F 
 

 
 SOUTHERN BRANCH, 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 
 
 LIBRARY, 
 
 ANGELES, CAUF. 
 
 C
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Data on Children, Artists, 
 and Teachers 
 
 A Symposium 
 
 With Introduction by 
 
 F. M. McMURRY 
 
 Professor of Elementary Education, Teachers College, 
 Columbia University 
 
 NEW YORK 
 E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 
 
 681 FIFTH AVENUE 

 
 Copyright, 1922, 
 By E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 
 
 AU right* reterotd 
 
 Printed *n the United State* of America
 
 L-B 
 
 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 THE Bird School, Peterborough, was founded 
 in the summer of 1917 by Joanne Bird Shaw (Mrs. 
 Arthur Johnson). In common with many other 
 parents, Mrs. Johnson had for several years felt 
 that during the long summer school vacation, often 
 from June until October, the hiatus in the sys- 
 tematic mental training of young children was 
 a very serious handicap to them and entailed 
 much loss of effectiveness in the autumn resump- 
 tion of school work, when several weeks are an- 
 nually spent in the painful effort to re-connect 
 with long dropped work and to re-establish habits 
 of attention and application. Her single aim, 
 then, in founding the school was to provide for her 
 own children, for those of her summer neighbors, 
 and for a small group of the Peterborough village 
 children, during the months of July and August, 
 the best educational instruction at her command. 
 This instruction was to be combined with exercise 
 and play. Mrs. Johnson built her school on a 
 height beside the mountains, four miles from the 
 village, on her own estate of some six hundred 
 wooded acres, a charming stone building with, in 
 addition, open air pavilions and class rooms, a 
 laboratory, a work-shop for carpentry and a com- 
 pletely equipped playground. 
 
 From the very beginning she secured the serv- 
 ices of some of the most accomplished teachers of
 
 vi FOREWORD 
 
 America, teachers of a rank in the academic world 
 of higher education which would preclude their de- 
 voting their time to a school for young children 
 did not the experiment occur in summer and did 
 it not also offer possibilities of exceptional inter- 
 est to them. Thus each day from nine until half 
 past twelve, about forty children received unusu- 
 ally competent instruction in Literature, Art, Sci- 
 ence, and Music. This instruction proved to be 
 different, both in character and in method, from 
 that of the ordinary school curriculum, as may 
 readily be seen from the stenographic reports of 
 the classes. In the second year Mrs. Johnson 
 engaged an eminent authority on child-psychol- 
 ogy, Doctor Florence Mateer, who carried out in 
 the school the new scientific and quantitative 
 Intelligence and Educational tests. These not only 
 gave valuable data in themselves for parents and 
 other interested observers, but also aided the 
 teachers in gauging each pupil and thus in adapt- 
 ing his work to individual needs. 
 
 In the third year of the school the founder 
 resolved to try the experiment of getting several 
 well-known workers in their respective subjects to 
 instruct the children. In the ancient world it was 
 demanded of a teacher that, first of all, in addition 
 to his skill in expounding the works of other mas- 
 ters, he should have in himself something of par- 
 ticular value to impart : in our modern world too 
 often the mere pedagogical equipment of a teacher 
 is the first consideration, and what he has in him 
 that may add to the world's knowledge, wisdom, 
 or happiness is regarded as of minor importance. 
 In the belief that no one else could give the chil-
 
 FOREWORD vii 
 
 dren the same interest in Music as a composer, in 
 Literature as a writer, in Art as a painter or 
 sculptor, she sought out creative workers for the 
 school staff. Thus the children might gain a truer 
 initial understanding and a warmer appreciation 
 of these subjects from a little group of practising 
 artists. The idea was certainly well worth trying, 
 and on the whole justified itself. 
 
 The American child starts out in life with many 
 advantages over the European child, but he also 
 starts with some handicaps. Almost every Euro- 
 pean child is equipped with that best of all intro- 
 ductions to real literature the folk-tale; he is 
 very likely to be familiar with the work of great 
 painters through the copies of their pictures in 
 the churches or the public halls; from the vil- 
 lage band and choirs he gets some sort of intro- 
 duction to the work of the great composers; in 
 addition he has his own folk-music and national 
 music. Instead of all this the American child of 
 the small town has the "movie," the victrola 
 and the pictures of the popular magazines. Is 
 it possible to compensate for this lack of a par- 
 ticular background? Mrs. Johnson believed that 
 a great deal could be done by her artist-teachers, 
 and in the spring before the school opened for its 
 third term she picked out men whose work indi- 
 cated a distinctive fitness for this experiment. 
 
 There happened to be settled in America the 
 distinguished Swiss composer, Ernest Bloch. Mrs. 
 Johnson secured him for her school, and in the 
 summer of 1919 he gave the best of his creative 
 energy to instilling into the children of Peter- 
 borough an understanding and a love of music.
 
 viii FOREWORD 
 
 Anyone who reads the records of his teaching 
 here, with their wit, wisdom and enthusiasm, can 
 hardly fail to be convinced that he kindled a spark 
 in the souls of his young pupils and imbued them 
 with a desire to know what great music is. He 
 played for them his own compositions as they 
 came fresh from his brain the compositions that 
 in the following winter were played by the great 
 orchestras of New York, Boston and Chicago. For 
 Literature Mrs. Johnson got Mr. Padraic Colum, 
 the Irish poet and dramatist, who is also a well- 
 known writer of children's books, and for Art Mr. 
 Howard Coluzzi, one of the most accomplished of 
 the younger American sculptors. 
 
 To an attentive observer there was something 
 quite astonishing in the way in which small boys 
 and girls were weaned from a delight in cheap 
 popular melodies, through Hungarian folk-songs 
 and folk-dances, to an appreciation of Beethoven. 
 Of course there would always remain some chil- 
 dren who preferred "Over There" and "My 
 Pony," but those who had any music in their souls 
 were started out on the right road. In the Litera- 
 ture classes, some of the reading boys showed 
 euch a finished acquaintance with the cheaper 
 form of short story in the magazines that they 
 reproduced, with great skill, its form and contents 
 in the stories they wrote for their teacher. How- 
 ever, in a contest for popularity between this type 
 of story and the English teacher's own version of 
 Homer, Homer was not long coming into his own. 
 The Music and Literature Records give some 
 details of the processes of these conversions, 
 though it is well to say that both the Literature
 
 FOREWORD ix 
 
 and Music teachers were convinced that only the 
 minority had it in them to be genuine lovers of 
 Music or Literature. The popularity of Mr. How- 
 ard Coluzzi's modelling class was immediate, for 
 in modelling all found very quickly a way of 
 expressing themselves. 
 
 From the beginning there was a very frank com- 
 munication between teachers and pupils; on the 
 part of the pupils it was free from self -conscious- 
 ness and restraint so much so that it may have 
 been disconcerting at times; for instance, when 
 the Music teacher after having played Beethoven 
 to one Group got this as a comment, "That fel- 
 low composes all slow tunes," or when the Litera- 
 ture teacher was informed by his pupils of Group 
 II that their favorite poetry was "funny" poetry. 
 Probably the sophisticated reader of this volume 
 will not be able to restrain a smile when he reads 
 the obiter dicta of Mr. Bloch's pupils on Mr. 
 Bloch's own compositions. 
 
 One of the most interesting departments of the 
 school to modern Educationalists will be the Psy- 
 chological Laboratory in which Educational and 
 Psychological tests were carried out. And even 
 to readers to whom this most modern study is a 
 closed book, Dr. Mateer's detailed account of her 
 work at the school will be of the greatest interest. 
 The stenographic record of her examination of a 
 typical small boy of the school is indeed a revela- 
 tion of child mentality. The sympathetic yet sci- 
 entific examination of this boy, and the obvious 
 and eager interest of the child himself in it give 
 us something that has the authenticity and human 
 interest of a piece of Literature. The charming
 
 x FOREWORD 
 
 personality of the child, the genuinely American 
 quality of his mind, and the type of information he 
 has acquired are laid bare as in a little drama. 
 Indeed it might be said for this examination of 
 Dr. Mateer's that it gives us a cross-section of 
 native American life. 
 
 Although the Educational Measurement Sys- 
 tem, of which Professor Thorndyke of Columbia 
 is perhaps the most distinguished exponent, has 
 been adopted in several schools, the Psychological 
 Testing System has more deeply-rooted preju- 
 dices to struggle against. Without claiming for it 
 all that its most enthusiastic exponents claim, it is 
 obvious to anyone who gives the methods a study 
 that in the hands of sympathetic and well- 
 equipped people they can be of enormous value. 
 The Bird School was also exceptionally fortunate, 
 in the summer of 1920, in so commending itself to 
 Dr. Walter F. Dearborn, Professor of Education 
 at Harvard University, that he had it taken under 
 his professional observation and directed tests 
 there, a report of which will be found later in this 
 volume. Professor Dearborn has arranged to 
 continue this work in Peterborough, the advantage 
 of which to the school will be inestimable. At the 
 same time, it is perhaps well to mention here the 
 deep-seated conviction of the "creators" who 
 taught at Peterborough School that the peculiar 
 combination of intellectual and emotional gifts 
 which make the artist, in their highest degree 
 of genius, cannot be tested at all. 
 
 It was the village children, with the addition of 
 some half-dozen summer residents, who made up 
 the classes. The school session took place dur-
 
 FOREWORD xi 
 
 ing the vacation time of the village school; the 
 attendance, naturally, was purely voluntary. It 
 is not too much to say that on the part of the 
 pupils a real attachment to the school was 
 formed; on the last day the children showed 
 unmistakable regret that it all was over for 
 another year. The New England parents were 
 surprisingly awake to the effort of the school and 
 to the instruction in subjects which, to many 
 people, might have seemed unusual and imprac- 
 ticable. It must have been to the advantage of 
 some of the parents to have kept their boys and 
 girls at home during the busy summer season, yet 
 all of them were anxious that their children should 
 not miss a day. 
 
 To the student of the science of Education, 
 undoubtedly the most interesting part of Mrs. 
 Johnson's plan was the keeping of an extraor- 
 dinarily full series of reports, which should enable 
 one who studied them to realize the aim and 
 method of any of the teachers and to estimate 
 their results in the recorded reactions of their 
 pupils. Summaries of each day's work were 
 made by the teachers ; and besides this practice of 
 a few schools, Peterborough was among the first 
 to keep detailed Stenographic Reports of the vari- 
 ous class-room exercises. The Bird School now 
 has on file a wealth of pedagogical data that is 
 practically unique and of inestimable value to the 
 student. It is possible to print only a selection 
 from them in this volume; but in each case the 
 stenographic account of the day is given verbatim, 
 without " editing" or polishing of any kind. The 
 shorthand writer became so familiar to the classes
 
 xii FOREWORD 
 
 that they hardly noticed him. This, and the occa- 
 sional presence of visitors, became a valuable aid 
 to the overcoming of self-consciousness on the 
 part of the pupils. Although the actual school 
 records of the different teachers are all in the 
 same form, the manner of their presentation in 
 this book varies. It has been considered most 
 practical to present Mr. Bloch's work in the form 
 of daily reports, as in Music the detailed steps are 
 of particular interest. In Literature Mr. Colum 
 was convinced that his work could best be pre- 
 sented in the form of weekly abstracts. 
 
 At the moment when many educational systems 
 are being weighed, it is thought that a useful end 
 will be served by the publication of these records 
 of an experiment which has aimed at uniting the 
 old idea of the Humanists with the idea of modern 
 pedagogics the Arts, communicated as in the old 
 world by teachers who themselves were makers, 
 the study of nature and the processes of the mind, 
 with the newly elaborated method of child study 
 with its insistence upon freedom of self-expres- 
 sion.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAOB 
 
 FOREWORD v 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 By F. M. McMuRRY, Professor of Elementary 
 Education, Teachers College, Columbia Uni- 
 versity 1 
 
 LITERATURE 
 
 I. By JOHN MERRILL, Director of Oral Reading 
 and Expression Department, Francis Parker 
 School, Chicago, Illinois 11 
 
 II. By PADRAIC COLUM, Poet and Dramatist . 54 
 
 MUSIC 
 
 I. By ELSA CAMPBELL, Teacher of the Theory 
 
 of Music 133 
 
 II. By ERNEST BLOCK, Composer and Director 
 of The Cleveland Institute of Music, Cleve- 
 land, Ohio 145 
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 
 
 I. By FLORENCE MATEER, Ph.D., Consulting 
 
 Psychologist, Columbus, Ohio .... 239 
 
 II. By WALTER F. DEARBORN, Ph.D., M.D., 
 Professor of Education, Harvard University, 
 EDWARD A. LINCOLN, Harvard University, 
 and EDWIN A. SHAW, Harvard University. 334 
 
 Mil
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF AN IDEAL, SCHOOL. 
 Occasionally some one asserts that worse blunders 
 are made in Education than in any other field. I 
 suspect that the statement is true, for unbeliev- 
 able crudities are often shown in teaching, even 
 by persons whose intelligence quotient is far above 
 normal. 
 
 The difficulty is that education is a remarkably 
 complex undertaking. It involves much knowl- 
 edge of the aims of life, of the subjects of study, 
 and of child nature, and then the ability to use 
 such knowledge for another's development. In 
 that use both the teacher and the subject-matter 
 presented must be kept subordinated to the 
 learner. Relatively few persons can meet all 
 these requirements to a fair degree. Very few, 
 no matter how much they know, can subordinate 
 themselves and the facts in which they are inter- 
 ested to their students enough to make good 
 teachers. 
 
 In addition, proper education is very expensive, 
 calling for an equipment that can seldom be pro- 
 vided to a satisfactory degree. Any attempt at an 
 ideal school, therefore, requires wide knowledge, 
 practical ability, money, and a good degree of
 
 2 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 courage. And it is always an experiment, for the 
 outcome is uncertain. 
 
 CONDITIONS FAVORING SUCH A SCHOOL AT PETER- 
 BOROUGH. Several conditions have greatly fa- 
 vored such a school at Peterborough. It is located 
 on a country estate of 600 acres, in a charming 
 building, with open air pavilions and class rooms, 
 a laboratory, a workshop for carpentry, and a 
 completely equipped playground. 
 
 The classes have been kept small, so that there 
 could be an intimate relation between teachers and 
 children, as well as between teachers and parents. 
 The children selected were of superior intelli- 
 gence, as shown by the various tests taken in the 
 school. Since the school was private and con- 
 ducted during the summer months only, there was 
 no constraint to follow any particular curriculum, 
 or to prepare for any examinations. There was 
 no compulsion, therefore, even to provide for drill. 
 And, finally, the money was at hand for securing 
 especially well qualified teachers. Certainly here 
 was a remarkably favorable opportunity for real 
 education. 
 
 KIND OF TEACHERS SELECTED. What kind of 
 teachers would we want for such a school? Since 
 no person possessed all the qualifications neces- 
 sary, some rather than others had to be made the 
 principal basis of selection. It was concluded that 
 it was desirable to secure as far as possible those 
 persons who had distinguished themselves as pro- 
 ducers. In the belief that ' ' no one else could give 
 the children the same interest in Music as a com- 
 poser, in Literature as a writer, in Art as a 
 painter or sculptor," such creative workers were
 
 INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 sought. Thus a small group of practising artists 
 were brought together, including the Swiss com- 
 poser, Ernest Bloch ; the Irish poet and dramatist, 
 Padraic Colum; and the artist, Howard Coluzzi. 
 The spirit of these men tended to dominate the 
 school. Yet there were some experienced elemen- 
 tary teachers also included in the staff, among 
 whom probably the best known was Mr. Merrill 
 of the Francis Parker School in Chicago. 
 
 These artists were, however, far more than dis- 
 tinguished specialists in their chosen lines. They 
 were enough interested in the education of chil- 
 dren to devote their summer to teaching. That 
 suggests that they had a rare interest in Educa- 
 tion. How much special training for teaching is 
 desirable, when one has become a distinguished 
 producer, loves children and is greatly interested 
 in their instruction? That is a question that this 
 experiment should help to answer. 
 
 POSSIBLE DEFECTS OF THIS SCHOOL. As inti- 
 mated above, Education is so complex an under- 
 taking, that any school is bound to have many 
 defects. A school may well be counted excellent if 
 half of its teachers show a good degree of skill, 
 and if the number of its real merits much exceeds 
 the number of its glaring weaknesses. Perfection 
 is not attained any more in Education than in 
 living. 
 
 Possibly the defect that will most impress the 
 reader of this volume will be the lack of a common 
 basis of theory for the various phases of the 
 instruction. The degree of unity was, however, 
 much greater than might be expected, when one 
 considers how untrained, in the technical sense,
 
 4 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 most of the teachers were, and from what varied 
 fields of experience they were selected. 
 
 In connection with the stenographic description 
 of class procedure, the frequent statement of the 
 teacher 's aim with no statement of the aims of the 
 children may seem strange to many progressive 
 teachers; for modern educational theory tends to 
 regard the children's aims as the matter of first 
 importance. Again, while trained teachers gen- 
 erally grant the great superiority of the psycho- 
 logical unfolding of a subject over the logical, for 
 educational purposes, that superiority seems to 
 have been overlooked in large sections of this in- 
 struction. 
 
 Finally, the method of questioning in most of 
 this instruction may raise many doubts. The very 
 general use of questions in place of lecturing, 
 must meet with general approval; but the art of 
 questioning may seem to have been greatly 
 neglected. For example, the distinction between 
 broad and narrow questions, between vital and 
 superficial questions, and between carefully or- 
 ganized and quite unorganized questions might 
 have received more consideration. 
 
 PROMINENT MERITS IN THE TEACHING. While 
 such criticisms may be passed, others just as 
 severe could probably be found in any school in 
 the land. Our main interest is in the merits of the 
 school, and they are both numerous and striking. 
 
 In spite of the lack of unity in theory, the idea 
 that education is growth stands out prominently; 
 likewise, the idea that action on the part of the 
 children, particularly creative action, is the lead- 
 ing means for bringing about growth. Conse-
 
 INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 quently, there is very little ordinary " reciting" 
 and not much mere collecting of information. In 
 general, the children's attitude ranks far above 
 fact collecting, and the class period is primarily 
 a period for stimulating thought. At the same 
 time there is certainly no ground for claiming that 
 knowledge is slighted. 
 
 The relation between teachers and children is 
 very democratic, so that the latter are constantly 
 raising questions and making remarks. More 
 natural conditions in a school could hardly be 
 imagined. 
 
 VALUE OF THIS EXPERIMENT TO TEACHERS AND 
 PARENTS. The history of Education and most 
 books on teaching deal with theory ; they tell what 
 ought to be done in the educational process. This 
 book describes what certain persons did do, in 
 order to educate. Enough theory is presented to 
 show their controlling motives and principles ; but 
 the emphasis is on practice. The volume is a 
 clear cross-section of a "going educational con- 
 cern" and is thus an unusually concrete work on 
 Education. Valuable results are likely to follow 
 its study. For example, one can hardly read the 
 description of Mr. Merrill's instruction without 
 realizing how skill can be displayed in leading chil- 
 dren to visualize, and without reaching new con- 
 victions about the importance of visualization in 
 Education. 
 
 Some new ideas about the value of extensive 
 knowledge are likely to be reached in following 
 Mr. Bloch's teaching of Music. In spite of the 
 fact that he makes bald notation his chief subject- 
 matter, and unfolds it in a strictly logical rather
 
 6 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 than psychological manner, his fullness of knowl- 
 edge allows him to give reasons for nearly all his 
 statements of fact, and to draw freely on classic 
 music for illustrations. These advantages, to- 
 gether with his great enthusiasm, due to satura- 
 tion with the subject, lead to surprising effects. 
 
 A new notion about the capacities of children is 
 likely to be obtained by noting what advanced pur- 
 poses Mr. Colum dares to set up in Literature for 
 children, and how fully he accomplishes them. Not 
 many persons would welcome the opportunity of 
 teaching twelve to fourteen year old boys the 
 various forms of poetry ; i. e., the narrative, lyric 
 and dramatic forms, as well as the ode and son- 
 net. Yet the boys certainly obtained a fair com- 
 prehension of the distinctions made, and showed 
 a good appreciation of the Literature. 
 
 The psychological department of the school 
 gives an excellent insight into a very new but 
 prominent phase of present Education. The actual 
 instruction attempted in the department, toward 
 training for mental control, seems to have very 
 little psychological basis ; it is wooden. But that is 
 a minor matter. The character of prevalent tests 
 of intelligence is made very plain, and the uses 
 to which the results are put suggest great possi- 
 bilities for the future. 
 
 These are only a few of the points of special 
 interest. On the whole, the curriculum followed is 
 probably more suggestive than the method, al- 
 though the prominence of creative work by the 
 children makes the method highly interesting. 
 Teachers and parents will profit at least as much 
 by studying this record as by studying standard
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 works on education. Indeed, this record, owing to 
 its concreteness, will prove especially helpful to 
 many persons, being an excellent supplement to 
 well-known books. 
 
 THE VALUE OF SUCH AN EXPERIMENT TO THE 
 CAUSE OF EDUCATION. In recent years not less 
 than a dozen experimental schools have become 
 prominent. This one may well be ranked among 
 them. And the fact that it has attempted to select 
 its teachers so extensively from among well-known 
 artists, who are creators in their respective fields, 
 gives it a distinguishing purpose. It is to be 
 hoped that this purpose will be maintained in the 
 future; for the need of technical training for 
 teaching is now so generally relied upon for 
 excellence, that the peculiar merits in the teacher 
 due to saturation with a subject, even to the point 
 of creative ability in it, are very often overlooked. 
 After all, the personal enthusiasm of a teacher, 
 due to such familiarity with a particular field of 
 knowledge, is the greatest influence in the educa- 
 tive process. 
 
 These experimental schools are doing an ex- 
 tremely valuable work. With the special advan- 
 tages that they enjoy they can test out promising 
 theory in a way the ordinary school cannot, and 
 suggest to the latter improved ways of determin- 
 ing aims, curricula and methods of Education. 
 
 F. M. McMuEBY. 
 
 Teachers College, 
 June 23, 1921.
 
 LITERATURE
 
 LITERATURE 
 
 I 
 
 BY JOHN MERRILL 
 
 THE hope, during these ten weeks' session of 
 the school, has been to give the children a joyous 
 and inspiring acquaintance with some of the best 
 literature that literature which Dr. Long defines 
 as "the written record of man's best thought and 
 feeling." An effort has been made to deal with 
 both prose and poetry within the children's 
 power of understanding and appreciation, which 
 met present needs, as nothing is really one's 
 own that does not touch one so deeply that it finds 
 individual re-expression, thus becoming in a 
 measure a part of experience. The natural inter- 
 ests of the children have formed the basis for all 
 the work. Each class period has been used to 
 carry them a little further and deeper in the work- 
 ing out of personal or social problems which at 
 that time had their attention. 
 
 " Behold the child among his new-born blisses 
 
 See at his feet, some little plan or chart, 
 Some fragment from his dream of human life, 
 Shaped by himself with newly-learned art ; 
 A wedding or a funeral; 
 A mourning or a festival, 
 And this hath now his heart 
 11
 
 12 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 And unto this he frames his song: 
 
 Then will he fit his tongue 
 To dialogues of business, love, or strife ; 
 But it will not be long 
 Ere this be thrown aside; 
 And with new joy and pride 
 The little actor cons another part ; 
 Filling from time to time his 'humorous stage' 
 With all the persons down to palsied age, 
 That life brings with her in her equipage." 
 
 They were not told what they should like, no blind 
 reverence for classics was instilled into them, and 
 they were allowed to criticise and express their 
 likes and dislikes as freely as they desired. Skill 
 was sought not as an end in itself, but rather as 
 the accompaniment of the working out of real 
 projects or interests, as a by-product of the sub- 
 ject. Through the utilization of the natural inter- 
 ests of children, such technical requirements as 
 the mastery of reading, writing, and spelling can 
 be readily attained. 
 
 Group I 
 
 AIM : 1. To continue the study of the rhyme, 
 "There was a man in our town." 
 
 2. To familiarize the children with the written 
 word "man." (I chose this word because it ex- 
 pressed the central interest of the story.) 
 
 METHOD : Sophie had been absent and had not 
 heard the rhyme, so the children wished to let her 
 know what our story had been about. I therefore 
 wrote on the board the name of the principal char- 
 acter in the rhyme as an introduction to the story. 
 
 I tried to fix the word "man" by playing their 
 favorite automobile game. In this game each
 
 LITERATURE 13 
 
 child travels in his motor car (a piece of colored 
 chalk) the white road on the board (the white 
 road is in reality the word "man" written with 
 white chalk in large handwriting). In order to fix 
 the form of the word "man" in their thought, I 
 described the road that led from my house to the 
 place where we were going and illustrated on the 
 board as I described. I told how the road went 
 up and down, three high hills (m) ; then up a hill 
 to a great rock (ma), where we had to come down 
 and then go up to the other side of the rock (ma) ; 
 then down and up again (ma) ; then over the top of 
 this hill, down and up over another hill, down 
 again and up to the house where we were going 
 (man). I then said that I wished them all to make 
 the road in the air while I made it on the board. 
 Next I had various members of the class take me in 
 their touring car (a piece of colored chalk) from 
 my house to the home of my friend on the hillside. 
 We played that we had many kinds of cars (vari- 
 ous pieces of colored chalk) and in this way got 
 intensive practice in tracing the word. 
 
 We played a game to review other words that 
 it was night, and that the road could not be seen. 
 The children were eager to travel the road in the 
 dark. In this delightful way, each child gained 
 skill in writing the word "man." 
 
 We played a game to review other words that 
 we had had. I would say, "I'm thinking of a story 
 that we have had ; I 'm going to say it on the board ; 
 who can tell me what the story is?" When the 
 word "ox" or "fox" was written, all recognized 
 it. I erased one of the words "man," "ox," or 
 "fox," and asked which story I had taken away.
 
 14 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 I next told the story of " There was a man in 
 our town." I told the story of this wise man that 
 jumped into the bramble bush in my own words, 
 then in its true form of rhyme. The children liked 
 to say it with me. I let them say it and walk it 
 or swing it with their bodies, as they felt inclined. 
 We then played the story. When they had sat for 
 as long a time as I thought wise, I varied the 
 activities by having them pretend that they were 
 wise men on a stroll through the village. As they 
 walked about, playing that they were wise men, I 
 strove to increase the truthfulness of their imper- 
 sonations by making them realize more fully what 
 it meant to be wise. I said, for example, that they 
 were as wise as father, or mother, wiser than any 
 of their teachers and all of their friends. The 
 children impersonated more and more fully their 
 growing conception of a wise man. As their 
 imaginations were made more and more active by 
 means of the suggestions, their impersonations 
 improved in detail. Next we pretended that we 
 were purchasing bramble bushes blackberry 
 bushes, some one suggested. We had the gardener 
 place the bushes in our garden, the children play- 
 ing the part of the gardener and bushes. 
 
 Having increased our understanding and appre- 
 ciation of the details of the story, we played it 
 again. Then the children began to discuss how it 
 would feel to be a blind man, and what they would 
 do if they were blind. Then all played that they 
 were blind men. Again the whole story was acted. 
 
 COMMENT: I began the period with work in 
 writing, because I found that the children had had
 
 LITERATURE 15 
 
 in their other classes a long stretch of close atten- 
 tion, and now needed motor expression. 
 
 Occasional use of the written word interests the 
 children, because the word says the story briefly 
 and is an added way of telling it. The practice is 
 justifiable because it satisfies their desire to tell 
 the story in as many ways as possible, through 
 oral expression, through acting, through draw- 
 ing and modelling, and through writing. The 
 written expression is the most difficult, and the 
 child feels the need of it last, and therefore it is 
 last mastered. I try to present the written words 
 at a time when the child's interest in the story is 
 most intense. Some such method of word-study 
 serves as a natural and helpful preparation for 
 the work which must come later in getting thought 
 from the printed page. I believe that this is the 
 correct way to begin the teaching of reading, and 
 not with a book, forcing children to read sentence 
 units that are beyond their power to hold as a 
 whole, and which they read in a broken fashion, 
 calling words merely. Habits, once established, 
 are most difficult to eradicate. The general prac- 
 tice of teaching children to read is responsible for 
 many of the bad oral reading habits which gen- 
 erally prevail. Moreover, many of the primers 
 and first readers have little or no content value. 
 Frequently, they take stories which have a literary 
 form and put them in words of one or two syl- 
 lables, thus spoiling beautiful literary gems which 
 the children could later read with great enjoyment 
 and profit in their true form.
 
 16 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Group I 
 
 AIM: To continue the study of "Hickory, 
 Dickory, Dock,*' through keener understanding 
 and fuller expression. 
 
 METHOD: 1. Retelling of the story. (The re- 
 turn of Sophie gave added motive for telling the 
 story, and led to a fresh interest.) I told the 
 major part of the story, and those who had heard 
 the story on the previous day acted as efficient 
 chorus. 2. Said the story in rhyme. 3. Children 
 said it. Those who did not know it said it in 
 chorus. Some of their own accord swung to the 
 rhythm as they recited. 4. We then played the 
 entire story much the same as on the previous day. 
 The centre of interest seemed to be on the mouse 
 rather than on the clock. I used this interest to 
 draw out the children 's knowledge of mice, their 
 habits, ways of getting food, their enemies, means 
 of protection; I strove to correlate and fix these 
 facts by the making up of simple situations which 
 would call for the expression of these habits that 
 they had observed. We had, for example, mice 
 seeking cheese at night, and being pursued by vigi- 
 lant old cats. 5, Our fifth step was the playing 
 of these simple situations which helped to develop 
 our understanding of the characters in our story. 
 6. We completed the physiological circuit of 
 impression and expression and brought our recita- 
 tion to a unified close by playing the whole story. 
 
 RESPONSE; The making up of original related 
 incidents helped to develop impersonations by 
 adding details. At first the children playing mice 
 merely ran out of their holes and ran back, but
 
 LITERATURE 17 
 
 after thoughtful consideration and the pooling of 
 the children's knowledge of mice the impersona- 
 tions began to develop. They sought better homes, 
 one got under the table, another in the waste- 
 paper basket; they cautiously poked their heads 
 out, peered about for signs of danger, sniffed for 
 the odor of cheese, listened carefully for indica- 
 tions of the proximity of their enemy, the cat ; then 
 came the quick run for the cheese, the frightened 
 pell-mell rush for their holes when the cat ap- 
 peared, the pantings of fear when they realized 
 how narrow their escape had been. 
 
 Alvin showed indications, at the beginning of 
 the exercise, of creative imagination and initiative. 
 He completed the story of the rhyme by taking his 
 family and moving to a new house where there 
 were no cats or tall clocks. 
 
 One of the children knew the rhyme, and when 
 invited to say it for us rattled off mere words. 
 We all then said the rhyme, trying to make every 
 one see every picture. With our hands we fol- 
 lowed the movement of the mouse from his hole to 
 the clock and back again, "suiting the word to 
 the action and the action to the word," thus get- 
 ting the right tempo. The child then said the 
 rhyme again for us, adding the pictures to the 
 rhythm which he had given us at his first reciting 
 of the verses. 
 
 COMMENT: I am confident that teachers who 
 use this most vital instinct of dramatic expression 
 should have a knowledge of its psychology and of 
 its phases of manifestation and their order and 
 significance. The real value of playing stories is 
 lost frequently because of this lack of knowledge
 
 18 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 on the teacher's part and because the manifesta- 
 tions of the dramatic feeling are not developed 
 and directed into definite channels that shall aid 
 the child in the education of his whole mind and 
 body. The teacher should lead the pupil to the 
 fullest expression that he is capable of at the mo- 
 ment; emotions, intellect, and will combining and 
 balancing in the service of a definite, interesting, 
 worthy purpose. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group I 
 
 NOTE. These children had never had kindergarten 
 training. Three of them had never associated much with 
 other children, consequently there was a shyness that had 
 to be overcome. The teacher's primary aim was to free 
 them from their timidity. The method of attack was 
 determined by the problems that this particular group 
 presented at the time. 
 
 T. Now let me see which person looks as if he 
 were ready for a story. Let us listen to the story 
 and see if you can tell me what it is about. 
 Listen : 
 
 "There was a crooked man 
 
 Who went a crooked mile, 
 He found a crooked sixpence 
 
 Against a crooked stile, 
 He bought a crooked cat 
 
 Which caught a crooked mouse, 
 And they all lived together 
 
 In a little crooked house." 
 
 CHILDREN. I knew that ; yes, yes. 
 
 T. Let's see what that story was about. What 
 was it, Sophie? 
 
 SOPHIE. A crooked man. 
 
 T. Can anybody else tell me anything else, 
 Phoebe!
 
 LITERATURE 19 
 
 PHOEBE. A crooked cat. 
 
 T. That's strange, isn't it! Did you ever see 
 a crooked cat ! 
 
 DORIS. Didn't you ever see a little dog whose 
 tail is crooked! 
 
 SOPHIE. Oh, no. 
 
 T. Haven't you! 
 
 PHOEBE. Yes. 
 
 T. What else was there? (The children hesi- 
 tate.) You tell me the story. (Again a hesita- 
 tion.) 
 
 ALVIN. Crooked cat. 
 
 T. What else! 
 
 DORIS. Crooked dog. 
 
 T. Let's see, was there! (Repeats verse.) Did 
 you hear anything about a crooked dog! Did you, 
 Phoebe! 
 
 PHOEBE. No. 
 
 T. We know there was a crooked man and a 
 crooked cat. What else! 
 
 PHOEBE. Crooked mouse. 
 
 T. Three things. 
 
 SOPHIE. And a crooked 
 
 T. Anything else ! Now think. 
 
 PHOEBE. Crooked sixpence. 
 
 T. That is not thinking, that is saying. I said 
 "think." (All think.) There is a crooked man and 
 there is a crooked cat and there is a crooked six- 
 pence and there is a crooked house. Who will 
 name all the crooked things you know about in the 
 story! Sophie may. 
 
 SOPHIE. Crooked things in that story! A 
 crooked dog
 
 20 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. Listen again. (Repeats.) Did you hear of 
 any dog? 
 
 SOPHIE. Yes. 
 
 T. Listen again. (Repeats.) " There was a 
 crooked man." Have I mentioned a dog yet? 
 
 SOPHIE. No. 
 
 T. ' 1 Who went a crooked mile. ' ' Did you hear 
 of any dog? 
 
 SOPHIE. No. (Seeing by their faces that they 
 were convinced that there was no dog, the teacher 
 did not finish quoting the poem.) 
 
 T. AJi, Doris, name all the crooked things you 
 heard about in that story. Can you name one, 
 Doris? 
 
 DOBIS. No. (Doris was overcome with timid- 
 ity.) 
 
 T. You couldn't tell the baby one crooked 
 thing there was in that story. (Doris had a new 
 sister.) 
 
 DORIS. Yes. (Hesitation.) 
 
 T. Oh, she could, but she isn't going to tell us. 
 Alvin, can you? 
 
 ALVIN. Yes. 
 
 T. What? 
 
 AXVIN. Crooked man. 
 
 T. That is one; what else? name another. We 
 will put a finger down for every one. 
 
 ALVIN. Crooked cat. 
 
 T. Two. 
 
 ALVIN. Crooked mouse. 
 
 T. Three. 
 
 ALVIN. Crooked house. 
 
 T. Four. 
 
 ALVIN. Crooked road.
 
 LITERATURE 21 
 
 T. Five. He has five. You name them, 
 Phoebe. 
 
 PHOEBE. Crooked mouse, crooked cat, crooked 
 road, crooked mouse I will begin again. Crooked 
 man, crooked house, crooked sixpence, crooked 
 mouse. 
 
 T. Well, we have at least five, haven't we, 
 Sophie! 
 
 SOPHIE. Yes. 
 
 T. Let's think a minute. What did that man 
 buy, Doris? 
 
 DORIS. Crooked cat. 
 
 T. Why do you suppose he needed a cat? 
 
 PHOEBE. To walk with him. 
 
 T. To walk with him? 
 
 PHOEBE. To live with him because he was so 
 lonesome. 
 
 T. Why do you think, Sophie, he wanted a cat? 
 
 SOPHIE. Because he was so lonesome. 
 
 PHOEBE. He didn't have anybody to take care 
 of him. 
 
 T. Why do you suppose, Doris, he wanted a 
 cat? 
 
 DORIS. He wanted to have something to live 
 with him. 
 
 SOPHIE. Because he was so lonesome. 
 
 T. You listen and we will say it again, and see 
 if you can tell. (Repeats.) 
 
 PHOEBE. He wanted a cat to catch mice. 
 
 T. Exactly. He probably had in his house a 
 little wee hole, and in that little wee hole, what 
 lived, Sophie? 
 
 SOPHIE. A mouse.
 
 22 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. Yes, and what kind of a mouse do you 
 think? (No reply.) Was he a funny mouse! 
 
 SOPHIE. Crooked. 
 
 T. That's it. The crooked man wanted to buy 
 a cat, but where did he get the money? (No reply.) 
 He was a very poor man and had almost no money, 
 and lived all by himself in his little house that was 
 all tumbled down. Where do you suppose he got 
 the money? 
 
 ALVIN. On a crooked stile. 
 
 T. Oh, did he earn it? 
 
 ALVIN. No. 
 
 T. How did he get it? 
 
 ALVIN. He found it. 
 
 T. What makes you think he was a poor man? 
 (Hesitation.) I said he was poor; am I right? 
 
 ALVIN. He lived in a crooked house. 
 
 T. What else makes you think he was poor? 
 
 PHOEBE. Because he didn't have any money. 
 
 ALVIN. Because he didn't have anybody with 
 him. 
 
 T. Didn't have anybody living with him. Sup- 
 pose we have a crooked man going a crooked mile. 
 I am going to pick out somebody (looking about) 
 I want to see somebody who is a little crooked 
 man and who is going a crooked mile. Will you, 
 Sophie, be a crooked man and go a crooked mile? 
 
 SOPHIE. Yes. (Bends over in imitation of 
 crooked man walking a crooked mile.) 
 
 T. Look, how that road goes in and out (she 
 goes along in a circuitous pathway) ; what a long 
 time it will take to get anywhere. Thank you, 
 Sophie. That was a fine crooked man and a fine 
 crooked mile. Now, what do you think a stile is ?
 
 LITERATURE 23 
 
 PHOEBE. A stile is a pretty thing, bright 
 flowers or pretty butterflies or pretty carriages or 
 horses. 
 
 T. We do say that things have style, but this 
 isn't that kind. This is another kind of stile. Have 
 you ever been out walking and come to a stone 
 'wallT 
 
 SOPHIE. No. 
 
 T. Out in the field? 
 
 PHOEBE. Yes, I have. 
 
 T. And they put those stone walls up to keep 
 the cows out and perhaps they want people to get 
 over. Do you know what they put in so people 
 can get over? 
 
 CHILDREN. Yes, a gate. 
 
 T. And that is what a stile is. Sometimes they 
 put sticks that make a cross; people can walk in 
 around the sticks but the cows can't. (Teacher 
 illustrates.) 
 
 PHOEBE. In Boston we have got a thing that we 
 push against and then we can walk through. 
 
 T. And a cow couldn't get through? 
 
 PHOEBE. No. 
 
 T. Well, that is what a stile is. What was it, 
 Doris, this man found against that crooked stile? 
 What did he find, Doris? (No reply.) Did you 
 know what it was when you heard it in the story? 
 What was it, Alvin? What did he find? You listen 
 once more. Would you like to say it with me, 
 Phoebe? (Repeat together.) 
 
 T. Do you know, Doris, what we are trying to 
 find out? " 
 
 DORIS. I know, but I can 't guess it. 
 
 T. We are trying to find out what there was
 
 24 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 against the crooked stile that the man found. 
 Listen. (Repeats.) 
 
 ALVIN. Sixpence. 
 
 T. What do you suppose a sixpence is ? 
 
 ALVIN. It is money. 
 
 T. Do we have sixpence? 
 
 CHILDREN. No. 
 
 T. No; they have it in England. It is about 
 twelve cents. 
 
 ALVIN. I have some money. 
 
 T. You have? 
 
 ALVIN. I have twenty-one cents. 
 
 T. Well, you can probably buy more than a 
 crooked cat; you could buy a straight cat. Now, 
 I am going to be the storekeeper and I am going 
 to have some crooked cats for sale. Think a min- 
 ute. Who will be one of my little crooked pussy 
 cats? (All assume the attitude of crooked cats.) 
 
 SOPHIE. Yes ! 
 
 PHOEBE. Yes 1 
 
 T. And Alvin, you be the crooked man that 
 comes to the store, just as Sophie did. 
 
 PHOEBE. I will. (Sophie, Phoebe, and Alvin 
 begin to act their parts.) 
 
 T. All right. Now I have only one pussy cat 
 (teacher playing storekeeper) ; come, kitty, kitty, 
 kitty. Oh, my poor pussy is crooked; oh, what a 
 shame! Would you like a saucer of milk? Why, 
 there is a crooked man coming to my store ; he is 
 coming down that crooked mile, that crooked 
 street. Why, how do you do, crooked man; what 
 can I do for you today ? 
 
 PHOEBE. I want a crooked cat. 
 
 T. Well, I have one crooked pussy here.
 
 LITERATURE 25 
 
 (Sophie purrs.) How do you like that pussy? Do 
 you know how much that pussy is? I don't know 
 as you have money enough to pay for it. 
 
 PHOEBE. I guess I have. 
 
 T. How much have you ? 
 
 PHOEBE. I have twelve cents. 
 
 T. Well, I will be very glad to let you have the 
 cat. Why do you want a pussy? 
 
 PHOEBE. Because I want him to catch some 
 mice. 
 
 T. By the way, what sort of a house have you? 
 
 PHOEBE. I have a crooked house. 
 
 T. Well, isn't that funny! You will have a 
 crooked cat to put in a crooked house, shall I 
 put a string around his neck? 
 
 PHOEBE. Yes. 
 
 T. All right. (Puts imaginary string around 
 the cat's neck.) Good-by. Oh, here is the money. 
 Thank you very much (taking the money). Good- 
 by, pussy; you are going with this man. (Phoebe 
 and Sophie in very crooked attitudes travel the 
 crooked road.) There, there they go upon that 
 crooked mile. Look at the poor pussy and the 
 poor crooked man; did you ever see so many 
 crooked things in the world before? Look at the 
 crooked house, isn't it funny? The roof is all 
 twisted and look at the windows and door, what 
 is the matter? 
 
 DORIS. It's crooked. 
 
 T. Why, what is the matter with the chimney? 
 
 DORIS. That's crooked. 
 
 T. What is the matter with the window? 
 
 DORIS. All crooked. 
 
 T. Now, let's all come back. (The play ceases.)
 
 26 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM: To further the acquaintance of the chil- 
 dren with stories that have content suitable for 
 their contemplation and which will stand the tests 
 of literary craftsmanship. For the present pur- 
 pose I planned to repeat Kipling's Just-So Story 
 called "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin." 
 
 METHOD: I told the class what we were going 
 to have the story about (and then I placed the 
 title on the board). I asked them if they remem- 
 bered how the rhinoceros had secured his wrinkled 
 skin. This question was promptly answered and 
 led to other questions and answers from the class ; 
 there was discussion on their part about the 
 Parsee man, what he was like, where he lived, how 
 he lived, and related topics. There were some 
 points on which they were hazy, so they asked 
 for a re-reading of the story. I re-read it with as 
 much dramatic feeling as possible. The sugges- 
 tion that we play the story followed. There was 
 time to play only a portion of the story, so I let 
 them choose the part they liked best. The choice 
 proved to be the finding of the rhinoceros's skin 
 by the Parsee man. The rhinoceros, burdened by 
 the heat, undid the three buttons of his skin, then, 
 divesting himself of his skin, he plunged into the 
 Eed Sea and diverted himself by blowing bubbles 
 through his nose. The Parsee man discovered 
 the skin, thought of his revengeful plan, smiled 
 a smile that went twice around his face, danced 
 three times about the skin, and rubbed his hands 
 in glee. 
 
 COMMENT : The writing of the title of the story
 
 LITERATURE 27 
 
 on the board was part of the method that I believe 
 should be frequently utilized in the teaching of 
 Literature. I use every legitimate opportunity to 
 give the children the motive and incentive to get 
 a part of the story through the written word. The 
 way to fix a word permanently in a child's mind 
 is to present it to him through as many senses as 
 possible and while he is particularly interested in 
 the idea which the word conveys. I place the 
 word on the board and while the interest is in- 
 tense have the children read it, and frequently, if 
 it is possible, have them re-write it while the im- 
 pression is deepest and freshest. Several senses 
 are used, they hear the word while the idea is 
 most interested, they see it on the board, and 
 get a muscular sense of it by means of writing; 
 the physiological circuit is completed and the 
 functioning of the word greatly helped. The 
 teaching of spelling and of reading should accom- 
 pany the teaching of every subject. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group II 
 
 T. Let me tell you something. Tomorrow 
 morning we are going to have the Morning Ex- 
 ercises instead of on Thursday. 
 
 BARBARA.. And you will let me be something. I 
 have never been anything. 
 
 T. May I suggest something for us to do for 
 the school at our exercise? Or, has somebody 
 something to suggest? 
 
 CYNTHIA. I want to have the last story. 
 
 T. What was that? 
 
 BARBARA. "The Little Red Hen."
 
 28 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. Do you think we can do "The Little Bed 
 Hen," or do you think we had better do the Par- 
 see man! Elizabeth, what do you think? 
 
 ELIZABETH. I think we better try both and the 
 one we do the best we can take. 
 
 T. Which one do you think it very likely we 
 shall do the best? 
 
 BAKBABA. "The Little Red Hen." 
 
 T. Why, Barbara? Why do you think we will 
 be able to do that perhaps better than the other? 
 
 BAKBABA. Because we have done it more. 
 
 T. Elizabeth, do you think we had better 
 spend all our time on "The Little Red Hen," or 
 try both and see which one we do better? 
 
 LOUISE. I T ,,. , , 4.1 
 think both. 
 
 ELIZABETH. 
 
 T. Which one shall we begin with? 
 
 ELIZABETH. ' ' The Little Red Hen. ' ' 
 
 T. Let's sit down, then, and think very care- 
 fully what we are going to do, because unless we 
 think very carefully we shan't make it at all 
 clear to people like Doris and Perkins, who are 
 very much younger than we are. If we sit very 
 still we can think clearly. (All become very atten- 
 tive.) What is the very first scene in "The Little 
 Red Hen," Barbara? ' 
 
 BAKBABA. When the fox was in bed and his 
 mother called him to come down and have his 
 breakfast and he said, "I have a plan to catch 
 the little red hen," his mother said, "You can 
 never catch the little red hen; she has played so 
 many tricks on us." Then the little fox had his 
 breakfast and told his mother to give him his bag 
 and to have the pot boiling when he got home,
 
 LITERATURE 29 
 
 and then he went skipping along down the path 
 to go to the little red hen's house. 
 
 T. That is the first scene. Did she leave out 
 anything, Louise! 
 
 LOUISE. Yes. 
 
 T. What? 
 
 LOUISE. Where he came down smiling and his 
 mother asked him 
 
 T. He was very happy? 
 
 LOUISE. Yes, he was smiling and thought he 
 wouldn't say anything. 
 
 T. What do you think, Cynthia, the mother 
 was doing while the fox was thinking? 
 
 CYNTHIA. Getting breakfast. 
 
 T. Getting breakfast. Now, suppose you are 
 that fox over there in bed, Elizabeth. Will you 
 go over there just a minute? 
 
 T. Now, here is the little fox. What is she 
 doing? 
 
 CHILDREN. Thinking. 
 
 T. Does she look as if she was thinking? (Tine 
 class looks at Elizabeth.) Yes. She wakes up 
 early. Here is her mother right here, getting 
 breakfast. She is not saying anything. Let's 
 see if you are really doing anything. Barbara, 
 what are you doing? 
 
 BARBARA. Getting breakfast. 
 
 T. There must be some particular step in get- 
 ting breakfast. What is it? 
 
 CYNTHIA. Cooking. 
 
 BARBARA. Cooking. 
 
 T. Cooking what ? 
 
 LOUISE. Cooking oatmeal. 
 
 T. Let's see you cooking oatmeal.
 
 30 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 BAKBAEA. It is on the stove. 
 
 T. What are you doing to it! 
 
 LOUISE. Stirring it up. 
 
