The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 12, 1906, Page 9

hese children rejolce bécause they from the'same big book, the < of nature. A book whose lexves mberless, but are never tire- some; whose stories rival fairy tales, as absorbing as though each one began Once upon & time.” And best of se stories are true. No more dren don't you see? voices dreary A r-splittl reading to painfully spell = n :i‘ SPULNE | 4y rough some tax upon the . only the echo of | imagination to understand. what/it is s that reverberate upon the crisp (all about. No more poll-patrot knowl- ng air. From al ections of | #dge for the Golden Gate Park.school % oueas wic el 1a They are learning to obserye SRPRES e selves. . No flat pictures v e throats live illustrations surround their glad- Sometimes the {llustrations are rath fleeting when they consist of 2 cottontalils or quails or birds, that beat iren trans- |2 gouble-quick retreat when they find se they are|they have wandered -upon the school- od to g after | Toom floor. This floor usually coysists v ¢ the | Of 2 rolling velvety law. a soft car-{ Y€ ! pet of pine needles. No stu rooms | for these children mposing struc- | tures of wood or b school b has for e sky and- its walls stretch until they Golden Gate Park. schoolhouse! And the I study in it? They are not lessons that could be | learned from any book. They are les- [ that will last them throughout their liyes. To live and let live has Theh"} its roof the stretch and inclose beautiful Truly-a princely sons that the children aarvelous . been ome of the first taught s e Fauntle- |7 must be kind to animals. . a lace; mo not kill garter snakes, because eat the gophers. They must not 1 the lizards, as they are not poi- | sonous and have been created for a | purpose. Instead of destroying, they | watch for themselves and find out all | they ean about these live things. They} | | e army of nine hundred rep- know the names and habits of all the creatures in the park. Everyth that breathes and walks, crawls, flies and swims is well known | e refugee They are FOwTHALL TERICVZ I 0 TSTs T THE srrp y concerned |to these fortunate litile ones. The op their e's|small boy has divorced himself from his former inseparable companion. the | slingsbot, and' the birds, instead of been thorns | suddenly taking flight at his approach, asteful | now fly quite close and eat the crumbs Bent pins now g0 begging, and the goldfish languidly but that | go skeir colorful way uncaught. indorse the | Snakes measure their gayly striped f in the jingle: | lengths over the earth's surface unmo- . is my vexation, | lested; insects hurry on their way un- T t as bad; ia, |impeded; lizards find nothing to stay t puzzles me, | their progress, and the frogs hop mer- e me madl |rily on. Many of the harmless little LT T enimals in the park have been tamed 8 the secret of these | Lo the children, and at ons time every |small boy in school wore a lizard on the lapel on his eoat. Strange to say, - hese reptiles seemed to be conscious - :J’;“;a‘l‘j‘,’:m““{-‘;: ? their owners, for when strangers hey learn are mot set for |bandled them they became restless and by s hand alone. They|oOften frightened. 7 rejoice that their school books| Naturally, the minds of these young- ed in the great fire. Books |sters have not been imbued with gen- n that some meddling peuonlt';eneu without their teachers having ved within thelr covers war- |some discouraging setbacks. Willy Is for them. | furnished one of these. ¥ do not have to stoop shoul- | He attempted a dramatic debut into der at desks over long printed|the schoolroom by first turning a cou- Jessons; no longer the squeaking slate |ple of handsprings, landing right side pencil scratches sums on shiny slates.|up with care at the door of the tent, had Now and then: the pupils 4 elaboratel live frog P savage's sul ¢ tien occasioned © nor di boys' eyes, scered sg! he did tte teacher, sh come after h gensation was W irefully planned scens, unless it 3 new sensation that Willy him was experiencing. His act had migerably failed, and he was puzzled to know the reason why. Von't you come in Jok asked teacher. ant S 1y accepted the {n¥itation, vy thing of all things he ant to do. His act had been p show his defiance. He mis get a leking, to | caught and b 1 many other evildoery, he wu'l\_fl;; could get away; and, anyway, 1 sation he would ereate was chance. He did not know fi ings” were not include® in Gate Park School curriculume: awre by his flat failure, and curious, he en- tered and sat down, dropping at the tent door the still twitching remains of the pcor frog and the bumble bee with only three legs and one wing to propel itself with through 1ife. The other day.Willie was the most indignant- of ‘@il ‘the youngsters when they found. that a. ruthless heel had closed up the entrance to a bumble bee's nest. It took a child’s keen eye to see it, the tiny dwelling in a mound of pine needles. But these children’ eyes as well as their hearts are being trained, and Willie was one of the