his spiritual inheritance of sonship and brotherhood, beginning with Genesis, or origin, and completing itself in Revelation, or heavenly vision of a new life, so the Mother-Play reveals the particular relation of mother and child in the unfolding of child nature. It is a revelation of child nature from its genesis to the personal revelation of a conscious selfhood as co-operative man and child of the divine Father. It defines the steps in the process of that unfolding and the significance of its relationships. It shows the vital spiritual relation between the sympathetic heart of the mother and the responsive play of the child. It gives typical experiences showing points of contact and interest, vital fundamental centers out of which spring the fountains of universal life, and defines simple means of stimulus lying right in the field of everyday contact. There is no message from the kindergarten to mothers more important, it seems to me, than that plea of Froebel's to "let childhood ripen in childhood." Recent investigations in child-study startle us with suggestions of arrested development, not only in bodily and mental powers, but of spiritual strength and insight, where we have been wont to see, as we thought, only willful lack of participation. We are equally startled with the suggestions of premature development in as many direc tions, and the inevitable degeneracy which must follow. The schools are not responsible. They are just what the majority of the homes demand, and when the mothers are sufficiently thoughtful to define what they really do want, and are willing to work for the realization of their ideals, they will succeed. Our children are not allowed to play naturally and freely. The conventionalities of adult life crowd upon this fresh young life in its upspringing joyousness, and we cramp and dwarf the spontaneousness of play and childish outburst of feeling. Let the flower of life flaunt its gay colors unrebuked. There is a vital relation between these bright petals and the slow-maturing seeds which now are green and soft and hardly perceptible. The strength and firmness of maturity depend upon the wealth of natural expression in blossoming time. Our children must play. They must have room. They must play spontaneously, unrestrainedly. They must be glad in their play, if you want individual courage and joyful strength in mature life. Too boisterous expression is possible, but the restraint should not be external, lest it develop insincerity, but restraint will come from loving impulse of the heart, if the sympathies are intelligently, systematically stimulated in the union of mother and child. I believe that educational reforms will not find their limit until every home recognizes this inalienable right of childhood and gives it room and sympathy, and not until it will be possible for every child, rich and poor alike, to come in contact with nature and find freedom for joyous expression of the play impulse in public playgrounds. The best prayer is the one of work, so let us mothers and motherly women rouse ourselves to work systematically and persistently for such privileges for universal childhood. THE INFLUENCE OF The kinderGARTEN UPON THE SCHOOLS BY F. LOUIS SOLDAN, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, ST. LOUIS, MO. [ABSTRACT] Superintendent Soldan stated that the civilization-and the schools. as a part of that civilization - of modern times is eclectic, a general proposition which is illustrated by the contributions lent by the art of all lands and all times to the making of the great Congressional Library. Among the many valued influences of the kindergarten, its influence in causing children to see mathematical truths more clearly, and to read more quickly and intelligently, were emphasized. The Washington practice of putting in one class the children from intelligent homes and those from the kindergarten, while children with less power to work are put in another class, was mentioned. In tracing the history of the influences that have prepared the way for the kindergarten in the United States, Mr. Soldan mentioned four points: 1. The influence of Horace Mann and of the Oswego Normal School in diffusing Pestalozzian and other fundamental principles and practices of education. 2. The influence of Dr. W. T. Harris, to whom he paid a feeling tribute, and of St. Louis, in establishing kindergartens, and emphasizing the Hegelian doctrines of sense-perception and thought. 3. The personal influence of Miss Susan Blow, who added to Hegelian principles Froebel's doctrine of self-activity, which has broken up the scholasticism of the schools, and made the manual-training school possible. 4. Herbart's philosophy, especially the doctrine of interest, when properly stated. Incidentally the likenesses of Froebel and Herbart were indicated. DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION SECRETARY'S MINUTES . FIRST SESSION.- MONDAY, JULY 11, 1898 The department was called to order at 3 P. M. in the First Congregational Church, by the president, Dr. William N. Hailmann, Dayton, O. The following program was presented : Address by President William N. Hailmann. 66 Play as a Means of Idealizing and Extending the Child's Experiences," Miss Allie M. Felker, State Normal School, San José, Cal.; discussion by Miss E. V. Brown, Normal School, Washington, D. C. "Successive Differentiation of Subjects of Instruction," Dr. Z. X. Snyder, president State Normal School, Greeley, Colo.; discussion by Superintendent T. A. Mott, Richmond, Ind. President Hailmann appointed the following as a committee on nominations: SECOND SESSION.