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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1899)
I umn. mtammmmiimmmmmMnm mmi jji L" (iURHW.JH THE COURlEh. thought, in, if not discouraged, at least unroAarded. This very under estimation of the value of rellection and investigation Is the reason why so many pupils reputed slow make a larger success ot life than those who more quickly assimilate everything presented to them and deliver pre coeious opinions with the same rapid ity. Sound reasoning takes time, especially in the young who must grope while learning how. Neverthe less the minds that persistently re fuse to he hurried into a denial of their own intelligence, however crude, are those for which a career is waiting, to hegln at the close of the school period. To express everything in the mind on any given suhject, to make full and complete sentences of germinal and germinating ideas is what i,he puhlic school teacher is taught to teach her pupils The sys tem is turning out magpies by the hundreds, who will get this country into trouble yet if they are allowed control. The college standing of Ad miral Dewey and Captain C'oghlan is unknown to me, but, judging from the incidents of their career, the ad miral's was below the middle and the captain's was among the lirst live, lieforni in the methods of the public school is constantly urged. Nothing is more urgent than a reconsideration of the value of contemplation and re llection and the dangers of thought less speech. An undergraduate at Harvard writes the New York Sun to learn the opinion of the editor concerning the value of culture. In reply the editor disclaims underestimating culture but holds that college professors are inclined to withdraw from the world and to get out of sympathy with it. The cloistered scholar spins lino theories that are not so likely to be of service as the con clusions of a mind no stronger but in closercontact witli men and affairs. The opinions, for instance, of the Harvard professors and of the learned President Eliot as to the course the United States should take with the Filipinos seem foolish and impractical but then the rest of the world may be wrong and the cloistered scholars right. Setting the value of culture aside, the editor of The Sun thinks that the single mi tided pursuit of cul ture isolates man from his fellows and lessens his influence. Besides, a knowledge of Greek and Latin, of the modern languages and of science, docs not make men any better. 'I lien if it does not make them any better or any more sociable or any more helpful, there is no particular reason why the disapproval of men of letters of the present war in the Fill pines, should depress us more than the opposition of any other class. Candidate Brun has returned from his recent invasion of "the enemy's country," where, under the guise of honoring the memory of Thomas .lef t'erson, he actively engaged in what in political parlance is variously termed "repairing fences," "laying pipe,'' "making medicine," etc. He is now engaged in the same vocation as that which engrosses the time and attention of several other more or less worthy citizens of Lincoln, viz. ; olliee seeking. At Syracuse, N. Y., he said, "What has happened to make more soldiers necessary? Nothing but a republican administration.'' That is all that happened in 18(10. When tiie election of Abraham Lincoln gave the country its tirst republican administration, states dominated by the political party which was wedded to the prin ciples taught by Thomas Jefferson, se ceded and sought to destroy the Union. That attempt made more sol diers necessary. Those soldiers came from tiie states whose electoral votes were cast for Lincoln and against the candidate of tiiose whose patron saint was Thomas Jefferson Jn support of the right of secession the declaration that governments derive their Just powers from the consent of the gov erncd was invoked. Mr. Bryan now invokes the ssimo declaration against the government which he has several times sworn to support, in favor of those in arms against it lie does not attend banquets intended to honor the memory of Abraham Lincoln. At such a gathering his very presence would be a discordant note. Why? Because Lincoln was a patriot. He never afforded aid or comfort to the enemies of ills country. At Buffalo Mr. Bryan said the gov ernment could take the son from his mother and place him before the ene my's guns, but could not lay its hands upon the millions of accumulated wealth of the country. Aguinaldo and ills followers made the same com plaint against the commander of the military forces of the United States because he refused to permit them to loot Manila