxes of 
 pins, please, three blue and two yellow," 
 and then help the little tradesman to pick 
 out the correct number, giving him thus in 
 his play much exercise in counting and so 
 preparing him for his later school work. 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 35 
 
 Little May liked to have two boxes to 
 fill and refill with the beads. 
 
 Adding the large cubes and cylinder of 
 the Second Gift gave many more possibil- 
 ities in the way of store-keeping and other 
 games invented by the children, helped out 
 by occasional suggestions from Aunt or 
 Uncle. Imitating the work going on in the 
 home, the cube was sometimes a stove on 
 which bead kettles and saucepans gaily 
 boiled, while water from the cylinder stand- 
 ing beside it and connected by sticks for 
 water pipes was freely drawn to wash the 
 bead dishes, the lively sphere making a 
 most active and busy cook; on a sec- 
 ond cube were carefully arranged the jars 
 of jelly and preserves which Lulu dis- 
 played with housewifely pride. Mrs. 
 Brown never failed to enter with genuine 
 interest into such pla}^ realizing that by 
 
36 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 her sympathy she was watering seeds 
 which were well worth nurturing in view 
 of the fruit they would yield in later life. 
 The child's actual powers are so limited 
 that without this imaginative play the 
 spirit would be sadly cramped and fet- 
 tered. 
 
 The long oblong box in which the Second 
 Gift forms are kept, with the round and 
 squared sticks which come with it, made 
 excellent boats and carts to be loaded with 
 all sorts of merchandise and dragged about 
 the room. 
 
 Mrs. Brown was careful, too, to talk 
 much with the children in their play in 
 order to assist them in taking possession 
 of the kingdom of language. Knowing 
 well the " pangs of word hunger," she was 
 anxious to give them every assistance in 
 gaining freedom of speech, power to ex- 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 37 
 
 press well in language their growing ideals. 
 With this thought in view both she and Mr. 
 Brown were careful in conversation with 
 the children to speak clearly and distinctly 
 as well as to use the proper terms, and as 
 a consequence their children were noted 
 for their clear enunciation and ready flow 
 of language, and so a constant joy to their 
 teachers. Slovenly language was as much 
 discouraged as slovenly manners. 
 
 When Uncle came home one evening 
 with several bunches of sticks of various 
 lengths, which he had bought for a few 
 cents at a Kindergarten shop, he showed 
 them how to build famous fences by stand- 
 ing cubes and cylinders with the holes on 
 top and inserting a stick in each, and to 
 represent human beings by standing a 
 cylinder on a cube, a sphere on the cylin- 
 der, and running a stick through the three. 
 
38 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 The latter were easily moved about and 
 henceforth figured in many a play. 
 
 Jamie's heart was delighted about this 
 time by the present of a box of paints and 
 a quantity of cheap water-colour paper, 
 and he was continually finding something 
 
 wS*^ 
 
 in his walks or play out of doors which he 
 would bring in and try to paint. Painting 
 the pictures in old magazines occupied 
 much of his time and drew forth many 
 questions as to the meaning of the pictures. 
 What he enjoyed most of all, however, was 
 painting imaginary scenes and telling all 
 about them. 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 39 
 
 " ,Wliat an excellent preparation for fu- 
 ture composition writing. He'll have 
 plenty of ideas in his head and also know 
 how to express them," said a teacher who 
 was calling one afternoon. " Why don't 
 you get a black-board for him? That 
 would develop the larger freer movement so 
 important in writing and drawing, as well 
 as give him greater scope for expression." 
 The visible results of this pictorial work 
 were naturally very crude, but out of crude 
 beginnings grow many beautiful things, and 
 his Aunt and Uncle knowing that the real 
 results of all such work were not visible 
 but wrought into the fibre of his life and 
 character, treated all his little productions 
 with respect, and many a slip of paper 
 with scrawlings on it was sent to the ab- 
 sent mother with glowing descriptions of 
 her boy's unfolding. They also asked a 
 
40 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 friend who was something of an artist to 
 give him some help in using his paints 
 and pencils. 
 
 " What have you done to that boy 1 ? 
 How he has changed,— I should hardly 
 have known him for the same boy," ex- 
 claimed a friend who had not seen him for 
 several months. 
 
 " Given him something to live for. Put 
 ' do ' in place of ' don't/ that's all," was 
 the laughing answer. 
 
 Besides stringing beads the little ones 
 greatly enjoyed stringing straws and col- 
 oured papers. Mrs. Brown gave them first 
 red papers, then blue, then yellow, and so 
 on, for she wished them to gain clear im- 
 pressions of colour. The interest in this 
 work was heightened by the suggestion 
 that the chains be used to decorate the 
 nursery, and great was their joy as the 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 41 
 
 chains grew longer and longer. Short 
 threads were given them, and each as it 
 was finished joined to the last, so that, to 
 their eyes at any rate, the room became 
 more and more beautiful. What a pity 
 that a child should ever be allowed to con- 
 sider himself too small to do anything to 
 help and bless the world; that the desire 
 to help, to be one with others by sharing 
 in the work of the home, which awakens 
 so early in the child-heart, should be 
 crushed by the failure to supply the means 
 for giving it expression! 
 
 How ruthlessly we often nip off the tiny 
 buds as they appear in the life of the little 
 human plant and then how we deplore the 
 lack of the full-grown flower in later life! 
 
 How the self-respect of these children 
 grew as they felt that they were doing 
 something really useful! Jamie's part was 
 
42 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 to fold and cut the papers for the little 
 ones to string, though he sometimes also 
 took a hand in the stringing, Mrs. Brown 
 seeing here an opportunity to awaken and 
 develop a desire to help the smaller and 
 weaker. 
 
 Meanwhile the one caterpillar had had 
 many brothers brought in to keep him com- 
 pany till the shoe-box had been outgrown 
 and Uncle had shown Jamie how to make 
 a caterpillar-cage by nailing uprights of 
 wood in the four corners of a soap-box and 
 then stretching mosquito netting over it. 
 The bottom of the cage was covered with 
 a layer of earth kept moist, and the cater- 
 pillars bountifully supplied with fresh 
 leaves each day. Many other insects were 
 discovered by bright eyes and placed in the 
 cage that they might be watched. 
 
 Mr. Brown felt that this early develop- 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 43 
 
 ment of a love for, and an interest in all 
 of God's creatures, together with a feeling 
 of responsibility towards them was a most 
 important part of education; that a knowl- 
 edge of these lower forms of life was a 
 necessary step in learning to know our- 
 selves and the Creator in whose image we 
 are made. 
 
 Jamie was very anxious to catch some 
 butterflies, but when it was explained to 
 him that it was almost impossible to touch 
 their delicate bodies, however careful one 
 might be, without injuring them, he was 
 content to watch them without gaining pos- 
 session, learning there-by one of life's 
 deepest lessons. 
 
 The interest in the life of caterpillars and 
 
 butterflies lasted for a long time, for the 
 
 caterpillars in the cage were obliging 
 
 • enough to spin a number of cocoons, and it 
 
44 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 was a common sight in the Brown house- 
 hold at that time to find Uncle and the 
 three children crawling about the floor as 
 caterpillars, then going to sleep and waking 
 up butterflies, while Auntie with Robert on 
 her knee sang the song, often at the same 
 time playing that his hands were the cater- 
 pillar or butterfly. The beautiful story of 
 the caterpillar in Miss Harrison's book, 
 " In Storyland," was told and retold, Aunt 
 and Uncle feeling that this symbolic play 
 would greatly enrich the lives of the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 " Indeed," said Mr. Brown one evening 
 as he took up the book, " I fail to see how 
 any one can be too old or too wise to gain 
 fresh inspiration from such books." 
 
 Watching the children from Robert up, 
 as they played with the type forms of the 
 First and Second Gifts and noting their 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 45 
 
 interest in finding objects like them, Mrs. 
 Brown was struck with their power to 
 awaken and develop observation, the chil- 
 dren seeming to be daily more observant, 
 more alive in every way. 
 
 She realized, however, that taking in 
 from without is but one side of education, 
 that there must be continual giving out, 
 " uttering or outering of the inner/ ' if 
 development is to be complete and har- 
 monious. With this thought in mind she 
 began a search for clay with which to 
 model. 
 
 A friend told her that she could have it 
 dug from the ground near by, but advised 
 her to send to a Kindergarten store and 
 get some specially prepared for the pur- 
 pose. She did so and received in reply a 
 package of clay flour with directions for 
 preparing it for use. 
 
46 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 A crock of clay was therefore added to 
 her nursery equipment and supplied many 
 happy hours of work and play, even baby 
 Robert taking pleasure in squeezing, pat- 
 ting and rolling a lump. 
 
 Many and wonderful were the creations 
 which those young brains evolved from the 
 clay, there seemed literally no end to its 
 possibilities. Every object they had ever 
 seen or thought about took form and body 
 as their hands became more and more skil- 
 ful, while the growing light in their eyes 
 and the joy in their faces, as well as their 
 own feelings when they, too, took a lump 
 and i ' talked ' ' with it, helped Mr. and Mrs. 
 Brown to enter more fully into Froebel's 
 words in the Education of Man : i ' The spirit 
 of God hovered over chaos and moved it, 
 and stones and plants, beasts and man 
 took form and separate being and life. 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 47 
 
 God created man in his own image; there- 
 fore man should create and bring forth 
 like God. 
 
 " His spirit, the spirit of man, should 
 hover over the shapeless and move it that 
 it may take shape and form, a distinct 
 being and life of its own. This is the high 
 meaning, the deep significance, the great 
 purpose of work and industry, of pro- 
 ductive and creative activity. We become 
 truly Godlike in diligence and industry, 
 in working and doing, which are accom- 
 panied by the clear perception or even by 
 the vaguest feeling that thereby we repre- 
 sent the inner in the outer; that we give 
 body to spirit and form to thought; that 
 we render visible the invisible; that we 
 impart an outward, finite, transient being 
 to life in the spirit." 
 
 Another occupation which the children 
 
48 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 greatly enjoyed was pasting squares, cir- 
 cles and triangles of coloured paper to 
 form borders and designs. After they had 
 grasped the under-lying law of design, i. e. 
 that the opposites must be alike, and had 
 learned to follow this law by beginning 
 with a centre and pasting something first 
 at the back, then at the front, then at the 
 right and left, they became very skilful 
 in originating designs, the best of which 
 were used as a border along one side of 
 their playroom. 
 
 Jamie became quite expert too in cut- 
 ting forms from paper. Beginning with 
 the circle, or picture of their balls, he pro- 
 ceeded to fruit, vegetables and different 
 kinds of leaves, learning in this way the 
 names and special characteristics of each, 
 finally attempting birds, animals and even 
 landscapes. These he carefully pasted 
 
THE FIRST GIFT 49 
 
 into what he called his scrap-book, a school 
 note-book with a bright cover. This book 
 when completed was to be sent to mother 
 as a birthday present. 
 
 They also sewed pictures of their balls 
 and toys, in fact of everything which spe- 
 cially interested them, on cards with col- 
 oured wool and sent them to mother that 
 she might share in all their pleasures. 
 
 This constant outpicturing of their inner 
 unfolding life was a great source of 
 growth, and of understanding both of 
 themselves and of the external world, for 
 as Froebel says, " If man would know 
 himself truly he must represent himself 
 externally, must place himself over against 
 himself as it were." 
 
 It was very interesting to their Aunt 
 and Uncle to notice how more and more 
 each child's productions showed his indi- 
 
50 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 yiduality both in the subjects chosen for 
 representation and in the manner of ex- 
 pression. Though sharing a common life 
 no two were affected in exactly the same 
 way; one passed by almost unnoticed what 
 challenged the interest of another. By 
 this means also they learned to understand 
 the special needs of each and were able 
 more wisely to guide and help the chil- 
 dren. 
 
" Only the quiet secluded sanctuary of the home 
 can give hack to us the welfare of mankind. In the 
 foundation of every new family the Heavenly Father 
 eternally working the welfare of the human race, 
 speaks to man through the heaven he has opened in 
 the heart of its founders. With the foundation of 
 every new family there is issued to mankind and to 
 each individual human being the call to represent 
 humanity in pure development to represent man in 
 his ideal purity/' — Froebel. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 
 
 Mrs. Brown's great desire for her child 
 was that he might be as free as possible 
 from anything which would limit or dwarf 
 his unfolding life. With this ideal in 
 view she took great care that his clothing 
 should at all times protect his body with- 
 out binding it or in any way interfering 
 with his movements. Her first considera- 
 tion in dressing him was his comfort. 
 
 Her study of Froebel had led her to see 
 that her baby's stretching and kicking 
 after his morning bath was an unconscious 
 call to her mother-heart " to nurture, wait 
 
 53 
 
54 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 upon, strengthen and develop the life stir- 
 ring within, and to do so in snch a way 
 as to lead him as soon as possible to self- 
 
 knowledge.' ' She therefore planned to 
 
 give him every day an opportunity to 
 
 freely kick unimpeded by long skirts or 
 tight napkin. 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 55 
 
 Laying him on his back on the bed she 
 would place her hand or breast so that 
 the little feet would kick against it and 
 was surprised to find how much harder 
 he kicked when he found this obstruction 
 in his way than without it. 
 
 This daily kicking she knew would 
 strengthen and develop his body, but her 
 great longing was that all sides of his 
 nature, his mind and heart as well as his 
 body, should develop fully and freely, 
 therefore she was never satisfied with 
 any exercise that developed body alone, 
 so to the action she added the explanatory 
 song. 
 
 " Up and down, and in and out, 
 Toss the little limbs about ; 
 Kick the pretty dimpled feet — 
 That's the way to grow, my sweet ! 
 
56 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 This way and that, 
 With a pat-a-pat-pat, 
 With one, two, three, 
 For each little knee. 
 
 " By and by in work and play, 
 They'll be busy all the day ; 
 Wading in the water clear, 
 Running swift for mother dear. 
 
 So this way and that, 
 
 With a pat-a-pat-pat, 
 
 And one, two, three, 
 
 Tor each little knee." 
 
 As given in the Blow translation of Froe- 
 bel's Mother Play, realizing that long 
 before he conld understand the words the 
 love expressed in her voice and the 
 thought in her mind were making an im- 
 pression on the awakening mind and heart 
 of her child. To vary the game she some- 
 times took hold of the little legs as he 
 threw them out and gave them a little 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 57 
 
 push as he drew them back, as suggested 
 by Mrs. Proudfoot in " A Year with the 
 Mother-Play." 
 
 Before very long Robert could play the 
 game by himself if a pillow were placed 
 at the foot of the crib for him to kick 
 against, leaving Mother free to tidy the 
 room or attend to other duties as she 
 sang. 
 
 A little later the noise made by kicking 
 a newspaper spread over the pillow gave 
 him great pleasure, while one thrown en- 
 tirely over him as he lay on the bed or 
 floor drew out much vigorous tossing of 
 arms and legs and gurgles of delight when 
 he succeeded in freeing himself from it, 
 and again saw Mother's smiling face and 
 heard the words of encouragement with 
 which she was always so ready when he 
 had put forth effort to overcome. 
 
58 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Meditating on the effort made even in 
 baby-hood to overcome difficulties and the 
 evident joy in achievement, she was led 
 to understand the pleasure of boys in 
 wrestling, climbing, running races and so 
 forth, and to feel how necessary such 
 activity was in the development of a 
 strong, hardy, self-reliant character as well 
 as in bodily growth, and what a mistake 
 we make in forbidding or attempting to 
 restrain such activity. 
 
 An effort was being made at that time 
 to fit up the school play-grounds with 
 gymnastic apparatus for both boys and 
 girls, and also to have them open on Sat- 
 urdays and through the summer vacation 
 with a competent person in charge, and 
 to these schemes Mr. Brown now gladly 
 gave his time and thought, wondering 
 how he had ever been indifferent to these 
 
■ 
 
 PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 59 
 
 matters which now seemed of such great 
 importance. 
 
 At a meeting called to discuss the using 
 of school funds for this purpose, at which 
 the opposition party was very strong, such 
 inspiration was awakened through the 
 reading by him of part of the chapter on 
 " Play as an Educational Factor " in Mr. 
 Hughes' " Froebel's Educational Laws 
 for all Teachers/' that not only was the 
 motion carried, but many parents and 
 teachers were led to read this splendid 
 educational work, to the great benefit 
 not only of their children but of them- 
 selves, and the few who had long been 
 working for a truer system of education 
 felt that the new day was indeed dawn- 
 ing. 
 
 When the little cousins joined the 
 Brown family they were greatly inter- 
 
60 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 ested in this game of Baby's and loved to 
 help him play it. 
 
 Mrs. Brown showed them the picture 
 which accompanies the song in the Mother 
 Play book, and was greatly interested in 
 their many questions about it. The first 
 thing they noticed was the Mother playing 
 with her baby just as Auntie played with 
 Robert, and they were intensely interested 
 when it was explained to them that this 
 was a little German baby, for a dear 
 friend had gone some time before to Ger- 
 many and had sent them from there some 
 beautiful post-cards, and that his mother 
 was playing that bab} r 's feet were stamp- 
 ing oil out of poppies for the lamp which 
 burned for him at night just as the big 
 wheels did in the mills of that country. 
 
 They became so interested in the chil- 
 dren playing with the toy water-wheel in 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 61 
 
 the picture that Uncle was called upon 
 to assist in making one like it, and a happy 
 afternoon was spent playing with it in a 
 little stream on a hill near by. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown gained much help 
 from this game in guiding and training 
 their little brood, and the commentaries 
 written thereon. It showed them so 
 plainly the danger of allowing children's 
 activity to expend itself in aimless, im- 
 pulsive actions instead of guiding it into 
 proper channels, as well as that of at- 
 tempting to repress it. They saw that a 
 child must be active if he is to develop 
 normally, but that he is not wise enough 
 to guide this tremendous force unaided; 
 that instead of simply saying " stop " or 
 " be quiet " when his activity is leading 
 him in wrong directions we should turn 
 it into new and better channels. 
 
62 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Miss Blow's " Letters to a Mother " 
 fell in their way about this time and 
 opened up to them a whole new world of 
 insight into the meaning of life and 
 broadened and deepened their lives in a 
 wonderful way. 
 
 " Oh, that all parents could be led to 
 study and understand these truths! " ex- 
 claimed Mrs. Brown more than once. 
 
 The chapter in this book dealing with 
 the " Kicking Song," or " Play with the 
 Limbs," and bearing the significant title 
 " Self Making," with its inspiring mes- 
 sage, " The characteristic quality of hu- 
 manity is precisely the ability to over- 
 come defect," and " Our conscious and 
 voluntary lives are merely island peaks 
 rising out of an unconscious ocean of be- 
 ing," stirred them deeply and was read 
 and re-read many times. 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 63 
 
 Nursie's plan with the children had 
 been to make everything easy for them 
 and to excuse faults on the ground that 
 one was naturally discontented, another 
 nervous or excitable and so on. She knew 
 nothing of the bracing theory that man 
 is in this world on purpose to overcome 
 defect and rise to ever higher and higher 
 ground, and that there is no other source 
 of true joy than that of overcoming, and 
 therefore she tried " to shield the chil- 
 dren rather than to arm them," and the 
 poor children suffered in consequence. 
 
 For alas, like many children, they were 
 practically motherless, for she who bore 
 them was so taken up with interests out- 
 side the home that she was in truth a 
 stranger to her children's real lives, 
 though she would have much resented 
 such an accusation! 
 
 k 
 
64 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 She always meant to have more time 
 for the children by and by, and like many 
 persons made the mistake of thinking that 
 the first years were not very important 
 except for physical growth, and that good 
 schools and teachers later on would make 
 up for anything missed in early life. 
 
 Thank God, this all too prevalent sup- 
 position is fast losing ground, and more 
 and more the world is coming to realize, 
 what the sages of all times have taught, 
 namely the tremendous importance of the 
 first years! 
 
 For too long have we imagined that 
 anyone could lay the foundation, provided 
 an artist could be secured to put on the 
 finishing touches, and so ignorant nurse- 
 maids have been allowed to answer as 
 best they could the first questioning of 
 the soul as it finds itself in this new and 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 65 
 
 untried world, and young, inexperienced 
 teachers have been placed in charge of the 
 primary grades in our schools! 
 
 While little Robert was given exercise 
 for mind, body and heart by means of 
 games with his limbs and with his balls, 
 accompanied by caressing words, songs 
 and smiles, the older children were helped 
 to gain theirs by much play and work 
 both indoors and out. 
 
 The yard with its big swing, its see-saw, 
 its trees and ladders to climb, its sliding- 
 board (a wide board inclined against the 
 wall, up which the children ran and then 
 slid down), its bats and balls, sand-pile 
 and garden-beds, was such an attractive 
 place, so full of life and activity, joyous 
 shouts and laughter, that other children 
 in the neighbourhood soon found their 
 way to the gate and looked longingly in. 
 
