Enthusiastic Convention in

Kansas

THE Kanses State Kindergarten Association held its third annual meeting in November as part as part of the program of the general teachers' convention. The kindergartners and primary teachers held one joint session, and each a separate round table. The kindergarten round table was presided over by Miss Lulu McKee of Topeka and had an attendance of seven hundred. A discussion of the comparative merits of the kindergarten and the Montessori method was led by Prof. J. F. Kelly and Miss Louise Alder of the Emporia State Normal School.

Miss Helen McClintock demonstrated the Montessori system, while Miss Gladys Johnson presented the demonstration of the Froebel methods. Miss Flora B. Cooke, principal of the Francis Parker School of Chicago, and Miss Martha Fleming of the faculty of the University of Chicago, took part in the program.

In the discussion concerning the contribution of Madam Montessori, Dr. Kelly emphasized the point that the Montessori school is for a different type of children from that which the kindergarten in this country is designed to Without doubt Madam Montessori has devised a system

serve.

of education for children from barren homes which does excellent service between the ages of two and one-half and four years. Many of the principles which are fundamental to her system are, however, subject to grave question when we undertake to apply them to our children above the age of four, whose homes are rich in valuable play material.

Madam Montessori's frank statement that she is not yet convinced that play is necessary in children's lives makes her whole scheme lack one of the essential things which are almost universally accepted by the teachers in America.

After the round table the annual business meeting was held. Mrs. June Chapman of Topeka was elected president of the Kansas State Kindergarten Association for the next year; Miss Lulu McKee, Topeka, vice-president; Mrs. D. N. Moore of Salina, corresponding secretary, and Miss Elsa Schoshausen of the Pittsburgh Normal School, treasurer.

The National Kindergarten Exhibit was shown at this meeting, also an exhibit of enlarged kindergarten material.

treasurer, Miss Gladys Travilla; recording secretary, Miss Etta H. Steelman; corresponding secretary, Mrs. E. R. Sibley; registrar, Miss Elizabeth Banes; historian, Miss Florence M. Kellogg. The speaker of the afternoon was Miss Agnes Repplier, who gave an address on The Courageous Reader.

As an introduction Miss Repplier said that there is no subject in the world except that of child study, on which there is more advice given than that of reading. Selected lists are not satisfactory.

No person can choose exactly the reading for another. Such lists as those made by Dr. Eliot and Emerson were mentioned, also the list given by Dr. Doddridge to a young lady about to sail for India, which was far from what a weary traveler would enjoy. Emerson made up a worthwhile list. He was broad enough to recommend humorous books, though he did not read them himself. He did not enjoy Jane Austen nor Dickens, though for many another they make the day brighter.

Other lists, such as those given out by Mabie and Harrison, were criticised.

The courageous reader may be called the candid reader. He should not need patronizing advice. It should not be necessary for women to band themselves together for the study of great authors. Men do not read in this way.

With all our lists, with all our reading, we must remember that reading cannot take the place of the spoken word. The Greeks depreciated the art of reading,

but in this hurried age of ours books receive great importance. It seems as if the world were being run by them, and we are willing to read that which is set forth by others, rather than to take the time to follow our own taste and inclination, and be candid in the matter.

The speaker held the belief that any one not born with a love for reading can never acquire it. Living is enhanced to him who loves books. He grows to know and love and cherish the masterpieces.

Youth reads poetry, age reads prose. Darwin in mature years could not read Shakespeare. A scientific mind turns away from religious and sensual emotions.

Most great men have been and are insatiable readers. They have conquered libraries, as they did countries. This was true in the lives of Lincoln and Napoleon. Reading was the latter's only solace during the dark days of his banishment.

We may gain much from the child's attitude toward reading. He so easily loses himself in the story before him. For this reason insignificant reading should not be put before him. The great outpouring of new books each year is to be deprecated. Robinson Crusoe is as valuable to-day as ever it was. Expurgated literature is to be deplored. The tendency should not be to write down to the child's standpoint. Children should read those things which will stimulate them. to greater thought. Plato urged the telling of only the noblest fables to children.

