CHILDREN'S CORNER

Evening Star, Issue 11266, 13 June 1900, Page 7

CHILDREN'S CORNER

;"...•■' GPpD CHEBB. '•■;'" ; Have you had a kindness shown P ' ? aSS to-'***'' .2 • Iwas not given for you awae—tl - L ; • Fa 8? U on. i#t >t travel down the years, Let it wipe fthbthetfs tears, Till m Heaven the deed appears, Pass it oh. HOW THE KINDERGARTEN WAS STARTED. It was a beautiful day in tm> suinmer of 1839 when Froebel, acepmpahied by Middendorff and Barop, w%s walking from Keiihon to Btonkenburg. In the latter place he had founded his first institution for the education °t childreni youniger "than the age at which they could be received in a public school. He was veiy busy ab the tjme establish societies devoted to the of his system of combining a proper course of education With, the' duties commpnly assigned to the nursery bhly. These ideas filled his mind all the time, and during this walk he had in a low voice: "If I knew oi>ly a suitable name for my youngest child!" meaning the youngest child of his inventive thioiight—namely, the nursery school he had founded at Blankenburg. They had just crossed the ridge of a height called "Steiger," and were descending the mountain side into the beautiful and fresh-looking valley of Blankenburg. Froebel, greatly pleased with the beauty of the landscape, and lost in hopeful forethought of the future of his nursery school, upon which hjs gaze was lovingly fixed, suddenly arrested his progress, and with eyes sparkling with enthusiasm he called out so loud, that the. echo from the mountains returned the words in distinct and powerful reverberations pf the air : " Eureka.! Kindergarten shall jje the name of the new institution !"•*—A. H. Heinemann. • •••»,

The kindergarten is the best vestibule to school life, and all children should have the oppprtunity of passing through it. The kindergarten should give the child an impulse towards moral self-direction, and a capacity for working out his original ideas in visible and permanent form, which will make him almost a new creature. It can (by taking the child in season) set the wheels in m&tion, rousing all the finer and higher instincts and most vivifying powers of which he is possessed. If all children could pass a year or two in a good, pure kindergarten, they would gain much. They would havoi learned in some degree how to learn, would make fewer mistakes in judgment and ac-l tipn, and would go to work at their books! with less inert minds, with a wish for know-1 ledge, with an ft wakened sense of beauty, and with a feeling of pleasure in mental activity which does not now exist.—From the annual report of the Silver street Kindergarten.

THE OWL AND THE KATYDID. Still was the night, and the woods were still, Sing heigh! sing ho! my honey. When the owl and the katydid chatted away In a fashion quaint and funny; , Sing heigh! sing ho! my honey. Said the owl: "I called on the moon this eve "; Sing heigh! sing- ho! my honey. But a voice from below chirped " Katydid, too." Now that was exceedingly funny; Sing heigh! sing ho! my honey. "I sung to the moon," said the owl, in glee; Smg hoot! sing hoot! my honey. Bui the other said " Katydid, katydid, too "; Sing heigh! sing ho! sing katydid! . King heigh! sing ho! my honey. Then all again in the woods was still, Sing heigh! sing ho! my honey. And the niton peeped over the eastern hill. Now, ißn't my story funny P Sing heigh! sing ho! my honey. James L. Pequignot.

Children's books are many. The author of the latest, however,"has a method of informing the childish mind quite unusual in its way. For instance, here is his description of a sad catastrophe concerning little Willie:— Little Willie from his mirror Sucked the mercury aft off, Thinking, in his childish error, It would cure Ins whooping-cough.' At the funeral Willie's mother • Smartly said to Mrs Brown: " 'Twas a chilly day for William When the mercury went down."

THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. Sir John Hutton (ex-chairman of the London County Council), speaking at the annual meeting of the National Sunday League, tnld some good stories'. At the time of a Loudon County Council election, he said,' a school class was asked " Who made the universe?" and a small boy replied : " Please, sir, the Progressives." Another good storv he tqld was the following: —Some ladle's complained of the impropriety of bathing taking place in a lake visible from their house. "But," they were assured, "you can't have anything to object to, for at that distance the bathers are invisible." "Oh, no, they are not," retorted the young ladies, " we can see them quite plainly through our telescope."

AN OLD RHYMB RECONSTRUCTED. THE NOUN. A Noun is a name of a person or thing, As Tom, Dick, or Harry, knife, football, o* swing; The names of all places are likewise called nouns. Capes, islands, and rivers, lakes, mountains, and towns. THE PRONOUN. A Pronoun's a word which stands for a name, For my name the pronouns are I, my, and me; To avoid repetition—that is, using again; For yours they are you and thou, thy and thee. THE ADJECTIVE. An Adjective describes, or simply points out. What sort of a thing we are speaking about; What kind of a person, what state hi is i)i; As well, sick, or healthy, short, tall, stout, or thin.

THE VERB. The Verb is a. word which asserts or affirms What anyone does—he plays, but she learns; Or it further may tell what is done unto us— We were burnt by the fire, she was scratched by the puss. THE ADVERB. The, Adverb is used with the adjective or verb, The sense to expand qv the meaning to curb; One adverb may likewise be used with another To make its force stronger, as very much farther. THE PREPOSITION. A Preposition is readily known from its place Before a noun or pronoun, known as its case; And this it connects with a precedihg word, A pronoun or noun, an adjective or a verb. THE CONJUNCTION. The Conjunction is used as a bond or a link, To couple together the thoughts that we, think; And sentences thus are united together By and or by but, as, if, yet, though, and whether. THE INTERJECTION. Tho Interjection's a word which is suddenly said When any strange thought quickly enters our head; And thus we have learnt there are Eight Part* of Speech About which our lessons in grammar all teach. —Exchange.