our population does not go further than the elementary school, are not our educational problems chiefly concerned with that? It seems to me, therefore, that we may well study more than we have done how far it is possible to increase clear thinking and clear expression in the earlier years.

Froebel speaks over and over again of the value of "the illuminating word" and of this "peculiarly human spiritual power of language." He says that to arouse the child to consciousness of himself and his powers is as much the task of education, as it is that of life to make man conscious of his. This morning we will consider one aspect of this power.

The papers by Miss Adams and Miss May are given in full in the forepart of this issue, also the very comprehensive paper by Mrs. Alice Putnam, president of the I. K. U., entitled "Froebel's Suggestions on Fostering Language."

ABLE DISCUSSION ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT.

Among those who took part in the discussion of these papers was Miss Elizabeth Harrison, who made the following points:

Play and speech are the elements in which the young child lives and by means of which he grows into the deeper significance of life. By means of play he tries and tests the different properties of the world about him, beginning with his own body. He seizes his toes, stretches out his fingers, rolls, kicks, and, later on, creeps, climbs, walks, runs, jumps, and swims, until unconsciously he has obtained a mastery over his own body. At the same time he is being forwarded in his investigations of the outside world. He pushes, pinches, squeezes, rolls, and, if need be, tears to pieces objects about him. In early childhood he attempts many exercises that result in nothing except a knowledge of the material in hand, as, for example, he fills a box with dirt, empties it out, refills it and again empties it, anywhere from one to a hundred times. He pours the sand thru his fingers in tireless repetition; throws pebbles into the water; tosses bits of paper out of the window, to the intense satisfaction of his young soul. Later on he builds, molds, paints, saws apart and nails together again, not so much for the sake of the result obtained, as to feel his growing power over the material world about him. Playthings made under the greatest effort are soon thrown away and forgotten. In his struggle to master language he is doing the opposite thing. He is striving to give his inner world to the outer world. In fact, the very word "speech" in primitive tongue signifies to break one's self. "To utter" means "to outer," thus thru the very structure of words we have a suggestion of the chief purpose of language. This gives us some idea of its importance as an element of education.

Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten, in stating a general

outline of what the education of man should be, gives us the three chief groups of instruction, namely: religion, the natural sciences, (including mathematics), language. Writing he would have as the overflow of the full soul. The first general division -religionhe defines as; "the endeavor to raise into a clear knowledge; the feeling that the spiritual self of man is one with God, and to realize this unity with God, thus founded upon clear knowledge, and to continue to live in this unity with God, serene and strong in every relation of life." Concerning natural sciences he speaks thus: "What religion says and expresses nature says and represents. What the contemplation of God teaches, nature confirms. For nature, as well as all existing things, is a manifestation, a revelation of God."

With such a profound and reverent view of religion, and such a devout and loving view of nature, what may we expect to be the definition of language. After showing how the study of religion unifies in his inner life man and all created things, and how the study of science individualizes and separates each distinct object. in the outside world - Froebel declares that language is the medium by means of which the inner and the outer are joined, the universal and the particular are unified and harmonized, as language is the self-active, outer expression of the inner life.

It has been found to be of the greatest value in handwork to lead the child to see form as organized creation. All natural sciences are organized as soon as sufficient data is obtained for organization. So language can be taught to a young child in a systematic and thoroly organized manner, without in the least interfering with the spontaneous, joyous expression of the inner self. Indeed, a prominent phonographer goes so far as to organize the first baby babblings; we quote his testimony on the subject: "Probably the author can add nothing here which will make clear the method herein proposed better than a brief recital of his own experience. He is the happy father of four children, the oldest of whom is not yet seven. Having been a student of phonography, and a great admirer of the art, and with the theory well in mind, he began - without any wisely-matured plans, but rather from a sort of instinct as to correct method-to teach his first child, when it had hardly passed the cooing stage, to make the elemental sounds, in the order which the science of phonography shows to be that in which the organs of speech adapt themselves with least effort, and which is explained in the text following Beginning with the vowels, the most easily learned sounds because unobstructed, he proceeded to the consonants, then the diphthongs, and finally to combinations. This method he pursued with each child, beginning at the age of from twelve to eighteen months, and continuing by easy stages, a lesson of but a few moments at a time, once or twice a day, when the child crawled from its crib to be perched on its father': breast, early in the morning, or in

The result was simply

the evening when taken on its father's knee astonishing. So correct was the articulation and so accurate the ear in the catchings of sounds, that at three years of age the child's capacity to talk scarcely ever escaped comment. The contrast with children who had learned to talk in the ordinary haphazard manner was truly painful. At eight years of age other children were observed to mouth and swallow their words, to lisp, or to give the impression that their speech was obstructed as by a mouthful of mush."

No words can be too strong for the denunciation of the senseless "baby-talk" indulged in by so many fond, but selfish, mothers. Consider that method as being used in teaching a foreigner our language, and the senselessness of it becomes apparent without further argument. One of the self-evident values of the kindergarten is the fact that in it the child not only learns to connect the object or action with the word all unconsciously, but also because in a scientific kindergarten both the objects used and the activities taught are typical, and the properties of matter as well as the forms of motion are the essential ones.

