AUDITORIUM ANNEX,
Chicago, August 16, 1898.
MISS AMALIE HOFER,
Manager Kindergarten Literature Company,
Woman's Temple, Chicago, Ill.:
_Dear Miss Hofer_:--In searching for the best means of
distributing my new book--"That Last Waif; or, Social
Quarantine"--my attention was called to the decree on the cover
of your magazine--"Pledged to Make the Kindergarten Free to All
Children."
Further inquiry reveals the fact that your stockholders are deeply
interested in kindergarten-propagation work; that your profits are
dedicated to that cause, and that you have over four thousand
correspondents who are enthusiastic workers.
Inasmuch as I propose to contribute the profits derived from the
sale of the book to form the nucleus of a fund with which to
champion the establishment of Character-Building and Habit-Forming
schools or institutions to meet the needs of all Apprentice
Citizens, and for the advocacy of the creation of a department of
the Federal Government to promote and guard Citizen-Training
(especially during the period of tenderest and strongest
impressions), it seems to me that your organization and I should
co-operate.
The kindergarten has been the means of demonstrating the
efficiency of character-training, and, while it is only one branch
of elementary character education, it is the parent of all which
have come into existence as a result of the success of the
teachings of Pestalozzi and Froebel. You may, therefore,
consistently extend your interest to all phases of the work.
If the Child-Crop of a nation is the source of all its strength or
weakness--happiness or trouble--why should there not be a
strongly-equipped department of the national government to
minister to its interests, as there are departments of State,
Agriculture and others, whose heads form the Cabinet of the
Executive.
I send you herewith galley proofs of the book by which you may
learn if you are in sympathy with my presentation of the case.
Respectfully yours,