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