66 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Nursie would have sent them away, but 
 Mrs. Brown's heart was too large and her 
 sense of brotherhood too keen, to shut out 
 any child. 
 
 Why, Nursie," she 
 said laughingly as the 
 former was calling Lulu 
 and Jamie back when 
 they ran to speak to 
 two little ones who 
 were peeping in, "I thought I over- 
 heard you telling the children the story of 
 the good Samaritan just this morning, and 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 67 
 
 impressing upon them the principle of 
 neighbourliness; they are only seizing the 
 first opportunity of carrying out your 
 teaching, — don't stop them/' and going 
 to the gate she invited the little ones 
 in. 
 
 Later on she explained, " I don't intend 
 to throw our children indiscriminately 
 amongst all the children of the neighbour- 
 hood; I have made the agreement that no 
 child shall come in unless you or I invite 
 him, so they will only be here while one 
 of us is present when no harm can be 
 done. Our children need more companion- 
 ship, and while providing it we may be 
 enabled to help some other little soul, 
 which we must not refuse to do when the 
 opportunity is given us. I never could 
 understand how children could be brought 
 up as Christians and at the same time 
 
68 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 debarred from friendly intercourse with 
 the children about them. 
 
 " My one regret is that we have no 
 Kindergarten where all the children could 
 meet daily under the wise supervision of 
 a trained kindergartner. 
 
 " Jamie especially is craving more free 
 companionship with boys of his own age 
 and we must provide it." 
 
 So instead of four children there were 
 more often to be found a score or so of 
 little ones at play in the yard, or, in bad 
 weather, the big playroom upstairs, and 
 out of this small beginning there grew in 
 the course of the next few years a Kin- 
 dergarten, Primary School and Training 
 Class which were the pride of the neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 It was some little time before Nursie 
 could be quite reconciled to occasional 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 69 
 
 bruises, scratches and cuts on the little 
 bodies which she had so carefully guarded, 
 but both Mr. and Mrs. Brown felt that to 
 learn to suffer small injuries without com- 
 plaint was one of life's greatest lessons 
 and a habit which could not be too early 
 inculcated. 
 
 It was a proud moment for them when 
 Jamie came sucking a cut finger and 
 bravery keeping back the tears as he 
 exclaimed, " I don't care if I did cut my 
 finger, I made a boat anyhow." 
 
 " That's the stuff heroes are made of," 
 said Mr. Brown in an undertone to his 
 wife. It had taken months of encouraging 
 and cheering on, with some laughing at, 
 together with many stories of brave boys 
 and men who were indifferent to suffer- 
 ing when they had some great object to 
 achieve, to bring him to this point, for 
 
70 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 when he came to them he was a veritable 
 little coward, crying over the slightest 
 bump or knock and ready to give up any 
 scheme at the faintest suggestion of pos- 
 sible danger. 
 
 So when Lulu fell off the see-saw and 
 scratched her knee, instead of fussing over 
 her and telling her not to get on it again, 
 her Aunt and Uncle would say, " Never 
 mind, little girl, you're too big to cry, it 
 will stop smarting just in a minute/ ' and 
 helping her on again would show her how 
 to hold more tightly and watch more 
 carefully. 
 
 It took much talking and a good deal 
 of scheming and planning on Mrs. Brown's 
 part to break Nursie of the habit of doing 
 for the children instead of teaching them 
 to do for themselves, thus making them 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 71 
 
 dependent slaves instead of developing 
 self - reliance and self - reverence. She 
 would rather pick up and put away for 
 them than train them to do such things, 
 but this Mrs. Brown would not allow, for 
 she wished them early to feel a joyful 
 sense of responsibility and power to ac- 
 complish. 
 
 Low shelves and hooks were arranged 
 in the Nursery and the children expected 
 to hang up their coats and hats and put 
 away their toys. The doing of this was 
 not made a burden but rather a joy by 
 means of games, songs and stories. When 
 beads and blocks were scattered on the 
 floor Auntie would call for squirrels to 
 gather nuts and fill their holes (boxes) 
 and praise the one who was quickest and 
 gathered the most, or changing the words 
 
72 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 of the song " Merry Little Men " in the 
 dearly loved Finger Play Book, to suit 
 the circumstance, she would sing,— 
 
 " Oh ! where are the merry, merry little men 
 To help me work to-day, 
 And where are the merry, merry little men 
 To put these toys away ? " 
 
 Sometimes when there was reluctance 
 to help on the part of some of the little 
 men, the one who came first or did most 
 would be surprised by an unexpected 
 lump of sugar or other mark of approval. 
 
 The children were early trained to look 
 upon their fingers as a little band of 
 workers over which they had control, and 
 as an aid to this were taught the fascinat- 
 ing Finger Songs of the Mother Play 
 Book. 
 
 Mrs. Brown early discovered what a 
 great aid music could be in controlling 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 73 
 
 and guiding the little ones. When clouds 
 gathered as they would at times, and 
 thunder began to roll and lightning to 
 flash, a merry song or two quickly dis- 
 pelled the storm and brought back the 
 sunshine; the children went off willingly 
 and happily to bed if Auntie or Uncle 
 played a lively march for them to march 
 upstairs to; when they found it difficult 
 to settle down to proper order and quiet- 
 ness for meals Auntie would begin to sing 
 and the children join in the verse: 
 
 " Softly, softly, softly, 
 We take our places at our meal 
 Softly, softly, softly, 
 As quiet children love to do," 
 
 and the quiet tune would quickly bring 
 order out of disorder without tears or feel- 
 ings of resentment. 
 
74 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Tears sprang to Mrs. Brown's eyes 
 when little May ran to her one day with 
 a very red face and said, " Auntie, sing 
 ' Dod (God) is Love/ tos me tocked 
 (chocked)/' for she felt the little one was 
 indeed learning all unconsciously where 
 to find comfort and relief, and as she held 
 the little form close to her with a whis- 
 pered " God loves May," ere she sent her 
 off to her play, she felt abundantly re- 
 warded for the time and thought she 
 had spent on these songs and plays. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown had been much 
 impressed by the following thought given 
 by Mr. Snider in his commentary on the 
 Mother Play. " One of the great dif- 
 ficulties in the training of the child comes 
 from the fact that he receives food, rai- 
 ment and shelter and perhaps a great deal 
 more without any effort on his part. 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 75 
 
 " A necessary donation, but it has a 
 dangerous side; the child gets to think- 
 ing that he has a permanent right to 
 such support. He has done nothing, has 
 been taught to do nothing for what he 
 obtains from his parents. Self-reliance 
 is thus undermined by the domestic rela- 
 tion, unless the parent takes the means to 
 counteract it at the start. Nay, the idea 
 of getting something for nothing may be- 
 come ingrained and lead to gambling, 
 speculation and even crime; it may lead 
 to theft, which is the shortest cut." 
 
 They felt that here they had the key 
 to unlock the problem of much of the 
 selfishness, idleness and dishonesty in the 
 world around us, and pondering deeply 
 how to avoid this quagmire in training their 
 young brood, they decided that no child 
 was too young to have some task to per- 
 
76 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 form each day for the good of the family, 
 therefore instead of having a servant dust 
 and keep in order the nursery the little 
 ones worked with Auntie and Nursie to 
 do this each day, and probably there was 
 no part .of the day more thoroughly en- 
 joyed, for what small child does not love 
 to dust, shine and rub as she sees grown 
 people doing. Tiny brooms and dust-pans 
 were amongst their most beloved posses- 
 sions, and joy of joys, on Saturdays they 
 were allowed to try their hands at wash- 
 ing windows and scrubbing shelves as well 
 as to wash, hang out to dry and finally 
 iron dolls' clothes, dusters and towels. Of 
 course this made much more work than to 
 have a servant do it, and occasional acci- 
 dents in the way of spilled water and wet 
 clothes were to be expected, but all this 
 Mrs. Brown counted as nothing when 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 77 
 
 compared with the forming of habits of 
 industry and helpfulness. She was also 
 continually on the watch for other small 
 
 jobs which the children with a little help 
 could perform. An occasional morning 
 was spent in putting the yard in order, 
 gathering up scraps of paper and dead 
 leaves, sweeping the lawn and so on. 
 
78 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Sometimes on a cold, rainy fall after- 
 noon Uncle would come home tired and 
 wet to find a bright fire, his chair drawn 
 up to it, his slippers toasting, Baby Rob- 
 ert performing his part by sitting solemnly 
 on the rug tightly hugging the evening 
 paper, and the joy that comes from un- 
 selfish effort for the comfort of others 
 beaming in each face as the children ex- 
 claimed, " We did it. We did it. We 
 tidied the room for you, too." 
 
 Jamie never forgot one unhappy eve- 
 ning when he had selfishly refused to leave 
 his building and help in these joyful prep- 
 arations, how while the others were shar- 
 ing kisses, caresses and happy jokes he 
 stood a little apart unable through his own 
 act to make one of the happy circle, appar- 
 ently for the moment forgotten by every 
 one: not one word was said about his 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 79 
 
 selfishness, but lie never needed another 
 lesson along that line. 
 
 Often Auntie would leave the group 
 in the playroom or on the lawn and return 
 with a big dish of peas to be shelled or 
 radishes or celery to be carefully washed, 
 and when some hours later they sat down 
 to dinner it was with the happy feeling 
 that each had done something to prepare 
 the meal. 
 
 Nursie was directed to have all the 
 basting threads left in new garments for 
 the children to pull out, and Jamie was 
 a proud boy, when, after many attempts 
 he succeeded in sewing on buttons so they 
 would stay. 
 
 Mrs. Brown was surprised when she set 
 herself to look for them how many things 
 there were that even the smallest child 
 could do to help, and her heart rejoiced 
 
80 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 as she found in what simple ways the 
 lesson of " each for all and all for each ' 
 could be inculcated and a child helped 
 from the beginning of life to realize that 
 he is a member of a great whole, with a 
 place to fill and a work to do for that 
 whole, and she realized as never before 
 how the failure to provide such daily 
 experiences in childhood must result in 
 selfishness and narrowness in later life. 
 
 " Each age has duties from whose per- 
 formance it may not be released. Child- 
 hood forms no exception to this general 
 law. Happjr the child who is led, even 
 though unconsciously, to act in accord- 
 ance with its claims. Duties are not bur- 
 dens but privileges. The path of duty 
 leads to light and to all the blessings con- 
 ferred by light. Therefore each normal 
 
PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 81 
 
 and healthy child gladly fulfils duties/' 
 savs Froebel. 
 
 " The home is not a home nor the fam- 
 ily a family unless each does his share," 
 says another writer. 
 
 It is a false kindness to try to save 
 from effort. " Our truest friend is not 
 he who makes things easy for us, but he 
 who makes us do our best." 
 
 That their children might daily grow 
 stronger in body, in mind, and in char- 
 acter was the conscious aim which Mr. 
 and Mrs. Brown kept ever before them, 
 and to achieve this they were willing, nay 
 glad, to give their lives, and in so doing 
 they found, as every true teacher and 
 parent does find, that " He that watereth 
 shall be watered also himself." 
 
The Mother calls " Cuckoo ! " to baby now, 
 But there shall come erelong another call, 
 
 Hidden, yet near, 
 And oh so soft and low, 
 
 The child must listen well if he would hear! 
 
 At first it seems a call from other where, 
 But, heeded well, it enters the child's soul, 
 
 A dweller meet; 
 And ever henceforth there 
 
 Mingles its mandates with his heart's life-beat. 
 
 — Fkoebel. 
 
CHAPTER HI 
 
 THE FALLING GAME 
 
 While little Robert was enjoying the 
 Kicking Game described in the last chap- 
 ter, he was also enjoying the Falling 
 Game of the Mother Play Book. 
 
 As he lay on his back on the bed, or 
 on a pillow placed on the table, his 
 mother wonld put her hands beneath him 
 and raise him to a half-sitting position, 
 then withdrawing them would let him fall 
 back on the bed or pillow, singing as she 
 did so the song by Emilie Poulsson in the 
 Blow edition: 
 
 " Down goes baby, 
 
 Mother's pet; 
 85 
 
86 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Up comes baby, 
 
 Laughing yet. 
 Baby well may laugh at harm, 
 While beneath is mother's arm. 
 
 " Down goes baby, 
 
 Without fear, 
 
 Up comes baby 
 
 Gaily here, 
 All is joy for baby while 
 In the light of mother's smile." 
 
THE FALLING GAME 87 
 
 Or, she would raise him by taking hold 
 of his hands, then quietly letting them 
 slip from her own he would fall back 
 upon the bed with a slight shock. 
 
 The first time or two this game was 
 played, when baby felt himself slipping 
 away from his mother his face showed 
 a slight sense of fear, but mother's face 
 was shining upon him and her loving 
 voice reassuring him that all was well, 
 so he soon smiled back and by and by 
 greatly enjoyed this play, while the tone 
 of Mrs. Brown's voice grew richer and 
 deeper as she realized more and more that 
 by means of such play her baby was 
 learning to truly trust her, to feel that 
 all was indeed well, " While beneath is 
 mother's arm," for was he not finding 
 through actual experience that he could 
 safely trust both her wisdom and her 
 
88 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 love? while at the same time the con- 
 sciousness of his own inherent strength 
 and power was awakening within him, 
 as he dimly sensed the truth of his own 
 individuality. 
 
 That they might so live day by day 
 that he need never unlearn this lesson, 
 never face the sad experience of finding 
 that father and mother could not be fully, 
 implicitly trusted, was the deepest longing 
 of these parents. 
 
 More earnestly than ever before in their 
 lives they longed to be sincere, for they 
 felt that another soul was leaning on 
 them, another soul looking to them to 
 guide aright his first steps in this new, 
 untried world, and from the depth of 
 their hearts rose the prayer that they 
 might themselves be all that they desired 
 their son to be, for well they knew that 
 
THE FALLING GAME 89 
 
 " living the life " was the only influence 
 which would really tell in their dealings 
 with their children. 
 
 " If you'd bind your little one to you, 
 Bind your own self to all that's high and true 
 And let its light shine clear through all you do." 
 
 So Mrs. Brown and Robert day after 
 day played this Falling Game until, as 
 he grew stronger and more confident, she 
 was able to raise him higher and higher, 
 and letting him fall back receive an 
 answering smile of recognition that knit 
 their hearts closer and closer together, 
 though she kept always in mind Froebel's 
 admonition, " One must not wilfully go 
 on with this or that play in opposition 
 to the wish of the child, but always follow 
 the child's circumstances, requirements, 
 and needs, and his own expressions of 
 
90 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 life and activity," also that of Mr. Snider 
 in his commentary, " This play, like every 
 kind of play, can be carried to excess in 
 various directions. 
 
 " The tossing can be so rough that the 
 child is frightened, thus he is cowed and 
 his growth towards independence is de- 
 layed rather than promoted. The limit is 
 carefully marked in the song: the child 
 must show his recovery by the smile, the 
 smile of recognition, after the act of cast- 
 ing him off." 
 
 Pondering the thought that in such a 
 game as this the child's faith is awakened, 
 the parents were much interested in study- 
 ing the definitions of faith given by vari- 
 ous writers as well as in tracing the steps 
 to be taken in developing it. Drummond 
 thus defines it, " Faith is but an attitude, 
 an empty hand for grasping an environing 
 
THE FALLING GAME 91 
 
 presence/' while Miss Blow speaks of it 
 as " the active instinct of sonship and 
 brotherhood," " an impulsive leap of the 
 individual toward the universal spirit/' 
 " the electric line over which spiritual life 
 is both communicated and discharged." 
 
 They were much impressed by the 
 thought of Pestalozzi given in the words, 
 " I must love men, trust them, thank 
 them, obey them before I can rise to lov- 
 ing, thanking, trusting, obeying God. 
 6 For he who loveth not his brother whom 
 he hath seen, how shall he love his Father 
 in Heaven whom he hath not seen? ' " and 
 more deeply than ever they felt what a 
 responsibility it is to be " A grown-up in 
 a world of growing-ups. ' ' 
 
 Feeling with Miss Blow that " The 
 nurture of childhood must be rooted and 
 grounded in faith," and that "It is the 
 
92 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 first and all important duty of the educa- 
 tor to win faith by deserving it," they 
 wrote in large letters and placed upon 
 the wall where their eyes would continu- 
 ally fall upon it the resolve, " We will 
 say no word to our boy which we do not 
 sincerely mean." 
 
 A homely phrase, but one which they 
 felt contained much wisdom in dealing 
 with a child. 
 
 In meditating on how to hold and keep 
 their child's faith in themselves they felt 
 that the one thing they must guard most 
 carefully was that unruly member, the 
 tongue. 
 
 Through contact with many different 
 parents and children they were led to 
 see that the root of disobedience lay very 
 often in the habit of thoughtless, unmean- 
 ing words on the part of the former. 
 
THE FALLING GAME 93 
 
 How often a parent refuses a child's 
 request or gives a command without ever 
 giving the subject a moment's earnest 
 consideration ! 
 
 How often the child early finds that 
 the parents' yea is not yea, nor his nay, 
 nay! 
 
 Is it an unusual sight to see a child 
 forbidden to do a certain thing and, after 
 some teasing, often alas! some kicking 
 and screaming, allowed to do it? 
 
 Have you never looked on while a 
 mother told her small child a half-dozen 
 times to stop doing something while the 
 child calmly went on to all appearance 
 as deaf as a stone to his mother's voice? 
 
 If we really studied this question of 
 obedience, if we took it as we ought to 
 take every problem, into the closet, and 
 laying the matter before Him to whom 
 
94 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 all hearts are open, all desires known, 
 then in the silence reverently and ex- 
 pectantly awaited the answer which as- 
 suredly would not be denied us, should 
 we not find that the root of disobedience 
 lies far more in ourselves than in our 
 children! 
 
 Should we not have to face the truth 
 that many of our commands and prohibi- 
 tions spring not from earnest conviction 
 on the subject, but simply from custom or 
 from the impulse of the moment, and so 
 the child early learns that our " no " can 
 be easily changed into " yes " or safely 
 ignored altogether! 
 
 Does not the boy who said, " Mother 
 said I could not go, but 111 just keep still 
 a day or two and then probably she will 
 have forgotten what she said," or the 
 little girl who remarked with a toss of 
 
THE FALLING GAME 95 
 
 her curls, " Mother said she'd have some 
 cherries for us when we got home, but I 
 don't suppose she will, she's always say- 
 ing she'll do things and then not doing 
 them," give us an insight into the char- 
 acter of too many parents? 
 
 We don't mean to be untrue or to de- 
 ceive our children, we have only fallen 
 into the habit of saying something and 
 forgetting the next moment what we did 
 say, but alas! by such thoughtlessness 
 many a little child's faith is undermined 
 in the very beginning of life and the seeds 
 of disobedience planted by our own hands. 
 
 Is it not a truism that the man or 
 woman who really deserves the faith and 
 confidence of his fellow-men, has it? And 
 is it not equally true that the parent or 
 teacher who in his daily life proves to the 
 children that he is a strong rock, an an- 
 
95 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 chor in which they can in time of neces- 
 sity safely trust, will be respected and 
 obeyed? A child naturally feels that he 
 is in a world whose laws he does not fully 
 understand and is glad to follow the guid- 
 ance of one in whom he has implicit con- 
 fidence. 
 
 A teacher once wrote to the corre- 
 spondence editor of an educational paper 
 asking for advice as to how to deal with 
 pupils who persistently disobeyed him. 
 The answer he received was, " If you 
 are a new teacher you must have patience 
 until you win the confidence of your 
 pupils. If, however, you have been for 
 some time in this school and are still dis- 
 obeyed you had better choose some other 
 position in life. You are a misfit in the 
 schoolroom." 
 
 In the " Education of Man " Froebel 
 
THE FALLING GAME 97 
 
 gives us the following pregnant sentences: 
 " Between educator and pupil, between 
 request and obedience, there should in- 
 visibly rule a third something, to which 
 educator and pupil are equally subject. 
 This third something is the right, the 
 best, necessarily conditioned and ex- 
 pressed without arbitrariness in the cir- 
 cumstances. The calm recognition, the 
 clear knowledge, and the serene cheerful 
 obedience to the rule of this third some- 
 thing is the particular feature which 
 should be constantly and clearly manifest 
 in the bearing and conduct of the edu- 
 cator and teacher, and often firmly and 
 sternly emphasized by him. 
 
