terest. The Exposition was a public educational factor and education for the first time at a world's fair was given a prominent place-not only in scheme of classification, but in location, in grandeur of building, and in extent and arrangement of educational exhibits. Nearly every department of the N. E. A. could find the finest products of educational effort, or see the best illustrations of its educational theories.

The student and teacher had a rare opportunity of studying along the lines of their work, and of getting a broader and richer view of their vocations. The artist and art teacher could derive help from the study of the work of the leading art schools of the country, or could be happy in the beautiful exhibit of pictures and sculpture from home and abroad, shown in the large art buildings; the musician could spend his time drinking in the beautiful music from the great organ; and for the student and teacher of science, there seemed no limit to the rich stores of knowledge for all their departments,—the beautiful floral displays all about the grounds, the large bird cage 166 feet. long, 88 feet wide and 45 feet high, with its 1,200 birds of many colors, the Mines building, the products of all the states as seen at the Agricultural building, and the many maps and models everywhere exhibited. The kindergartner and child lover could find delight in visiting the kindergarten and the model nursery and playground, all of which were in working order. The Philippine and Indian villages held much of interest

to all, and especially to those who are studying peoples and countries. All teachers, from the kindergarten to the university, will be richer in knowledge and experience, having seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears the sights and sounds they had before been teaching blindly.

At this Fair, also, the feature of having an entire building, one of the largest, set apart wholly for educational purposes, was unique. This was the teacher's own domain. Here she could browse about at will, examining the work of her own especial department, or glancing aside to look at that of her colaborers. Here could be found the best results in all departments of educational process; here were found typical lessons and model classes under actual instruction-schools of manual and domestic training, schools for the deaf, the dumb, and the blind; also a model kindergarten in operation with twenty children under instruction. In this building also was seen the wonderful progress in China, Japan, Cuba, and one could compare the school work of Germany, France, and England with ours, not often, we think, to the disadvantage of the work of our own home land.

In speaking of the delights of the convention, one must not forget the weather. St. Louis has not an enviable reputation as to its weather in the summer months, but nothing better could be wished for in this line. Everything seemed to combine to make the occasion as comfortable and full of pleasure as possible.

All receptions and meetings were held in buildings within the grounds, and, notwithstanding the many attractions, the sessions were well attended, not only by those who came for the convention, but by many who were in attendance at the Fair.

The program was comprehensive, and the plan for arranging it to bear especially on the exhibits and their lessons was most interesting and profitable to the teachers. The after-convention exhibit studies with the special facilities afforded was equally so.

Receptions were held at the various state buildings. The social feature for the kindergartner was a play festival held on Thursday evening, June 30, at 8 o'clock, in the hall of the Missouri state building and given by the St. Louis Froebel Society, admission being by ticket only. It is the delightful custom for the kinder gartners of St. Louis to hold annually, at the close of the school year, a play festival, at which time the teachers meet and enjoy a pleasant hour to gether, becoming as the little children, care free and happy. This year the society kindly delayed the festival in order to allow the visiting kindergartners a share in the pleasure. As each guest entered the room she was given a badge, made by the children of the St. Louis kindergartens, of paper folded in the form of a fleur de lis with the colors of the Louisiana Purchase.

Four hundred young women, with Miss McCulloch at the head leading by the hand two little children, marched into the hall singing one of

the bright songs, accompanied by the piano and cornet. After the march a large circle was formed for the games. Letters of greeting were read from Miss Susan E. Blow and Madame Kraus-Boelté, and were received with much enthusiasm. Miss Merrill and Miss Harris responded to a request for remarks, thanking the kindergartners for the welcome which they had received. Superintendent Soldan of St. Louis spoke words of welcome, and reminded the kindergartners that he was once a kindergarten boy himself. His presence on the floor brought forth much applause. Then the games began in earnest. The large hall, tastefully decorated with daisies, pinks, sweet peas and palms, the kindergartners with their pretty summer gowns and happy, smiling faces, giving themselves up to the pleasure of the hour, made a very beautiful picture, and was fully appreciated by the many enthusiastic spectators. Many of the older kindergartners joined in the ring, and finally even the superintendents caught the spirit of the evening, and four assistant superintendents of the city schools were seen entering into the sport. After the play hour, a reception was held and refreshments served.