At the close of the lectire the president and Mrs. Var Kirk

state:

Bonham has 74 children enrolled in a free kindergarten supported by public subscription and the efforts of a board of twelve women. It is located in the cotton mill district, and, while free, any pupil who is able pays $1 per month.

Dallas reports fifteen flourishing kindergartens. The Dallas Free Kindergarten Association has a new building, of which it is justly proud. It is in North Dallas and is known as the Neighborhood House.

In South Dallas the Cotton Mil Kindergarten brings joy to 85 children, whose homes are barren and desolate, and the kindergarten is the only bright spot they know.

Paris, Texarkana, Sulphur Springs, Corsicana, Port Arthur, Corpus Christi, Wichita Falls, and Marstall each report private kin

dergartens. The Corsicana Kindergarten Association owns a lot on which it expects to erect a school building. Marshall reports one public school kindergarten. Houston reports four private kindergartens and two in the public schools, the total enrollment being 170. Beaumont and Gainesville each report two private kindergartens. El Paso has a splendid kindergarten department in the public schools. It is now installed in four buildings, the equipment of each school being complete. El Paso was the first town in Texas to establish kindergartens in the public schools. San Antonio reports eleven kindergartens in charge of graduate kindergartners. There are three settlement kindergartens. The Methodists maintain the Wesley kindergarten and the Catholics the one known as the Day Home for Children. It is located in the heart of what is known as "Little Mexico," and is in the convent conducted by the Carmelite nuns.

The Protestant Orphans' Home has a kindergarten confined strictly to the children of the home, under the auspices of the Kindergarten Association. There are six private kindergartens and two in the public schools, making a total enrollment of 333. There is a splendid training school for kindergartners.

It

Galveston has two private kindergartens, enrolling 45 children. Under the auspices of the Council of Jewish Women the Jewish Free Kindergarten was organized. is supported by subscription. In addition to this the children are given envelopes for free-will contributions. Galveston bears the distinction of establishing the

first free kindergarten in Texas, twenty-two years ago.

Fort Worth Kindergarten Training School is a department of the Fort Worth public school system. It was established in 1900 under the auspices of the Fort Worth Kindergarten Association, and in 1910 was taken over by the public schools. Eightysix young women have been graduated and eighteen of them are employed in Fort Worth. There are two private kindergartens and two missions, one at the Baptist seminary and one in the First Baptist Church. There are thirteen public school kindergartens in Fort Worth, making nineteen schools with an enrollment of 800 children.

The total number of pupils reported enrolled in Texas kindergartens is 2,614.

Report from Maine

ACCORDING to information given out at the office of the state superintendent of schools there are now thirty public kindergartens in Maine with fifty kindergartners and a pupil registration of 1,264. The first public kindergarten in Maine was established in Portland thirty-one years ago. Now that city has nine public kindergartens, with seventeen kindergartners and a pupil registration of 430. Following Portland by seven years, Biddeford established a public kindergarten and since that time similar action has been taken by Saco in 1894, by Bangor and Lewiston in 1898, by Augusta and Skowhegan in 1905, and by Winslow in 1913.

Commenting on this phase of

the school system, the Maine school report says:

"Unfortunately the movement for the establishment of kindergartens has been retarded by an impression that institutions of this kind are unduly expensive. It is doubtful whether an analysis of the figures would prove that there is justification for this impression. In any event, the kindergarten has so fully justified its function of providing the most logical and natural method of covering that transition period from the home to the school, and as an agency for adjusting the child to his new social relationships, that its introduction into our school systems may well be more energetically urged."

Magazine Notes

The Century (New York) promises an interesting year, with four new serials, each complete in from three to six numbers. James Lane Allen's novel, The Sword of Youth, began in November, and one by Jean Webster, author of Daddy-Long-Legs, will begin soon. Discussions of the larger issues of the war by authorities form a prominent feature of each number. January has a Kipling story, Swept and Garnished. It is a story of the war, but the chief figures are five of Kipling's dream children. There are some clever illustrations, and the usual contribution of Current Comment and In Lighter Vein.

The most important of the serial contributions to St. Nicholas (New York) this year is the story of The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which began in the November number and will