the furthering of their plans; thru the mistake of putting complicated, finished toys into their hands from earliest childhood, thus deadening creative ingenuity.

With this somewhat cursory view of the conditions into which modern city children are born in mind, let us inquire what the primary school, whither they must wend their way at five or six years of age, has to offer them.

Tho the children of today, and those of past generations, possess such different mental and moral equipments, because of the changed and vastly more complicated environment of today, the matter taught in the first three years of school life remains the same- "the three R's," only sugarcoated that the dry facts may be more palatable. A little science, a few stories, are thrown in as a sort of center around which the other work is to group itself; nevertheless teacher and child are judged, not by these accessories, but by the latter's ability to read, write, and use figures. There is not the slightest doubt but that the child of ordinary—yes, of less than ordinary — intelligence can, between the ages of five and eight, be taught to read and write well and use figures to some extent.

The only means of securing this result is thru a process of repetition. The best thought of intelligent teachers has long been seeking to relieve this process of some of its irksomeness, and a large measure of success has attended their efforts. But there is another side to the problem which has not received such close attention. While it is now possible to present the same fact in such a variety of ways as to retain attention and interest until the fact has become a part of the child's mental possession, try as we may, we nevertheless are forced to call into play the same powers of mind, the same senses, the same muscles on the part of the child. Nature has set an absolute limit here. Certain senses, muscles, mental powers, must respond each time to similar stimuli. All must perceive the harm resulting from this constant use of one set of powers to the exclusion of others. That it naturally results in the child's drifting into a more or less mechanical habit of thought and life, which, unless counteracted, will result in an atrophy of individuality, of those qualities essential in coping successfully with life's practical difficulties, is patent to any thoughtful mind. Happily for the child, his own nature so rebels at being run into a mold that he responds with amazing quickness to the slightest help in the direction of freedom.

The kindergarten, manual training, and child study are slowly opening our eyes to the radical changes necessary if education is to preserve individuality, increase the power of self-direction, develop forethought and ability to master difficulties, train to a respect and love for work, whether mental or physical. Mere ability to read, write, and figure will not make men and women qualified for intelligent citizenship in this great republic. In the past, when outside environment supplied opportunities for developing the other qualities needed, the state's duty to its children was done

when it furnished instruction in "the three R's.' But the changed conditions of today demand a different training, if it is to be an efficient one.

Visit a kindergarten sufficiently often to become conversant with the methods used and acquainted with individual children; note their steady growth in the power to discover facts thru the use of their own senses, to express the thought gained in language or concrete handwork; watch the mastery of self, the tact in overcoming difficulties; see the growth of a community spirit. Also watch with equal care a primary class conducted according to the most approved modern methods. A comparison at the close of the year will reveal the fact that the children of the former have outstripped the latter in general intelligence, in power to think and act independently; are more amenable to social laws.

"The most colossal improvement which recent years have seen in secondary education lies in the introduction of the manual-training schools; not because they will give us a people more handy and practical for domestic life and better skilled in trade, but because they will give us citizens with an entirely different intellectual fiber. . . . . Laboratory work and shop work engender a habit of observation, confer precision, honesty, selfreliance."

After years of patient struggle manual training has won for itself a place in secondary education because of its effect upon character. Thus the kindergarten and secondary education meet upon a common ground; but between them is a wide gap. That which meets and satisfies the needs of early childhood, that which affords a development in stability of character which mere intellectual training failed to give to youth, surely cannot fail to be of benefit between the ages of six and twelve years. Why, then, has it no place in our primary curriculum?

Tradition and habit are strong. Tho the kindergarten on the one hand, and manual training on the other, have opened our eyes in a measure, we are slow to follow their leading. The great mass of mankind still believes a sort of magic lies hidden somewhere in the mere ability to decipher a printed page; not realizing that the power of mind which can make use of what is so gained is the force which counts in the world. The bare art of reading is valueless; it is the transmutation of what is read into thought, act, character which works for good or ill. If we teach the art (a thing offering no difficulty at the right time and place) if we teach the art, without the mental habit, the moral force to grasp and use purposefully such matter as can be gained thru the art, how are the children benefited?

There comes a time when certain powers of body and mind have developed, when certain mental habits have been acquired, when certain ideas and ideals have been fostered in the child-mind and heart, when he feels the need of and has the preparation for receiving with little effort those mechanical aids to further knowledge, letters, and figures. All that is now so laboriously struggled for from the age of five to ten, and which

results in a stultification of the reasoning power, in the elimination of the individuality of such a large percentage of the mass of children, with a suitable training preceding, can readily be acquired between the ages of eight and ten, and so acquired as to leave the children in full possession of all their powers, keen, active, trained for their highest usefulness.

The child of six to eight years of age has the same need—nay, an increasing need-of the civilizing influences of sympathetically directed play. The deepest ethical principles are often gained upon the playground. Principles of justice, of fair play, can be inculcated there as nowhere else, because practical results are seen and felt; they are not arbitrary injunctions imposed by superior strength.

Literature opens to the child its rich treasures of imagination and experience; treasures which deepen and broaden the life, while satisfying the instinctive craving of the child-heart for a means of comparing its own little life with the experiences of others. The story hour is all too sparingly used. It offers to the child-soul, as nothing else ever can, the noblest, the truest thoughts the world possesses, in a form which childhood loves and claims as peculiarly its own. Once given its proper place and allowed to fulfill its mission of storing heart and mind with its best, the problem of keeping the youth of the land from vile literature will be largely solved.