when it was surrendered by the Spaniards. The Tagals of Luzon desired to lay their hands upon the accumulated wealth of that city. Candidate Bryan seeks the votes of the lawless and anarchistic element and with a view to securing them voices ills lament that as the govern ment is now administered it cannot lay its hands upon the accumulated wealth of the country. The inference legitimately to bo dr. vn Ih that if lie is nominated and elccte.i president a different rule will obtain a to accu mulated wealth. He will be nomi nated. That's all. The bill requiring cauners of meats, vegetables and fruits to stamp the cans with the date of the canning was defeated, but it was a wise meas ure, like all laws which compel the manufacturer to sell his product for exactly what It is. If such a law had been in force the soldiers in Cuba would not have hd so much cause for complaint. The cauners objected to the law on the ground that the con tents of a hermetically sealed can will keep f resli for several years but that the predilection of housekeepers for recently canned goods can not be reasoned away and that therefore goods two seasons old would entail large losses on producers and grocery men. But this does not prove that the purchaser and consumer has not a right to know when the goods were put up. The largest trouble with our glorious government, which is still better than anything else there is going, is that vonsiiiners of certain commodities, as a whole, are not so ably represented at the national cap! tol as the manufacturers. When a measure like the one under discussion is projected the producers, whom it specially affects, labor with the law makers day and night to convince them of the vice of such a bill, while the consumer stands afar otf and does not appear to be even interested in the bill pro posed for his protection. When Litis occurs the part seems greater than the whole and tlie legislator can not he greatly blamed for listening and hesitating to advocate a measure which lie is assured will ruin the manufacturers. Senator Thurston's rhymed account of his address to a white rose cuds with a statement that the white rose lifted her stately head and answered him fair and true, "1 am happy and blest to die on your breast for the woman who gave me to you." 'iho poem has extended his reputa tion as an interpreter of the lan guime of llowers. A rose has not organs of speech, and although in Tennyson Ian gardens the llowers whisper and thrill with various emotions, mostly of love, I think, even Lord Tennyson dared not exhaust all his poetic license hy reporting ver batim what the llowers said. But Senator Thurston long ago emanci pated himself from the bondage of the actual. An unlimited command of language has its dangers, the temp tation of producing oratorical effect have led others besides Sena tor Thurston and Mr. Bryan into making statements that in print ers' ink and daylight are absurd and only excusable under the sup position that the assault on sense and language were made by men greatly tempted and lutein peratcly fond of Mattery. Senator Thurston said lie had jotted down the lines on receiving a white rose from a lady, "jotted them down on the spur of a sentimental moment." It was, of coutse, not with the senator's consent that the tender, maudlin appeal to the rose was printed his sense of humour and of good form would have inter dicted publication it is, therefore, unjust to criticise the poem as if it had been written in cold blood for publication only. There have been occasions, though, such as Senator Thurston's spcecli in the senate, when he offered his posterity to the cause of Cuban freedom, that a stronger sense of humour would have saved the senator from the newspaper criti cism which lias made his speeches a joke and quite ruined the elfect they were intended to produce. Senator Thurston's career will not justify the conclusion which a read ing of the poem induces in regard to the author of it. He came to Ne braska a poor you irg man and rose to an eminent position in the law before he was elected United Stales senator. Bailroad companies arc not in the habit of employing a mooncalf as chief counsel and Senator Thurston was the attorney for the Union Pa el Mc when he was elected senator and that road is distinguished, even among railroads, for the amount and complexity of its litigation. It is not, therefore, for lack of intellect, but of that quality which is at once a bal ance wheel and rudder-a sense of humour which prevents Senator Thurston from foreseeing the ridicu lous effect of the liberal employment of bathos and sentiment. TIIE KINDERGARTEN My friend, The Editor, ib not the only one who hB