 T. Come, let's see. She is getting breakfast, 
 and the oatmeal is almost done. Then what was 
 the little fox doing? 
 
 ELIZABETH. I think I will have to catch the 
 little red hen and I don't know any plan. I guess 
 I will have to think. (Pause.) I think I have a 
 plan now. 
 
 LOUISE. Come down, little fox, to breakfast. 
 
 T. She is coming down now. 
 
 LOUISE. What are you smiling for? 
 
 ELIZABETH. Because I have a plan to catch the 
 little red hen. 
 
 LOUISE. You can never catch her. 
 
 ELIZABETH. You see! You just give me my 
 breakfast and I will have the little red hen for 
 you. Be sure to have the pot boiling. 
 
 T. I didn't see you eating breakfast. (They 
 begin to eat.) 
 
 CYNTHIA. They shouldn't eat like that. Foxes 
 eat like dogs. Dogs don't take things up in their 
 hands. They get down like this. (Illustrating.) 
 
 ELIZABETH. Give me my bag, mother. 
 
 T. Let's sit down a minute. That was splen- 
 did. What was there that was so good about it? 
 (They pause to consider.) It is good and if we 
 can keep this for tomorrow it will be fine. The 
 play begins with his mother doing what, Louise? 
 
 LOUISE. Getting breakfast. 
 
 T. Yes, stirring the oatmeal. She doesn't say 
 anything, but is just working, and up in the bed 
 was the little fox and he was talking to himself?
 
 LITERATURE 31 
 
 LOUISE. Yes. 
 
 T. And you know what Elizabeth was talking 
 about, and then when Elizabeth thought of a plan, 
 did you notice that Barbara called her to break- 
 fast and down came Elizabeth and then the 
 mother said What was it, Cynthia? 
 
 CYNTHIA. She said, "What are you smiling 
 at?" 
 
 T. And Barbara said, "You will never catch 
 the little red hen," you know how many times 
 the little red hen has played a trick on the sly old 
 fox ; and then he tells the mother what to do ; and 
 then they did what, Louise? 
 
 LOUISE. Ate breakfast. 
 
 T. Then off the little fox started. Now what 
 is the very next thing, Louise? What is the very 
 next thing? Think a minute. I am going to catch 
 somebody. What is the next thing? 
 
 LOUISE. In the play? 
 
 T. Yes. 
 
 LOUISE. He goes to the little red hen's house 
 and hides behind the woodpile. 
 
 T. Yes, and you see him going and hiding and 
 watching for the door to open. When he gets be- 
 hind the woodpile, what is the next thing, Bar- 
 bara? 
 
 BARBARA. The little red hen said: "I haven't 
 got any wood to get my breakfast with. I will 
 have to go out and pick up some sticks," and she 
 peeked out, and opened the door a little bit and 
 peeked out with one eye, and she didn't see any 
 fox anywhere, and she opened the door wide and 
 went out herself to get her wood, and when she 
 was getting her wood and wasn't looking, the sly
 
 32 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 old fox got behind the door and when she came 
 in and shut the door he jumped at her to catch 
 her. 
 
 T. Who will go on from there? 
 
 LOUISE. The little fox jumped at her and they 
 had a little fight 
 
 T. Careful, they did what? 
 
 LOUISE. They got excited, and the hen flew up 
 on a beam and the fox tried to grab her, and then 
 he said, * ' You 'd better come down, because I will 
 get you anyway." She said, "No, you won't," 
 and so you know what he did? He ran around 
 and around so that he made her dizzy and she 
 fell down, and he put her into his bag and went 
 off, and when he was away off he lay down to get 
 a rest f and while he was having a rest the little 
 red hen had some scissors and thread and a 
 needle, and she cut a tiny little hole to see where 
 she was and she saw the fox asleep and she made 
 a big hole 
 
 CYNTHIA. And then jumped out, and she said : 
 "Now, I will go home, no, I won't, for then the 
 fox might follow me. I will put a stone in the 
 bag ; yes, I will put a stone in. ' ' So she put a stone 
 in and she ran home, and in a minute she got home, 
 and in a minute the fox woke up and he went home. 
 He started home, and he said, "Ow, that rock 
 I mean, that little red hen keeps hitting me 
 under the legs, ' ' and he kept saying that, and then 
 he got home, and he said to his mother: "Mother, 
 have you got the pot boiling now? I have got the 
 little red hen. Get hold of this. I am holding it 
 down at this end, and when I let go, you just be 
 ready to clap the cover on."
 
 LITERATURE 33 
 
 T. Finish it for me, Elizabeth. 
 
 ELIZABETH. And then the water spattered in 
 the kettle and made a great big splash and 
 splashed all over onto the fox and scalded them 
 both to death. 
 
 T. They were scalded to death. 
 
 CYNTHIA. Elizabeth said she put the stone in 
 the bag and then she went home. 
 
 T. What did happen? 
 
 ELIZABETH. She sewed up the bag after she 
 put the stone in and then she went home. 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM: To secure further dramatic expression 
 through the work on our dramatization of Haw- 
 thorne's "The Paradise of Children." 
 
 COMMENT : It is hardly possible to describe the 
 method of teaching young people to act a play. 
 My purpose is quite the reverse of the profes- 
 sional one. I am not striving primarily for a 
 performance that will give the audience the sem- 
 blance of reality. The great concern is the devel- 
 opment of the latent intellectual and emotional 
 capacities of the individual. I strive to have each 
 actor so understand and feel the story and his 
 part in relation to the whole, that he is filled with 
 the spirit and purpose of the play, and out of real 
 understanding and genuine feeling he makes his 
 part live for the audience. The goal is reached 
 through subtle methods that cannot be put down 
 briefly in writing. 
 
 I believe that the teacher or leader can get 
 worth-while results and true expression in pupils 
 only through the slow process of enlarging the
 
 34 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 intellectual horizon, by deepening the sympathies 
 and clarifying the judgment. The physical mani- 
 festation of thought and emotion should not be 
 conscious artificialities, but should proceed from 
 genuine thinking and feeling. To do this, the 
 teacher must understand the child's mode of 
 thinking and feeling and must sympathetically 
 enter into the spirit of the story and live in it with 
 the actors. 
 
 There are instructors, who claim to be teaching 
 dramatic art, who give directions in the most cold 
 and matter-of-fact manner, they themselves quite 
 out of sympathy with the emotion they expect to 
 get from their pupils. The result is most dele- 
 terious to the pupils. No one would try to go up 
 in an aeroplane and guide it without a knowledge 
 of its mechanism. Why should anyone ignorant 
 of the principles of dramatic expression dare to 
 tamper with this fine art? 
 
 RESPONSE : One way to impart an understand- 
 ing of a situation that a child has never actually 
 experienced is to utilize a similar situation with 
 which he is familiar, and through his real experi- 
 ence lead him to appreciate the situation in the 
 fable. For a simple illustration Nancy could 
 not seem to realize or express Pandora's eager- 
 ness to know the contents of the box that Hermes 
 had given into the care of Epimetheus. Her 
 rendering of the lines : ' ' It certainly is a beautiful 
 box. I wonder what there can be inside!" was 
 devoid of real appreciation, and consequently the 
 emphasis and rhythm were wrong. To bring the 
 situation home to the class we made believe that 
 it was Christmas morning, father and mother
 
 LITERATURE 35 
 
 were at the table with a chest containing a lovely 
 string of pearls, etc. The result was the correct 
 feeling and thinking with the consequent correct 
 emphasis and inflection. 
 
 The ill effects of definite training of young 
 people in the necessarily over-emphasized ges- 
 tures and movements of pantomime are to be 
 seen in Nancy.* Formal pantomime has tended 
 to hide her natural charm and grace and make 
 her acting artificial and extravagant. 
 
 The pantomimist is deprived of one of the most 
 valuable and natural avenues of expression, the 
 voice ; consequently, the body has to be used in an 
 extravagant and a more or less conventional way. 
 The pantomimist 's gestures are often quite as 
 over-emphasized as those of the man who is dumb 
 and tries to convey his thoughts and emotions by 
 means of his fingers. Pantomime as an art is 
 unnatural to young people, and training in this 
 special art causes an unnatural mode of expres- 
 sion that hinders the fullest and most harmonious 
 development of the individual. 
 
 Group HI 
 
 AIM : Preparation for the Morning Exercise. 
 
 METHOD: The subject of the Morning Exercise 
 was ballads. A report of the exercise was taken 
 in shorthand. Some of the preparation was done 
 outside of the class periods. Jessie worked out 
 her remarks on ballads quite independently. 
 Gardner spent a considerable amount of time at 
 
 * Nancy had had special training in the art of pantomime with 
 a member of the Bussian Ballet.
 
 36 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 home studying and reading aloud "The Inchcape 
 Rock," by Southey. Stephen studied the "Inci- 
 dent in the French Camp, ' ' by Browning. Every 
 one studied "The Twa Corbies" in anticipation 
 of the selection of two people to read it as a dia- 
 logue at the general assembly. Richard L. quite 
 without suggestion of the idea from anyone, re- 
 wrote "The Twa Corbies," substituting modern 
 English words for the archaic ones of the old 
 ballad. (In recognition of his initiative I asked 
 him to read his arrangement at the Morning Ex- 
 ercise.) 
 
 These individual contributions gave me a splen- 
 did opportunity to do some intimate private work 
 and give some of the help and suggestions that 
 each most needed. 
 
 The recitation period was spent in selecting 
 some of the boys to explain to the whole school 
 the obscure words and phrases in "The Twa 
 Corbies" and "Jock of Hazeldean"; also in the 
 oral reading of "The Twa Corbies" to find three 
 people to present it at the Morning Exercise. 
 
 RESPONSE: As can be readily seen, the Morn- 
 ing Exercise was the motive for a considerable 
 amount of interesting but hard work, both indi- 
 vidual and group. 
 
 When the class assembled I was working with 
 Stephen ; the boys when they came in, seeing that 
 I was busy, immediately and quietly arranged the 
 chairs in the customary semicircle, and took their 
 places ready for work. This seemed to me a 
 splendid expression of their attitude toward the 
 school. Boys seldom leave their play and their 
 fun until some one calls them to order.
 
 LITERATURE 37 
 
 Practically every one had some part in the 
 Morning Exercise. 
 
 "The Congo" and "The Twa Corbies" have so 
 impressed the imagination of these boys, that 
 their parents have remarked upon the frequency 
 ( with which they quote passages from these stories. 
 They enjoy the swing, the elemental feeling, and 
 even brutal touches. To interest people we must 
 strive to find literature that expresses thoughts 
 and emotions that they have felt or can feel, lead- 
 ing them on step by step to larger fields of inter- 
 est and broader horizons. The attempt to force 
 upon young people a poem that deals with thought 
 and feeling that they cannot with pleasure and 
 profit comprehend may make them permanently 
 dislike poetry. Browning gives the thought ex- 
 pression in "The Last Ride Together." "What 
 does it all mean, poet? Well, your brains beat 
 into rhythm, you tell what we felt only." 
 
 Steno graphic Record of Morning Exercise 
 
 T. First of all, Jessie is going to tell us a little 
 about ballads. (Turning to the younger chil- 
 dren.) Perhaps you won't all understand about 
 ballads, but I think some of the girls will. 
 
 JESSIE. In the olden days, a long time ago, 
 people didn't have any newspapers; they had to 
 have something to take their place, and the min- 
 strels came Can any of the small children 
 
 tell me what a minstrel is? (No answer.) .Well, 
 they were men that usually knew how to play some 
 instrument, I think it was generally a harp, 
 and when the people wanted to know what was 
 
 54
 
 38 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 going on, a thrilling battle that had taken place 
 or a duel, the minstrels knew all about it, and 
 they made songs about these things, songs about 
 the battles. The people liked to hear about hor- 
 rible things that had happened ; they liked nothing 
 better than to have the minstrels come and sing 
 songs of wonderful bravery and thrilling fights. 
 Some of these ballads just told about one or two 
 incidents. Of course, they were very plain, be- 
 cause people didn't understand the more com- 
 plex pieces of literature we have today. They 
 told plainly about events. It is characteristic of 
 ballads that they told things very directly; some 
 told long stories, and some just told about one 
 thing. There are different kinds of ballads. The 
 one we are going to read is a narrative ballad that 
 tells about an event that has happened. 
 
 T. If the people were very, very rich, some- 
 times they had a minstrel in their own household 
 who would tell the experiences that the family 
 had in war or at hunting or out on the ocean; 
 and if one of the family did acts that were very 
 brave, the minstrel would keep account of them 
 and would make songs about them; but many 
 people could not afford to have a regular minstrel 
 in their homes, and so men went about from house 
 to house telling about the things that had hap- 
 pened. Suppose you never heard about what was 
 going on except when people came to visit you. 
 Wouldn't you be eager to hear what was going 
 on in Boston and in other places? (Children in- 
 dicated that they would.) That is the way it was 
 in those days; and when the minstrel came he 
 would tell over and over again the events the
 
 LITERATURE 39 
 
 people liked to hear about, he did not always tell 
 the whole story. So in "The Twa Corbies" that 
 we are going to read, you won't hear the whole 
 story; you won't know that probably a man was 
 killed while out hunting by another man who left 
 him for the old crows to eat up, in those days 
 they loved to hear of horrible things. Most people 
 knew this story, but they liked to hear it again 
 and again. Some of the words are very curious, 
 because they were written years ago. Lawrence, 
 will you tell us what these words mean (indicating 
 words on board): "fail dyke" "hause bane" 
 "theek" "alane" "mane" "keens" 
 "een"? 
 
 (Lawrence reads words and gives meaning 
 "fail dyke"=turf bank, "hause bane" neck 
 bone, "theek" = to thatch, "alane" = alone, 
 "mane" talk, " keens "=knows, "een"eyes.) 
 
 T. Now a man was walking along in the morn- 
 ing and he heard these two old, black, wicked 
 crows talking. I am going to ask Lawrence to be 
 that man and tell us what he was doing, and then 
 I am going to ask Jessie to be the second of those 
 wicked old crows sitting over here (indicating 
 chair on the stage), and I am going to ask Richard 
 N. to be the other of those old crows. Richard N. 
 knows where there is a good dinner for himself. 
 
 (The children take places and read in dramatic 
 manner their respective parts.) 
 
 T. Now I am going to read you a ballad that 
 was written by Sir Walter Scott; not one of the 
 really old ballads, but one written by a Scotsman 
 who knew the old ballads and liked to write in 
 the way the minstrels did. (Turning to Donald.)
 
 40 A SCHOOL INACTION 
 
 Would yon tell us, Donald, what these words 
 mean? (Pointing to words on blackboard, which 
 Donald reads, giving the modern words for the 
 same "sae" = so, "loot" = let, "fa'" = fall, 
 "ha'"=hall, "kirk"=church, "baith"=both.) 
 Miss C. said she would play the ballad music for 
 me. I am going to ask you to imagine that I am 
 the minstrel and that I am going to tell you a 
 story that you all know about, a story about a 
 poor young lady who wanted very much to marry 
 Jock o * Hazeldean, Jack, his name probably was, 
 but her father said, no, he wanted her to marry 
 somebody else. In those days young ladies never 
 could say whom they wanted to marry, but had to 
 do exactly as their fathers said. They told her 
 what a splendid young man this was that they 
 wanted her to marry. She wouldn't say anything, 
 but just wept; finally they got all ready for the 
 wedding, the church was decorated and every- 
 body was there, and they said, "Why, where is 
 the young lady!'* They went to look for her, 
 but she wasn't to be found, for she had skipped 
 off with the man that her father didn't want her 
 to marry. The people all knew this story; so the 
 minstrel would come, and he would play a few 
 chords on his harp and then would begin the 
 story; perhaps sometimes he sang it, sometimes 
 he swayed his body, but sometimes he just said it 
 as he played his harp. So if you will imagine, 
 please, that I am sitting down here and playing 
 on my harp and that you are listening here we 
 are away over in Scotland in a quaint old Scotch 
 home; the only fire is the fire in the fireplace; it 
 is a winter night and the winds blow; it is snow-
 
 LITERATURE 41 
 
 ing; I have come in, and you say, " Minstrel, tell 
 us the story of Jock o' Hazeldean"; I say, "I 
 will do that," and I get out my little harp, and 
 begin. (Reads "Jock o' Hazeldean" with piano 
 accompaniment and suggests by pantomime the 
 action.) Many people have liked the original 
 ballads because they are very easy to understand 
 and easy to write. They have a very simple 
 swing or rhythm (giving illustration of the bal- 
 lad rhythm). I think you could write one (mak- 
 ing up on the moment the following ballad com- 
 plete). 
 
 There was a man of Boston town; 
 He had a cloak of black. 
 
 Who can finish it? 
 
 A PUPIL. He came into this little town. 
 
 STEPHEN. And bought a little shack 
 
 T. Along the railroad track. 
 
 T. You can make them up very quickly. Now 
 the poet So'uthey said, "I am going to write a 
 ballad," and he wrote one which Gardner is going 
 to read "The Inchcape Rock." 
 
 (Gardner reads poem.)* 
 
 T. The people loved thrilling experiences, you 
 see, and so the ballad-makers made them the sub- 
 ject of their songs. Some of our modern writers 
 have written things about war. I read one the 
 other day to you which I am going to ask Stephen 
 to re-read. It is an incident in the French cam- 
 paign that was written by a man named Robert 
 
 * Gardner so caught the keen interest of the audience that he 
 quite submerged himself in his story and read .remarkably well,
 
 42 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Browning, who wrote some forty or more years 
 ago. It hasn't just the swing of the early bal- 
 lads, but is in the ballad style. 
 
 (Stephen reads "An Incident in the French 
 Camp/' by Robert Browning.) 
 
 T. The time is nearly gone, but I want to take 
 a minute to read a modern ballad that is full of 
 funny things. Ballads weren't always serious, 
 some were very humorous. This was written by 
 Mr. Carroll. (Reads "The Walrus and the Car- 
 penter.") You see, that is an example of pure 
 nonsense. 
 
 NOTE. Owing to the unfamiliarity of the children 
 with Morning Exercises, it is impossible for them to take 
 the major part of the work and keep the interest high; 
 therefore the teacher felt it wise to create the atmosphere 
 and keep the spirit of the exercise ablaze. The interest 
 was intense. One boy wept during the reading of ' ' Jock 
 o' Hazeldean, " and a guest, moved by the feeling of 
 the assembly, dashed off the following quatrain: 
 
 Before the magic of your words 
 The raftered schoolroom fades away, 
 And castled walls and ringing cries 
 Eise up to charm our thoughts away. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 
 NOTE. One of a number of lessons on ballads. The 
 tremendous interest awakened in Lindsay's poem "The 
 Congo ' ' made it seem worth while to dwell upon it longer 
 than was planned. 
 
 T. Yesterday we talked about people here in 
 the United States who are so primitive that they 
 express themselves much as the ballad singers did 
 in the olden times; what people did we find were 
 of that type? 
 
 CHILDREN. Negroes. 
 
 T. We found that they express themselves in
 
 LITERATURE 43 
 
 a very rhythmic sort of fashion. What did you 
 tell us, Jessie, about the negroes! 
 
 JESSIE. I don't know what I said except that 
 their idea was to have a pronounced rhythm and 
 didn't have much tune, mostly monotones, and 
 they put the emphasis on the rhythm, and the 
 swing runs through all they sing. 
 
 T. Is it somewhat like our very modern musio 
 where it is very complicated and you have to 
 listen very carefully for the theme which runs 
 through all the difficult changes, or is it more like 
 our modern music where the bass keeps going 
 turn, turn, marking the time, and the clear melody 
 runs in the treble f Is it very complex, where you 
 have to listen for the melody, or is the melody 
 very pronounced? 
 
 GARDNER. You have to listen pretty hard. 
 
 T. You don't think you could catch the air 
 very quickly and whistle it! 
 
 CHILDREN. (Not agreeing with Gardner.) Yes. 
 You could. 
 
 T. Do you recall any negro melody? 
 
 CHILDREN. Swanee River. 
 
 T. Has that a very decided air? 
 
 CHILDREN. Yes. 
 
 T. How many think the melody is very pro- 
 nounced and not very hidden, subtle, or complex! 
 (No replies are volunteered.) What do we say 
 about the negroes we hear singing? 
 
 RICHARD N. They sing a song about how they 
 steal a chicken and what a good time they have 
 and what they have for dinner, and things like 
 that. 
 
 T. They sing about very simple things?
 
 44 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 KICHARD N. Yes, and they have something 
 they pound, and they beat time with their hands. 
 
 RICHARD L. There was a lady here, a sort of 
 mulatto, who sang lots of songs, and there were 
 some other people that danced. 
 
 T. Did they sing any religious songs? 
 
 EICHAED L. No. 
 
 GARDNER. They sing a sort of ragtime. 
 
 T. Yes, that is it, and the ballads were really 
 the ragtime of their day. The negro songs are 
 apt to be very religious. I am going to read what 
 I read yesterday, a poem by Vachel Lindsay, in 
 which he is trying to show the negro in his natural 
 environment in Africa. 
 
 JESSIE. We heard Mr. Lindsay recite that in 
 Chicago. He tried to show the negro people in 
 the way they would have sung their songs. 
 
 T. Yes, that is what he was trying to do. 
 When Mr. Lindsay paced around the stage and 
 used his body and his hands he was trying to 
 show the emotional indulgences of people when 
 moved by religious emotion. He gives us the pic- 
 ture of these colored people in a room over in 
 Africa ; they are very much stirred by their reli- 
 gious feeling. If you were to go to a negro service 
 when they become very much moved, you would 
 find that they shout, and act very peculiarly. The 
 first time I went to such a meeting I thought there 
 was something the matter with the men and won- 
 dered why they didn't put some of them out, but 
 after a time I realized it was their way of express- 
 ing their emotions. Now I am going to read this 
 poem and try to suggest the way in which Mr. 
 Lindsay read it. I am not very familiar with it,
 
 LITERATURE 45 
 
 but shall try to suggest the way those people felt ; 
 I shall not tramp around the stage, but will try 
 to give you the rhythm in this study of the negro 
 race. (Reads.) "The Congo I. Their Basic 
 Savagery." Now what does the poem do that I 
 could not show in my telling in my own words 
 the story of these men who are getting interested 
 in religion? 
 
 GARDNER. It expresses it better. 
 
 T. Why? 
 
 RICHARD N. It is the music in it. 
 
 JESSIE. The directness. 
 
 T. Yes, the music does express it better and 
 more directly. (Reads a portion of the poem.) 
 Do you wonder that they "get religion" when all 
 those things are going on? Do you wonder that 
 men like Billy Sunday can make people feel that 
 they want to get religion when all this excitement 
 is going on? Do you wonder that it stirs the 
 people? (Reads another portion of the poem.) 
 Is that the same kind of story that the old ballad 
 people liked to tell about? 
 
 CHILDREN. Yes. 
 
 T. Does it express something that seems to be 
 innate in people? Do they like to tell horrible 
 things and exciting things? 
 
 CHILDREN. Yes. 
 
 T. If something frightful happens in Boston, 
 New York, or Chicago, you know how the crowds 
 stand around the bulletin-boards and try to get 
 the details ; and they like to go to the moving pic- 
 tures. Do you think this liking for the spectacu- 
 lar is what drives people to the movies? Their 
 desire for something thrilling?
 
 46 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 CHILDREN. Yes. Read the poem again. 
 
 T. (Reads.) 
 
 CARL. Let us have another one. 
 
 T. We will sometime. Would you like to be 
 back in the primitive stage! 
 
 RICHARD L. That suits me. 
 
 T. Do you think some of us haven't entirely 
 grown out of that age ; that we haven't progressed 
 very much? 
 
 JESSIE. It takes a few generations for people 
 to get out of it. It is within us. 
 
 T. As we said the other day, when we get very 
 angry it is the primitive spirit that makes us 
 want to strike people, and the only thing that 
 keeps us from doing it is, what? 
 
 GARDNER. Law. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was 
 not afraid of law. 
 
 T. But he was unbalanced. We will not dis- 
 cuss that book now, though. You see the ballad 
 singers expressed themselves in the primitive 
 way; you often see small children who cannot 
 sit still and listen long at a time, but have to be 
 moving their bodies, they cannot give attention 
 to a single subject; but after a while as we get 
 further from the primitive stage our intelligence 
 directs our wills and we are able to direct the 
 physical manifestation of our feelings. As it says 
 in the Bible, when I was a child I thought as a 
 child, I behaved as a child, and when I became a 
 man I put away childish things. That isn't ex- 
 actly as it is stated in the Bible. You see this 
 was the childhood period of the race when they 
 gave physical manifestations of their feelings and
 
 LITERATURE 47 
 
 liked to hear over and over the stories told by the 
 ballad singers. 
 
 GABDNEB. I think they had more good songs 
 and more beautiful things in the old days than 
 they do now. 
 
 T. You do think so? 
 
 GABDNEB. Yes, I think so. 
 
 RICHABD N. And Art. 
 
 GABDNEB. They were more social and nice ; the 
 songs were simple and pretty and nice. 
 
 T. Do you think "The Twa Corbies" is more 
 beautiful than (The stenographer did not catch 
 the title.) 
 
 GABDNEB. More interesting. 
 
 RICHABD L. More simple and easy to under- 
 stand. 
 
 T. Donald, may I ask you a question! Do you 
 think one reason why we enjoy these old ballads 
 is because of their simplicity? 
 
 DONALD. Yes. 
 
 T. And they are good stories? 
 
 JESSIE. They are very crude, but they seem to 
 be better understood as the people understood 
 things in those days. The people were not up to 
 complex pieces of literature then, and the stories 
 were made so they could understand them. 
 
 T. Then we must remember that there is a 
 great deal of poetry written by people who have 
 quite grown out of that child stage, and that sort 
 of poetry you would not expect to like now, would 
 you? 
 
 CHILDBEN. No. 
 
 T. And can't you see how we older people
 
 48 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 naturally like something a little more complex 
 than you are enjoying now! Eichard has a great 
 grievance against the treatment of love in poetry. 
 That is because it is often untruthfully or badly 
 treated in the moving pictures; there is a wishy- 
 washy, sentimental side which is presented which 
 we all dislike very much. But I think we all feel 
 that the affection which is manifested between 
 our fathers and mothers is a tremendously fine 
 thing and a splendid thing in our lives ; we recog- 
 nize that love is a very real thing and does exist 
 we all appreciate the affection between brothers 
 and sisters. What we object to is the silly side 
 which is so often shown in the moving pictures. 
 
 RICHABD N. (With disgust.) They spend a 
 whole reel on one kiss. 
 
 T. Why do you go to see things like that? 
 
 RICHARD N. I don't if I know what is coming. 
 
 T. But is it fair to denounce the whole thing 
 because the side which is oftentimes treated in 
 stories and moving pictures is not the real side? 
 Ought we to denounce the real things because the 
 counterfeit is not worthy? Don't you think 
 people have expressed their real love in some 
 stories in such a beautiful way that you feel it is 
 a beautiful and a wonderful thing and you like 
 to read of it ? I think Robert Browning's devotion 
 to his wife was a wonderful thing. She was a 
 very great invalid, and his care of her was a 
 most beautiful thing in his life, and I think I could 
 read you one of his poems that would make you 
 feel that there was something very real in that 
 love. 
 
 RICHARD N. We feel affection for animals.
 
 LITERATURE 49 
 
 T. Don't you think you feel affection for any 
 human beings ? 
 
 RICHARD N. I like them, but I don't believe in 
 love. 
 
 T. How do you feel about your home people; 
 don't you love them? 
 
 RICHARD N. Yes ; I like them all right. 
 
 T. Don't you believe in the affection between 
 your father and mother and their love for you! 
 
 RICHARD N. That is natural. It ought to be 
 like that. 
 
 T. That is it. You do not object to the affec- 
 tion between members of your family because it 
 is so simple and natural. Then let us remember 
 that this is the real thing, real love, and not 
 condemn it because we do not approve of what is 
 often placed before us in stories. (Bell prevented 
 further development of the subject in hand.) And 
 let us remember that there are a great many 
 things that have been written which older people 
 enjoy very much, and not feel that there is nothing 
 in them of interest because we can't appreciate 
 them yet. 
 
 NOTE. Few of the children have ever been in a school 
 where they were members of a group freely considering 
 a topic of general interest, and in which they could unre- 
 servedly express their thoughts and opinions. While the 
 sense of freedom has been slowly developing it has been 
 necessary for the teacher to take a more active part in 
 the recitation than is his wont. 
 
 Group HI 
 
 AIM: To ascertain the attitude of the boys 
 toward poetry and begin a periodical considera- 
 tion of poetry with the hope of making them enjoy 
 better verse.
 
 50 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 METHOD: I read, without comments, "The 
 Inchcape Rock" by Robert Southey. Then gave 
 the class a chance for questions and for members 
 of the class to elucidate passages about which 
 questions arose. I then read another poem about 
 the sea "A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea" by 
 Cunningham. I asked which poem they pre- 
 ferred, and with but two exceptions they pre- 
 ferred "The Inchcape Rock." Questioned them 
 as to their reasons for preferring the Southey 
 poem. I then told the story of the Inchcape Rock 
 as it might appear in prose form in any news- 
 paper. Got from the boys their reasons for pre- 
 ferring the poetic version. Endeavored to sum 
 up the lesson and bring home to them the reason 
 why most of them preferred the story-telling 
 poem to the lyric poem. Strove to make them see 
 the value and charm of lyric poetry. 
 
 RESPONSE. All liked the Southey poem and all 
 but two preferred it to the lyric verse. They said 
 they preferred it because it told an interesting 
 story. 
 
 (The love of boys, at this period of develop- 
 ment, for objective material and human interest 
 should be kept in mind and influence the choosing 
 of their prose and verse. Too much lyric poetry, 
 or lyric poetry that does not satisfy and express 
 a feeling or mood that they have had or can be 
 brought to feel through the imagination, has a 
 tendency to create an aversion to all poetry, an 
 aversion that time may never quite remove.) 
 Jessie, who is older than the others, and who has 
 the woman's point of view, preferred the lyric; 
 her reason was that it gave a much more ade-
 
 LITERATURE 51 
 
 quate expression to the feeling that one gets from 
 being on the ocean. 
 
 I tried to make lucid to the class the difference 
 between narrative and lyric verse and malse them 
 realize that each has its place and its special 
 charm. I told them that they had a perfect right 
 to their preference for narrative verse. Interest- 
 ing reasons were given for preferring the poetic 
 version of the story of Ralph the Rover to the 
 paraphrase that I made of it. One said in the 
 poem the story was more clear than in my im- 
 provised prose. I asked if my story was not cor- 
 rect and clear in all details. One replied, yes, but 
 that the poem made one see the facts more 
 clearly; there were more and better pictures. 
 Others said that the swing of the poem was a 
 pleasure; that the author compared things that 
 were interesting; that he chose his words well. 
 I then gave a paraphrase of a line that contained 
 alliteration, then gave the line from the text and 
 brought home to all the force and delight of well- 
 chosen words and of alliteration. Next I tried 
 to make them enjoy the Cunningham poem. 
 Aimed to create a feeling for the joy of speeding 
 over the ocean in a stiff breeze. I asked if such 
 a feeling was a thrilling one to a person who 
 knew and loved to sail. Did they imagine that 
 sometimes people were eager to express in words 
 the thrill of such an experience? They seemed to 
 feel that lyric expression had its place. 
 
 No one is always in a mood for lyric expression 
 nor even for narrative, even of the most stirring 
 kind, any more than one is always in a mood for 
 rich plum-pudding or even toasted corn-flakes. I
 
 52 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 carried the metaphor further and likened the 
 richness and condensation of the lyric to plum- 
 pudding and the lighter and more frequently 
 eaten corn-flakes or shredded wheat to the nar- 
 rative expression. 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: 1. To complete the study of "Herve 
 Kiel." 
 
 2. To acquaint the class with some of the good 
 recent poetry that pictures the actualities of war- 
 fare as contrasted to Browning's romantic inter- 
 pretation of one phase of warfare. 
 
 METHOD: Explained the last stanza of "Herve 
 Kiel." Asked if they would like to hear the poem 
 again at some future time, and the universal 
 request was for an immediate re-reading, which I 
 complied with. 
 
 Read, after creating a sympathetic and intelli- 
 gent background and atmosphere, Wilfred Wilson 
 Gibson's "In an Ambulance," "The Joke"; I 
 then read without any preparatory discussion or 
 elucidation, "Back," and got their interpretation 
 of its meaning. 
 
 RESPONSE: It is satisfactory to notice that 
 Lawrence was willing to listen attentively, and 
 seemingly with enjoyment, to the re-reading of 
 "Herve Riel." He even asked for the exact title 
 of the poem, evidently desirous to look it up for 
 himself.* 
 
 After hearing "Back" they made interesting 
 
 Lawrence had expressed at the beginning of the course a 
 great dislike to all literature, poetry especially.
 
 LITERATURE 53 
 
 remarks regarding the seemingly dual personality 
 in people. References were made to Buck in * * The 
 Call of the Wild" and the way in which his wolf 
 ancestry constantly strove to overcome his civi- 
 lized self. Some of the boys thought that perhaps 
 our own brute ancestry was turning us away from 
 our civilized conditions and that this was the part 
 explanation of the warfare that has engulfed the 
 world. 
 
 I strive to direct their discussion, but do not 
 force upon them my personal opinions. 
 
 I believe that it is right that the study of Lit- 
 erature should stimulate such whole-hearted in- 
 terest in the real problems of life, and in this I 
 believe lies one of the great values of such a 
 study. It demands careful choice of material on 
 the teacher's part. Literature should be a 
 genuine delineation of human experience and hu- 
 man problems as well as the embodiment of 
 dreams.
 
 LITERATURE 
 
 II 
 
 BY PADRAIC COLUM 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO RECORDS 
 
 I DID not want to make my teaching at the 
 Peterborough Summer School "a course" in the 
 usual sense of the term: what I wanted to do 
 mainly was to awaken the children's imaginations, 
 to make them create something out of their own 
 powers, and to give them out of a portion of the 
 world's literature some characters, phrases, and 
 incidents that would be an accompaniment to their 
 own imaginings. I wanted, in the case of the older 
 children, to teach them something of literary 
 technique as much as would permit them to see 
 towards what end certain poets and story-tellers 
 were striving. 
 
 This last intention I was able to carry out to 
 some degree in the case of the fourth group 
 boys of from twelve to fourteen : at the end of the 
 term they were able to distinguish and in conse- 
 quence to take a greater interest in the various 
 forms of poetry narrative, ode, sonnet, lyric, 
 dramatic poem. These boys, too, had learned 
 something of practical technique by writing verse 
 and having discussions about their efforts in the 
 class. I did not have them analyze the stories 
 
 54
 
 LITERATURE 55 
 
 we were reading in the same way : they were under 
 too many suggestions that a story was something 
 made out of a formula, and I wanted to show a 
 story to this particular group as a thing of wonder 
 and imagination. Once one of the boys, Richard 
 N, a very assured boy from the village, brought 
 in quite a workmanlike story in the style of a 
 weekly journal about a youth who "made good" 
 on the battlefield. The other boys in the class 
 were inclined to admire this story because of the 
 conventional points it made and the conventional 
 finish it had. I took it as an example of a lack of 
 imagination in story-telling and drew attention 
 to the imaginative invention in narratives we were 
 reading. 
 
 This fourth group made the best students. But 
 the third group was the best for imaginative po- 
 tentiality and achievement. The dominant ele- 
 ment in the class, both in numbers and personality, 
 were the girls. They were passing into the ro- 
 mantic stage. They began by declaring roundly 
 that they cared nothing for poetry. They ended 
 by not being quite so defiant about it. Only one 
 of the girls in this group, Susanne, a child from 
 Europe, wrote any verse. But quite good and 
 original verse was written by a boy from the vil- 
 lage, Wayne. Some of the girls wrote little sto- 
 ries. However, it was not either in writing verse 
 or stories that this group became creative it was 
 through dramatic expression. The words and 
 characters in a little play we made for them be- 
 came very much their own, very much what 
 I wanted our stories and poetry to result in an 
 accompaniment for their own imaginings.
 
 56 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 The second group were quite definitely children. 
 It was composed of an equal number of boys and 
 girls, and several of them, Lucienne, Jackie, 
 Joanne, Bernice, were highly intelligent. They 
 were receptive, and one of my aims was to give 
 them an interest in words and to add to their 
 vocabulary. I wanted too to give them a feeling 
 for versification and for the rhythm of verse. 
 
 With the first group I told stories and taught 
 them certain poems. I am very much for children 
 memorizing poems. They can know poetry only 
 by possessing it that is by having in their minds 
 various verses that they can recall and repeat. I 
 wanted particularly to make these little children 
 have possession of certain poems by Blake and 
 Stevenson and others that they could croon over 
 and play to. I got these children to act some spe- 
 cial poems. I am not at all in favor of children 
 being taught poetry by acting it.* In the first 
 place it is often putting to a wrong end poetry that 
 should leave the child quiet and reflective. Again, 
 the action, the pitch of the voice tends to formalize 
 the poem in their minds, taking away from it the 
 free movement that it might have for them, 
 besides associating it with too much agitation. 
 Nevertheless, in the case of this first group, I had 
 them act a few little pieces ; this was to give them 
 the sense of play, and also as in the re-telling 
 of stories, to give them some faculty of expres- 
 sion. 
 
 I was particularly desirous to bring to these vil- 
 
 * It is interesting to note here the differing opinions of Mr. 
 Merrill, a professional teacher, and Mr. Colum, a professional 
 poet.
 
 LITERATURE 57 
 
 lage children the folk-romance of different Euro- 
 pean countries. It seemed to me that folk-tales, 
 coming as they do out of the childhood of a race, 
 have very real connection with the imaginative life 
 of children. I wanted this romance to be really 
 of the folk. For that reason I kept the children 
 away from the sophistication of the folk-tale that 
 has its examples in "The Blue Bird" of Maeter- 
 linck and the "Peter and Wendy" of Barrie. Such 
 books and a quantity of other books that have a 
 great circulation seem to me to appeal to a sophis- 
 ticated and conscious nature that has been 
 imposed upon children by well-intentioned elders. 
 
 And yet I did not want to get into the children 's 
 minds the element of fantasy only I wanted to 
 get into their minds that imaginative familiarity 
 with things that the folk tale has for all its fantasy 
 the intimacy and the adventure that are in the 
 things of the household and the neighborhood. The 
 children of this New England village were without 
 a folk tradition of their own. Nothing, of course, 
 could make up for that lack in their imaginative 
 outfit. Still I knew that the most fruitful appeal 
 to their imaginations could be made through the 
 romance that has appealed to the childhood and 
 the youth of other countries through practically 
 the whole of their civilization. 
 
 From the beginning it was my intention to con- 
 nect my work with the work of some of the other 
 teachers with Music or with Modelling or Draw- 
 ing. Mr. Coluzzi and I were able to make connec- 
 tions. He, in his modelling and drawing lessons, 
 dealt with types belonging to the folk-imagination 
 and he was also working towards the heroic design
 
 58 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 of certain Greek types. We were able to join 
 together for the production of a play about the 
 return of Odysseus. The dialogue and the inci- 
 dents, the costumes and the decorations were 
 made up in the class-rooms. Towards the end of 
 the term the Art and Literature classes became 
 practically one for the production and decoration 
 of the play. 
 
 ABSTRACT OF RECORDS FOR FIRST WEEK 
 
 There were four teaching days in this week. 
 While reading with the classes on first day I made 
 a selection of books that I could use in connection 
 with the aim I had in mind. 
 
 For Group I : Perrault 's Stories, Eobert Louis 
 Stevenson's " Child's Garden of Verses," "The 
 Jatakas." This last is a book of East Indian 
 Stories, mainly about animals and all written 
 from a Buddhist religious standpoint. I used this 
 book with the second and third groups also. 
 
 For Group II: "Granny's Wonderful Chair" 
 by Frances Browne," "The Christmas Tales of 
 Flanders," "Just-So Stories," Walter de la 
 Mare 's ' * Peacock Pie, ' ' and anthologies of various 
 kinds. 
 
 For Group HE: "The Jungle Book," Curtin's 
 "Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland," and "Hero 
 Tales of Ireland," Walter de la Mare's "Lis- 
 teners," Tennyson's Poems, also "The Christ- 
 mas Tales of Flanders," "Just-So Stories," and 
 "Peacock Pie." 
 
 For Group IV: "The Adventures of Odysseus 
 and the Tale of Troy," some modern stories, New-
 
 LITERATURE 59 
 
 bolt's "Lyra Heroica," Collections of American 
 Poetry, "The Oxford Book of English Verse," 
 Tennyson's and Shelley's Poems. 
 
 Group I 
 
 I introduced myself to this Group as a story- 
 teller and told them a few stories that I knew. I 
 read to them poems that had such rhythm as 
 children could associate with their play such as 
 
 Dark brown is the river, 
 Golden is the sand ; 
 It flows along for ever, 
 With trees on either hand. 
 
 from Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verses." I 
 selected a story from "The Jatakas" that would 
 amuse them. It was "The Monkey and the Croco- 
 dile," telling how the Crocodile's Mother wanted 
 Monkey's heart to eat; how the Crocodile came 
 near catching the Monkey three times, and how 
 the Crocodile's stupidity was beaten by the Mon- 
 key's cleverness. I gave them a new story every 
 day, getting the children to re-tell the story of 
 the previous days. 
 
 Group II 
 
 My aim in the first lessons was to give the chil- 
 dren a sense of rhythm in verse. I wanted it all 
 to be rather a surprise for these children, so to 
 begin with I selected verses that would have an
 
 60 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 element of surprise for them. They were Vaohel 
 Lindsay's "The Lion." 
 
 THE LION 
 
 The Lion is a kingly beast, 
 He takes a Hindoo for a feast, 
 And when a Hindoo he can't get, 
 The Lion family is upset. 
 
 He cuffs his wife and bites her ears 
 Till she is almost moved to tears ; 
 Then some explorer finds the den, 
 And all is family peace again. 
 
 The children were surprised and amused by these 
 verses and were eager to repeat them, stumbling 
 over the lines and picking them up again. I used 
 these verses to establish a notion of an eight-syl- 
 lable verse with regular beats. Then we read 
 verses in which eight syllables and six alternated. 
 The measurement of the lines by syllables inter- 
 ested them. In the third and fourth lessons I had 
 them making rhymes and little verses. We took 
 Vachel Lindsay's "Haughty Snail," in which 
 eight and six syllables alternated, and turned it 
 into lines of eight syllables. The children were 
 intensely interested in finding rhymes and were 
 immensely pleased when they saw a verse com- 
 pleted. They all showed an appreciation of dif- 
 ferences between one simple rhythm and another 
 and they were able to detect a halting or an incom- 
 plete rhythm. In our second lesson we took ' * The 
 Haughty Snail" and turned it into a different sort 
 of verse.
 
 LITERATURE 61 
 
 THE HAUGHTY SNAIL-KING 
 
 Twelve snails went walking after night. 
 
 They'd creep an inch or so, 
 
 Then stop and bug their eyes 
 
 And blow. 
 
 Some folks . . . are . . . deadly . . . slow. 
 
 Twelve snails went walking yestereve, 
 
 Led by their fat old king. 
 
 They were so dull their princeling had 
 
 No sceptre, robe or ring 
 
 Only a paper cap to wear 
 
 When nightly journeying. 
 
 This snail-king said: "I feel a thought 
 Within. ... It blossoms soon. . . . 
 
 little courtiers of mine, . . . 
 
 1 crave a pretty boon. . . . 
 
 Oh, yes . . . (High thoughts with effort come 
 And well-bred snails are ALMOST dumb.) 
 "I wish I had a yellow crown 
 As glistering ... as ... the moon." 
 
 This is what the combined efforts of the class 
 turned it into when they made it over into regular 
 lines. I did not note who the child was who made 
 the good line "No home, but just a lily pad." 
 
 THE PROUD SNAIL 
 
 Twelve snails went walking after night, 
 The moon gave every one a fright; 
 Then they would stop and rub their eyes, 
 And each one looked so very wise. 
 They were so dull, their princeling had 
 No home, but just a lily pad ; 
 The King-Snail said "I want a boon 
 A yellow crown just like the moon." 
 
 In the next week Lucienne brought in a verse that 
 was reminiscent of our interest in the snail.
 
 62 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 THE SNAIL 
 
 I am a snail ; 
 
 Once when I was walking 
 
 I heard children playing ; 
 
 There was a bad little boy; 
 
 He had a stick for his toy, 
 
 And this bad boy carne to me 
 
 And plunged the stick in my body, 
 
 Into my shell home I came 
 
 While the children played a game ; 
 
 I wait and wait till night, 
 
 And lo, I saw now a sight, 
 
 As nurse said "Is that a snail? 
 
 And you, Tom, take your track and your rail." 
 
 The boy said "Nurse, very well." 
 
 Then I curve out of my shell. 
 
 After that I was so hungry 
 
 I ate all the leaves, and now you see 
 
 That is the end of my story. 
 
 The spelling and punctuation is amended. The 
 curious stresses at the end of the lines are prob- 
 ably due to the fact that Lucienne is a French- 
 speaker. 
 
 Group III 
 
 I began by telling some stories to this Group. 
 As said in the Introduction the preponderating 
 element in this class, both in number and person- 
 ality, were the girls. The girls themselves made 
 two groups a homogenous group of village girls, 
 amongst them being Elizabeth, Harriet, Dorothy, 
 Ruth, and some girls from New York of foreign 
 parentage Susanne and Sylvia. 
 
 The fact that the bulk of the children had a 
 neighbourhood background and that the slower
 
 LITERATURE 63 
 
 and more considering minds of the boys were met 
 by the more excited and more quickly responsive 
 minds of the girls gave a great impetus to this 
 group. The children from the neighbourhood rep- 
 resented the pick of the village school. 
 
 Taken all together they were eager about Lit- 
 erature, but Literature to them meant stories, 
 stories, and more stories. In the first few days I 
 read with them stories from "The Christmas 
 Tales of Flanders " quaint and amusing tales. I 
 had them tell stories in the class. The girls told 
 them very well, making them up of reminiscences 
 of stories they had read. I found that their minds 
 were occupied with very simple, very remote fairy- 
 tales. I wanted very much to bring to them stories 
 that had more of a reality stories that came out 
 of a more profound imagination. I did not try to 
 interest this class in poetry the first week. 
 
 Group IV 
 
 This Group was made up of boys. The three 
 that were the most brilliant Ivan, Edward, Billy 
 were from homes in w r hich the interests were 
 intellectual. The discovery that I wanted this 
 Group to make was the discovery of heroic ro- 
 mance. We read poetry in the form of ballads 
 and we began the reading of "The Adventures of 
 Odysseus and the Tale of Troy." Below is a 
 stenographic report of our second lesson. 
 
 T. Yesterday we said we would read the story 
 of Odysseus. Come to this map first. Odysseus 
 came from this island. . . . He had to go to Troy 
 where there was a war. He went in his ship to
 
 64 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Troy and fought in the Trojan war and with the 
 others besieged Troy for ten years. Then he came 
 back by this way. . . . But he was blown off his 
 course and after many adventures he came back to 
 his own country. That is the story. (Reads open- 
 ing chapter describing how Odysseus tried to 
 avoid going to the Trojan war.) 
 
 T. Why did he not want to go to the war? 
 
 EICHABD N. He would get killed and his little 
 boy would be left an orphan. 
 
 T. Troy was a very powerful City and he knew 
 that the war would have to be a long war. Just 
 think of New Hampshire wanting to make war on 
 a great city like New York. Everybody would 
 want to go, for in those days they plundered a 
 city they had taken and they would get lots of 
 things to bring home money, dresses, gold and 
 silver things, animals all sorts of material. But 
 you would know that New York would be hard to 
 take and you would think that perhaps the army 
 would be defeated and destroyed. Odysseus was 
 wise enough to know all this. He tried to get out 
 of going. And what did he do? 
 
 BILLY. Pretended to be mad. 
 
 T. In what way? 
 
 BILLY. Sowed his field with salt. 
 
 T. What are minstrels ? 
 
 IVAN. They are singers. 
 