first ald to the wounded bees, and helped restore to order the damaged miniature household. ‘When clouds of fog are not blowing over the park, the classes forsake the tents and scatter about the grounds. They may transfer the schoolroom to Strawberry Hill, or the pebbly shores of Lloyd Lake, whers they plck up shells and use them as object lessons, comparing their various shapes, thelr prismatic colors, and listen to teacher tell of their formation. Perhaps they will call upon the tiny lady in charge of the Japanese tea garden, and, walking around the quaint grounds, learn all about the strange house, the garden with its fences of bamboo, the waterfalls, the absurd bridges, the wanderful -dwarfed trees, all serving as tangible illustrations to active little winds and sharp eyes. This is, indeed, sugar-coating ong's history and geography pills. Many a wee belle of Pacific avenue and prom- ising heir of wealthy parents would prefer to swallow theirs in exactly the same manner. ¥ And zoology! How easy it is to learn! The whole class {s transferred to the deer park; or they go to watch the kangaroo cover the ground by serles of immense sounds; or old Bruin in his cave sleep- ing on his paws like an enormous shaggy dog; or the peacocks with their gorgeous feathers and raucous cries; the quail with its plaintive note of warning; the busy ants passing In and out thelr subterranean passages; the cotton-tall as it scurries into its hole. No need to scold these .children for lack of attention. Botany? ' That's easy, too. Little fingers know just what’plants will close up.to protectthemselves, if you touch them. - They know all about the two-fingered and the three-fingered pines. Not:a tree grows-in the park ‘but what they can t#ll you its name, spell it, too, and describe its character- istics. Precious-little danger is there of these children forgetting ‘their les- sons, Studies are not bug-a-boos for them. Even’arithmetic, generally con-’ ceded to be the hardest,of all, seems much easier when one’ ada: multiplies or divides familiar objects. The youngsters themselves keep their school tents clean. They sweep the floors and dust the benches. At the Speedway School, where the poorest are athered, the larger boys have made benches for the smaller children, have nailed up pleces of blackboard, .na,[ made erasers out of blocks of .wood covered with odd scraps of velvet. Mr. Armstroug, the principal of Gold- en Gate Park School, 18 trying to make the little ones cléan, lves as well as their school tents. Every morning he visits each classroom and after .a few kindly words asks to see the nails. Little hands in all stages of cleanliness are held.up, neils turned outward for inspection. _Long nails, short nalls, pink nalls, -black nails and nails show- ing that teeth have been used in place of soissors. One wee miss in red calico surreptitiously wets her hands with the tip of a red tongue and then slyly wipes % little brown peeple, with the Japanese T make them race and exercize & gool deal” was the explanation. ‘“Mis- chievousness is only a surplus of vie tality, you know.” “Now for the littls girls,” he says, as the lads return panting, and he walks across to where a stately old plne stretches its wide branches across s plece of lawn. The wee tots have formed In line, and now takes place as good an exercise as could be found for a healthy child. A strong lower limb of the tree is bent down by Mr. Armstrong, the first little girl in line takes hold of it, and the limb, freed, the small figure sways In midair, then descends, touches Rjer shabby little shoes to the grass for a fraction of a second and then, the sup- ple limb rebounding, she fairly floats upward again, while those waiting their turn count ten, that being the number of “jumps” each child is allowed. Then, when the children have sald them on her little flannel petticoar. She is quite overcome when Mr. Arm- strong tells her that her hands are clean in spots. Nine hundred children does Mr. Arm- strong inspect every morning, and his experienced eyes dwell upon more than the little nails, for every degree of cleanliness, or perhaps It would be more truthful to say uncleanliness, may be found among the city’s poor. Strange little faces testifying to the cosmo- politanism« of wonderful San Francisco; clothed in shapeless garments, many of them.not fit for a rag bag; some of | nature that doeth good like a medicine. are very much like spinach. the bodiés showing lack of proper nourishmenta often a pinched face, the eyes of which mirror anything but childish Innocence and joy—all these confront the sympathetic principal each morning. - Thére have been attempts made at’ washing. At least the faces testify to that much. High lights on ‘the forehead show that the scrubbing must have begun there. From that starting point the lights grow dimmer and dimmer, becoming shadows around the nose, darkening as the mouth is reached, and from the chin down to the collar one marvels at so many. shades of gray. Principal " Armstrong has inherited