A NORMAL MARVEL

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 456, 27 July 1915, Page 3

A NORMAL MARVEL

New York, Saturday. NI) still the wonder grows, puzzling educators everywhere, that 3 small head of little Miss Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr., aged twelve years, can carry all it knows. For this knowledge includes Japanese, Latin, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Esperanto and English—eight' languages which" the."child speaks fluently —and nine others, including Chinese, which she can Write, read and recite in, and a more than superficial acquaintance with astronomy, physiology, geometry and various .other, "ologics" found in the college curriculum. .The'adjective i# small" is used merely because the owner of this well stocked head is so much a child. For Winifred, now stopping in "New York, is normal physically if her mental attainments are extraordinary, though her mother, Mrs. Winifred Sackville Stoner, declares that, the daughter, who successfully passed her college entrance examinations at the nge of nine years, is just a healiln% happy, normal child, properly-educated.'

By that Mrs. Stoner means according to tin* natural method which she has come to New York to explain to and interest other mothers in so that the.? may help to educate their children and incidentally brighten up their own minds. In this educational campaign the mother will be ably assisted-by the junior member of the family, who delivers Cicero's orations in the original vvhen she isn't playing ball, dancing, having u game of chess or other-wise.-nmisingsiierself. Or she will write a jingle for you in Chinese, tell you the. iiistory of the world in Esperanto or teach a class of children how to read and write in'ten days. If you didn't know of Winifred's remarkable mental" accomplishments and you saw her playiug in the park with cither little - girls and boys-probably it. would be with fioys, because she prefers them a.s playmates a Jul likes their rough tuul tumble sports —you would think her just like any other lit lie girl. ;She is unusually large for her age and here she tlisplays a truly feminine characteristicshe is a bit sensitive about her weight, which is l-D'/i pounds. She has th<y reddest cheeks of any little girl who ever came to New York. "That's because we both take cold plunges,'' .Mrs. Stoner explained. "Winifred and 1 both like the CdUl water." " . They were entertaining callers in their apartment hi the Plaza Motel, where they have rooms ' high up and overlooking Central Park. lu.a bookcase near the window was a row of volumes representing the work of little Miss Stoner. At the 'age'of "five' she published her first book and has since added twenty-nine volumes to her list of literary efforts, one having been published secretly for her mother's birthday present. She has translated her mother'# book on natural education into French and was the first person, according to Mrs. fc>toii-r, to give the Mother Goose jingles to little girls and boys of numerous other countries. She has translated it into Ksperanto, which language she has mastered so perfectly that she has received medals from practically all the European rulers. Last winter she conducted a class in Esperanto for older persons attending the Cnrnegie Institute, in Pittsburg. "Tell us how you k-ariled physiology,'' HVlrs. Stoner said. "Jingles," replied the girl. "I learn everything in jingles. They stick, you know. "Eight and twenty bones, 'tis said, Are located in ni.v head.

,Tn ray trunk are fifty-four, . That I add to my bone store, While my limbs have plenty moreFull one hundred twenty-four. "That's the first of ; lie ten verses of the jingle on physiology,'' Airs. Stoner explained.. "We study everything in jingles. A child remembers what she learns that way. You know yourself that when you want to find out how many days there are in the month of September you repeat the little jingle beginning, 'Thirty days has September,' and then you know. "Winifred wrote this 'Bony Song' five years ago just to help her remember all the bones in her body. And she never forgets.- She has written a set of verses on the kings of England, another on the history of the world, and ever so many other subjects which children usually find so hard to learn hi school.'' This nutshell knowledge is the set-ret of Winifred's cleverness. - 1 . . "liow did you'learn to read and write?" the reporter asked the romping youngster, who was restless under the showing off process. , "On the typewriter," was the quick reply. ' 1< irst I learned to say the name Peter;, then I picked out the letters to make, the name on the typewriter. I found the ones-that matched the letters in the book, and it was easy after that." WluJn Winifred junior was two weeks old she learned to play.ball with a soft ..sphere suspended above her feet. She kicked at: this until she learned how to hit ii. "She knew how to play football then,'-* her mother said. "Then we taught her to throw. Winifred can throw a ball just; like a boy, and both of us are extremely proud of her athletic accomplishments. "She can row, fence, swim, skate, box, ride, cook, crochet, knit, ,sew and play chess. We have reared her iu the way we think is best for her physical development. I have never worn a coi\set in my lite and Winifred will never be harnessed into one. Of course, she doesn't Want to." Mrs. Stoner has a small, splendid figure, which she attributes to the perfect freedom she lias allowed her body. Winifred is as tall as her mother and promises to develop into a fine and beautiful woman. Ever since she could read this child phenomenon has kept a book in which she has pasted all sorts of information. Whenever she wants to find the answer to a riddle she appeals to this book. And what does this small girl do for mental recreationV Before she came

here she played witli and absorbed knowledge from Professor Raymond Clros, head of the School of Languages. When they were playing tag they talked in French, and alternating with this educator was a Japanese friend, Dr. M; W. Kuriuker, who played chess three times a week with Winifred junior and chatted with her in his native tongue. "But doesn't she have any time to l»lny with children? Don't they amuse her?" "Listen," was Mrs. Slonor's reply. And from the inner room came a series of childish screams, and a peep inside showed the learned girl of twelve pummelling her small boy playmate. In a "votes for women" speech delivered by this youthful advocate of the

ballot Winifred burst into verse, beginning * ' "Ma can sew'and ma can bake; Every sort of thing can make Out of thread and wool and yarns. And, besides, 'tis she who darns All the rents in all our clothes, And the holes made by our toes; But our ifta she cannot vote Any more than Bill, our goat." Winifred junior's daily routine is that of a healthy, normal child, one with an excellent appetite. She rises at halfjeast eight o'clock, takes a cold bath and rub and breakfasts at nine. Usually this consists of beefsteak, baked potato ami any other nourishment the child desires. She works, writes letters, ready and

