3 88 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



eral years ; "but it was to another woman's enthusiasm and her 

 private munificence that the cause was to owe its conquering 

 impulse. In 1877 Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw opened two ; and from 

 time to time others were added, till in 1883 she had established in 

 Boston and its vicinity thirty-one. In 1887 the Boston School 

 Board, having become convinced of their value, incorporated four- 

 teen as part of the public-school system, and others have been 

 gradually added, till now it has thirty-one, with an attendance of 

 nearly two thousand children. But this children's crusade is by 

 no means confined to Boston ; there are kindergartens and man- 

 ual training schools in St. Louis, in Philadelphia, in San Fran- 

 cisco, and, in short, they are taking root all over the country. 

 Nowhere are they so much needed as in New York, where there 

 is annually so much ignorance dumped from abroad ; but, until 

 there is not a single score of neglected, untaught children left 

 unreached by this beneficent agency, let us hear no more wailings 

 over superfluous womanhood. Where is the practical philanthro- 

 pist who desires to leave noble men and women as his monument, 

 who will supply the funds needed to rescue these children, while 

 the municipal authorities are waiting to be convinced of the util- 

 ity of not opening the stable-door at all, when thieves are about ? 



If there is such a waiting benefactor of his kind, there is 

 plenty of accumulated experience to guide him in the choice of 

 instruments. Lest those who have failed in other fields should 

 fancy that here is a niche that they can fill, let them understand 

 that it needs a high order of talent to succeed here. Mr. Chad- 

 wick says, " Those who have given earnest study to primary edu- 

 cation are aware that the highest training power should be 

 applied in the most formative period the infant-class " ; and in 

 the report of the Boston conference we read, " One strong feat- 

 ure of Mrs. Shaw's management, perhaps the one which raised 

 the educational value of the Boston kindergartens, was the ex- 

 treme care exercised in the selection of teachers"; and when- 

 ever the kindergarten is to win its way, this care must be exer- 

 cised. In 1883 she induced two kindergartners of St. Louis, each 

 excelling in a special line, to come and give advanced courses to 

 her teachers, and these were supplemented by lectures, teachers' 

 meetings, etc. 



Manual training still in the dawn of its development has 

 come, and come to stay. It will enhance the respect due to hon- 

 est labor, and go far to cure the disease of " millionism " from 

 which we are just now suffering ; and those who look to the 

 Scriptures for guidance will remember that the brilliant reason er 

 and follower of the carpenter's son, St. Paul, was a tent-maker, 

 who called the elders of Ephesus to witness that " these hands 

 have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me." 