 T. They are more than singers. In the old 
 days there were no newspapers, no letters. When 
 a man went away to war you might hear nothing 
 from him. The only way you might hear was 
 from minstrels. Instead of hearing in the news- 
 papers about a war, after a while singers, perhaps
 
 LITERATURE 65 
 
 some of them from the very battle field, would 
 come and sing songs about the leaders in the war. 
 They would go about the country singing these 
 songs, and the people would be kind to them and 
 give them food and drink and shelter for weeks 
 at a time. And they would invite friends to listen 
 to the songs. And now we read that the minstrels 
 had begun to go round Greece and had at last 
 come to Ithaka where Odysseus had lived. Their 
 songs were about the chiefs who went to Troy and 
 about all the great things they had done and 
 about how such a chief was killed, and such a chief 
 had reached home. But there was no word about 
 Odysseus. No minstrel knew anything about him. 
 There was no word of his death or about his being 
 seen anywhere. And so ten years more went by. 
 If his son had been a month old when he went 
 away what age would he be now? 
 
 IVAN. He would be twenty. 
 
 T. Yes. Quite a young man. 
 
 T. Spears and swords were what they fought 
 with. They were not of iron, however. They were 
 of bronze. 
 
 IVAN. Is bronze a good weapon? 
 
 T. Not compared with iron. You have to pour 
 bronze into a mould. You cannot make a long 
 weapon of it because it would break off. Then you 
 sharpen it. You cannot make a weapon out of 
 iron so easily. 
 
 EDWARD. You would have to pound iron. 
 
 T. Yes, hammer it out. But iron gives you the 
 longer weapon. And so when people came along 
 with weapons of iron they defeated those who 
 used bronze iron weapons were longer and
 
 66 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 sharper. The people in the times that Homer was 
 making his poetry about were still using bronze 
 weapons. 
 
 T. Let us go into this. When a man went into 
 a house in ancient Greece, what happened ? 
 
 NICHOLAS. They welcomed him. 
 
 IVAN. He washed his hands. 
 
 T. How was this hand-washing done ? 
 
 IVAN. They poured water over his hands from 
 a ewer and then he would dry them with a towel. 
 
 T. And what did he get to eat? 
 
 IVAN. They gave him wonderful bread, with 
 meat and wine. 
 
 T. * ' Clan-gathering" is mentioned here. What 
 is a clan? 
 
 BILLY. A family. 
 
 EICHAED N. A club. 
 
 T. A family rather. All your relations your 
 brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins all those would 
 be a clan. Now who were those who were making 
 such a disturbance in the house? 
 
 CARL. Pretenders. 
 
 T. Well, why did they call there? 
 
 CARL. They wanted Penelope to marry one of 
 them. 
 
 T. What should they be called then? 
 
 CARL. Pretenders. 
 
 T. Has anyone else a different word ? 
 
 EDWARD. Suitors. 
 
 T. Or wooers. What sort of young men were 
 they? The lords of the Island. And why did they 
 want Penelope to marry one of them ? 
 
 IVAN. Because they thought Odysseus was 
 dead.
 
 LITERATURE 67 
 
 T. But why Penelope more than anyone else. 
 
 RICHARD N. Because she was rich. 
 
 T. She had this great house and all the land 
 that Odysseus owned. And I suppose they 
 thought that whoever married her would become 
 King of Ithaka as Odysseus was. Now they were 
 trying to force her into marriage how? 
 
 BILLY. By eating up the food and destroying 
 everything. 
 
 T. If they kept on coming to the house Pene- 
 lope would be ruined. All she had would be wasted 
 and the servants would be worn out. Why didn't 
 some one interefere to send them away? 
 
 CARL. They could not because these men could 
 have killed them. 
 
 T. They were all powerful men princes and 
 lords and they could not be fired out easily. 
 Penelope had no friends. And Odysseus' father 
 was very old, and his son was too young to cope 
 with these men. 
 
 T. Athene, the Goddess came to the house of 
 Odysseus in the guise of a man. She came to get 
 Telemachus to do something. First of all he was 
 to have a Council of the chief men of the Island. 
 What would that Council be like? 
 
 BILLY. The Supreme Court. 
 
 T. Isn't there a Council here where all the 
 men come together to arrange for taxation and 
 matters of that sort? 
 
 RICHARD N. A Town Meeting. 
 
 T. That's more like it. Telemachus was to 
 have a sort of Town Meeting and bring up his 
 case there. And if they did not make the suitors 
 leave the house he was to call on two of
 
 68 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 father's friends, Nestor and Menelaus. What 
 else was he to do? 
 
 IVAN. If his father was dead he was to raise 
 a great monument in his honor. 
 
 T. Yes, and if he had news that his father was 
 alive he was to prepare for his return. 
 
 This ended the reading of Chapters One and 
 Two of "The Adventures of Odysseus and the 
 Tale of Troy." After our reading I tried to keep 
 their imaginations active by a discussion about 
 Homer who he was, what times he lived in, the 
 sort of life he probably led, and so on. 
 
 ABSTRACT OF RECORDS FOR SECOND WEEK 
 Group I 
 
 This week we had a great deal of fun in the class 
 re-telling stories I had read to them from "The 
 Jatakas." The story of how the Monkey baffled 
 the Crocodile was asked for and re-told by the 
 children several times. The other story that 
 pleased them was "The Foolish Timid Rabbit," 
 a tale of how the Rabbit thought the World was 
 breaking up because a cocoanut fell upon him 
 while he was sleeping, and how he started all the 
 Animals running and they might be running still 
 only the Lion halted them while he investigated 
 the Rabbit's story. One of the children, Alvin, has 
 a remarkably good memory and he re-tells the 
 stories quite well. The verses we began to learn 
 were from Stevenson's "Child's Garden of 
 Verses."
 
 LITERATURE 69 
 
 Group 11 
 
 It was not easy to get these children to take an 
 interest in poems that are in books, but they were 
 quite excited about making up verses and rhymes 
 on their own account. Here, from a stenographic 
 report, is an account of their rhyme-making for 
 one day this week. 
 
 T. How many of you have made up rhymes for 
 me I 
 
 DOROTHY. I have. 
 
 There was a King 
 
 Who had a chariot, 
 'And also a daughter 
 
 Whose name was Harriet. 
 
 T. Quite good. Who else made up rhymes. 
 
 RUTH. There was a little girl 
 Whose name was Pearl. 
 She was a very good girl. 
 She likes to play 
 Very much 
 But sometimes 
 Euns away. 
 
 Pearl had a dolly 
 Whose name was Molly 
 She liked to play with Molly 
 But soon got tired. 
 
 DOBOTHY. I have another. 
 
 If you give me a small little piece of tin 
 I will make you a pretty little pin. 
 
 T. Well now will you count the syllables in the 
 lines. How many in the first line!
 
 70 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DOBOTHY. Eleven. 
 T. How many in the second line! 
 DOBOTHY. Ten. 
 
 T. Well, we must change it so that there will be 
 ten syllables in the first line and ten in the second. 
 
 DOBOTHY. If you give me a pretty piece of tin 
 I will give you a pretty little pin. 
 
 T. Who else has made up rhymes for usf 
 
 BEBNICE. Buster Brown 
 
 Was a clown; 
 Wore his gown 
 Upside down. 
 
 T. That is amusing. Have any of the boys 
 made rhymes? 
 HEBBEBT. I have. 
 T. Come along then and tell them to us. 
 
 HEBBEBT. The boy said 
 
 "Let's go to bed:" 
 
 Jack said "No, 
 
 I'm going to play in the snow." 
 
 T. We '11 have to work over all that and get it 
 into regular syllables. 
 
 HEBBEBT. I have another. 
 
 The boy skipped school 
 
 And went and played at the pool. 
 
 T. We'll have to go over that too. 
 We had quite ambitious poems written by 
 Lucienne. I give them below.
 
 LITERATURE 71 
 
 THE SPIDER WHO FORGOT HER FRIEND 
 
 A Spider was working at her thread, 
 
 And she was going to make a web ; 
 
 And she was a very funny thing 
 
 Because she used to sing "Spring, Spring." 
 
 Something came to her: it was a fly; 
 "I beg let me go out," she said. 
 The Spider said she didn't like to eat rye, 
 And when she heard that she fade. 
 
 When the Spider saw her still, she was ready. 
 "Tomorrow a feast will be with my friend, see." 
 She jump on the Fly and ate her all up then. 
 And then she said "Oh, I forgot my friend." 
 
 THE TOAD'S WISH 
 
 Once a very big Toad 
 Was sitting on a road, 
 Looking at the blue sky, 
 So she said "Oh, I wish 
 I could be an Air-fish." 
 But the poor old frog 
 Could fly like a log. 
 
 The punctuation is the teacher's. Lucienne ex- 
 plained that an "Air-fish" was the toad's way of 
 thinking about a bird. The class readily under- 
 stood the metaphor. 
 
 The story we read was "The Christmas Cuckoo" 
 from * * Granny 's Wonderful Chair. ' ' It was about 
 two cobblers, Scrub and Spare. They found a 
 Cuckoo in a Yule-log, a Cuckoo that had stayed 
 over from summer. The Cuckoo promised to bring 
 them a leaf from two trees at the World's End 
 a Green Tree and a Golden Tree. One chose a
 
 72 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 leaf from the Green Tree and one chose a leaf 
 from the Golden Tree. It is quite a beautiful 
 story. I wanted the children to understand the 
 unusual words in the story and to make their own 
 use of them. 
 
 T. The log burned with a ruddy blaze. What 
 does that mean? 
 
 JOANNE. Strong. 
 
 RUTH. Eusty. 
 
 T. Ruddy means red like on a robin's breast. 
 
 BEBNICE. I never heard that word. 
 
 T. You must write it down on your tablets and 
 be able to use it again. There were two trees the 
 story says a green tree and a golden tree. Any- 
 one who had a leaf from the green tree would be 
 blithe you know what blithe means? 
 
 CHILDREN. Happy. 
 
 T. Spare asked for a leaf from the green tree 
 and Scrub asked for a leaf from the golden tree. 
 That shows us that there are two sorts of people 
 one wants to be happy first and the other wants 
 to be rich first. Now here is a sentence that is 
 difficult. The Cuckoo said "Your conclusions are 
 more hasty than courteous. ' ' Let us see what that 
 means. 
 
 JACKIE. That one leaf was as good as the other 
 one. 
 
 T. Well let us see. What is hasty? 
 
 JACKIE. Quick. 
 
 T. And conclusions? if you are thinking, the 
 end of what you are thinking is a conclusion. 
 What was at the end of Scrub's thought was a 
 conclusion, and the Cuckoo said it was more hasty
 
 LITERATURE 73 
 
 than courteous. I think " courteous" is a new 
 word here. It means polite. What was at the 
 end of Scrub's thought was not polite it was 
 hasty wrong because too quickly reached. Con- 
 clusion is a word we will have to use. 
 
 For a few minutes the class made up sentences 
 in which " conclusion" and "concluded" were 
 used. 
 
 Group HI 
 
 My aim was to bring out the inventiveness that 
 was in this class. My method was to take it for 
 granted that all in the class could write stories or 
 verses. Every day we had some verse or story 
 written by one in the class read and discussed. 
 From the boys I got nothing in the first weeks. 
 Here are specimens of the verse and stories we 
 had read in the second week. The girls from the 
 neighborhood could not be induced to make up 
 verses, and Suzanne, the sister of Lucienne and 
 Ivan, a child from Europe, was the only one I 
 could rely on for our verse-contribution. 
 
 THE MOON: SUZANNE 
 
 How beautiful is the Moon! 
 
 It looks like a silver balloon, 
 
 Or a fair sparkling jewel ; 
 
 As white as a nacre shell. 
 
 It has a beautiful light 
 
 That shines in the darkness of night : 
 
 Sometimes a cloud would hide her face, 
 
 Then to see she would have no space. 
 
 The Moon, the Moon 
 
 I love the Moon!
 
 74 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 OPENING OF A STORY: RUTH 
 
 Once upon a time there was an old lady, she seemed 
 to be very young but she wasn't. She lived on the 
 street called School Street because it was the Street 
 the School was on. 
 
 There were four little girls whom this lady liked 
 very much and every time they went to School she 
 would always have something for each one of them. 
 Their names were Martha, Julia, Sarah and Caroline. 
 
 One day when they went by the lady opened her 
 window and threw a little envelope with their names 
 printed on each with gold out to them. They all said 
 "Thank you," and then opened it and read "I invite 
 you to my birthday party this afternoon at two o'clock 
 please come, and we will try to have a good time." 
 
 The children could hardly wait for the time to come 
 for them to go, because they had never been in the 
 Lady's house and they knew it would be very beauti- 
 ful there. When they went in the room was all lighted 
 by very pretty lamps. . . . 
 
 (The description of the room and of the gifts that 
 the lady gave to the children was quite charming, 
 but the writer lost the second page of her manu- 
 script as she was leaving the class room.) 
 
 Group IV 
 
 This week we began to study the simple forms 
 of poetry. Obviously the narrative poem would 
 be the most interesting to begin with. The narra- 
 tive poem I had in mind was Matthew Arnold's 
 "Sohrab and Rustum." But there was a danger 
 that the blank verse of this narrative would seem 
 to the class too much like prose. It was necessary 
 I thought to establish a form of rhymed verse in 
 their minds. So we took Walter Scott's ballad
 
 LITERATURE 75 
 
 "The Outlaw*' for a beginning "Oh Brignall's 
 Banks are wild and fair." 
 
 It was easy to interest this class in verse-tech- 
 nique when measurement by syllables was ex- 
 plained to them and when the lines were repeated 
 in a way to mark the rhythm. I wrote on the black- 
 board the first three lines of the first stanza. I got 
 the class to supply a new fourth line. I then wrote 
 the first two lines of the other stanzas getting the 
 class to supply the other lines, keeping the rhythm 
 and supplying the rhymes. They were not inge- 
 nious in supplying rhymes. Richard N., however, 
 made an imaginative line in completing one of the 
 stanzas. 
 
 The rhythm of verse now being differentiated 
 from prose for them we went on to the blank verse 
 narrative of "Sohrab and Rustum." Ivan, Ed- 
 ward and Billy were very impressed by the fine 
 blank verse lines, 
 
 ABSTRACT OF THIRD WEEK'S RECORDS 
 Group I 
 
 This week we began the reciting and acting of a 
 poem-game, Vachel Lindsay's "A Dirge for the 
 Righteous Kitten. ' ' It goes : 
 
 Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong. 
 
 Here lies a kitten good, who kept 
 
 A kitten's proper place. 
 
 He stole no pantry eatables, 
 
 Nor scratched the baby's face. 
 
 HE LET THE ALLEY CATS ALONE. 
 
 He had no yowling vice.
 
 76 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 His shirt was always laundried well, 
 
 He freed the house of mice. 
 
 Until his death he had not caused 
 
 His little mistress tears, 
 
 He wore his ribbon prettily, 
 
 HE WASHED BEHIND HIS EARS. 
 
 Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong. 
 
 The children delighted to act out his poem, chang- 
 ing the pitch of their voices for the lines in capi- 
 tals and ringing an imaginary bell the while. They 
 gave a public performance of it at Morning Exer- 
 cises with great success. We read more of the 
 stories from "The Jatakas." Each day I had the 
 children re-tell the stories of the previous days. 
 
 Group II 
 
 My aim was to keep this class inventive, to give 
 them a sense of the value of words and to extend 
 their vocabulary. The Group was made up of 
 boys and girls, neither preponderating very much ; 
 the girls, however, had more inventiveness than 
 the boys. This week we continued our reading of 
 "The Christmas Cuckoo.'* Following is from a 
 stenographic report of a specimen lesson. 
 
 T. Who has written a verse or a story for 
 today? 
 
 LUCIENNB. I have. 
 T. Read it, Lucienne. 
 LUCEBNNE. (Reads.)
 
 LITERATURE 77 
 
 THE CITY AND THE COUNTRY 
 
 Oh, yes, little girl, you can see 
 Down in the forest is a big tree, 
 And down the meadow o 'er the grass 
 You see all the people that pass : 
 That is the way of the Country. 
 
 You see the people pass the hall, 
 Preparing themselves for a ball ; 
 It is going to be on Tuesday, 
 Where other children go to the play : 
 That is the way of the City. 
 
 T. Has anyone else any verses? 
 IOTHY. I have a little rhyme. 
 
 T .t4- TIO Vinar* T'f ~n/-kYrvfViTT 
 
 DOROTHY, j. nave a uttie nr 
 T. Let us hear it, Dorothy. 
 
 DOBOTHY. There was once a little girl 
 Whose name was Meryl, 
 And what do you suppose 
 That Meryl did one day? 
 She hit a little girl 
 Named Pearl. 
 
 T. All right, Dorothy. Now if no one else has 
 any verses or stories we '11 go on with our reading. 
 The story was "The Christmas Cuckoo, " wasn't 
 it? Who can tell me what it was about? 
 
 BERNICE, It was about Spare and Scrub. 
 Spare was the man who got the gold, but he was 
 not contented. He came to the King's Palace 
 where his brother was and on his way he met an 
 old witch. 
 
 T. That's the part we read last time. Now 
 what does this mean? "The old woman could
 
 78 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 scarcely be persuaded to sit down for pure 
 humility. ' ' What do you think humility means ? 
 
 JOANNE. I don't know. 
 
 T. Does anyone know what it means to be 
 humble ? 
 
 JOANNE. I do. Kind of scrunched up. You 
 talk humbly. Meek. 
 
 T. If you felt that you weren't as grand as the 
 person you were speaking to, then you would be 
 humble. You might speak in a very low tone of 
 voice and say "Madam" or "Sir." Well then 
 humility means feeling humble. She seemed to be 
 a poor old woman and she seemed to think that 
 Spare and his wife were very grand people. She 
 gave them a drink. What is it called? 
 
 JOANNE. Mead. 
 
 JACKIE. What is mead made out of? 
 
 T. Fermented honey. It must be a very sweet 
 drink. But this old woman made it magical too. 
 
 BERNICE. She put in herbs and made spells 
 over it. 
 
 T. They speak of pheasants' eggs. Do you 
 have pheasants in this part of the country? Who 
 has seen pheasants? 
 
 JOANNE. I have seen a lot of tiny little pheas- 
 ants. 
 
 T. A pheasant is about the size of a young 
 chicken, isn't it? 
 
 JOANNE. Oh, no. A little bit smaller. 
 
 T. I don't think it's smaller. 
 
 JOANNE. I mean the little baby ones. 
 
 We concluded our reading of the story at this 
 lesson, discussing such unfamiliar words as 
 "Chronicles," " Precedent. "
 
 LITERATURE 79 
 
 Group 111 
 
 My aim was to keep this class, which I thought 
 more imaginative and spontaneous than the other 
 classes, inventive ; I wanted, too, to bring to these 
 children stories and poems that had a deeper 
 imagination than the stories and poems they had 
 been reading. 
 
 The books we read from this week were Kip- 
 ling's " Jungle Book," Walter de la Mare's 
 "Peacock Pie," Curtin's "Hero Tales of Ire- 
 land," "The Jatakas." I had the class read 
 poems written by a child that had appeared in the 
 July number of "Poetry," and we read and dis- 
 cussed stories written by the children themselves 
 and a story that I was writing. This week the boys 
 were productive: Wayne brought in a verse and 
 Dane a story. 
 
 Did real imaginative poetry appeal to this class? 
 I read "The Little Green Orchard" and "Finis" 
 from ' ' Peacock Pie ' ' to try to find out what appeal 
 it made. I told them first that the music of the 
 poems had to be listened to very carefully. After 
 having read them I discussed these poems with the 
 class. Elizabeth, one of the all-round intelligent 
 children in the school, said the poem was 
 "ghostie," showing that she got a sense of some- 
 thing haunted that is in this poem. The others 
 agreed that it has this "ghostie" feeling. Eliza- 
 beth also thought that the ghost was somewhere 
 around. I think that this attempt to arouse their 
 imagination by unusual moods and unusual music 
 in poetry had some success the class was prob- 
 ably more impressed by this poetry than they
 
 80 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 could put into words. The girls, however, demand 
 poetry that has a story they overbalance the 
 boys so much that it is hard to get any of the boys' 
 special point of view. 
 
 Wayne and Suzanne wrote verses. I was very 
 glad to see that Wayne was working on something 
 that was out of a boy's experience. His poem is 
 below. 
 
 THE CIRCUS 
 
 I saw a Circus bright and gay, 
 
 And saw some maidens dance and dance 
 
 Above my head, Oh, far above, 
 
 In costumes of red and grey; 
 
 And I saw too some funny clowns 
 
 Who were dancing up and down, 
 
 Upon their head, 
 
 Upon their feet. 
 
 The class liked these verses; discussed them and 
 made suggestions about improving different lines. 
 Suzanne wrote some pretty lines. 
 
 A very silly ass 
 Was eating some green grass, 
 When Mab, the Fairy Queen 
 Was making gowns of green. 
 
 The stories we read were selected with the idea 
 of bringing the children away from what was 
 merely fanciful and letting them feel the realities 
 that underlie the really imaginative fables. I read 
 also some chapters from a story I was writing and 
 had the class criticise it and make suggestions for 
 its development. The story contributed by the 
 class this week was by Dane. It is called
 
 LITERATURE 
 
 Once upon a time there was a man who had five chil- 
 dren and a wife. The man's name was John Benjamin, 
 and his children's names were Horatio, Augustus, 
 Eomulus, Theora and Elizabeth. One day he worked 
 very hard and got very tired. 
 
 He went to bed early that night and he dreamed 
 that he was King of the Gods and that his wife was 
 Queen of the Gods. Horatio was the God of the Day, 
 Augustus was the God of Life and Romulus was the 
 God of Death and Hate. Elizabeth was the Goddess 
 of Night and Theora was the Goddess of Love. It so 
 happened that Romulus hated Augustus and John 
 Benjamin dreamed that one day Romulus was walking 
 along and met two men, and he told one that the other 
 was a bad man and a murderer. He set the two to 
 fighting and Augustus came along and stopped the 
 fight because they were almost dead, both of them. 
 Augustus took them home and bandaged their wounds 
 and the men set out again. 
 
 Another time Romulus came along to a tifuel God 
 like himself and a nice God talking to each other. On 
 the nice God 's face there was a mark which was bleed- 
 ing. He asked the cruel God his story, and the cruel 
 God said "I met this man fighting with a Lion and I 
 made the Lion go away, fhat is why he has a scar oh 
 his face." "Good Boy," said Romulus. "May I tell 
 my story?" asked the nice God. 
 
 "Yes," said Romulus. 
 
 "That man's story is not right," said our nice God. 
 
 "Another word and off with your head," said the 
 cruel God. 
 
 "Let him tell his story and then we will see what 
 to do?" said Romulus. 
 
 "I was walking along and I stubbed my toe on a 
 stick, and I picked it up and I threw it into the bushes, 
 and out from the bushes this man came. He threw me 
 on the grass and began beating me with all his might. 
 That is why I have this mark on my fade."
 
 82 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 "Oh, you should be stoned and hung for throwing 
 the stick at this man, ' ' said Romulus. 
 
 The nice God begged for mercy, but in vain. 
 
 They stoned him and then tied a rope round his neck 
 and put him on the tree. 
 
 It happened that Theora, the Goddess of Love, had 
 seen the whole thing, and she came out and said 
 "Romulus and Julius, you have done a cruel thing. 
 Julius, it was your fault, and you know that you hurt 
 Remus and that the Lion didn't. But Julius, God of 
 Cruelty, you will repent this." 
 
 Theora made the two sick for a year, and when they 
 were well again they were called Romulus, the God of 
 Health, and Julius, the God of Kindness because they 
 had been reformed during their sickness. 
 
 John Benjamin woke up and said he had a pleasant 
 dream. When he told Romulus the story Romulus was 
 always a good boy ever after. 
 
 Group IV 
 
 We had read Matthew Arnold's "Sohrab and 
 Kustum," and the class had been greatly im- 
 pressed by the story by the nobility of spirit in it 
 and by the great dignity of the verse. As an 
 example of another type of heroic narrative we 
 read passages from William Morris's version of 
 The Volsunga Saga. The boys thought that this 
 story was not well told and they were of the opin- 
 ion that the rhyming lines held back the narrative. 
 
 The question this week was whether a story 
 could be told in rhymed verse as well as in blank 
 verse. I picked out a narrative in rhymed verse 
 that went rapidly Kipling's ballad " East is East 
 and West is West." Billy, Ivan and Edward 
 thought that rhymed verse could be used as effec- 
 tively in telling a story as blank verse. It depends
 
 LITERATURE 83 
 
 on who uses it, Edward said. Billy thought that 
 the length of the line in Kipling's ballad made it 
 difficult to handle. I got the boys to see how Kip- 
 ling's long ballad line was really made up of two 
 short lines. My aim was to keep them excited 
 about poetry and to show them that the adven- 
 turous feeling of boyhood could be expressed in 
 it; also I wanted to keep them excited about the 
 words, the rhythms and the music of verse. Be- 
 sides blank verse and regularly rhyming verse I 
 showed them an irregularly rhyming narrative 
 poem in "The Siege of Corinth." 
 
 Richard N., our very practical, go-ahead village 
 boy, was greatly impressed by the end of "The 
 Siege of Corinth." The others preferred the old 
 ballad we had read, "Sir Patrick Spens." 
 
 Richard N. brought in a short story. It was 
 quite unimaginative. But because it had an im- 
 probable incident a soldier jumping on a German 
 General's horse and riding across to the American 
 trenches one of the class criticised it as being 
 too imaginative. I wanted the class to realize 
 what imaginativeness in a story meant. I told 
 them that imaginativeness had nothing to do with 
 improbabilities. I instanced Penelope's device in 
 the Homeric story we were reading the weaving 
 of the web and the unravelling of it as imagina- 
 tive. I tried to make them see that' what is imag- 
 inative should surprise and delight us. 
 
 We worked into the story of the Iliad, and the 
 class became more and mpre impressed with the 
 Homeric story. They considered and discussed 
 the pride of Achilles and the cleverness of Odys- 
 seus. The passages that were most emotional
 
 84 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 were always the ones most appreciated by the 
 class. 
 
 From a stenographic report I make some selec- 
 tions from specimen lesson of this week. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group IV 
 
 T. The last chapter we read in this Homeric 
 story what was it about ! 
 
 EDWABD. About the quarrel between Agamem- 
 non and Achilles. 
 
 T. They come to his tent and they find Achilles 
 playing on the lyre. Is that intended to show us. 
 anything! 
 
 BILLY. It shows he was idle. He hadn't been 
 in the battle for days. 
 
 T. Now let us note this passage. The rest had 
 tried to persuade Achilles to go back into the 
 battle and they had failed. Then the old man who 
 had fostered him goes to Achilles. He doesn 't try 
 to bribe him. He doesn't tell him what they will 
 give him if he goes into the war. He says "I loved 
 you always. When you were a little boy I did 
 everything to help you to become strong. I want 
 you now to help us. If you want to accept the 
 gifts, all right. But if you go into battle without 
 these gifts, then your place will be above all the 
 heroes." What do you think of this passage! 
 
 BILLY. I like it. 
 
 T. What do you think of it, Ivan! 
 
 IVAN. I think it is very fine. 
 
 T. It is very noble. And what do you think 
 of the character of Achilles! 
 
 EDWARD. He is very proud. 
 
 T. He is the proudest man in all literature.
 
 LITERATURE 85 
 
 And now comes the description of Hector 's army 
 encamped on the plain over against Agamemnon's 
 army. This is a great passage in verse. Tenny- 
 son has made a translation of Homer's verse that 
 gives us some idea of its grandeur. The next les- 
 son we will read that passage it describes Hec- 
 tor's thousand watchfires, and the men and the 
 horses waiting eagerly beside them. 
 
 T. Now for our poetry. We are going to read 
 "The Siege of Corinth," You remember one of 
 our purposes in reading it! 
 
 IVAN. To see the difference between blank 
 verse and rhymed verse. 
 
 T. And also to see the difference between this 
 sort of rhymed verse and other sorts of rhymed 
 verse we have been reading. The ballad, for in- 
 stance. The ballad that we read has lines of six 
 and eight syllables. It has a jog-trot sort of 
 rhythm something like a jig. It might sound 
 common. But it is proper for subjects that don't 
 go very high. For instance the Sohrab and Rus- 
 tum story would not have so much dignity if it 
 were written to ballad rhythm. Now for "The 
 Siege of Corinth." The lines have generally six 
 syllables. It is a shorter line and it can move 
 much more swiftly than the ballad can. Just notice 
 how suitable these swift lines are in telling this 
 story that is so intense and that ends with an 
 explosion. The poet could not have chosen a bet- 
 ter sort of verse. What do you think, Edward? 
 
 EDWARD. I like the way the lines carry you on. 
 
 IVAN. He doesn't tell how many were killed by 
 the explosion* 
 
 T. That is the most wonderful thing about the
 
 86 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 description. It doesn't tell you how many people 
 were killed. But it leaves an awful impression. It 
 tells you what the eagle in the air did. It tells you 
 that the steer forsook his yoke and how the water 
 was dashed from the shore. All that shows you 
 how widespread the destruction was it tells you 
 better than a list of casualties could. He says too 
 that the jackals cried. Perhaps the poet is mis- 
 taken in this. I don't think there are jackals near 
 the Mediterranean. Notice the description of the 
 jackals. You could use it for a description of 
 coyotes on the prairie. Do you think you could? 
 BILLY. Yes, I think you could. 
 
 (" Sir Patrick Spens.") 
 
 T. Ballads of this type were made up in Scot- 
 land and the North of England Northumberland. 
 They were sung or chanted at first. People did 
 not read then, you know. And the people who had 
 the ballads would come to the Castles and sing or 
 chant these poems. That reminds you, doesn't it, 
 of the way the minstrels came into the houses in 
 Homer. 
 
 KENNETH. Yes. 
 
 T. "An eldern man." What do you think an 
 eldern man would be ? 
 
 EICHABD N. An old man. 
 
 T. The word, I think, is used in a more imagi- 
 native way than that a man old as compared with 
 the others. Sir Patrick Spens went off on a voy- 
 age that he thought was very dangerous. Why 
 was it dangerous to go from Scotland to Norway? 
 
 BILLY. Because they had only little bits of 
 boats.
 
 LITERATURE 87 
 
 T. They had to stay a long time in Norway 
 then. And what did the Norwegians say about 
 them! 
 
 CARL. That they were living on them. 
 
 T. Doesn't that remind you of another story T 
 
 IVAN. Yes. They were like the suitors in 
 Penelope's home. 
 
 T. Well, and what did Sir Patrick Spens say 
 to that? 
 
 RICHARD N. He said that they had brought 
 their food with them. 
 
 T. No, not exactly. He said they had brought 
 the white money. What sort of money is that? 
 
 IVAN. Silver money. 
 
 T. White money looks very well in verse, 
 doesn't it? And here's a word "gurly" what 
 does it mean? 
 
 EDWARD. Bumpy. 
 
 T. Yes rough. It 's a very good word, isn 't it. 
 Lots of these words are very fine "Skeely skip- 
 per" isn't that very good for a skilful captain? 
 ' ' Braid letter" doesn't it give you an idea of the 
 sort of a letter it was something written out on 
 a very broad sheet of parchment. 
 
 BILLY. It's funny that when they can't find 
 another word they just repeat a word A league, 
 a league, a league, 
 
 (They hadna gone a league, a league, 
 A league but barely three) 
 
 T. I like that. Don't you think it would sound 
 very flat if the poem said "We had only sailed 
 three leagues?"
 
 88 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 IVAN. I think it would sound uninteresting. 
 T. And now I'll tell you what I think are the 
 best lines in the ballad. They are 
 
 laith, laith were our good Scotch lairds 
 To weet their milk-white hands ; 
 But long ere a' the play was ower 
 They wat their gowden bands. 
 
 T. Now tell me how many of you liked the 
 verse we read? 
 
 BILLY. I liked Kipling and I liked Spens. 
 
 T. Do you think the ballad of "Sir Patrick 
 Spens" better than "The Siege of Corinth"? 
 
 IVAN. I do. 
 
 T. And you, Edward. Which do you like best? 
 
 EDWARD. I like "Sir Patrick Spens" better. 
 
 EICHARD N. I like * ' The Siege of Corinth ' ' bet- 
 ter. 
 
 KENNETH. I don 't like either. I like Homer. 
 
 ABSTRACT OF RECORDS FOR FOURTH WEEK 
 Group I 
 
 With this group my aim was a simple one: it 
 was, first, to have them learn some poems by heart 
 so that they would always have them as an uncon- 
 scious possession; to bring such stories to them 
 as have a real imaginative quality, and then to 
 help them towards a readiness of expression. A 
 recital of the stories they had read on previous 
 days was a help towards this readiness of expres- 
 sion. So was the poem-game "The Dirge for the 
 Righteous Kitten." I gave them two types of
 
 LITERATURE 89 
 
 poems this week Stevenson's "Foreign Chil- 
 dren" which they could croon over, and Walter 
 de la Mare's "The Horseman" which I recited 
 to them for its strangeness and for its picture. 
 The class got to learn this poem. 
 
 I heard a horseman 
 Ride over a hill; 
 The moon shone clear, 
 The night was still; 
 His helm was silver, 
 And pale was he ; 
 And the horse he rode 
 Was of ivory. 
 
 Group II 
 
 My aim was to keep this Group inventive by 
 having them make up and tell stories, and by hav- 
 ing them make verses arid rhymes. I wanted to 
 add to their vocabulary too, and I was very 
 anxious to create in them an appreciation for 
 poetry. 
 
 To add to their vocabulary was the simplest 
 part of the programme. All the children were 
 eager and attentive in our discussion about words. 
 Joanne, Ruth, Jackie, Bernice were able to take 
 easy possession of new words. In one lesson I 
 have noted a discussion about such words aa 
 "clamours," "disposition," "covetous," "de- 
 bate." "Immemorial" proved a difficult word. 
 Porothy said she knew of a "memorial service" 
 for the men who were in the war. The class dis- 
 covered "memorial" was something that was kept
 
 90 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 in mind, "immemorial" that could not be kept in 
 mind. Then there was the word "affliction." It 
 was confused with "reflection" in the minds of the 
 children. Delmar said it was the same as going 
 to a river and seeing yourself in it, but Joanne 
 whose fine sense about words caused her to be 
 misled by the particle thought it meant going to a 
 river and not seeing yourself in it. This child has 
 a curiosity about words and an understanding of 
 their import. In reading a poem of Walter de la 
 Mare's we came across the word "gumption" "a 
 wonderful gumption was under his skin." Dorothy 
 had used the word but she could not explain what 
 it meant. Joanne knew and she told us it meant 
 sense. Euth not a very intelligent child was 
 able to give a good equivalent for "Steward" 
 the Steward of the Lord's Castle in the story we 
 were reading she said a steward was the same as 
 the vice-president of a committee. 
 
 Different children in the class told parts of the 
 stories we had been reading on previous days. All 
 the children were very ready in story-telling and 
 quite fluent. Lucienne wrote a story that she read 
 to us. The class were appreciative of the inven- 
 tion in the stories we were reading: for instance, 
 the idea of an old woman weaving her own hair 
 into a garment (in "The Lords of the White and 
 the Grey Castles" from "Granny's Wonderful 
 Chair") interested them greatly. 
 
 In poetry they liked verse that was amusing or 
 that described interesting things. Verse that was 
 purely imaginative they were merely content to 
 listen to. This week we took most of our poetry 
 from Walter de la Mare's "Peacock Pie." The
 
 LITERATURE 91 
 
 children liked the imaginative poem ' ' King David 
 was a Sorrowful Man" for the music. The poem 
 "Off the Ground" with the amusing jig to its 
 lines was greatly liked. 
 
 Three jolly farmers 
 Once bet a pound 
 Each dance the others would 
 Off the ground. 
 
 Another poem of Walter de la Mare's that was 
 greatly liked this week was * * Berries. ' ' It begins : 
 
 There was an old woman 
 Went blackberry picking 
 Along the hedges 
 From Weep to Wicking. 
 
 Half a pottle- 
 No more she got, 
 When out steps a Fairy 
 From her green grot. 
 
 I asked the class to tell me why they liked so much 
 this particular poem. Dorothy said it was be- 
 cause there was a story in it. The other children 
 said they liked it because it was funny. Walter 
 de la Mare's long poem "The Thief in Robin's 
 Castle ' ' was followed very attentively by the class 
 the description of the articles stolen silver 
 dishes and golden candlesticks 
 
 Combs, Brooches, Chains, and Rings and Pins 
 and Buckles 
 
 All higgledy-piggledy 
 
 / 
 
 interested them greatly.
 
 92 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Joanne, who is a very young child, wrote these 
 verses ; 
 
 One day I went to the woods, 
 
 I stood on a piece of moss and I heard music. 
 
 I looked all round me, 
 
 I saw a lot of Fairies and they said "Come with us." 
 
 And that was all I saw. 
 
 I went to the fields and I saw a pretty ring, 
 
 All flowers. 
 
 I saw a lot of flowers leading from different directions, 
 
 They were the foot-print of the Fairies. 
 
 I came out at night ; 
 
 I picked one flower, and a little Fairy stood 
 
 Bight where I picked the flower. 
 
 There was a big flower; 
 
 I picked it, and a beautiful Fairy stood there. 
 
 Then I knew what it was. 
 
 She wrote it in this f oftn * ' One day I went to the 
 woods. I stood on a peas of moss and I heard 
 music. I lookt oil round me. I saw a lot of fairys 
 they said come with us and that was all I saw. I 
 went to the fields and I saw a pretty Eing. Oil 
 flowers. I saw a lot of flowers leading from dif- 
 ferent directions they were the foot print of the 
 fairys. I came out at night I picked one flower and 
 a little fairy stood right where I picked the flower. 
 There was a big flower. I picked it and a beauti- 
 ful fairy stood there. Then I knew what it was. ' ' 
 
 Group III 
 
 The aim with this class was to keep their imagi- 
 nations active; to get them to invent for them- 
 selves, and to create in them an appreciation fot
 
 LITERATURE 93 
 
 poetry. It was part of my aim, too, to bring to 
 this class which, among the girls at any rate, had 
 a good deal of romantic sentiment, stories that 
 were imaginative and that had at the same time 
 an actuality. The class had not been greatly inter- 
 ested in the poetry we had been reading; it was 
 necessary now to find out what poetry appealed 
 to them and by giving them possession of it to 
 make them feel that poetry might be as delightful 
 as stories. 
 
 We began reading some folk-romances literally 
 written down. They were from Curtin's collec- 
 tions, "The Hero-tales of Ireland, " and "The 
 Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland. ' ' I selected these 
 tales because they are imaginative and at the 
 same time have a household actuality about them. 
 And side by side with Curtin's stories we read 
 some of the very simple, uneventful Indian stories 
 out of "The Jatakas." 
 
 In Curtin's collection most of the stories have 
 unsatisfactory endings. This is because in telling 
 them the story-teller does not really finish, but 
 adds bits out of other stories. The class noted 
 that the endings were not good. Nevertheless, 
 they preferred these stories to the stories from 
 "The Jatakas." One of the stories from "The 
 Jatakas" that we read was "Granny's Blackie," 
 a story about a benevolent elephant that was a 
 great favorite with the First and Second Groups. 
 The children in this Group did not care for it. 
 They thought it was childish to make an elephant 
 talk. I asked them did they not think it was child- 
 ish to describe, as the story-teller in Curtin's book 
 described, a cow flying or a hero killing ten thou-
 
 94 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 sand of his enemies. Harriet, one of the elder 
 girls, said Curtin's story was better because it had 
 a "plot." Others said it was better because it 
 was about Kings and Castles. They liked Curtin's 
 stories with all their extravagance because they 
 were about people that had an imaginative reality 
 youths on quests and maidens that had to be 
 fought for and cunning old men. The second story 
 read from Curtin's collection had a girl for the 
 central character. The story was "Fair, Brown, 
 and Trembling." We had not gone far in it when 
 the class was able to see its connection with the 
 Cinderella story. I also read to the class a Cin- 
 derella story of my own that I was writing ' ' The 
 Girl Who Sat by the Ashes" and I asked them 
 to help me with the making of it. Dorothy E., who 
 had not written before, this week wrote a fanciful 
 story inspired by this new material. Susanne, 
 who had written before, brought us a new story. 
 
 I found that the poetry that carried an immedi- 
 ate appeal was the romantic poetry of Tennyson. 
 The girls, who are the dominant element in the 
 class, responded to it at once. The poem we began 
 with was "The Queen of the May." In criticis- 
 ing it afterwards two of the girls, Dorothy E. and 
 Ruth, thought the refrain "I'm to be Queen of the 
 May, Mother, I'm to be Queen of the May" made 
 the poem monotonous. In discussing the effect of 
 this refrain we turned to another poem that had 
 a refrain "The Hunting Song of the Seeonee 
 Pack" in Kipling's "Jungle Book." I had Eliza- 
 beth and then Sylvia read this poem. I then read 
 it to the class showing them what the refrain was 
 intended to bring out a sense of distance, the
 
 LITERATURE 95 
 
 lonely cry of the beasts. Susanne, with her train- 
 ing in Music, perceived this. The rest of the class 
 accepted it as an explanation. 
 
 Even those in the class who continually pro- 
 tested that they did not care for poetry were de- 
 lighted with Tennyson's romantic poetry. "The 
 Lady of Shalott" although it is quite long was 
 followed with rapt attention. "Sweet Emma 
 Moreland" was liked, but it was too sad quite to 
 please the class. "Saint Agnes' Eve," too, was 
 a favorite, but "The Lady of Shalott" was the 
 one preferred. 
 
 Then the class was asked to read a story and a 
 poem that they knew so that we might discuss 
 them: "The Ox That Won the Forfeit," from 
 "The Jatakas," and "Billy and the Big Drum," 
 from Riley's "Book of Joyous Children." The 
 day we discussed these I had the class give their 
 reminiscences of stories they had been reading 
 outside the class. There follows a stenographic 
 report of one of the lessons for this week. 
 
 Teacher reads Tennyson's "Queen of the May," 
 explaining that in England the First of May is a 
 festival, and that the prettiest girl is made Queen 
 of the May. 
 
 T. I want the boys to tell me what they think 
 of it. 
 
 DANE. It says "I'm to be Queen of the May, 
 mother; I'm to be Queen of the May" too many 
 times. 
 
 DOROTHY E. It is like "once, twice, and again" 
 in the poem in "The Jungle Book." 
 
 T. There are lots of people who think that that 
 poem in "The Jungle Book" is very fine.
 
 96 
 
 DOBOTHY B. There are too many ' ' Once, twice 
 and again" in it. 
 
 T. But don't you think that a refrain might 
 make a poein very pretty! 
 
 SUEANNE. YeS) like music. 
 
 T. I want one of you to read the poem to the 
 class. Will you read, Elizabeth? (Elisabeth reads 
 "Hunting Song of Seeonee Pack" to class.) 
 
 T. Don't you think that poem gives you the 
 sense of what it must be to be out in the forest at 
 night! You are listening in the woods and you 
 hear something far away. It comes nearer, but 
 then dies away* Don't you think the refrain 
 "once, twice and again'* helps to give that im- 
 pression! 
 
 SYLVIA. Let me read it. 
 
 T. Read it, Sylvia. You must try to bring 
 otit the meaning that is in that refrain (to class) 
 What do you think of it now! Do you think it is 
 monotonous ! 
 
 DOROTHY. I do. 
 
 ELIZABETH. I don't. I like it. 
 
 T. And you, Wayne! 
 
 WAYNE. I like it, 
 
 HABRIET. We w?,nt to have a story now. 
 
 T. We're going to have a story. Ruth will 
 read "The Ox that Won the Forfeit." But you 
 must tell me first what you know about these 
 stories. 
 
 ELIZABETH. They are from India. 
 
 T. They are from India and they are called 
 "The Jataka Tales." In India they are consid- 
 ered religious, Do you notice anything religious 
 about the ones you have f ead.
 
 LITERATURE 97 
 
 PUPILS. No. 
 
 T. And yet these stories showing the goodness 
 and the cleverness of animals are told to children 
 in India as religious stories. Why do you think 
 that is! 
 
 ELIZABETH. So that they will learn to be kind 
 to animals. 
 
 T. Part of the religion of India is about being 
 kind to animals. Why do you think that is 1 ? 
 
 ELIZABETH. Because they used to worship 
 animals. 
 
 T. Or perhaps they think that souls go into 
 the bodies of animals. But there is something 
 noble in their religion. What is noble in it, do 
 you think? 
 
 ELIZABETH. It teaches us to be kind to animals. 
 
 (Ruth reads story.) 
 
 T. Well that story shows us that animals have 
 strong feelings too. You cannot get anything out 
 of an ox if you are bad to him. There is a spirit 
 in the ox too. The Indian stories would teach 
 you that you have to respect life no matter in 
 what form you find it. 
 
 T. Now tell me what stories you have been 
 reading yourselves? 
 
 SUZANNE. Oscar Wilde's " Fairy Tales." 
 They are wonderful. 
 
 SYLVIA. I read the Indian stories, and I am 
 going to read "The Blue Bird." 
 
 T. Who can tell us a story out of what they 
 have been reading. 
 
 DOROTHY E. I can. It is "The Grateful Prin- 
 cess" in "The Violet Fairy Tales."
 
 98 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DOROTHY E. A man didn't have any children 
 and he wanted one, and when he got children he 
 got a hundred. He had to go away and get 
 money, and he came across a dragon, and he 
 wanted to get water and the dragon showed him 
 where to get water, but when he wanted to get 
 the water the dragon was afraid he would take it 
 all and he said that he would show him, that is, 
 he would take the water for him, but the man said 
 "No" and the dragon said I will give you seven 
 ducats if you will let me take the water, and the 
 man said: "All right." And they had to get 
 some wood. And the dragon showed him how to 
 get wood. Then he said: "Now let us see you 
 do it. He went up to the top of the tree and 
 began tying vines to the branches, and the dragon 
 said: "What are you doing that for?" "So I 
 can pull them all up at once." The dragon didn't 
 want to lose his forest so he said: "Let me do it 
 for you." He said: "No, I will do it myself." 
 The dragon said: "I will pay you seven more 
 ducats to let me do it." And he said to the 
 dragon: "Go get a stone and see if you can get 
 milk out of it. And while he was going to get a 
 stone he picked up a piece of cheese and when the 
 dragon came back he tried to squeeze the stone 
 but he couldn't but the man squeezed the cheese 
 and fine warm buttermilk came out. The mother 
 said: "You must kill him." But he couldn't. 
 And they had to pay him an awful lot of money, 
 and he said that that money was not enough and 
 they had to give him more. And he said that he 
 didn't want to carry it so they wanted to get rid 
 of him at once and he took the money and when
 
 LITERATURE 99 
 
 the children saw him coming they shouted for joy 
 and the dragon became frightened when he heard 
 such a shout that he threw the money away and 
 Tan home. 
 
 T. Where do you think this story is from! 
 
 SYLVIA. Germany. 
 
 T. Ducats: is that from Germany! 
 
 PUPIL. No, Spain. 
 
 T. Spain or France. What stories have you 
 been reading lately! 
 
 RUTH. I haven't read any. 
 
 T. Why! 
 
 RUTH. I am busy. I take music lessons. 
 
 T. What about you, Harriet! 
 
 HARRIET. I am reading a lovely story. (Har- 
 riet tells plot of story she is reading, and is com- 
 plimented by the teacher for her manner of tell- 
 ing it.) 
 
 Group IV 
 
 Still keeping their imaginations excited about 
 Literature, the aim was to give the class some in- 
 struction about the technical side of Literature 
 of verse especially. Many in the class Ivan, 
 Billy, Edward followed these lessons with a real 
 understanding, and their questions and their crit- 
 icisms were quite good. 
 
 In poetry we had passed from the narrative 
 poem as in "Sohrab and Rustum" to the ode. 
 We kept on reading ballads because the class sym- 
 pathized with the spirit of the ballad and with its 
 vigorous action, and because I wanted to show 
 them that poetry does not depend upon elabo-
 
 100 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 rate diction. The simple ballad form, of course, 
 provided a model for their own verse composi- 
 tions. 
 
 The ode I selected was Gray's ''The Bard." I 
 showed the class how the ode differed from the 
 narrative poems we had been reading; it did not 
 tell a story, and hence in the ode before us a 
 number of incidents referred to were not related 
 or could not be related Edward's "Conquest of 
 Wales," the "She-wolf of France," the "Towers 
 of Julius." The ode could not develop the stories 
 connected with these references because the ode 
 was mainly an address to some one or to some 
 thing. But because the ode could not tell a story 
 it could be more magnificent and more stately 
 than a narrative poem. The class perceived and 
 appreciated all this. Eichard N., Billy, and 
 Edward were most interested in the lesson, and 
 the class really grasped what characterized the 
 ode as a type of poetry. "The Bard" was dif- 
 ficult because of its many historic references that 
 to the class were obscure. 
 