 " The child, the pupil, has a very keen 
 feeling, a very clear apprehension, and 
 rarely fails to distinguish whether what 
 the educator or the father says or re- 
 
98 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 quests is personal or arbitrary or whether 
 it is expressed by him as a general law 
 and necessity. This obedience, this trust- 
 ful yielding to an unchangeable third 
 principle to which pupil and teacher are 
 equally subject, should appear even in the 
 smallest details of every demand of the 
 educator and teacher.' ' 
 
 So while Mrs. Brown was striving to 
 awaken and nourish little Robert's faith 
 in herself by such games and plays as 
 this Falling Game, both she and her hus- 
 band were earnestly striving to train 
 themselves never to give a command or 
 refuse a request, whether in word or ac- 
 tion, for very many of the little child's 
 desires are made known by the latter 
 means, without first weighing the matter. 
 Having done this, they were sure of the 
 ground upon which they stood and so > 
 
THE FALLING GAME 99 
 
 could speak with a quiet decision which 
 in itself commanded obedience, and the 
 children learning from the beginning that 
 their word having gone forth neither 
 tears or teasing could avail anything, these 
 were almost unknown in the Brown fam- 
 
 iiy. 
 
 Of course they frequently failed to live 
 up to this ideal, but they accepted Gold- 
 smith's saying, " The true glory of life 
 consists not in never falling, but in rising 
 every time we fall." Mrs. Brown found 
 herself sometimes saying, " Don't " first 
 and then stopping to consider whether 
 there was any real reason why the child 
 should not do as he wished, instead of 
 thinking before speaking, but knowing 
 her weakness she persisted until she 
 overcame it. She fully tested the advice 
 she gave to mothers in after years, 
 
100 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 " When the word ' Don't ' or ' Stop ' is 
 on yonr lips hold it back until you have 
 put to yourself and answered the question, 
 ' Is there any real, sensible reason why 
 the child should not do as he is doing? ' 
 and you will be surprised to find how 
 seldom you can give an affirmative an- 
 
 swer." 
 
 The children therefore had much free- 
 dom to follow their natural desires and 
 inclinations, and when they were refused 
 a request or given a command they ac- 
 cepted with the feeling that there was 
 some good reason behind it, they instinc- 
 tively felt and obe} r ed this invisible 
 " Third something " to which he who 
 gave the command was equally subject 
 with them. 
 
 They realized " vaguely at first but 
 clearer by and by " that their parents' 
 
THE FALLING GAME 101 
 
 commands were founded, not on personal 
 whim or prejudice, not, as a child often 
 expresses it, " Because father or mother 
 is cross, or tired, or busy," but because 
 it was the right, the best thing to do under 
 the circumstances, what they themselves 
 would do if in the child's place. 
 
 Their parents were simply voicing for 
 them a universal law, and so they obeyed 
 without the feeling of being coerced by 
 a stronger personality. 
 
 Do we not all instinctively follow the 
 advice of one whom we feel knows more 
 in any given line than we do? 
 
 When the relation between parent and 
 child is one of mutual trust and con- 
 fidence, obedience follows as a natural re- 
 sult. Disobedience arises from a lack of 
 perfect confidence — the confidence which 
 every little child instinctively has in grown 
 
102 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 persons, especially in his parents, but 
 which alas! is often so early destroyed 
 because he finds us unworthy of trust. 
 
 Another educational principle which 
 they found invaluable in their life with 
 the little ones was that of changing the 
 centre of interest when the child's activ- 
 ity w r as leading him in wrong or unwise 
 directions. 
 
 Instead of scolding Jamie w T hen he 
 drew pictures on the wall, or the margin 
 of books, they supplied him with an 
 abundance of paper and pencils, and a 
 blackboard, and then insisted that he 
 should draw nowhere else. 
 
 Lulu's desire to investigate other 
 people's drawers and boxes was over- 
 come by giving her a drawer and boxes 
 of her own, with treasures to keep in 
 
104 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 them, and allowing no one to touch them 
 without her permission, helping her thus 
 to respect " the rights of property.' ' 
 Little May's fingers were kept so busy 
 that she had no time to get into mis- 
 chief. 
 
 Thus through being sympathetically, 
 intelligently nurtured by those whose 
 lives were founded, not on the sands of 
 impulse and personal feeling, hut on the 
 strong rock of universal principle, the 
 children daily grew in faith and love 
 towards their fellow-men, thus taking 
 firmly and securely the first step on the 
 ladder set up from earth to heaven. 
 
 Like all parents and teachers, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Brown were continually tried and 
 tested by the young people around them, 
 but so earnest and sincere were they, so 
 anxious to live up to their responsibilities, 
 
THE FALLING GAME 105 
 
 that though weighed in the balance they 
 were not found wanting. 
 
 They, too, learned the lesson of the 
 Falling Game, and though they often 
 slipped and stumbled, their mistakes only 
 made them take a firmer hold of them- 
 selves and realize the more fully that 
 just as 
 
 " Baby well may laugh at harm 
 While beneath his mother's arm," 
 
 so they too could be happy and joyous 
 as they remembered that " The eternal 
 God is thy refuge and underneath are 
 the everlasting arms." 
 
 As the consciousness of mother's love 
 stirred the heart and brought forth the 
 answering smile on little Robert's face, 
 so the ever-growing consciousness of the 
 loving presence of " Him in whom we live 
 
106 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 and move and have our being " brought 
 strength and joy to his parents. 
 
 In explaining the Falling Game, Froebel 
 tells us that the child must slip back with 
 sufficient force to feel a slight shock. The 
 mother, who is acting the part of Provi- 
 dence, is instructed, as it were, to push 
 her child from her and to push him with 
 such force that he shall feel the separa- 
 tion; but while separating him physically 
 and helping him to a consciousness of 
 the separation she binds him to her 
 spiritually by her love expressed in song 
 and smile as well as in the care she takes 
 that he shall suffer no real harm. 
 
 But why thus separate her child from 
 her? The mother who loves her child 
 " not wisely but too well," who feels that 
 her mission is to save him from every 
 tear or trial, who, to use her own words, 
 
THE FALLING GAME 107 
 
 " Loves her children so dearly that she 
 cannot bear to see them shed a tear," will 
 not like this game or its teaching. 
 
 But the mother who realizes that for 
 her child as for herself, 
 
 " Not enjoyment and not sorrow 
 Is the destined end or way, 
 But to act that each to-morrow, 
 Find us further than to-day," 
 
 will see in this little game an opportunity 
 to help her child towards a consciousness 
 of himself as an individual separate from 
 other individuals and from things, a 
 consciousness which he must gain before 
 he can enter upon his birthright and ful- 
 fil his destiny as a free, responsible being. 
 
 " The baby new to earth and sky, 
 What time his tender palm is prest 
 Against the circle of the breast 
 Has never thought that, ' this is I.' 
 
108 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 " But as he grows he gathers much 
 And learns the use of ' I ' and ' Me/ 
 And finds ' I am not what I see 
 And other than the things I touch.' 
 
 " So rounds he to a separate mind 
 From whence clear memory may begin, 
 As through the frame that binds him in 
 His isolation grows defined," 
 
 as Tennyson so beautifully puts it in 
 " In Memoriam. ' ' 
 
 Froebel's belief was that the groping 
 soul may be much helped " in rounding 
 to a separate mind," by games. 
 
 The little game of hiding baby's face 
 behind a handkerchief, or on Mother's 
 breast, then hailing its re-appearance with 
 delight, which is played in almost every 
 nursery, but which, because no deep mean- 
 ing is recognized in it, is played only 
 
THE FALLING GAME 109 
 
 occasionally and with little intelligence 
 on the part of the grown-up participator, 
 was a regular feature of nursery life in 
 
 -^ 
 
 the Browns' home, the parents realizing 
 that the moment of separation with the 
 joyful re-union was helping baby to 
 " find himself." 
 
110 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 " Why does my little one laugh so, and crow 
 With pretty exultant pride 
 When I find him at last, after feigning long 
 To look for him far and wide ? 
 
 " Ah, well may a note of exulting be heard 
 In the laugh of the sweet little elf! 
 He triumphs not only because he is found, 
 But because he is finding himself. 
 
 " He feels that his being is something apart 
 From the people and things that surround; 
 He knows what is meant when his name is called 
 
 out 
 When he hides, that tis he must be found. 
 
 " Play on, gentle mother, play on with thy child, 
 But his deeper life never forget ; 
 He has reached a new stage, with new need of thy 
 
 care, 
 To guard where new dangers beset. 
 
 " With reverent love greet each wakening power, 
 And turn its glad eyes to the light ; 
 He hides now in sport, but he never will hide 
 His opening soul from thy sight." 
 
THE FALLING GAME 111 
 
 Is the beautiful motto to one of the Hid- 
 ing Games of the Mother Play Book. 
 
 The older children also spent many 
 happy hours both out-doors and within 
 playing hide and seek, Aunt and Uncle's 
 hearty interest adding much to their joy. 
 Little May dearly loved the Cuckoo game, 
 in which she or one of the other children 
 hid themselves from view and then re- 
 vealed their hiding place by softly calling 
 " Cuckoo.' ' Often while Auntie sat sew- 
 ing she would hide behind a door or 
 curtain and Auntie would call " Cuckoo " 
 and receive the same call in reply. Being 
 hidden from view and yet able to com- 
 municate by voice seemed to give her in- 
 tense pleasure, and she would keep as 
 still as a mouse listening for the dear 
 voice. Robert, too, soon enjoyed having 
 his face hidden for a minute while he 
 
112 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 listened. Thus were these little ones 
 being prepared to listen for and obey the 
 still, small voice within. 
 
 In all these games Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
 were careful to avoid the danger pointed 
 out by Froebel of the children learning 
 to love concealment by making the chief 
 joy of the game that of the happy re- 
 union. 
 
 Kisses, hugs, smiles, happiness always 
 greeted the child when after his few mo- 
 ments of separation he came again into 
 view. 
 
 For as Miss Blow tells us in her book, 
 " Symbolic Education," " In every at- 
 tempt to apply practically the insight into 
 estrangement and return, the important 
 thing to remember is that alienation is 
 always means to an end. The child who 
 hides too long in play may do something 
 
THE FALLING GAME 113 
 
 which will create a desire to hide in 
 earnest. 
 
 " The boy whose adventures at school, 
 in the field, on the playground, are not 
 poured into his mother's ears and inter- 
 preted by her sympathy will be led away 
 from her instead of being drawn nearer 
 to her by these alien experiences. The 
 student may lose himself so completely 
 in the past that he can never find himself 
 in the present, the traveller may wander 
 too long in foreign lands and thus kill his 
 love of country. . . . Separation for union, 
 estrangement for return, is the watch- 
 word of education, and the impetus 
 through which individual life widens from 
 a mere point to infinitude." 
 
 So these parents held ever before them 
 the two-fold purpose of helping each 
 child to " find himself: " to know himself 
 
114 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 a separate individual having his own life 
 to lead, his own place to fill in the world, 
 and at the same time drawing each one 
 nearer and yet nearer to them and so to 
 all humanity by the invisible bond of 
 love. 
 
 Their rule with the children was never 
 to do for them what they could with a 
 little help and showing do for themselves, 
 that the feeling of their own power, their 
 own ability to accomplish might grow 
 with their growth. 
 
 When little Eobert dropped his play- 
 things or sent them out of reach, they 
 were not constantly picked up and given 
 back to him, but he was carried to them 
 and encouraged and helped to pick them 
 up himself, while the older children were 
 trained at any early age to dress and 
 undress themselves and to feel pride in 
 
THE FALLING GAME 115 
 
 being able to do so. In every way pos- 
 sible they were trained to do for them- 
 selves, to be self-reliant. 
 Little May was so happy when at last, 
 
 after many trials, she conld button her 
 own shoes, that for several days the but- 
 ton-hook was seldom out of her hands 
 and her shoes were taken off and put on at 
 intervals all through the day. 
 
 f 
 
116 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Nursie had the bad habit when she 
 first came of blaming the articles about 
 her for any little accident that occurred. 
 When, for instance, Lulu running pell- 
 mell through the hall bumped her head 
 against the door, she would comfort her 
 by saying, " Naughty door to hurt my 
 pet, we will just whip it," and was greatly 
 surprised when Mrs. Brown pointed out 
 to her what a stumbling block she was 
 placing in the child's way by teaching 
 her to lay the blame on something exter- 
 nal instead of seeking the cause in her 
 own lack of care and self-control. 
 
 Her plan was, after kissing the bumped 
 place and wiping away the tears, to show 
 the child that the cause lay in her own 
 hurry and thoughtlessness, and that the 
 innocent door was rather to be pitied for 
 being treated so roughly. 
 
THE FALLING GAME 117 
 
 " Take care, little engineer, or your en- 
 gine will run away with you," was a warn- 
 ing often on her lips when the children 
 showed signs of excitement or boisterous- 
 ness, for she wished them early to learn 
 the invaluable lesson that they could and 
 must be master of their feelings; self 
 control meaning to her control by the 
 higher self. 
 
 Alas, as we look about us how many 
 cases do we see where the engineer has 
 given up his place as master, and allows 
 his feelings, his passions, or his nerves 
 to master him! 
 
 Many men and women seem never to 
 have grasped to the slightest degree the 
 thought of their power over circumstances, 
 but weakly allow their boat to be tossed 
 hither and thither by every passing breeze. 
 
 In order to develop in their children 
 
118 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 the habit of cool, serene, quiet self-control 
 so necessary in all true living, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Brown strove in every way to avoid 
 the rush and hurry with its consequent 
 excitement, irritation and nervousness, so 
 prevalent to-day. 
 
 So important did they consider a calm, 
 quiet, restful atmosphere in the home, that 
 they were willing to sacrifice many in- 
 terests in order to gain it, for they felt 
 the truth of Froebel's words, " With- 
 out collectedness the soul can neither 
 strengthen or unfold her powers," and 
 realized that rush and hurry were fatal 
 to this spirit. 
 
 Although not teachers in the ordinary 
 sense of the word, they took to themselves 
 and applied in their daily lives the words 
 of a writer to teachers: " But above all 
 things the teacher must think, she must 
 
THE FALLING GAME 119 
 
 be alone, she must deny herself many 
 things for the work's sake — not waste 
 her energies on idle stories, not be in- 
 dustrious in reading and idle in thought, 
 nor expect to grow wise by merely ap- 
 propriating the thoughts of others — she 
 must seek for wisdom as for hidden treas- 
 ure/ ' 
 
 " If the chosen soul could never be alone, 
 In deep mid-silence, open-doored to God alone, 
 ISTo greatness ever had been dreamed or done. 
 The nurse of full-grown souls is solitude." 
 
 They planned as carefully for a daily hour 
 of quiet communion as for the daily 
 meals. 
 
 « > 
 
 Tis not in seeking, 
 
 'Tis not in endless striving, 
 
 Thy quest is found. 
 
 Be still and listen ; 
 
120 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Be still and drink the quiet 
 
 Of all around. 
 
 Not for thy crying 
 
 Not for thy loud beseeching 
 
 Will peace draw near; 
 
 Rest with palm folded, 
 
 Rest with thine eyelids fallen, 
 
 Lo ! Peace is here," 
 
 truly sings Edward Rowland. 
 
 In their study of ideal home life as 
 pictured in Froebel's Mother Play Book 
 one of the deepest impressions made upon 
 the minds of Mr. and Mrs. Brown was 
 that a true home could not be contained 
 within the borders of four brick or 
 wooden walls, but presupposed an en- 
 vironment of nature, and that an impor- 
 tant part of this environment was animal 
 life. So to the cat and doff who had been 
 members of their household from the 
 
THE FALLING GAME 121 
 
 first, they gradually added hens and 
 chickens, rabbits and pigeons, and feeding 
 and caring for these played an important 
 part in the daily life of the children. 
 " How can I nurture nurturers unless I 
 provide some weaker life for them to 
 nurture? " said Mrs. Brown. " How else 
 can I help them to gain a conception of 
 what Mr. Hughes calls the greatest of 
 all truths, namely, that they have power 
 to help other life to grow to grander 
 life? " 
 
 This thought of education as a process 
 of " nurturing nurturers " also helped her 
 to a deeper realization of the important 
 part which dolls play in the child's educa- 
 tion. 
 
 Does not the real charm of the doll lie 
 in the fact that to the imagination of the 
 child it needs her help, it is cold or hun- 
 
. THE FALLING GAME 123 
 
 gry or sad and she can comfort and help 
 it, and should we not carefully supply 
 the young soul with all it needs to 
 draw out and develop this God-like de- 
 sire? 
 
 The children of course in their play 
 imitated the life of their dumb com- 
 panions. They were greatly interested 
 in the Mother Play Game of the Pigeon 
 House and dramatized it in a great variety 
 of ways. Often chairs formed the Pigeon 
 House and the children flew in and out, 
 then were shut up safely for the night, 
 but before going to sleep told with their 
 soft " Coo-coo " all they had seen and 
 done during the absence from home. 
 
 Mrs. Brown often called the children 
 her pigeons, and as they started off for a 
 walk with Nursie or Uncle, or to spend 
 an hour or two with some of their little 
 
124 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 friends, she would say, " Now, little 
 pigeons, be sure you remember all you 
 see and do to tell me on your return," 
 and never would she allow herself to be 
 too busy to hear all their little experi- 
 ences, for she felt that the habit of tell- 
 ing mother everything was the very 
 greatest safeguard a child could have 
 and that no pains should be spared to 
 establish and keep it up. 
 
 The motto of the Pigeon House Game 
 pleased her very much. 
 
 " Glad out-going, sweet home-coming, 
 In this little game they see ; 
 At the real home-comings, Mother, 
 Gather them about your knee ; 
 
 " Ask them of each sight and happening, 
 In the quiet twilight hour, 
 Help them weave it all together 
 Like a garland flower to flower. 
 
THE FALLING GAME 125 
 
 " With the years, the larger knowledge 
 Of life's wholeness then will come, 
 And its twilight hour will find them 
 With themselves and God at home." 
 
 Jamie was sometimes allowed* to go 
 with the other boys to sail boats in a 
 stream near by, to fly kites, or gather 
 nuts, for they felt that they must not 
 clip the wings of their pigeons, but rather 
 help them to gain the full, free use of 
 them. Always after one of these excur- 
 sions the little traveller found the home 
 party eager to hear all about it. 
 
 Sometimes he returned with new im- 
 pressions which, if he had had no one 
 to freely and unreservedly open his mind 
 to without fear of ridicule or reproof, 
 might have been the beginning of undesir- 
 able lines of thought; but bringing his 
 every experience and problem to the 
 
126 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 sympathetic ear of Aunt and Uncle, he 
 was set right upon many points that with- 
 out such careful guidance might have 
 started him off in wrong directions. 
 
 They did not often say much at the 
 time, for they wished him above all things 
 to feel no reserve in opening his unfolding 
 heart and mind to them, but seeing a 
 wrong tendency in its very beginning 
 they were able, often quite unconsciously 
 to the child, to direct his steps into the 
 right path. 
 
 When the boys called for him to go 
 with them Mrs. Brown would frequently 
 invite them to stop at her house on their 
 return and show her their treasures, for 
 she wished to keep in close touch with 
 his friends. On such occasions the boys 
 were pretty sure to find apples, ginger- 
 bread or lemonade awaiting them and 
 
THE FALLING GAME 127 
 
 to have such a merry time recounting 
 their experiences, that they soon voted 
 Jamie's Auntie " Awfully jolly," and 
 having established such a reputation she 
 was able on occasion to drop a hint about 
 rude talk or behaviour and have it re- 
 ceived and acted upon. 
 
 " To arm rather than to shield " was 
 her constant watchword. It would not 
 be long before Jamie must go every day 
 to school where he would necessarily meet 
 with new temptations or problems, and 
 for this they wished to prepare him. 
 
 For Robert, too, she felt that 
 
 " Soon her arms must loose their hold, 
 Not, as now, in pretty play — 
 Keeping still their circle round him 
 That no jar or fright may wound him — 
 But for all the day. 
 
128 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 " And for this her thoughtful love 
 Must his little life prepare: 
 Teaching first how she is needed, 
 That through her fond cautions heeded 
 He may learn self -care." 
 
" He who would know the Creator must exercise 
 his own creative power/' — Froebee. 
 
 " Flay is the highest phase of child development, 
 of human development at this period, for it is self- 
 active representation of the inner, from inner neces- 
 sity and impulse." — Froebee. 
 
 u The child must reproduce with matter what he 
 has received into himself from the external world in 
 order to understand it." — Froebee. 
 
 " Knowledge is food hut creation is life and we 
 live not to eat, hut eat to live." — Susan Blow. 
 
t. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 
 
 " The debasing illusion that man works, 
 produces, creates only in order to pre- 
 serve his body, in order to secure food, 
 clothing and shelter, may have to be en- 
 dured, but should not be diffused and 
 propagated. Primarily and in truth man 
 works only that his spiritual, divine es- 
 sence may assume outward form, and that 
 thus he may be enabled to recognize his 
 own spiritual divine nature and the inner- 
 most being of God. Whatever food, cloth- 
 ing and shelter he obtains thereby comes 
 to him as an insignificant surplus. 
 
 a Therefore Jesus says, ' Seek ye first the 
 kingdom of heaven/ i.e. the realization 
 
 131 
 
132 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 of the divine spirit in your life, and what- 
 ever else your finite life may require will 
 be added unto you." 
 
