THE CHILD MIND.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 724, 25 January 1910, Page 3

THE CHILD MIND.

.-.'A/.writer ;iii: ,the ; Melbourne "Atjus"' "'describes ■■ a; little;' scene ..that .took vplace in- tho-Siiinnier; School vttere,'when''a' kindergarten teacher-' took; a class of. lit- , tie , : childron -of-the .Quarantine .Station, infants ,who ;had-lievor before-.be«n: inside a.school, and coaxed them intoihe lecture-hall; , where .with: their aid" she gave ■a : demonstration .. of kindergarten work.'; ;It'; sounds : an--almost impossible, experiment;-.and' no one could.Kavo been surprised if-it; , had ended in- failure,'but 'the description, wa'ls. :phanninglj-.. /The; children .'were/ takeii iipon'i tho platform, /very shy in : the presence of 250 onlooking 'strangers.! Miss/.AVallis began '.: to : talk to them .softly,.iquietly, with that tact and'.kiiowledgo of .child nature■• that \is the secret and \ tho .■success.: of all kindergarten work./It:was/a littlo play. : . They.: .were .to. play at-going, to, : school'.'- -.What; had, they : seen' on '.their ,way to ■ school ?. OneiUad :£een; a cow, another a .bird. The bird-was : selected ; as' the ■ /tbiiig ,in which infants .were; most likely to .be interested,'and; drawn upon , : tho' blackboard. And,- -beginning' with that,, the. and tho: lesson'..were. , -enlarged. There was-a tree: for the/bird to. perch •on; it built a nest,-it sat on'the/nest. Tho infants, lost all sense of the presence of a- 'deeplyrinterested . andiencp. , :' • Their .shyness .'■ disappeared;, they were.. alone, -with "a- .sympathetic friend-, and who just' led, . and ■ never • once"; directea them. The students'vrealisedvwith de-. light that it.,was' , not; the teacher;- but 'the children .who told the story..';. They! saw 1 in. this. chariaing • experiment '.tho very beginnings "of thought, imagination, the creation/and connection of!ideas; tho expression.of.'ideas/xbiipled with. a.sense of form—in short; the very beginnings/ of'education, : and .-.realised perhaps.; for' : the. first time that kindergarten- ,was not wholly, a play. "I»wohder if./anyone can tell nle , the whole story about the bird?" And they told.it to. her Srithout a traco of self-consciousness. It ~was. the niost delightful J: demonstration.. of: education (says the writer) .that I have -seen at, the Summer School, and. no : amount of authorili', no, command, no/ method based upon anything else, than' simplicity, syniT pathy, 1 aud.tnct could have .acoomplisHed it.' More than-over, I v was/convinced that with the. woman, teacher. / : ; ! : v-

'■ There is, one embryo Australian/soldier' who will probably never-lie lax in .his uniform-dressing , ; again (says aS Jlelbourne writer). -A cadet-, had* a , buttonTjf' his tunic: undone. Kitchener, without: a word,, buttoned it and passed That child, is simply bursting with the- 're; niembranco',. of a grim field-marshal "doing him up".(in that : stem. step-motherly manner;, V; 5 -. -; : - ■ .'•- ..'.■ ■-" ■ ■-.•■• ■ .-' , ■.-.■.',