MISS FREEMAN'S LECTURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5456, 7 January 1896, Page 4

MISS FREEMAN'S LECTURE.

. The audience at Miss Freeman s lecture in the Oddfellows' Hall last night was a good one, as lecture audiences in Christchurch go, but it was not as large as the ability of the lecturer and the character of her address deserved. It was, however, deeply interested and enthusiastic: the lecturer held the attention of her hearers throughout *by a happy combination of an engaging manner, excellent delivery and well-chosen language. Her style is admirably lucid, all her points were well made, and her use of illustrative quotation was very judicious. She quoted amply, yet not too amply, from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, Adelaide Proctor, and other authors. Her recitation of Mrs Browning's "Cry of the Children" was splendid in its pathos and dramatio power. That poem furnished the title of her lecture, but the hitter was of wider application than the thrilling verses of the poetess.for it dealt not solely with the cry of the children toiling in mines and factories, but with the cry of every child in the country for health of body, mind and soul; . The lecturer spoke of what she called, the antenatal cry, and urged parents to .follow purity and -nobility of life for the sake of their unborn children. In referring to the case of the physically diseased, she commended the self-abnega-of Charles Lamb and his sister, who, knowing the strain of insanity in their blood, abstained from marriage. She thought that, in some instances, particularly, in the case of criminals, the State might, with benefit, interfere to prevent the corruption of future generations. She urged that parents, mothers especially, should possess some knqwjedge of physiology and hygiene. She dwelt earnestly on the importance of. good and happy home influences; and said that in these colonies children seemed to rule their parents, and were brought up in' an inordinate love of pleasure. Amusements were looked upon too much as an end, rather than as a means to an end. She did not approve of thoroughly secular education; but thought that, children should be brought up under a system in which the other world was not wholly ignored in the public schools. She extolled the kindergarten system, and pleaded for the adoption of a system of manual training in the schools; in order that the children might learn the general principles of manual labour, and. might be led to look upon it as dignified. . Dealing with secondary education she-expressed the opinion that an attempt was made to teach too great a multiplicity of subjects in the secondary schools, and that sufficient care was not taken to obtain trained teachers for them, the possession of a university degree being often considered sufficient qualification. She protested against cranutiing, and pleaded earnestly for a more : thorough study of English and English literature in the schools. The lecture was not only interesting, but entertaining also; and some of tiie points were enforced with, humour. It was, on the whole, one of the best, of its kind, ever delivered in Christchurch. • . .