 Mrs. Brown never forgot the first time 
 she read these words in Froebel's " Edu- 
 cation of Man." It was one stormy win- 
 ter evening some months before Robert's 
 birth when, Mr. Brown having gone to 
 attend a church meeting, she was all 
 alone. 
 
 So impressed was she with these words 
 that she read and re-read them, then laid 
 down the book and followed the train of 
 thought they had awakened. " This has 
 been the consciousness," she mused, " of 
 all the great artists, musicians, writers 
 and reformers of the world, but, oh, how 
 far from this are the ideals and lives of 
 the common people! How few young men 
 for instance start upon their life-work 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 133 
 with any clear realization of this great 
 truth ! 
 
 " Does the education we give our sons 
 and daughters send them out into the 
 world full of the thought that there is a 
 place for them to fill, a work for them to 
 do for the good of the race, or does it 
 send them out, the boy with a keen 
 desire to make money, the girl to have 
 a good, easy time'? " 
 
 These words of Froebel came back to 
 her many times as she watched the chil- 
 dren at play and helped her to enter more 
 fully into the meaning of Christ's words, 
 " Except ye become as little children ye 
 shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of 
 Heaven,' ' for is not the whole of a child's 
 free, spontaneous play the unconscious 
 attempt on his part to put his inner world 
 into outer manifestation, and does not 
 
134 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 the desire to do so spring from his deep 
 inner being, the deep unconscious sea 
 surging within % 
 
 The human being has come into this 
 world for no other purpose than that 
 he may become conscious of his own real 
 being and therefore of the Creator in 
 whose image he is made. 
 
 The divine spark within begins to stir 
 from the very beginning of the infant's 
 life and urges the child to continual ac- 
 tivity. But alas, how very few parents 
 at the present day are filled with a feeling 
 of reverence at the sight of the child's 
 activity, and put forth earnest thought 
 and effort to guide it aright! How few 
 truly realize that there is an angel within 
 their child striving for expression! How 
 few study a child as " a struggling ex- 
 pression of an inner divine law! " 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 135 
 
 The child does not understand these 
 inner feelings, and if those who should 
 understand and be able to guide and help 
 are as blind as he, have we not a case of 
 the blind leading the blind and both fall- 
 ing into the ditch? 
 
 In years gone by the mother lived more 
 with her children; she had fewer outside 
 interests and she and they grew and 
 solved many of life's problems together. 
 For some years woman's life has been 
 leading her away from home and children, 
 but thank God, the pendulum is now 
 swinging back, and mothers and those 
 who look forward to motherhood are 
 beginning to realize that there is a science 
 of motherhood which is full of fascination 
 for the motherly heart. Surely this is 
 one of the greatest and most hopeful signs 
 of the times. 
 
136 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 Some of the greatest minds of the day 
 are earnestly and scientifically studying 
 the beginnings of intellectual and emo- 
 tional life that we may know better how 
 to deal with the young human being and 
 avoid the sad dwarfing and stunting so 
 common in infancy and childhood. 
 
 Such a scene as the following was often 
 enacted in the Brown household: Lulu 
 sitting on the floor utterly absorbed in the 
 construction of some wonderful piece of 
 architecture, only jumping up now and 
 then to fetch a doll or some animal to 
 complete the scene; presently the work 
 is completed to her satisfaction and she 
 calls upon Auntie and the other children 
 to come and see what she has made. Then 
 with dancing eyes, in which one who has 
 eyes to see can trace a great depth of 
 feeling, she explains that this is a house 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 137 
 
 where a little girl lives and this is the 
 father just come home, and this the table 
 laid for dinner, and so on. " Striving to 
 
 jy 
 
 interpret the world by creating its image, 
 thinks Mrs. Brown as she lays down her 
 sewing and listens, asks questions and 
 shows a genuine interest because she rea- 
 lizes something of what such sympathy 
 
138 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 and recognition mean to the young artist 
 in these her first attempts to out-picture 
 the story in her mind, and how without it 
 the soul may be crushed and so thrown 
 back upon itself as never through a long 
 life to fully recover. 
 
 " The joy of the artist is already his, 
 what seems a crude and even absurd re- 
 semblance to us is enough to satisfy him, 
 and woe betide the stale and withered 
 soul that dares to laugh to scorn the crea- 
 tive impulse! 
 
 "It is far better that one should strike 
 the child a blow on the head than risk 
 stifling this divinely ordained utterance 
 of the dim but awakening power of the 
 young soul to reproduce or express the 
 images from the world within. The 
 majority of mankind struggle all through 
 life from lack of power to outer or utter 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 139 
 
 their inner sentiments, dreams or ideals 
 — beating like imprisoned birds against 
 an iron cage, in which reserve, criticism 
 or fear has shut them. Misunderstood 
 souls are they— forever longing for recog- 
 nition, forever losing the priceless privi- 
 lege of enriching the world with their 
 ideals, of strengthening it with their inner 
 experiences, " writes Miss Harrison, of 
 the child building with blocks in " The 
 Kindergarten Building Gifts." 
 
 Mrs. Brown felt that there were two 
 things demanded of the Mother and edu- 
 cator, that she supply the young soul 
 with an abundance of suitable material 
 for the expression of his ideas and ideals, 
 and that she ever treat his little produc- 
 tions with reverence and sympathy, and 
 as she resumed her work after one of 
 these numerous interruptions, which she 
 
140 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 realized were after all the real work of 
 her life, she meditated on " the deep 
 meaning that oft lies hid in childish 
 play." 
 
 She saw how by such play the power 
 of concentration, so indispensable in all 
 real living, is cultivated, and as carefully 
 refrained from unnecessarily breaking 
 into their train of thought as she would 
 had they been artists drawing pictures or 
 writers writing books. She would always 
 give them warning some minutes before it 
 was time to lay aside work for bed or out- 
 ing, and she instructed the servants to ring 
 a first bell for meals ten minutes before 
 they were expected to sit down, that the 
 wonderful castle, mud pie or picture which 
 was being constructed might be completed, 
 or left in a safe condition for future 
 operations. 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 141 
 
 How cruelly is a little mother who is 
 getting her dolly ready for bed or walk 
 sometimes compelled to lay it down, cold 
 and uncared for, at the call of an older 
 person, and if she waits to cover it care- 
 fully before responding, told she is a 
 naughty, disobedient little girl; good girls 
 come the moment they are called! 
 
 Every such clash between the inner and 
 the outer call weakens the child and builds 
 a character which has no stability, no 
 concentration, but changes its line of 
 thought and action to suit every passing 
 breeze. When the teacher later on com- 
 plains that the boy or girl is lacking in 
 power of attention, in concentration and 
 perseverance, how few parents trace 
 these weaknesses back to their own 
 training in early childhood! 
 
 What is true obedience? When the 
 
142 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 parent, following solely the impulse or 
 whim of the moment, demands of the 
 child that he do that which his inner 
 guide, striving for his truest and fullest 
 development urges him not to do, whom 
 is the child to obey? 
 
 Have parents not reason to meditate 
 earnestly on the last words of the com- 
 mand, " Children, obey your parents in 
 the Lord^' and ask whether their com- 
 mands or prohibitions are really of the 
 Lord, or of their own small, petty selves, 
 that is, whether they spring from univer- 
 sal principle, or from custom or habit 
 founded on no true principle? 
 
 Again Mrs. Brown saw how active the 
 little brain was in play, how the whole 
 circle of mental activity was called vigor- 
 ously into action as the child conceived 
 an idea, planned how to express it with 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 143 
 
 the material at hand and then carried it 
 to completion. Perception, conception 
 and execution each playing its proper 
 part, play is the truest form of self- 
 activity. Nature guides the child aright, 
 but how often parents and teachers in- 
 stead of studying Nature's methods and 
 co-operating with her imagine that they 
 have found a better way and insist upon 
 the child's walking in the narrow, narrow 
 path, they have laid down; and in con- 
 sequence we find few men or women who 
 are in full possession of all their powers 
 of mind and body, few who are truly 
 happy. Is there a full-grown man or 
 woman who does not realize that he or 
 she might be much more than he is? Is it 
 not a universal experience to realize as 
 we grow older that there are sides of our 
 characters which are almost wholly un- 
 
144 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 developed? Do we not all wish as we 
 look back upon our childhood and youth 
 that our education had been a broader, 
 more universal one, and feeling so does 
 it not behoove us to be up and doing that 
 the children of to-day may have less to 
 regret in later life? 
 
 Is there a father who does not desire 
 that his son may be a more truly success- 
 ful man than he is? But wishing alone 
 accomplishes nothing; like the little child 
 we must carry our ideals into execution. 
 Is not the weakest character the one who 
 plans most and accomplishes least? Is 
 not the failure to complete the circle of 
 mental activity the great weakness of 
 our schools to-day, so that we have a 
 multitude of men and women, who like 
 Kingsley's character, Mr. Leigh, " possess 
 almost every gift except the gift of the 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 145 
 
 power to use them? " Are not our boys 
 and girls spending hours upon hours mem- 
 orizing facts, letting other people's 
 thoughts run through their heads, with 
 almost no opportunity of giving expres- 
 sion to the ideals which should be aroused 
 by this study? 
 
 Most of our expressional work in school 
 is limited to language which is but one 
 and the most difficult of many forms of 
 expression, with all of which the child 
 should be familiar, that he may have many 
 modes of expression, gain the all-round 
 development which comes through using 
 them, and at the same time discover in 
 which he can best live out his own par- 
 ticular life and bless the world. 
 
 When manual training becomes, as it is 
 to become, a necessary step in every sub- 
 ject of instruction, the terrible cramming 
 
146 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 so common in school work to-day and so 
 detrimental to the best intellectual devel- 
 opment will be relegated to the dark ages, 
 for the child must thoroughly assimilate 
 the knowledge which he is to use in orig- 
 inal expression. True manual training is 
 not by any means the reproduction of set 
 copies, but the expression in material 
 form of the original conception of the pro- 
 ducer. 
 
 So long as the schools strive to develop 
 the receptive and reflective powers and 
 leave the development of the executive 
 powers, or " the powers which apply or use 
 the knowledge gathered by the receptive 
 powers and classified or made ready for 
 use by the reflective powers,'' largely to 
 chance circumstances, the full circle is not 
 complete and the pupils consequently one- 
 sided and unsatisfied. How full our 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 147 
 
 schools are of boys and girls longing for 
 the time to come when they shall be re- 
 leased, studying not from a love of study, 
 but painfully, from a sense of duty alone, 
 the natural result of a system of education 
 which ignores the keen desire to be doing, 
 accomplishing, achieving, and treats the 
 human being as if his one desire was 
 knowledge for the sake of knowledge, 
 while the truth remains that he is hungry 
 for knowledge in order to live, to do. 
 
 But after all, the great benefit of all orig- 
 inal expressional work is that by means 
 of it the child learns to know himself. His 
 work or play is the mirror in which he 
 sees his own inner life reflected, and by 
 studying this reflection he learns to know 
 himself spiritually just as he learns to know 
 his own face by seeing it reflected, he dis- 
 covers his strong points, his best line for 
 
148 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 work, and at the same time the weak 
 places which he must strengthen. 
 
 It was interesting to watch Lulu's de- 
 velopment along the line of carefulness 
 and steadiness, for she was naturally in- 
 clined to rush at things without careful 
 thought and preparation. Her first build- 
 ings were apt to topple over ere well be- 
 gun. Jamie, on the other hand, was very 
 careful and exact, perhaps inclined to be 
 a little too anxious and careful, so that 
 working together, they were a great help 
 to one another,— Lulu learning that it paid 
 in the end to plan well and work carefully, 
 Jamie, that if he were too deliberate and 
 careful Lulu would soon outstrip him and 
 finish before he had well begun. 
 
 No words could ever have brought home 
 to them the many lessons they learned 
 through their own experiences. 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 149 
 
 To cultivate a habit of carefulness and 
 exactness and also to give them a standard 
 of measurement, Mrs. Brown covered a low 
 table with oil-cloth lined in one-inch 
 squares which she bought at a Kindergar- 
 ten supply store. Being called upon to 
 admire some piece of architecture she 
 would commend the one built straight on 
 the squares and also set up a new line of 
 thought by setting them to discover whose 
 tower was highest, or train longest; how 
 many blocks were in the back of the chair, 
 or how thick the wall was, thus giving 
 them an insight into the use of numbers, 
 a valuable preparation for future work in 
 arithmetic,— a preparation the lack of 
 which often makes this study such a bug- 
 bear to both pupil and teacher, whereas it, 
 like all study, should be a continual joy. 
 Should not the satisfaction of mental hun- 
 
150 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 ger be at least as great a pleasure as the 
 satisfaction of physical hunger, and if it 
 is not should we not carefully examine the 
 food supplied as to whether it is the proper 
 food for the stage at which the pupil has 
 arrived and whether we are giving it in 
 proper quantities? 
 
 This free expressional work gave Mrs. 
 Brown many a peep into the inner work- 
 ings of these young minds, and, as all mind 
 is one, helped her to understand herself 
 and all others, thus adding to her own hap- 
 piness and also her power for good in the 
 world, for is it not true that " all true joy 
 is that of the spirit breaking its previous 
 bounds? " 
 
 It also helped her at times to ward off a 
 danger which threatened these little lives, 
 as when for instance, on Jamie's return 
 from a visit to a little friend whose un- 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 151 
 
 thinking friends had given him for a birth- 
 day present a box of soldiers with cannon 
 
 and other war implements, he spent a long 
 time drawing and exulting over a bloody 
 war scene; bringing it to share with her, 
 she praised the execution, pointing out the 
 
152 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 good points and drawing his attention to 
 some errors, then having warmed the little 
 heart by her sympathy she said, " But 
 somehow war pictures make me feel very 
 sad," and pointing to some lines which he 
 had told her represented a soldier (one of 
 the enemy) who had just been killed, she 
 said, " Poor fellow, how sorry his wife and 
 little children will be; no kind father to 
 come home each evening and love and care 
 for them. I would rather look at and 
 make pictures of people who are loving 
 and caring for one another." Jamie said 
 nothing, but she afterwards saw the paper 
 crumpled and torn in the waste-paper 
 basket, and later on he showed her a 
 picture of firemen saving the lives and 
 home of a poor family, and as she com- 
 mended it he said quietly, " I like it best, 
 too." 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 153 
 
 " Why will Christian parents persist in 
 awakening the savage delight in bloodshed 
 in their young children by giving them 
 such playthings," said Mr. Brown when he 
 heard of this incident. " Surely such 
 things ought to be kept out of our nurser- 
 ies as the first step towards eliminating 
 them from the world. 
 
 " So long as parents encourage children 
 to play war shall we have the reality. Of 
 what use to teach love and brotherhood by 
 words, while our actions, which speak much 
 louder than our words, inculcate their op- 
 posites. The boy who spends hours play- 
 ing with a toy pistol is apt to be ready 
 as a man to use it on the slightest provoca- 
 tion, the imaginary enemies of childhood 
 becoming the real enemies of later life. 
 Should not the imaginary world in which 
 the child so largely lives be filled with 
 
154 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 friends, not enemies, with love, peace and 
 goodwill instead of strife and enmity? ' 
 
 " Oh, how earnestly we should all pray, 
 help us to live more nearly as we pray! 
 The great need of the world to-day is that 
 our religion, instead of being so largely a 
 matter of praying and singing hymns on 
 one day of the week, should be the ruling 
 motive of our every-day life," replied Mrs. 
 Brown. 
 
 Then, too, Mrs. Brown saw clearly that 
 the way to prevent a habit of destruction 
 was to help the child to construct. Shortly 
 after her sister's children came to her, 
 Lulu one day got hold of a pair of scissors 
 and cut holes in the nursery table-cloth. 
 Nursie tied up the little hands, telling her 
 she was a very naughty girl as she had 
 been told never to touch scissors, though 
 in her heart she blamed herself more than 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 155 
 
 the child, for she felt that, knowing she 
 had got into similar mischief several times, 
 she should have been more careful to keep 
 the scissors out of her reach. 
 
 Mrs. Brown, however, looked at the mat- 
 ter through a different pair of spectacles. 
 
 Her study of childhood showed her that 
 such a manifestation did not spring from 
 a wrong motive, a desire to do wrong, as 
 Nursie supposed, but from the natural de- 
 sire for change-making, the first step in 
 construction. She realized that without 
 the desire in the human race to change the 
 form of things there would be no progress 
 from generation to generation, but that we 
 should be living to-day just as our fore- 
 fathers did. . The child's desire was not 
 wrong, it was simply working itself out 
 in a wrong way because the right had not 
 been provided and therefore the activity 
 
156 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 should not be suppressed but led into the 
 proper channels. To treat it as wrong- 
 doing and try to prevent it was to sin 
 against the whole race, for, encouraged and 
 rightly directed, it would do its part later 
 on to bless and raise humanity; crushed 
 and restrained, it would not only injure 
 the life of the individual but rob humanity 
 of some of its power, even if it did not 
 break out in later life in illegitimate 
 ways, thus helping to poison the stream 
 of life. 
 
 u Parents and teachers are making his- 
 tory; they are making or unmaking civili- 
 zation; they are promoting or holding back 
 the triumph of God's kingdom upon the 
 earth." We need to connect our daily ac- 
 tions with the great whole of life in order 
 to view our work aright. We are a part 
 of the great world energy, and working, 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 157 
 
 not only for our own family, but for the 
 race. 
 
 She said nothing, but a few days after- 
 wards returned from a shopping expedi- 
 tion with three pairs of small, blunt- 
 pointed scissors, and proceeded to help the 
 children make many things with them. 
 
 Lulu's face was a picture to delight an 
 artist when, a few days later, she found 
 herself sitting on the floor at Auntie's feet 
 with the long-coveted pair of scissors in 
 her hands and a whole newspaper to cut 
 up just as she pleased. 
 
 Simply cutting it into fragments satis- 
 fied her at first, but Mrs. Brown knew she 
 must not let activity expend itself aim- 
 lessly, so she suggested that the pieces be 
 cut very small and used to stuff a cushion, 
 and stitching some turkey red cotton into 
 a cover she gave it to her to fill. Many 
 
158 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 happy half -hours were spent in this work, 
 and it was a very proud little girl who, 
 on the visit of some 
 privileged friend to 
 nursery or verandah, 
 brought out " my cush- 
 ion " for them 
 to sit on. 
 Many dolls 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 159 
 
 took their naps upon this cushion and 
 it eventually became the bed of the 
 pet kitten. Thus was a little soul fed, 
 encouraged and trained to be a useful 
 member of society as well as helped to 
 realize the joy that comes alone to those 
 who use their activity to bless the world. 
 
 Cutting fringe to decorate dolls' clothes, 
 the table cloth and the shelves of the toy 
 case kept her busy for some time, coloured 
 paper taking the place of newspaper as 
 the fingers became more expert in han- 
 dling the scissors. 
 
 From this she passed to cutting pictures 
 from old papers and magazines, being led 
 thus to examine them carefully and gain 
 much information from them, till she 
 was able by and by to cut very creditable 
 leaves, flowers and fruit freehand, thus 
 unconsciously training eye and hand for 
 
160 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 future work. The best of these forms 
 were saved and pasted in a scrap book, 
 thus encouraging careful work and a desire 
 to do one's best each time. 
 
 For a week before little May's birthday, 
 Lulu with Auntie's help spent the time 
 when the former was having her daily nap 
 in cutting beautiful doilies and other dec- 
 orations for the table on that eventful oc- 
 casion, the possession of such a happy se- 
 cret filling her little heart with joy and 
 drawing her nearer to her little sister. 
 
 Another enjoyment was to fold squares 
 of coloured paper into what the children 
 called " Butterflies," which when cut gave 
 a variety of forms to be pasted in a sym- 
 metrical figure. 
 
 Having supplied them with an abun- 
 dance of paper, and scissors which it was 
 safe for them to use, it was easy to teach 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 161 
 
 them that they must not cut other things. 
 Only once did Lulu forget, and the tiny 
 lock was no sooner severed from May's 
 head than she was filled with regrets for 
 her thoughtlessness and quite willing to 
 agree to the suggestion that the scissors 
 must go into a box and remain there until 
 she could teach her fingers not to cut the 
 wrong thing. A whole day without the 
 beloved scissors was enough to teach her 
 the lesson and at the same time give her 
 an insight into the importance of, " A 
 place and a time for everything/ ' 
 
" Froebel taught that the true Christmas Tree for 
 the child is the tree on which hang gifts made by the 
 child for others. Too often children are made selfish 
 at the time when of all the days in the year they 
 should be trained to understand the joy of giving." 
 — James L. Hughes. 
 
 u The child will miss the joy of living, 
 Unless he learns the joy of giving." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 
 
 As the month of November neared its 
 close Mrs. Brown began to make prepara- 
 tions for the Christmas festival. 
 
