rational unity, possessing also the elements of correlation and elasticity sufficient to enable it to adjust itself to our entire eight years of work; the chasm between the kindergarten and the primary seemingly needed a bridge, and a further advance implied a system of bridges between grades throughout the course; but, as a matter of fact, we found no bridge at all, but discovered our course to be rather a spiral one, returning yearly upon itself, through the seasons, not at the same dead level (this were a treadmill), but to ever-rising heights, which yearly extend the circle of the mental horizon, until a point is reached where the faithful student may behold, as the reward of his patient application, the entire process of his own education from the beginning to this final point, and he then discovers that his growth has been really not an ascent, but an unfolding. It is certain that heretofore schoolroom work has rarely reached beyond inductive or deductive methods; we claim that our nature study includes these, and develops as their outcome, yet another method, that may be called the dialectic, which, however, metaphysical in its abstract definition, is beautifully plain and simple, to even the youngest child, in its practical workings; namely, in the tracing of processes in all relationships. "In the year 1836, Froebel, in a remarkable essay upon the Renewal of Life, pointed to the United States of America," says Hailmann, "as the place best fitted, by virtue of its spirit of freedom, its true Christianity, and its pure family life, to receive his educational message and to profit by its teachings." That these words were prophetic, the present time already amply testifies; but how vastly more so will they have become, when the great movement of educational reform, now sweeping over the broad land, shall be transformed into a revolution, and when men shall become generally conscious of the identity of the spirit of Froebel with what may truly be called the "New Education." Froebel was the very first to voice the mandate, "send the whole child to school," and when the good time shall come, as come it will, and the heir shall at length come into his own, there will arise a general recognition of the source and origin of all that is good and abiding in modern education, and we shall then realize more fully than ever before the significance of those momentous words of Holy Writ-"and a little child shall lead them." DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTENS. SECRETARY'S MINUTES. Thursday, December 28th, 2:30 P. M. The Kindergarten Department of the Southern Educational Association held its second annual session in the assembly room of the Nineteenth Century Club, Memphis, Tenn., Thursday, December 28, 1899, with the president, Miss Mary McCulloch, of St. Louis, in the chair. The secretary of the department, Miss Lena Kneffler, of New Orleans, being absent, Miss Eveline A. Waldo, of the same city, and former president of the department, acted as secretary. The department was welcomed to Memphis by Mrs. S. B. Anderson, president of the Nineteenth Century Club. A response was made by the president of the department, Miss McCulloch. The chair appointed, at the request of the meeting, the following committees: Committee on Nominations-Miss Mari Ruef Hofer, Chicago, Ill., chairman; Miss H. H. Spinning, Memphis, Tenn.; Miss Jane P. Scott, Louisville, Ky. Committee on Resolutions-Miss McNair, Florence, Ala., chairman; Mrs. James, Nashville, Tenn.; Miss Fuller, Springfield, Mo. The following program was then carried through: "Song Interpretation, illustrated with Kindergarten Songs."-Miss Mari Ruef Hofer, Chicago, Ill. "The Cultivation of Habit in the Kindergarten."-Miss Finie Murfree Burton, Assistant Superintendent Louisville Free Kindergartens. "Kindergarten Music."-Miss Alice May Peek, Memphis, Tenn. "The Culture of the Kindergartner."-Mr. Francis E. Cook, Principal Crow School, St. Louis, Mo. Upon the conclusion of Mr. Cook's paper the report of the Committee on Resolutions was called for and approved. It was as follows: We, the members of the Kindergarten Department, desire to thank the citizens of Memphis in general and the members of the Nineteenth Century Club in particular for the hospitality extended by them during this meeting of the Southern Educational Association. We also wish to express our appreciation of the kindness shown by the Memphis Press Association. The Committee on Nominations then made the following report: For Vice-President, Miss Willette Allen, of Atlanta, Ga. For Secretary, Miss Mary Betts, of Memphis, Tenn. The report was accepted as read, and the above named ladies became the department's officers for 1900. President Mary McCulloch, in a few graceful words, then handed the gavel to the retiring vice-president, Miss Finie Burton, of Louisville, and asked her to take it, with all good wishes for Godspeed, to Miss Hill. The department then adjourned, and an informal reception was held. EVELINE A. WALDO. Acting Secretary. ADDRESS OF WELCOME. BY MRS. S. B. ANDERSON, OF MEMPHIS, TENN. Madam President: It is a privilege to welcome to Memphis this Kindergarten Association. We consider it as particularly appropriate that you assemble in this club room, for, as women, we are naturally interested in little children. As intelligent women, we are interested in their education. We add to the hospitality of our club that larger hospitality of the open mind, which is ready to receive all the good that you bring us. Madam President, we do indeed welcome you to our city, our club, our minds, our hearts." Miss McCulloch responded to this welcome by saying that when she had entered the lovely club rooms on her arrival in Memphis she had been gladdened by their home-like appearance which so suited the spirit of a kindergarten meeting, which meant a drawing nearer together-a helping of each one to a higher, purer, holier life. She said then to those assembled: "A year ago in New Orleans there was planned and launched a ship by Miss Eveline A. Waldo, who today will act as our secretary. This ship today comes to Memphis. This ship is the kindergarten department of the Southern Educational Association. I think I may call this a representative gathering of kindergartners. We have with us today, Miss Mari Hofer of Chicago, Miss Finie Burton of Louisville, Miss Mary Alice Peck of Memphis, Miss Eveline A. Waldo of New Orleans, and Mr. Francis E. Cook and your president from St. Louis. Our ship bears on its banners the kindergarten motto. The kindergarten rests on universal principles, and, among other lessons, teaches unity, creative activity and freedom. Unity