 Afterwards we took up a poem that was start- 
 lingly different from any we had been doing 
 Vachel Lindsay's "Chinese Nightingale." So 
 that the strangeness of the form of this new type 
 of poetry might impress itself on the class we 
 read with it Matthew Arnold's "Forsaken Mer- 
 man." The difference in the pace of the poems 
 was what they at once perceived and how the dif- 
 ference came from the succession of short sylla- 
 bles in "The Chinese Nightingale." The class 
 was inclined to be literal at this lesson, asking
 
 LITERATURE 101 
 
 such questions as where the Nightingale came 
 from and why the Laundryman should be looked 
 upon as an Emperor. 
 
 For prose we kept on reading the prose version 
 of the Homeric story. In connection with this we 
 now read Tennyson's version of the passage de- 
 scribing Achilles shouting across the trench. This 
 passage showed them that the Homeric story was 
 not merely a prose narrative, but something that 
 had great splendour about it. For technical ex- 
 ercises we turned parts of Matthew Arnold's 
 "Forsaken Merman" into ballad verse. 
 
 Below are verses written by the class this week 
 -"The Engine," "The Clouds," "The Pony," 
 "The Aeroplane," and "Evening." The class 
 discussed and criticised these verses as they were 
 read to them. 
 
 THE ENGINE 
 
 I am an engine all made of steel, 
 A whistle, a toot, we're off, 
 we're off. 
 
 The Brakeman signalls, the giant 
 
 wheel 
 
 Grinds on the track and starts 
 
 with a cough. 
 
 Now that I've started, I whiz 
 
 along. 
 
 Past houses, and churches, and 
 
 plain, 
 
 Over the bridges I roar my song 
 
 I shriek through the sun and 
 
 the rain.
 
 102 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 THE CLOUDS 
 
 The clouds majestically sailing by 
 
 Are like a mighty fleet. 
 They race along through the azure sky 
 
 A race which none can beat. 
 
 They fly along on silvery wings, 
 Like beautiful ships they go, 
 
 They take the shapes of marvelous things, 
 Under the sunset's glow. 
 
 THE PONY 
 
 I am a pony, black and white, 
 With flowing mane and tail, 
 I gallop like a flash of light, 
 Bringing the evening mail. 
 
 With foaming jaws and fiery eye, 
 Through sun or rain or sleet, 
 I gallop on with head held high, 
 And merry twinkling feet. 
 
 THE AEROPLANE 
 
 The aeroplane is a soaring bird, 
 
 It flies by day and night, 
 From sea to sea and land to land, 
 
 It makes its lightning flight. 
 
 The sun shines brightly on its wings, 
 
 As through the sky it speeds, 
 Or wings its way through clouds and rain, 
 
 The distant earth recedes.
 
 LITERATURE 103 
 
 EVENING 
 
 Bright 's the fireplace in winter time 
 When outside the wind blows, 
 Grave's the clock's bell singing out "Nine 
 'Tis nine." Still the wind blows, 
 Blows. But near the fireplace 'tis fine 
 When outside the wind blows. 
 
 'And the warmth of the burning logs 
 Makes you drowsy drowsy 
 When you are lying on soft rugs 
 A spark, a crack, bzzy bzzy 
 Make the cold wind and cracking logs 
 Doesn't it make you drowsy 
 When you are lying on soft rugs? 
 
 ABSTRACT OF RECORDS FOR FIFTH WEEK 
 Group I 
 
 The aim with these little children was to give 
 them certain verse-rhythms and certain story- 
 incidents that they could feel for and cherish. A 
 few of them had been on "a hike" in the moun- 
 tains, and they talked of what they had seen as 
 of mythical things "A great boat on a big lake," 
 "an eagle." We finished the poem-game "The 
 Dirge for the Righteous Kitten," and we made 
 a new one out of * * Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where 
 are you roving I" with one of the children asking, 
 and one answering as the Moon. The other poems 
 were from Stevenson's "Child's Garden of 
 Verses." At the end of the week I had the class 
 re-tell or endeavour to re-tell the stories they had 
 read. What they called "The Story of the Giant 
 who Tried to Kill his Wife and got Killed Him- 
 self" the Blue Beard story was the favorite.
 
 104 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Group II 
 
 The aim during these last weeks was to give 
 this class a sense of value in words, of music in 
 Verse, of invention in stories. It was to give them 
 a vivid interest in actual composition. 
 
 The whole class were agreed as to what they 
 liked in poetry they liked poetry that was 
 1 ' funny, "they liked Edward Lear's "The Owl 
 and the Pussy Cat," and such a poem as "Ber- 
 ries" in Walter de la Mare's "Peacock Pie." 
 Jackie showed his appreciation of rhyme by ob- 
 jecting to two rhymes that the poet had made in 
 this poem "came" rhyming with "jam," and 
 "can" rhyming with "lane." Otherwise, he 
 said, the poem was a good one. Ruth, one of the 
 village children, showed herself very clever in 
 finding equivalents of out-of-the-way words in 
 stories we read; Lucienne and Joanne with 
 Bernice, one of the village children, took the deep- 
 est interest in the reading. 
 
 To show them the interest that poems other 
 than the "funny" ones had, we read Blake's 
 "Infant Joy" and "Piping Down the Valleys 
 Wild," Wordsworth's "Lucy Gray," and Colley 
 Gibber's "The Blind Boy." I tried to draw out 
 their ideas of poetry in discussion. It was only 
 on the very thoughtful children like Bernice that 
 such a poem as "Lucy Gray" made an impres- 
 sion. The other children still voted for the 
 "amusing" in poetry. For story we read 
 "Childe Charity" from "Granny's Wonderful 
 Chair," discussing the invention in the incidents 
 and the unfamiliar words and phrases. None of
 
 LITERATURE 105 
 
 the children wrote any verse or stories this week, 
 but I had them write their reminiscence of stories 
 they had read in "The Christmas Tales of 
 Flanders." 
 
 Group III 
 
 The time had now come to give this group the 
 opportunity for dramatic expression. I was con- 
 sidering the making of a play in which most of 
 the parts would be taken by this class. Without 
 telling them what my ulterior object was I had the 
 class read the chapters at the end of "The Ad- 
 ventures of Odysseus" that describe the waiting 
 of Penelope and the return of Odysseus. The class 
 was quite carried away by the story. I then asked 
 them if they would like to have a play made out 
 of this story and they were enthusiastic for it. I 
 then sketched out what sort of a play we might 
 make and what characters we might have in it. 
 I wanted to give the class the impression that 
 they had a great deal to do with the projection 
 and the making of the play. 
 
 Having decided about the play we went on with 
 our usual studies. I wanted to press the advan- 
 tage we had won for poetry by their reception of 
 Tennyson's romantic poems. We read "King 
 Cophetua and the Beggar Maid." This gave us a 
 chance for more dramatic expression; different 
 girls saw themselves in the part of the beggar- 
 maid and they made an acting-version for the 
 class. Another poem read was "Lancelot and 
 Guinevere." The class remembered the name of 
 Lancelot from "The Lady of Shalott," and the 
 poem charmed them. "The Lady of Shalott"
 
 106 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 remained the favorite ; the class spoke of it as the 
 best poem they had ever read ; they spoke no more 
 of disliking poetry. 
 
 I asked the class to recommend stories for our 
 reading. They selected stories from "The Jungle 
 Book" and "The Christmas Tales of Flanders." 
 What they selected from "The Jungle Book" was 
 "Rikki-tikki-Tavi." The stories selected from 
 "The Christmas Tales of Flanders" were humor- 
 ous "Simple John," and "Farmer Broom, 
 Farmer Leaf, and Farmer Iron." The response 
 to all the stories was keen and spontaneous and 
 two of the girls, Dorothy E. and Harriet read 
 quite dramatically. I gave them a new type of 
 story this week Oscar Wilde's "Happy Prince." 
 The words and phrases were novel to them and 
 exciting. This week Wayne wrote a story ' * How 
 the Camel Got His Hump. ' ' It has the same title 
 as one of Kipling's stories, but is not at all like it. 
 The story follows and after it a stenographic 
 report of a half -hour's class. 
 
 HOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP 
 
 In India there lived a rich old miser who spent most 
 of his time in counting his money. And was on the 
 lookout for more. 
 
 He and his two camels lived together in their shack. 
 
 One day they were traveling through a small town 
 in which was a jewelry store. 
 
 The sign stared at him as if it was saying "Rob me" 
 "Rob me." 
 
 The miser dismounted and went in. There was 
 nobody in sight so he entered the treasure room. 
 
 The precious stones dazzled in his eyes. Said he, 
 "I can't carry these in my hand so I must bring my 
 camels in."
 
 LITERATURE 107 
 
 So out he went and brought in the two camels. 
 
 They squeezed through the first door but alas! the 
 second door was too small and both scraped their 
 backs. As the miser was loading a small hump grew 
 on each one of them. 
 
 It grew larger and larger until they had a hump 
 one-third as large as they were. 
 
 The miser was ready and told the camels. They 
 rose and started but their hump prevented it. The 
 camels struggled and awoke the keeper upstairs. He 
 got up and came downstairs. To his surprise he saw 
 the miser lashing the camels. 
 
 The keeper threw a stone at the miser but he dodged 
 and hit one of the camels. 
 
 At once the camels were growing a new hump, the 
 same size as the other. The keeper struck the miser 
 with a stick and killed him, but from then on we al- 
 ways have had a one and a two-humped camel instead 
 of a straight-backed one. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group HI 
 
 T. I want to give you a lesson in reading. 
 When you read aloud remember that you are not 
 reading for your own amusement. You are read- 
 ing so as to make other people understand what 
 it is all about. 
 
 DOROTHY E. That is why I read fast. I forget 
 that I am reading to others. 
 
 (Teacher reads the story "The Convent Free 
 from Care" from "The Christmas Tales of Flan- 
 ders.") 
 
 T. Did you understand every word in it? 
 
 PUPILS. We did. 
 
 T. Very well then. What is a Convent? 
 
 ELIZABETH. A home where monks or nuns live. 
 
 T. And what is an Abbot? 
 
 ELIZABETH. The head father.
 
 108 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. He cudgelled his brains what does that 
 mean? 
 
 DANE. He thought. 
 
 T. A cudgel is a big stick you beat somebody 
 with it. In the same way he beat his brains. Now, 
 Dane, I want you to tell the story. I want to see 
 how you can re-tell a story. 
 
 DANE. (Re-telling story just read.) The Em- 
 peror was walking along and come to this Convent 
 and saw the sign "The Convent Free from Care." 
 And the Emperor couldn't understand what it 
 could be. He worried so much about things his 
 kingdom and he thought it must be queer not to 
 have something to think about. And when he got 
 back to his castle he sent for the abbot. He asked 
 him why didn't they have care there? The ab- 
 bot told him that they ate and drank and slept 
 and didn't have anything to worry about. Then 
 the king said he would give him something to 
 worry about, and so he asked him three questions : 
 "Tell me the depth of the sea, how many cows' 
 tails it will take to reach from the earth to the 
 sun, and what he was thinking about." He didn't 
 know what to do so he thought he would ask his 
 shepherd. 
 
 HABBIET. That's not it. 
 
 T. What did he do, Harriet? 
 
 HARRIET. Paced back and forth in his garden 
 and the evening bell rang, and he didn't know it, 
 and if lightning came down he would not have 
 thought about it. He said that he thought per- 
 haps the shepherd could answer the question, and 
 just at that moment the shepherd appeared and 
 the shepherd said: "What is the matter?" (The
 
 LITERATURE 109 
 
 shepherd was astonished because he never saw 
 him worried before). He said that the king had 
 asked him to do three things to find the depth of 
 the sea, to find how many cows' tails it would take 
 to reach the sun, and what the emperor was think- 
 ing about. And the shepherd said: " That's easy. 
 I will take your clothes in the morning and go to 
 the king." So he dressed up the next morn- 
 ing in the abbot 's clothes and went to the king and 
 the king said: "Have you got the answer to the 
 questions!" And the abbot that was supposed to 
 be the abbot said: "Yes." "Say what it is 
 then." He said: "The depth of the sea was a 
 stone's throw." "How many tails to the sun I" 
 "One cow's tail if it was long enough." And 
 what he was thinking about? 
 
 SUSANNE. He was thinking he saw the abbot 
 before himself but it was his shepherd. 
 
 T. Who was the emperor? Charles the Fifth. 
 Do you know anything about him? He was a 
 great emperor; where did he rule? 
 
 SYLVIA. France. 
 
 T. Germany, Spain and Belgium. It is about 
 Belgium those stories are written those stories 
 about Flanders. 
 
 WAYNE. Flanders' Field: a poem was written 
 about that. 
 
 T. Was Charles the Fifth a great emperor? 
 
 WAYNE. Yes. There are a lot of stories writ- 
 ten about him. He was the greatest emperor of 
 the time. Did Charles the Fifth need to worry? 
 Yes. I should say he did, and he was very much 
 astonished when he heard of a Convent Free 
 from Care.
 
 110 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. I want to hear how you can re-tell stories. 
 
 PUPIL. I haven't read a story in an age. 
 
 T. Tell us about the play that you saw the 
 other night in the village. 
 
 ELIZABETH. There were about three girls and 
 one was a maid and her name was Ada and there 
 was a cook Marie and a kitchen girl named 
 Emily. The cook and the maid were always tor- 
 menting Emily because she was so homely. And 
 she wanted a young man to walk out with. And 
 the mistress had a young man named Mr. Forbes, 
 and one day Emily came into the kitchen and she 
 said she hadn't a young man to walk out with, 
 and felt so bad, and said she would like to have 
 one very much. And they laughed aloud and said 
 who would be walking with one like her. Sud- 
 denly she said: "I have a young man." 
 ' * What ? ' ' they said. ' * Yes, I have a young man. ' ' 
 ' What 'a his name ? " ' ' Harold. ' ' ( Only she said 
 'Arold. ) * ' What 's his business t ' ' " Carpentry, ' ' 
 she said. "Did he send you anything?" And she 
 said he had sent her a lot of letters and an ana- 
 gram. She didn't say that till afterwards. She 
 took the letter out of her hands and read it. It 
 was a true love letter, and then when Ada had 
 to go and wait on the table Marie, the cook, asked 
 her what else did he send. She said, "An ana- 
 gram. My first is a rose in the garden; my 
 second is something about love." The mistress 
 and her beau had been fighting and when Ada 
 came down she said that they had been fighting 
 about an anagram. And Marie said: "Well, 
 Emily?" And then Marie asked about the letter 
 and said that Emily had returned it. And Marie
 
 LITERATURE 111 
 
 said it was her duty to report to the mistress that 
 Emily had her letter, but if they didn't hang to- 
 gether what would become of England! Emily 
 then began to cry. She said her mother was just 
 like that she would give her a shove here and 
 a push there and tell her that she would never 
 get a husband. Emily went on crying. And when 
 Ada came down they didn't say anything about it. 
 Marie told Emily that Ada would be shocked if 
 Emily's young man wouldn't come to her. And 
 Emily said what could they make up about it. She 
 said "I couldn't say I had broken with him." 
 And the cook said, "No, I couldn't say as how 
 he had broken with me." And the cook said, 
 "You could do that very well." 
 
 T. You have told it very well, Elizabeth. Now 
 we shall read some poetry. What poem do you 
 like! 
 
 DANE. I don't like poetry. 
 
 T. What poem do you like ! 
 
 RUTH. The May Queen. 
 
 DOROTHY E. "The Lady of Shalott." 
 
 HARRIET. We like the poem about the Beggar 
 Maid. 
 
 T. Do you all like that poem! 
 
 PUPILS. Yes. 
 
 T. I think the girls ought to learn that poem 
 by heart. It would be very nice to know it and 
 be able to recall it. Don't you think so! 
 
 SYLVIA. I will learn it. 
 
 T. Here is another poem by the same poet. 
 It is called "The Dying Swan." You know that 
 there is a story that the swan sings only once. 
 
 ELIZABETH. When it is dying.
 
 112 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 (Teacher reads Tennyson's "The Dying Swan.") 
 T. Do you like the poem! 
 SUSANNE. I like it very much. 
 T. And you! 
 SYLVIA. I liked it. 
 ELIZABETH. It was pretty good. 
 WAYNE. I didn't like it. 
 DANE. Neither did I. 
 
 Group IV 
 
 Part of my aim with this Group all along had 
 been to give them an appreciation of the different 
 poetic forms. In these last weeks I concentrated 
 a good deal on this particular aim. We had gone 
 from the narrative to the ode. I wanted to take 
 them now to the sonnet, the lyric and passages of 
 dramatic poetry. 
 
 After "The Bard" we took up Dryden's "Alex- 
 ander's Feast." It was easy to make the class 
 see the variations in the music of this ode from 
 the jolly lines that celebrate wine to the long, fail- 
 ing lines that tell of the fall of Darius. On dis- 
 cussing with the class the difference between ' ' The 
 Bard" and "Alexander's Feast" I was surprised 
 to find that the class thought "The Bard" was 
 "more real." They thought it was more real 
 because it was more denunciatory. The whole 
 class appreciated the music of "Alexander's 
 Feast." 
 
 We then had the "Ode to the Skylark." Dis- 
 cussing the difference between it and "Alexan- 
 der's Feast" they said the "Ode to the Skylark" 
 was more regular and there were no bits of his-
 
 LITERATURE 113 
 
 tory referred to in it. We made note of this 
 difference. 
 
 Later we read another type of ode Andrew 
 Marvell's "On the Return of Oliver Cromwell." 
 We contrasted this ode with "The Bard" and 
 with "Alexander's Feast," and I explained the 
 difference between the irregular Pindaric Ode as 
 in the other two and the regular Horatian Ode 
 as in the one on "Cromwell's Return." The 
 class thought the Pindaric was a grander form of 
 ode and the remarks they made in the discussion 
 were critical and intelligent. 
 
 The Ode on "Cromwell's Return" brought us to 
 the sonnet. We read Milton's address to the Lord 
 General. I now tried to make the class familiar 
 with the sonnet form by showing them the octave 
 and the sestet and explaining the dependence of 
 the one upon the other. The class were able to 
 see how the Miltonic sonnet was built up and they 
 were deeply interested in these discoveries in 
 poetic form. 
 
 We continued our reading of "The Adventures 
 of Odysseus." We brought Tennyson's "Lotos 
 Eaters" into this reading and discussed how Ten- 
 nyson elaborated the meagre references in the 
 Homeric story. Following are two stenographic 
 reports of half -hour classes this week. 
 
 Group IV 
 
 T. We are going to study a new ode today. 
 We have studied an ode of Grey and an ode of 
 Dryden. Now we are going to study an ode
 
 114 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 of Shelley. This is the "Ode to the Skylark." 
 The skylark is not a bird you have in this 
 country. 
 
 IVAN. We have it in Switzerland. It goes way 
 up and then suddenly falls down. 
 
 T. They are the most wonderful singing 
 birds. They sing as they rise more and more 
 beautiful the song becomes as they rise. I am 
 going to read this ' ' Ode to the Skylark. ' ' I read 
 to you the other day an ode of praise to a man. 
 These odes generally follow the model of what is 
 called the Pindaric Ode. They are more or less 
 modelled on Pindar's odes. "What were Pindar's 
 odes generally about? 
 
 BILLY. These men were in games they used to 
 have every year or so and a person who won 
 some of the games had an ode written about 
 him. 
 
 T. Pindar's odes were almost always about 
 men. They had a peculiar construction. This is 
 an Ode to a Skylark so it is not the same sort as 
 the Pindaric ode. It will be simple and plain. 
 This is a beautiful verse. Shelley gets the effect 
 of the bird rising. (Quotes and reads complete 
 poem.) What does he say of the skylark? 
 
 BILLY. He compares the song of the skylark 
 to various things. Then he compares it to every- 
 thing that the skylark might be like. He says 
 that every human song compared to the song of 
 the skylark is empty. 
 
 EDWARD. What is "Chorous Hymenial?" 
 
 T. That is a marriage song, a song of triumph, 
 or a song about wine all these songs compared 
 to the skylark's song,
 
 LITERATURE 115 
 
 "Matched with thine 
 would be all 
 But an empty vaunt 
 A thing wherein we feel there is some 
 hidden want." 
 
 What do you think of this ode? 
 
 IVAN. It's fine. 
 
 T. How does it compare with the other odes I 
 What has it in common with the others that we 
 have been reading? 
 
 EDWARD. It is more quiet. 
 
 T. What makes it different? 
 
 EDWARD. It is a song of praise. 
 
 T. And an address. It begins by praising the 
 skylark. Is there anything in this that you don't 
 understand? Shall I read some of the stanzas 
 again? I won't read them all but I shall read 
 some. I will read down from where he compares 
 the skylark to certain things. He begins by say- 
 ing: 
 
 "Like a Poet hidden 
 In the light of thought 
 Singing hymns unbidden 
 Till the world is wrought 
 To sy_mpathy with hopes and fears 
 it heeded not: 
 
 "Like a high-born maiden 
 In a palace tower 
 Soothing her love-laden 
 Soul in secret hour 
 With music sweet as love, which over- 
 flows her bower." 
 
 T. What is a glowworm? 
 PUPIL. A glowworm is a little worm that 
 shows a faint light like the firefly.
 
 116 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. Who, do you think, are the "winged 
 thieves?" 
 
 The hawk. 
 
 PtJPILS - \Thewinds. 
 
 T. The winds. It must be the winds. They 
 are the only things mentioned. 
 
 Now he talks about himself and about humanity 
 and he compares them with the skylark. Notice 
 the way the ode is built up. Then he compares 
 the song of the skylark to the different things 
 to different beautiful and imaginative things 
 and then he compares the skylark's lot to the lot 
 of the human being. Then he says that we look 
 before and after that is the misfortune of men 
 that they can see the past and the future and 
 that makes them sad. We can never be happy like 
 the lark, why? 
 
 IVAN. The lark knows only the present and we 
 know what is past and the sad things of the past 
 and perhaps the tragic things that are to come 
 and that makes people very unhappy. 
 
 T. Yes. Shelley says we can never be as 
 happy as the skylark is because 
 
 "We look before and after, 
 And pjne for what is not ; 
 Our sincerest laughter 
 With some pain is fraught;" 
 
 Do you like it? 
 
 BILLY. Yes, it is very good. 
 
 T. We shall read some of Homer now. You 
 must keep what I told you about this sort of 
 poetry in your mind. Don't lose any of it be-
 
 LITERATURE 117 
 
 cause we are going to go over this again. Who 
 is going to read? Where were we? 
 
 BILLY. I think where Odysseus was going to 
 the palace. 
 
 T. Oh, yes. Will you read? Stand up please 
 and read aloud so that everybody will understand 
 what it is about. 
 
 CARL. (Reads from "The Children's Ho- 
 mer.") 
 
 T. What size would a city be in those days! 
 
 EDWARD. About as big as Peterborough. 
 
 T. Yes, they would just have the palace of the 
 king and a few houses. 
 
 Odysseus was in a very difficult situation. It 
 all depended on this king. Would this king do a 
 very great act? An act that would be expensive 
 and dangerous to him. Would he give him a ship 
 and send him to his own country or would he do 
 nothing for him? The king would have to like 
 him very much as he had very far to go. If 
 somebody came to you and was poor and lived far 
 away, say in Canada, you would have to think a 
 lot of him before you would give him a ship and 
 servants, etc., for him to go to Canada. That was 
 the state he was in. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group IV 
 
 T. This poem was written by Milton when 
 there was a civil war in England and they were 
 expecting an assault on the city. Will you read 
 it, Ivan?-" 
 
 IVAN. "When the Assault was intended for 
 the City." 
 
 T. What do you think of that sonnet? Would
 
 118 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 you be surprised to learn that it is one of the 
 greatest sonnets ever written! 
 
 IVAN. I would. 
 
 T. You read it very badly. This was a poem 
 written when the friends of Milton were expecting 
 an attack to be made on the city. And he ad- 
 dresses them telling them what to do. He asks 
 them if they do take the city to spare his house. 
 Why? Because he is a poet and he can make 
 their deed resound o'er land and sea. And he 
 reminds them of two incidents in history. When 
 the great Athenian conqueror, Alexander the 
 Great, bade them spare the house of Pindarus 
 and when Athens was to be destroyed the people 
 came out and repeated the verses from Euripides 
 and the conquerors were so moved that they let 
 the people live. (Reads.) How much have I 
 read? 
 
 IVAN. The first quatrain. 
 
 T. (Reads.) Now I have read how much of 
 the sonnet? 
 
 IVAN. The octave. 
 
 T. Now we begin with the sestet. He has had 
 everything said that he wants to say in the octave. 
 Now he takes a little turn and speaks in a little 
 different way. Now does it seem better to you? 
 
 EDWARD. Who wrote that, did you say? 
 
 T. That is a sonnet by Milton. Bead it, and 
 read it with proper emphasis. 
 
 EDWARD. (Reads.) 
 
 T. Let us understand what it is all about. 
 What illustration does he use in telling them to 
 save the poet's house? Who, does he mention, 
 did the same?
 
 LITERATURE 119 
 
 EDWARD. Pindar's house was spared. 
 
 T. By whom? 
 
 PUPIL. By Alexander the Great. 
 
 T. When the people came out and repeated to 
 the conquerors of Athens the verses of Euripides, 
 the conquerors were so overcome by the sadness 
 of these stanzas from the Elektra that their hearts 
 melted and they allowed the houses to stand. 
 What other house was saved? 
 
 PUPIL. The house of Pindar? 
 
 T. Who was Pindar? 
 
 EDWARD. He wrote all the odes of the Grecian 
 games. 
 
 T. The great Athenian conqueror, who was 
 he? 
 
 RICHARD N. Alexander the Great. 
 
 T. (Reads sonnet again.) Now do you begin 
 to see anything more in the sonnet than you saw 
 at first? This is a very remarkable sonnet. Can 
 anyone tell me what type of sonnet it is? 
 
 EDWARD. Italian. 
 
 T. Italian. Now observe how beautifully this 
 sonnet is done. The octave is made up of two 
 quatrains and the two quatrains are separate from 
 each other. (Reads.) In the very sound of the 
 lines you have the feeling of ruin, "When temple 
 and tower went to the ground." He uses quite 
 another line here, 
 
 "To save the Athenian walls from ruins bare." 
 Notice the contrast: 
 
 .... "when temple and tower 
 Went to the ground."
 
 120 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 You feel the sudden crash. The other line is 
 slow and long. I shall read you another sonnet. 
 Milton's sonnet on " Blindness." Did you know 
 that Milton was blind? 
 
 IVAN. Yes, he used to dictate to his daughters. 
 
 T. (Reads.) Can you understand what his 
 consolation is for being blind? 
 
 EDWAED. Patience. 
 
 T. He asks himself what God expects him to 
 do. Then patience replies to him that God is after 
 all a great King, and there are all sorts of people 
 around a great king. Some of them do all sorts 
 of things and others merely stand around and 
 wait. We have read how many sonnets today in 
 the Italian form? 
 
 EDWARD. Two. The Italian sonnets are more 
 common than the Shakespearean. 
 
 T. Practically all the sonnets are in the Ital- 
 ian form. Now we will read from Homer. 
 Where have we read to? 
 
 EDWARD. Where Penelope takes the bow. 
 
 "This is the bow of Odysseus " 
 
 T. One of the warriors took up the bow to see 
 if he could bend it. But he could not bend it. 
 
 PUPILS. (Read from "The Children's Ho- 
 mer.") 
 
 ABSTRACT OF RECORDS FOR SIXTH WEEK 
 Group I 
 
 The aim was the same as in previous week. 
 The class had now become quite ready in expres- 
 sion through the poem-games and through the re- 
 telling of the stories they had read. Asked class
 
 LITERATURE 121 
 
 on various days this week to re-tell stories they 
 had liked. Alvin, who is very eager about stories 
 and who has quite a remarkable memory, told the 
 story of " Little Thumb" out of Perrault's collec- 
 tion, remembering phrases clearly. Charlotte told 
 the story of "The Sleeping Beauty" from the 
 same collection. She was, however, slow in tell- 
 ing it and had to be helped on. At the end of 
 this last week we had a recitation of all the poems 
 the class had learned. A few of the children had 
 as many as eight poems for a possession by 
 Stevenson, Blake, Vachel Lindsay and others. 
 The two poem-games "The Dirge for the Right- 
 eous Kitten," and "Lady Moon" pleased the 
 children greatly, and they were always eager to 
 do them. The last poem we learned was Blake's 
 "The Fly." The last stories we read and had 
 told were "Puss in Boots" and "The Fairy" 
 from Perrault, and "The Foolish Timid Rabbit" 
 from "The Jatakas," a story that was a great 
 favorite with these little children. Some of the 
 children in this group had parts in a comedy that 
 was being improvised. 
 
 Group II 
 
 The aim was as in previous week. To give 
 them an extended vocabulary and a sense of the 
 value of words, I had the class write down the 
 words that were quite unfamiliar to them in our 
 readings ; we then made games in which these un- 
 familiar words were used. This week, for its 
 value in beautiful sound, I read to the class Shel- 
 ley's "Arethusa Arose." First I explained to 
 them that they need not try to follow the verses
 
 122 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 for a story. The whole class appreciated the 
 music of the poem. Lucienne thought she could 
 put a baby to sleep with the words. Some of the 
 unfamiliar words we got out of the poem I im- 
 pressed on the minds of the children by having 
 them write them down and use them in sentences 
 that we made up. 
 
 "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" that we read this 
 week showed the class that verse can be used to 
 tell a story. The rhymes gave them great fun. 
 I had different children re-tell the incidents bring- 
 ing out the unfamiliar words that were in the 
 poem. One rat survived what did he think of 
 the music? Different children tried to describe 
 the rat's feelings. One child survived what did 
 he think the music was like? The children tried 
 to enter into and explain the survivor's thoughts. 
 We used Kipling's story "How the Elephant got 
 his Trunk" for the purpose of adding to the vo- 
 cabulary of the class and giving them fluency of 
 expression. The Rock-Python and the Elephant, 
 and the Crocodile and the Elephant have conver- 
 sations. We made up speeches for the Crocodile 
 and the Eock-Python. 
 
 We had story-telling assembles this week. I 
 had the class tell all they knew of the Blue Beard 
 story. We had not read it in class, but all had 
 heard of it and the children gave various versions. 
 Among the stories we read and had re-told were 
 "Baltan and the Wolf" and "The Half Cock" 
 from "The Christmas Tales of Flanders," and 
 "The Selfish Giant" from Oscar Wilde's "Happy 
 Prince." Among the poems Kipling's "Seal's 
 Lullaby," and Keats' "I stood tip-toe upon a
 
 LITERATURE 123 
 
 little hill." The comic verses we read were "The 
 Turtle and the Flamingo" which had rollicking 
 phrases that the children appreciated. Four out 
 of this class were taken into the rehearsals of the 
 play. 
 
 Group III 
 
 All in this group were now in rehearsals for the 
 play "Odysseus and Penelope" as we now named 
 it. The plot of the play was worked out, and the 
 children who should have parts were fitted in. They 
 had first to understand the action perfectly the 
 return of Odysseus, the meeting with Telemachus, 
 the slaying of the suitors, the meeting with Pene- 
 lope. In consultation with Mr. Coluzzi I gave the 
 parts they were not written then to the chil- 
 dren who were to play. We suggested to them 
 the appropriate action and words. Then I worked 
 over these words and dictated them to the sten- 
 ographer. In this way the children were given 
 the sense that they were participating in the mak- 
 ing as well as in the acting of the play. 
 
 In actual studies we had now reached a stage 
 in which the children were all able to create some- 
 thing for themselves. We had been reading Kip- 
 ling's "Just-So Stories," and I suggested to the 
 class that they should make up stories about the 
 animals that they knew in the place around. 
 Eleanor and Susanne wrote stories on the themes 
 suggested. One wrote "How the Fox got white 
 on his Tail," and the other wrote "How the Deer 
 got his thin Legs." Eleanor's was an unsophis- 
 ticated folk-tale, not at all like any of Kip- 
 ling's, but Susanne 's was sophisticated. Dwight
 
 124 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 and Seymour wrote "How the Porcupine got his 
 Quills" and "How the Bobcat lost his Tail." 
 
 THE BOYS OF MARION 
 
 Once upon a time there were three boys whose names 
 were Jack French, James Moody and Robert Brown, 
 "Frenchy, Brownie, and Mood" their friends all 
 called them. They lived in the town of Marion, N. H. 
 They lived near Mount Marion and one morning 
 Frenchy said "I'd like to go up Mount Marion and 
 camp out tonight and stay all the rest of the week. 
 
 Mood said "Let's go." So the three ran straight 
 home and asked their parents. Their parents were 
 willing so they rolled their blankets and their mother 
 put up provisions enough to last a week and the too 
 hathets and revolvers and provisions and packs and 
 started for Mount Marion. It was the week of Fourth 
 of July that they had picked out. They slept on the 
 timber line the first night the second night was the 
 night before the fourth and there were a lot of bandits 
 tomenting the man in the lookout station. The three 
 boys heard the noise and they went up and saw that 
 they had broken the man's leg so Frenchy took out 
 his revolver and cried "Hands up." The bandits 
 obeyed. Frenchy passed Mood his revolver and said 
 "You and Brownie keep these Bandits while I call 
 the police." Frenchy. called the police and in about 
 an hour the police came up and took the bandits and 
 put them at the county farm for a term of 20 years. 
 
 The next day their folks came up for a picnic they 
 told them what they had done and their folks were 
 glad to hear it. 
 
 DANE. 
 
 DEACON JONES'S REWARD 
 
 Once upon a tune there were a lot of Bandits in town 
 Patterson under a chief named Black Rolph. These 
 bandits damaged a lot of farms and killed children 
 wrecked trains and fixed traps so when a horse stepped 
 on it it would break the horse's leg.
 
 LITERATURE 125 
 
 One day Deacon Jones was coming slowly along 
 with a load of hay and his horse was pulling hard. 
 
 Black Rolph and his tribe were camping near there 
 and Rolph said "Boys lets have some fun with this 
 old codger get the trap Rob." Rob brought the trap 
 out and as Deacon Jones was up on top of the hay he 
 couldn't see much that was going on. The bandits set 
 the trap and when Deacon Jones came along and of 
 course Old Ned his horse stepped into the trap, and 
 fell down and tipped the wagon over and hay was all 
 on the ground and Deacon Jones was hurt a little bit 
 but not much. All the bandits were hiding but so they 
 could see the Deacon when he tipped over. There were 
 two of the bandits that had just got into the tribe and 
 when they didn't know enough not to laugh and one 
 of them laughed right out the deacon of course heard 
 him he saw one of them and he knew by the rough 
 suit he had on that he was a bandit and so when he 
 got home he told the constable and the constable took 
 six men with him and they got the tribe of Bandits 
 and took them to the county jail. The next day 
 Deacon Jones got five hundred dollars from the state 
 as a reward to any one who could find out where these 
 bandits were and the Deacons picture was in the 
 "Boston Globe" the next day. 
 
 HOW THE BOBCAT LOST ITS TAIL 
 
 Once upon a time there was a bobcat who was the 
 terror of all animals. So they decided to have a great 
 meeting. Old wise Mr. Bear spoke up at once. He 
 said, "Why do we not cut off his tail he prides his 
 tail most? They all agreed this plan was the best. 
 One day the bobcat was walking along when he saw 
 Reddy Fox walking along with some fish. The bob- 
 cat asked him where he got the fish. The bobcat 
 wanted to know how to fish. So one winter day the 
 fox took the bobcat out to teach him how to fish. He 
 told him to sit down on the ice. The bobcat sat down 
 and his tail froae stiff and he pulled and pulled till it
 
 126 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 broke off in a little stub. And the bobcat slunk away 
 and was never seen again for a long time. 
 
 SEYMOUR. 
 
 HOW THE PORCKUPINE GOT HIS QUILLS 
 
 One upon a time the Porckupine lived in pine trees. 
 The Porckupine had no protection, and so Porckupines 
 were mostly killed out, when quills began to grow at 
 last there quills looked like pine needles and so he is 
 camoflaged very well, after ceturys the porckupine got 
 sick of eating pine and began eating pouplar but still 
 he is camoflaged for the pine Tree, but now can curl 
 up in a ball and use his tail for a sword 
 
 DWIGHT. 
 
 To make a change in the type of stories we 
 read some of the tales in Oscar Wilde's "The 
 Happy Prince." "The Fisherman and his Soul" 
 was the story that seemed the most different and 
 the most curious to the children. We did not read 
 all of it. The older children, Harriet, Ruth, 
 Wayne, Dwight, were the most eager about this 
 story. They thought there was poetry in the de- 
 scriptions. 
 
 As regards poetry I wanted to find out how far 
 beauty of sound and phrase appealed to the class. 
 I had them read "Arabia," and "The Dark 
 Chateau" from Walter de la Mare's "The Lis- 
 teners." Suzanne was the only one who liked 
 these poems for their qualities of music and 
 phrase. 
 
 It became necessary to give all our time to the 
 preparation for the play, for the classes were now 
 not only rehearsing, but making the costumes and 
 the properties for "Odysseus and Penelope."
 
 LITERATURE 127 
 
 Group IV 
 
 The aim during this last week of teaching was 
 to establish a very free communication between 
 teacher and students. I wanted them to discuss 
 with me any literary problems they thought of or 
 that happened to crop up. Edward had been 
 reading Walter de la Mare's poem "The Lis- 
 teners," and he wanted to know whether it was 
 to be classed as a ballad or as a lyric. I had him 
 read poem to class. They perceived that it was 
 a narrative poem although it was not a story of 
 action such as we had in the ballads it was a 
 story of a dream-like experience. I showed the 
 class how the curious, inexact lines th the poem 
 added to the dream-like effect of the whole. Ed- 
 ward and Ivan were impressed by the reading of 
 "The Listeners," and the other boys showed they 
 were greatly interested in it. 
 
 Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale" was read and 
 discussed. We compared it with the "Ode to the 
 Skylark, ' ' dwelling on the difference of rhythm in 
 the poems the soaring measure and warbling 
 words of "The Skylark," and the slower, more 
 introspective movement of "The Nightingale." 
 We were now coming to the end of our reading of 
 "The Adventures of Odysseus," and we read and 
 discussed the sonnet "On First Looking into 
 Chapman's Homer." I explained what "Realms 
 of Gold" meant they understood the references 
 to "Stout Cortez" and "Watcher of the Skies." 
 I showed them how apt the reference was to Chap- 
 man speaking out loud and bold by repeating the 
 opening of Chapman's version of "The Iliad."
 
 128 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Another poem arising out of the Homeric story 
 was Tennyson's "Ulysses." We discussed in 
 the class the question whether Homer's Odysseus 
 would have spoken in the way that Tennyson's 
 Ulysses spoke. The class felt that there was a dif- 
 ference between the two characters, but they were 
 unable to explain in what the difference lay. 
 They noticed that Tennyson represented Ulysses 
 as having his ancient mariners within call, 
 whereas Homer showed Odysseus as coming to 
 Ithaka having lost all his men. 
 
 We had a lesson showing how the sonnet was 
 formed. I got the class to write certain sonnets 
 down from my dictation, marking the lines as 
 they wrote them "quatrain," "octave," "sestet," 
 "couplet." In this way we made a clear com- 
 parison between the Shakespearean and the Ital- 
 ian sonnet between "Shall I Compare Thee to a 
 Summer's Day" and "On First Looking into 
 Chapman's Homer." The writing down of the 
 sonnets, the realization of the difference between 
 the octave and the sestet and the arrangement of 
 the rhymes made the class interested in the work- 
 manship. From this technical interest a boy like 
 Richard N., who was cool and practical, passed 
 over to an interest in the sonnet as an expression 
 of mood or feeling. 
 
 Later in the week we came to read lyrics and 
 dramatic poetry. I explained to the class what a 
 lyric is a short and simple poem expressing an 
 emotion that one feels personally; I explained 
 that the lyric does not set out to tell a story as 
 a ballad does nor to be gorgeous as an ode is. 
 We then read Poe's "Helen." Billy asked if this
 
 LITERATURE 129 
 
 was not really an ode seeing that it was addressed 
 to some one was it not really an ode to Helen? 
 The class discussed this point. I showed that the 
 poet was more concerned with his own feelings 
 than he was with bringing out any of the beauties 
 of Helen, and that this concern made the differ- 
 ence between the lyric and the ode. We read 
 Blake's " Sunflower, " and "The Rose Tree/' 
 After coming to these from "The Ode to the 
 Nightingale" the class found them rather empty. 
 Afterwards we read Landor's "Rose Aylmer" 
 and Thomas Love Peacock's "Grave of Love," 
 both poems about death and loss. The class got 
 the sense of beauty of language and sentiment in 
 these lyrics. 
 
 The later lessons were concerned with dramatic 
 poetry. Dramatic poetry arose out of situation. 
 If Richard N. were condemned to death what he 
 would say in that situation would be dramatic ; if 
 a poet put himself into Richard's feelings he 
 would make dramatic poetry. 
 
 The dramatic poetry that we studied was from 
 Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound.'' Told class 
 of the Prometheus myth. First read to the class 
 the opening speech of Prometheus explaining cer- 
 tain phrases and references. Had Edward re- 
 read same speech drawing his and the class's at- 
 tention to Shelley's choice of words. Showed 
 them how different "Sleep-unsheltered hours" 
 was from "sleepless hours" and so with other 
 memorable phrases. The class already knew 
 something of Greek myth through Homer. They 
 sympathized with the situation of Prometheus 
 and were quite impressed by the poetry. They
 
 130 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 were able to make a comparison between Shelley's 
 blank verse and the blank verse of Matthew 
 Arnold's "Sohrab and Kustum." The fact that 
 plays were now in rehearsal helped the class 
 towards a more certain realization of what dra- 
 matic poetry was. 
 
 Ivan was now drawn into the comedy and Ed- 
 ward into the play about Odysseus. From this 
 time on, rehearsals took the place of regular les- 
 sons.
 
 MUSIC
 
 MUSIC 
 I 
 
 BY ELSA CAMPBELL 
 
 THE purpose of this department has been to 
 awaken and stimulate the musical instinct in a 
 way to bring forth self-expression and self -devel- 
 opment, to touch the inner consciousness of every 
 child and develop creative ability. The children 
 are taught to hear inwardly, rhythmically, me- 
 lodically, harmonically, and to think, if possible, 
 in terms of music. After their feeling has been 
 aroused by listening, they are led to express them- 
 selves through the improvisation and singing of 
 songs and their own dance interpretations, until 
 music comes in a measure to be a language that 
 is really their own, and their relation to it a real 
 thing, informal and natural. The classes were 
 divided into groups of five or six pupils each. 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: To arouse interest of the group and to 
 find out what they most needed, was the work of 
 this first day. 
 
 METHOD: We talked a little about music, and 
 they were much interested in a discussion as to 
 where all music came from. Then I played some- 
 thing on the piano and they saw that it did not 
 
 133
 
 134 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 all come from the throat. After various other 
 suggestions, such as "the violin," "the bugle," 
 etc., I asked one of the boys to sing a melody to 
 some words that I suggested, something that he 
 had never heard before. He did, and when I 
 asked where that melody had come from, Wayne 
 suddenly said, "It comes from inside of us." 
 They all agreed that we have to hear the music 
 inside before we can play or sing it. We talked 
 of the rhythm or swing of music after I had 
 played something for them to listen to. When I 
 asked them what things in nature moved in 
 rhythm, one boy said, "The seasons," one sug- 
 gested the stars, and one said, "The earth's swing 
 makes day and night." We sang patriotic airs, 
 as they were the only songs that all the boys knew. 
 
 Group I 
 
 AIM: Dancing, swinging, clapping, and walk- 
 ing to Folk tunes. 
 
 METHOD: Sang "London Bridge" and "Pretty 
 Little Blue Bird" with great joy. Each child had 
 a different way of expressing (on the board) the 
 pitch of the tones that I played or sang. Some 
 
 drew lines, others dots, some short dashes 
 
 /=: 
 
 RESPONSE : They were most responsive. 
 
 Later they drew what we call pitch pictures 
 a line following the "up or down" of a melody. 
 Still always singing, the children learned the feel- 
 ing for key.
 
 MUSIC 135 
 
 Group I 
 
 AIM: To develop a sense of tonality or key. 
 To feel the home tone, the tone which represents 
 home, the goal of all the other tones. 
 
 METHOD: Sang and played extremely simple 
 melodies, such as C, D, E, D, C, leaving off the 
 end tone and listening to see if any child would 
 sing it. Sophie did the first time. The others did 
 it later. Then I played and sang little tunes that 
 they were familiar with, stopping before the last 
 tone to see if they would sing it "home." 
 
 RESPONSE. They also sang and danced as usual. 
 
 NOTE. The question of rhythm and tonality was 
 worked out in this way as well as other ways in the dif- 
 ferent groups. For instance, in one group we played 
 scales both up and down, leaving the last, or home, tone 
 for children to sing. Also had one child start melody 
 and another finish it. 
 
 The children at the end of the few weeks had developed 
 in a very interesting way in rhythm, pitch, the feeling 
 for key, and in their freedom and joy in singing their 
 own melodies. Group I, July 13 and August 15. 
 
 Group I 
 
 AIM: To sing a new song and as always to 
 help them through the work to feel the rhythm 
 and pitch. 
 
 METHOD: Sang their favorite songs as they 
 were asked for, dancing, swinging, or clapping 
 them. For a new song we had "Baa, Baa, Black 
 Sheep. " I played it through first for them to 
 hear the melody and get the swing. We then 
 learned the words. As usual the children asked 
 to act them, which they did before singing it. We 
 then sang the song, clapped and danced it. With-
 
 136 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 out saying anything I played "Soldiers' March" 
 by Rebikoff, and after listening intently Alvin got 
 up and began marching about to the music. Doris 
 soon joined him in perfect rhythm. I then 
 changed to a waltz and they swung into the 
 rhythm of that. I also played Grieg's "Elfin 
 Tanz." They were very quiet. Doris, with 
 hands clasped, swayed in rhythm, eyes large. I 
 spoke, and she said, " Oh, don't talk ; they will hear 
 you." I said, "Who will hear me, Doris?" Doris 
 said, "The little people dancing." Alvin and 
 Doris both made very good pitch pictures of little 
 melodies. 
 
 RESPONSE : Doris and Alvin were the only ones 
 in class. They were interested. Busy twenty-five 
 minutes. 
 
 AIM: See former reports. 
 
 METHOD : I asked the children if they had any 
 songs that made them feel like marching when 
 they sang them. Doris said, "The King of 
 France." Alvin immediately spoke up, "Baa, 
 Baa, Black Sheep." Doris again spoke with "I 
 see a soldier marching," and Phoebe said, "Cob- 
 bler, Cobbler, mend my shoe." They were right 
 in every case. We sang all these songs, and the 
 children marched or not as they wished. Doris, 
 "Now we want a song to dance." I asked them 
 what songs made them want to dance. There were 
 several suggestions, "Lavenders Blue," "Did 
 you ever see a Lassie?" and some others, which 
 we sang. Doris and Alvin made some good pitch 
 pictures.
 
 MUSIC 137 
 
 RESPONSE: Perkins and Phoebe showed less 
 interest than the others. Phoebe, if she can be the 
 centre of things or have the most important part, 
 is keenly alive, but otherwise shows no interest. 
 She has no group spirit. 
 
 The older groups have developed not only on 
 the rhythmic and melodic side, but also on the 
 harmonic. They can inwardly hear, sing, write, 
 harmonize, and transpose a melody. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group II 
 
 (All take places at board, and Miss C. plays 
 while children draw.) 
 Miss C. What are you drawing! 
 CYNTHIA. Duration pictures. 
 Miss C. What does a duration picture meant 
 CYNTHIA. Whether the tone is long or short. 
 
 J iJ j3j nJ Jr r 'r 
 
 Miss C. I should like to have you sing this for 
 me. (Cynthia sings air.) Now everybody make 
 a pitch picture. (Plays.) What does pitch pic- 
 ture mean, Elizabeth! 
 
