NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
“Fundamental Facts in Child Life” 
Subject of Talk of Miss Alexander 
The meeting of the Parent-Teacher 
association in Manchester on Wed- 
nesday evening of last week ought to 
result in much good to the community, 
if the talk by Miss Agnes Alexander 
is heeded. Miss Alexander is a Glou- 
cester young woman engaged in the 
work of the Boston Children’s Friend 
society. Her talk was clear and to 
the point, only as one intimately ac- 
quainted with the work could give. 
She said in part: 
“Our society was founded in 1837 
and is the oldest society in Massa- 
chusetts that cares for both boys and 
girls. It was formed by a group of 
Protestant people, so that they might 
help the children of the tenement dis- 
tricts. After a struggle we began to 
go forward, soon erecting two large 
buildings, one on Rutland street, Bos- 
ton, for girls, and the other in Ded- 
ham for boys. 
“But institutional life is not the life 
for children. We now place children 
in homes that seem to fit the case of 
the child. Some times we make a 
misfit, but not often. The children 
are in charge of supervisors, there 
being some sixty children under my 
charge alone, their ages averaging 
from two years to 22. When I have 
a child of five years of age, I can see 
what kind of training it has had in 
its own home. A child at the age of 
five years should be able to button 
its own shoes, dress itself and know 
what absolute obedience is. We have 
some children in families for adopt- 
ion, but not often. This reminds me 
of a case of adoption I had recently. 
A lady came to the home and said she 
wanted to adopt a boy child. I asked 
her if she would take a fine little child 
of Swedish parents. She put her 
hands up in horror and said, ‘Oh! no. 
I could not do such a thing!’ I asked 
her to explain why she could not have 
a Swedish child and this is what she 
said: ‘Because when he grew up, I 
could not be able to understand his 
language.’ This only goes to show 
how inadequate some people are to 
bring up a child in the correct man- 
ner. 
“One must be clean physically and 
spiritually in order to bring upa 
child rightly. The child can do far 
better work in school if given a fair 
chance at home. Often there are 
weak-minded children in the school 
with good bright scholars and it causes 
trouble. There is a good school for 
the feeble-minded children at Waver- 
ly and the children do far better work 
together than they would separated 
in various schools. They get a better 
show and really do far better work. 
“The mothers of girls make grave 
mistakes in not explaining the things 
a girl should know. Girls should not 
be obliged to find out all these sacred 
things concerning nature on the street. 
They should be told at home in a 
quiet way. The boy should be taught 
the same way. When he begins to find 
the mysteries of life the father should 
take him and tell him the right and 
wrong of life. He should not say as 
one father said to me, ‘Let him find 
out for himself as I found out.’ The 
‘child should be so instructed that 
were the parents taken from him 
he would be able to go on in life as 
he was started in the home. If the 
parent would study the child, the 
work of our teachers in the schools 
would be far more easy. 
“The teacher needs to know the 
training the child has received in the 
home. The teacher should know the 
conditions under which the child 
lives. They should know each others’ 
point of view. If the mother will 
make her child the best child possible, 
there will be but little doubt but what 
the child will succeed in her school 
work. You should all teach your chil- 
dren so that were your life taken 
from them. they would grow up, meet 
their responsibilities and win. 
“These meetings of the parents and 
teachers result in much good. You 
really ought to understand each other: 
get the ‘other point of view.’” 
The High school orchestra  fur- 
nished the music of the evening, play- 
ing ‘“Messidor,’ by Fulton, and 
“Dance of the Frowsey Heads” by 
Story. 
Previous to Miss Alexander’s talk 
Mrs. D. T. Beaton, who is a vice- 
president of the Massachusetts 
branch of the Congress of Mothers, 
spoke of the convention of the Na- 
tional Congress to be held in Boston 
May 15—20. Plans are being made 
for 1500 delegates, she said. There 
are TO committees, each numbering 
from 12 to 50 members. There will 
be many fine speakers from home and 
abroad. 
President Fred Smith of the Man- 
chester Athletic association—recently 
15 
formed, but not yet in working order, 
told of the plans. ‘You have your 
Girls’ club, your Men’s club and your 
Women’s club, but you have left your 
young men and boys to run around 
the streets and be a nuisance to every- 
one in town,” said Mr. Smith by way 
of introduction. “We have now 40 
members, and we meet as often as our 
funds permit, in the Town hall, at 
$5.00 a meeting. We hope to get a 
smaller hall soon and meet twice a 
week. We are trying to get along 
with a make-shift through the sum- 
mer, but we hope to get a building 
ready by fall.” He then outlined the 
plans of the association, which we 
previously printed in the Breeze. In 
short, it is hoped to get a building that 
would provide a reading room and 
gymnasium, with classes for the 
younger boys and for the older boys 
and men, and to hold basket ball 
games, athletic exhibitions and the like. 
The meeting was well attended and 
was enjoyed by everyone present. 
Mrs. John Baker, the president, pre- 
sided. The evening was brought to 
a close by a social hour, during which 
light refreshments were served. 
= 
Emerson and Douglas 
Bell’s, Central square store. 
shoes at 
* 
PoLITICs IN THE SCHOOLS 
School teachers throughout the state 
should be interested in a bill now 
pending in the Legislature, introduced 
by former Senator Roger Sherman 
Hoar. This bill, Senate 207, is in- 
tended to prevent the political man- 
ipulation of school teachers by school 
committees. Several of the school 
committees of the state have passed 
so-called gag-rules, prohibiting poli- 
tical activity by teachers. These gag- 
rules are enforced against teachers 
whose political activity is not in ac- 
cord with the views of the committee, 
and are suspended to permit activity 
which the committee desires. The 
bill in question aims to put a stop to 
this. 
This bill was unanimously reported 
by the Legislative Committee on Edu- 
cation and has passed the House of 
Representatives with only a handful 
of votes in opposition. It is now 
pending in the Senate. It has receiv- 
ed the endorsement and active sup- 
port of the Massachusetts Teachers’ 
Federation, the Boston Transcript, 
Boston Post, Boston Globe, Boston 
Traveler-Herald and Boston Journal. 
The teachers of this community should 
acquaint themselves with the matter 
and send in their views at once to the 
local Senator. 