Friday evening the kindergartners, through the kindness and courtesy of Miss McCulloch, enjoyed a boat ride on the lagoon. The night, the grandeur of the buildings, the brilliant Mamination, the slowly moving boat,

el ombined to make it seem like & Dentiful dream.

Kindergarten and Elementary

Departments

A joint session of these departments was held in the Hall of Congresses,

Administration building,

Tuesday, June 28. The room was decorated with daisies and with flags of the different nations, and each kindergartner was presented with one of Froebel's flowers to wear. Miss Jenny B. Merrill, supervisor of kindergartens, New York city, and Miss Ada Van Stone Harris, supervisor of primary instruction, Rochester, N. Y., presided over the meeting and most graciously introduced the speak ers. Miss Mary C. McCulloch, supervisor of kindergartens, and Mrs. Fannie L. Lachmund, supervisor of primary instruction, St. Louis, cordially welcomed the kindergartners and teachers to the city.

The general topic, The Relation of the Kindergarten and the Elementary School as Shown in the Exhibits, was presented From the Kindergarten Standpoint, by Miss Patty S. Hill, principal of Kindergarten Training School, Louisville, Ky., and From the Standpoint of the School, by Charles B. Gilbert, New York City.

From the Kindergarten Standpoint

By Patty S. Hill, Louisville, Ky

The subject of this paper will necessarily limit the discussion very largely to a comparison of hand work, industrial and æsthetic, as used in the kindergarten and the grades, for two reasons. First, because this First, because this is almost exclusively the one phase of both kindergarten and grade work

is the one phase of educational work used in common, that is, the socalled Gifts of the kindergarten are rarely used in any of the grades, and the written work of the grades is, of course, absent in the kindergarten.

limited to the result of work done by Unfortunately an exhibit is largely

children at some former time. Methods and processes of work, which to the teacher are even more important than results, can be seen best only where teachers and children are actu

ally working together. One's best opportunity to secure some insight into processes and methods used in securing the results exhibited, is seen in the photographs of children and teacher at work. Again we catch glimpses into methods and processes in the written work which accompanies much of the hand work in the grades.

One can but be impressed with the similarity in the results exhibited from kindergartens and lower grades. We are tempted to criticise this until we read the grade child's account of what he has done, and find that, though the manual products are similar, the intellectual content in each case is entirely different. For example, we find simple cardboard and wooden boxes and trays in exhibits, all the way from the kindergarten through the grades, their educational value in each grade depending upon the degrees of work done by and for the child, the amount of originality, preparations of raw material, conscious measurement, etc., involved. For example, here is a written record accompanying a simple cardboard tray with careful drawings of the same, made by a ten-year-old fourth grade child. She writes, "I have made this cardboard tray in school. The material was seven inches square when I cut it, which made forty-nine

square inches. I had to use very careful measurements to get it exact, because it is very expensive material, and we have to try not to waste it. When we fold it the bottom is three inches square and one inch deep, and it contains nine cubic inches."

If the kindergarten child had made this same object, the conscious measurement would have been thought out by the teacher. She would have prepared the material and thought out the completed object, the kindergarten child probably originating the method of securing this result with the carefully prepared materials. placed before him.

This prepared material often hints and suggests processes of construction to the child. At first glance, this seems quite limiting to the creativity and originality of the kindergarten child, but a deeper study convinces one that even the discovery of proeesses of making objects which were planned by the teacher, demands quite good ingenuity and originality from a little child. For the sake of convenience in discussion, let us analyze the processes in the production of an object, whether in the kindergarten or the grades, into these five steps:

First, "the what"-that is, the idea, image, or interest to be expressed, or the object to be made or constructed.

Second, a general survey of "the how”—that is, a series of vague plans as to how the idea as a whole could be expressed or the object be constructed with different kinds of materials.