 ELIZABETH. It means to show whether the 
 tones go up or down. (Draws.) 
 
 (Cynthia draws.) 
 
 (Barbara draws.)
 
 138 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Miss C. Do it with your hands in the air, Bar- 
 bara. (Draws again.) 
 
 CYNTHIA. Is this right? 
 
 Miss C. Do you think the first one sounds like 
 the next phrase! (Sings it.) (Cynthia draws 
 again.) I will sing it and you take your chalk 
 
 and draw along your pitch picture while I sing. 
 (Cynthia sings and draws again.) Now, sing it 
 with me. 
 
 (All sing.) What is the home tone of it, Barbara! 
 Sing it for me again. I want somebody to tell 
 me the name of that tone! 
 
 ELIZABETH. F. 
 
 Miss C. Do you agree with her, Cynthia! 
 
 CYNTHIA. Yes. 
 
 Miss C. Do you, Barbara! 
 
 BARBARA. Yes. 
 
 Miss C. Then the name of the home tone is F. 
 Let us sing the scale with F as the home tone. 
 
 CYNTHIA. Let me. (Sings scale, naming 
 tones.) 
 
 Miss C. Will some one sing a scale song with 
 words! 
 
 ELIZABETH. (Sings.) The birds are singing all 
 the day, up and down the way.
 
 MUSIC 139 
 
 Miss C. What was the matter with Elizabeth's 
 scale song? 
 
 CYNTHIA. It didn't have a swing. 
 
 ELIZABETH. (Sings again.) The birds are 
 singing all the day. 
 
 Miss C. Did that have a good swing? (Plays 
 it.) It had a splendid swing. 
 
 ELIZABETH. (Sings.) In the trees so far away. 
 
 CYNTHIA. In the green trees so full of spray. 
 
 Miss C. Now, let's sing it going down. (Eliza- 
 beth sings it going up and Miss C. going down.) 
 
 BARBARA. (Sings.) My fish are swimming all 
 around, because they can't walk on the ground. 
 
 CHILDREN. You have heard that. 
 
 Miss C. Yes, but nobody has thought of sing- 
 ing it before today. Who knows another? 
 
 ELIZABETH. My kitty's fur is soft as silk. 
 When I have dinner she has milk. 
 
 BARBARA. I saw a soldier marching. I saw him 
 on the bridge marching. 
 
 Miss C. Did that have a good swing? 
 
 CHILDREN. No. No. 
 
 Miss C. Perhaps we can help Barbara. Per- 
 haps we can make it into a good swing. (Sings.) 
 I saw a soldier marching by. Now who will sing 
 it down? 
 
 BARBARA. I have another one. 
 
 Miss C. But don't you think you could sing 
 the same one and make it swing? I think we 
 ought to be able to. 
 
 ELIZABETH. (Sings.) And then he gave a 
 sigh. 
 
 Miss C. (Sings.) And then he came back on 
 the fly.
 
 140 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 ELIZABETH. (Sings.) When he came back he 
 had a sore eye. 
 
 Miss C. Now, who can sing the melody that I 
 played when we drew a picture on the board? 
 (Cynthia sings.) Is Cynthia singing the same 
 melody that I played? 
 
 CHILDREN. No. No. (Miss C. plays it again.) 
 
 CYNTHIA. That is it. I meant that. (Sings.) 
 
 Miss C. I should like you to all sing that and 
 walk it while I play it. (They do.) What are 
 you doing it for? 
 
 ELIZABETH. To get the big swing. 
 
 Miss C. What do you mean by that? 
 
 ELIZABETH. To get the rhythm ? 
 
 Miss C. Yes. Now let's all sing that and walk 
 it. (They do.) Now, I should like to have you all 
 step it. What do we step it for? 
 
 CYNTHIA. To get the long and short tones. 
 (All step while Miss C. plays.) 
 
 Miss C. Now, who will draw me a picture of 
 that on the board? (Cynthia draws.) (All go to 
 board and draw.) 
 
 Miss C. Let 's sing it again and draw. (Sings.) 
 
 CYNTHIA. Go slower and I will do it with you. 
 (Sings.) (Cynthia draivs.) 
 
 Miss C. Now I should like to have you put the 
 bar lines in. How can you tell where to put the 
 bar lines? 
 
 CYNTHIA. By the swing. 
 
 Miss C. When we sing, what do we always 
 find, that there is one place that has 
 
 CYNTHIA. A strong swing.
 
 MUSIC 
 
 141 
 
 Miss C. And then we put in 
 
 CYNTHIA. The bar. 
 
 ELIZABETH. Let's sing it. 
 
 (Elizabeth draws and puts in bars. Barbara 
 sings and points to hers as she sings.) 
 
 Miss C. Let's all look at Cynthia's and see if 
 we agree with her bar lines. Let's all swing it. 
 
 (They sing and swing.) 
 
 Miss C. Now we will take this melody and do 
 the rest tomorrow morning and change our lines 
 to note values. 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM : To work on some original melodies. 
 
 METHOD: The children each sang an original 
 melody. They made pitch pictures, duration pic- 
 tures of these songs, sang the home tones, found 
 them on the piano. They walked them and 
 stepped them for rhythm and duration. I then 
 played some chords while they sang roots. I next 
 played a melody, then asked the children to sing 
 it and make a duration picture. 
 
 EESPONSE: Joanne sang this melody, 
 
 J iJ"j i J 
 
 "I love you, I love you, I love you." 
 
 I asked who could sing Joanne's melody, and one 
 of the girls sang this, 
 
 "I love you, I love you, I love your
 
 142 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Joanne said: "No, that isn't the way I heard it. 
 The rubber didn't sing it that way. You pull a 
 piece of rubber and let it go and it makes a sound 
 like this." She then made a sound (sliding) that 
 a rubber band does when stretched and relaxed. 
 "You must slide down the notes like the rubber 
 when you say love." 
 
 As soon as rhythm is realized and melody be- 
 comes a natural means of expression, harmoniza- 
 tion may be taken up. Note report of Groups II 
 A and B, July 16 : 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM : The new point is the chord. As soon as 
 melody becomes a natural means of expression 
 and rhythm is realized, harmonization may be 
 brought up. 
 
 METHOD: Inward hearing is again the root of 
 this problem. The unity of melody, harmony, and 
 rhythm exists in the mind, because as soon as a 
 melody is heard and sung, its harmony is invari- 
 ably heard also. The question is how to make 
 the child understand this clearly. Start again 
 with listening. 
 
 With Group II A, played one of the tunes given 
 by children and asked them to sing the "rest" 
 tone. I then asked them to listen for other tones 
 that sing with it. They closed their eyes the bet- 
 ter to listen and Joanne sang the dominant, or 
 V, and Elizabeth sang the III. This does not 
 always come so soon. In case they cannot hear 
 the tones that sing with the root, I play the triad 
 and have them listen to it as a thing of beauty.
 
 MUSIC 
 
 143 
 
 By numbering the notes of the scale the chord be- 
 comes familiar. Children can learn to sing I, 
 III, V, i.e., the triad, more easily than by think- 
 ing the names of the notes or even of the sol fa 
 syllables. The children in this group sang origi- 
 nal melodies, made pitch and duration pictures of 
 them, and also sang a new song, "The Clovers." 
 The children in Group II B could easily hear and 
 sing the I, III, V, or triad, from any root. I 
 played triads at random and asked them to sing 
 the tone that sounds most important (the root). 
 I then played a simple melody and asked them 
 to sing the tone they heard, singing with G, or 
 Do. They sang the octave. I played the rest of 
 the melody and they sang under it. 
 
 2 
 
 3=3 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 RESPONSE : They sing and have some rhythmic 
 work each morning. B was interested in singing 
 under the melody and singing the roots. This 
 takes unusual concentration. 
 
 At the end of the twelve weeks the children in 
 Group II were able to work out an original 
 melody in this way. 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM : To work out an original melody, rhythm, 
 pitch, duration, harmonization. 
 
 METHOD: Janet sang the first melody, and as
 
 144 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 they all liked it so much we used it to work out. 
 The children sang it after Janet, swung and 
 stepped it, made a duration picture on board. 
 They sang the home tone, found it on piano 
 (G-flat). Picked out the E-flat scale on piano. 
 Another child played Janet's melody, while others 
 sang the harmony. They were delighted to find 
 that they could sing under it all, as it would be 
 harmonized with the chords that they are very 
 familiar with, the tonic I and the dominant V. 
 One of the children then found the tonic chord on 
 piano, another the dominant, or V. One child then 
 played the melody and another the chords. They 
 transposed this on piano. Keys of D and C. 
 
 "Where the bee sucks, there suck I 
 In a cowslip's bell I lie." 
 
 RESPONSE : It is interesting to note that Janet 
 so far has always sung in the key of G-flat. 
 
 It is very difficult to put on paper anything so 
 subtle as what has taken place in the children in 
 these weeks.
 
 MUSIC 
 
 ii 
 
 BY ERNEST BLOCH 
 FOREWORD 
 
 THE following notes should be considered as 
 simple observations based on my experience of 
 two months at the Peterborough School. They 
 have no " scientific " pretension, nor do they estab- 
 lish a "new" method of musical education. Fur- 
 thermore, one cannot too often repeat, at a time 
 when people are so easily infatuated by what ap- 
 pears new, whatever its value, that the new (or the 
 seemingly new) is not necessarily good or com- 
 mendable. 
 
 The great masters of the past, Josquin de Pres, 
 Palestrina, Vittoria, Orlando di Lasso, Monte- 
 verde, Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, and others, lived 
 in a time when people were a little less concerned 
 than they are nowadays in reforming humanity 
 and in establishing new artistic theories and revo- 
 lutionary methods of education. Their splendid 
 works are alive, however, with a vitality entirely 
 different from those of today. They have a style, 
 a force, a grandeur, an originality, that one would 
 search for in vain among the majority of hybrid 
 cerebral and fabricated works of today. 
 
 As it is obvious that sensibility, taste, and 
 
 145
 
 146 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 creative force cannot be acquired, artistic educa- 
 tion must limit itself modestly to the study of tech- 
 nique, and the stimulation of the latent emotional 
 faculties of the pupils. Let me admit at once that 
 I do not believe in the efficacy of books on music, 
 treatises on harmony, or counterpoint, and all 
 these scholastic and lifeless rules which are used 
 in the official schools. These things are on the bor- 
 der, only, of true art, and of life. On the contrary, 
 the deep and assiduous study of the great works 
 of all times seems to me indispensable to anyone 
 who wishes to have a thorough knowledge of any 
 art, music especially. It is the only way to pene- 
 trate the inner sanctuary. To help a child to ac- 
 quire the means to undertake this pilgrimage, to 
 teach him to listen, observe and judge, seems to me 
 the only aim of a sensible musical education. 
 
 "In the beginning was rhythm," said H. von 
 Billow. I believe that the first instruction should 
 be directed to the acquisition of rhythm above 
 everything. To make the child realize the neces- 
 sity of setting limits on time, of placing milestones 
 in accordance with our own limitation, seems to 
 me essential. I have started, therefore, with the 
 study of measure in order to arrive at that of 
 rhythm, which is first an instinctive, then an intel- 
 lectual, process. 
 
 The other elements of irregularity which then 
 follow, breaking by contrast this too rigid uni- 
 formity, give to musical speech all its value, its 
 expression, its emotion, its pathetic accent. The 
 children (the most gifted ones, at least), were able 
 at the end of these two months to grasp the idea 
 of rhythm, and therefore to understand the divi-
 
 MUSIC 147 
 
 sion into periods and phrases of musical speech, 
 taking for their field the study of folk-melodies, 
 some of which were most difficult to analyse. This 
 is already the study of form and aesthetics. With- 
 out the aid of any rule or book the children 
 reached the stage of understanding the relentless 
 logic of musical construction. Their instinct was 
 awakened and their minds began to reflect, to ana- 
 lyse, and to judge. 
 
 Among the thirty or forty children whom I have 
 been able to observe this summer, only a small 
 minority were musically gifted, as the readers of 
 my records can see. It was this minority only that 
 I should really have liked to work with, if our 
 studies had gone on. I should then have applied 
 the same method to the study of intonation, inter- 
 vals and melody, which I have only sketched in 
 these lessons, and these gifted children would have 
 been quickly schooled to undertake the study of 
 two-part counterpoint, which in my opinion ought, 
 historically and logically, to precede that of har- 
 mony. 
 
 I have often taken my examples from among 
 the works of the masters. It is well from the 
 beginning to awaken in the child a feeling for 
 beauty; he must understand before everything, 
 that musical studies are only a means, and he must 
 see as much as possible the real end love of Art. 
 One must also remember that many are called but 
 few are chosen, that the creative genius is most 
 rare, and that the great interpreters, the priests 
 of Art, are almost as rare. 
 
 Musical education should hope above everything 
 to develop qualities of appreciation, judgment,
 
 148 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 and taste, and should aim at making people sus- 
 ceptible to feeling, understanding, and loving 
 music. 
 
 One must not forget the words of Oscar Wilde : 
 " Education is an admirable thing, but one must 
 remember from time to time that everything that 
 is worth knowing cannot be taught. " 
 
 DAILY RECORDS 
 Groups I, II, III, IV* 
 
 AIM: To awaken and stimulate the emotional 
 and imaginative side of the children, the faculty 
 of observation and discrimination and analysis. 
 To have a general talk on : 
 
 1. Music as a means of expression (essence 
 itself of music). 
 
 2. The elements of music (rhythm and sound). 
 METHOD AND KESPONSE: (Using the piano and 
 
 violin). 
 
 1. Played two French folk songs of different 
 character. One: a slow, sad tune, expressing all 
 the poetic mystery of the sea and its waving 
 rhythm. The other was gay and rapid. 
 
 2. Asked the children if they felt the difference 
 between the two, and why. They felt the differ- 
 ence but could not express it. 
 
 3. Played on the violin, low G (IV string), 
 along sustained note without rhythm. I then 
 asked the children if I had played them a short 
 composition. They laughed and I asked them why 
 they laughed. They replied that it was the same 
 note. 
 
 * To avoid repetitions, reports of certain groups have been 
 omitted when the work done was identical with that of other 
 groups.
 
 MUSIC 149 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM: The same as Group III Observation 
 and discrimination by analogy. Tried to show 
 the children that the essential laws of rhythm are 
 the same in art as in life. Physical laws, later 
 psychological ones. 
 
 METHOD : Tried to show them the two elements 
 of rhythmical motion in life, such as 
 
 (1) (1) 
 
 that which is outside day and night, seasons, 
 of us tides, rise and fall 
 
 (2) (2) 
 
 that which is inside heart, respiration and 
 of our body expiration, rhythm of 
 
 walking. 
 
 I then showed them the difference between the 
 strong and weak beats (up beat and down beat). 
 I explained the force and greater stress of the 
 beat of accomplishment in contrast to the beat of 
 preparation. I brought their attention to the 
 force of gravity. I dropped my hat and other 
 objects. To explain the up-beat and to show the 
 necessity for preparation, I took a hammer and a 
 nail, and gave as an example the run before a 
 jump. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Groups I and II 
 
 MR. B. Is there a child among you who will go 
 to the blackboard and show me what I have done 
 just now?
 
 150 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 PUPIL LUCIENNE. I can. (Goes to blackboard.) 
 MB. B. When I do this? (Sounds a long note 
 then short repeated notes.) 
 
 (Pupil writes only long line.), 
 
 P. She is making a mistake. 
 
 ANOTHER. She is not right. 
 
 IST P. I know what she is doing. 
 
 P. (At board.) I know what my mistake is. 
 
 T. You know? Go and change it. Here is 
 what I played. (One long note. Then began to 
 make separate notes.) 
 
 P. (Writes short dashes on the board.) 
 
 T. Now she does it correctly. That is good. 
 Now try to express this idea. (Plays do, re, do, 
 re.) 
 
 P. (Draws.) ^ -,~ - - 
 
 T. Who can show this in a different way? 
 
 P. (Draws.) r . 
 
 T. Very good. Is there anyone who can show 
 this in a still different way? 
 
 T. Very good. Who can explain to me the dif- 
 ference between this and ? 
 
 P. You stopped in the first and didn't stop in 
 the second.
 
 MUSIC 151 
 
 T. And what did I do here 
 P. You went up and down. 
 T. And here 
 
 P. Up and down. 
 
 T. Can you find something that will express 
 the idea of alternation? Let's look at the piano. 
 You see black, white, black, white. Now in the big 
 world, where can you see this ? 
 
 P. Green, blue, white. 
 
 T. No, I mean the difference, the alteration. 
 What comes after day ? 
 
 P. Night. 
 
 T. So we have day, night, day, night. Mention 
 some other things. 
 
 P. Summer, winter. 
 
 T. Yes, the seasons. Now in your body. Your 
 inspiration and expiration. Breathing in and out. 
 Who can show this on the blackboard? 
 
 P. A A A 
 
 T. Why did you do it so? Why not so 
 
 k .y v V 
 
 P. Because we breathe up and then down. 
 
 T. Suppose we have to drive a hammer onto 
 a nail, how do we do it? 
 
 P. First up and then down. 
 
 T. Suppose I hold up this hat and let it go, 
 what will happen? It will fall, will it not? 
 
 P. An aeroplane wouldn't fall.
 
 152 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. Yes, but if there is no more motion, it must 
 fall. In music it is the same. We have to make 
 the same divisions of sounds because if we do not 
 make it we have an unbroken line. There must 
 be up and down. (Plays do, re, do, re). That is 
 up and this is down. Who can tell how we do it 
 when walking? 
 
 P. (Walks across the platform in time with 
 the music.) 
 
 T. Which are the strong blows with the ham- 
 mer? 
 
 P. Down. 
 
 T. So in music. The first division is this (up, 
 down, up, down). There will be a stronger note. 
 This is called a strong beat. In the same way we 
 have day, night, day, night. Who can tell me 
 where is the strong beat? Up or down? 
 
 P. Down. 
 
 T. Now come and show me with your hand 
 weak and strong. 
 
 LUCEENNE. (Moves hand upward.) Weak. 
 
 (Moves hand downward.) Strong. 
 
 T. Now I will play a little song for children. 
 The mother is trying to put the baby to sleep. 
 She is rocking the baby and makes the motion up 
 and down and this is shown in the music. (Plays 
 a lullaby.) Here we see there is something weak 
 and something strong. The strong beat will 
 always come at the end. When I am walking I 
 stop so (both legs on the ground), and not so 
 (one leg still in the air). 
 
 Now who can play a little on the piano? You 
 go to the piano and I shall play a note on the violin 
 and you try to find the same note on the piano.
 
 MUSIC 153 
 
 (Plays note on the violin and pupil finds note after 
 a few attempts. Others do the same.) 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: To show and to have the children feel 
 the necessity of rhythm, and the necessity of a 
 beginning and of an end. Our understanding be- 
 ing circumscribed by limits of time and space, we 
 must have a division apparent to our senses. 
 
 METHOD AND RESPONSE: Continuation of the 
 preliminary study of the measure. Going back to 
 the example of the long note on the violin, I re- 
 played it but gave it different rhythms. Proceed- 
 ing by analogy, I went to the board, having said to 
 the children that I was going to make a beautiful 
 design. I drew a long straight line from one end 
 of the board to the other. (They all laughed at 
 this). I made the analogy between this long line 
 on the board which could be extended indefinitely 
 if the blackboard was indefinitely long, and the 
 sustained note on the violin which was without a 
 point of departure and without end. I played 
 
 again on the piano F t |f $ If $ I and asked 
 the children to give me a graphic representation 
 on the board. They drew this ' I 
 
 played / f I j $ If T |< They drew
 
 154 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 COMMENTS: The children seemed to under- 
 stand the two elements of rhythm. (Every pos- 
 sible rhythm needs at least two motions in music 
 and in life.) 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM : Application to sounds of the principle of 
 distinction. 
 
 METHOD : Tried to follow by analogy the same 
 method as yesterday, showing the greatest con- 
 trast between low and high sounds. 
 
 A. I played and tried to stimulate the imagina- 
 tion. I asked the children to tell what kind of 
 impression or image they received. 
 
 Response: (High sounds) Yellow, sky, blue, 
 clouds, buds, blue sky, trees swaying. 
 
 Response: (Low sounds) Black, brown, thun- 
 der, dark, people stamping on the ground, dark 
 cave, drums. 
 
 B. Technical part. With closed eyes they have 
 to distinguish between high and low. (In A I 
 simply tried to stimulate their emotional feelings.) 
 I made the difference very clear (no mistakes). 
 
 C. I explained the relativity of high and low, 
 the uninterrupted scale of sounds (like the un- 
 broken line of yesterday) which we observe in the 
 wind, the whistle, or water falling in a can, and 
 the necessity of discrimination between those 
 sounds. 
 
 D. Technical part. Played two notes. The 
 children, with closed eyes, had to tell whether 
 sounds were higher or lower. (Average interval 
 chosen, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, and sometimes 3rd. No 
 2nds or chromatic intervals.)
 
 MUSIC 155 
 
 COMMENTS: Excellent lesson, remarkable both 
 psychically and technically. 
 
 Group IV 
 
 AIM : Study of the two elementary rhythmical 
 motions. 
 
 (a) The weak beat, preparation motion, light; 
 the strong beat (heavy blow), effective motion. 
 
 (6) The satisfactory end of a sentence is a 
 stop, a rest weight, down. It is always written 
 after the bar. 
 
 Analogy with the jump. 
 
 METHOD : Illustration through numerous prac- 
 tical examples. 
 
 Group IV 
 
 AIM: Having observed that Group IV (all 
 boys) did not seem to respond emotionally, I 
 sought to make them understand in a more scien- 
 tific fashion the elementary and highly important 
 principles of differentiation of rhythm and sound. 
 
 METHOD. Made and discussed experiments in 
 accoustics: 1: The sound; 2: Vibration; 3: The 
 pendulum. Experimented with a knife suspended 
 by a string. Asked them how many motions. 
 
 ANSWER. Two. 
 
 Asked them to define it. 
 
 ANSWER. Left, right, left, right. 
 
 Q. If the string is shortened what will hap- 
 pen? 
 
 A. It will go quicker. 
 
 Then I bound the string to a chair to show them
 
 156 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 the vibration when I struck it. As it gave no 
 sound, I asked "Why"? 
 
 A. Not quick enough. (They made this deduc- 
 tion, that, when struck more quickly it made one 
 sound, and when shortened, a higher sound. The 
 longer the string the lower the sound.) 
 
 Q. Have you ever seen a contrabass! 
 
 A. Oh, yes. It is a kind of bass violin. 
 
 Q. How about the strings? 
 
 !A. Very long. 
 
 Q. Is the sound high or low? 
 
 A. Low. 
 
 They made deductions about cello, viola, and 
 violin. They questioned about the difference in 
 the sound of the four strings of a violin, and one 
 pupil answered very clearly that it resulted from 
 the different tightness and thickness of strings. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 
 T. Now, children, you are coming to something 
 very important. You remember that in the three 
 lessons that we have had, we have already got 
 one thing, that in every rhythm the smallest 
 rhythm contains how many motions ? 
 
 ELIZABETH. Two. 
 
 T. And the one is a kind of weight and the 
 other is . . . ? 
 
 E. Up. 
 
 T. Down and up. Strong, weak, strong, weak. 
 (Claps hands.) That is already a small begin- 
 ning. You have to learn another thing too. This 
 refers to the time, as you know; it is a kind of 
 division of the time so that we are able to divide
 
 MUSIC 157 
 
 the time into small fragments. The smallest frag- 
 ments that we can make will always contain an 
 
 alternation I I | | | | 
 
 You see here are small spaces, absolutely equal. 
 In those small spaces we can have two notes. 
 
 (Teacher illustrates tJiis.)\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\ 
 
 Down up, strong weak. And this (I) will in- 
 dicate the division. This we call a bar. Concern- 
 ing the sounds, you saw that here too we have a 
 differentiation. We have the low sounds and the 
 high sounds. You felt the difference. If I play 
 this, (do mi sol do) am I going up or down? 
 
 HABRIET. Up. 
 
 T. I want to see if you know whether a note 
 is lower or higher. Do mi. 
 
 H. Second is higher. 
 
 T. Do ti. 
 
 H. Second is higher. 
 
 T. Do ti. 
 
 H. Second is lower. 
 
 T. Fare. 
 
 H. Lower. 
 
 T. Mi sol. 
 
 H. Higher. 
 
 T. That is very good. Now, in a few words 
 I will explain to you the history of written notes. 
 At the beginning men were living in the woods 
 and they had not many words with which to ex- 
 press themselves. They felt the necessity of talk-
 
 158 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 ing and invented certain words; and much later 
 they arrived at the idea of writing certain signs 
 to represent those words. For instance, you know 
 that Indians and other peoples have certain signs 
 to represent certain things. (Draws figure of man 
 walking toward house.) This means the man is 
 going into the house. 
 
 Then there came a time when people were sing- 
 ing beautiful songs, but there was no way of re- 
 cording them, and they were forgotten. Was it 
 not a pity? Then they tried to invent some signs 
 to record them. Do you know what were the first 
 signs? They were low signs and high signs. If 
 I am going from a lower sound to a higher sound 
 I can write it a certain way. How? 
 
 SUZANNE. By notes. 
 
 T. But there were no notes then. Suppose I 
 play do, mi, sol, do. I can represent it this way : 
 
 or 
 
 If I play do, ti, la, I can represent it this 
 way: ,. . Do ti la do 
 
 Thus representing the sounds going up and down. 
 And at the beginning men tried to write that way.
 
 MUSIC 159 
 
 For instance they would write a word like this 
 (sings) 
 
 la 
 
 glor 
 
 But this is a very imperfect way. You under- 
 stand why. Suppose I write this A/" "\/* ' 
 
 What does it mean? Do ti do, or do la do? There 
 is no way of knowing. There was no fixity in it. 
 So more and more they saw the need of something 
 else. Something definite like yards and inches. 
 SUZANNE. I should think they could have 
 
 written music like this \_J 
 
 T. Yes, but the staff was not yet invented. 
 Only later came the inclination to fix the sounds 
 exactly and then came the staff. It was not in- 
 vented this way at the beginning. At first it had 
 only four lines. This was enough. Here are our 
 four lines. Now having thought of the lines they 
 began to write notes. For instance : (Draws staff.) 
 
 This was one note, -* - 9 J^ another below, and 
 so on. If notes were to be together they would 
 represent it in this way, f f } , and by degrees they
 
 160 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 arrived at the way we write music now. I wanted 
 to explain these things quickly in order to come 
 immediately to our own way of writing. Our sys- 
 tem of writing music is wonderful. If I open a 
 book and turn to the work of a modern composer 
 I can tell by the writing who wrote it. For every- 
 one has a certain way of writing. Now here is 
 the staff. If there are not enough lines we may 
 add some above or below. 
 
 The note below the staff is "c," the note in the 
 middle of the piano. In this way I write the next 
 note immediately above it and so on. 
 
 But what can we do with notes only? Nothing. 
 We must divide them into strong and weak. With 
 this little that we have learned we can already 
 invent something. (Plays: do, re, do re do re do.) 
 We can take even one note. Do do do do do. Be 
 re re re re, etc. Who can go to the board and 
 write what I am playing on the piano: do do do 
 do do do? 
 HABBIET. (Writes on board.)
 
 MUSIC 161 
 
 T. I will play what you wrote. There is some- 
 thing missing. It sounds like a drop of water. I 
 
 didn't sound it that way. I played it with more 
 
 i i 
 
 life. Do do do do do do. (Plays with both 
 hands.) 
 
 WAYNE. You put in a bass. 
 
 T. Why a bass? 
 
 W. It would not sound so good if you didn't 
 put in a bass. 
 
 T. There is only one note, Mr. Do. But he has 
 no shape, no life. I have to put some life into it. 
 Some motion. Do do do. That is something with- 
 out shape. As soon as I do this (teacher plays 
 notes with an organic rhythm), it takes shape. It 
 lives. The other is not living. It is dead. We 
 put into it life, giving it the feeling of weight and 
 of lightness. We are now talking, dear children, 
 of the greatest force of the world, rhythm, the 
 thing that moves the sun, the earth, everything. 
 We are really creating. 
 
 SUZANNE. Where do we stop? At a strong or 
 a weak beat? Strong, is it? 
 
 T. Yes, because strong means down; rest, 
 weight. And how shall we divide these notes? 
 Before or after the strong note? 
 
 SUZANNE. Before. 
 
 T. And in music this means the bar. 
 
 r r, T r T r ' r ' 
 
 You see (sings) pum-pum, pum-pum, pum-pum, 
 puna . Down up, down up, down up, down.
 
 162 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 These notes I write are called quarter notes. 
 Later I shall explain to you what this means. At 
 present it doesn't concern us. In this bar there 
 is only one note, but that is a little longer than 
 
 the others. So I write it no longer so 
 
 but 
 
 so 
 
 r 
 
 One is a quarter note and the other 
 
 is a half note. The divisions here, 1, 2, 1, 2, are 
 divisions like the hours of the day. We call this 
 division a measure. Now comes something that 
 is much more important. Rhythm. Rhythm is 
 the grouping of small things like this measure to 
 give shape. For instance, I will play you some- 
 thing from Beethoven. He was one of the great- 
 est composers. The beginning of his Fifth Sym- 
 phony is made up of a few bars like this : 
 
 You see we have the small fragments. And these 
 small fragments make what we call rhythm. (Il- 
 lustrates.) Now let us try to invent a small
 
 MUSIC 163 
 
 rhythm, like this. (Plays.) Who can write what 
 I have done! 
 
 HABBIET. f f I f I f f I f I 
 
 T. Who else will invent another rhythm? 
 
 SUZANNE. I will, f I f f I f I f f I 
 
 T. Very good. You see what we can do with 
 a very few notes. We can still have another 
 rhythm : 
 
 r r if r i M 
 
 AIM: Study of measure and rhythm in 2/4 
 (intonation from C to G). 
 
 METHOD : (A) The children marked the meas- 
 ure with their feet, accentuating the strong beat : 
 left right left right or counting one two one two. 
 
 (B) Marking the beats, they clapped their 
 hands, but only on the strong beat, and we wrote 
 the exercise on the blackboard. 
 
 hands:f $ | f * | f $ | 
 feet: f f If f If f 
 
 Then they walked and clapped it, while at the 
 piano I improvised on that rhythm. Then we did 
 other exercises along the same lines.
 
 164 A. SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Following days Different Groups 
 
 Exercises on rhythm of three bars 
 
 wnf ip T r :| 
 
 (wirf f if if 
 
 rp ir r if r ! 
 (IFP if r if 
 
 ir r ip 'r r : " 
 r >r r 'f 
 
 Then on rhythm of four bars making them feel 
 the difference between three and four. 
 
 Study of the up beat. 
 
 We had a few exercises in intonation. 
 
 I played a few Chinese and Japanese songs. 
 
 (Group I seemed decidedly too young for this 
 work. They were restless and inattentive.) 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: (a) Study of rhythm continued. Groups 
 of 3, 4, 5. 
 
 (b) Study of the up-beat. 
 
 METHOD: (a) Same as before. Played to the 
 pupils and they differentiated between the 
 rhythms. We analyzed an Hungarian dance, hav- 
 
 ing this rhythm : (a)r _A_ 1 + r JI -i (b) A+A (a) r-^-r 
 (b) The up-beat starting before heavy blow 
 
 r-r
 
 MUSIC 185 
 
 Inspiration Expiration 
 
 Children walked and clapped hands and I illus- 
 trated the up-beat on the piano. 
 
 Showed influence of the up-beat on the further 
 melodic development of a composition. 
 
 Examples: La Marseillaise, The Star Span- 
 gled Banner, and others. 
 
 Group I, 11, III, IV: First Tests 
 
 AIM: To discover, as far as possible, after 
 these two weeks of classes, the reactions and 
 idiosyncrasies of the various children. The musi- 
 cal gift is a synthesis of very complex factors. 
 The tools first, material a good ear, a sense of 
 time voice, fingers, all the technical aptitudes; 
 second, spiritual sensibility and imagination. 
 These first tests were directed to the technical 
 faculties, principally, not because they are essen- 
 tial to a love or understanding of music, but be- 
 cause they alone can be measured in a tangible 
 way. 
 
 METHOD : Adapted to each group. 
 
 RESPONSE: Varying. (See details later.) 
 
 COMMENTS : The individual results were differ- 
 ent from the group results. A child manifests 
 his individuality in a different way, when one of 
 a group, than he does when alone. When alone 
 with a child, I have observed first a certain ti- 
 midity on his part ; then if he has a strong individ- 
 uality it becomes more accentuated under those 
 circumstances ; whereas a less strong individuality 
 no longer having the support of a group becomes, 
 on the contrary, weakened. In the case of chil-
 
 166 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 dren as in the case of adults, the strong are the 
 isolated. The others follow the lead, and live 
 only as a part of a group. 
 
 Group I: First Musical Test 
 
 AIM: Measure, rhythm. 
 
 METHOD: After many unsuccessful experi- 
 ments, I resorted to simple rhythmical exercises. 
 
 (a) Beating time with my feet, I marked the 
 rhythm with my hands as follows : 
 
 hands: ( ^ If ^ If f 
 
 if r 
 
 Each child repeated after me. 
 
 (b) I asked them to clap their hands, at the 
 same time they marked the measure with their 
 feet, by 2, 3, 4, thus : 
 hands 
 
 12,12,12, or with three, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3. 
 
 RESPONSE : 
 
 Name Age A. 
 
 B. Remarks 
 
 Elwin 8 Bad 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Gray 9 " 
 
 Good Nervous Bad 
 
 Dan 8 " 
 
 it 
 
 Howard 8 " 
 
 M 
 
 Frank 8 Better 
 
 Medium 
 
 Perkins 6 Zero 
 
 Zero 
 
 Charlotte 9 Excellent Good Very Nervous 
 
 COMMENTS: Little Charlotte, une enfant ter- 
 rible, nervous, wilful, and the one who is the hard-
 
 MUSIC 
 
 167 
 
 est of all to manage, gave unexpectedly the best 
 responses. 
 
 Group II: First Musical Test 
 
 AIM: Rhythm, intonation. 
 
 METHOD: (a) Same exercise as Group I with 
 feet and hands, but with more complicated 
 rhythms, 2-3-^-5-6-; then the same without feet. 
 
 (b) I played some simple melodies on the 
 piano with rhythms of 2-3-5. Each child walked 
 in time, listened, beat the strong beat with the 
 hands, and explained it afterwards. 
 
 (c) I beat the rhythms; the children then 
 wrote them on the board as follows : 
 
 RESPONSE : 
 Name 
 Lucienne 
 Joanne 
 Ruth 
 Dorothy 
 Bernice 
 
 Name 
 Lucienne 
 Joanne 
 Ruth 
 Dorothy 
 Bernice 
 
 Name 
 Waldron 
 Herbert 
 Jack 
 Delmar 
 
 A* 
 
 Excellent 
 
 B. 
 
 Excellent 
 Very Good 
 Poor 
 Medium 
 Very Good Good 
 
 C. Intonation 
 
 Good Slow Very Good 
 
 Very Good Fast " " 
 
 Medium Slow 
 Excellent Slow 
 
 A. 
 Good 
 
 Good 
 
 Medium 
 Excellent 
 
 B. 
 
 Very Good 
 Medium
 
 168 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Name C. Intonation 
 
 Waldron Medium Medium 
 
 Herbert Good 
 Jack Medium Poor Coordination " 
 
 Unbalanced 
 Delmar " 
 
 COMMENTS: For intonation, I played two or 
 three notes. When a child could not tell the name 
 of a note I asked him to sing it instead. Then I 
 tried this on the piano: do-re-mi, do-re-mi, do- 
 re-mi, do-mi. Some children could not even re- 
 member the names of the notes in this simple 
 exercise. Bernice, on the contrary, reacted in- 
 stantly, without reflection or hesitation, and with- 
 out error. A curious result was this: When it 
 was a question of beats (i.e. measuring time with 
 the feet and marking the rhythm with the hands) 
 the girls were better ; the boys, on the other hand, 
 were superior in the more intellectual exercise 
 of counting the time mentally, as 1 (2) or 1 (23 
 4), etc., clapping their hands only on one. One 
 should remember that measure (the necessity of 
 dividing time) has to do with the musical instinct, 
 and that rhythm on the contrary (the discrimi- 
 nation of a stronger beat, a more important ac- 
 cent), is a fact of the musical understanding. 
 
 In this Group, as in the others, I have noted 
 these two temperamental differences: (a) those 
 who count mentally go too fast, as if anxious about 
 getting there, and rush the time in consequence; 
 (b) others go too slowly. Few strike a happy 
 medium.
 
 MUSIC 
 
 169 
 
 Group 
 
 7/7: First Musical Test 
 
 RESPONSE : 
 
 
 
 
 Exercises 
 
 in Time 
 
 Name 
 
 (Hands and Feet) 
 
 (Hands Only) 
 
 Suzanne 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Sylvia 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 Dorothy 
 
 a 
 
 Too fast 
 
 Elizabeth 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Harriet 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Wayne 
 
 Medium 
 
 Good 
 
 Ruth McL. 
 
 Good 
 
 Good 
 
 Dane 
 
 Bad 
 
 Fair 
 
 Clarence 
 
 Fair 
 
 Fair 
 
 Dwight 
 
 Good 
 
 Slow 
 
 Ruth T. 
 
 Very Good 
 
 
 Elinor 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 
 7 Played on 
 
 
 
 Piano and They 
 
 
 
 Marked Rhythm 
 
 Intonation 
 
 Suzanne 
 
 Good 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Sylvia 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Medium 
 
 Dorothy 
 
 Good 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Elizabeth 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Harriet 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Wayne 
 
 Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Ruth Me. L. 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Dane 
 
 
 
 Clarence 
 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Dwight 
 
 Good 
 
 Great Difficulty 
 
 
 
 could not sing or dif- 
 
 
 
 ferentiate between 
 
 
 
 high notes. 
 
 Ruth T. 
 
 Good 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Elinor 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Very Good
 
 170 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 COMMENTS : The same observation holds true in 
 this Group concerning the respective reactions of 
 boys and girls as in Group II. 
 
 Group IV: First Musical Test 
 
 AIM: Same as Group III. 
 
 METHOD: Same as Group III, only more com- 
 plex. I added an exercise for the up-beat. 
 
 RESPONSE ; 
 
 Name 
 Ed. 
 Billy 
 
 Purely 
 Rhythm 
 
 Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Richard N. Remarkably 
 
 Good 
 
 Richard L. Very Good 
 Kenneth Good 
 Carl Good 
 
 Rhythm and 
 
 Music 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Remarkably 
 
 Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Good 
 
 Good 
 
 Rhythm 
 
 Writing 
 
 Beat 
 
 Memory 
 
 On 
 
 On 
 
 Name 
 
 Test 
 
 Board 
 
 Strong 
 
 Ed. 
 
 Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Very Bad 
 
 Billy 
 
 Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Bad 
 
 Richard N. 
 
 Good 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Excellent 
 
 Richard L. 
 
 Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Kenneth 
 
 Good 
 
 Doubtful 
 
 Good 
 
 Carl 
 
 Good 
 
 Very Good 
 
 Excellent 
 
 COMMENTS: Edward has not a very strong 
 rhythmical feeling. He has a very poor sense of 
 pitch. One ought to find the basic cause of this,
 
 MUSIC 171 
 
 for he has a sensitive nature which ought to be 
 sensitive to music. Richard is remarkable; sure, 
 decisive, precise, clear and quick-minded. He has 
 the technical gift. But I ask myself if it be accom- 
 panied by any sensitiveness and imagination. Billy 
 is very good. Richard is more hesitant, but cer- 
 tainly gifted. 
 
 Generalities: Emotional Test 
 
 AIM: Having finished the first technical exam- 
 ination, it seems to me necessary to try and find 
 out what emotional reactions the children have 
 had in regard to music ; if they like it and why ; or 
 if they were really impressed by it ; what kind of 
 music they preferred; in brief, to test, not only 
 the faculties of perception and of reproduction of 
 sounds of rhythm, but the purely emotional en- 
 dowments which are, as well as others, indispens- 
 able to a musical gift. 
 
 METHOD : I tried to obtain little confessions from 
 the children as to what they felt while listening to 
 music. I played different works, unfamiliar to 
 them, and noted carefully their reactions. 
 
 Group I: Emotional Test 
 
 METHOD: I played folk-songs of different na- 
 tions. 
 
 RESPONSE : As usual, these small children of the 
 first group are absent-minded, inattentive, inca- 
 pable of keeping quiet. They wish to play, pinch 
 each other, tease, pull each other's hair. When I 
 ask them if they wish to go and amuse themselves 
 they reply "No." Do they want to dance! "No. 
 
 y j
 
 172 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Do they wish to sing! "No." Do they want me 
 to play ? * ' Yes. ' ' Everyone wants something dif- 
 ferent and then comes a dispute. "No, not this! 
 Yes, that, No, Yes, No." But when I play they 
 listen very little and continue to torment each 
 other. The pleasure of pinching is decidedly 
 greater than that of listening. They like the 
 Japanese song with the exception of Charlotte, 
 who obstinately repeats "No, no" with a sullen 
 look habitual with her. 
 
 COMMENTS: I can draw no conclusions from 
 these ' ' Yes 's " or " No 's " or from Charlotte. That 
 little girl is indeed a curiosity obstinate and self- 
 willed. The others are like little sheep not yet 
 developed. When one of them says "Yes" the 
 rest repeat it. But Charlotte says "No" in order 
 to be antagonistic. There is one thing of which 
 I am convinced : they do not care for, nor do they 
 understand music and there is no perceptible 
 reaction, for the moment at least. Some of them 
 have hardly any faculty to reproduce the notes in 
 the technical examination. Emotionally, there is 
 nothing. The problem is difficult. Are they too 
 young? Are their receptive faculties absent or 
 latent? Is the awakening of the musical faculties 
 related to the sex awakening? (That would be in 
 accordance with Darwin's Theory.) I can, how- 
 ever, remember having been moved bj?. music in the 
 most intense way during my early youth. My 
 daughter Suzanne is the same, but my son Ivan 
 has not yet an idea of music. 
 
 I persist in believing that the capacity for real 
 emotion is rare in human nature. When bound to 
 a technical gift and developed to the most exten-
 
 MUSIC 173 
 
 sive point a genius is created (a word too much 
 abused in this country). For children, full of wil- 
 fulness, action, and reaction, the absorption, the 
 self-surrender necessary for musical emotion, or 
 any other aesthetic impression, is almost impos- 
 sible. They only want to play, act, use their 
 powers in moving about, jumping, pinching, pull- 
 ing each other's hair, in one way or another, but 
 above all to use their will. They connect every- 
 thing with themselves and wish to impose them- 
 selves on the world ceaselessly. This is why they 
 prefer modelling, where they can practice directly 
 their desire for action, even though it may only be 
 the purely physical pleasure of kneading the clay 
 which brings to my mind Paul Claudel's admir- 
 able definition, ''Sculpture is the need of touch- 
 ing." In dancing, they use their muscles, they 
 free their desire for action. 
 
 Among primitive people, music is always con- 
 nected with dancing and poetry. The three arts 
 are almost never separated. To what degree is a 
 child primitive? Like the primitive people, he 
 xloesn't like any regular work, any discipline, any 
 burden. Like the inferior races, he is lazy, and 
 wishes to play. On the other hand, music plays an 
 important role with the primitive races, but is 
 bound always to the dancing and singing, and it 
 hardly exists as an independent art. It doesn't 
 have any of the principles which have produced 
 our Occidental music since the eighth or ninth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Here it is well to remember that the arts which 
 were at first indissolubly related, have, as civiliza- 
 tion advanced, little by little, become separated
 
 174 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 from each other. Music, dancing, poetry, sculp- 
 ture, and painting have become independent of 
 each other. Thus the problem rests on these 
 simple observations ; has the development of musi- 
 cal art been natural or logical, and what is arti- 
 ficial in it! Counterpoint, harmony and tonality 
 are the true forms of our Western music. We are 
 already tired of all our musical rhetoric. Tonality 
 is perishing. Rhythm is becoming more and more 
 irregular. Harmony seeks to free itself from the 
 channel where it has been placed by convention. 
 In the name of liberty, we arrive very often at 
 chaos. 
 
 And one perhaps forgets that every people and 
 every race has its own language, that the East is 
 not the West, and that their truths, their laws are 
 not ours, and if a beautiful way was chosen once 
 in counterpoint and harmony it was not by 
 chance, but surely was a need, a necessity, for 
 everything that man has created, has arisen from 
 nothing else than an attempt to satisfy his desires. 
 
 Group II: Emotional Test 
 
 AIM: See Generalities. 
 
 METHOD : I asked the children if they liked gay 
 music. Joanne wished to know what gay music 
 was. I tried to explain. Then I asked them if 
 they liked music in general. All did except Jack 
 B. who very intelligently replied that it depended 
 on the music. 
 
 I played a Hungarian dance (which had a fast 
 rhythm). They all liked it. I then played a Hun- 
 garian Folk Song (slow, dark and in a sad mood
 
 MUSIC 175 
 
 with a freedom of rhythm). Some children adored 
 it, others hated it, some thought it too serious and 
 solemn, others just liked it. Jack B. did not like 
 it. He thought it had "no rhythm just a lot of 
 notes without sense." The children being tired, 
 they finished with a few rhythmical and intonation 
 exercises. 
 
 COMMENTS : There is such an inequality of tem- 
 peraments among the children that it is impos- 
 sible to draw any definite conclusions as to their 
 musical feelings, at least for the present. In their 
 class they seem to follow either each other or to 
 differ for the sake and pleasure of antagonism. 
 It is therefore difficult to find out the exact opin- 
 ion of the children. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group IV 
 
 T. Did you think about what I said yesterday? 
 
 SEVERAL, PUPILS. Yes. 
 
 T. Can you answer perhaps a little better 
 today than yesterday? 
 
 SEVERAL PUPILS. Yes. 
 
 T. You remember my question. I will tell you 
 that the tests I made yesterday and the day before 
 yesterday were made in order to see if you recog- 
 nized rhythm and sounds the two most important 
 elements in music. You see, from rhythm the 
 sounds get their shape. This was a very good 
 test. It proved that you are all well gifted rhyth- 
 mically. For the intonation I had different results. 
 Edward B. and Billy H. are not very good. This 
 perhaps can be developed. I don't know. I have 
 had pupils who were able to improve and others
 
 176 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 who could not. But, in general, it is possible to 
 improve. What I call a musical gift, however, is 
 something more than this. This is only, if you 
 will, an external quality. 
 
 I will explain to you what I mean. What is a 
 good doctor ? Is he a man who has studied books 
 carefully, who knows exactly what will be the 
 shape, the appearance of a certain sickness, who 
 knows the remedies that have been found for that 
 sickness I I don't believe so. A man cannot be 
 told everything in books. He might be a very bad 
 doctor, if he depended on books. He must have a 
 kind of intuition a thing that cannot be defined. 
 He must have that vision into the human body and 
 human mind that makes him feel what is the right 
 thing to do. I once knew a wonderful doctor. 
 When you were talking to him and telling him 
 exactly what was the matter with you, what you 
 were suffering from, whether it was your heart or 
 your feet or your head, he was taking notes on 
 everything ; but, at the same time, he was observ- 
 ing you, and made his deduction not so much from 
 what you were telling him as from the way you 
 were telling him. This was the result of keen 
 observation but also of intuition. He had the 
 vision, the knowledge, too, of course without 
 knowledge it is impossible to do anything but 
 also the natural gift, you see. I believe in the 
 natural gift. 
 
 What is the natural gift for music? It em- 
 braces two different things, as I told you. Of 
 course, the musical gift includes many different 
 qualities, and is the result of the combination of 
 those qualities. There are technical qualities re-
 
 MUSIC 177 
 
 lating to rhythm and sound, and then there arc 
 other qualities. We were able to test in you those 
 relating to rhythm and sound, and I know that 
 you are very well endowed in those qualities, and 
 that you could engage in musical studies with suc- 
 cess. I know that some of you have great difficulty 
 with intonation, but you may be able to improve. 
 Anyway, you have difficulties. It is the same with 
 the little children. And an extraordinary thing is 
 this. Those people who are not gifted technically 
 may enjoy music very much. How many people 
 have I not met who have said : 1 1 Mr. Bloch, I do 
 not know anything about music but I like it tre- 
 mendously. I love concerts. I am crazy about 
 music but I do not know anything about it." And 
 those people sometimes have better judgments, 
 truer, and more sincere, than many music teachers 
 who know everything about music but have no sen- 
 sibility. Not everybody can be a composer, or a 
 pianist, or a violinist. We must be glad that this 
 is so. There are too many bad composers, bad vio- 
 linists, bad pianists, who might be useful to society 
 as good street cleaners, but not for music. Do you 
 understand my ideas about this ? 
 