 Christmas had always been such a joy 
 to her that she longed to have every child 
 with whom she came in contact enter into 
 its blessedness. 
 
 Many a time she had listened with 
 amazement to such exclamations as, " Oh! 
 I am so tired of Christmas! ,? or, "I am 
 always glad when Christmas is over once 
 more," for into such feelings she found 
 it impossible to enter, although her Christ- 
 mases were now counted by the tens, and 
 
 165 
 
166 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 she would answer " Oh! I hope I shall 
 never be too old to thoroughly enjoy 
 Christmas/' 
 
 Pondering this question she came to the 
 conclusion that Christmas might be spent 
 in such a way as to make it a weariness 
 as the years went by instead of the con- 
 stantly growing joy it was surely intended 
 to be. Listening to various groups of chil- 
 dren as from time to time they discussed 
 the subject, she found that in the majority 
 of cases their pleasure was connected al- 
 most entirely with the thought of getting, 
 that the idea of Christmas as a special 
 time for shedding abroad joy and happi- 
 ness, of helping to make " Peace on earth, 
 good- will to men," a practical reality for 
 at least a few days during the year was 
 an ideal of which they seemed almost un- 
 conscious. 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 167 
 
 As she looked back upon her own child- 
 hood and realized how her father and 
 mother had helped her to enter into the 
 real meaning of Christmas while she was 
 still a child, a deep feeling of gratitude 
 rose up in her heart and made her long 
 to do the same for other children. 
 
 She remembered how weeks before 
 Christinas she and her brothers and sis- 
 ters began planning presents for each 
 member of the family, how bits of work 
 were carried to school to be worked on at 
 recess, that mother's eye should not dis- 
 cover the wonderful secret. 
 
 Her heart still beat fast at the remem- 
 brance of work carefully hidden away in 
 drawers and boxes to be taken out and 
 worked at stealthily lest the eye of the one 
 whom it was intended to surprise should 
 see it before the eventful day; of heads 
 
168 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 close together in the corner as they dis- 
 cussed putting their pennies together to 
 buy some coveted object for father, mother 
 or grandparent, and of the quick dispersion 
 with nods and hints of secrecy, as the per- 
 son whose present they were discussing 
 came in sight. How important they felt 
 and how hard they tried to look as if they 
 had only been discussing the weather! 
 
 What shouts of joy there were when 
 grandmamma carried off mother for the 
 whole day and how fast their fingers flew 
 as they made the most of the opportunity 
 to work on her present! Very crude were 
 those little presents, but, oh! how much 
 love was worked into them as they 
 watched them grow from day to day and 
 pictured to themselves over and over again 
 the happy moment when they could pre- 
 sent them! How they ransacked the fash- 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 169 
 
 ion and home magazines for new ideas 
 which they could carry out, and how pa- 
 tiently the older ones helped the younger! 
 
 " Come to my house to tea and bring 
 your mother's present to work on," was a 
 frequent invitation of one school-girl to 
 another, and any one who learned a new 
 stitch in knitting or wool work or came 
 across a new design for lamp-mat, book- 
 mark, or any of the few articles they were 
 capable of producing, at once became 
 teacher to a class of willing pupils. " May 
 I go to Mary's house, she is going to show 
 me how to make so and so," was a familiar 
 request in a mother's ears. 
 
 She laughed heartily as she recalled how 
 for several years, when she was about six 
 or seven years old, she had knit father a 
 gay pair of garters a yard or so in length 
 and of every possible and impossible hue, 
 
170 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 for it was such fun to knit a little piece 
 of one colour after another. Not for many 
 years did she discover that gentlemen did 
 not wear such garters, for they were al- 
 ways received with great pleasure and 
 much admiration, with a smile at mother 
 as he said, " I was thinking it was time 
 I had a new pair of garters. How good of 
 little daughter to remember father and put 
 in all those stitches for him! " Little did 
 he think that thirty years after a gray- 
 haired woman would look back and with 
 tears in her eyes thank him for the little 
 deception. 
 
 He thought only that his little girl had 
 patiently worked stitch by stitch at some- 
 thing which in her innocence she felt was 
 a need she could supply, and he accepted 
 the love which prompted it. It was always 
 so hard she remembered to find anything 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 171 
 
 to make for father, and he always praised 
 the made gift, however crude, so much 
 more than the boughten one. 
 
 The candy store lost its patronage at 
 this time of the year for every penny was 
 needed for presents. 
 
 How eagerly the children watched for 
 the first arrival of Christmas goods at the 
 village shops and how quickly the an- 
 nouncement of their arrival would be fol- 
 lowed by a row of noses flattened against 
 the panes of the window! 
 
 She could still feel the ripple of excite- 
 ment which passed over the schoolroom 
 as it was whispered from one to another 
 that Jennie Smith had come past Clarke's 
 store and the clerks were opening big 
 boxes that, of course, must contain Christ- 
 mas goods! 
 
 How would those funny little shops that 
 
172 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 had seemed to her then like a little bit out 
 of Paradise look to her now, she won- 
 dered! Would anything ever again look 
 so truly beautiful as those Christmas dolls 
 with their cold china heads and painted 
 hair! How one hoped almost against 
 hope that one of them would fall to her 
 share ! 
 
 Then how fast one's heart beat as her 
 eyes fell on an article which was just the 
 thing for brother or sister, and how tim- 
 idly she entered the shop and asked the 
 price, thinking that perhaps it cost many 
 dollars, and how delightful to find it could 
 be secured for thirty cents, particularly 
 if one already had twenty cents saved up 
 and Grandma had promised ten more for 
 carrying her the newspaper every day! 
 
 How eagerly they watched for small 
 jobs by means of which a few pennies 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 173 
 
 could be earned, and how kind they 
 thought father when he said they might 
 sweep his office every Saturday and he 
 would pay them for it! 
 
 They talked of and worked for Christ- 
 mas during their waking hours, and 
 dreamed of it all night. 
 
 Then came the happy Sunday afternoon 
 when they were asked to remain after 
 school and practise carols for Christmas. 
 It always seemed to bring Christmas so 
 near when they began once more to sing, 
 " Peace on earth, good- will towards men," 
 and " Hark! the herald angels sing! " 
 
 At last came the week before Christmas 
 with the farmers bringing in trees and 
 greens, the gathering in the church to 
 make wreaths, stars, etc., and at home the 
 stoning of raisins, washing of currants and 
 chopping of candy-peel, in all of which, as 
 
174 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 well as in dusting and decorating the 
 house, the children had a share. 
 
 Father began creeping in with parcels 
 peeping out of his coat pockets, when he 
 and mother would disappear behind closed 
 doors. 
 
 How they longed to know what was in 
 those parcels and how they hugged them- 
 selves and one another as they whispered, 
 " That parcel looked just like a doll. Oh, 
 I hope it was! " 
 
 The most fascinating feeling of mystery 
 was on every side. Big brother was hid- 
 den in the woodshed from whence issued 
 the sound of hammer and saw — " Was it 
 dolls' furniture, or a new sled? " 
 
 When they were hustled off to bed a full 
 half-hour earlier than usual, a proceeding 
 they would have warmly resented at other 
 times, they made not a word of protest, 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 175 
 
 having a faint suspicion that it meant new 
 dolls' clothes or other delightful things. 
 And when at last the morning so eagerly 
 looked forward to during the long, long 
 year, really dawned and daylight found 
 them joyously unpacking the stockings so 
 carefully filled by Santa with the very 
 things each most coveted, and they were 
 at liberty to present to the other members 
 of the family the gifts they had prepared, 
 and to unburden their hearts of the many 
 secrets they had so long held, — surely 
 Heaven could provide no truer joy than 
 was theirs. 
 
 Mrs. Brown had entirely forgotten the 
 present and was living in the happy past, 
 from which she was aroused by Mr. 
 Brown's coming in from the meeting he 
 had been attending. She laughed as she 
 admitted she had been day-dreaming and 
 
176 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 exclaimed, " Oh, Frank, we must help the 
 children to enter into the real meaning of 
 Christmas, it is too blessed an experience 
 to lose out of one's life! " 
 
 Some little time before this, to the great 
 joy of the children, Mrs. Gray had written 
 that she hoped to be with them for Christ- 
 mas. 
 
 Mrs. Brown's heart too had rejoiced at 
 the different tone of her sister's letters as 
 the months went by. She had written her 
 very fully week by week of all the children 
 were doing and of what she and Mr. Brown 
 were trying to do for them, and the spark 
 of true motherhood which had so long slum- 
 bered in Mrs. Gray's heart had at last 
 struck fire and was being fanned into a 
 strong, steady flame. 
 
 A few days later Mrs. Brown called the 
 children around her and talked with them 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 177 
 
 about Christmas, asking them if they 
 would not each like to make a present for 
 mother. 
 
 To this they willingly agreed, although 
 the younger ones had little idea what it 
 meant. 
 
 They only knew^ that anything Auntie 
 proposed was likely to be a true pleas- 
 ure. 
 
 She had planned something which each 
 one with a little help could do. Little May 
 could string a long chain of straws and 
 papers for mother to hang in her room, 
 Lulu sew a flower on tinted cardboard and 
 make it into a blotter, while Jamie with 
 his coloured crayons could make a cal- 
 endar representing the four seasons. 
 
 She wished each to make something 
 which it would take many days, working 
 a little at a time, to complete, that they 
 
178 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 might absorb as much of the Christmas 
 spirit as possible. 
 
 This work nicely under way she talked 
 to each separately of what he could make 
 for the others. Lulu with her help could 
 cut out a family of paper dolls for May, 
 Uncle would show Jamie how to whittle 
 some tops and boats for the girls and baby 
 Robert, May could pick out all the pret- 
 tiest buttons in Auntie's button box and 
 string them for a necklace for Lulu. 
 
 Nursie caught the spirit of it and had 
 the children at certain times in her room 
 working at some mystery which was not 
 to be made known until Christmas. 
 
 A few days after they began this work, 
 when they ran into their play room, or 
 nursery, after breakfast they found hang- 
 ing on the wall, low enough for all to see 
 and for the little ones to kiss and love, a 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 179 
 
 beautiful Madonna and Child, or as the 
 children called it, " The Mother and her 
 
 Baby," and over and over again they heard 
 the story of the Christmas Baby, the Star, 
 
180 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 and the Shepherds, till they knew it by 
 heart. They drew and sewed pictures of 
 the Shepherd's Crook and the Star, and 
 represented with their blocks the stable 
 and the manger till it all became very real 
 to them and they loved it dearly. They 
 also learned to sing very sweetly several 
 simple Christmas carols that they might 
 be able to tell Mother in this way all about 
 it. 
 
 The week before Christmas the little 
 presents were all finished and the last few 
 days were devoted to making chains, stars, 
 flags and other decorations for the tree 
 which Uncle, Jamie and the gardener cut 
 down on the hill near by, and set up in 
 the play-room ready to be lit on Christmas 
 Eve when Mother came. 
 
 The house was also decorated with green 
 from top to bottom, the children sticking 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 181 
 
 in pieces wherever they thought they 
 looked pretty. 
 
 One happy morning was spent by the 
 children with Auntie and Nurse in a large 
 toy shop. It was carefully explained to 
 them beforehand that they would see many 
 things they would like to have, but that 
 these were for all the boys and girls in the 
 city, so of course they could only have 
 their share; each might choose one toy 
 for herself and one for the little children 
 of the kind woman who washed for them. 
 Mrs. Brown felt it was not fair to take 
 children to see so many things they would 
 naturally like to possess without prepar- 
 ing them as far as possible to understand 
 the situation. 
 
 In planning their own presents for the 
 children Mr. and Mrs. Brown sought to get 
 for each something which would be a real 
 
182 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 joy and pleasure to him for a long time. 
 For the little girls they got strong, durable, 
 yet beautiful dolls Avhich they could dress 
 and undress to their heart's content, beds 
 for them to sleep in and carriages in which 
 to take them out. 
 
 Jamie had a long wished for box of 
 tools, made for real use, with a quantity 
 of wood soft enough for him to saw and 
 cut, and the new red sled on which he had 
 set his heart. 
 
 They also bought several beautiful pic- 
 ture books which were to be the common 
 property of all. 
 
 Early on the morning of Christmas Eve 
 the dear Mother arrived, and that was joy 
 enough for one day. In the early evening, 
 however, the tree was lit and the presents 
 made by the children distributed, and what 
 more beautiful sight is there in this world 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 183 
 
 than a Christmas Tree with its twinkling 
 lights, surrounded by a bevy of happy 
 children's faces! Little Robert clapped 
 his tiny hands and crowed with delight, 
 and the older children could only be be- 
 guiled to bed by the promise of having it 
 lit again to-morrow evening. Even the an- 
 ticipated visit of Santa Claus was for the 
 time forgotten in the beauty of the tree 
 and the joy of presenting to Mother, Aunt, 
 Uncle, Nursie and Cook the gifts their lit- 
 tle hands had so lovingly prepared. 
 
 When a few hours later Mother and 
 Auntie stole about amongst the sleeping 
 children, filling each little stocking with 
 the treasures so dear to childish hearts, 
 they paused for a moment beside each bed, 
 together praying that the Christ-Child 
 might indeed take possession of each little 
 heart and reign there. 
 
184 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 After breakfast Christmas morning the 
 children gathered about the piano and 
 sang their little carols, then sitting around 
 the glowing Christmas fire amid the festive 
 
 Christmas greens all took part in telling 
 the Christmas Story. 
 
 Later in the day Nursie went with them 
 to carry the presents they had bought for 
 the little children of their good washer- 
 
186 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 woman, and also a basket of Christmas 
 goodies to an old lady and gentleman who 
 lived near by. 
 
 A couple of days after Christmas their 
 little friends and playmates were invited 
 to spend the afternoon with them, and 
 what a truly happy time they had playing 
 games, listening to music and stories, eat- 
 ing a simple dainty lunch around a table 
 beautifully decorated with flowers and 
 lighted candles, pulling bonbons, dancing 
 around the lighted tree on which was a 
 simple present for each, then just before 
 going home sitting quietly singing carols 
 and listening to the Christmas Story told 
 simply enough to interest the youngest 
 listener, while so beautifully as to fasci- 
 nate the oldest. 
 
 "It is the most beautiful children's 
 party I have ever seen," said one enthusi- 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 187 
 
 astic mother, and many others were ready 
 to echo her words. 
 
 " My children are usually sick after a 
 party," said another, " but this can leave 
 only the happiest memories." 
 
 " I want my children's idea of a party 
 to be something higher than an occasion 
 for eating a great many good things," re- 
 plied Mrs. Brown. " Well, you have cer- 
 tainly succeeded," was the unanimous an- 
 swer. 
 
 So without hurry, weariness or undue 
 excitement the blessed Christinas season 
 was lived through once more. A spirit of 
 calm, serene happiness pervaded each day, 
 making it a time of real soul-growth, such 
 a time we trust as He whose birthday it 
 is would have approved. Such a time 
 as can be looked back upon in later years 
 with real joy and gratitude, Mr. and Mrs. 
 
188 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 Brown and Mrs. Gray finding time to read 
 together some of the beautiful thoughts on 
 Christmas given us by our great writers, 
 as well as for much quiet talk. 
 
 " I never like to let Christmas go by 
 without re-reading Dickens' Christmas 
 stories and imbibing anew their teaching. 
 How he did love Christmas! " said Mrs. 
 Brown. 
 
 After spending a few weeks in the Brown 
 family Mrs. Gray was very loath to return 
 with the children to their old home, and a 
 house being vacant on the next street she 
 was easily persuaded to rent it and move 
 her belongings there. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown were very pleased 
 at the prospect of having the children of 
 whom they had grown so fond still near 
 at hand, and as for the children — well, 
 when Mrs. Brown told them that they were 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 189 
 
 going to live just around the corner from 
 her and Uncle, Jamie looked at her for a 
 moment as if he could hardly believe such 
 good news, then rushed at her and almost 
 strangled her with hugs as he exclaimed, 
 " Oh! I'm so glad; I didn't want to leave 
 you at all. ' ' 
 
 This arrangement suited all concerned, 
 for as another little one would arrive at 
 the Browns' home ere long Mrs. Brown 
 was glad to have a little more leisure, and 
 also glad that the children to whom she 
 had been foster-mother would still be 
 within easy reach and she might continue 
 to watch over and assist in their develop- 
 ment. 
 
 Finding that several of her mother- 
 friends also expected soon to renew their 
 motherhood, she suggested to them that 
 they should meet at one another's homes 
 
190 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 once a week and read together some of the 
 many splendid books which were being 
 written on the subject. This they gladly 
 agreed to do. 
 
 The first book they took up was Mrs. 
 Proudfoot's " A Mother's Ideals," of 
 which a copy had been sent to one of them. 
 Their plan at first was for one to read a 
 paragraph or two, then for all to discuss if, 
 but so interested did they soon become 
 that each wished to possess the book, and 
 after that they all read certain portions 
 at home for discussion at the club. In this 
 way they gained much more than if each 
 had read the book alone. 
 
 They had been meeting thus for several 
 weeks when one of them told of a young 
 friend, a very bright, earnest girl, who ex- 
 pected to be married in the course of a few 
 months, and who hearing of these little 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 191 
 
 gatherings for child-study begged to be 
 allowed to study with them. 
 
 They were glad indeed to open their 
 doors to her, for they each felt how much 
 more they might have made of their fam- 
 ily life had they studied these subjects 
 before marriage. 
 
 They realized that " the call has come 
 to-day as never before for mothers to work 
 and study together. 
 
 ?> 
 
" The real object of Froebel in the Mother-Play 
 ivas to arouse the mother to a consciousness that she 
 had in her hands the power to mould the ideal citi- 
 zen, and through him to bring about the ideal social 
 state. What crowned heads and legislators failed to 
 do she might do, and when the grand co-operation of 
 mother with mother might be established, in God's 
 good time, they would mould for us the new race, the 
 pure interdependent brotherhood, and make the way 
 ready for the ' Christ that is to be.' " — Andrea 
 
 HOFER PROTJDFOOT. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 
 
 " All gone ! the supper's gone ! 
 White bread and milk so sweet, 
 For baby dear to eat. 
 
 All gone ! the supper's gone ! 
 Where did baby's supper go % 
 Tongue, you had a share I know. 
 Little mouth, with open lips, 
 Through your rosy gate it slips. 
 Little throat, you know full well 
 Where it went if you would tell. 
 
 Little hands, grow strong; 
 
 Little legs, grow long; 
 
 Little cheeks, grow red ; 
 
 You have all been fed." 
 
 — Emily Huntingdon Millee. 
 195 
 
196 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 So sang Mrs. Brown as she sat with 
 Robert, who had just finished his supper 
 
 of bread and milk, on her knee; and as 
 she sang, Robert with wide-open eyes sol- 
 emnly showed each part of his body as it 
 was mentioned, then jumped down and ran 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 197 
 
 around the room and back for the kiss 
 which always ended this little game. 
 
 Being a strong, healthy child, and living 
 so much out of doors and so actively, he 
 was always ready for his meals, and when 
 quite young would clap his hands at the 
 sight of the familiar blue bowl out of 
 which he was usually fed. 
 
 Mrs. Brown always fed him slowly, as 
 she wished him to form this habit from 
 the very beginning, and interspersed the 
 mouthfuls with laughter and cheery words. 
 
 He so enjoyed his food that the sight of 
 the empty bowl brought a look of disap- 
 pointment and wonderment to his face as 
 Mrs. Brown said, " No more this time, lit- 
 tle man; it's all gone." 
 
 How thankful she was that her study 
 of child-nature had taught her how to in- 
 terpret the look on her child's face, this 
 
198 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 shadow so tiny now, but which if not dis- 
 persed might grow into a heavy cloud 
 which would darken his whole life! 
 
 She knew that this look of wonderment 
 meant that the young soul was beginning 
 to grapple with the great thought of the 
 constant change everywhere about us, and 
 that it was most important that he should 
 be led, little by little, to solve aright this 
 problem so perplexing to many minds. 
 
 A few minutes ago the bowl was full, 
 now it was empty,— where had it gone? 
 Who had taken it? Would it come back 
 again? This was the unconscious ques- 
 tioning of the young soul. 
 