boon asking, "Have you read tho article about kindergarten chil dren in tho March nlluntic?" and it has been suirgestod to mo that an answer to this criticism of tho kindergarten might bo interesting to tho reudors of Tho Connor. Murion Curter Hamilton haB written an article concjrniuir tho kindergarten child. Tho wiitor wields a faeilo pon, her article is rcadablo nnd published in Bueh a conservative and widely read magazine, merits a reply for tho benefit of tin so who nre entirely outBido tho teaching profession and not in touch with modern oduoational thought. To atiyono who is at all familiar with mod 01 n kindergarten methods or current educiiiotial literature this artiulo needs no rep'y. Any ono who haB any knowl edge jf Kindergartnors kn wb that thoy are, of all teachers, tho most willing and anxious to ho advised by outsiders. In overy town whero there aro kindergar tens, a kindergarten association will bo found, whoo members: aro studying and criticit-ing thoir methods. It is tho kin dergarten which haB brought into prom inence the idea of parents' meetings which promises to be ono ot the most fertile sources of improvement in our educational system. Valuabln criticism must come from ono of varied experionco and broad, thorough knowledge of tho subject in hand, and related subjects. By what right doeB Marion Carter Ham ilton rush into print to attack an educa tional force so widely enmmonded? Who is Bho anyway? By her own admission she is a collogo graduate Sho is a primary toHchor who onco bogan a study of klndorgarten methods which sho did not comploto. Also, sho has recently baon appointed as a primary teacher in tho Now York city public schools. It is evident from tho contents of this article that tho author haB come in con tact n'ith ono of those aindorgartners, of whom there aro indeed too many, w'ao, with no foundation of genorai edu cation and armed with a superficial knowledge of kindorgarton mothodp, but without a grasp of the fundamental principles of psychology and podagogy which underlio them, has boldly ven tured in where angels fear to tread, to diroct tho growth of littlo minds. The mistakes of this misguided person have boon accepted by tho author as eseon tial features of tho kindergarten system. On tho contrary Bcarcoly one of tho tho things sho criticises aro to bo found iu any guod kindergarten today. You may prove it by stepping into ono of your own public kindergartens any day. Tho songs and games that are ridiculed wore long ago laid on the shelf. In fact tho article is amusing in that it shows so clearly ignorance of the thing criti cized. It is evident from her article that tho author believes that education consists in. touching the child factp, cold icy facts alone; "A stone is a etono and a leaf is a leaf and don't you forget it!'' Whatever interferes with tho preecribed loss. in in arithmetic, reading and writ ing is a mere waste of time. There are many profound thinkere of tho past and the present who And themselves unable to agree with the author. Jeunio B. Merrill, tho super visor of tho public kindergartens of Nojv York city, has replied to it in tho New York Evening PoBt of March 1(5 Supr intendont Dulton of Brookiine, Mass., and Enie.be Abbey Dunham answered it ably in tho kindergarten magazine for April. The latter publication may bo found in the city library. Simultaneously with this article and honeo not at all in reply to it Miss Sarah L. Arnold wrote to the Kindergarten Magazine for March, giving her testi mony and that tf Bomo of her primary teachers as to tho value of kindergarten trainiig and tho uso or eontinuation of those methods in tho primary school. Miss Arnold jb tho associate superin tendent of tho Bo too bchools and is considered one of tho most brilliant women in tho educational world of the day. Sho Bya among other good tbioge: "Tho spirit of tho kin orgarton is folt more and more in tho primary Bchool whero it tends to overcome the old tra ditioisofscluol koeping." She goes on to stato that in tho schools whero thoy have bo h children who have had kin dorgarton training and thoHo who havo not, tho kindorgartim children havo been able to udvauco far mora rapidly than tho otherB. Iloro aro somo oxtractB from letters which aio signed by her primary toach orB. Tpoeo who havo read Marion Carter Hamilton's testimony ill polico tho contrast in tho enthusiasm, sincerity and good will of those extracts. " For Boveral years 1 had no kinder garten children in my clasB. This yoar I havo ton, and such a comfort they are! " Speaking of tho games used in tho primary school, But all this takea time. How wo bogrudgo it! Fivo timoa ten is fifty, o?, Itfly minutOB, nearly an