Third, what kinds of material will best carry out this general plan.

Fourth, the how in detail, as to each part, or step, or process necessary to execute the general plan with materials selected. In other words, what is to be done with or to this material to make it carry out the gen

eral plan-how must this material be modified, folded, cut, pasted, glued, sewed, nailed, sawed, etc., in order to make it conform to the general conception through each particular step.

Fifth, the product, result, or completed expression or construction.

From the theoretical view point, the ideal would be to have all five of these emanate creatively from the child, but practical experience tends to prove that this depends upon the age and stage of development reached by the child.

In the rebound from the slavery and mechanical methods used in the old education, the tendency seems to be to overestimate the value and degree of creativity and originality in early education, and to undervalue spontaneous imitations. This is a difficult position to express, because many times we fail to grasp the originality that accompanies spontaneous

imitation.

The study of evolution, the period of prolonged infancy and social heredity, seem to point toward the tremendous part played by imitation in evolution, especially in early life. True, originality and invention are important elements, even in early life and education; but they seem to grow more and more valuable after the child has absorbed varied patterns set by adults, which are most important to him and his kind. Nature cannot wait for the child to originate or discover all of them, so she sets patterns in the concrete activities of adults, which are so inviting that the child is driven by spontaneous imitation to repeat them. And so, he is busy in making the past his, both by imitation and rediscovery, though imitation seems to predominate in early life. Truly imitation and invention are the two legs upon which both the child and the race have walked in absorbing the best that the race has

accomplished in the past, as well as in discovering greater and better things for the future. Early life is enriched by the absorption of these varied patterns through imitation, and later this furnishes a fine basis for that selection and recombination of elements which is necessary for invention and creation. If this be true we should try to strike a sane balance between imitation and invention in the industrial work in early education.

Let us examine each of these five processes in production and endeavor to discover what degrees of imitation and originality can, or ought, to enter in at the kindergarten age.

When we study the first, that is, "the what," the idea, or image to be expressed, the object to be made or constructed, these are some of the problems which confront us: Is the idea or image a fundamental interest of the child at the kindergarten age? Is "the what" of sufficient worth, from the child's point of view, to call out his self-activity? Is the function of the object of sufficient importance in child-life to call forth his best effort in overcoming any difficulties which may arise in its construction? Expression and production in the kindergarten should center in those interests which are characteristic of this stage of growth. The life of the child his experiences and environments, his interests and ideals should be sifted, and those which promote his growth, and call out his best powers along lines of greatest worth both to the child and society, should be selected.

This the teacher, in close sympathy with the child and thoroughly trained in genetic psychology and child-study, should know better than the child himself. The teacher who trains her self to watch the school activities from the view point of the child, often knows better than the child what his

real interests and desires are. For example, if you offer a detailed toy, with little left to the imagination, and poor opportunities for self-activity, most children will choose it in. preference to a meager toy, rich in hidden possibilities. hidden possibilities. But any close student of children will choose differently for the child, and know she is appealing to deeper desires and interests than those of which the child himself is conscious. But for fear the teacher who plans what is to be may wander too far from what the child considers of worth, and dwarf the child's power of initiative she should have some so-called "free occupations" in which the child is left absolutely free to act upon his own idea of what, make his own plan as to how, and originate his own processes and product. This can be done. to advantage in several ways. Sometimes we can lead the children to suggest one day what they would like to make the next. Then get them to suggest how it might be made, and what materials might be used, etc. This stimulates the child's originality and creativity along the line of what, how, and the selection of material. The following method has also been tried with some success as to originality in selection of subject, plan, material, steps, and product. All sorts of odds and ends in occupation materials are placed on the table where the children can get them; or, for example, scraps of paper of dif ferent sizes and shapes, milk bottle tops, brads, nails, scraps of wood, cloth, leatherette, etc. The children are told that they may make anything they desire out of these materials. The idea to be expressed, or object made, is often suggested by the materials; for example, milk bottle tops suggest wheels for wagons, triangular forms in paper suggest houses with pointed roof, etc.

Another point of equal importance