 To all appearance there was loss, de- 
 struction, and he was the destroyer; he 
 had caused something which was not to 
 be, but he had come into the world, not to 
 destroy but to build, and he must be helped 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 199 
 
 to understand the part lie was playing, to 
 see that he had not really destroyed any- 
 thing but only made it over into something 
 else and something better. So Mrs. Brown 
 would pinch the rosy cheek and say, 
 " Here it is. Here is the bread and milk 
 in these rosy cheeks,' ' and putting him on 
 the floor would say, " Now creep away, 
 little man, the bread and milk has made 
 you strong and active,' ' till, little by little, 
 he grasped the connection between the 
 food he had eaten and his bodily health 
 and strength, and so had his first lesson 
 in temperance, namely, that, " We eat to 
 live, not live to eat," so that when by and 
 by he was refused more cake or candy 
 with the words, " Only a little candy, now 
 and then, for candy doesn't make as strong 
 bodies as bread or potatoes," he was ready 
 to acquiesce and deny himself the luxury, 
 
200 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 thus taking the first step in mastering the 
 body. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown were greatly helped 
 by Mr. Snider 's Commentary on the " All- 
 Gone " song, especially enjoying the fol- 
 lowing thoughts. 
 
 " The child will not only eat, but when 
 he has eaten he will know the meaning 
 of eating; his appetite may be satisfied 
 with his meal, but his soul is unsatisfied 
 just with his body's satiety, till he finds 
 out what this whole business of eating 
 means. He soon perceives that when he 
 has swallowed his porridge he has made 
 something into nothing, but in this diabolic 
 condition of destroyer he cannot rest. 
 His act must be connected with its total 
 process ere he can have peace, which 
 comes when he sees the positive outcome. 
 Thus the child gets a hint of the move- 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 201 
 
 ment which overcomes the vanishing and 
 is more deeply satisfied by his knowledge 
 than by his porridge, though he must 
 have the porridge too, and have it first. 
 ... So Froebel will have the child begin, 
 quite before he can talk, to have a pre- 
 sentiment of the whole, especially in mat- 
 ters immediately connected with him and 
 coming under his observation. The child 
 must have his little grapple with the van- 
 ishing at the very start of independent 
 existence when he begins to take nourish- 
 ment free of his mother's breast. He sees 
 that which he eats disappearing: what 
 does it mean? As before said he feels 
 himself a destroyer and the destroyer pure 
 and simple is the Devil; no wonder that 
 the child feels uncomfortable; he wants to 
 get out of such company, and the mother 
 if she is wise will at once give him her 
 
202 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 help. Alack-a-day! she may not be wise, 
 she may not know what to do, and so leave 
 the little fellow to struggle with the 
 fiends all by himself. Still the child 
 cannot do without this negative element of 
 life; he has to pass through it in one 
 form or another; the great point is, that 
 he be not allowed to stick fast in it during 
 the passage.' ' 
 
 It always made Mrs. Brown feel very 
 serious to read such things and think how 
 without the help of such teachers she 
 would have been totally unfit to guide her 
 children safely through these dark mazes. 
 She felt how little her college course had 
 fitted her to be a true interpreter of life 
 to the young souls who should look to her 
 for guidance and direction during their 
 early life, and she determined to work and 
 pray for the coming of the time when an 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 203 
 
 earnest study of child nature, its needs 
 and grand possibilities, should be a regular 
 part of the school course for both boys 
 and girls, the future parents of the race; 
 when the profession of parenthood should 
 require at least as careful preparation as 
 that of law or medicine. 
 
 The thought of the thousands of young 
 men and women who every year entered 
 into marriage without the slightest prep- 
 aration for parenthood, and the conse- 
 quent dwarfed and twisted lives all about 
 us, saddened her heart and stirred her to 
 action, for she felt that woman must solve 
 this problem, and by educating public 
 opinion, woman alone could bring about 
 a better state of affairs. 
 
 "If to make a dress properly, to keep 
 a set of books, or teach a school demands 
 thought and study, surely to guide a young 
 
204 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 soul requires much more. If I desire to 
 be a trained nurse, a stenographer, a dress- 
 maker or milliner, I must go through a 
 course of training, of apprenticeship, soci- 
 ety demands it; how is it that this same 
 society allows, nay almost forces me, to 
 enter into motherhood without one hour's 
 training for its duties," she would ex- 
 claim. "It is only by chance the books 
 and help I needed fell in my way before 
 I became a mother; the majority of 
 mothers do not even know there are such 
 books." 
 
 So while striving to feed little Robert's 
 body and even more carefully his mind 
 and soul, she stood with hands out- 
 stretched to other mothers that she might, 
 if possible, help them to find the light she 
 had found and which had so enriched her 
 life. 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 205 
 
 Thus was this little soul led step by 
 step to unravel the web of life, led to find 
 everywhere the Positive overcoming the 
 Negative and taught that while on the sur- 
 face there was constant motion, constant 
 change, it was only the outer form, the ef- 
 fect, which changed; underneath was the 
 unchangeable Cause. 
 
 " Know of a truth," says Carlyle, " that 
 only the Time Shadows have perished or 
 are perishable; that the real Being of 
 whatever was and whatever is and what- 
 ever will be is even now and for ever . . . 
 symbols, forms, must decay and vanish, 
 while Truth weaves for herself new, 
 higher forms of expression." 
 
 When tears sprang to baby's eyes at 
 the departure of father or playmate, 
 mother would dry them by talking of 
 and making plans for the return. 
 
206 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 His look of disappointment when the 
 candles went out one by one on the 
 Christmas Tree he had so enjoyed was 
 dispersed by the promise of seeing them 
 again next year. 
 
 When the children watched the leaves 
 fall from the trees in the fall Mrs. Brown 
 helped them by means of stories, games 
 and songs, to know winter as Nature's 
 sleeping time and led their thoughts for- 
 ward to the joyous new birth of spring. 
 
 She stirred their imaginations by help- 
 ing them to play that they were cater- 
 pillars crawling about on the ground, 
 then, after a time of rest, waking up, no 
 longer caterpillars but glorious, free but- 
 terflies. 
 
 The little game of the birds flying South 
 for the winter always ended with their 
 flying back in the spring. 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 207 
 
 The ennui, or " all gone " feeling that 
 sometimes creeps into a family when 
 Christmas or birthday, around which their 
 thoughts have been for some time closely 
 centred, has gone by, she prevented by 
 having some fresh interest, or new line 
 of work, to suggest. 
 
 By many such experiences did Mr. and 
 Mrs. Brown prepare the children to under- 
 stand death when by and by it should 
 come into their experience; to feel, as 
 Phillips Brooks so beautifully puts it, 
 that " Death is merely one of the events 
 in life, not the end of life," and to believe 
 with Froebel " that we most shall live 
 when men shall call us dead." 
 
 Alas, how many children are allowed 
 to look upon death as a dark, horrible 
 abyss ! 
 
 " Continuity of existence, without break 
 
208 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 or interruption, is the fundamental idea 
 that needs inculcation, not only among 
 children but among ignorant people gen- 
 erally/ ' says Sir Oliver Lodge. 
 
 The Picture illustrating the All-Gone 
 song draws our attention to the fact that 
 not only must we help the child to realize 
 that the food he eats returns to him but 
 that his deed returns also, that our char- 
 acters are made by the thoughts we think, 
 the deeds we do. 
 
 Lulu was particularly fond of this pic- 
 ture and would often sit quietly looking 
 at it for some minutes, and asked Auntie 
 over and over to tell her about it. She 
 named the little girl Mary, and Mrs. Brown 
 overheard her one day soliloquizing as she 
 looked at the picture, "I'm sorry you 
 lost your bird, Mary, but if you are good, 
 I think your mother will get you another 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 209 
 
 and then you'll be more careful, won't you, 
 and not leave the door open." 
 
 In order that the children might realize 
 that the deed does indeed return upon the 
 doer, that as a man sows so must he reap, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown strove to make any 
 punishment they found necessary the 
 natural outcome of the deed done; when 
 Robert was too rough with pussy he was 
 deprived of her company; if he cried or 
 fretted he was quietly taken from the 
 room and his parents' society. Noisy or 
 troublesome behaviour at the table re- 
 sulted in the chair of the small offender 
 being moved back until he was ready to 
 behave nicely. When Jamie carelessly 
 left his knife lying about until it was lost 
 he had to get on as best he could with a 
 blunt kitchen knife until he learned to 
 take care of a better one. Naughtiness 
 
210 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 on the street invariably resulted in one's 
 being left at home next time. 
 
 Quiet action took the place of scolding, 
 or fault finding, and was much more effect- 
 ive in immediate results as well as in habit- 
 forming. 
 
 When Robert was old enough to enjoy 
 a drink of milk his mother felt he should 
 begin to find out to whom he was indebted 
 for it, so she took him again and again to 
 see the cows. 
 
 Sometimes he saw them being milked 
 and had a taste of the fresh warm milk, 
 again he saw them eating the grass or 
 quietly chewing the cud in the grassy 
 field, and still again eating hay in the 
 barn. Then they went to see the hay 
 mown and stored in the barn. 
 
 On these visits, when they were often 
 accompanied by the Gray children, they 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 211 
 
 carried some apple or other dainty to feed 
 the cows, and Robert was soon brave 
 
 enough to pat their backs and stroke their 
 faces while Mother said, " Thank you, 
 
212 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 good cow, for the nice milk you give us," 
 or, " Eat away, good cows, and fill your 
 bags full of milk; we shall want some for 
 supper." 
 
 After that they never passed a cow 
 without stopping to say, " Thank you," 
 and Robert, of his own accord, for a long 
 time never took a drink of milk without 
 first thanking the cows for it. 
 
 Mrs. Brown tacked some good pictures 
 of cows low on the nursery wall, and even 
 before he could walk Robert would creep 
 to them and, raising himself by a chair, 
 pat and kiss them, saying as he did so, 
 "Moo, Moo." 
 
 The picture and song of Grass Mowing 
 in the Mother-Play was an endless source 
 of interest to the children as they pointed 
 out Peter mowing the grass, the wagon 
 carrying it to the barn, Lena milking the 
 
\ 
 
 A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 213 
 
 cow and making bntter and the mother 
 giving a cnp of milk to the baby; or 
 swung their arms in imitation of mow- 
 ing. 
 
 May loved to move about on all fours, 
 crying " Moo-moo/' and eating imaginary 
 grass, while she and Lulu both thought 
 it great fun to represent milking, using 
 the fingers of one hand for the teats which 
 they milked with the other, then carrying 
 the imaginary cup of milk to Robert to 
 drink. 
 
 When through their own experiences in 
 digging little flower-beds, planting seeds 
 and helping plants to grow, they had 
 learned something of the part sunshine 
 and rain play in plant life, they learned 
 many little hymns which helped them to 
 feel their heavenly Father's love working 
 in and through and by these things, and 
 
214 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 were able to sing with understanding and 
 joy before each meal, 
 
 " For the fruit upon the tree, 
 For the birds that sing of thee, 
 For the earth in beauty drest, 
 Father, Mother and the rest, 
 For thy precious, loving care, 
 For thy bounty everywhere, 
 Father in Heaven, we thank Thee," 
 
 for they were beginning to realize some- 
 thing of the interdependence of all men 
 as well as of man's dependence on Nature 
 and Nature's God. 
 
 "If in childhood we give the ideal of 
 interdependence the man will grow up to 
 see his responsibilities/' says Mrs. Proud- 
 foot. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown intended to bring 
 up their children so that as men or women 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 215 
 
 they would feel that, " He who lives with- 
 out doing his share is the only beggar, 
 though he call himself rich." 
 
 In order to realize this aim they seized 
 every opportunity to illustrate to them 
 the solidarity of the race. When they 
 were rejoicing in new dresses, or coats, 
 they raised their joy from a merely sen- 
 sual one to the spiritual plane by leading 
 them through work and play, song and 
 story which traced the process by means 
 of which these things came to them, lead- 
 ing them thus to see that they were in- 
 debted not only to Father and Mother, but 
 to many unknown workmen in shop and 
 factory, to the sheep on the hillside, and 
 to Him whose love is manifested in all 
 these ways. 
 
 They were also helped to trace the 
 process by means of which they had their 
 
216 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 cake and bread. Baking day was always 
 eagerly looked forward to, for each had 
 a lump of dough to roll with his tiny roll- 
 ing pin and bake in his little jDans. 
 
 They were taken too to see the wheat 
 growing in the fields and to a flour mill, 
 while it was a never forgotten experience 
 to crush a few grains of wheat between 
 a cube and a sphere and thus make some 
 ' k really ' ' flour. Water-wheels were . quite 
 the fashion at this time and were con- 
 structed in many ways, sometimes of 
 blocks or sticks, sometimes of chairs, but 
 best of all. when they had a number of 
 playmates, of the children themselves, four 
 children standing in the centre with 
 crossed hands forming the wheel, while the 
 rest joined hands and made the stream 
 which turned it. And as their little voices 
 rang out, 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 217 
 
 " I'm small I know, 
 But wherever I go 
 The fields grow greener still," 
 
 Auntie's heart rejoiced as she remem- 
 bered Froebel's words, " The plays of 
 childhood become the realities of later 
 life," and the prayer arose in her heart 
 that of each of them it might indeed be 
 true that wherever they went, " the field 
 grew greener still. ' ' 
 
 But well she knew that nothing in this 
 world comes by chance, but that, on the 
 contrary, all is cause and effect, so that 
 if we desire a certain effect in manhood or 
 womanhood we must set at work in child- 
 hood the causes which will in course of 
 time produce that effect. 
 
 Neglect childhood, treat the first mental 
 and spiritual outgoings as of little or no 
 account, and it will be useless to look in 
 
218 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 manhood for the full, ripe fruit. Child- 
 hood is the seeding time, maturity the 
 harvest and 
 
 " Whatsoe'er the sowing be, 
 Reaping, we its fruit shall see." 
 
 That the children might from the first 
 know themselves one with all others, that 
 the feeling of one-ness with all, of brother- 
 hood, which lies in germ in every little 
 soul, might not be crushed, but fed and 
 nourished by daily experiences until it 
 grew into a grand, glorious reality, mak- 
 ing of all creation one united, loving fam- 
 ily with one Father working in, and 
 through, and by each, was her conscious 
 aim. 
 
 She felt that by nourishing this feeling 
 of unity by her daily life and conversation 
 with the children as well as by the games, 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 219 
 
 songs, stories and pictures with which she 
 surrounded them, she was giving the first 
 lessons in true religion. They were not 
 ready for abstract teaching, but must have 
 great truths presented in symbols; they 
 must be led in their own childish way " to 
 live the life if they would know of the doc- 
 trine. " 
 
 She felt the truth of the words of 
 Phillips Brooks, " While men believe in 
 the possibilities of children being religious, 
 they are largely failing to make them so, 
 because they are offering them not a 
 child's but a man's religion — man's 
 forms of faith and man's forms of expe- 
 
 rience." 
 
 She loved to ponder Froebel's words: 
 " This feeling of community first uniting 
 the child with mother, father, brothers and 
 sisters, and resting on a higher, spiritual 
 
220 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 unity, to which, later on is added the un- 
 mistakable discovery that father, mother, 
 brothers, sisters, human beings in general, 
 feel and know themselves to be in com- 
 munity and unity — with humanity, with 
 God — this feeling of community is the 
 very first germ, the very first beginning 
 of all true religious spirit, of all genuine 
 yearning in unhindered unification with 
 the eternal, with God. Genuine and true, 
 living religion, reliable in danger and 
 struggles, in time of oppression and need, 
 in joy and pleasure, must come to man 
 in his infancy; for the Divine spirit that 
 lives and is manifested in the finite, in 
 man, has an early though dim feeling of 
 its divine origin; and this vague senti- 
 ment, this exceedingly misty feeling should 
 be fostered, strengthened, nurtured, and 
 later on raised into full consciousness, 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 221 
 
 into clear apprehension. It is, therefore, 
 not only a touching sight for the quiet 
 and unseen observer, but productive of 
 eternal blessings for the child, when the 
 mother lays the sleeping infant upon his 
 couch with an intensely loving, soulful 
 look to their heavenly Father, praying 
 Him for fatherly protection and loving 
 care. 
 
 " Therefore the true mother is loath to 
 let another put the sleeping child to bed, 
 or take from it the awakened child.' ' 
 
 Along the same lines writes Miss Blow: 
 " The one great difficulty in the way of 
 carrying out FroebePs ideal of religious 
 development is our own lack of vital piety. 
 It is easy to teach catechisms, it is not 
 easy to awaken and foster faith, hope and 
 love. Any mother may force her child to 
 memorize men's definitions of Grod, but 
 
222 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 only one who lias herself a filial spirit can 
 teach him to know his heavenly Father. 
 She whose own soul is dead may be a 
 religious drill sergeant, but only the living 
 spirit can communicate spiritual life." 
 
 Oh, how the world needs and hungers 
 for vital religion, reliable in danger and 
 struggles, in times of oppression and need, 
 in joy and pleasure! What a poor, dead, 
 unsatisfying thing is the religion of thou- 
 sands who call themselves Christians ! How 
 little of real joy and inspiration they find 
 in it! Is it not with too many an empty 
 observance of fomis and ceremonies hav- 
 ing little or no vital connection with their 
 daily life and aspiration? How meaning- 
 less to many are the words " The King- 
 dom of Heaven is within you," exclaimed 
 Mrs. Brown after reading these words to 
 her husband. 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 223 
 
 With the thought of developing the feel- 
 ing of oneness with all as the first step in 
 true religion, Mrs. Brown would stop as 
 they passed a blacksmith's shop, that Rob- 
 ert might enjoy seeing the sparks fly from 
 the red-hot iron, and say, " Good, kind 
 blacksmiths to help make Robert's car- 
 riage," and when he grew older told him 
 fascinating tales of the miners at work in 
 the deep, dark mine. When they passed 
 carpenters at work on a building, she would 
 say, as they watched them, " Kind carpen- 
 ters to make nice houses for little Roberts 
 and Mays to live in," and encourage him 
 to imitate hammering and sawing. 
 
 Sometimes they would play that Father 
 was a tall tree and they were woodmen 
 cutting it down to make firewood or sup- 
 ply the carpenter with boards; then how 
 Robert would clap his hands and shout 
 
224 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 as, after much vigorous chopping, the tree 
 began to sway back and forth and pres- 
 ently fell to the ground. 
 
 Through such imaginary play they not 
 only helped him to connect all things 
 about him with one another but peopled 
 the great unknown world with friends 
 and helpers, not as is so often thought- 
 lessly done, with dangers, enemies and 
 fear. 
 
 When the children grew older a favour- 
 ite subject of conversation at meal time 
 was to trace the different articles of food 
 through the process of their production 
 or manufacture. By this means much 
 valuable information was gathered, but 
 better still, the habit of logical thinking, 
 of tracing effects back to their causes, was 
 engendered, and feelings of love and 
 good-will to men awakened. 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 225 
 
 " Nothing, " says Froebel, " is more 
 dangerous to the health of the intellect, 
 nothing is more prejudicial to the culture 
 of the heart, than the habit of looking at 
 particular objects and events in detach- 
 ment from the great whole of life." 
 
 " May not the child receive even in 
 babyhood a prejudice in favour of the 
 universal life, and from the beginning of 
 his conscious career live in the clear sun- 
 light and fresh air of the generic ideal, 
 instead of being shut up in the prison 
 walls of his own atomic individuality? " 
 asks Miss Blow. 
 
 Mrs. Brown found, too, that these ef- 
 forts to help her children feel that all 
 men are brothers, the children of one 
 Father working together, consciously or 
 unconsciously, for the good of the race, 
 aroused and strengthened her own feeling 
 
226 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 of fellowship and gave her a more real, 
 genuine love towards all. 
 
 In many ways both she and her husband 
 felt their own lives broadening and deep- 
 ening; theories which had been hardly 
 more than theories became actualities as 
 they strove to make their lives fit cop- 
 ies for their little son. God in giving 
 them a little child to train was training 
 them. 
 
 They proved the truth of the teaching 
 that it is only by becoming as little chil- 
 dren that we can enter the Kingdom of 
 Heaven. By truly living with their 
 children, that is, learning to see as they 
 see, hear as they hear and feel as they 
 feel, they were led back to the paths of 
 simplicity and truth where alone peace 
 is to be found. How often parents lose 
 this great blessing because they fail to 
 
A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 227 
 
 reverently study God's thought as ex- 
 pressed in their child! 
 
 How truly Froebel says: " As we help 
 your young souls to expand, our own, 
 in the sweet task, shall grow toward 
 heaven.' ' 
 
Dear little children, we will learn from you, 
 Gardens well make, and you the flowers shall be, 
 Our care shall seem no tedious drudgery — 
 Only a happy trust that's ever new. 
 
 We'll guard you from the great world's strife and 
 
 din; 
 But, ah, our chief est, gladdest care shall be 
 To give you your own selves! to help you see 
 The meaning of each opening power within. 
 
