|WHEN Toots was old enough to enter a little school, his mamma said he
must go to a Kindergarten, which, you all know, is a delightful place
for all children. Our good German friends first thought of it for their
little people, and here in America we have found it an excellent fashion
to follow. Block building, song singing, and drawing with pretty things
in needlework, and forms in clay, not only teach the children to think
but to do, and good thinking must always come before well doing, Toots'
mamma knew a kind German lady who understood teaching the little ones,
and after some delay a school was opened and Toots was a pupil. He cried
hard at first. He was afraid of strangers, and he dreaded to speak aloud
before them, although he was such a rogue at home. His mamma bought him
a pretty lunch basket and put in it some little cakes for his lunch, and
then they rode away in the horse car to the schoolroom. After the first
day Toots was always ready to go. "It is only play," he said. But it
was more than play, for every night Toots had something new to tell;
sometimes he had watered the plants in the school-room, sometimes he
talked of cubes and triangles, sometimes he sang a little song. Toots
was learning without knowing it, and all the time he was very happy. No
one was allowed to say a naughty word, no one was ever rude or unkind,
and all the little eyes and hands were trained.
[Illustration: 0016]
When Toots told his grandma about the seed germ of a plant and how
it grew she said, "Ah, I wish I could have gone to such a school; the
children are very fortunate now a days." One day Toots brought his
grandma a pretty book-mark he had worked, and he could tell the names of
all the colors in it and the names of the stitches. Such pretty things
as he made in clay, such dainty shapes and forms, it really was quite
wonderful to see them and hear the little fellow in kilt skirts talk
about them. One day Toots did not come home from the Kindergarten as
usual. His favorite car driver shook his head as he passed the house.
Toots had not come out to ride home with him. Grandma was much worried.
"Never mind," said mamma, "he is quite safe, perhaps they are all out
for walk, or studying the trees or flowers in the garden; he will come
in the next car, for his teacher always puts him on herself." When the
next car came, there was the little boy, smiling and happy. The children
had taken a long walk with their teacher, and when they returned Toots
had fallen asleep, so the kind teacher would not disturb him, and the
little fellow was well rested.
After dinner he had a long story to tell about the lungs of plants
and the edges of leaves, which were like little saws, and a pretty
pitcher-plant he had seen. When his story was complete he added, "All my
children shall go to a Kindergarten, for it is the nicest place in the
world 'cept mamma's room."