- TUESDAY, JULY 12 The department met at 3 P. M. in the First Congregational Church and was called to order by the president. The following program was presented : "Value of the Hand in Acquisition of Knowledge and Expression of Thought," Miss Mary F. Hall, superintendent of primary work, Milwaukee, Wis.; discussion by Superintendent George Griffith, Utica, N. Y. “Manual Training in Elementary Schools," Principal Richard Waterman, Chicago, Ill. "Social Co-operation," Superintendent B. C. Gregory, Trenton, N. J. The report of the Committee on Nominations was given as follows: For President - William N. Hailmann, Dayton, O. For Vice-President -J. W. Carr, Anderson, Ind. A vote of thanks was offered to the local committee for its thoughtful provision for the comfort of the department. HARRIETT E. SMITH, Secretary. Th The PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS BY DR. WILLIAM N. HAILMANN, SUPERINTENDENT OF INSTRUCTION, DAYTON, O. Thruout the educational world the conviction is gaining ground that, in order to reach in its work the real life and character of the pupil, the school must modify its practices in many ways; that it must eliminate from organization and method certain traditions of medievalism which still cling to it, and that it must enter unreservedly upon certain new paths, indicated most comprehensively by Froebel. The traditional school deals chiefly with what have been aptly designated as school branches of instruction and the corresponding forms of technical skill. Even in its ethical work, it confines itself mostly to the school virtues, such as punctuality, promptness, and obedience. It draws its material from the past; it excludes the living present and turns its back upon the future. Hence it is a stranger to the science and art of life which lies in the present and tends toward the future. The traditional school is interested in the origin of man and ignores his destiny. From this condition progressive education has sought deliverance since the days of Bacon, as attested by Comenius, Locke, Montaigne, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Heusinger, and scores of others. The fullest formulation of aim and method, however, was reserved for Froebel. He, for the first time, in clear and simple words, recognized the proximate aim of education as the co-ordination of individual purpose with the progressively manifest destiny of man. This formula frees education from its mediæval trammels. It deals primarily with the child. For authority it substitutes insight. The worship of the past yields to the control of the present and to the deliberate conquest of the future. Life, with its varied experience and rich opportunities for achievement, takes the place of the book. Yet authority, the past, and the book are not discarded; nor do they fall into contempt. On the contrary, they become invested with a higher dignity, for, altho they have ceased to be ends in themselves, they have become indispensable means in the attainment of higher aims. Thus is avoided the error of breaking with environment and antecedent; reform rests on the discovery of the true place and value of these, not only conserving them, but giving them new significance and higher purpose. In the formulation of his principle of method Froebel is equally wise and conservative. He preserves, indeed, the traditional formula which bids the teacher proceed from the concrete and particular to the abstract and general, but he extends it by requiring the application of the abstract and general to new concrete and particular facts and purposes. In this he is followed by the Herbartians. Yet he goes farther. He demands that these particulars should coincide as nearly as possible with the pupil's own spontaneous desires, that the pupil should apply his general facts and principles to his own experience, his own needs and aspirations. By each new gain in insight, the life of the pupil should, at the very time, be enriched and extended, gaining in aspiration and depth, in productive and creative fervor and efficiency. In other words, he requires that the essential and practical identity of the concrete particular and the abstract general should be shown and become manifest in the actual life of the pupil at his respective stage of development. This leads Froebel to recognize the significance of manual activity and play in mental development, and his new education means to lead the former to work and to creative art, and the latter to conscious social co-ordination in common social endeavor. Froebel sees in humanity the highest expression of creative thought. With reference to this, the child appears to him as a part, but also, and in a higher sense, as a whole in process of development, a whole in which humanity is to attain consciousness of its dignity and to reach a higher plane. Froebel successfully overcame in his work the fatal dualism which formerly had fancied impassable barriers between mind and body, which had denied the paramount value of the hand, and had placed sole reliance on the word, more especially the printed word. He recognized the unity of body and mind in life. To him the hand appeared as the outwardly acting mind; in the deed thought is realized, completed. The word appears to him, on the one hand, as treasuring past achievement in the onward march of humanity, and, on the other hand, as mediating between members of society or social groups united in common interests. From these considerations it will appear, as was previously indicated, that Froebel's new education does not underestimate the value of the material of instruction of the traditional school. On the contrary, it intensifies the importance of this material by giving to it in its treatment direct bearing, not only upon the prospective, but also upon the actual, life of the pupil. Fundamental data for logical treatment are furnished by the pupil's immediate environment and experience; motive for action is found in his own natural interests. On the other hand, the outcome of thought and effort passes at once, more or less completely, into the pupil's actual achievement life, and furnishes food for progressively higher aims and ideals, as well as incentive for correspondingly deeper, more persistent, and wider research. Thus, steadily, naturally, continuously, compactly, play is lifted into T |