 Now I will see whether you remember what I 
 told you yesterday. Each of you told me whether 
 you liked music or not. 
 
 BILLY. I like it. 
 
 T. You, and you, and you? 
 
 PUPILS. Yes, yes, yes. 
 
 T. I will ask you to tell me about several selec- 
 tions, and please answer absolutely frankly. I will 
 tell you a secret. There are days when I do not 
 like music, when I prefer moving pictures to
 
 178 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 music. At other times, it is my greatest pleasure 
 to take my quartets of Beethoven in the woods and 
 read them. I enjoy that. Sometimes I find music 
 everywhere in the world but in the concert hall. 
 
 I often go to a concert where there is a con- 
 ductor who is doing his business because he is 
 paid for it, doing it with no joy, no delight, and I 
 hear a dead performance. I took my children a 
 short time ago to a concert, and I was ashamed; 
 I had to apologize and tell them that what they 
 heard was sounds but no music. You understand 
 my point of view in music. I understand that 
 sometimes you will not like music you will have 
 had too much of it. What I want to know is 
 whether you have, even once in your life, had 
 the feeling when you heard a piece of music that 
 everything else disappeared for you, that the 
 music was a part of your own life, of your own 
 emotion. My little boy never had this feeling. My 
 little daughter has had it. There are people who 
 have never had it. Their temperament is too re- 
 mote from the artistic temperament. When I was 
 a small boy, I could stand before nature or the 
 dawn or before sunset and weep for emotion. I 
 imagine everyone feels this in some degree when 
 he is young, and that it disappears through life. 
 Do you understand me? 
 
 Now you have to tell me what you feel. You 
 must understand that this is a very important 
 thing. Perhaps you feel nothing at all; perhaps 
 you feel. I think you did. Where do you have 
 that feeling? You see, my dear boys, it is not just 
 a question of feeling something in a concert hall. 
 I told you that this real musical feeling I didn't
 
 MUSIC 179 
 
 always feel in the concert hall. I felt it more in 
 the woods and in nature. 
 
 (To Richard N.) You told me quite frankly 
 about your attitude to music that you had a 
 positive mind, that you were attracted by the pre- 
 cise things and the simple ; the mere fact that your 
 great ambition is to be a lawyer is the absolute 
 proof of this. You know sometimes whenever you 
 read a book you lose yourself in the book. Did 
 you ever get that same feeling in music? 
 
 BILLY. Sure, I did. 
 
 RICHARD L. I didn't. 
 
 EDWARD B. I have. 
 
 OTHER PUPILS. (All shake heads in negative.) 
 
 T. It is a very extraordinary fact that the two 
 with most feeling for music were very bad at the 
 intonation. 
 
 You told me that you liked music. What kind of 
 music do you prefer f * * Over There ? ' ' Music that 
 is strong, rhythmical? 
 
 RICHARD N. Like that. 
 
 BILLY H. I like the " Funeral March" which 
 you played the other day. 
 
 EDWARD B. I like sad things. 
 
 BILLY H. I do too. "Over There" sounds 
 slangy and rough. 
 
 T. Do you like gay music? 
 
 BILLY H. I like all kinds. 
 
 T. You four don't like music. 
 
 BOYS. Yes. 
 
 EDWARD B. "Over There" is common music. 
 
 T. And you four find it all right. 
 
 BOYS. Yes. 
 
 T. I will play you a simple melody. It is an
 
 180 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 old song. It is very different from other things 
 you hear. I want to know what you think about 
 it. It is played Christmas day, and speaks of the 
 deep mystery of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a 
 kind of music you are not accustomed to. I will 
 play you this first sentence twice; you listen and 
 tell me your impression. (Plays from "0 Mag- 
 num Mysterium" by Vittoria). I will play it once 
 more. I would like to know what you think of it. 
 
 BILLY H. I like it. 
 
 RICHARD N. I like it ; but I like quicker things 
 better. 
 
 T. What do you think? Did it give you any 
 pleasure? You like it, and you don't like it. 
 
 KENNETH T. No. 
 
 T. Why? 
 
 KENNETH T. Because there isn't enough of it. 
 
 T. It isn't finished. It is just the beginning. 
 Do you want to hear more? 
 
 PUPILS. Yes. (Teacher plays it again.) 
 
 T. Now what do you think? 
 
 BILLY H. I don't like the last part as well as 
 I do the first. 
 
 EDWARD B. I like the last part the best. 
 
 T. We will continue this at our next lesson, 
 Monday. I will play you different things and we 
 shall see what you think about them. 
 
 Group IV: Emotional Test 
 
 METHOD: To try to obtain from the children a 
 sincere confession of their emotional attitude 
 toward nature, art or music. After having pic- 
 tured in words as well as I could that receptive 
 state of mind, intense emotion, that feeling of for-
 
 MUSIC 181 
 
 getfulness of the world and of oneself which seizes 
 one at the time of a real aesthetic emotion, I ques- 
 tioned them as to whether they had ever experi- 
 enced it. Here is the response, which I believe to 
 be sincere, for I had succeeded in establishing a 
 sympathetic and frank atmosphere and I think an 
 absolutely truthful one. 
 
 EESPONSE : 
 
 EDWARD B. Yes. 
 
 BILLY H. Yes. 
 
 RICHARD L. No. 
 
 CARL D. No. 
 
 ElCHARD N. No. 
 
 KENNETH T. No. 
 
 Asked them if they liked "Over There." Ed- 
 ward B. and Billy H. thought it vulgar. The 
 others said, "It is all right." 
 
 I played them the marvelous motet of Vittoria : 
 "0 Magnum Mysterium." Edward B. and Billy 
 H. understood it slightly, but the others disliked 
 it decisively. I played another motet by Aichinger 
 which was more rhythmical than the others. The 
 children had many divers opinions ; some liked it, 
 others did not. 
 
 COMMENTS : One sees, if one compares this result 
 with the other examinations, that the relation 
 between capacity for emotion and technical apti- 
 tude is in inverse ratio. Edward B. and Billy H., 
 who have a bad sense of hearing, are the nearest 
 to being moved by music. The others, and espe- 
 cially Richard N., who has a mind splendidly clear, 
 quick, with a perfect sense of rhythm and an exact 
 and discriminating ear, will feel nothing or at 
 least very little. All say, however, that they love
 
 182 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 music to a certain degree. What music? To what 
 degree? That is what I wish to find out. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group IV 
 
 T. I am going to play this for you again today. 
 (Plays "0 Magnum Mysterium" by Vittoria.) 
 
 BILLY H. I like it pretty well. I don't like it as 
 well as some other things. 
 
 EDWAED B. Neither do I. 
 
 T. And you four do not like it at all. 
 
 BOYS. No. 
 
 T. You like it a little, you a little, and you, no, 
 no, no, no. I will play something else of the same 
 period but of a different school. It is German 
 music and very gay. The name of the author is 
 Aichinger, born 1565 and died 1628. The other 
 was a Spaniard named Vittoria, who lived at 
 about the same time. They are both religious 
 pieces to be played in church, but one is quite mys- 
 terious and the other joyful. (Plays.) 
 
 EDWAED B. I like that better than the first one ; 
 the other was too like a funeral march. 
 
 T. Do you like this or not ? 
 
 KENNETH T. Not especially. 
 
 T. What kind of music do you prefer ? 
 
 KENNETH T. Fast music. 
 
 EICHABD N. I like fast music. 
 
 T. You perfer this one to the other. (To Ken- 
 neth.) You don't like it. There is no reaction at 
 all. 
 
 KENNETH T. I like it but I like fast music bet- 
 ter. 
 
 T. You prefer the second, but it isn't fast 
 enough.
 
 MUSIC 183 
 
 RICHARD L. Not too fast. 
 
 T. What do you prefer, military music, mili- 
 tary band? 
 
 BILLY H. I love that. 
 
 T. When my boy came to my orchestra he pre- 
 ferred more noise, the more noise the better. He 
 loved to listen to the drumming. I will play 
 something else that has a little different rhythm. 
 Listen to this French music it is very delicate. 
 
 P. I like that better. 
 
 T. You prefer it? 
 
 RICHARD N. It is not as good as the second one 
 you played. 
 
 BILLY H. I like the third. 
 
 T. For the first nobody; for the second we 
 have Richard N. ; who prefers the third? 
 
 PUPILS. I do. I do. I do. 
 
 T. Almost everybody. You remember that I 
 played "The Funeral March" by Beethoven; did 
 you like that? 
 
 BILLY H. I did. 
 
 RICHARD L. I don't. 
 
 T. Why? 
 
 RICHARD L. Too slow. 
 
 T. You are all for quickness. 
 
 CARL D. I like loud music. 
 
 BILLY H. I like Beethoven the best of anything 
 I heard. 
 
 T. What kind of music do you like ? 
 
 RICHARD N. Where there is something lively 
 going on. 
 
 T. I will play this Hungarian music for you, 
 (Plays.) 
 
 BILLY H. I like that,
 
 184 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. They are not all quick. Some of them are 
 not. You remember this one? (Plays. As 
 teacher plays, pupils laugh appreciatively.) 
 
 Everybody likes it? 
 
 PUPILS. Yes. 
 
 T. That is rhythmical feeling. That is the 
 primitive feeling of dance and music together. I 
 will play you another one that has the character of 
 fantasy. Perhaps you will like it, or perhaps not. 
 I am trying to play it as I heard it in Budapest 
 with some incidental music (if I can call it so) of 
 people who were improvising. (Plays Hungarian 
 Folk Dances.) 
 
 P. I like it. 
 
 BILLY H. I don't like it as well as the first one. 
 
 EDWAED B. I like the first Hungarian 
 
 KENNETH T. Because it is quicker. 
 
 T. How is it that you like things that are quick 
 if you like the ''Funeral March" of Beethoven? 
 
 BILLY H. I don't care whether it is quick or 
 slow ; it is the music. 
 
 T. Now how about this? (Plays.) 
 
 BILLY H. I like it. It doesn't sound like a 
 funeral march ; like a battle. 
 
 EDWARD B. Play some more of Beethoven. 
 
 BILLY H. Yes, do. 
 
 T. You like Beethoven? 
 
 EDWARD B. Yes. 
 
 T. I will play the beginning of that Sonata I 
 played the other day. I want to get your impres- 
 sion about it. (Plays Beethoven's Sonata in Cft 
 minor.) 
 
 BILLY H. I don't like it. 
 
 EDWARD B. I don't like it as well as the other.
 
 MUSIC 185 
 
 RlCHAED N. NO. 
 
 KICHAKD L. That fellow writes all slow ones. 
 
 MRS. B. (Visitor). Perhaps they would like the 
 next movement. It is quicker. 
 
 T. It would not be the music then ; it would be 
 the rhythm that they liked. I want to see whether 
 they like the music. Of course, even without 
 music, if I make a noise I will get attention. If 
 you heard a noise in the other room, knock, knock, 
 knock, you would pay attention; but that would 
 be rhythm not music. When I play this it be- 
 comes a part of me, and I forget that I am play- 
 ing it for you. This may seem to you very foolish. 
 When I play for my three children, the girls get 
 the same impression. My boy is bored, and says 
 it is too long and he prefers to go. There are dif- 
 ferent temperaments. I see you are impressed by 
 the picturesque. I have played this for you 
 before ? I play it once more. It is like a Japanese 
 picture. (Teacher then plays some Japanese 
 music.) 
 
 BILLY H. I don't like it at all. 
 
 EDWARD B. I do. 
 
 T. You do, and you no, you no, you no, you no, 
 and you no. No feeling for this. 
 
 RICHARD N. Nothing to it. 
 
 T. Very extraordinary. 
 
 RICHARD N. There is not very much to it. 
 
 T. Let me see what you like. Do you like your 
 modeling lessons? 
 
 BILLY H. I do. 
 
 T. Who likes modeling? 
 
 PUPILS. We all do. 
 
 T. You, Richard?
 
 186 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 EICHAED N. Yes. 
 
 T. What have you tried to make? Are you the 
 inventor of one of those aeroplanes! 
 
 RICHARD N. No. 
 
 T. What have you done? 
 
 PUPILS. He's done one of those cannons. 
 
 CARL D. I made a few rabbits. 
 
 EDWARD B. I made a face. 
 
 T. You, Eichard, what did you do? 
 
 RICHARD N. A little of everything. 
 
 T. And have you made drawings ? 
 
 RICHARD N. Yep. 
 
 T. What did you do in drawings ? I am inter- 
 ested to see the connection of all this. Do you like 
 poetry? 
 
 RICHARD N., RICHARD L., CARL D., and KENNETH 
 T. We don't. 
 
 OTHER PUPILS. Yes, we do. 
 
 T. There are the four, the Big Four against 
 poetry. I will not ask you about logic because 
 Mr. Franzen is here in the room. 
 
 PUPIL. We all like logic. 
 
 T. You like music? 
 
 SOME VOICES. Yes. 
 
 T. Quite frankly. If you like music say 
 ' ' YES ' ' ! If you dislike it say ' ' No, I hate music ' ' 
 and I will shake hands with you. 
 
 Group I 
 
 AIM: Intonation. To try and fix in the chil- 
 dren's mind, ear, and voice, the sound and the 
 name connected with do-re-mi. 
 
 METHOD : They walked and clapped their hands
 
 MUSIC 
 
 187 
 
 to the rhythm, singing the notes. Then I played 
 on the piano, do-re-mi. 
 
 PI 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 bM= 
 
 rl r~ 
 
 =i=l^== 
 
 I 
 
 ^j 
 
 -2 J 
 
 
 3 
 
 =d=! 
 
 ^ 
 
 a& 
 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM : Intonation and writing the music. 
 METHOD: I played a few short exercises. 
 
 Chil- 
 
 dren wrote what I played on the blackboard. They 
 generally wrote it without indicating the rhythm. 
 Then I played it again and they added the rhythm. 
 Then I asked them to sing it, and to mark the 
 rhythm with their hands and feet. They made the 
 rhythmical changes, transferring a rhythm of 
 four bars into one of three bars, as : 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM: Exercises in intonation and on the up- 
 beat. 
 METHOD : Played a few bars on the piano, and
 
 188 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 the children wrote them on the blackboard. I 
 played the same exercise, adding the up-beat. 
 Then I gave different rhythmical shapes to the 
 same melodies, using only one-half notes and one- 
 quarter notes. 
 
 COMMENTS : It can be seen that I begin by giving 
 the children very simple means of expression 
 (until now using only the 2/4 time, and 1/2 and 
 1/4 notes). I wish to give them a few tools which 
 they understand how to use and with which they 
 can build. 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: To develop the children's hearing and 
 rhythmical feeling. 
 
 METHOD : I played the children a few notes and 
 they wrote the same on the board. 
 
 p 
 
 They did this exercise very well. Then I asked 
 them whether we could not continue instead of 
 stopping, using the same rhythmical arrangement 
 and developing the melodic idea. They wished to 
 continue. I had no difficulty in making them feel 
 and understand that the last do, as it was a kind 
 of conclusion, had to be suppressed to find other 
 notes. A very extraordinary thing happened. The 
 children began to sing, to improvise all together, 
 and dictated to me the following continuation of 
 the first exercise:
 
 MUSIC 
 
 189 
 
 
 They were aware that the rhythm of this little 
 piece was of four bars. I asked them if they were 
 satisfied with the end. They were not. I tried to 
 lead them to understand the reason. They discov- 
 ered that the do, coming three bars before the end, 
 was unsatisfactory, and they knew why. At first 
 they proposed a re instead. As this was not good, 
 they changed it to la, as follows : 
 
 
 They sang this melody and dictated it to me. I 
 asked them to change the melody into a three-bar 
 rhythm without changing the notes. They made 
 the following: 
 
 
 etc. 
 
 Then they gave me another example of a three-bar 
 rhythm, as follows : 

 
 190 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Then I continued to play and to sing this : 
 
 
 
 etc. 
 
 They all began to laugh. I asked them why. * ' It 
 is the same too much." Then I added to it in 
 the following way : 
 
 Moderate 
 
 Vivo 
 
 They laughed again and said it changed too sud- 
 denly. 
 
 COMMENTS : It will be seen in this lesson that I 
 deviated from my proposed aim. The children 
 were in a lyrical mood. They felt creative; they 
 wished to improvise. Accordingly, the lesson be- 
 came one of composition. 
 
 Group III 
 AIM: Rhythmical study of the 
 
 time (using 
 
 r r n 
 
 f 
 
 METHOD: I explained to the children why the 
 measure of % time could have only one strong 
 beat. I used the same analogies and practical ex- 
 amples as before (in the 2/4) showing that the
 
 MUSIC 191 
 
 only difference lay in the strong effective beat 
 which is separated by a longer rest. We experi- 
 mented with this, using the feet and hands to mark 
 the time. Then they wrote on the blackboard the 
 following : 
 
 First; 
 
 i a 3,1 a 
 
 Feet r r r r r 
 
 Second: 
 Hands p' \O* 
 
 Feet r r r >f r r 
 
 Third:o \o * \o j \o \ 
 
 After these exercises we were able to discern 
 the aesthetic value of syncopated time. I played 
 to them different melodies which demonstrated 
 the rhythm. I improvised and the children beat 
 the time with their hands and feet and finally, as 
 usual, reproduced what I played on the board. 
 
 RESPONSE : Excellent. This class, in every way, 
 is remarkably gifted. They were greatly inter- 
 ested. 
 
 Group IV 
 
 AIM: Study of the %. Application of two-bar 
 rhythm. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 
 T. I will see whether you remember what I told 
 you yesterday about the % bar. In a % bar how 
 many strong or heavy blows are there?
 
 192 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 RUTH T. Four two. 
 
 T. You don't understand: 123 123 123. 
 We have three movements. 1 2 3 I am counting 
 three. Now beat 123. How many blows! 
 
 RUTH T. One. 
 
 T. Now one was a blow like that of a black- 
 smith 1 2 1 2. How many blows ? 
 
 CLARENCE D. Two one. 
 
 T. Two movements. How many blows? If I 
 beat you so, how many blows do you receive ? 
 
 P. One. 
 
 T. If I do this, 1 2, which is the strong blow? 
 
 P. Down. 
 
 T. If I beat, will you feel it at one or two, 1 2 ? 
 
 P. At one. 
 
 T. You will feel it at one. Now if I play 123 
 how many blows? 
 
 P. One. 
 
 T. And on which beat does this come ? 
 
 P. The first. 
 
 T. The first will be strong or heavy ; the other 
 will be light, or weak. Now that you feel it, let 
 us come and do it. 123 123 123. (Children 
 imitate.) That is like the division of the eight- 
 hour day. You see? Eight hours for working, 
 eight hours for sleeping, and eight hours for eat- 
 ing. Let us do something else. Suppose I am 
 playing three notes, there will be only one strong 
 beat, 123 123 123. You understand. Now 
 I may write it simply with one note, this half note 
 
 But this is not sufficient, it will make only 
 1 2. So, as I told you before, we can write a dot
 
 MUSIC 193 
 
 here which counts for a quarter-note, Nat- 
 
 urally I can write other rhythms in that bar. Who 
 can show me how I can write it ? 
 
 HAEBIET B. (Writing on board.) You could 
 
 write it like this : f f f or this: P' 
 
 SUZANNE B. (Writing.) ? f or this f 
 
 T. Beat this with the foot to show the rhythm. 
 123123123. Now with the hands mark the 
 strong beat. Here I beat one. Will you do this 
 
 with your hand and feet? f f \f 9 
 
 HARRIET B. The second beat is more important 
 than the first. 
 
 T. That is not exactly so. Come back to our 
 blacksmith. If I have to give a blow here, my first 
 
 blow must be strong. But if I play f f , you 
 
 see I am giving more importance to two, because 
 the note is longer. It is unexpected, and for that 
 reason it is more striking. Now I will play some- 
 thing on the piano, and you will try to go on and 
 to beat 123 with your feet. I will play three 
 
 notes in the bass like this. (Plays 111.)
 
 194 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Go on and try to do it everybody. (Children walk 
 about clapping hands.) I want everybody to go 
 to the blackboard, and write the rhythm of what I 
 am playing. I am doing the bass to give you the 
 
 division of the time, f f f This is %. Each 
 
 of you go and write the rhythm; simply the 
 rhythm. (Plays.) 
 
 ELIZABETH A. (Writes.) P f 
 T. (Plays.) 
 
 WAYNE B. (Writes.) f P 
 T. (Plays.) 
 
 SUZANNE B. (Writes.) f f f I f 
 
 T. (To Sylvia.) Sylvia, you try. You didn't 
 pay attention; for that reason you don't under- 
 stand what I am saying. Please try to dance it, 
 just to get the rhythm. That is not right; you 
 didn't pay attention at all. Who can do this? 
 
 SUZANNE. This was the same as the last one. 
 
 T. (Plays.) 
 
 KENNETH T. (Writes.} f f I f " 
 
 T. Now I am playing another with two bars 
 again.
 
 MUSIC 
 
 195 
 
 SUZANNE. (Writes.) f \P f \P f \ 
 T. Can you explain to me which seems the 
 most striking to you? P |P f I f* I 
 
 What is coming here? 
 ELIZABETH A. A weak beat. 
 T. A weak beat. An up-beat. 
 P. Oh! there's the bell. 
 
 Group II 
 I proposed the following : 
 
 J J J I J- 1 
 
 Lucienne wrote it on the board, as I played. Then 
 stimulated by this, she made the following : 
 
 s 
 
 I proposed this rhythm : 
 
 f r r ' r <
 
 196 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Kuth McL. proposed the following motif : 
 
 Then they sang and danced. 
 
 COMMENTS: Monday is a bad day. Children, 
 after two days of freedom, are inattentive. Again, 
 the rarity of that power of losing oneself entirely 
 in aesthetic contemplation was evident. It is a 
 state of mind very rare both in children and in 
 adults. 
 
 AIM : The study of the % time and the different 
 rhythms in which it could be used. 
 
 and 
 values used 
 
 RESPONSE : After different rhythmic exercises in 
 %, Suzanne proposed the following motif which 
 she wrote on the board. We continued it together 
 with certain improvements. 
 
 J J r ir r 'r r i j J ' 
 
 Having too many do's Suzanne proposed the fol- 
 lowing "b" instead of "a."
 
 MUSIC 
 
 197 
 
 rrri" r 
 
 
 iipp 
 
 
 The children agreed that this rhythm was monot- 
 onous, so it was necessary to make certain 
 changes. The proposed changes resulted in the 
 following : 
 
 J 
 
 r^a 
 
 
 - 
 
 1^ 
 
 Nh 
 
 f =f^ 
 
 P 
 
 r r r i j r ir r 
 
 ZE 
 
 Suzanne wrote this motif on the blackboard from
 
 198 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 dictation. It was rhythmically analyzed after- 
 wards. 
 
 r r r r r r r r r 
 
 Giving in this way, all the possible combinations 
 which the simple means at our command for the 
 present allowed, we continued with the rhythm of 
 three measures. I proposed : 
 
 r r r 'r r 'r r 
 
 ' 
 
 clapping my hands. The children wrote it rhyth- 
 mically on the board. Then we put it into music 
 in the following manner : 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 Stimulated, Elizabeth suggested this motif 
 
 I developed this further : 
 
 
 J J r ir r
 
 MUSIC 
 
 199 
 
 COMMENTS : My proposition had malice of fore- 
 thought ! The exact reproduction of a little motif, 
 in the dominant, is a characteristic trait of Mag- 
 yar folklore. The children were very fond of 
 certain Hungarian dances which I had played to 
 them during the last four weeks. These dances 
 were still ringing in their ears. I was not sur- 
 prised, therefore, to see them seize on this Hun- 
 garian dance, and to propose the following con- 
 tinuation, which was defined rhythmically so as to 
 be adapted to our rhythmic scheme. 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 i M 
 
 PI 
 
 I showed them, however, how monotonous this 
 rhythm of theirs was. I played the original Mag- 
 yar dance and demonstrated to them how much 
 truer and richer its rhythmic scheme was. 
 
 dominant 
 
 Group I 
 
 AIM : To develop a feeling for the measure and 
 for rhythm. 
 
 METHOD: We went to the wood pile and took 
 sticks beating the time and counting 1, 2, 1, 2, and 
 then 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. We repeated it, eliminating the
 
 200 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 counting aloud. We played at being road diggers, 
 using our sticks for pick-axes, singing do re do re. 
 
 EESPONSE : This amused the children. 
 
 COMMENTS: This was, without doubt, the best 
 means to take with these little children. One 
 ought to invent for them different rhythmical 
 games, using all kinds of tools. The children 
 would then be able to play like little primitive 
 creatures. In this way they would be obliged to 
 give a rhythmical form to their play, and the 
 instinct for measure and rhythm would slowly be 
 developed in them. 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: (a) Theoretical Side. 
 Continuation of the study of the %. 
 
 METHOD: We talked again about the principle 
 of the strong beat, 1, 2, and its prolongation in 
 
 toe%; A ,A 
 
 or 1 2 3, = P |* I P P 
 
 I then returned to my example of the strong blow 
 of the hammer on 1, and the necessity of raising it 
 on 2 in order to prepare again for another blow 
 in the 2/4 time. I then imagined a hammer so 
 heavy that it would take a longer time for the 
 effort; the strong, effective blow being the more 
 important and the more natural because it sym- 
 bolizes the weight and is prolonged thus : 
 
 '1,2' 3 '1,2' 3 
 down up down up
 
 MUSIC 201 
 
 In the following rhythm, on the contrary, the blow 
 is short and the effort to raise the hammer more 
 considerable; consequently this sort of struggle 
 against the feeling of weight is less natural 
 whereas a real struggle appears in our muscular 
 instinct, and its psychological relation which 
 gives us a feeling of surprise. 
 
 I ft 3 1 2 3 
 
 r r T r 
 
 Such great importance thus attributed to a weak 
 beat provokes in us a certain confusion, a certain 
 lack of balance. This is why syncopation im- 
 presses itself so strongly on our feelings. Synco- 
 pation plays in the rhythmical domain the part 
 that dissonance plays in the tonal domain. 
 
 AIM : (b) Practical Side. 
 
 To make the children feel these rhythmical im- 
 pressions, and to develop these faculties of ap- 
 preciation and discrimination. 
 
 I used the following rhythm : 
 
 L2 8 12 3 
 
 ( & ) p r IP r IP p i p' i itu 
 
 i 28 
 
 (b) f P Iff A syncopated 
 
 (c) [5 f | f f mixed 
 
 Id) atilizing the up-beat
 
 202 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Then we combined all of them in a melody. 
 
 
 
 (b) 
 
 g 
 
 r r 
 
 ll 
 
 J rj 
 
 & 
 
 r irr 
 
 (OEjgUp 
 
 
 r 
 
 '' nr n 
 
 r nr nr r' J rrir>M 
 
 The children observed; wrote on the blackboard; 
 then walked and counted; in brief, they assimi- 
 lated and verified, in every possible way, the dif- 
 ferent rhythms. 
 RESPONSE : Excellent.
 
 MUSIC 203 
 
 Group IV 
 
 AIM AND METHOD : Same as Group III. 
 RESPONSE : Good, with the exception of Edward 
 B. and Billy H. who were very poor. 
 
 I played: r P'P P T f ' 
 
 Edward B. answered that it was 2/4. I replayed 
 it same answer. The others laughed. I did not! 
 I took Edward B. apart to explain it to him. I 
 made him march 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, and I played in 
 2/4 time. I made him note every beat on the 
 blackboard by a little dash, --- . Then I told 
 him to group the dashes in two's since every 
 rhythm is composed of at least two motions: 
 
 Then I replayed, f f ' f f I telling him 
 to walk and count (keeping the same time 
 
 J J . J . ) But he hesitated ! He could not keep 
 
 a regular time. After numerous repetitions he 
 succeeded. Then counting the beats he perceived 
 that the first note is longer than the second one. 
 I asked him to show the difference graphically on 
 the blackboard. He wrote ; ---- , and 
 realized that the first note was double the second. 
 He wrote the figures above the dashes thus: 
 123123. At last he understood that the 
 rhythm was to be written as follows : 
 
 p P IP pi
 
 204 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 
 T. I will play you this poem that I wrote many 
 years ago, and I will ask you what you think about 
 it, and you will tell me quite frankly your impres- 
 sion. You must not think that you must tell me 
 that you like it because I composed it. I would 
 appreciate it if you tell me really what you think 
 of it. I shall begin with "Winter" and then with 
 "Spring." You must imagine the impression 
 that I had of winter with snow all about me, and 
 that "Spring" is life coming again and the awak- 
 ening of nature. (Starts to play "Winter.") 
 
 DOROTHY E. That is lovely. 
 
 HARRIET B. I think that is wonderful. 
 
 T. You like it? 
 
 HARRIET B. I think it is fine. 
 
 T. I will now play ' ' Spring. ' ' 
 
 HARRIET B. I like "Winter" much better than 
 I do "Spring." 
 
 DANE C. I like them both about the same. 
 
 HARRIET B. The winter one has much more 
 music in it. 
 
 CARL D. It is not so long. 
 
 T. Do you see any image? 
 
 DOROTHY E. You could draw lots of wonderful 
 pictures. It seems like an old house. The wind 
 is blowing. The snow seems to be covering the 
 house and it is nice for a while. It isn't drifting 
 around ; but it is cold and pretty soon when you 
 go up again and begin playing loud it seems as if 
 the wind is coming again and the house is almost 
 covered.
 
 MUSIC 205 
 
 T. Have you the impression that there comes 
 a yellow ray of sunlight? 
 
 DOROTHY E. No. 
 
 T. No? I had the impression that there comes 
 a yellow ray of sunlight. I will play it for you 
 again. 
 
 WAYNE B. " Spring " is so much different 
 from the other. 
 
 T. Did you notice that there is a motif from 
 4 ' Winter " coming back, very far away? It is like 
 a faint memory of "Winter." 
 
 DOKOTHY E. I think " Winter" is the prettiest. 
 I think "Winter" has more music in it. 
 
 WAYNE B. I prefer "Winter"; but I like both 
 of them. 
 
 P. I couldn't decide. 
 
 HARRIET B. I like "Winter" the best. 
 
 SUZANNE B. When you hear "Winter" you 
 say I like "Winter"; and when you hear 
 "Spring" you say I like "Spring." 
 
 T. What do you feel when you hear 4 ' Spring ? ' ' 
 
 DOROTHY E. Sometimes it seems day and other 
 times it seems like night. 
 
 SYLVIA DEL. It is wonderful. 
 
 WAYNE B. Won't you play the other ones, and 
 let us see which we like best! 
 
 T. What other ones? 
 
 WAYNE B. The funny ones dances and 
 things. 
 
 T. You remember the dance I played that 
 Suzanne danced the other day; would you like to 
 hear that? 
 
 WAYNE B. No, play that one you made up 
 yourself.
 
 206 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. The grotesque one? (Plays "Allegro Iron- 
 ico" of Viola Suite.) 
 
 WAYNE B. I like it. 
 
 RUTH T. I like the beginning of that. 
 
 WAYNE B. Play the thing that you like best 
 yourself, Mr. Bloch. 
 
 T. I don't know what I like best. 
 
 WAYNE B. You must have some idea. 
 
 SYLVIA P. Play that dance. 
 
 T. I will play you the dance that I played the 
 other day. How do you like this? (Plays.) 
 
 SYLVIA P. Lovely. 
 
 KENETH T. Play some more dance music. 
 
 T. You want to hear some dance music ? Some 
 Hungarian music? (Plays.) 
 
 SUZANNE B. That is good to dance to. 
 
 T. Will you try to dance? (Suzanne dances 
 to it.) 
 
 T. (Plays another.) Do you care for that? 
 
 PUPILS. Yes. 
 
 WAYNE B. Very much. 
 
 T. Here is a nice one. (Teacher plays to 
 pupils for the remainder of lesson. They are very 
 attentive and appreciative.) 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: Study of the 4/4, using the values we 
 had already studied. 
 
 METHOD: Same as before. We separated the 
 whole notes, half notes and quarter notes : 
 
 r T r r r
 
 MUSIC 207 
 
 Then we combined them thus : 
 
 r rnr nrrr if r f TT 
 
 We made exercises using these rhythms in our 
 habitual manner. Then we applied them to two 
 measures as follows : 
 
 rnrrr irrr irrr irnrrrr 
 rr nrnr rrir rr 
 
 We tried, moreover, applying an up-beat to all 
 the rhythms and noted how it modified the phrase. 
 RESPONSE : Good. 
 
 Group HI 
 
 AIM: Study of intervals (tone and half tone) 
 and tetrachords. 
 
 METHOD: I recalled to the children the lesson 
 they had on sounds and vibration. Showed them 
 the impossibility of differentiating between two 
 notes which differ only by one vibration. Spoke 
 of the necessity of choosing certain sounds from 
 the infinite field of sounds, and told how this selec- 
 tion of sounds was made differently by different 
 races and at different periods. 
 
 Talked about the octave, the natural interval, 
 which resulted from the difference in pitch be- 
 tween the masculine and feminine voice; the di- 
 vision of a string in two equal parts. Told them
 
 208 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 about primitive instruments, and the scales which 
 came from them. 
 
 Then we took up our system : the half tone, the 
 tone, and the tetrachord. 
 
 1 -5T 
 
 1' 
 
 fa 
 
 mi 
 
 re 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 si 
 
 la 
 sol 
 
 I made them sing, appreciate and differentiate 
 these tones and half tones in various exercises in 
 intonation. 
 
 Then I played "Cherry Bloom" 
 (Japanese), and showed them that 
 the scale here used also contained two 
 symmetrical tetrachords separated 
 by a tone, but that the order of the 
 tones and half tones was modified. 
 Instead of l-l-i/ 2 1-1%. 
 We had V 2 -l-l %-!-!. 
 RESPONSE: "It does not end 
 properly. " 
 
 "There is no home tone." 
 "It is not American." 
 COMMENTS: Obviously it was not American! 
 It did not have the tonality or the rhythm of 
 ragtime or "Over There" or the Boche, "0 Tan- 
 nenbaum," or such military music as one hears 
 on Fifth Avenue, New York, or the style of the 
 host of stupid little German popular songs, which 
 inundate the American kindergarten with their 
 English words as stupid as the commonplace 
 melodies that accompany them. 
 I shall have difficulty in enlightening the minds
 
 MUSIC 209 
 
 of these youngsters and in correcting the erro- 
 neous conceptions which have misled them. I was 
 obstructed by what they had previously learned, 
 which had become fixed in their minds, and which 
 was easily retained. They were, therefore, preju- 
 diced by habit; were not able to have a real ap- 
 preciation of the home tone; this being confused 
 with the tonic of our major mode, or with the arti- 
 ficial minor mode, as if all music, past and future, 
 was circumscribed by such artificial and narrow 
 limits, as if the music of antiquity, Greek music, 
 Gregorian chants, Oriental music, and our modern 
 evolution were not there to protest against such 
 a shallow prejudice, which is raised to the dignity 
 of a Rule, an unquestionable Law! (when it was 
 merely the law of one period). 
 
 Group IV 
 
 AIM: Study of home tone (tonic), tetra- 
 chords and modes. 
 
 METHOD : I talked to them about the above. I 
 then played diverse melodies written in old modes. 
 
 RESPONSE: My desire was to correct the er- 
 roneous and restricted conception of the children, 
 viz.: that our major and minor modes are the 
 only means of giving a feeling of unity in music. 
 A large part of ancient and of modern music is 
 outside of such a conception. At the side of ton- 
 ality there is a place for modality. As the im- 
 pressions of children, during this period of their 
 life, are so intense and vivid, one should not 
 hinder or impede their imaginations by narrow 
 and rigid formulae. One should, on the contrary,
 
 210 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 keep their imaginations free and independent, 
 open to all beauty. It is indispensable, however, 
 to explain that all art and every means of expres- 
 sion requires order; arrangement of the different 
 parts. One must eliminate from the child's mind 
 all idea of arbitrariness or anarchy. The teacher 
 should make the children experience and under- 
 stand, by using every means and through all pos- 
 sible analogies, a feeling for style; that which is 
 most appropriate and which is necessary to all 
 good works of art. It is well to bring to mind 
 this admirable definition of Plato "A melody is 
 beautiful as long as it keeps its own character: 
 it is a failure as soon as it leaves it." 
 
 Walt Whitman also said, I can't remember 
 just where; " Everything that is in its place is 
 good. Everything that is out of its place is bad." 
 
 I do not know, at least for myself, any better 
 principles of aesthetics. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 
 T. You remember what I told you yesterday. 
 From do to re what is the distance? 
 
 PUPILS. One one-half one whole tone 
 
 T. One whole tone. From re to mil 
 
 P. One. 
 
 T. From mi to fa? 
 
 P. One-half. 
 
 T. How many notes are there from do to fa? 
 
 P. Four. 
 
 T. Now we will continue and build exactly the 
 same from sol to la and we have 
 
 P. One whole tone.
 
 MUSIC 211 
 
 T. From la to si? 
 
 P. One. 
 
 T. From si to do? 
 
 P. One-half. 
 
 T. This represents our so-called major scale 
 but long before we had that major scale there were 
 quite different scales. They are not all the same. 
 I have shown you some oriental music and a num- 
 ber of old songs, too, that are not constructed on 
 that scale, and they are perfectly beautiful, just 
 the same. I showed you the Japanese song, and 
 here too we had four notes absolutely symmetrical, 
 but the semi-tone was placed at a different dis- 
 tance. I will begin with E for instance. If I be- 
 gin with E we have mi fa. Is this a whole or a 
 half tone? 
 
 P. Half. 
 
 T. Fa sol, sol la; if I continue from si do we 
 have 
 
 P. Half. 
 
 T. Do re. 
 
 P. Whole. 
 
 T. So I have again something quite symmetri- 
 cal. (Plays.) We have a small group of four 
 notes that we call a tetrachord. Tetra is a Greek 
 word that means four. Now I will explain some- 
 thing else. You told me yesterday that the home 
 tone is do. I will explain to you what the real 
 home tone is. I want to know why there is a home 
 tone and what a home tone is. 
 
 HAERIET. The tone that we started with. 
 
 T. That is not what you told me yesterday 
 because when I played the "Cherry Bloom" you 
 told me that it didn't end at the home tone. It
 
 212 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 is not American music. I asked you what is 
 American. Why do you think there is a home 
 tone! What is a home tone! 
 
 P. Tone that starts and ends. Yes no yea no. 
 
 T. There is no unanimity. If I play this 
 (plays in old modes) do you feel the home tone! 
 
 PUPILS. No. I do. No it isn't. It started on 
 do. 
 
 T. No, it started on re. Is this a home tone? 
 
 HARRIET. No. 
 
 TARBELL. No. 
 
 ELIZABETH. No. 
 
 THE REST. No. 
 
 T. Yes, it is. 
 
 WAYNE. I thought so. 
 
 PUPILS. You did. 
 
 T. And this is what I want to take out of your 
 little brains. It was brought from Germany 
 this idea. One is making a struggle against every- 
 thing that is German now. Please do not under- 
 stand that I am against the Germans at all What 
 is good from Germany we ought to keep. But 
 this is bad. I will explain exactly what is a home 
 tone. You see that among all our sounds and vi- 
 brations a choice was necessary to make our 
 music. When I played the long note on my violin 
 you laughed, because there was no rhythm. There 
 was a division necessary to give shape. Now, if 
 I took a machine that would give vibration, we 
 could not do anything with it. We have to choose 
 something. Let us s'uppose a painter is making 
 a beautiful picture. He must choose his subject, 
 too. He must have a certain kind of atmosphere. 
 He will not paint a sunrise and a sunset on the
 
 MUSIC 213 
 
 same picture. There must be one important sub- 
 ject. If a painter paints the picture of a person, 
 he will not put in a whole lot of things. He will 
 make that person stand out. So in music. So 
 the home tone would be something like this. 
 Among all notes we choose one note that is more 
 important than the others that will come back 
 that will give unity. Suppose some one told you 
 the story of a little girl and then talked about air- 
 planes and about potatoes and about music. You 
 would laugh. There would be no unity. So we 
 have to choose a note so there will be unity. But 
 there is not one scale; there are many. The. old 
 people of India had 916 different home tones, 
 and we have one. But the old people of Greece 
 or of Asia had quite different scales from this. 
 For centuries, people had quite different ideas 
 from ours, and only a few centuries ago came this 
 new idea, which is already beginning to change. I 
 want to teach you today the meaning of the home 
 tone. I will play you one of the Gregorian chants. 
 It is the music of the Catholic church and has been 
 its music for centuries and centuries. They are 
 the most magnificent music one can imagine. I 
 will begin with the mass for the dead: The 
 Requiem. (Plays.) It moves on a very few notes 
 but there is one note that is more important than 
 the others. (Children all this time very atten- 
 tive.) Now comes the second part. This would 
 be the home tone. We start and we come back. 
 Sometimes we will start with another note but 
 at the end will be the most important note. Now 
 it changes (plays). You see now that the note has 
 changed. The home tone is another one. (Derby
 
 214 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 and Dane inattentive.) I could multiply ex- 
 ' am pies. Our actual modern scale is do re mi fa 
 sol la si do. For centuries the home tone was 
 different. But it has changed, and is now chang- 
 ing again. The thing is not to say that do is the 
 only home tone. It is only one home tone. I want 
 to show you examples, so you can choose the 
 home tone. If I play you this (plays) it sounds 
 perfectly well. It seems a little strange because 
 you are used to "Over There" and such music 
 as the music of the moving pictures. But it is 
 beautiful. Music is broader than this moving 
 picture music, and it is as rich as nature itself. 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: Study of eighth notes in the 2/4 (using 
 rhythm of two measures). 
 
 METHOD: Same. I played the following 
 rhythms. The children beat the time and wrote 
 them on the board. 
 
 rw r 
 
 rncirr
 
 MUSIC 215 
 
 Then, 
 
 EESPONSE : The children were delighted. They 
 were like young colts who had been in the halter 
 and were at last free to go their way in the field, 
 in full sunlight. This acquisition of the eighth 
 note, with all its rhythm and variety, resulted in 
 making the children joyous and excited. In fact, 
 I was astonished at the results. The last exercise 
 was very difficult. I played it, therefore, without 
 the up-beat, thus: 
 
 f i f if f i f 
 
 After they understood the above, I added to it 
 an up-beat which transformed the rhythmical 
 structure of the phrase. 
 
 * 
 
 |f t 
 
 Suzanne B. marked a caesura without my asking 
 her to do so.
 
 216 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 
 T. Today I want to explain something in 
 rhythm. We will begin to do two quite new 
 things, because we must go ahead. We studied 
 the whole note, the half note, and the quarter note, 
 and their combinations. That is, we were able 
 
 to do this : o . One two three four 
 and this, P ? . One two three four 
 
 and this, f f f f O ne two three four. 
 
 Now we can do a little more; go on a little 
 quicker. We can use a note that is shorter. 
 
 HARRIET B. Eighth. 
 
 T. But I don't want to use this absolutely 
 without discrimination. I want you to know ex- 
 actly the use of it, and for that reason let us begin 
 with the 2/4, as we did at the beginning. We can 
 
 write the eighth note so, . (Writes on the 
 
 board.) We can make a lot of combinations. 
 
 f P f if 
 
 f f r r
 
 MUSIC 217 
 
 We can make two bars. Practically, it would 
 be the same as one two three four. It simply 
 goes quicker. (Sings notes, pampampampam.) 
 
 Will you beat this? f ff ff 
 
 (Children beat while instructor plays.) Or I 
 can do this instead. (Plays) f ' fi ( 
 
 Naturally I could have before every one of those 
 notes an up-beat a long or a short one. That 
 
 would be written that way : ft I f ff 
 
 You remember the up-beat has great importance 
 on the shape. 
 
 T. I will ask you to write a few rhythms with 
 the 2/4. I shall play and see who can do it. 
 
 SUZANNE B. I can. 
 
 T. (Plays.) 
 
 SUZANNE B. (Writes on board.) 
 
 r trc/r 
 
 T. Good. Who will go to the board now! 
 HABBIET B. I will. (Teacher plays and Har- 
 
 riet writes.) jj If* Q Iff ff ff 
 
 T. The first bar is right. I will play what you 
 have written. What I played is this. (Plays.)
 
 218 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 HARRIET B. (Writes.) f" |* P_T ' f *' ' fl - 
 
 T. (Teacher plays on motif of Harriet.) Do 
 you like it? 
 PUPILS. Yes. 
 T. Will you try to write it, Suzanne? 
 
 SUZANNE B. (Writes on board.) ' K r f" 
 
 T. Can you tell me why you like it? You see 
 we begin with the low notes. We have three notes 
 coming unexpectedly over here. That is a synco- 
 pation here. There are three little notes before 
 two long ones. I will play another one. 
 
 BUTH McL. (Writes on board.) 
 
 ? r_r r / 
 
 T. Who wants to do another one? 
 DOBOTHY N. (Writes on board.) 
 
 CIITT f ' 
 
 T. Now, children, something amusing. Write 
 for me the rhythm I am playing with my left hand. 
 EUTH McL. I cannot do it. 
 
 SUZANNE B. (Writes.) tfj ff jj ) 
 
 \ 
 
 T. You seem pleased. You are like little 
 horses who have remained in the stall the whole
 
 MUSIC 
 
 219 
 
 winter, eating only dry hay, and now we can go 
 out and eat where we like because we have more 
 notes. Of course, it was very hard to compose 
 with the few notes. We shall now be free to use 
 all the combinations we like. Suppose we try to 
 work with three bars ; I will play a more difficult 
 one. 
 
 SUZANNE B. (Writes.) (J ' f df f * P ' 
 
 T. I will play a very difficult one. (Children 
 very attentive.) 
 
 HARRIET B. and SUZANNE B. (Try but do not 
 get it correctly.) 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: Exercises in tonation (half tones and 
 tone). Rhythm in the 2/4 and 3/4, using eighth 
 notes. 
 
 METHOD : I did not know exactly why, when the 
 children arrived, I played to them some frag- 
 ments from the ballet of Hippolyte and Aricie by 
 Rameau (that incomparable creator of rhythms). 
 The children were enchanted by it; it made them 
 joyous and excited. I continued, therefore, and 
 perceived that this music was exactly suitable for 
 our study. 
 
 
 ^
 
 220 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 I had them analyse the rhythm, first, measure 
 by measure ; then the groups ; at last, the form of 
 the sentence itself. I then played other selections 
 from the same work: 
 
 RESPONSE : Excellent. 
 
 COMMENT : None. But yes ! It is good to have 
 a plan before teaching, but it is much better to de- 
 part from it when there is a chance for the inspi- 
 ration of the moment. One cannot teach art as 
 one teaches mathematics and logic. And why 
 should it be necessary to teach mathematics in 
 such a dry, boresome way as it is generally taught ? 
 Life is everywhere, and everywhere overflows its 
 bounds. The teacher must be inspired sometimes ; 
 then the pupils themselves will be. If the pro- 
 gramme to be followed is not strictly adhered to, 
 what difference does it make? Programmes are 
 nothing in themselves. To stimulate the imagi- 
 nation and emotions of these children seems to 
 me of the first importance. I do not wish to imply 
 that my methods are the only ones. No! They 
 were simply the means which seemed best for me 
 to use at the time. Teachers should know that 
 their inspiration and enthusiasm for beauty and 
 art, and their desire to arouse it in pupils, is 
 worth more than any method, or any barren, life- 
 less theory. 
 
