MUSIC IN THE NURSERY By Cora Miley. A great deal has been said and written about musical talent. The word has meant, to most people, a rare and wonderful faculty that enables the possessor to execute and interpret music without the least difficulty or effort. However it is well recognized now by our foremost educators that talent is an acquired ability as well as a natural gift and it has been proven that there are means and methods by which a very little talent may be developed to the highest degree. Where and when should the training begin? In the arms of the mother the first month of a child's life, is the answer. Pestallazzi has said that education of some sort should begin from the cradle. As sound is one of the first impressions assimilated by a child, it naturally follows that the development of musical talent is possible from the first days of infancy. The song, as it was the first expression of musical thought in the human race, should be the basis of all musical education. Even the savage mother croons and sways her babe to sleep. I have an idea that the preservation and transmission of folks songs were brought about this way. There are so many beautiful songs that may be sung to children in the twilight; "Abide with me" "Oh little star of Bethlehem" "Home sweet home" simple, beautiful old airs that men have loved for generations; songs whose melody and thought are so pure and uplifting that many a man has felt his soul cleaned like snow in the singing of them. Music teachers know that if a child comes in contact with music everyday his understanding and appreciation of the subject grows without any conscious effort on his part and that when he begins the study of music his progress will be much more rapid than one who has not had the same opportunity. Herbert Spenser, the great educator, says that children are just as dependant on adult aid for mental pabulum as for food for their bodies, that a babe is as powerless to get materials on which to exercise his perceptions as it is to get supplies for its stomach. In either case, "he continues," it is the chief function of parents to see that conditions requisite to growth are maintained. The conditions requisite to growth in music are so simple and the effort required so slight it is possible for a mother without any training in the subject to accomplish much. In the first five years of a child's life a foundation can be laid in tone, rhythm and perception, that result of which is incalculable. All music publishers have song folios for children by musical experts who understand child nature. A song primer by Miss Alys E. Bentley is filled with gay illustrations and delightful songs about animals and nature, Miss Jessie L. Gaynor and W. W. Cilchrist have written extensively for children. Many of these songs are so simple, especially those in the primer, that any little neighbor girl who has 81 had lessons only a year can be called in to play them, provided the mother has had no instructions on the piano. Froebel says in speaking of rhythm: "An early pure development of rhythmic movement would prove most wholesome in the succeeding life periods of the human being. Much willfulness, impropriety, and coarseness would be taken out of his life, his movements, and actions and there would be developed in him a higher appreciation of nature, art, poetry, and music. A review of his "mother play" shows that he used rhythmic movements with many of his songs. All the Mother Goose Jingles are so musical that a little child may clap, sway his body, or stamp his feet in perfect time to them; and if free from restraint he will "dance" as he calls it, in movements of exquisite grace to the music of the plans or other instruments. This is all of the greatest benefit in his musical progress in after years. So the suggestions in a summary are as follows: Sing to your child from the very beginning of his life; help him to learn to sing by a wise selection of simple songs about things he loves; encourage him in all sorts of rhythmic exercises. "It is not possible to gain from anything higher joy than we do from the guidance of our children. WHEN SCHOOL BEGINS I've laid away my little muslin skirt, I asked Joe if they grew outside the rind, By Alice Porter Motter, Los Angeles, California FIG. ONE ♡ How to MAKE A VALENTINE LET THE CHILDREN CUT OUT THE THEO. H., TRILSEY MORE RELIGIOUS TRAINING FOR CHILDREN "No other educator has realized the unity of nature, man, and God, so fully as Friedrich Froebel, founder of the Kindergarten. No other has ever understood better that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of love, of light, of life, of truth, and of intelligent, skillful, effective service. For him, all roads lead to God." our The kindergarten is the one department of public school system which trains not only the intellectual, but the moral, ethical and social natures of the child. Roger W. Babson, the famous statistician, has said: "The great need at the present time is not for more railroads or for more steamships or more factories, or more cities, but for more character. To develop the character we must start in the home, school and church when the children are young." "That there is a great need of arousing the Continent to the spiritual needs of children is evidenced by the fact that at least thirteen millions of the twenty-five millions of children under twelve years of age are receiving no religious education whatever." A BUSY BAND OF CHILDREN On Tatoosh Island, off Cape Flattery, State of Washington-the most northwesterly part of continental United States-there is a beacon to guide the passing ships and here lives the lighthouse-keeper's family. In the lighthouse, is a school attended by four children who are taught by an aunt. Now those Tatoosh Island children wanted in some way to be of service to others, so they gathered together their tiny savings until they had the magnificent sum of $1.50. With this money they purchased materials from which they made comfort kits for patients in the Bremerton Navy Hospital. It developed that exactly enough of these kits could be supplied by the lighthouse children to furnish one to every man in the hospital. This was the first bit of service