to the mothers means a drawing together of mothers in the great cause of child culture. If they are to develop the child, they must understand its nature and develop it in its three-fold aspect, and do this in the right way. Mothers wish what is best for the child, but is it best to leave this development of the child to instinct? The essential nature of the child is its divine origin. Freedom to the mother means developing the child so that it can reveal truly, wholly and purely this divine origin. The way to all this is seen by the educator as play. Play in its highest sense-all good work-is the result of freedom and a good outward expression. All freedom partakes of the spirit of play. All teachers should cultivate this spirit. Every kindergartner should know the school work that succeeds hers, and every teacher should know the kindergarten. In the kindergarten constant lessons in loving and giving, in justice and mercy, are taught. The kindergarten song— "Christmas is coming, how happy are we, It is that makes Santa Claus the happiest man, is typical of this spirit. The spirit of giving is inculcated into the child. All children need the kindergarten. The child of the wealthy as well as the child of the poor. The kindergarten represents the science of motherhood, it teaches the science of childhood. All teachers should seize the play spirit-it belongs to the whole school from the kindergarten to the university. It holds the story of the mother love, the story of the family love, and the story of that larger love, their relations to the world. I thought upon hearing Dr. Junius Jordan speak of the race question as the great problem of the South, that this great question might be solved by the kindergartens. In St. Louis we have eight kindergartens for colored children presided over by cultured women of their own race, where these children are taught the value of home ties, and in them is created a greater love and respect for the responsibility of home life. In the kindergarten plays of the Carpenter, the Miller, the Miner, and other workers the child, by imitation, is brought close to the world of industry and has his sympathy fostered with it. And I would say to the gentlemen here that to them is given the task of seeing that the State gives to its children the best. The State owes it to these children, and to these gentlemen would fall the task of seeing that the State would give, at no distant day, its sanction and approval and support to the kindergartens, and to them would be left the duty of seeing that the kindergarten no longer rests upon private support, but that it becomes a part of every public school system. I am an optimist. I believe all this good is coming to us. The signs are so good." ten songs. Miss McCulloch then introduced Miss Mari Hofer of Chicago, saying that to any audience an introduction to Miss Hofer was a mere formality, as she came to us with a national reputation for the work she had done in music. Miss Hofer gave song interpretations, illustrated with kindergarMiss Hofer showed how though activity was generated in the child through music. She said the child learned quickly to understand the language of music, the language of the mother's lullaby to the puling infant. The child grasped ideas and received impressions more quickly through music than otherwise. She reproduced some nursery rhymes, with variations, showing first the crude manner of singing, and later, after the ears of the pupils had been better trained to the tones, the more polished rendering, which gave a clearer perception of the idea and aroused in the pupil some of the emotions. Different ideas are received from different tones. THE CULTIVATION OF HABIT IN THE KINDERGARTEN. BY MISS FINIE MURFREE BURTON, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LOUISVILLE FREE KINDERGARTEN ASSOCIATION. This paper covered the three divisions: Habit, its definition and value; the eradication of bad habits; and the cultivation of good habits. The value of the positive in the work with the children rather than the nega tive was emphasized. The position taken was supported by citations from eminent psychological authorities and also by the results of experimental work in the Louisville Free Kindergartens. Among other things Miss Burton said: "Habit has been defined as 'The effect of a frequent repetition of the same act.-habitual practice-custom-inveterate use-usage.' While from Prof. James we have the statement, 'An acquired habit, from the physiological point of view, is nothing but a new pathway of discharge formed in the brain by which certain incoming currents ever after tend to escape." The above sentence suggests a little stream making its way down the side of a mountain. At first it is hindered and turned aside by sticks and leaves, stones and roots of trees, and makes slow progress; but the bed of the stream is ever being gradually defined, and, with the heavy rains, the channel is cut deeper and the fuller volume of water rushes down with more forceful and increasing speed. So each time an act is performed it has its effect in its "pathway of discharge," and each succeeding performance is easier than the first. Repetition and the quality of plasticity are essential to all formation of habit. Men have been called "bundles of habits," children "bundles of tendencies." If the tendency is to become fixed, made permanent, the act must be repeatedly performed before the nerve matter sets or grows to the mode in which it is useful. Longfellow wrote of "The Ropewalk:" Yet we need no poet-simply a knowledge of life-to realize that, old and young, "we are spinning our own fates," that the thought or look or word or feeling, when once indulged, is forever after a part of us, a cord holding us to higher, better things, or a rope binding us to the lower level from which the soul seeks to escape. The kindergarten, a habit-factory, is a busy workshop where the kindergartner and her assistants are the directing power, and each little child is consciously or unconsciously at work. John Stuart Mill says: "A character is a completely fashioned will." Then how important are the fashioning process and the period of formation. From our habit-factory we wish to send out the best results. The best habits only are to be acquired; our endeavors are in that direction. If when the child comes to us at three years of age he has a bad habit, how shall we get rid of it? You banish the darkness from a room by opening the windows and flooding it with sunlight, you "empty a glass of air by filling it with water." A bad habit in a child is often the lack of a virtue, the want of some good quality. |