 Group IV 
 
 AIM: I perceived that my group of strong 
 souls was not in a contemplative mood. As I 
 know by experience that under such circumstances 
 there is nothing much to be drawn from them, 
 I allowed myself to be guided by them to some
 
 MUSIC 221 
 
 degree. Edward B. and Billy H. amused them- 
 selves by striking the Montessori bells and hand- 
 ling the different tuning forks. I took advantage 
 of this, and struck notes from the different tun- 
 ing forks. I delighted in these dissonances, and 
 tried to make them share my enthusiasm. But 
 no : the beauty and the strangeness did not attract 
 them; it evoked nothing. The practical and util- 
 itarian side of their minds, combined with their 
 need of action only, was satisfied. The pleasure 
 for them was not in the sound itself, but in the 
 making of it. This is the antipode of an aesthetic 
 feeling. It is the same state of mind that people 
 have when they go to concerts to display their 
 clothes, their jewels, to chatter and disport them- 
 selves, or simply to gaze at the soloist who tries 
 to resemble Chopin, or the acrobatic pianist with 
 wild gestures. It is impossible for them to forget 
 or to lose themselves, even for a moment, in the 
 music. For that reason, the lesson was made 
 scientific, one of acoustics. The forks served to 
 explain the vibration, the octave, and the division 
 of the string into two equal parts. 
 
 We found two dos the do which had 256 vibra- 
 tions, and the one which had 512. That led us to 
 make calculations. 
 
 Then I explained the complete series of over- 
 tones (the division in 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, up to sound 16). 
 We talked about stringed and brass instru- 
 ments. 
 
 RESPONSE: The children were interested. 
 Ivan B. was able to deduce very correctly which 
 sound would be 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, after my ex- 
 planations.
 
 222 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Group I 
 
 AIM: Connection of rhythm and intonation. 
 
 METHOD: Same as before. I added an exer- 
 cise using the complete scale. 
 
 RESPONSE: Charlotte V's mother assisted at 
 the lesson. Charlotte V. became suddenly a very 
 docile little lamb. The children were attentive 
 and reacted very well. I had them beat the meas- 
 ure of ^ 3^ 4^ 5 } w ith their hands and feet, 
 clapping their hands on the strong beat. For the 
 first time they all did these exercises correctly. 
 
 I tried changing the measure 
 into J, etc. No err 
 a zeal unparalleled. 
 
 into *, and | 
 into J, etc. No errors. Charlotte led them with 
 
 Group II 
 
 AIM: Same as Group I. 
 
 METHOD: Same. I added to the exercise on 
 the second the following rhythms: 
 
 (D () 
 
 4 up beat 
 
 
 
 etc.
 
 MUSIC 
 
 223 
 
 Khythm of two bars. 
 
 (Which the children sang. I played them on 
 the piano, and the children wrote the rhythms 
 on the board.) 
 RESPONSE : Good. 
 
 Group III 
 
 AIM: To use the eighth notes, in the J, J, 
 and | exercises on intonation. 
 
 METHOD: Same as Group III, laying stress 
 on the . 
 
 
 4 up beat 
 
 RESPONSE: Good for the girls. Execrable for 
 the boys.
 
 224 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Group HI 
 
 AIM AND METHOD: Connection of rhythm and 
 intonation. Exercises in thirds. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 
 T. (PTriies following on the board and has 
 children clap hands to indicate rhythm of each 
 one. Later plays on the piano and has each one 
 identify rhythm that he has played by pointing 
 to the board.) 
 
 v r 
 z r cr 
 "err 
 
 Group HI 
 
 AIM: General review of rhythms studied. 
 METHOD: Began from the beginning and 
 briefly explained the two movements up and
 
 MUSIC 
 
 226 
 
 down then their application to J, J, j, and 
 J; next the different rhythmical values and their 
 various combinations. As this all seemed well 
 assimilated, I improvised different things in 
 different rhythms, keeping always the same 
 motif, which I transformed from time to time so 
 that the pupils could follow it and feel the new 
 form. Finally, I played freely and without pause, 
 changing the measures, sometimes to J, some- 
 times to 2> sometimes to J or J the pupils tell- 
 ing me when I changed and describing the dif- 
 ferent measures. 'For example : 
 
 RESPONSE : Excellent. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 TEACHER. We have studied ?, ?. and * We 
 
 4*4* 4 
 
 shall have a little review of these rhythms. 1 
 want to see whether you can distinguish not only 
 with your brain but with your body and your 
 feelings whether there is a rhythm of two bars 
 or three bars. Now, if you remember what I 
 told you, it will not be difficult. During our two 
 last weeks I shall give you something higher than 
 technique. I shall play and show you how every- 
 thing I told you technically will work. Because 
 these are only the means that we are studying, our
 
 226 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 rhythm and intonation correspond to the study 
 of syllables or letters when you are learning to 
 read and to understand grammar. But the most 
 important thing in music is not grammar. It is 
 the beauty and emotion that comes from music. 
 And to get the real joy of it, it is necessary to 
 understand music. There are people who like 
 music without understanding it; how much more 
 would they enjoy it if they understood it ! 
 
 In the simplest rhythm we have two motions. 
 One is naturally more important than the other 
 that is, the one that comes 
 
 SYLVIA DEL. Down. 
 
 T. If I put a nail in a piece of wood, the ef- 
 fective blow is down. So we have these rhythms. 
 The simplest one will be the | . One two, one two. 
 Now we have seen that this metrical division is 
 only a kind of mechanical division of the time. 
 But we have different grouping of two bars, three 
 bars, and four bars. 
 
 In a bar that contains three beats, the one is 
 heavier, ONE two three. Sometimes there will 
 be a certain confusion between two and four ; but 
 there are certain influences that will make it easy 
 to distinguish them. You felt this was four? Now 
 I shall play for you and you will beat and I shall 
 see whether you feel what I am playing. You 
 remember about the up-beat? What is an up- 
 beat? 
 
 SUZANNE B. It is a start. 
 
 T. But we always start. Is it starting on the 
 strong beat or before ? 
 
 SUZANNE B. Before. 
 
 T. So when I start this way (plays), it is on
 
 MUSIC 227 
 
 the strong beat, and when I start this way or this 
 way it is on the up-beat. I can start two notes 
 before (plays) or three notes before, (plays). In 
 an up-beat you can have many notes. Now what 
 is this? Three or four? 
 
 SUZANNE. Four. 
 
 T. Does this J start on one or an up-beat? 
 
 SYLVIA DEL. Up-beat. 
 
 T. That is very good. Now who will go to the 
 board and show this rhythm? 
 
 SUZANNE B. (Writes.) 
 
 T. I shall make another one. 
 
 HAEBIET B. (Writes.) 
 
 GAEL D. I counted two. 
 
 T. You did? Count again. (Plays.) 
 
 CARL D. No, it is two. 
 
 T. This class is excellent in knowing rhythm. 
 I shall play something and change my bar. 
 Listen carefully first, and when you feel the 
 rhythm tell it to me. (Teacher plays. Pupils 
 discriminate.) 
 
 Group IV 
 
 COMMENTS: The hour struck. No one was 
 there; five minutes; ten minutes. I went to see. 
 They were playing ball. I made a sign to Ivan, 
 and I heard him call the others, and I heard also 
 two voices answer: "We do not care for music!" 
 in a contemptuous tone. I asked, "Who does 
 not care for music?" Silence. I repeated the 
 question, and added that I had no desire to con- 
 strain anyone I am for liberty above everything 
 else, theirs and mine also. If the master declines 
 in his dignity, if he is to be nothing but a machine,
 
 228 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 engaged to work so many hours a day, what are 
 we coming to? And what respect will his pupils 
 have for him! I insisted that those who desired 
 should quit the room. No one had the courage to 
 answer. I insisted again, and at last Richard L. 
 went out. I repeated the question; Carl D. fol- 
 lowed him. There remained Ivan, Edward B. 
 and Richard N. The last raged in silence, but 
 stayed, and I admired his will, for I know that 
 at heart, "he does not care for music." The 
 class thus reduced, I gave these explanations on 
 the ternary divisions of the measure g, |, y 5 . 
 
 Group III 
 Study of the measure J 
 
 AIM : Review. 
 J. Intonation. 
 
 METHOD : Same as usual. I played the follow- 
 ing new exercises. The pupils wrote the rhythms, 
 then the notes. Afterwards they sang and an- 
 alyzed them. 

 
 MUSIC 229 
 
 Study of rhythm. I played. Suzanne wrote im- 
 mediately notes and values. 
 
 Then we analyzed the groups 3, 3, 6. I ex- 
 plained to them that one could also write them in 
 shorter values and reunite each group in a simple 
 measure, thus, | (or 3). 
 
 RESPONSE: Good. Suzanne always leading. 
 The majority hesitated. 
 
 COMMENT: I know that this is very difficult 
 for children, in vacation, to do rhythmic exercises, 
 when outside the sun is shining, the birds singing 
 and all nature calling you. It is very hard and 
 very far away from real music. 
 
 I know also that the elect are few. That very 
 few are really gifted. The others do not interest 
 me. I pity them. Nothing is so terrible as to 
 study a thing one does not love. All constraint 
 is odious. For those who are "gifted" one end is 
 to give them, little by little, a real technique, to 
 teach them to listen, discriminate and judge. The 
 rest, that which makes the very essence of music, 
 the most important of all, is of the emotional 
 order and cannot be taught. 
 
 As for technique, what do I seel A record of 
 a preceding year says: "The older groups (II, 
 III, IV) have developed not only the rhythmic 
 and melodic side, but also the harmonic. They 
 can hear internally, write, harmonize and trans- 
 pose a melody. " There is a grand assertion, but, 
 I am sorry it doesn't match the facts. Except 
 for two or three exceptions, there is no child to 
 which it can apply. All depends, besides, on what 
 one understands by these words "internal hear-
 
 230 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 ing," " harmonize," or what melody and harmony 
 it concerns. 
 
 I have absolutely put aside from these begin- 
 nings all harmonic idea. Before attempting to 
 make the children hear chords, I have preferred 
 to follow the natural and historic path, to develop 
 first the rhythmic and melodic sense, which are 
 of a more general order. To harmonize badly, 
 arbitrarily, a melody by I V I, as they do too often 
 in this country, seems to me the worst and most 
 dangerous thing. It fixes conventionality first of 
 all in the minds of these children. It is a real 
 camouflage which will lead them astray forever. 
 I have seen where this easy system leads, by the 
 unbelievable number of advanced, even graduated 
 pupils, who are ridiculously weak in harmony and 
 cannot later get rid of I V I, when they have to 
 harmonize the chorales of Bach. It limits strictly 
 their vocabulary and their understanding. It is 
 an easy road to choose, certainly dazzling for the 
 ignorant, but it closes the door to truth and 
 beauty. 
 
 I have been much more humble. I have limited 
 myself to little things. But there are no little 
 things in art. To study a principle to the bottom 
 and to incite the children to reflect, to open all 
 the possibilities to them, seems to me more im- 
 portant than to give them a varnish, without so- 
 lidity, which will not last. 
 
 I have done little, but I believe that, for the 
 few who are the "elect," it will not be lost.
 
 MUSIC 231 
 
 Stenographic Record of Group III 
 
 TEACHER. We have taken now the different 
 bars, that is, |, J, J. J , is a combination of what? 
 SUZANNE B. Three and two. 
 T.J1 
 
 ELIZABETH. A. Three and three. 
 T. And I is a combination of 2 and *, so 
 
 4 44' 
 
 when one knows two and three one knows almost 
 everything. Now if I make this (one two three) 
 it will be |. It would be exactly the same if I 
 chose a division where every beat will be shorter. 
 Instead of having a quarter note for instance, 
 I could have an eighth. I could write |. Sup- 
 posing now I were playing something very quick, 
 and would have to make a combination of two 
 bars, just as we are building up a J with two 
 J. What is the new measure I would get? 
 
 SUZANNE. | . 
 
 T. And every beat will have three-eighths, or 
 I can write it with a quarter note and a dot. The 
 quarter counts for two-eighths and the dot for one- 
 eighth. So this is the division in three. | will 
 be beaten like ^ but every beat will have how 
 many notes? 
 
 HARRIET B. Three. 
 
 T. If I make a division of J , where every beat 
 
 will have three notes, I will have this, J 
 
 or JT] JT3 J73 ' What wil1 I have here? 
 SUZANNE. . 
 
 O
 
 232 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 T. If I have the *, how many eighths will I 
 have? 
 
 ELIZABETH A. **. 
 
 T. I will show you the difference. (Plays.) 
 What is this! 
 
 CARL D. f . 
 
 T. Here is a little song that is a kind of a 
 lullaby for children. How does it begin? (Plays.) 
 
 SUZANNE. Up-beat. 
 
 T. This is a little French song. Probably 
 there are a lot in English too. I want you not 
 only to see the bar, but we shall analyze it and 
 see how it is done. When you analyze a house 
 you say it has so many rooms, so many living 
 rooms, so many bedrooms, a porch, a garden, 
 etc. So in music. Now how about the form of 
 this little piece? Is this a sentence? (Plays.) 
 
 CARL D. Yes. 
 
 T. Is there a stop in the middle of it or not? 
 CARL D. Yes. 
 
 T. There is a kind of punctuation in music. 
 We have commas, periods, etc. You tell me 
 where there is a comma and where there is a 
 period. (Plays.) 
 
 SUZANNE. There is a comma where you stop. 
 
 T. And what comes here? 
 
 SUZANNE. A period. 
 
 T. (Plays.) Is this something new or a repe- 
 tition of what we have had? 
 
 ELIZABETH A. Something new. 
 
 T. Do you feel there is a difference? 
 
 PUPILS. Yes. (All together.) 
 
 T. What is this? (Sings.) 
 
 HARRIET B. |.
 
 MUSIC 233 
 
 T. How does it begin? 
 
 ELIZABETH A. With an up-beat. (Writes on 
 board.) 
 
 T. I am teaching you a thing that every com- 
 poser, every conductor, and every musician ought 
 to know. Unhappily, many do not know it. The 
 division in bars is the necessity of dividing time, 
 as I told you in our first lesson. It has no mean- 
 ing, but is a kind of necessity just as there must 
 be an end of a line in books. First we begin with 
 an up-beat. (Sings.) Now you will remember 
 that I told you that an up-beat will affect the 
 whole construction of the piece. We start that 
 way and probably when the new sentence comes 
 we shall have to start the same way. Can you 
 tell me whether in the little sentence there is a 
 division somewhere? 
 
 SUZANNE B. Yes. 
 
 T. Here would be the first; (sings) and here 
 the second. So the end is here. You see the 
 second part begins again on an up-beat. This 
 first sentence ends on a "C." This is what you 
 call a home tone. But why is it not finished here? 
 
 SUZANNE B. This is a longer note. 
 
 ELIZABETH A. It doesn't feel long enough. 
 
 T. I will show you the most simple reason. 
 Look at my feet. (Beats time with feet and stops 
 ivith one foot in the air.) Can I rest? 
 
 PUPILS. No.
 
 234 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 ELIZABETH A. I think it ought to be directly 
 after the bar. 
 
 T. You see? Now we will take the second 
 part. (Writes.) 
 
 
 How about the divisions? 
 
 SUZANNE B. It is like four little fragments. 
 
 T. Do you feel it the same? Here is the form 
 of the little piece. (Sings.) Now this is a very 
 simple form, but this is the principle of every 
 great composition in music. We have a greater 
 division here; let us call it A. Let us call this 
 B, and here comes A again. So it makes ABA. 
 Can you show me something that is similar to 
 this? In a church, for example. (Draws on 
 board.) It is a balance. 
 
 n 
 
 or ruj~i 
 
 ELIZABETH A. Like the rhymes in the poems 
 in our literature class? First line rhymes with 
 third. 
 
 T. It is a balance, ABA. I shall show you 
 another example. I shall play you something
 
 MUSIC 235 
 
 that is sung in the schools in Switzerland. You 
 see here we have again two fragments. What is 
 the rhythm? 
 
 SUZANNE B. |. 
 
 T. Again J. (Plays.) 
 
 Groups II, III, IV 
 
 AIM: Study of , , \ 2 . 
 
 Becapitulation. 
 
 Measure and rhythm. 
 
 Form. 
 
 Punctuation of musical speech. 
 
 First principles of aesthetics. 
 METHOD : As before. To make the child under- 
 stand the measure and then the rhythm and form, 
 helping himself with his feet and his hands, in 
 counting, in singing, and then in silence. 
 
 The last lessons have been devoted almost ex- 
 clusively to this work. I have played numberless 
 French folk songs, short for the most part, in 
 measures J, j, }, f, |, |, with rhythms very 
 often complicated. The children should dis- 
 criminate; point out first the measure; if it is 
 an up-beat or not ; then mark the musical punctu- 
 ation, comma, semi-colon, question mark or 
 period; they should recognize the principal 
 phrase, the secondary phrase, and the return 
 when there is one. And not only feel and ob- 
 serve, but reason and analyse their impressions. 
 KESPONSES : Excellent for the gifted pupils. 
 COMMENTS: None; see the preface to these 
 notes.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 
 
 BY DR. FLORENCE MATEER 
 
 THE chief aim of the laboratory was the study 
 of each child in the school in order that all might 
 better know him as an individual, better meet his 
 needs and more easily help him to his rightful 
 enjoyment of the knowledge offered him. Through 
 even a partial fulfillment of this aim we hoped 
 to justify the existence of the laboratory itself. 
 
 The work was undertaken in a purely experi- 
 mental manner, the preconceived ruts of proper 
 procedure in educational psychology were avoided 
 whenever possible. The psychologist came into 
 the school as a teacher who was studying the chil- 
 dren in order "to help the other teachers teach 
 things that suit you best and are what you need." 
 This same attitude of adapting to the emergency 
 of the moment in a common-sense way but of us- 
 ing in that adaptation all that psychology had to 
 give was the basis of the work with teachers, 
 classes and parents. 
 
 The methods used will reveal themselves in the 
 detailed report following. It will suffice to say 
 here that the tests given were applied in the ac- 
 cepted clinical fashion, the interpretations drawn 
 were conservative, the recommendations made 
 
 239
 
 240 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 were such as behooved one believing fully the 
 principles of preventive mental hygiene, while the 
 whole attempt was an exploratory experiment 
 which has left those carrying it through eager 
 for its continuation. 
 
 The program tentatively outlined for comple- 
 tion during the summer embraced six different 
 problems. 
 
 1. A preliminary mental survey of all children 
 in the school by an abbreviated system of mental 
 tests. This survey would probably indicate some 
 of the bigger problems confronting us. 
 
 2. An intensive study of each child in the 
 school, by a full use of accepted mental test series, 
 together with tests to ascertain the general ori- 
 entation and practical information of the child, 
 a survey of his ability in school subjects, and the 
 use of a series of performance tests as the need 
 was indicated by the child's ability on other 
 things. 
 
 3. It was planned, indefinitely, to have each 
 teacher make some estimates of the work done by 
 the children in his classes. This was to be done 
 in such a way that it would help the teacher to 
 see each child more clearly as an individual; to 
 help in obtaining estimates of the relative ability 
 of the same child in the various departments ; and 
 also to help throw some light on how each teacher 
 regarded his own work. 
 
 4. Sufficient visiting and getting acquainted 
 with the parents to make possible the passing on 
 to them of any findings regarding their children 
 which might be helpful to them in bringing them 
 up.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 241 
 
 5. All possible mental hygiene work with the 
 children in groups or as individuals. This could 
 not be planned beforehand but must necessarily 
 be developed out of the need for it which would 
 show itself as the work with individuals pro- 
 ceeded. 
 
 6. The daily mingling with the teachers, as 
 one of them attempting to give the laboratory 
 findings to them in such a way that they would be 
 helpful and would properly but not too strongly 
 modify the teachers' attitude towards the chil- 
 dren; to encourage also any requests for such 
 help on school problems as might be given from 
 the standpoint of the laboratory findings. 
 
 1. PRELIMINAEY SUEVEY. 
 
 The first day of the school term was spent help- 
 ing the school physician inspect all of the children. 
 They were weighed, measured and all serious de- 
 fects of heart, throat, and lungs were noted. This 
 gave a short list of children whose playground 
 activities had to be restricted. 
 
 The next morning we began a mental survey 
 of the school by means of the Doll Brief Revision 
 of the Binet Scale. The work was done class by 
 class, one individual after another being taken in 
 systematic fashion. One person did all of the 
 examining and an assistant was kept busy return- 
 ing one child to the class and getting another 
 while a third was being examined. 
 
 Doll has prepared this brief scale for such 
 survey work. It was intended primarily for the 
 use of large school systems which could not afford 
 to spend more than a few moments on the study
 
 242 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 of each child. It seemed quite worth while to try 
 it out even in such a small school, however, where 
 the rating of each child on the survey need not 
 materially affect his future but where any error 
 in his ranking would almost immediately be cor- 
 rected by the findings gained through the use of 
 a much more intensive examination. The com- 
 parison of these two sets of findings on the same 
 children would also give some indications of the 
 value of the brief scale for use in school systems 
 which feel they cannot take the time to make more 
 intensive studies. 
 
 The tests were used in actual survey fashion, 
 not allowed to lapse into a slow, more intensive 
 examination of the child, but on an average a new 
 child was greeted, acquaintance made and the test- 
 ing completed in ten minutes. This seems to be in 
 accord with Doll's plan for its use, as he says 
 "individual subjects can be examined by the scale 
 in from five to ten minutes." Where the children 
 passed a mental age of ten on this brief scale, the 
 suggested brief revision of the Stanford scale was 
 used to supplement the easier scale. 
 
 The brief scale was not hard to use, and all of 
 the children present, thirty-two in all, were ex- 
 amined in two mornings without any one being 
 kept from Morning Exercises, play, or rest 
 periods. The other children were easily tested as 
 they came in one or two a day. 
 
 The scale is easy to use with the younger chil- 
 dren but rather hard to put over with older chil- 
 dren and it also takes longer with them. The one 
 test of having them see how many words they can 
 say in three minutes is especially inappropriate.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 243 
 
 It takes too long and is too hard to give compared 
 with most others of the regular series, unless the 
 child has become fairly well acquainted with the 
 examiner. A five or ten minutes period gives 
 little chance for any such overcoming of difficul- 
 ties in a speechbound adolescent. 
 
 In all, our work on the survey included 38 chil- 
 dren, three of whom dropped out of school before 
 intensive examinations could be made on them. 
 These 38 children ranged in mentality, by t^ie sur- 
 vey, from a retardation of 3.5 years in a thirteen- 
 year-old child to an acceleration of two years in 
 one eight and one seven-year-old child. The in- 
 telligence quotients or the ratio of mental age 
 to chronological age ranged from 73 to 138. At 
 least six of the children had mental ages enough 
 below their actual ages to show the need for 
 further study of them. All of these had intelli- 
 gence quotients of less than 86. The distribution 
 of all of the children by intelligence quotients may 
 be seen on the Distribution curve. 
 
 The tests did not pick out at least five other 
 children who needed individual study just as 
 much as the retarded children. These children 
 were not dull, they tested up to grade and above 
 by the brief scale, did nothing erratic on it, but 
 the experienced clinical worker could not help 
 seeing them as problem cases as soon as she met 
 them. These children are psychotic or psycho- 
 pathic, and have been far greater problems dur- 
 ing the summer than those testing low by the 
 survey. 
 
 Doll claims accuracy for the brief scale only 
 through the mental age of nine. A distribution
 
 244 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 of the children to whom it applies under these 
 conditions does not seem to influence the findings 
 
 i ^ 
 
 much. There are still left four children who are 
 suspiciously dull or " backward" mentally, and 
 the rest seem to be distributed about the same
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 245 
 
 :>!
 
 246 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 as the general group including older children. 
 The distribution of these younger children is as 
 seen on First Survey curve. It is easily seen to 
 be less regular than the more general distribution. 
 
 041 
 
 All the older children were given also the 
 suggested brief Stanford scale. The mental ages 
 they scored on this scale agreed with the mental 
 age on the brief Binet-Simon scale in some in- 
 stances, but in general they were much higher.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 247 
 
 The comparison of the two survey mental ages 
 is to be seen on the preceding chart. In this all 
 boys scoring 12 (the highest score) on the Binet- 
 Simon scale have been given an intelligence quo- 
 tient of 100, even if over 12 years old the test 
 allows no higher score. 
 
 Any further discussion of the findings from this 
 survey can be made only as they are studied in 
 connection with the findings from the more in- 
 tensive examinations. Personally, the writer 
 feels the brief scale to be of very little use, save 
 to the amateur. One who is accustomed to han- 
 dling children can, in the same length of time, gain 
 far more satisfactory knowledge from a less- 
 routine questioning of the child. This shows up 
 the retarded child equally well, the nervous, psy- 
 chotic, and erratic child far better. 
 
 2. INTENSIVE INDIVIDUAL STUDIES. 
 
 In any school system where the children are 
 taught in even small groups there is a definite 
 need for some kind of work whereby the individual 
 shall be recognized. Education has been too much 
 a plan for the handling of masses, for giving them 
 training suited to the needs of the mass and for 
 expecting a certain type of behavior from the 
 group as a whole. One reason for the intensive 
 study of each child in the laboratory this summer 
 was to supply that exact information regarding 
 the child's actual mental status which would help 
 in maximizing our ideas of him as an individual. 
 
 We began working with the children who, ac- 
 cording to the brief survey examination, seemed 
 most to need such further study. After the more 
 special children were finished we examined the
 
 248 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 rest of the younger children. By that time the 
 older children were so curious about the things 
 that were done in the laboratory that they re- 
 garded coming to us there as an adventure and a 
 privilege to be competed for. 
 
 All of the children were given first of all a series 
 of informal questions relating to their homes, 
 brothers and sisters, where they lived, what they 
 did to earn money, what they read, current events 
 and even their practical judgment of such things 
 as distances, lengths, etc. These were all things 
 a child learns regardless of what he has been 
 taught in school and were varied for each child. 
 
 The next part of the examination was the giv- 
 ing of the Stanf ord-Binet Scale in order to ascer- 
 tain the actual mental age of the child. This was 
 given in absolutely standard fashion, the child 
 being given every possible chance to do things 
 even when they were thought to be above his 
 actual ability. After this we surveyed briefly his 
 ability in school subjects, having him read, write, 
 spell, do arithmetic to the limit of his ability, and 
 show us what he knew in language and geography. 
 The examination also included the use of per- 
 formance tests, such as the Seguin Form Board, 
 Healy A and B, the Goddard Adaptation Board, 
 an imitation series, and other tests as the work 
 with the individual indicated the need of them. 
 We then finished by giving the anthropometrio 
 measurements used by Smedly and others to ob- 
 tain some indication of the child's normality of 
 growth and of relative psycho-motor control. 
 
 The procedure was absolutely informal and is 
 typified by the following detailed report of the 
 whole examination on Dane Cummings.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 249 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION 
 
 OF 
 
 DANE 
 
 July 30, 1918 
 General Information Test 
 
 DR. M. When is your birthday? 
 
 DANE. December 7th. 
 
 DR. M. How old are you! 
 
 DANE. Ten. 
 
 DR. M. In what year were you born? 
 
 DANE. 1907. 
 
 DR. M. What grade are you going into this 
 fall, in school? 
 
 DANE. The sixth. 
 
 DR. M. That is pretty good for a ten-and-a- 
 half-year-old boy. 
 
 DANE. I could have been in the seventh but I 
 didn't want to leave my classmates. They were 
 all older than I was. 
 
 DR. M. I think you are far enough along for 
 a boy of your age. You probably know the things 
 better than you would if you did go along faster. 
 Do you have to take books home at night to study? 
 
 DANE. No, not very often. The teacher says 
 we are too young to take home books. 
 
 DR. M. You have a very sensible teacher, 
 haven't you? 
 
 DANE. Both of them said that. We had two 
 during the year. 
 
 DR. M. I want to ask you some questions. 
 Have you any brothers and sisters? 
 
 DANE. One sister.
 
 250 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. How old is she? 
 
 
 DANE. Sixteen. 
 
 . .;. 
 
 DR. M. What is her name? 
 
 ft 
 
 DANE. Margery. 
 
 
 DR. M. Does she go to school? 
 
 
 DANE. She is going to graduate this year. 
 
 DR. M. From High School? 
 
 
 DANE. Yes, she will be in the last year 
 
 of High 
 
 School. 
 
 
 DR. M. What was your mother's 
 
 maiden 
 
 name? 
 
 
 DANE. Pettee. 
 
 
 DR. M. Where do you live? 
 
 
 DANE. On High Street. 
 
 
 DR. M. Is Peterborough a city, a village or a 
 town? 
 
 DANE. A village; no, a town. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know how far it is from 
 Boston? 
 
 DANE. About sixty-eight miles, I guess it is. 
 
 DR. M. Have you any idea how much it costs 
 to go to Boston on the railroad? 
 
 DANE. No, about ten dollars. [Actually $2.72.] 
 
 DR. M. Have you ever been to Boston on the 
 railroad, on the train? 
 
 DANE. Only when I was a little bit of a boy, 
 about 1914, I don't remember it. 
 
 DR. M. Have you been to any of the other big 
 places around here? 
 
 DANE. Worcester, Fitchburg, Bellows Falls, 
 Vermont, Springfield, Illinois. 
 
 DR. M. Which one have you been to last? 
 
 DANE. The last one I have been to was Con- 
 cord, New Hampshire.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 251 
 
 DB. M. Do you know how much it costs to go 
 there, or did you go in an automobile? 
 
 DANE. I came back from there in the train. I 
 think it costs something like sixty cents, I don't 
 know. 
 
 DB. M. I think that would be about the right 
 fare. 
 
 DANE. That is half fare. 
 
 DB. M. Because you are not twelve years old, 
 are you? 
 
 DANE. No. 
 
 DB. M. Can you name some of the towns for 
 me that are near your own town? 
 
 DANE. Greenfield, Hancock, East Jaffrey, Mil- 
 ford, Milton, Temple and Sharon. 
 
 DB. M. Can you name some of the large cities 
 in New Hampshire for me ? 
 
 DANE. Keene, Concord, Franklin, Manchester. 
 
 DB. M. Can you name some of the rivers in 
 New Hampshire? 
 
 DANE. Connecticut, Contoocook, Nubanusit. 
 That is all in New Hampshire, I think. 
 
 DB, M. Can't you think of some of the easy 
 names? Can you spell all of them? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DB. M. Do you have them in school to study? 
 
 DANE. Not all; we study rivers but we study 
 more of the larger rivers. 
 
 DB. M. Have you studied the mountains in 
 school ? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DB. M. Can you name some of the big moun- 
 tain ranges?
 
 252 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DANE. White Mountains, Green Mountains, 
 Berkshire Hills, Appalachian Mountains. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know where the Appalachians 
 are? 
 
 DANE. There is one large range seven miles 
 from here, Monadnock. 
 
 DR. M. We are right in the Appalachian range 
 here, aren't we? 
 
 DANE. I don't think Monadnock is. 
 
 DR. M. It isn't one of the big mountains, but 
 they are what we call the foothills of the mountain 
 range. 
 
 DANE. There are some fairly large mountains 
 that you can see over there. My mother used to 
 live right near those mountains. 
 
 DR. M. Before she was married? 
 
 DANE. Yes, you can see them where I go Sun- 
 days. 
 
 DR. M. Who is the Governor of New Hamp- 
 shire? 
 
 DANE. Henry W. Keyes. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know who the President of the 
 United States is? 
 
 DANE. President Wilson. 
 
 DR. M. Who is the king of England? 
 
 DANE. George. 
 
 DR. M. Do you read the newspapers? 
 
 DANE. A little bit; I just read the headlines 
 sometimes. 
 
 DR. M. What papers do you read? 
 
 DANE. The Manchester Union, and I look at 
 the Traveller once in a while when I happen to 
 see it.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 253 
 
 DR. M. What parts do you like best? 
 
 DANE. The funny section. 
 
 DK. M. Can you tell me what news has been in 
 the papers recently! 
 
 DANE. The war news. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me any details of the war 
 news! 
 
 DANE. Seventeen thousand German soldiers 
 were captured. 
 
 DR. M. Were you up here when they rang the 
 bells in Peterborough that night? 
 
 DANE. Yes, I didn't like it either. 
 
 DR. M. I never heard it; that was the night 
 they captured the seventeen thousand Germans, 
 wasn't it? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Do you like to read story books? 
 
 DANE. I read them in winter some, but I don't 
 like them much in the summer because there are 
 so many other things to do in the summer. 
 
 DR. M. But you like to read them in the winter 
 time? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me the names of one or 
 two that you like especially? 
 
 DANE. Mark Tidd Books. 
 
 DR. M. What are they about? 
 
 DANE. About a big fat boy who stutters and he 
 is awful funny. 
 
 DR. M. What does he do? 
 
 DANE. Well, in one book he is a butcher, in 
 another book he runs a store, in another he has 
 a cave for a club room. I haven't read all of 
 them, I have read a part of one and a part of
 
 254 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 another. Mark was in business in one book, and 
 in one he was running a store. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me about how high that 
 door over there is? 
 
 DANE. About seven feet. [Actually 6 feet.] 
 
 DR. M. Good. About how long is this pen I 
 am using? 
 
 DANE. About five and a half inches. 
 
 DR. M. That is about right. Do you know how 
 tall you are? 
 
 DANE. About four feet seven. I am not sure, 
 or four feet six. [4 feet 5% inches.] 
 
 DR. M. How much do you weigh? 
 
 DANE. Down at school I weighed seventy and 
 a half. 
 
 DR. M. What size shoe do you wear? 
 
 DANE. Two and a half and three. I have two 
 pairs of two and a half and one pair of three. 
 
 DR. M. What does a pair of shoes cost? Can 
 you give me some general idea? 
 
 DANE. Yes. These I have on cost two dollars. 
 Men have to pay ten and twelve dollars for shoes. 
 
 DR. M. They are more expensive now, aren't 
 they? 
 
 DANE. Yes, because they use them for the sol- 
 diers. 
 
 DR. M. What does a cap cost, for a boy? 
 
 DANE. Most of them cost sixty cents. They 
 were fifty cents but they went up. 
 
 DR. M. What do gloves cost, do you know? 
 
 DANE. About a dollar I guess. 
 
 DR. M. Can you name some flowers for me? 
 
 DANE. The modern ones raised in the gardens 
 or in the woods?
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 255 
 
 DR. M. Any kind at all. 
 
 DANE. Violets, tulips, roses, hyacinths. 
 
 DR. M. Name some vegetables for me. 
 
 DANE. Beans, beets, radishes, onions, lettuce, 
 cucumbers. That is just what I have in my 
 garden. 
 
 DB. M. You have all those in your garden? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Did you plant them yourself? 
 
 DANE. No, not all of them. I had a man help 
 me. 
 
 DR. M. Did you get the free seeds from the 
 school or did you have to buy your seeds ? 
 
 DANE. A man gave me some and I had to pay 
 four cents, the cent packages. I didn't have to 
 pay anything. My father had some Government 
 seeds sent to him and they gave us some Govern- 
 ment seeds at the school and then a man gave me 
 some. 
 
 DR. M. The Government seeds are good too, 
 aren't they? 
 
 DANE. Yes, much better than some I bought. 
 
 DR. M. I should think so because they are all 
 tried out. They are the ones they have found 
 to be good. 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Can you describe the streets of Peter- 
 borough a little bit to me so I would know some- 
 thing about it if I had never been there? 
 
 DANE. There is a town hall and a fine his- 
 torical building. There is a nice building being 
 built right opposite the historical building which 
 is going to be the same form as the historical 
 building.
 
 256 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. What is it going to be used for? 
 
 DANE. For the Cattle Club. There are three 
 grocery stores and two of those are department 
 stores. There is a shoe store. There is a station 
 here where the Boston & Maine Railroad comes 
 in, and a fruit store and two meat stores and a 
 printing office, a restaurant, a hotel, cafeteria and 
 stable and two garages. 
 
 DR. M. Now I think you left out a very im- 
 portant kind of store, especially in hot weather 
 when people like to eat ice cream. 
 
 DANE. Two drug stores. One had an explosion 
 in it. 
 
 DR. M. They haven't opened up again, have 
 they? 
 
 DANE. They are fixing it up. 
 
 DR. M. What did you see on your way to 
 school this morning? 
 
 DANE. I saw the woods, the pond, and a pretty 
 house. 
 
 DR. M. Whose house? 
 
 DANE. That second house as you go around 
 the pond that has the green blinds on it. 
 
 DR. M. The one that is closed? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. That is pretty. Too bad it isn't open. 
 
 DANE. And one on the State Road. 
 
 DR. M. Now tell me what kind of a job you 
 would like when you grow up, Dane. Have you 
 any idea? 
 
 DANE. I wanted somebody to ask me that. I 
 don't know what I would like to be. 
 
 DR. M. Why have you been wanting some- 
 body to ask you, so you could talk it over?
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 257 
 
 DANE. Yes. The teacher I had the first of this 
 year, she asked the class last year, and I wonder 
 if she is going to ask us this year. I hope she is. 
 I think I would like to be manager of some office 
 or something like that, like my father. 
 
 DR. M. Is he a manager of an office! 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Of a printing office ? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. How much schooling do you suppose 
 you would have to have to hold a job like that? 
 
 DANE. Four years I guess. 
 
 DR. M. Go through High School? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Then what would you do? 
 
 DANE. If I was going to be a soldier I would 
 like to go to West Point, but I think I would like 
 to go to Dartmouth. 
 
 DR. M. Have you ever earned any money, 
 Dane? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Are you doing anything regularly 
 that you earn any money for? 
 
 DANE. In the winter I do. 
 
 DR. M. What do you do? 
 
 DANE. Carry out ashes for my father for 
 twenty-five cents a week. 
 
 DR. M. What do you do with your money, 
 spend it for anything you wish? 
 
 DANE. I did until Christmas, then I had a 
 thrift card given to me Christmas with a few 
 stamps on it and I spent the rest of the money 
 on that. 
 
 DR. M. Have you any filled up?
 
 258 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DANE. Yes, I have one filled up and one with 
 four on it. 
 
 DR. M. What do you like to do best when you 
 do not have to work? 
 
 DANE. I like to go in swimming pretty well. 
 
 DR. M. Where do you go? 
 
 DANE. In the playground. 
 
 DB. M. Down in the village, in the town? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Do you play baseball? 
 
 DANE. Some. I can't very well, though. 
 
 DR. M. What do you play, what position? 
 
 DANE. About every one. I play in the field as 
 well as any because that is about all I could do. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know how much a baseball 
 costs? 
 
 DANE. Five cents, ten cents, twenty-five cents, 
 fifty cents, a dollar and a dollar and a quarter. 
 
 DR. M. Good for you. Did you ever do any 
 cooking aside from your being up here in camp? 
 
 DANE. No. 
 
 DR. M. Have you seen your mother do cook- 
 ing? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know how long it takes to soft- 
 boil an egg? 
 
 DANE. About four minutes, something like 
 that. I think four or five minutes. 
 
 DR. M. That is very good. How long does it 
 take to bake a potato? 
 
 DANE. Ten minutes.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 259 
 
 Stanford-Binet Examination 
 
 DR. M. Now, Dane, these little blocks are all 
 of different weights. I want you to take them and 
 put them all in a row from heaviest to lightest, 
 first the heaviest one, then the next heaviest, and 
 then the next until you have them all in a row. 
 Be very careful. 
 
 DANE. That one, and that one. 
 
 DR. M. Let me see if they are right. That 
 is exactly right. Let me see if you can do it again. 
 You might be able to do it once by chance, but let 
 me see if you can do it twice. 
 
 DANE. (After finishing it.) I think that is 
 right, I don't know. 
 
 DR. M. No, you went too fast that time and 
 you made two very bad mistakes. Go carefully 
 this time. This is your very last chance. 
 
 (Dane completes the work.) 
 
 DR. M. Good, that is exactly right, not one 
 mistake. Now I want to see how good a memory 
 you have, Dane. See if you can say these num- 
 bers for me. 2-9-1-6-3. 
 
 DANE. 2-9-1-6-3. 
 
 DR. M. And this : 3-7-4-8-5-9. 
 
 DANE. 2-7-4-8-5-9. 
 
 DR. M. Now try this set: 5-2-1-7-4-6. 
 
 DANE. 5-2-1-7-4-6. 
 
 DR. M. Now let us see if you can do this hard 
 set: 2-1-8-3-^-3-9. 
 
 DANE. 2-1-8-3-4-3-9. 
 
 DR. M. That is quite a hard one for you. Now 
 try this very hard one. Some grown people can't 
 do it. 7-2-5-3-4-8-9.
 
 260 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DANE. 7-3-2-4-8-9-6. 
 
 DR. M. That is pretty good. Try this one: 
 
 DANE. 4-5-3-7-8-9-6-2. 
 
 DR. M. One more. This is the last set of 
 these. 8-3-7-9-5-4-8-2. 
 
 DANE. 8-3-7-4-9-8-2. 
 
 DR. M. That is quite good. Now I want to 
 see if you can say some numbers backwards for 
 me. If I say 6-1 can you begin with the last 
 number I say and say them the other way. 
 
 DANE. 1-6. 
 
 DR. M. 2-8-3. 
 
 DANE. 3-8-2. 
 
 DR. M. Good. 6-5-2-8. 
 
 DANE. 8-2-5-6. 
 
 DR. M. Right. Here is another one a little 
 bit harder. 3-1-9-7-2. 
 
 DANE. 2-9-7-3-1. 
 
 DR. M. And this one: 6-9-4-8-2. 
 
 DANE. 2-6-4-8-2. 
 
 DR. M. No, you made a mistake there but you 
 may have another trial. Try this one; that was 
 pretty hard, wasn't it? It is much harder to say 
 them this way. 5-2-9-6-1. 
 
 DANE. 1-6-9-5-2. 
 
 DR. M. We will catch some of the other boys 
 on these I think. 
 
 DANE. I don't think you will in our group. 
 
 DR. M. I don't think Andrew could do all of 
 them. 
 
 DANE. In group IV I don't think you could 
 eatch anybody because they are all older than I 
 am.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 261 
 
 DR. M. You did all of thorn that a boy of your 
 age needs to. You didn 't do the twelve-year old, 
 that is all. You are not supposed to do the twelve- 
 year-old ones. 
 
 DANE. You wouldn't think I was older than 
 Andrew and Edward. 
 
 DB. M. You wouldn't, would you, because they 
 are so big. You are not very much older than 
 Andrew? 
 
 DANE. Thirteen days and about two months 
 and thirteen days older than Edward. 
 
 DB. M. They are both very much larger than 
 you are. They are growing faster you see but 
 you will catch up with them. You will be just as 
 tall as they are. Now I want to see how quickly 
 your mind thinks, Dane. I want you to say for 
 me all the words you can say in three minutes, 
 that are names of things, like cat, table, necktie, 
 grass. Did you do that before? 
 
 DANE. Yes. Watch, hand, number, desk, table, 
 scales, fireplace, lady, hat, glass, box, door, screen, 
 necktie, blouse, trousers, stockings, shoes, shoe- 
 strings, matches, pins, band, violin, trombone, 
 drum, cymbal, dish, pan, knife, fork, spoon, table, 
 clock, leg, floor, bricks, marble, stone, trees, 
 needle, bracket, mountain, hill, horse, pony, cow, 
 mule, donkey, calf, lion, tiger, leopard, bear, pig, 
 chicken, hen, rooster, dog, cat, kitten. 
 
 DB. M. That is good; go ahead. 
 
 DANE. Pipe, radiator, lock, key, house, cabin, 
 shanty, pavilion, sulphur, silver, water, faucet, 
 tumbler, basin, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, 
 blackberry, red berries.
 
 262 
 
 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DB. M. Good; that is very good. You said 
 seventy some. 
 
 DANE. That is more than I did the other time. 
 
 DB. M. How many did you do the other time, 
 do you remember? 
 
 DANE. Sixty-seven. 
 
 DB. M. Just seventy-nine I have. Now, next, 
 Dane, I wish you to do some drawing for me. I 
 am going to show you a card, which I wish you 
 to look at very carefully. When I take it away 
 I want you to draw both of the things on the card, 
 at least as much as you can remember of the 
 things on the card. You are only going to see it 
 for ten seconds so you must look very carefully. 
 
 (Dane draws.) 
 
 DB. M. They are both right. 
 
 Here is something else for you to draw. This 
 is supposed to be a field and this is the fence the 
 whole way around the field. This is the gateway. 
 A man was in the field and he lost his watch some- 
 where in the field. We do not know where it was 
 but we know it must be somewhere in the field. I 
 want you to start here at the gate and draw with 
 your pencil and show me where you would go if 
 you were going to hunt for that man's watch so 
 you would be sure to find it wherever you go.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 263 
 
 DANE. You mean draw a picture or draw a 
 body or what? 
 
 DK. M. No ; just draw the path that you would 
 take. Draw the path that your feet would take. 
 
 DANE. If I found it in the middle, would I 
 stop? 
 
 DR. M. That is for you to plan out as you 
 think best. 
 
 DANE. (Draws on the paper.) 
 
 DR. M. Good. You wrote the word under- 
 neath it. 
 
 DANE. Here is the watch. The grass was too 
 tall there so I walked around there and didn't 
 see it. 
 
 DR. M. When you came around the second 
 time you found it? 
 
 DANE. Yes, when I came here. 
 
 DR. M. That is a very good plan. I want to 
 see how well you can read. Will you read that 
 aloud? 
 
 DANE. (Reads.) "New York, September 5th.
 
 264 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 A fire last night burned three houses near the 
 center of the city. It took some time to put it 
 out. The loss was fifty thousand dollars, and 
 seventeen families lost their homes. In saving a 
 girl who was asleep in bed, a fireman was burned 
 on the hands. " 
 
 DR. M. Now tell me what you read about. 
 
 DANE. Read about a fire which burned up three 
 houses and seventeen families lost their homes. 
 There was a girl in bed and the fireman went in 
 and tried to get her out and burned his hands. 
 
 DR. M. Good. Anything else? 
 
 DANE. Told the day it was written and said it 
 was last night, meaning the night before it was 
 written from New York. 
 
 DR. M. What is the date? 
 
 DANE. September 5th. The fire was Sep- 
 tember fourth. 
 
 DR. M. Now I have a lot of words here and 
 I want to see whether you know them or not. I 
 do not expect you to know all of them because 
 some of them are words that even people who 
 have gone to college do not know. Let me see 
 how many of these you do know. What does that 
 word mean orange? 
 
 DANE. Something you eat. 
 
 DR. M. Bonfire? 
 
 DANE. When you have a lot of rubbish and 
 dirt, not dirt but leaves, old grass and plants or 
 gardens, you burn them up. 
 
 DR. M. What do you mean by "roar"? 
 
 DANE. That is when a cannon goes off. They 
 speak of a cannon roar. 
 
 DR. M. Gown?
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 265 
 
 DANE. Sometimes spoken of as something you 
 wear, at a ball or something. Sometimes they call 
 it a night gown. 
 
 DR. M. What is "tap"? 
 
 DANE. When anybody has done good they tap 
 him on the shoulder or something like that. 
 
 DR. M. What is "tap" itself? 
 
 DANE. Sometimes when you make a noise, rap 
 on the door. 
 
 DR. M. What is scorch? 
 
 DANE. When you burn your blouse or some- 
 thing over fire. 
 
 DR. M. And "puddle"? 
 
 DANE. It is a hole in a road that men don't 
 like very well when running an automobile, when 
 it is filled with water, just after it rains. 
 
 DR. M. What is an envelope? 
 
 DANE. When you write a letter you put the 
 letter in an envelope and send it off. 
 
 DR. M. What is straw? 
 
 DANE. That is something like hay. Another 
 meaning is that you can drink through a straw. 
 
 DR. M. Rule. 
 
 DANE. That is something people are to go by. 
 The teacher makes rules; don't let the children do 
 certain things. They do it according to rule. 
 
 DR. M. One meaning is enough for these. 
 What does haste mean? 
 
 DANE. Kind of running. 
 
 DR. M. Afloat? 
 
 DANE. It means a boat that men are thrown 
 out of; it goes along alone. 
 
 DR. M. What does eyelash mean? 
 
 DANE. It is a particle of hair on your eyes.
 
 266 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DK. M. And copper? 
 
 DANE. Something in a mine. They make 
 dishes; they pound, "copper" they call it. 
 
 DR. M. Health! 
 
 DANE. To be well. 
 
 DR. M. Curse? 
 
 DANE. They send people away for that. 
 
 DR. M. What is it? 
 
 DANE. Something bad. 
 
 DR. M. Guitar! 
 
 DANE. Some kind of an instrument they play. 
 
 DR. M. Mellow? 
 
 DANE. Something that sounds good. It 
 sounds sweet played on the guitar. 
 
 DR. M. What is pork? 
 
 DANE. A kind of meat. 
 