Therein lies her / secret—the one Mrs. Stoner has come to New York tx> share with other mothers, for she believes absolutely that, every mo-ther can be her child's best teacher if she goes about it in the right way, and here are Mrs. Storier's ten commandments of natural education: — Thou shalt not administer unto thy child physical punishment. Thou shalt not scold thy child, but give rewards for good behavior. . ■> Thou shalt never say "don't" •to thy child. Thou shalt never say "must" to thy child. Thou shalt not give thy child occasion to disrespect thee. Thou shalt never frighten thy child. , • Thou shalt not allow thy child to say "I can't." < Thou shalt always answer th'y child's questions. ,Thou shalt not tease thy child. Thou shalt make thy home the most attractive place thy child can find. "Don't imagine that Winifred is an angel," Mrs. Stoner hastened to say after repeating the Ten Commandments. "She isn't at all. I» fact, she would be a very naughty little girl if we did not try hard to develop her. Sometimes she and I have very violent wrestling matches, but these are just for fun. She likes nothing better—not even teaching Esperanto or playing a Japanese game—than punching the 'stuffing* out of some boy, as she puts it. You see, she is a regular tomboy. But that does not hurt her in the least." "I should say not," volunteered the child in question. '"I like being a tomboy, aud I'd rather play with boys any time than Tyith girls. Boys can do lot.s more tilings' than girls, can't they?" And the mother had to admit that., generally speaking, boys can. 1 "The trouble witli mothers is they aren't polite to their children," Mrs. Stoner «aid. "Politeness goes a long way with little folk. You say to a child, 'Go get that ball of yarn/ and Johnny will go, but he doesn't move with joy and alacrity, and if he can possibly get out of doing it he will. But you say in a gentle voice, such as you would use to a guest to whom you were trying to be very nice, 'Johnny, please go and get me that ball of yarn,' and Johnny goes aud fetches it properly. You get back exactly what you give in thia world. "If you rear your iittle ones in an atmosphere of giggles you get plenty of sunniness and happiness in your home,

then goes marketing with her mother. At noon she has luncheon, and she fills in the afternoon with a little play and some study. She has dinner t the hour usual in most families, and after games awl conversation she goes to bed. "And she wmnts to be tucked in just like any other little girl," Mrs. Stoner hastened to add, "for Winifred lias been reared on love and she must have just so much affection and attention every day. "I don't altogether approve of her hearty meals, especially the breakfasts, but her father insists on letting her have them." Aiind the natural education system which has been responsible for the remarkable knowledge this twelve-year-old girl, what about iliat?

but try bringing up your children in an atmosphere of gloom and see how it will affect them. "All there is in education is self-con-trol and the joy of service. - You know how you have to train even a baby not to scream but to use self-control, and when you can teach that baby how to perform services with 'jo*. you have mastered the very foundation of natural education. "We can all learn from Mother Tabby as to nature's intended first teacher of the young. I believe Mother Tabby never allows any grandmothers, auiits or hirelings to give her offspring their first lessons. She insists upon being their teacher and, .moreover, she never plays aimlessly, but always to a purpose. When she teaches her kittens to catch hold of. their "tails she is training their muscles so that when they reach the cathood state they can earn their own liveli? hood by catching rate and mice. ■

"I am working for higher pay for teachers, fewer pupils for each teacher ami. shorter hours. 1 want the teachers to be able to smile wlien they have finished .their day's .work. That's why; both Winifred and I want the vote. The government spends $3,00.0,000 a year oil > pigs, for investigating diseases, &c., and only $30,000 a year on its children. When women have the ballot they will spend the $3,000,000 on the children and the $30,000 on pigs. "My .new and ideal school will have ten pupils in each classroom where children have to go to school instead of being taught at home by their mothers. L Just recollect that the mother luis the child in her care 108 hours a week and the (earlier 30. -t the cftifd brought up by its mother only is a namby-pamby creature. The father's influence is needed. "Before you go do let me tell you something more about Winifred—'Cherie,' as she is called at home," cried the enthusiastic mother, following me'*to the door. "She is the head of the International Junior Peace League and lias written a poeni on peace. She wrote a book of twenty thousand words in twodays; she beaten every chess champion she has ever pkyed with but oner when she was four years old she composed a set of verses on whooping cough, from which malady she had just recovered; she dances very nicely, plays the violin, mandolin, guitar and piano; she could recite one thousand classical poems when she w s five years, old; can repeat numerous L-atin orations of great length, and she lias been my secretary, writing all my letters, since she was six years old. * "This is the age of the-child, isn't it? We have had the age of the man, then came the age of the wornau, and now it is the age of the child."