for others following the enrollment of these four children in the American Junior Red Cross. There are so many things that the girls and boys of the Junior Red Cross have done to make others happy that it would make a long, long story to tell about them all. 82 In addition to raising $550 for the National Children's Fund, for work among children in foreign countries, members of the Junior Red Cross in Passaic, New Jersey, have put first-aid boxes in 163 school rooms, have spent $900 for milk for under-nourished 'children, have made 1,279 garments for hospitals, 849 garments for children's institutions, and a large quantity of clothing for European refugees. Hand-painted calendars have been made for three wards in a local hospital by Junior Red Cross girls and boys of the Central Grammar School, Alexandria, Louisiana. Every Wednesday these Juniors send either cut flowers or magazines to the hospital. To raise money to help one of their fellow students, these Juniors got a merchant to donate a ham, some of the children contributed cake and bread, others made candy, and they sold sandwiches, cake, candy and coffee from a decorated booth on the City Square. Hamilton County, Indiana, Junior Red Cross members have packed eleven gunny sacks and one box full of clothing for refugees at Athens, Greece. Their goal was to have every article in perfect condition, and they worked faithfully and enthusiastically until that was accomplished. Juniors in every state in the Union are hard at work doing hundreds of things like those of which you have just read. But are you asking what and why is the Junior Red Cross? It is the children's branch of the American Red Cross in which five million boys and girls in more than 23,000 schools in the United States are enrolled. They are receiving a practical training in service for others which will develop the highest ideals of citizenship in the hearts and minds of those men and women of the very immediate future. Without any hint of charity the Junior Red Cross seeks to bestow happiness upon children the world over. It calls for service for others, but every act of service is directed toward a specific case necessitating relief. It links up individuals. It directs children's thoughts toward the object in which they are chiefly interested-children. European And the idea has spread far and wide. children have started Junior Red Cross organizations of their own. "What American children have done for us we will do for others," they say, and they are hard at work serving. American Juniors are corresponding with their little friends in other lands. Letters are going abroad telling European boys and girls of life in America, and the American Juniors, who are receiving hundreds of letters in reply, are learning many things about the old countries that they never before knew. The American Junior Red Cross was prompt to donate $5000 for the earthquake-stricken children of Japan. Only recently Juniors have filled and sent abroad 100,000 Christmas cartons to be given to thous ands of children in the devastated regions of Europe -cartons containing toys, handkerchiefs, dolls, tops, sweets, and all articles so dear to children's hearts. In this way they are building bridges of friendship across the broad ocean. Youth is filled with enthusiasm to do things. There is a special charm about doing things for children in far-away lands. The Junior Red Cross brings together the children of the world in common interest and common purpose to insure for the coming generations a world of peace, of neighborliness, and unselfish service of one for another. Say boys! how would you like to go He's dressed in fur from head to heel He loves to chew a lump of fat He hunts the walrus and the seal His house is made of blocks of ice He's six months day, and six months night EASY DRAWINGS Over the ice and snow away, Here we go, on a brand new sleigh. Gliding over the frozen pond We'll go away to the back of beyond. Gallop, gallop my little pony Over the road so rough and stony. Draw the outline picture, then fill in solid with broad effect in charcoal, crayons or paint. B E He walked miles to borrow a book. He studied by the light of a pine log. He was a hard worker. He always took the side of the oppressed. He used the shovel, for a slate, And charcoal for a pencil. Candles were very scarce. His log cabin had a mud floor. Lincoln lived in Kentucky! His father married a second wife After his Mother was dead some time. His step mother was a wise, good woman and did well by the little boy. His step mother improved the cabin, Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. WASHINGTON By F. G. Sanders, Oakville, Ont. If Washington came back to earth I wonder what he'd think about The strange things that he'd see. The telephone and telegraph T'would make him look up in surprise The motor speeding through the street The buildings twenty stories high Should Washington come back to earth I'm sure he'd feel a hundred thrills At everything he'd see. "The snow stars hid in the clouds of heaven, Tell the master bid them go. Through the dim gray air, to the beautiful world That hung in the mist below." 84 FIVE LITTLE BIRDIES By Gertrude Bowman, Newark, N. J. Two little birdies nodding in the sun, SNOW FLAKES "Never came like glory Folding, folding, folding, Fold the world away Souls of flowers drifting Down the winter way." "PLEASE?" By C. B. Darnell, Katy, Texas I do wish I could find the man who made "Please." It's a lot of trouble to say. I'd give him some pepper to make him sneeze And then maybe he'd run away. It's "Please for this an' "Please" for that It's "Please" everywhere I go! I have to say "Please" no matter where I'm at An' it's awful needless I know. My little girl shan't say "Please" at all I won't ever bother her that way! It's hard to remember each time I call Mamma says "Please" Sounds so nice and refined Well, I guess,-Yes, I guess, that's so Wish I could write the word down in my mind I guess I'll try that. Maybe It's true KATYDID By Nell Taylor, Schoharie, N. Y. Katy, clad in robe of green Fairy of the night, Sing your royal song, O Queen, Queen of the moonlight! From that stately maple trees High as pyramid, Sing your tuneless melody, |