his talent for teaching, his father hav- ing been principal of the New York Reform Sghool for years. Hls affection for children is part of himself and his l.control complete over even the most lawless of them. “What they crave is love,” he said, “and what they need 1is kindness. Pratse is a much better stimulant than }mnllhmem_ They are the most grate- ul little creatures in the world. There's Mary, for instance.” Mary, aged about 6, just then flung herself upon her principal as though she had sprung from a diving board. ‘With the ardor of youth she declares her love bolsterously, obstinately and untiringly. | “When Mary first came to school,” went on Mr. Armstrong, -gently but firmly digengaging a muscular little arm’ that -threatened a ‘strangle hold upon his windpipe, “she was literally crusted with dirt. I sent her home for | her mother to clean, but her mother refused the task. I had a private talk with her, and now look at the child.” I dia look at her, but it was hard work to reflect Mr. Armstrong’s beam- ng, affectionate pride in her. Mary, | even with the dirt peeled off of her, could not be called a beauty. She was buttoned into some blue calico re- |sembling a bag and a boy's cap Wi |stuck on the back of her clesely croppe |red hair. But she has a grin of goed It stretches across her smudgy face, touches the tip of her little pug nose anl is reflected in the blue eyes. It is not hard to tell that Mary's ancestors tipped along the county road in jaunt- ing ears. “Mr. Armstrong—Mr. kin I lead yer horse?” z “Mr. Armstrong, give me a ride?” School is over and the youngsters come scampering from their tents like $0 many jack rabbits. The smaller ones cover him like barnacles and as he moves along with the clamoring, nolsy, joyous group of-children following him he reminds me of The Pled Piper of Hamlin. There was, a.rustling that seemed like a bustling Of merry crowds justling at pltching and hustling; S.nall feet were pattering, shoes clattering; .ind like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering, Out came the children Tunning. “One at a time, children, one at a " pleads Mr. Armstrong. Sammy, you may lead the Armstro-n-g, ‘wooden horse.” 3 “No, Tommy, I'm afruid to have yvou ride him this afternoon; he seems a lit- tle lively." “Where are the boys who are going to race? Oh, here you are.” Two of the older boys lined up, right foot :a little in advance, all ready for the word “Go." “They're the worst boys in school, so good-night to thelr beloved principal and they have watched him ride away until nothing is left but clouds of dust from his horse’'s hoofs, they go over to the “farm™ at Ninth avenue to see how their gardens are growing It might take a trained eye to know it is a farm. To the casual observer all that ean be seen ara plats of ground about tan feet square fenced off with sticks and string, in some of which tiny green leaves are pushing their way through the-brown earth. t this ground is {ndescribably dear to over 400 children. Mr. Armstrong finally succeeded In having some ground set aside for the e I CI By |uss of his school, and to each child) | he has allotted a little patch ten feat. square. In eagh one is planted a row; | of radishes, ten feet of ts, ten of lettuce and ten of turnips. 1 | The rest of the ground they may cul | tivate as.they please. They have ona| |acre In common of potatoes, peas and beans. They are shown how to flest iplant the beegs thick, thinning them | gradually, until they are five or six inches apart. Then they dre allowed to grow .into beets. The greens that are thinned are cooked as a vegetable and ! v By re-| | planting every fourth week the ground | 1s used over and over again. | _ To spend a day with the Golden Gate | Park School children somehow sets one ! to thinking. } Did the dreadful misfortune of April | solve for us still another problem? Has it |ghown us how to make unruly children | ?ovo t6 go to School? Has it shown us| | how to gain complets control over their |active little minds? Has it. in-short, | shown us the right way, the practica- | k nsible ‘way to teach children?’ I 0 knows? . | _ Principal Armstrong and his teachers are doing a wonderful work not onIY( for these poor children rocked in the! cradle\of adversity, but through them | for their parents as well These | parents at first. wondered, them mar- | veled, then slowly began to upderstand | the changes wrought in their children. And, best of all, this work is far reaching. It is not only for the pres- ent, but It is building for the future. | By dint of sheer loVe and sympathy and good common sense they are di- | | verting hundreds of children from the ' | pitiful ruts into which they were born | and so transforming them by heart| | and brain that they have a chance to |grow up into useful, respected and | self-respecting citizens of G er San | Francisco. Besides a servi lotty |as this what is the notorious relief fund and the exploited good it does? No wonder the children shout with Joy to be allowed to go to schooll