"n>;il Indian " costumes. Tlic actors lirinu walci- 



color paints to dccofatc their faces, and they play 



their parts witli haslit'iil earnestness. Soinctinics htth' 



figures of animals or miniature Mskiiuo \ ilhiu'es are 



modeled in composite clay, the scul|)tors first niakiny- 



a visit to the K>kimo Hall to examine the construc- 

 tion of igloos. To some of the older children are 



handed lists of (Hiestions to whii'h answers nuist he 



deduced from ohservation of the Museum exhil its. 

 It is lunv estimated that there ai-c hetween fom- 



and five thousand youthful \isitors in th<' ( hildren's 



Room durintj: the year. A small grou]) of children 



comes every Wednesday afternoon, with suliicient regularity to cnaltle us 



to carry on study ftu-ther than desultory (jucstions and answers. .Vmonf^ 



other activities we read Siris.s 

 Finiiili/ HohuisDii last winter, and 

 in\esti^ated every animal men- 

 tioned in that remarkable hook. .V 

 chance remark disclosed the fact 

 that one of these children was 

 "afraid" of spiders, so we set to 

 work to learn all that we could 

 about spiders and to transmute fear 

 into interest. The same course was 

 followed with regard to snakes, and 

 the children handled <iarter snakes 

 and other harmless sjjccies without 

 dread. 



The ( hildreti's Room is now 

 being fittefl out more in accordance 

 with the original plans and is taking 

 shajjc as a small museum where 

 opportunity is gi\en for carrying on 

 sonic a.cti\ity in addition to ob- 

 ser\ation. J'crmanent exhibits of 

 shells and minerals and one of won- 

 derful fishes are disj)laycd there. 

 Two cases contain a collection of 

 dolls from all over the world, dolls 

 that were made and ])laycd with by 

 Ivskimo, Indian and Philippine chil- 

 dren, and even some that ha\(' come 

 to us from a distant past hidd<'n in 

 the graves of ancient Peru. 



2G1 