 Oh, blessed thought, that God to us has given 
 The finishing of that which he has planned; 
 And as we help your young souls to expand, 
 Our own, in the sweet task, shall grow toward 
 heaven/' 
 
 — Froebel. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE MIRROR OF NATURE 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown never lost sight of 
 the trnth that the ultimate aim of edu- 
 cation was that the individual might find 
 himself, was self-knowledge, and that this 
 process began in the cradle and continued 
 all through life. They knew also that 
 self-knowledge grew by the two-fold 
 means of reflection and introspection. 
 
 The mirrors in which man sees him- 
 self reflected and so comes to self-con- 
 sciousness are his own actions, the actions 
 of others, and Nature. 
 
 They therefore sought to supply their 
 children with opportunities for many 
 
 231 
 
232 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 sided activity, they planned much com- 
 panionship with children at their own 
 stage of development and had them live 
 much with Nature. 
 
 In order that they might enjoy the 
 society of children of different characters 
 and dispositions, which is so important 
 for their true unfolding, and might have 
 it under wise and loving supervision, Mrs. 
 Brown never rested until she had aroused 
 sufficient interest in their neighbourhood 
 to have a good Kindergarten established. 
 
 Looking into the Browns' yard during 
 the spring and summer one might often 
 find the children with small, gaily painted 
 watering-cans, rakes, spades and wheel- 
 barrows busy gardening, for each child 
 had from babyhood his own little garden 
 in which he was encouraged, year after 
 year, to grow both flowers and vegetables, 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 233 
 
 their parents feeling with Prof. Hodge, 
 " To allow a child to grow up without 
 planting a seed or rearing a plant is a 
 crime against civilized society. . . . The 
 
 child that puts forth creative effort to 
 make the world better, the child that 
 plants a seed or cares for the life of an 
 animal, is working hand in hand with 
 Nature and the Creator, and what higher 
 religious development can we desire than 
 
234 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 that he become the reflected image of 
 God! ... In a child that has never reared 
 anything of its own there is little or no 
 foundation upon which to build regard 
 for the rights of others in these respects." 
 So in this sunny garden summer after 
 summer was enacted Froebel's picture in 
 the Mother-Play: 
 
 " In the sunlit garden, 
 Through the glad spring day, 
 Watch the happy little folks 
 Turning work to play. 
 
 " Guarding, watering, tending, 
 With such pretty zeal, 
 Doing from their little hearts 
 As if the flowers could feel. 
 
 " Such work does not tire them, 
 For they love it so ; 
 And are thanked in measure full, 
 If the flowers grow." 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 235 
 
 And how serious and reverent were the 
 little faces as they looked at the tiny seeds 
 in each of which Mother had told them a 
 little fairy lay asleep that would, if they 
 prepared a nice bed for it and put it care- 
 fully in, soon wake up! 
 
 How they watched day after day to 
 see once again this miracle of Nature, 
 and what joy filled their little hearts when 
 the tiny plant appeared above ground and 
 grew taller and taller till finally buds 
 and flowers appeared to reward their toil 
 and patience! 
 
 Were there ever such daisies and pan- 
 si es as grew in those gardens and were 
 plucked to adorn the breakfast table or 
 carried as a birthday gift to some dear 
 friend? 
 
 Then what joy to eat radishes and let- 
 tuce which one had himself grown! 
 
236 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 When a rainy day came and interfered 
 with their plans for ont-door pleasure how 
 quickly the sunshine came back to their 
 faces at Father's suggestion of the joy 
 the rain would be to the grass and flow- 
 
 ers! 
 
 How much easier to be patient and 
 happy on a broiling July day when one 
 realized that the heat was helping to 
 mature the fruit! 
 
 How hard it was at first to refrain 
 from digging up the seeds, or drowning 
 them with water from the new watering 
 cans, and what self-control and faith was 
 developed as they mastered their impulse, 
 because " it would not be kind to the 
 little seeds! " 
 
 It was a gay little party that responded 
 to mother's song: 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 237 
 
 " Come, children, with me 
 To the garden away, 
 The flowers are all waiting 
 Our coming to-day. 
 In heart and in sunshine 
 Is drooping each leaf, 
 But the children are coming 
 To bring them relief." 
 
 And the feeling of responsibility grew 
 apace as they began to realize through 
 their own experience that even little chil- 
 dren had power to help and save weaker 
 things ! 
 
 Then in the yard behind the house was 
 the home of the chickens, the rabbits and 
 the pigeons. 
 
 " Why do you bother with hens when 
 eggs and chickens are both so plentiful 
 in the market? " a neighbour would some- 
 times ask. " For the children's sake," 
 was the answer. 
 
238 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME • 
 
 The tiny ones of the family seemed 
 never tired of watching and feeding the 
 mother hens and their babies, and often 
 made remarks which showed their mother 
 how much they were learning from them. 
 " When the mother calls, the chickens run 
 so quick and so do I," was one remark. 
 " Pussy got into the chicken yard and 
 the little chicks all ran so fast to their 
 mother and she chased Pussy away," was 
 another. 
 
 The mother hen sitting so patiently 
 week after week on her eggs was a good 
 object lesson for old and young. 
 
 The weakness and helplessness of the 
 baby rabbits, pigeons, kittens and pup- 
 pies, and the patient, self-sacrificing care 
 of the mothers appealed strongly to the 
 children and helped them to realize some- 
 thing of the meaning of motherhood and 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 239 
 
 childhood, while pictures, stories and 
 games helped to deepen the impression. 
 
 Crumbs were alwaj^s saved from meals 
 and scattered for the wild birds, and great 
 was the joy of the children when one was 
 discovered building her nest in one of 
 their trees. Mrs. Brown had watched 
 anxiously for an opportunity to show 
 them a family of tiny birds in their nest, 
 for she felt this was an experience she 
 would not willingly have them lose. 
 
 " In the pretty picture 
 Of the nested birds 
 Baby reads his l love-song/ 
 Written without words — 
 Hears the nestlings calling, 
 And his heart calls, too ; 
 As they need their mother, 
 So his heart needs you " 
 
 says Froebel. 
 
240 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 It was a pretty sight to see the little 
 heads bent over the picture of the Birds ' 
 Nest in the Mother Play Book while 
 Mother told the story and showed them 
 how to make a nest with their hands, 
 using the thumbs for the bobbing heads 
 of the baby birds as they cried, " Peep, 
 peep. Mother dear, peep. You are much 
 loved. Peep, peep." 
 
 " The feeilng that all life is one life 
 slumbers in the child's soul. Only very 
 gradually, however, can this slumbering 
 feeling be transfigured into a wakening 
 consciousness. Slowly, through a sym- 
 pathetic study of Nature and of human 
 life, through a growing sense of the soul 
 and meaning of all natural facts and of 
 all human relationships, and through re- 
 creating in various forms that external 
 world which is but the objective expres- 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 241 
 
 sion of his own inmost being, the indi- 
 vidual attains to a consciousness of the 
 connectedness and unity of life, and to a 
 vision of the Eternal Fountain of Life. 
 Through the play of the Birds' Nest, 
 Mother, you take a few short steps upon 
 one of the paths which lead towards this 
 goal; viz., the path which, starting from 
 sympathy with Nature, runs through study 
 of Nature to comprehension of the forces, 
 laws, and inner meaning of Nature. You 
 are incited to enter upon this path by 
 your feeling that a prophetic sense of the 
 inner connection of Nature stirs and 
 dreams in your child's heart. You also 
 feel that there is no single object in 
 Nature which has more power to lift his 
 dreaming presentiment into waking con- 
 sciousness than a bird's nest," writes 
 Froebel. 
 
242 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 His teaching is that man, " a single 
 vital spark of the Divine flame," " seeks 
 and must ever seek Unity, the Being that 
 is One in and for itself — God, ' ' and that 
 in the objective world he sees the Life 
 with which he is one reflected, and through 
 this reflection comes gradually to realize 
 that union with all things which alone 
 brings peace, therefore he tells us: " The 
 yearning to inhale the life of Nature 
 awakens early in the human soul. The 
 young child loves to take it in with long 
 deep breaths. Hence he longs to be out 
 of doors and especially to watch the 
 quick, free movements of birds and ani- 
 mals. Mother, cherish this longing, and 
 whenever possible, give your child that 
 intimacy with Nature which he craves; 
 but do not imagine that his craving 
 can be stilled by any merely external 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 243 
 
 experience. His soul seeks the soul of 
 things.' ' 
 
 It was Mrs. Brown's deepest longing to 
 be to her children the interpreter of life 
 which it is the mother's high privilege 
 to be. Together she and her children 
 lived with and lovingly studied Nature, in 
 her many forms. Like the little Hiawatha 
 
 they — 
 
 " Learned of every bird its language, 
 Learned their names and all their secrets, 
 How they built their nest in summer, 
 Where they hid themselves in winter, 
 Talked with them whene'er he met them, 
 Called them ' Hiawatha's chickens.' " 
 Together they watched and sympa- 
 thized with every phase of Nature, sup- 
 plementing their own observations with 
 the best books, pictures and poems they 
 could procure, although in order to do 
 so they were obliged to wear plainer 
 
244 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 clothing and deny themselves some lux- 
 uries. 
 
 The smallest and apparently meanest 
 of Life's children was in their family 
 treated with respect because it was the 
 dear Father's handiwork, and so a deep 
 feeling of reverence was inculcated in 
 each little heart. Nature was a great pic- 
 ture book spread before the children's 
 eyes, and little ears were ever alert to 
 hear the faintest whisper from Mother 
 Nature. The things of Nature were their 
 constant toys and playmates. 
 
 Little by little through the long sum- 
 mer days were the mysteries of plant and 
 insect life unfolded to them. With never- 
 waning interest they watched the bees 
 carrying the " gold dust " from plant to 
 plant and receiving the drop of sweet 
 juice in payment, or traced with gentle 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 245 
 
 fingers the lines and markings which 
 pointed out to them the way to the 
 flowers' " pantry. " 
 
 Then what fun on a rainy day to play 
 that they themselves were bees gathering 
 honey from the coloured balls which were 
 for the time being roses or lilies, and 
 storing it for winter in the imaginary 
 hives built of blocks, or to be in their 
 lively imaginations father and mother 
 birds busily building nests and caring for 
 hungry broods of young ones! What 
 glorious birds' nests filled with eggs were 
 made with the clay ! What hours they spent 
 watching the wonderful little ants at their 
 daily work, and all unconsciously ab- 
 sorbing lessons in industry and persever- 
 ance which would stand them in good 
 stead later on! 
 
 How they all, even baby, gloried in the 
 
246 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 beautiful moonlight evenings! Great 
 waves of pity rolled over Mrs. Brown's 
 heart for the mothers who allowed them- 
 selves to be " too busy " in social, or 
 other supposed duties, to enjoy these 
 things with their children — mothers in 
 name but in heart knowing nothing of 
 the joys of true motherhood, all uncon- 
 sciously losing the real joys of life in order 
 to seize a few empty useless husks. 
 " Father, open the eyes of mother that 
 they may see the truth," was her con- 
 stant prayer. 
 
 Then indoors in the early winter eve- 
 nings what fun they all had trying to 
 make shadow pictures on the wall, and 
 how skilful some of the little fingers be- 
 came till jumping rabbits and long-necked 
 swans seemed to fill the room. 
 
 On bright, sunshiny days what jolly 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 247 
 
 times they had chasing the Light Bird as 
 it flitted here and there as a mirror was 
 moved in the sunlight, and how strange 
 to find after much experimenting that no 
 matter how hard one tried he could not 
 catch and hold it, and what a deep light 
 came into little eyes as they sang, 
 
 " No hand can catch the light-bird, 
 The pretty bird, the bright bird, 
 But eyes can catch and hearts can hold, 
 The light-bird on the wall," 
 
 and began to realize that there was an- 
 other way to possess things besides physi- 
 cal possession. 
 
 How wonderful it seemed to the chil- 
 dren that the same sun and moon which 
 gave them light also gave light to Aunt, 
 Uncle and little cousins in far-away 
 Japan, and shone upon the vessel in 
 

 248 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 which Grandpapa was now returning 
 from England ! 
 
 They loved to peep out of the window 
 
 just before jumping 
 into bed and say, 
 " Shine on, little stars, 
 and light all the little 
 boys and girls in the 
 world/' then to hop 
 under the warm cov- 
 ers and sing, " Twin- 
 kle, twinkle, little 
 star," or on moonlight 
 nights, one of their 
 dearly - loved Moon 
 Songs. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown were encouraged 
 and helped in all this work by the beau- 
 tiful mottoes of the Mother-Play Book, 
 such as — 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 249 
 
 " All that is noble in your child is stirred, 
 And every energy to action spurred 
 By Nature's silent, oft-repeated word. 
 
 " He sees the moon glide on her silver way ; 
 He sees the stars return with closing day ; 
 He sees each plant some hidden law obey. 
 
 " No wonder that he thinks an inner spring 
 Of love creative lives in everything, 
 And bids it to his life an offering bring. 
 
 " And as the bright unbroken chain returns 
 In beauty on itself, his spirit yearns 
 Towards that great love which dimly he dis- 
 cerns." 
 
 The pictures illustrating the Mother- 
 Play Light Songs were examined by the 
 children over and over again and the 
 stories connected with them told and re- 
 told. Robert was particularly interested 
 at one time in the little boy who is cry- 
 
250 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 tag because lie has broken a window; 
 Froebel's closing words, " Sometimes we 
 are like this little boy: we do something 
 which keeps light from getting into our 
 hearts. Then what a sad time we have 
 in the dark and how much trouble we 
 have to take before we can get the light 
 again," making a deep impression on his 
 mind. His father had first told it to him 
 one day when he had been untruthful and 
 was consequently not as happy as usual, 
 and he asked for it many thnes after- 
 wards, seeming to gain much help from 
 it. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown carefully guarded 
 the children lest their love for animals 
 should be, as Froebel says, a door through 
 which evil might stray into their lives. 
 
 " The interest a young child gives 
 To every animal that lives, 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 251 
 
 Dear mother, is an open door 
 Through which unbounded good may pour, 
 Filling his mind with knowledge manifold, 
 Of Nature's wondrous laws, so new, so old. 
 
 " But watch ! lest by this self -same way 
 Into his soul some ill may stray, 
 And, while your eyes look other where, 
 Make for itself a lodgment there. 
 Watch and with noble thoughts so fill his mind, 
 That passing evil may no shelter find." 
 
 They strove by means of the stories, 
 songs, pictures and plays with which 
 they interpreted the children's daily ex- 
 periences to keep their little minds 
 so centred on the beautiful and true 
 that passing evil might indeed " no shel- 
 ter find " there. Then when occasion 
 arose they carefully explained to the 
 children that there were things which 
 
252 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 animals might do because they were only 
 animals, and knew no better, which it 
 w r ould be very wrong for boys and girls, 
 who knew so much more than animals, 
 to do. Cats and dogs knew no better than 
 to scratch and bite one another, or chase 
 and kill weaker animals. Ponto treated 
 all other dogs as enemies and drove them 
 out of the yard, but boys and girls liked 
 to share their good times with all others. 
 
 Mrs. Brown found too that she must be 
 continually on the alert to direct the con- 
 versation quietly and pleasantly into other 
 channels when neighbours or friends 
 thoughtlessly related tales of accidents 
 or crime in the children's hearing, for 
 she felt that great care should be exer- 
 cised to wisely present the negative side 
 of life to the unfolding mind. 
 
 Froebel's words, " Only the conviction 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 253 
 
 that it is the darkness within which 
 makes the darkness without can restore 
 the lost peace of our souls," came home 
 as a great awakening thought to both 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brown as together they 
 studied the Light Songs of the Mother 
 Play. 
 
 They felt how greatly the world to-day 
 needs to realize this truth, to be taught 
 to look within, into our own characters, 
 our state of awakenment or sleep, for the 
 cause of whatever comes to us. The 
 Light shines ever bright, clear, steady, 
 to illuminate our daily path and fill us 
 with joy and hope, but how often we turn 
 our backs upon " the light that lighteth 
 everv man that cometh into the world,' 1 
 and then complain of the darkness and 
 misery! So tightly closed are the doors 
 and windows of many hearts, so clogged 
 
254 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 with worldliness, selfishness or prejudice, 
 that the blessed light finds not a chink 
 through which to penetrate. Therefore 
 by means of many little games, songs and 
 stories they strove to develop the chil- 
 dren's inherent love of light, and so to 
 lead them, step by step, to the spiritual 
 light of which the sun and moon are but 
 the symbol. Good morning was always 
 sung to the sunshine and the children fre- 
 quently taken out of doors in the early 
 evening to see the moon and stars. In- 
 deed, at one time Robert would never 
 go willingly to bed until he had been 
 taken out to see if the moon were shin- 
 ing and to wave " Good night ' to the 
 stars. 
 
 In the same way they corrected the 
 error into which the child is apt to fall 
 when he judges alone by what his senses 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 255 
 
 tell him (which error is emphasized by 
 the careless expressions of grown people) 
 and led him to realize that the apparent 
 rising and setting of the sun was but an 
 appearance, that in reality the sun never 
 left us but darkness was caused by our 
 turning away from it; that on dull days 
 the sun was shining just as bright, but a 
 cloud had come between it and us shut- 
 ting off some of the light ; for they felt 
 it most important that the children should 
 be helped to correctly read the symbol 
 that later on they might grasp the reality 
 for which it stood, thus setting their feet 
 firmly on the ladder set up between earth 
 and heaven. Ignoring or misunderstand- 
 ing the symbol, many fail to enter into the 
 joy of the truth symbolized. 
 
 " Nature,' ' says Drummond, " is not 
 a mere image or emblem of the spiritual. 
 
25d KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 It is a working model of the spiritual." 
 When the truth expressed in the words, 
 " That is not first which is spiritual but 
 that which is natural/' becomes better 
 understood, we shall cease striving to 
 force abstract ideas upon the young mind, 
 and shall instead lay the chief stress upon 
 filling their minds with symbols of truth, 
 so laying a solid foundation for future 
 thought; shall realize how worse than 
 useless it is to try to awaken ideas in 
 early life by words alone. Nature with 
 her concrete examples will then be seen 
 to be the truest teacher of childhood. 
 Long before a child can gain any idea, 
 for instance, of the truth of immortality 
 from words, it begins to dawn in his 
 mind through living in close communion 
 with nature and finding in his mother a 
 loving interpreter of her secrets. The 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 257 
 
 child who has his attention early drawn 
 to the connection and interdependence of 
 the seasons, who sows seed in the spring, 
 cares for the plants all summer, and in 
 the fall gathers the newly formed seeds 
 ready to plant the following spring, who 
 watches the buds formed in the fall swell- 
 ing and opening in the spring, who dram- 
 atizes the life of the caterpillar and but- 
 terfly, is planting in his mind seeds from 
 which the full-grown flower will develop 
 in after life. Debarred from or limited 
 in such experiences in childhood, the 
 mind at maturity has but a vague, hazy, 
 unreal hold upon spiritual realities. 
 
 " Let childhood ripen in childhood," 
 was therefore one of the foundation 
 stones in the life with which Mr. and 
 Mrs. Brown strove to surround their 
 children. They realized that life in this 
 
258 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
 
 world, being one continuous whole begin- 
 ning in the cradle and ending only in the 
 grave, nothing was to be gained but much 
 lost by attempting to hurry the individual 
 out of childhood into manhood; that by 
 depriving him of all or any of the expe- 
 riences that properly belong to that stage 
 we were interfering with his normal de- 
 velopment and seriously handicapping 
 his life. Step by step up the ladder must 
 each individual climb, and education 
 should aim to help him place his feet 
 firmly on each rung. 
 
 Thus the days, the months and years 
 flew quickly by in the Brown homestead, 
 father, mother and children forming one 
 complete, united family, helping, inspir- 
 ing, reverencing one another, while ever 
 looking within for Light, Wisdom and 
 Strength. 
 
THE MIRROR OF NATURE 259 
 
 " Dear mother, when the busy day is done, 
 And sleeping lies each tired little one, 
 Then fold your own hands on a heart at rest 
 And sleep with them upon God's loving breast. 
 
 " The love that gave you such a sacred charge 
 Is passing tender and exceeding large! 
 Oh, trust it utterly, and it will pour 
 Into each crevice of your life its store. 
 
 " Then things unworthy shall no more find room, 
 And like a sweet contagion in your home 
 Your life shall be. A life that's hid in God 
 Tells its great story without spoken word." 
 
 THE END. 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON 
 
 Each 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per vol. . $1.50 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 Being three " Little Colonel " stories in the Cosy Corner 
 Series, " The Little Colonel," " Two Little Knights of 
 Kentucky," and " The Giant Scissors," put into a single 
 volume. 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 SCHOOL 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHRISTMAS 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 VACATION 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOUR 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL'S KNIGHT COMES 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 RIDING 
 MARY WARE: THE LITTLE COLONEL'? 
 
