I wish you would try to think this morning about all the children in
all the world.
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There are thousands and thousands of them, and they are doing all sorts
of things this very minute.
Some of them are wide awake and some are in bed and fast asleep. Some
are in school and some are playing out of doors.
Some live in such hot countries that they lie in the shade of big palm
trees to keep cool. Others are in such a cold country that they see
nothing but ice and snow, and they are dressed in furs from head to
foot.
When you read stories about the children in other lands, do they seem
to you like fairy stories?
I want you to know that all these children are real boys and girls, and
they work and play and have happy times together, just as you do.
Perhaps when you read about the children in the far North you will wish
that you were an Eskimo boy, living in a snow hut, wearing thick furs,
and riding over the fields of snow in a sled drawn by dogs.
Or perhaps you would rather be a little Indian and live in a wigwam in
the forest, learning to paddle a canoe, and to fish and hunt.
While you are here in this beautiful schoolroom, learning to read and
write and draw and sing, there are thousands of other children who
never saw a schoolhouse, and who will grow up to be men and women
without even learning to read.
You can read stories about these people, and as you grow older perhaps
you will know more about them, but they will probably never hear of you.
Of course, there are many thousands of children everywhere who are in
school this morning.
Think of all the boys and girls in every town in the whole United
States, who see the flag with its stars and stripes floating over their
schoolhouses, and who learn to sing “America.”
In France the children wave a flag of red, white and blue, and learn
a song about their country, but their flag is not like yours, and you
could not understand one word of their French song.
The little English children sing a song about their country and their
king which you could understand, and they read in books like yours. But
then, there are the children who live in Germany, and learn to read in
German, and the children who live in Italy and read Italian books, and
many, many others.
Oh, there are so many children in the world!
In Japan and China the children use the queerest books that you ever
saw. The words go up and down the page, and the stories begin at the
end of the book, and at the bottom of the page. The words look like
this:—
[Illustration]
Did you ever see such funny words?
The boys and girls in these other countries do not go to school all of
the time. They have holidays and vacations, and they play out of doors
in the long summer days and the cold winter weather, just as you do.
You would enjoy playing with these children, even if you could not talk
with them. I know you would like to fly big kites with the boys in
Japan, or skate down the canals with the little Dutch boys.
And as for dolls! I am sure there are as many dolls in the world as
there are little girls, and perhaps more, because some little girls
have so many dolls that they cannot play with all of them.
[Illustration]
You would like to play with the queer Chinese dolls in their beautiful
silken robes, or with the Eskimo dolls that are carved out of bone and
are dressed in furs and sealskin.
The Indian girl has wooden dolls dressed in bright blankets, with beads
and feathers. The little French girl has a big wax doll, with blue eyes
that shut when she lies down, and pop open when she sits up again. She
wears beautiful gowns and big hats with feathers and ribbons.
Wouldn’t it be fun to have a dolls’ party to-day, if the dolls from all
over the world could come?
These dolls might be dressed in furs, or silks, or blankets; they might
be made of wax, or bone, or wood. But if they could talk they would
tell you that the little girl who owns them loves them, and that,
whether she lives in a snow hut or a tent in the desert, she has a
loving father and mother and a happy childhood.
* * * * *
Are there many children in all the world?
What are some of them doing this very minute?
If you should go to school in Germany, what would you have to do first?
What does a little German child have to do when he first goes to school
in our country?
Tell all the things you can that all the children in the world do
almost every day.