Now we starve the heart and soul that we may gain time to furnish the mind with the key to unlock the storehouse of knowledge for itself. There is no time to bestow the greater boon, the creation of ideals which contact with the great thoughts contained in the told stories would engender. Think of the thousands of little children who have no higher ideals than those gained from the squalid surroundings into which they are ushered at birth, and amid which they must live and die. Where are they to gain food for heart and soul? How are the garnered treasures of the ages to be brought within the reach, to be made of service to, the great mass of children? What better, or more natural, way than thru

the story told?

Then, when the time has come for mastering the technicalities of reading, the delight of discovering on the printed page the much-loved stories serves as an added incentive to effort. Now thought has to be sacrificed to gain repetition.

Manual training continues, in form suited to increase strength and ability, that training begun in the kindergarten which satisfies the instinct for making, develops judgment, concentration of mind, perseverance in the accomplishment of a purpose; this in addition to the sense-training for hand and eye. There should be included in this connection also a practical working knowledge of all the common weights and measures. Children of this age dearly love to play store. Why not let them do so to some purpose? The amount of genuine mental effort made under the

inspiration of pleasure, free from the entanglement of figures, is amazing. A cultivation of a quickness of ear in detecting differences of sound, a keenness of eye in distinguishing differences in form, a delicacy and deftness of touch, must have a place in the curriculum if it is to prepare for an easy mastering of "the three R's."

Science has opened up a new realm to childhood as well as to mankind. All about him, arousing curiosity and interest, the child sees the forces of nature swiftly, accurately performing the mandates of man. Into what better channel than a study, thru simple experiments, of the manifestations of the elementary forces of nature and their practical application to daily life, can you direct a child's instinct for investigation? Such work, aside from its intensely interesting character, leads to habits of close observation, concise statement; offers large opportunities for the exercise of comparison, inference, reason, judgment. The finer qualities of the soul-sympathy, kindness, care for helplessness-are quickened and deepened thru a right contact with plant and animal life.

Is it more profitable in the end to spend from three to five of the most impressionable years of a child's life in mastering technicalities by means of constant drill; or will it be better to devote as much of that time as possible to developing brain-power and character, and then acquire the technicalities at a time when the child's own ability fits him to do it with ease and speed? Were it not that the former method comes to us weighted with the authority and veneration of hoary-headed tradition and habit, there could be no hesitation.

With senses trained to be alert, active, accurate; with minds stored with facts obtained by observation, or experiment; with the ability to express thought in good language; with the opportunity of using their now pent-up energies in the production of objects which are concrete expressions of their own mental images; with the gain in self-control, moral purpose, and forethought, thru persistence in adjusting means to the accomplishment of an end; with a healthier insight into the meaning and relations of life gained thru story, games, and contact with nature; possessed of these qualities, can anyone doubt that children will be happier, will not only be better prepared to be taught the technicalities which permit of more rapid advancement in formal knowledge, but will also have a fairer chance to grow into men and women possessed of nobility and strength of character ?

The birthright of every child is an opportunity for the free and full development of all his powers of body, mind, and soul, that he may be fitted to meet life's struggles and opportunities.

Education will have accomplished its noblest purpose, have reached its highest ideal, when it secures this for all children.

THE EDUCATIONAL USE OF MUSIC FOR CHILDREN
UNDER THE AGE OF SEVEN YEARS

MISS MARI RUEF HOFER, CHICAGO, ILL.

The ideas of the new education, as inaugurated by the kindergarten, have been so generally accepted during the last decade that they no longer furnish occasion for argument, but we find them incorporated in general good theory and practice. The terms "self-activity," "creativity," "spontaneity," "self-expression," the "play-spirit," and their equivalents, have become familiar words in school circles-in fact, it may be said of them that they have graduated from the kindergarten, and are now receiving most serious attention at the universities and other seats of advanced learning.

In the early days these inagic words came as heaven-sent messages to the teacher. At their bidding she found herself called from the plain fare and unadorned conditions of "the three R's" to revel in the munificence of philosophy, science, and art, with the liberty to think, feel, and experiment freely along all lines. What vistas of joy and growth revealed themselves to her in the new methods! What luxurious browsings in hitherto unexplored fields were now permissible! Also, what problems of individual reconstruction had to be met, what bridges of inefficiencies and despair had to be crossed, before these things could be!

In the first abandonment to the new freedom lay the education of the teacher from the old to the new ideal of teaching. If in the embarrassment of her riches it was difficult for the kindergartner to act with judgment and discretion in the use of her resources, it is hardly to be wondered at. The first great step was the conquering of herself and her material. The second step immanent in all education today is to learn to discriminate, and use things in their right proportion and place. The days of first enthusiasms are long past, and the cool eye of professionalism is upon the kindergarten, questioning its uses and the effectiveness of its work.

In its motiving capacity the kindergarten holds a peculiar and prophetic relation to all later education. Here the ingredients for future. life and living receive their initial stirring, and the questions as to future flavor and quality of the individual are largely determined. Here, in the realm of the impulse and caprice of childhood, is recognized and conserved the creative element as the chief cornerstone of future progress. Froebel, as no other educator, prognosticates the artist. By joining intui. tion to education he left the door of the soul ajar, that its mysteries might forever after mingle with the common life. In the materials of education he sees only the media thru which, in the end, shall be attained the perfect man and his perfect work. If Froebel's principles are true, the production of the artist must be, not only a theoretical, but a practical end in our work.