Wk recently read an anecdote some¬ 
thing like the following : Little sister : 
“ Mamma, Johnnie’s an infidel.” “ An 
infidel ? What do you mean ? ” “ Why. 
mamma, he says there’s no Santa Claus ! ” 
Now, how many little infidels are there 
in Thk R. N.-Y.’s family ? The children 
are becoming unbelievers at an earlier 
age. Is it a matter of regret, or not? 
Childhood without fairy tales, does seem 
rather desolate ; but who can doubt that 
truth is better than superstition ? 
Wk would like to hear from any of our 
readers who are interested in or familiar 
with kindergarten work. While not a new 
thing, its educational value is so great 
that it deserves wider recognition than 
it has yet received. It will probably be 
some time before kindergarten methods 
are introduced into the country schools. 
Rut they may be utilized in the homes ; 
and it is with this purpose in view 
that we shall present the subject to our 
readers. 
LET CHILDREN SHARE THE CARES. 
“ TIJKN AHOUT” 18 KAIK AT WOKK AS WEI.I. 
AS I'KAY. 
HEN children have a pleasure 
which all cannot share at one 
time, such as swinging in the great barn, 
riding the old horse to water or after the 
mail, there is always a discussion as to 
the rights of each, and a final decision 
as to whose turn comes next. Men and 
women are only grown up boys and girls, 
and in the family circle, this should not 
be forgotten. Pleasures that were their 
deliglit years ago, when they come to 
them now, are enjoyed with just as keen 
a zest as ever. The spirit of the 19th cen¬ 
tury is upon us with all its momentum, 
its rush and feverish hurry, and we who 
are approaching, or who are already in 
the ranks of the elders, wonder some¬ 
times if there ever will be any pause, 
and how long we can hold out to keep 
up this constant strain of both nerve and 
muscle. 
If it be reform work, the reformers 
are laboring with such a will, and spend¬ 
ing such an amount of study, time and 
money in the beloved cause, that one 
the list of my acquaintainces, which has 
been very extensive in this respect, 
through the W. C. T. U., one of the 
avowed objects of which is to make bet¬ 
ter mothers, I think sometimes that the 
theme would better be cljanged for 
awhile: that the mothers do not need 
that advice any more, for they are too 
good already. Now I expect some one 
will be greatly shocked at this, but, 
thinking of it seriou.sly, does it not .seem 
true ? From babyhood up, children are 
loved, petted and humored ; the hard 
places made easy, the difficult and dis¬ 
agreeable tasks done for them, and the 
responsibilities carried by parents, who 
think and say : “ We do not wish our 
children to work as hard as we have 
done. We work hard now that they 
may have life easier. We wish them to 
be happy and care-free while they are 
young ; there will be care and work 
enough in the future that we cannot 
help. We wish them always able to 
look back on a happy childhood.” A 
commendable, unselfish spirit for par¬ 
ents to show, certainly, as far as it goes! 
And children are thus denied the bless¬ 
edness of learning that there is some¬ 
FRONT AND RACK OF 
THE VALUE OF PRESENTS. 
EOPLE who value presents at their 
money value, are likely to miss a 
great deal of pleasure, and have many a 
disappointment in this world. The senti¬ 
ment involved in giving and receiving 
gifts, is sometimes the only part of the 
transaction worthy of consideration. Cer¬ 
tainly it is always a safe rule to value a 
gift as the expression of the sentiment 
which prompts it. A writer in the New 
York Ledger deprecates the mercenary 
spirit shown by many in accepting gifts : 
“ There are a number of children of my 
acquaintance, who are absolutely cold¬ 
blooded in their discussion of their toys 
and presents. One of them received a 
gift of a beautiful doll. She unwrapped 
it, her eyes dancing with delight. After 
a moment, she passed her hand over the 
doll’s head, and a look of annoyance 
chased the brightness from her face. 
“ ‘ It isn’t real hair,’ she said, with a 
gesture of disdain. ‘ I don’t see why 
Aunt Kitty couldn’t have given me a doll 
with real curls.’ 
“ Another child, who.se mother had en¬ 
tertained a number of guests for some 
r’S CLOAK. Fig. 22.5. 
CHILDREN'S INDOOR AMUSEMENTS. 
HERE are no lack of outdoor amuse¬ 
ment for the farm children in 
pleasant weather; but when it is cold 
and stormy, and they have to be where it 
is warm, it is often difficult to provide 
them with amusement. When the mother 
is tired, and nervous, and bu.sy, siie 
would give much for something new to 
keep the little ones quiet and out of mis¬ 
chief. ]\Iaking picture scrap books, is 
very fa.scinating to many. At first, any 
old book may be used, and pictures cut 
from old catalogues and newspapers may 
do to give them first lessons in the work. 
Then better books and pictures may be 
used. Rooks made for poor or sick child¬ 
ren, may help form habits of benevolence. 
With a box of colors and brush, a child 
can color pictures. Those who study 
geography, would find amusement and 
much instruction in filling out and col¬ 
oring a set of progre.s.sive outline maps, 
which cost but little more than ordinary 
drawing paper, and are a great im¬ 
provement on old-fashioned map draw¬ 
ing. After a set of maps has been filled 
out and colored, the map of the United 
States may be pasted upon cardboard, 
and then carefully cut up into States .so 
as to make a puzzle. Dissected maps 
cost 50 cents or more, and a homemade 
one will be as useful, and the children 
will learn a good deal by making it. Col¬ 
ored or plain pictures may be mounted 
and cut up in the same way, and here, 
again, is an opportunity to give to poor 
pr invalid children. 