 (Trade Mark) 
 
 CHUM 
 
 These ten volumes, boxed as a ten-volume set. . $15.00 
 A— 1 
 
Z. C. PAGE dr» COMPANY'S 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL 
 
 (.Trade Mark) 
 
 TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY 
 THE GIANT SCISSORS 
 BIG BROTHER 
 
 Special Holiday Editions 
 Each one volume, cloth decorative, small quarto, $1.25 
 New plates, handsomely illustrated with eight full-page 
 drawings in color, and many marginal sketches. 
 
 IN THE DESERT OF WAITING: The Legend of 
 Camelback Mountain. 
 
 THE THREE WEAVERS: A Fairy Tale for 
 Fathers and Mothers as Well as for Their 
 Daughters. 
 
 KEEPING TRYST 
 
 THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART 
 
 THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME: A 
 
 Fairy Play for Old and Young. 
 
 THE JESTER'S SWORD 
 
 Each one volume, tall 16mo, cloth decorative . $0.50 
 
 Paper boards .35 
 
 There has been a constant demand for publication in 
 separate form of these six stories, which were originally 
 included in six of the " Little Colonel " books. 
 
 JOEL : A BOY OF GALILEE : By Annie Fellows 
 Johnston. Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 
 New illustrated edition, uniform with the Little Colonel 
 Books, 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative . $1.50 
 A story of the time of Christ, which is one of the author's 
 
 best-known books. 
 
 A— 2 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL GOOD TIMES BOOK 
 
 Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series. $1.50 
 
 Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold . . 3.00 
 Cover design and decorations by Amy Carol Rand. 
 The publishers have had many inquiries from readers 
 of the Little Colonel books as to where they could obtain 
 a " Good limes Book " such as Betty kept. Mrs. Johns- 
 ton, who has for years kept such a book herself, has gone 
 enthusiastically into the matter of the material and format 
 for a similar book for her young readers. Every girl will 
 want to possess a " Good Times Book." 
 ASA HOLMES : Or, At the Cross-Roads. A sketch 
 of Country Life and Country Humor. By Annie 
 Fellows Johnston. 
 With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery. 
 Large 16mo, cloth, gilt top . . $1.00 
 
 " ' Asa Holmes; or, At the Cross-Roads ' is the most 
 delightful, most sympathetic and wholesome book that 
 has been published in a long while." — Boston Times. 
 
 THE RIVAL CAMPERS : Or, The Adventures of 
 Henry Burns. By Ruel Perley Smith. 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
 A story of a party of typical American lads, courageous, 
 
 alert, and athletic, who spend a summer camping on an 
 
 island off the Maine coast. 
 
 THE RIVAL CAMPERS AFLOAT: Or, The 
 Prize Yacht Viking. By Ruel Perley Smith. 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
 This book is a continuation of the adventures of " The 
 Rival Campers " on their prize yacht Viking, 
 
 THE RIVAL CAMPERS ASHORE 
 
 By Ruel Perley Smith. 
 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
 
 " As interesting ashore as when afloat." — The Interior. 
 
 JACK HARVEY'S ADVENTURES: Or, The 
 Rival Campers Among the Oyster Pirates. By 
 Ruel Perley Smith. Illustrated . . $1.50 
 
 " Just the type of book which is most popular with lads 
 
 who are in their early teens." — The Philadelphia Item. 
 
 A — 3 
 
Z. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 
 
 PRISONERS OF FORTUNE : A Tale of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay Colony. By Kuel Perley Smith. 
 Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece . $1.50 
 " There is an atmosphere of old New England in the 
 book, the humor of the born raconteur about the hero, 
 who tells his story with the gravity of a preacher, but with 
 a solemn humor that is irresistible." — Courier-J ournal. 
 
 FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS. By Charles H. 
 
 L. Johnston. 
 
 Large 12mo. With 24 illustrations . . . $1.50 
 
 Biographical sketches, with interesting anecdotes and 
 reminiscences of the heroes of history who were leaders 
 of cavalry. 
 
 " More of such books should be written, books that 
 acquaint young readers with historical personages in a 
 pleasant informal way." — N. Y. Sun. 
 
 FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS. By Charles H. L. 
 Johnston. 
 
 Large 12mo, illustrated $1.50 
 
 In this book Mr. Johnston gives interesting sketches of 
 the Indian braves who have figured with prominence in 
 the history of our own land, including Powhatan, the 
 Indian Csesar; Massasoit, the friend of the Puritans; 
 Pontiac, the red Napoleon; Tecumseh, the famous war 
 chief of the Shawnees; Sitting Bull, the famous war chief 
 of the Sioux; Geronimo, the renowned Apache Chief, etc., 
 etc. 
 
 BILLY'S PRINCESS. By Helen Eggleston Has- 
 kell. 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by Helen McCormick 
 
 Kennedy $1.25 
 
 Billy Lewis was a small boy of energy and ambition, so 
 
 when he was left alone and unprotected, he simply started 
 
 out to take care of himself. 
 
 TENANTS OF THE TREES. By Clarence 
 Hawkes. 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated in colors . . $1.50 
 
 " A book which will appeal to all who care for the 
 hearty, healthy, outdoor life of the country. The illus- 
 trations are particularly attractive." — Boston Herald. 
 A — 4 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 BEAUTIFUL JOE'S PARADISE: Or, The Island 
 of Brotherly Love. A sequel to " Beautiful Joe." 
 By Marshall Saunders, author of " Beautiful Joe." 
 One vol., library 12mo, cloth, illustrated . . $1.50 
 " This book revives the spirit of ' Beautiful Joe ' capi- 
 tally. It is fairly riotous with fun, and is about as unusual 
 as anything in the animal book line that has seen the light." 
 — Philadelphia Item. 
 
 'TILDA JANE. By Marshall Saunders. 
 
 One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50 
 " I cannot think of any better book for children than 
 
 this. I commend it unreservedly." — Cyrus Townsend 
 
 Brady. 
 
 'TILDA JANE'S ORPHANS. A sequel to 'Tilda 
 Jane. By Marshall Saunders. 
 
 One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50 
 'Tilda Jane is the same original, delightful girl, and as 
 
 *ond of her animal pets as ever. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE GRAVELEYS. By Mar- 
 shall Saunders, author of " Beautiful Joe's Para- 
 dise," " 'Tilda Jane," etc. 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative. Illustrated by E. B. 
 
 Barry $1.50 
 
 Here we have the haps and mishaps, the trials and 
 triumphs, of a delightful New England family, of whose 
 devotion and sturdiness it will do the reader good to hear. 
 
 BORN TO THE BLUE. By Florence Kimball 
 
 RUSSEL. 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.25 
 
 The atmosphere of army life on the plains breathes on 
 every page of this delightful tale. The boy is the son of a 
 captain of U. S. cavalry stationed at a frontier post in the 
 days when our regulars earned the gratitude of a nation. 
 A— 5 
 
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 
 
 IN WEST POINT GRAY 
 
 By Florence Kimball Russel. 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . SI. 50 
 " Singularly enough one of the best books of the year 
 for boys is written by a woman and deals with life at West 
 Point. The presentment of life in the famous military 
 academy whence so many heroes have graduated is realistic 
 and enjoyable." — Xew York Sun. 
 
 FROM CHEVRONS TO SHOULDER STRAPS 
 
 By Florence Kimball Russel. 
 
 12mo, cloth, illustrated, decorative . . . SI. 50 
 
 West Point again forms the background of a new volume 
 
 in this popular series, and relates the experience of Jack 
 
 Stirling during his junior and senior years. 
 
 THE SANDMAN: HIS FARM STORIES 
 
 By Willlam J. Hopkins. With fifty illustrations by 
 
 Ada Clendenin Williamson. 
 
 Large 12mo, decorative cover .... SI. 50 
 
 " An amusing, original book, written for the benefit of 
 very small children. It should be one of the most popular 
 of the year's books for reading to small children." — 
 Buffalo Express. 
 
 THE SANDMAN: MORE FARM STORIES 
 By William J. Hopkins. 
 
 Large 12mo. decorative cover, fully illustrated SI. 50 
 
 Mr. Hopkins's first essay at bedtime stories met with 
 
 such approval that this second book of " Sandman " tales 
 
 was issued for scores of eager children. Life on the farm, 
 
 and out-of-doors, is portrayed in his inimitable manner. 
 
 THE SANDMAN: HIS SHIP STORIES 
 
 By William J. Hopkins, author of " The Sandman: 
 His Farm Stories," etc. 
 
 Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated SI. 50 
 " Children call for these stories over and over again." — 
 Chicago Evening Post. 
 
 A—e 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 THE SANDMAN, HIS SEA STORIES 
 
 By William J. Hopkins. 
 
 Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated $1.50 
 
 Each year adds to the popularity of this unique series 
 
 of stories to be read to the little ones at bed time and at 
 
 other times. 
 
 THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL 
 
 By Marion Ames Taggart, author of " Pussy-Cat 
 
 Town," etc. 
 
 One vol., library 12mo, illustrated . . . $1.50 
 
 A thoroughly enjoyable tale of a little girl and her com- 
 rade father, written in a delightful vein of sympathetic 
 comprehension of the child's point of view. 
 
 SWEET NANCY 
 
 The Further Adventures of the Doctor's Little 
 
 Girl. By Marion Ames Taggart. 
 
 One vol., library, 12mo, illustrated . . . $1.50 
 
 In the new book, the author tells how Nancy becomes 
 in fact " the doctor's assistant," and continues to shed 
 happiness around her. 
 
 THE CHRISTMAS-MAKERS' CLUB 
 
 By Edith A. Sawyer. 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 
 
 A delightful story for girls, full of the real spirit of 
 
 Christmas. It abounds in merrymaking and the right 
 
 kind of fun. 
 
 CARLOTA 
 
 A Story of the San Gabriel Mission. By Frances 
 Margaret Fox. 
 
 Square 12mo. cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated 
 in colors by Ethelind Ridgway . . . $1.00 
 
 " It is a pleasure to recommend this little story as an 
 
 entertaining contribution to juvenile literature." — The 
 
 New York Sun. 
 
 THE SEVEN CHRISTMAS CANDLES 
 
 By Frances Margaret Fox. 
 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
 rated in colors by Ethelind Ridgway . . $1.00 
 Miss Fox's new book deals with the fortunes of the de- 
 lightful Mulvaney children. 
 A — 7 
 
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 
 
 PUSSY-CAT TOWN 
 
 By Marion Ames Taggart. 
 
 Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
 rated in colors $1.00 
 
 " Anything more interesting than the doings of the cats 
 in this story, their humor, their wisdom, their patriotism, 
 would be hard to imagine." — Chicago Post. 
 
 THE ROSES OF SAINT ELIZABETH 
 
 By Jane Scott Woodruff. 
 
 Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated 
 in colors by Adelaide Everhart . . . . $1.00 
 This is a charming little story of a child whose father was 
 
 caretaker of the great castle of the Wartburg, where Saint 
 
 Elizabeth once had her home. 
 
 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 By Evaleen Stein. 
 
 Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
 rated in colors by Adelaide Everhart . . . $1 .00 
 Gabriel was a loving, patient, little French lad, who 
 assisted the monks in the long ago days, when all the books 
 were written and illuminated by hand, in the monasteries. 
 
 THE ENCHANTED AUTOMOBILE 
 
 Translated from the French by Mary J. Safford 
 Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
 rated in colors by Edna M. Sawyer . . $1.00 
 " An up-to-date French fairy-tale which fairly radiates 
 
 the spirit of the hour, — unceasing diligence." — Chicago 
 
 Record-Herald. 
 
 O-HEART-SAN 
 
 The Story of a Japanese Girl. By Helen Eggles- 
 ton Haskell. 
 
 Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
 rated in colors by Frank P. Fairbanks . $1.00 
 " The story comes straight from the heart of Japan. 
 The shadow of Fujiyama lies across it and from every 
 page breathes the fragrance of tea leaves, cherry blossoms 
 and chrysanthemums." — The Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 A — 8 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND: Or, The Adven- 
 tures of Allan West. By Burton E. Stevenson. 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
 Mr. Stevenson's hero is a manly lad of sixteen, who is 
 given a chance as a section-hand on a big Western rail- 
 road, and whose experiences are as real as they are thrilling. 
 
 THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER. By Bur- 
 ton E. Stevenson. 
 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
 
 " A better book for boys has never left an American 
 
 press." — Springfield Union. 
 
 THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER. By Burton E. 
 Stevenson. 
 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
 " Nothing better in the way of a book of adventure for 
 boys in which the actualities of life are set forth in a practi- 
 cal way could be devised or written." — Boston Herald. 
 
 CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER. By Winn Standish. 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
 Jack is a fine example of the all-around American high- 
 school boy. 
 
 JACK LORIMER'S CHAMPIONS: Or, Sports on 
 Land and Lake. By Winn Standish. 
 Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated $1.50 
 
 " It is exactly the sort of book to give a boy interested 
 
 in athletics, for it shows him what it means to always 
 
 ' play fair.' " — Chicago Tribune. 
 
 JACK LORIMER'S HOLIDAYS: Or, Millvale 
 High in Camp. By Winn Standish. 
 
 Illustrated $1.50 
 
 Full of just the kind of fun, sports and adventure to 
 
 excite the healthy minded youngster to emulation. 
 
 JACK LORIMER'S SUBSTITUTE: Or, The Act- 
 ing Captain of the Team. By Winn Standish. 
 
 Illustrated $1.50 
 
 On the sporting side, this book takes up football, wres- 
 tling, tobogganing, but it is more of a school story perhaps 
 than any of its predecessors. 
 — 9 
 
Z. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 
 
 CAPTAIN JINKS : The Autobiography of a Shet- 
 land Pony. By Frances Hodges White. 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated . . . SI. 50 
 
 The story of Captain Jinks and his faithful dog friend 
 Billy, their quaint conversations and their exciting 
 adventures, will be eagerly read by thousands of boys and 
 girls. The story is beautifully written and will take its 
 place alongside of " Black Beauty " and " Eeautiful Joe." 
 
 THE RED FEATHERS. By Theodore Roberts. 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 
 
 " The Bed i eathers " tells of the remarkable adventures 
 
 of an Indian boy who lived in the Stone Age, many years 
 
 ago, when the world was young. 
 
 FLYING PLOVER. By Theodore Roberts. 
 
 Cloth decorative. Illustrated by Charles Livingston 
 
 Bull $1.00 
 
 Squat-By-The-Fire is a very old and wise Indian who 
 
 lives alone with her grandson, " Flying Plover," to whom 
 
 she tells the stories each evening. 
 
 THE WRECK OF THE OCEAN QUEEN. By 
 
 James Otis, author of " Larry Hudson's Ambition," etc. 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated . . ._ . $1.50 
 
 " A stirring story of wreck and mutiny, which boys will 
 find especially absorbing. The many young admirers of 
 James Otis will not let this book escape them, for it fully 
 equals its many predecessors in excitement and sustained 
 interest." — Chicago Evening Post. 
 
 LITTLE WHITE INDIANS. By Fannie E. Os- 
 
 TRANDER. 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.25 
 
 " A bright, interesting story which will appeal strongly 
 
 to the 'make-believe' instinct in children, and will 
 
 give them a healthy, active interest in 'the simple life.'" 
 
 MARCHING WITH MORGAN. How Donald 
 
 Lovell Became a Soldier of the Revolution. 
 
 By John L. Veasy. 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated .... $1.50 
 
 This is a splendid boy's story of the expedition of 
 Montgomery and Arnold against Quebec. 
 A— 10 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 COSY CORNER SERIES 
 
 It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall 
 contain only the very highest and purest literature, — 
 stories that shall not only appeal to the children them- 
 selves, but be appreciated by all those who feel with 
 them in their joys and sorrows. 
 
 The numerous illustrations in each book are by well- 
 known artists, and each volume has a separate attract- 
 ive cover design. 
 
 Each 1 vol., 16mo, cloth $0.50 
 
 By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON 
 
 THE LITTLE COLONEL (Trade Mark.) 
 
 The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its hero- 
 ine is a small girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, 
 on account of her fancied resemblance to an old-school 
 Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and old family 
 are famous in the region. 
 
 THE GIANT SCISSORS 
 
 This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in 
 France. Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, 
 and in later volumes shares with her the delightful ex- 
 periences of the " House Party " and the " Holidays." 
 
 TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY 
 
 Who Were the Little Colonel's Neighbors. 
 
 In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an 
 old friend, but with added grace and charm. She is not, 
 however, the central figure of the story, that place being 
 taken by the " two little knights." 
 
 MILDRED'S INHERITANCE 
 
 A delightful little story of a lonely English girl who 
 comes to America and is befriended by a sympathetic 
 American family who are attracted by her beautiful 
 speaking voice. By means of this one gift she is en- 
 abled to help a school-girl who has temporarily lost the 
 use of her eyes, and thus finally her life becomes a busy, 
 happy one. 
 
 A — 11 
 
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 
 
 By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON (Continued) 
 
 CICELY AND OTHER STORIES FOR GIRLS 
 
 The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles 
 will be glad to learn of the issue of this volume for young 
 people. 
 
 AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO AND OTHER STORIES 
 
 A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal 
 to all boys and most girls. 
 
 BIG BROTHER 
 
 A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Stephen, 
 himself a small boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of 
 the simple tale. 
 
 OLE MAMMY'S TORMENT 
 
 " Ole Mammy's Torment " has been fitly called " a 
 classic of Southern life." It relates the haps and mis- 
 haps of a small negro lad, and tells how he was led by 
 love and kindness to a knowledge of the right. 
 
 THE STORY OF DAGO 
 
 In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, 
 a pet monkey, owned jointly by two brothers. Dago 
 tells his own story, and the account of his haps and mis- 
 haps is both interesting and amusing. 
 
 THE QUILT THAT JACK BUILT 
 
 A pleasant little story of a boy's labor of love, and how 
 it changed the course of his life many years after it was 
 accomplished 
 
 FLIP'S ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 A story of a boy's life battle, his early defeat, and his 
 final triumph, well worth the reading. 
 A — 12 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 By EDITH ROBINSON 
 
 A LITTLE PURITAN'S FIRST CHRISTMAS 
 
 A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christ- 
 mas was invented by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the 
 Puritans, aided by her brother Sam. 
 
 A LITTLE DAUGHTER OF LIBERTY 
 
 The author introduces this story as follows: 
 " One ride is memorable in the early history of the 
 American Revolution, the well-known ride of Paul 
 Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is another 
 ride, — the ride of Anthony Severn, — which was no less 
 historic in its action or memorable in its consequences." 
 
 A LOYAL LITTLE MAID 
 
 A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary 
 days, in which the child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders 
 important services to George Washington. 
 
 A LITTLE PURITAN REBEL 
 
 This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the time 
 when the gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 A LITTLE PURITAN PIONEER 
 
 The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement 
 at Charlestown. 
 
 A LITTLE PURITAN BOUND GIRL 
 
 A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great 
 interest to youthful readers. 
 
 A LITTLE PURITAN CAVALIER 
 
 The story of a " Little Puritan Cavalier " who tried 
 with all his boyish enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and 
 ideals of the dead Crusaders. 
 
 A PURITAN KNIGHT ERRANT 
 
 The story tells of a young lad in Colonial times who 
 endeavored to carry out the high ideals of the knights 
 of olden days. 
 A— 13 
 
L. C. PAGE 6- COMPANY'S 
 
 By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramee) 
 
 A DOG OF FLANDERS 
 
 A Christmas Story 
 
 Too well and favorably known to require description. 
 
 THE NURNBERG STOVE 
 
 This beautiful story has never before been published 
 at a popular price. 
 
 By FRANCES MARGARET FOX 
 
 THE LITTLE GIANT'S NEIGHBOURS 
 
 A charming nature story of a " little giant " whose 
 neighbors were the creatures of the field and garden. 
 
 FARMER BROWN AND THE BIRDS 
 
 A little story which teaches children that the birds are 
 man's best friends. 
 
 BETTY OF OLD MACKINAW 
 
 A charming story of child life. 
 
 BROTHER BILLY 
 
 The story of Betty's brother, and some further adven- 
 tures of Betty herself. 
 
 MOTHER NATURE'S LITTLE ONES 
 
 Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, or 
 " childhood," of the little creatures out-of-doors. 
 
 HOW CHRISTMAS CAME TO THE MUL- 
 
 VANEYS 
 
 A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor children 
 with an unlimited capacity for fun and mischief. 
 
 THE COUNTRY CHRISTMAS 
 
 Miss Fox has vividly described the happy surprises that 
 made the occasion so memorable to the Mulvaneys, and 
 the funny things the children did in their new environ- 
 ment. 
 A— 14 
 
Mi 12 m 
 
 
 
 Q%fiH 
 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 019 878 650