Thus the child learns fundamental words, definite and strong contrasts, leaving the finer shades of meaning for a later stage of growth. Not only are the descriptive words thus vividly taught, but the constant commingling with children of his own age causes a child to express himself more freely to his small comrade, and in simple, childlike language. The songs, stories, and pictures, also, are so selected as to call forth mental images that a child can easily grasp and retain. But above all, the ideals that are awakened within his young soul demand expression, and in the enthusiasm over what is to him a beautiful thought the child forgets his outer self and its limitations and "outers" or utters his inmost self. This is true of all the truly free and noble use of language, and insures the individual style of expression even in a young child, while at the same time calling for clear and definite language. But above all things else this early and easy mastery of words thru the direct connection of them with the objects, activities, or relationships they represent, brings with it the vividness. and strength of mental imagery. This enables the mind to the more readily transfer words from a purely sensuous meaning to a spiritual meaning, and thereby to transfigure the common speech until the soul can speak to soul. Thus the highest office of language is obtained.

Mrs. J. N. Crouse of Kindergarten College, Chicago, Ill., spoke as follows:

No class of educators who heard Dr. Butler last evening can appreciate more fully, or make more practical, his suggestions, especially along the line of the study of the Bible, than the kindergartners; not as religious or moral training, but as a study of

language and literature. God dealt with the Jewish people in true kindergarten fashion. He taught the meaning of ideas and language thru sense impression and object teaching. The Bible, especially Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and the Psalms, is full of clear, concise descriptions, strong and mighty expression. How did these early nations so master language to have thus expressed themselves? These child races must have had sense impressions, clear and definite. We find such expressions as "Riding on the wings of a storm," "Mountain call unto mountain." God gave them a long series of discipline to teach them the meaning of the word "Holy," as is shown in the way the temple was divided, the animals chosen for food. We are doing the same thing-teaching long and short, high and low, by use of words in connection. with things, and there is the transfer from the physical meaning to the spiritual meaning. It was by these methods that the Jews gained such wonderful mastery of language. We are so shut up within ourselves and feel so much more than we can express. I had a boy who was in this same condition. I consulted a kindergartner about him; her advice was that he was to be given a means of self-expression. He was to be given opportunities for singing, dancing, drawing, exchange of thoughts and feelings with his fellows. Within six months he was a changed boy. The trouble is that we are not trained right at school.

Miss Ada Van Stone Harris, Supervisor of Kindergarten and Primary Work, Rochester, N. Y., said:

I wish to emphasize all that has been said, and especially the thought of Mrs. Crouse, in regard to placing children in contact with each other for the purpose of developing language. It has been my pleasure to work with all classes, rich and poor, all nationalities, and I know from experience the great good that comes from this association, one with another. It is, however, necessary for the kindergartner to be ever alert in the correcting of all the inaccuracies of the foreign and the English-speaking children. I have known very timid children and defectives to develop marvelously by their association with other children. It is a great mistake to keep children aloof. It is better for children to be in a kindergarten of from twenty-five to thirty than to be in one of from six to eight members. There is value in numbers, for they gain in power of expression from this contact with their playmates. We had confirmation of this in the case of a child of deafmute parents, who was supposed himself to be a deaf-mute. In one year he talked freely and expressed himself well. He was timid. and reticent with the kindergartner, but when left with the others he unfolded spontaneously.

Miss O'Grady here interposed: "I wish to emphasize the value of the child imitating other children rather than their elders." Miss Minerva Jourdan, of the KINDERGARTEN Magazine, pre

faced her notes with the remark that all must have appreciated the fine distinction that Miss Adams had made between speech and language, and it was to be borne in mind even if in the notes they should seem to be one.

With language, expression and representation of the internal begins. The inner being tries to make itself known; the child. begins to talk as he uses his arms or feet, and he knows language only as another part of his body, like arms, feet, etc. Speech comes because of changes in the nervous system; his babblings are the beginnings of self-active outward expression; his beginnings, like all primitive language, are rhythmic expressions. If a child was left alone he would invent a language, tho it would be limited. If he finds himself understood he adopts words, and it requires no effort to remember new ones. Children, it is said, seldom lack for words, especially from three to twelve years of age. If they think they know a thing they know a word for it. A child pronounces by imitation, but uses his words for the meaning in them. In connection with invention of langauge by the child, and the part imitation plays in his speech and early life, it is most interesting to read the article "A Talk on Birds," by Wm. E. D. Scott of Princeton University, in the Outlook of July 5: He says that "birds learn by association a young robin always sings as his father does" - and proved by supposed isolation of a young redwinged blackbird from all sounds, that when it was time for him to sing, not his own song but a crow was the result, cause traceable to morning salute of a young bantam under the window. If birds imitate what they hear, same is true of children, we well know, and experience has proved that the young child learns one language as well as another, or more than one at a time, one being what we term a foreign one. If he learns from speech and action quicker than from the story, from the very first we should take more pains and recognize how important cultivation of his language is in the earliest years, that he may not need so many years of correction later. After one-fourth of public school life is spent in study of grammar, do we see evidence of more ease in speaking or writing? Froebel says: "Language represents unity of all diversity, the inner living connection of all things-and as religion manifests being, nature, energy, language manifests life as such and as a whole; it unites mind and the outer world-it is the expression of the human mind as nature expresses the divine." "Man's speech will become an image of man's inner and outer world."

Mrs. Putnam showed us the value of the mother's response, also value of the society of children to the child as an aid in language; but what is the remedy for the children in the mass, as in asylums? Can anyone offer suggestions?

The chairman, Miss O'Grady, added: "There is an interesting