Kindergarten materials give children 
much pleasure, if rightly used ; but it 
requires considerable skill to use them 
in the best manner. The best .substitutes 
which I have found, are the materials 
used in primary classes in form study 
and drawing in many city schools. Coun¬ 
try schools often have nothing of the 
kind, and they make one of the best edu¬ 
cational home amusements. They include 
stick and tablet laying, building with 
solids, and drawing. The ones with which 
I am familiar, are colored red, white, 
and are of various lengths so as to teach 
color, and the measuring of short dis¬ 
tances by the eye. The tablets are 
squares, circles, oblongs, triangles, ovals, 
would think there would be no work left 
for the next generation. If it be farming, 
the farmer spends every spare moment 
that he may gain success in his business, 
and works harder with all the improved 
implements and machinery of the pres¬ 
ent day than did his ancestors. With all 
the long list of failures and successes in 
his own experience added to theirs for 
reference, how can he help being a bet¬ 
ter farmer ? 
City Customs Encroaching. 
The busy farmer’s wife is not behind 
in the race. As the walls of her domain 
have been extended from the little log 
cabin of her grandmother’s days, to the 
commodious, and often stylish, dwelling 
of the present, her cares have multiplied 
accordingly. The city has encroached 
on the country, and the country has 
drawn toward the city, until she has 
nearly as much to do in the w'ay of 
housekeeping as her city cousins, besides 
all of the extras of the dairy, farm hands, 
fruit gathering, poultry raising, etc. The 
children, who in other days, were kept 
in one room in the old house, and con¬ 
sequently were easily watched in their 
mischievous pranks, cannot be carelessly 
pushed aside now. The main effort of 
the whole family is directed toward 
their care, health and education, though 
sometimes, we are sorry to say, the 
health is placed last or lost sight o^ 
entirely in the desire to rush them in 
school. 
Nearly every paper has its column of 
instruction and advice, all to help women 
to be better mothers. As I think over 
times more happiness in giving than in 
receiving. 
A Little Care Is Beneficial. 
Rut children cannot long remain child¬ 
ren, and as they look back on days gone 
by, after they have reached manhood 
and womanhood, and realize its cares 
and responsibilities, do you not think 
that the day that they helped father and 
mother through some hard stint, thus 
giving them an opportunity for a day’s 
outing with the children, will be the sat¬ 
isfactory one to remember ; and the day 
when all went for pleasure together the 
happy one, instead of the day when they 
went alone, care free, and came home to 
find that their parents had worked be¬ 
yond their strength to spare them for the 
outing ? 
I think a little care is good for children, 
and fits them for future usefulness. Each 
child should learn enough of the parents’ 
business (if it be respectable business), 
to make himself or herself useful in it, 
and thus lighten the cares and burdens 
and multiply the comforts and blessings, 
even though the future should point to 
some other line of usefulness. If the 
young people have all the privileges, and 
their elders the duties, it may be good 
discipline for the latter; but they need a 
change for rest and improvement, in or¬ 
der to keep abreast of the times, not to 
grow old too fast, and be happy, cheer¬ 
ful companions for their children. Let 
us think more on these things, and may 
the children be more thoughtful, and the 
parents a little more selfish in deciding 
whose turn shall come next. 
CLARA T. SIS80X, 
weeks, was delighted on receiving a 
handsome ring sent by express. She 
looked the gift over with a critical eye, 
and finally slipped it on her finger, with 
sigh of satisfaction and the remark : 
“ ‘ 1 think this must have cost a great 
deal of money.’ 
“There was no appreciation of the sen¬ 
timent of the present; no realization of 
what it might involve ; merely the grati¬ 
fication of the desire to have something 
that cost a great deal of money. 
“ When children value things only for 
their cash price, there certainly must be 
some fault in their education, or they 
must have inherited some unfortunate 
predispositions that have not been prop¬ 
erly checked. 
“ There are few more pitiful sights 
than to see children speculating on the 
cost of things that represent the good 
will of their friends. A mercenary spirit 
exhibited on all occasions is bad 
enough in grown people, but in chil¬ 
dren and youngsters, it is imply in¬ 
tolerable.” 
etc. The solids are cubes, spheres, hem¬ 
ispheres, cylinders, prisms, pyramids, 
cones, etc., and you can imagine the fun 
which the children have with them. 
Children like to make things, and an 
amusement which keeps them quiet for 
a time, makes them happy, and gives them 
something to do which educates, will be 
appreciated by parents. 
To secure the best results, a little time 
must be taken to instruct the children, 
two or three times a week. Those who 
know nothing of form study and draw¬ 
ing, would do well to get the “Primary 
Manual ” prepared by the Prang Educa¬ 
tional Company, to guide teachers and 
parents who use their models, tablets, 
and drawing books. There is also a little 
work on “ Paper Folding and Cutting,” 
another device for amusing and instruct¬ 
ing children. It is easy to see what a 
variety of pleasing occupations may be 
obtained by using these materials, and 
the list is not exhausted, for there are 
color tablets and charts, with directions 
for using them in a convenient form, with* 
sheets of colored paper with which to 
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