 DR. M. Impolite? 
 
 DANE. Means to interrupt anybody when they 
 are talking. 
 
 DR. M. Plumbing? 
 
 DANE. That means a plumber who puts in bath 
 rooms in houses and radiators and things like 
 that. 
 
 DR. M. Outward? 
 
 DANE. Not to go in, to go out. 
 
 DR. M. What is a lecture? 
 
 DANE. It means a man comes and tells you 
 about certain things. 
 
 DR. M. We are going to have a lecture in 
 Morning Exercise this morning, aren't we? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. What is dungeon? 
 
 DANE. Something like a prison. 
 
 DR. M. And southern, what does that mean?
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 267 
 
 DANE. A person from down south; a south- 
 erner sometimes they call him, meaning from the 
 south. 
 
 DB. M. What does noticeable meant 
 
 DANE. Something that doesn 't look very good ; 
 it is noticeable. 
 
 DB. M. What do you mean by noticeable? 
 
 DANE. People notice it. 
 
 DB. M. Muzzle? 
 
 DANE. Something you put on a dog or horse 
 so they won't bite you. 
 
 DB. M. Quake? 
 
 DANE. Doesn't it mean a person coming from 
 a Quaker? We call them Quakers. 
 
 DB. M. Civil? 
 
 DANE. I don't know that. 
 
 DB. M. What does reception mean? 
 
 DANE. When a man has done good, been guard- 
 ing the border, he shakes hands with everybody. 
 
 DB. M. Ramble? 
 
 DANE. To go pretty fast. 
 
 DB. M. Skill? 
 
 DANE. To know quite a little. 
 
 DB. M. What does misuse mean? 
 
 DANE. To misuse a word means to say the 
 wrong word. 
 
 DB. M. Insure? Do you know that? 
 
 DANE. To insure your building means if you 
 had a fire you can get some money if you have 
 insurance. If you insure your building you can 
 get some money for it. 
 
 DB. M. Do you know what a stave is? You 
 don't know all of these, do you? 
 
 DANE. No.
 
 268 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. Regard! 
 
 DANE. Good luck, doesn't it? Best regards 
 when a man is going to war. 
 
 DR. M. What is nerve? 
 
 DANE. A nerve is part of the body; some 
 people are nervous when they overwork. 
 
 DR. M. What does crunch mean? 
 
 DANE. To like somebody. 
 
 DR. M. What does juggler mean? 
 
 DANE. A man that sells whiskey. 
 
 DR. M. What does majesty mean? Have you 
 ever heard that word? 
 
 DANE. I have heard it lots of times. A ser- 
 vant will say to his master, "His Majesty." 
 
 DR. M. What does brunette mean, do you 
 know? 
 
 DANE. No. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know what snip means? 
 
 DANE. It means a horse sometimes. Driving 
 after a cow why they snip at them. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know any of these other 
 words ? 
 
 DANE. I know that one, 49. 
 
 DR. M. What does that mean, forfeit? 
 
 DANE. When you are playing a game, if you 
 laugh you have to pay a forfeit. How many did 
 I say out of fifty? 
 
 DR. M. You got thirty-four of them exactly 
 right. 
 
 DANE. I know that one, number 57. 
 
 DR. M. What does it mean, charter? 
 
 DANE. Charter member they speak of, some- 
 body that pays someone so they don't have to 
 work, too small to do anything.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 269 
 
 Da. M. I am going to tell you some stories. 
 These stories may be true and they may be fool- 
 ish. I want you to tell me which they are. 
 
 "A man said: I know a road from my house 
 to the city which is down hill all the way to the 
 city and down hill all the way back home." 
 
 DANE. That is foolish; that couldn't be. 
 
 DR. M. Why couldn't it be? 
 
 DANE. When you go down hill all the way to 
 go to the city, that might be all right, but coming 
 back you woiild have to come up, you couldn't 
 come down unless you lived in two houses. 
 
 DR. M. What about this one! 
 
 "An engineer said that the more cars he had 
 on his train the faster he could go." 
 
 DANE. I don't know but what that is true. I 
 don't know. I know on a double runner in the 
 winter the more people you have on it the further 
 it will go. 
 
 DR. M. Under certain conditions that might 
 be so. 
 
 DANE. I don't think he could go faster. 
 
 DR. M. Why not? 
 
 DANE. Because it is a heavier load. 
 
 DR. M. How about starting it! 
 
 DANE. I think he could start about as easily. 
 You can start an automobile with fifty in it but 
 you couldn't go as fast with so many in it. 
 
 DR. M. What about this one: 
 
 "The police found the body of a young girl 
 yesterday cut into eighteen pieces. They believe 
 she killed herself." 
 
 DANE. No, she couldn't. 
 
 DR. M. Why not?
 
 270 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DANE. She couldn't cut herself up in four or 
 five pieces. 
 
 DR. M. She couldn't? 
 
 DANE. No. She would cut like this (illustrat- 
 ing) and if she cut off her head the first thing she 
 couldn't cut anything else. 
 
 DR. M. No! 
 
 DANE. She couldn't see what she was doing. 
 She wouldn't have any brain to tell her what to 
 do. 
 
 DR. M. Here is another one : 
 
 "There was a railroad accident yesterday but 
 the newspapers said it wasn't a very bad one. 
 There were only forty-eight people killed. ' ' 
 
 DANE. It was a bad one; the newspapers you 
 cannot always believe them. 
 
 DR. M. What about this one? 
 
 "A bicycle rider, being thrown from his bicycle 
 in an accident, struck his head against a stone and 
 was instantly killed. They picked him up and 
 carried him to the hospital, and they do not think 
 he will get well again." 
 
 DANE. Of course, he won't if he was dead. 
 
 DR. M. Now what ought you to say if someone 
 asks your opinion about someone you don't know 
 very well? 
 
 DANE. Say "I don't know." 
 
 DR. M. What ought you to do before begin- 
 ning something very important? 
 
 DANE. Think about it. 
 
 DR. M. Why should we judge a person more 
 by his actions than by his words ? 
 
 DANE. Because his word you cannot tell. You 
 certainly cannot tell, he might lie.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 271 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me what pity is? 
 
 DANE. When anybody hasn't a very good 
 father or mother or something, or when they 
 haven't any at all, you pity them. 
 
 DR. M. What do you mean by "pity*' them? 
 
 DANE. You take pity on them because they 
 haven't anybody to take care of them. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know what is meant by re- 
 venge? 
 
 DANE. I have heard that word lots of times. I 
 don't really know. 
 
 DR. M. What is charity? 
 
 DANE. To be helpful. 
 
 DR. M. Would it be charity if you were help- 
 ful to Mr. Miller in your classes? 
 
 DANE. I don't know; it might. 
 
 DR. M. What about envy? Do you know what 
 that means? 
 
 DANE. Somebody that had a good time and 
 you can't, you envy him. 
 
 DR. M. What is justice? 
 
 DANE. It means to do right, to be just in every- 
 thing you do. 
 
 DR. M. What do you mean by being "just"? 
 
 DANE. Doing the right thing. 
 
 DR. M. Now will you tell me about these sen- 
 tences. These words if you put them together in 
 the right order will make a sentence. All the 
 words are there that you need but they are mixed 
 up. Will you put those together. 
 
 DANE. A dog defends his master bravely. 
 
 DR. M. Be very careful and see if you can do 
 this one. 
 
 DANE. I asked my teacher to correct my paper.
 
 272 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. And this one. 
 
 DANE. We started for the country at an early 
 hour. 
 
 DR. M. That is very good. Will you explain 
 these pictures to me? 
 
 DANE. A little girl wanted to do something and 
 her mother said she couldn't and she is crying 
 because she couldn't. 
 
 DR. M. Good. And this one. 
 
 DANE. A man is reading the paper, something 
 about the war, I should think, something about the 
 Americans capturing a lot of Germans, when 
 they captured the seventeen thousand. 
 
 DR. M. It may have been. 
 
 DANE. And he was reading the paper and all 
 of his friends were reading the paper with him 
 and they are all laughing, being glad the Amer- 
 icans had captured all that number. 
 
 DR. M. And this one. 
 
 DANE. Probably some Indians took off this 
 lady and man out camping in the woods and they 
 don't know where they were going. They prob- 
 ably thought they would tip them over or some- 
 thing. 
 
 DR. M. And this one. 
 
 DANE. A man with his wife. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me how wood and coal are 
 just alike? In what way are they alike? 
 
 DANE. When you burn them they both make 
 carbon. 
 
 DR. M. They both burn then? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. How are an apple and a peach just 
 alike?
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 273 
 
 DANE. They give juice. 
 
 DR. M. How are these three things alike, in 
 what way? A snake, a cow and a sparrow? 
 
 DANE. A snake and a cow I guess have horns ; 
 I don't know whether a sparrow has. 
 
 DR. M. Hardly, does it? 
 
 DANE. Because they both have tails. 
 
 DR. M. Is there any other way they are alike ? 
 
 DANE. I don't know. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me how wool, cotton and 
 leather are alike? 
 
 DANE. Because they are all worn. 
 
 DR. M. How are rose, potato and tree all 
 alike? 
 
 DANE. Because they grow? 
 
 DR. M. Is that all you can say about that? 
 
 DANE. They grow and the rose is pretty. 
 
 DR. M. How are book, teacher, and newspaper 
 alike? 
 
 DANE. The book and the newspaper are 
 printed. I don't know whether a teacher is. 
 
 DR. M. I don't think she is, do you? 
 
 DANE. No. 
 
 DR. M. How are knif eblade, penny and a piece 
 of wire alike? 
 
 DANE. All made of the same stuff. 
 
 DR. M. What kind of stuff? 
 
 DANE. Copper. 
 
 DR. M. I am going to tell you some more sto- 
 ries, Dane. These stories are what we call fables 
 and they have lessons they teach us, the same as 
 Bible stories teach us when we read them. I want 
 you to listen carefully and then tell me the lesson 
 the story teaches.
 
 274 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 "A man was driving along a country road when 
 the wheels suddenly sank in a deep rut. The man 
 did nothing but look at the wagon and call loudly 
 to Hercules to come and help him. Hercules came 
 up, looked at the man and said: 'Put your shoul- 
 der to the wheel, my man, and whip up your oxen. ' 
 Then he went away and left the driver." 
 
 What would that teach us? 
 
 DANE. Tell him what to do. Tell him not to 
 be so lazy. He was probably lazy and didn't 
 want to do it. 
 
 DR. M. And this one. 
 
 "A milkmaid was carrying her pail of milk on 
 her head, and was thinking to herself thus : ' The 
 money for this milk will buy four hens; the hens 
 will lay at least a hundred eggs; the eggs will 
 produce at least seventy-five chicks ; and with the 
 money which the chicks will bring I can buy a 
 new dress to wear instead of the ragged one I 
 have on.' At this moment she looked down at 
 herself, trying to think how she would look in her 
 new dress; but as she did so the pail of milk 
 slipped from her head and dashed upon the 
 ground. Thus all her imaginary schemes perished 
 in a moment." 
 
 What did that teach us? 
 
 DANE. That taught us not to think about what 
 could be until she had it or something like that. 
 Not to be thinking about it till she got the money. 
 There is a song you play on the piano where the 
 maid carried some milk on her head and was going 
 to sell it and she had some eggs and she was go- 
 ing to buy a new dress and she was singing
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 275 
 
 " Won't the girls be jealous" and she fell and the 
 milk fell off her head. 
 
 DR. M. The same thing only put to music, 
 isn't it! 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. How about this? 
 
 "A crow, having stolen a bit of meat, perched 
 in a tree and held it in her beak. A fox, seeing 
 her, wished to secure the meat and spoke to the 
 crow thus : ' How handsome you are ! And I have 
 heard that the beauty of your voice is equal to 
 that of your form and feathers. Will you not 
 sing for me, so that I may judge whether this is 
 true?' The crow was so pleased that she opened 
 her mouth to sing and dropped the meat, which 
 the fox immediately ate." 
 
 What does that teach us? 
 
 DANE. It would teach you not to steal meat 
 again, and if she did have a piece not to sing for 
 him so she could have it for herself. 
 
 DR. M. What about this one ? 
 
 "A farmer set some traps to catch cranes which 
 had been eating his seed. With them he caught 
 a stork. The stork, which had not really been 
 stealing, begged the farmer to spare his life, say- 
 ing that he was a bird of excellent character, that 
 he was not at all like the cranes, and that the 
 farmer should have pity on him. But the farmer 
 said: 'I have caught you with these robbers, the 
 cranes, and you have got to die with them.' 
 
 What does that teach us? 
 
 DANE. Probably our storks did do something 
 to the farmers once and since then farmers kill 
 storks. [Been reading " Just-So Stories."]
 
 276 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. Kipling didn't write about that in 
 those stories. If he had he could have made a 
 good story about why they hurt the farmers. 
 
 DANE. Do they hurt the farmers? 
 
 DR. M. I don't know. We don't have them 
 around here, do we? 
 
 DANE. I don't know. 
 
 DR. M. You could ask Miss Garrett about 
 cranes, maybe she can tell you something about 
 them. One more story. 
 
 "A miller and his son were driving their 
 donkey to a neighboring town to sell him. They 
 had not gone far when a child saw them and cried 
 out: 'What fools those fellows are to be trudging 
 along on foot when one of them might be riding. ' 
 The old man, hearing this, made his son get on 
 the donkey, while he himself walked. Soon they 
 came upon some men. 'Look,' said one of them, 
 'see that lazy boy riding while his old father has 
 to walk. ' On hearing this the miller made his son 
 get off, and he climbed upon the donkey himself. 
 Farther on they met a company of women, who 
 shouted out: 'Why, you lazy old fellow, to ride 
 along so comfortably while your poor boy there 
 can hardly keep pace by the side of you!' And 
 so the good-natured miller took his boy up behind 
 him and both of them rode. As they came to the 
 town a citizen said to them, 'Why, you cruel fel- 
 lows! you two are better able to carry the poor 
 little donkey than he is to carry you.' 'Very 
 well,' said the miller, 'we will try.' So both of 
 them jumped on to the ground, got some ropes, 
 tied the donkey's legs to a pole and tried to carry 
 him. But as they crossed the bridge the donkey
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 277 
 
 became frightened, kicked loose and fell into the 
 stream." 
 
 What would that teach us? 
 
 DANE. Teach us not to listen to everything that 
 everybody says, but to do just what you think is 
 best. Not to make people think they can change 
 your mind. 
 
 DR. M. That has a lot of lessons to it. I want 
 to tell you some more stories. These stories I 
 wish you would finish for me. 
 
 A man who was walking in the woods near a 
 city stopped suddenly, very much frightened, and 
 then ran to the nearest policeman, saying that he 
 had just seen hanging from the limb of a tree a 
 what do you think it was? 
 
 DANE. A lion. 
 
 DB. M. All right. An Indian who had come to 
 town for the first time in his life saw a white man 
 riding along the street. As the white man rode 
 by the Indian said "The white man is lazy; lie 
 walks sitting down." What was the white man 
 riding on that caused the Indian to say "he walks 
 sitting down"? 
 
 DANE. A donkey or a horse; either one. 
 
 DB. M. Can you tell about the hands of the 
 clock? Supposing it is 22 minutes after 6 and I 
 changed the hands and put the minute hand where 
 the hour hand should be and the hour hand where 
 the minute hand should be, what time would it 
 read then? 
 
 DANE. Twenty- two minutes past six you said? 
 
 DB. M. Yes. 
 
 DANE. That would be half past four. 
 
 DB. M. Suppose it was ten minutes after eight
 
 278 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 and I changed the hands around, what time would 
 it be? 
 
 DANE. Twenty minutes of two. No, twenty 
 minutes of three. 
 
 DR. M. And suppose it was fourteen minutes 
 of three, what time would it be if I changed the 
 hands around? 
 
 DANE. It would be a quarter of three or 
 quarter past three. 
 
 DR. M. It was almost a quarter of three you 
 see, fourteen minutes of three. 
 
 DANE. It would be fourteen minutes past 
 three. 
 
 DR. M. Now I wonder if you can do this kind 
 of an arithmetic question. I do not know whether 
 you have had anything as hard as this or not, but 
 I want to know. Can you tell me the answer to 
 that question there? 
 
 DANE. Ten pencils. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me the answer to that 
 question? 
 
 DANE. Fifty weeks. 
 
 DR. M. That is exactly right. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me the answer to this 
 one? 
 
 DANE. Twenty-five cents. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me how you got it ? 
 
 DANE. Fifteen cents a yard, that would be two 
 yards and one foot ; there are three feet in a yard 
 and at 15 cents take two yards, that would be 30 
 cents, and a foot is one-third of a yard, that would 
 be 5 cents a foot; that would be 35 cents. 
 
 DR. M. That is exactly right. Here is another 
 little number question to do. I have a box and in
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 279 
 
 this big box are two small boxes. Each of these 
 small boxes has a tiny box in it. How many boxes 
 have I altogether? 
 
 DANE. Five boxes, isn't it? 
 
 DR. M. Good. Suppose I have a big box with 
 two small boxes in it and two tiny ones in each 
 of the small ones. 
 
 'DANE. Nine. 
 
 DR. M. Suppose I have a big box with three 
 small boxes in it and three tiny ones in each of 
 the three small ones? 
 
 DANE. That would be seven, seven boxes in 
 all. I think I got that one and the nine mixed up. 
 
 DR. M. You did very well on that for a ten- 
 year-old boy because that is a very hard question. 
 Now can you tell me the difference between a 
 president and a king, some of the more important 
 differences ? 
 
 DANE. The king makes the people do it and 
 the president he just tells them they ought to. 
 
 DR. M. Any other difference? 
 
 DANE. Of course if they didn't do what he said 
 he would make them. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know any other difference? 
 
 DANE. The people don't have their say with 
 the king, and they do with a president. They can 
 tell the president what they think, but a king, he 
 just says "Do that now" and that is all. 
 
 DR. M. Any other important difference? 
 
 DANE. I think the president is the better way 
 to have it. Another difference is the president is 
 elected by everybody and a king is just elected by 
 some of the head men. 
 
 DR. M. Is that the way the king gets it?
 
 280 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DANE. I think perhaps that is the way. 
 
 DR. M. Now can you tell me the difference 
 between laziness and idleness? 
 
 DANE. A lazy man doesn't do much but he 
 does a little, I guess; an idle man he doesn't do 
 anything but just stand around the street corners. 
 A lazy man will take in wood for his wife, but an 
 idle man wouldn't. 
 
 DR. M. Will you tell me the difference between 
 poverty and misery? 
 
 DANE. Misery is when people are ashamed of 
 themselves. Poverty is when people cannot help 
 it and think it is all right because they cannot 
 have anything better. 
 
 DR. M. Now just one more of these questions 
 then we are done with this very hardest set of 
 all. Suppose I have a piece of paper like that 
 and fold it once and cut a hole in it, how many 
 holes would you see in the paper? 
 
 DANE. Just one. 
 
 DR. M. If I take another paper and fold it 
 once and then fold it a second time, how many 
 holes would there be in the paper? 
 
 DANE. Two I think. 
 
 DR. M. That is right. Now suppose I take 
 another paper and fold it once and a second time, 
 then a third time, how many holes do you think 
 there would be in there? 
 
 DANE. Three or six ; oh, four. 
 
 DR. M. Suppose I take another one and fold 
 it once; I would get one hole, then twice would 
 give me two, three times would give me four, and 
 four times would give me how many? 
 
 DANE. Eight.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 281 
 
 DR. M. Let us see. That is right. 
 
 DANE. Eight. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know how many holes you 
 would get if I folded it still another time? 
 
 DANE. Sixteen. 
 
 DR. M. What is the rule, do you know? What 
 is the general rule? 
 
 DANE. I don't know. 
 
 DR. M. Each time I fold it you watch; that 
 would be eight ; the next time you said that would 
 make sixteen. Let us see to be sure of it. Yes. 
 If we folded that again how many would it give 
 you? 
 
 DANE. Thirty-two. 
 
 DR. M. Now how does it go each time then? 
 
 DANE. Doubles. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, it is hard to fold it so many times, 
 but if we folded every one of those squares in 
 half again we would get thirty-two. 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. You can take a big newspaper and 
 work it out until it gets up to 100 if you want to. 
 
 DANE. I don't believe I would. 
 
 Examination in Academic Ability 
 
 DR. M. Just a few questions about what you 
 are doing in school, then we want to get to the 
 puzzles. Will you read that last one? 
 
 (Reads poetry from III Reader selections very 
 well.) 
 
 DR. M. Now will you read this one? 
 
 (Reads prose from IV Reader and then poetry, 
 both quite well.}
 
 282 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. That is enough, that is very good. 
 How are you in spelling in school? Do you like 
 spelling? 
 
 DANE. Pretty well. 
 
 DB. M. Can you spell catch? 
 
 DANE. C-a-t-c-h. 
 
 DB. M. Clothing. 
 
 DANE. C-1-o-t-h-i-n-g. 
 
 DB. M. Private. 
 
 DANE. P-r-i-v-a-t-. 
 
 DB. M. Express. 
 
 DANE. E-x-p-r-e-s-s. 
 
 DB. M. Eecover. 
 
 DANE. R-e-c-o-v-e-r. 
 
 DB. M. Because. 
 
 DANE. B-e-c-a-u-s-e. 
 
 DB. M. Contract. 
 
 DANE. C-o-n-t-r-a-c-t. 
 
 DB. M. Event. 
 
 DANE. E-v-e-n-t. 
 
 DB. M. Picture. 
 
 DANE. P-i-c-t-u-r-e. 
 
 DB. M. January. 
 
 DANE. J-a-n-a-r-y. That is wrong. 
 
 DB. M. How would you spell it? 
 
 DANE. J-a-n-u-a-r-y. 
 
 DB. M. Good, I thought you would get that 
 without my saying anything. 
 
 DB. M. Spend. 
 
 DANE. S-p-e-n-d. 
 
 DB. M. Awful. 
 
 DANE, A-w-f-u-1. 
 
 DB. M. Sometimes. 
 
 DANE. S-u-m no, s-o-m-e-t-i-m-e-s.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 283 
 
 DR. M. Lose. 
 
 DANE. L-o-o-s-e. 
 
 DR. M. Between. 
 
 DANE. B-e-t-w-e-e-n. 
 
 DR. M. Combination. 
 
 DANE. C-o-m-b-i-n-a-t-i-o-n. 
 
 DR. M. Argument. 
 
 DANE. A-r-g-u-m-a-n-t. 
 
 DR. M. Motion. 
 
 DANE. M-o-t^-i-o-n. I spelled argument 
 wrong. It should be "ment." 
 
 DR. M. That is very good ; those are 8th grade 
 words. I didn't expect you to be able to spell 
 them all. I would like to have you write for me 
 your name and address as you would expect to 
 find it on an envelope sent to you? 
 
 DANE. Sometimes they put up here who it is 
 from. 
 
 DR. M. You needn't do that, just put on Mr. 
 or Master whatever you think is right and your 
 whole address. 
 
 DANE. Is the abbreviation for street all right? 
 
 DR. M. Yes. That is exactly right. You can 
 write abbreviations, can't you? Write the abbre- 
 viation for Doctor there, will you? 
 
 (Writes it correctly, also those for mister, Sat- 
 urday, inch, pint and rural free delivery.) 
 
 DR. M. Do you know collect on delivery? 
 
 DANE. C.O.D. Call on dad. 
 
 DR. M. Now can you tell me some of the ways 
 in which we use capital letters? 
 
 DANE. For anybody's name, first or last, cities, 
 some streets, not all of them. High Street, you 
 wouldn't write high with a capital all the time.
 
 284 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. You wouldn't always write high with 
 a capital but you would always write it with a 
 capital if it was the name of the street. 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know anything about nouns 
 and verbs! Do you know what a noun is? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. What is it? 
 
 DANE. The name of something. 
 
 DR. M. What is a verb? 
 
 DANE. A color. 
 
 DR. M. No, that is an adjective. Do you have 
 that in school? 
 
 DANE. We have had it since February 1st. 
 
 DR. M. Probably it is just new work. Take 
 this sentence, "The man rode into the large city 
 slowly." Can you pick out the nouns for me in 
 that. 
 
 DANE. Man, city ; that is all, I think. 
 
 DR. M. That is exactly right. Now I am go- 
 ing to tell you what a verb is. A verb is a word 
 that tells what is being done or was done; it is 
 a word that gives the action. Can you find any 
 verbs in there for me? 
 
 DANE. Slowly. 
 
 DR. M. No, what is it that is slowly? Can you 
 slowly anything? 
 
 DANE. Rode. 
 
 DR. M. Right. 
 
 DR. M. What have you had in Geography? 
 
 DANE. In Geography we have had about moun- 
 tains. 
 
 DR. M. Have you studied anything about the 
 different countries?
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 285 
 
 DANE. Only South America. 
 
 DR. M. Have you had about the United 
 States! 
 
 DANE. South America and the United States. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me what a mountain is? 
 
 DANE. A mountain is something that is a great 
 deal higher than a hill. 
 
 DR. M. What is it, a building? 
 
 DANE. No, a slant; most of them are rocky. 
 
 DR. M. What is a river! 
 
 DANE. Something larger than a brook ; a brook 
 is a little stream of water and a river is a good 
 large stream of water. 
 
 DR. M. What is an island? 
 
 DANE. Something out in the middle of the 
 ocean, out in the middle of a pond or a lake. 
 
 DR. M. What kind of a something is it? 
 
 DANE. It is a body of land. 
 
 DR. M. What is an ocean? 
 
 DANE. A body of water. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know what we mean by cli- 
 mate? 
 
 DANE. Means the weather, something about 
 the weather. It means whether it is hot or cold 
 day; cold climate and cold day. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know what causes day and 
 night? 
 
 DANE. The sun goes over the other side of the 
 mountains. 
 
 DR. M. Do you know what we mean by the 
 capital of the country? 
 
 DANE. Where the president lives. The Presi- 
 dent or King or Kaiser. 
 
 DR. M. What are exports?
 
 286 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DANE. They are ships, aren't they? 
 
 DR. M. What are industries? 
 
 DANE. Work ; different kinds of work. 
 
 DB. M. What are products! 
 
 DANE. Things that are raised, vegetables, flow- 
 ers, etc. 
 
 DB. M. Now a few things about North Amer- 
 ica. Can you tell me the different countries in 
 North America? 
 
 DANE. There is Mexico and the United States 
 and the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 DB. M. Which one of those belong to the 
 United States, do you know? Which one of them 
 do we own? 
 
 DANE. Canada. 
 
 DB. M. No, we own Alaska, away up in the 
 corner. Can you tell me some of the states in 
 the United States? Do you know what part of 
 the United States you live in? 
 
 DANE. New England. 
 
 DB. M. And New England is a group of states, 
 isn't it? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DB. M. Can you name the New England states 
 for me? 
 
 DANE. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas- 
 sachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 
 
 DB. M. Can you tell me the capital of New 
 Hampshire? 
 
 DANE. Concord. 
 
 DB. M. The capital of Massachusetts? 
 
 DANE. Boston. 
 
 DB. M. And Vermont? 
 
 DANE. Montpelier.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 287 
 
 DR. M. And Rhode Island? 
 
 DANE. Providence. 
 
 DR. M. Can you tell me the names of a couple 
 of the states that would be away out in the west- 
 ern part of the United States? 
 
 DANE. Ohio; Missouri. 
 
 DR. M. Can you name some of them further 
 west than that, some on the Pacific Coat! 
 
 DANE. California and Oregon. 
 
 DR. M. Can you name one on the Gulf of 
 Mexico ! 
 
 DANE. Texas. 
 
 DR. M. Good. Can you name one special one, 
 it can be only one, that extends down in a point 
 between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic 
 Ocean? 
 
 DR. M. You had better look that up. That is 
 most too hard a question for you, I admit. 
 
 DANE. I don't know what you mean. 
 
 DR. M. One state that goes away down in a 
 point like that, beween the Gulf of Mexico and the 
 Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 DANE. New Mexico ? 
 
 DR. M. No, that is on the other side. Can you 
 tell me some of the big rivers in the United 
 States! 
 
 DANE. The Mississippi and Missouri and Con- 
 necticut. 
 
 DR. M. Can you name some mountains that 
 are in the western part of the United States! 
 
 DANE. Sierra Nevada. 
 
 DR. M. They are a part of what big group of 
 mountains ! 
 
 DANE. Appalachian.
 
 288 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. Now what do you know about South 
 America? Have you learned the countries in 
 South America and their capitals? 
 
 DANE. Yes, I can tell most of them. 
 
 DB. M. Name one of the countries for me in 
 South America and its capital. 
 
 DANE. Brazil, Eio de Janeiro. 
 
 DB. M. Can you name another one? 
 
 DANE. Chili, Lima. 
 
 DB. M. Do you know anything about Chili? 
 
 DANE. They raise wheat and a lot of cattle. 
 
 DB. M. What do you know about Brazil? 
 
 DANE. It is quite a commercial country, isn't 
 it? 
 
 DB. M. v Yes. Now I want you to do a little 
 bit of Arithmetic for me, then we are all done 
 with questions. What are you doing in Arith- 
 metic in school now? 
 
 DANE. We have been doing decimals. 
 
 DB. M. Have you had fractions at all? 
 
 DANE. Yes. In the 4th grade we had long di- 
 vision; we have been doing long division in deci- 
 mals now. 
 
 DB. M. Now there are some easy ones to begin 
 with. Here are one in addition, one in subtraction 
 and one in multiplication. You just run through 
 that. They are not decimals you see. 
 
 (Does correctly) 3871 76493 173286 
 
 3429 -28765 X23 
 -+6570 
 
 (Places decimals correctly in product in the 
 multiplication problem when decimal points are 
 added.)
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 289 
 
 DR. M. Let me see if you can do this long di- 
 vision. 
 
 (Does with process correct but errors in multi- 
 plying, 764382-^23. ) 
 
 DB. M. Now you say you have had fractions? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DB. M. Will you add this? 2j-+3. (Cor- 
 rectly finished.) 
 
 DB. M. Can you multiply fractions? See if 
 you can do this one. 2^x2|. (Cannot do.) 
 
 Performance Tests 
 
 DB. M. Now some puzzles. Take that block 
 and touch the same ones I touch with my block. 
 
 (Dane tries.) 
 
 DB. M. No, that isn't quite right. 
 
 (Tries again.) 
 
 DB. M. Good. Now this one. 
 
 (Again.) 
 
 DB. M. Good, now this one. 
 
 (Again.) 
 
 DB. M. Careful, this way. 
 
 (Again.) 
 
 DB. M. Good. Now one more. 
 
 (Again.) 
 
 DB. M. That is very good. Now let us take 
 this other board. This block will go only in the 
 one hole. It won't go in there, or there, or there, 
 it is a little too large. Now where does it go? 
 
 DANE. In here. 
 
 DB. M. Now take it again. 
 
 (Child takes block and board is turned, then he 
 replaces it, first following single, then double, then 
 triple moves, Dane does all correctly.)
 
 290 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DANE. You can tell because it is larger. 
 
 DR. M. Now will you try to fit all of these 
 blocks into this space without having any blocks 
 left and no hole left? [Healy A.] 
 
 DK. M. Good. Now let us see if you can do 
 it more quickly than that. 
 
 (Child tries.) 
 
 DR. M. That was six seconds instead of 123 
 seconds. That is very good. 
 
 DANE. I didn't do it the same way either. 
 
 DR. M. Here is one a little bit harder [Healy 
 B]. See if you can fit all these blocks into that 
 board and have no holes left. They fit a little 
 bit tight on account of the dampness up here, that 
 is all. 
 
 DR. M. That didn't take you as long as that 
 other one. 
 
 DANE. How long? 
 
 DR. M. 118 seconds. Now let us see if you 
 can do it again. 
 
 DR. M. Good. 
 
 DANE. How long? 
 
 DR. M. 36 seconds, which is about as quickly 
 as you can do it and put all those pieces in. 
 
 DR. M. Here is a big board [Seguin Form 
 Board] which isn't very hard to do. The question 
 is to see how fast you can do it. Stand up around 
 here. You have to stand for this board and you 
 may use only one hand to do it and you may have 
 three tries. 
 
 DANE. Can I use either hand? 
 
 DR. M. Yes, but your right one would be bet- 
 ter you see, for you are right-handed. Hurry up. 
 
 DR. M. Good. That was 21.6 seconds. Let
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 291 
 
 us see if you can get some of that time off of 
 there. Do you think you can? 
 
 DANE. Probably. 
 
 DR. M. I think you can. All right, go ahead. 
 
 DR. M. That was exactly 19 seconds. Now 
 once more. 
 
 DANE. Was it 216 the last time? 
 
 DR. M. No, 21.6 quite a difference from 216, 
 isn't it? 
 
 DANE. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Now try again. 
 
 DR. M. 18.2 seconds which I guess is about the 
 best of records for a ten-year-old boy. 
 
 Anthropometric Measurements 
 
 DR. M. Now just a couple of measurements I 
 want to take. I want to see how tall you are. 
 Will you stand up against there? We have just 
 five minutes before Morning Exercises, so it is a 
 question of hurry, isn't it? (Measures height.) 
 4 feet 6% in. 
 
 Now if you will sit down here, I want to see 
 how tall you are sitting. 2 feet S 1 /^ in. 
 
 Now get on the scales please. 6Sy 2 pounds. 
 
 DANE. That is two pounds less than I weighed 
 the other time. I might have had on two pounds 
 of heavier clothing. 
 
 DR. M. Perhaps you had on your sweater. 
 Now this is something you have probably never 
 done before. I want to measure and see how big 
 your head is. There, 21^ in. exactly, which is 
 very good. 
 
 DANE. About a 6% hat, isn't it?
 
 292 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DB. M. I don't know the comparison with the 
 sizes of hats at all; I imagine you would know 
 more about that than I do. Here are some things 
 to see how strong you are. This one is to see 
 how much grip you have, as we call it, or how 
 much strength you have in your hand. I have 
 more than I thought. I did 50 yesterday and 60 
 this morning. There, you did 25. 
 
 That is very good for you. Let us try with this 
 hand. 20. 
 
 Now I want you to do each one again and see 
 if you can make a better record. 
 
 Just the same, 20. Now this hand, hard and 
 let go. You didn't do as much as you did before. 
 You used too much strength. You only did 20 
 that time instead of 25. Now let us see how much 
 air you have in your lungs. We blow in this tube. 
 If you take a deep breath and blow in here it will 
 make a record there. We use a different one of 
 the mouthpieces for each person so you can put 
 this in your mouth and blow into it like a whistle. 
 
 That is not so very good, 75 cubic inches. 
 (Tries again.) 
 
 Good. You went from 75 to 105 on one prac- 
 tice. Try again. Take time and breathe deep 
 and then blow immediately. 115. 
 
 Do you want to try it again? 
 
 DANE. I would just as soon. 
 
 DB. M. See if you can make a better record. 
 (Tries again.) 
 
 120, 75, 105, 115, 120. That is very good. I 
 only take the best record. 
 
 DANE. What did you get? 
 
 DB. M, Mine is 210. Your lung capacity and
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 293 
 
 your grip increase as you get older and taller. 
 (Takes dynamometer again.) 
 
 27. You used both hands. 
 
 See if you can do better now, 20 ; you only get 
 20 when you do not use your other hand. Try 
 again. 18. 
 
 You are getting more tired. Let us try one 
 other thing. Here are a boy and girl playing 
 with this racket and this small ball. I want you 
 to stand by the door and see how far away you 
 can see that little dot which is supposed to be a 
 ball. [Eye Test.] 
 
 DANE. I see a boy, a girl, a boy, it shows 
 plainer than it does right near. 
 
 DR. M. You have done very, very well this 
 morning. Thank you very much for coming up, 
 Dane. Now it is time for you to go to Morning 
 Exercises. 
 
 Psychological Findings on Dane 
 
 Careful scoring and interpretation of this 
 record gives us the following facts concerning 
 Dane: 
 
 He is ten years and seven months old and all 
 that he does must be considered with regard for 
 this actual age. 
 
 On the general information and orientation 
 questions he does exceedingly well. He is well 
 oriented towards his environment, his information 
 being accurate even in details. He has a pretty 
 good idea of current events, his practical judg- 
 ment is fairly good, he has good ideas of the value 
 of money and knows his own likes and dislikes.
 
 294 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 By the Stanford Binet, he scores a mental age 
 of eleven years five months. This gives him an 
 intelligence quotient (mental age divided by 
 actual age) of 1.07. He does everything a ten- 
 year-old child might be expected to do and also 
 some of the tests at the twelve and fourteen-year 
 levels. He has a good imagination and uses it 
 well in the interpretation of concrete situations, 
 and also in interpreting theoretical situations. 
 His constructive association is good. In arith- 
 metical reasoning he is far above many children 
 of his age. In some forms of rote memory he has 
 great ability. He is weakest in his formal knowl- 
 edge of language and in his attempts to general- 
 ize situations. 
 
 Dane will enter the sixth grade in the Peter- 
 borough Public School this next fall. He is fully 
 up to the level of the other children entering that 
 grade. He reads well in ordinary selections of 
 both prose and poetry. He does fully seventh 
 grade spelling according to the Ayres Standard- 
 ization. He has a knowledge of the ordinary 
 written forms of our Language. His knowledge 
 of geographical concepts and of political divisions 
 is fairly good. He can add, subtract, multiply 
 and do long division, although he makes some 
 errors, can add fractions and mixed numbers, but 
 cannot divide or multiply them. His writing is 
 legible and regular. 
 
 In the performance tests he does quite well. 
 His best time (18.2") on the Seguin Form Board 
 shows good coordination for a ten year old and 
 he makes but one form error in completing the 
 task. He adapts well but is not as good in imita-
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 295 
 
 -tee 
 
 -ee 
 
 50
 
 296 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 tive work. He uses a method of trial and error 
 in doing the other boards a typical ten-year- 
 level performance but finally completes the tasks 
 and when given second trials shows he has learned 
 by experience and does the same tasks much more 
 rapidly. 
 
 According to the anthropometric measure- 
 ments, Dane is about average height for his age, 
 short in sitting height, of average weight for his 
 height, poor in grip with both right and left 
 hands, but good in lung capacity. This compari- 
 son with the measurements on other ten-year-old 
 boys may be seen more clearly in the accompany- 
 ing curves. 
 
 a indicates Dane's average physical develop- 
 ment as indicated by the three measurements: 
 height, sitting and standing, and weight, b indi- 
 cates his average ability to use his body as in- 
 dicated by the measurement of right and left 
 grips and lung capacity. These three measure- 
 ments do not directly ascertain the child's physi- 
 cal capacity to grip and blow, but, instead, his 
 mental ability to direct and use his body in scor- 
 ing on the instruments used to make these meas- 
 urements. In most normal children the average 
 b is equal or higher than a. With Dane it is 
 rather low. 
 
 It might be noted here that the children were 
 all told their weak points on the measurements 
 and were re-measured at the end of the summer, 
 not having practised on the instruments in the 
 meantime. Dane's second curve was as follows. 
 His improvement will be readily noticed :
 
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 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 297 
 
 
 
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 298 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 There are several other things to be noted 
 which do not show in the actual record. Dane 
 worked well, cooperating throughout and showing 
 little fatigue. He was nervous and fidgety, but 
 was not easily distracted from the task in hand. 
 His rate of reaction was absolutely normal and 
 he volunteered information and related his own 
 experiences to the task in hand in a very normal 
 fashion. 
 
 Classification: Normal, quite bright, quick, 
 rather tense, and somewhat nervous. Should not 
 be pushed, educationally. 
 
 An examination similar to the above was made 
 on each child. It varied only in so far as one 
 child naturally varied from another, and it, of 
 course, comprised easier questions for the 
 younger, harder ones for the older children. 
 Each case was similarly written up in a non- 
 technical fashion. This write-up was primarily 
 to render available to the teachers, or to any 
 others interested in the individual children, a 
 concise, yet easily readable report of what the 
 laboratory thought of each child. 
 
 Of those who are retarded, there are none suf- 
 ficiently below normal to be as yet a real problem 
 because of inferiority. With several, mental 
 slowness is a part of an early adolescence which 
 has used all of the child's energy in body growth, 
 the others are too young for us to make now any 
 final statement of what is going to happen to 
 them. Re-examination after another year will 
 render possible far more accurate prognoses. 
 
 It is, interesting to note that there are present
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 299 
 
 in the school nine children with mentalities at 
 least twenty per cent above the average for their 
 ages. Usually examiners expect to find only 
 about three out of one hundred children who are 
 that much above average ability. We have in this 
 school nine out of thirty-five. We might also note 
 that all four of the children in the school who are 
 city children are to be found in this group of nine. 
 If we compare the mental rating of the individ- 
 ual children by this intensive method and by the 
 brief survey method, the superiority of the in- 
 tensive method immediately becomes evident. 
 Chart II gives the comparison graphically. The 
 children are arranged in order from youngest to 
 oldest. The black ( ) line indicates the men- 
 tality according to the survey test. If each child 
 were just average normal in mentality for his age, 
 
 this black line would follow closely the line ( ) 
 
 which indicates chronological age. Instead it 
 shows very definitely that some children are men- 
 tally far above their actual age, others are below. 
 When we consider the findings by the intensive 
 examination (shown by the dotted line) we see 
 that it does not exactly follow the survey rating. 
 In some cases the children rate almost the same 
 by the two scales. In other instances a child tests 
 as much as two or two-and-a-half years higher 
 by the Stanford than by the survey. Other chil- 
 dren test less on the Stanford. The children with 
 psychopathic tendencies almost always test higher 
 on the survey than on the Stanford. There does 
 not seein to be any more marked agreement be- 
 tween the two scales for the ages under nine, 
 where Doll claims the brief scale is fully stand-
 
 300 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 ardizcd for the higher ages. Discrepancies are 
 practically the same throughout. 
 
 In general, the writer would not care to make 
 even tentative diagnoses on the basis of the brief 
 scale. Its use is too limited to make it very prac- 
 tical, and it is somewhat severe in grading unless 
 one uses it in such a wide-range fashion that the 
 time might just as well be devoted to use of the 
 complete scale. This is especially true in using 
 the abbreviated Stanford. 
 
 The correlation of the two scales is, as might 
 be expected, fairly high, r equals +0.843. The 
 fallacy of using this correlation as an accurate 
 index of the value of the brief scale lies in the 
 fact that the correlation coefficient indicates the 
 general relation of the two scales while there is 
 always a probability in applying the scale that 
 the very child under consideration is the one 
 whose two ratings will widely disagree. 
 
 The intensive examination, despite the extra 
 time it takes, is the only one which is actually fair 
 to the child. 
 
 3. COOPERATION WITH THE HOMES. 
 
 Almost any work may be done with children 
 and be entirely valueless unless the findings be 
 passed on to those who have to work and live 
 with them. Of what importance is it to find that 
 a child has only Vio of natural vision if the in- 
 formation be carefully hidden in a laboratory file ? 
 The fact is simply the first step. The important 
 thing is to have it used to better the child's con- 
 dition or way of living. Of course any school can
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 301 
 
 use in its own daily working practically all that 
 we learn about any of the children in the labora- 
 tory. But that use shields or helps or relieves 
 the child only a couple of hours a day. To be 
 fully used, the same information must be passed 
 on to parents and guardians. 
 
 This we have tried to do just as much as pos- 
 sible. Before the school began, most of the par- 
 ents had given us their opinion of their own chil- 
 dren. To a certain extent what we have found 
 has agreed, but where it has not we have tried to 
 give our findings on the children so that the home 
 as well as the school might see both pictures of 
 the child, both sides of his being and mind and 
 character. This has been done by talks with the 
 parents who have visited the school and by visits 
 to the homes of as many of the others as possible. 
 Another year this would be easier. Getting ac- 
 quainted with the school, the children and the 
 parents, is a rather large task for a brief nine 
 weeks. But the foundation of friendships laid 
 will surely enable everyone to "come home" an- 
 other summer and to take up eagerly the re-ac- 
 quaintance with boys and girls who have advanced 
 one more year on their way toward man and 
 womanhood. 
 
 A report of the laboratory findings, in para- 
 graphic form, will be included in the summer's 
 report on each child which will be sent to each 
 parent at the close of the school. This report will 
 include teachers' estimates, a comparison with 
 parents' reports, winter school progress, physical 
 condition, etc.
 
 302 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 4. MENTAL HYGIENE WITH THE CHILDREN 
 
 It has long been the belief of the writer that 
 not all corrective and developmental work need 
 be done for a child, but that he will help himself 
 a great deal if he can just be made to see clearly 
 what he needs. Of course, this is not extensively 
 possible with children of five and six and seven, 
 but it begins to be true there, and the possibility 
 grows with age. A child of ten who is found to 
 have a general ability two or three years ahead 
 of his age, but who is shy and afraid to venture 
 into even group activities, needs to be told some- 
 thing of his abilities. A boy of eleven whose 
 abilities are largely superficial and due to a fluent 
 use of language and bluff needs to be shown what 
 he does not know. Such work has been begun 
 with the children this summer, the first seed has 
 been sown. It will take a long time to see the 
 effects, and great results cannot be expected 
 unless the work is continued year by year. An- 
 other summer it might be possible to have the 
 older children in their regular groups and teach 
 them the importance of attitudes and of ways of 
 doing things; right ways of attacking a problem, 
 the value of planning beforehand, etc., all through 
 simple concrete experiments. Only one group 
 attempt was made this summer to stimulate such 
 interest in self-development. A Morning Exer- 
 cise period was taken to explain why we did sev- 
 eral things in the laboratory. In this explanation 
 an attempt was made to emphasize the value and 
 need of bodily activity and of manual tasks. The 
 following stenographic report best shows how
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 303 
 
 this was done. It is interesting to note that the 
 children themselves applied the lesson and have, 
 in individual cases, asked in various departments 
 for the things they most needed. For instance, 
 Waldron went the next morning to the music 
 teacher and asked whether they might have 
 Rhythm that morning. The teacher asked why, 
 and he explained "My curve goes the wrong way 
 and I have to learn to use my hands and feet 
 more." So they worked in rhythm all the morn- 
 ing. 
 
 Stenographic Record of Morning Exercise 
 
 DR. M. I have brought some things this morn- 
 ing so that I can tell you boys and girls some of 
 the facts we have found out from the measure- 
 ments you allowed us to make when you were in 
 the laboratory. Maybe you will remember that I 
 promised to tell you why we did certain things 
 after we had had all of you into the laboratory, 
 so that I could tell you all at the same time. Do 
 you remember? We found how tall you were 
 standing and sitting down. We took your weight, 
 and then used this little thing called a dyna- 
 mometer, and what did we ask you to do with it? 
 
 PUPIL. Squeeze it. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, squeeze it, to see how much you 
 could grip first with the right hand and then 
 
 CLASS. The left. 
 
 DR. M. And we let you have several trials, 
 so as to get your best record on it. After we had 
 done that we used do you remember thisf 
 (Shows spirometer.) What did we do with it? 
 
 PUPIL. Blew into it.
 
 304 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. Yes, to see how much what? How 
 much air in your lungs you could blow out, and it 
 made a record here in cubic inches. Some could 
 make it go around so far, and some could make 
 it go way around there, and the bigger ones 
 farther still, and a teacher almost broke the ma- 
 chine because he blew it the whole way around. 
 Now we have made these records on everyone 
 here. Then we took paper and pencils, paper with 
 little cross lines on it, and we made curves and 
 those curves are one kind of picture of each one 
 of you. They are not the same for everybody 
 everyone is different none is exactly like an- 
 other because no two of you are exactly alike, in 
 weight, or height, or any of these things. And 
 that is the way we made those pictures. I am 
 going to let each one of you see your picture and 
 see what you can make out of it. But, first of all, 
 is a boy taller if he is younger or older, in age? 
 
 CLASS. Older. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, of course usually. And a boy is 
 heavier if he is taller and older. Could the older 
 boys grip more than the little ones ? 
 
 CLASS. Yes. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, probably, and of course, grown- 
 up people record more than little people can in 
 gripping and blowing. First of all in making 
 these pictures on curves we turn to a page hav- 
 ing the sheet of figures for children ten or eleven 
 years old, according to the age of the child we 
 have measured, and we compare measures we 
 have taken with these sheets. All the public 
 school children in Chicago were weighed and 
 measured just as you were, and from this and
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 305 
 
 other measures made in St. Louis and New Or- 
 leans and some made in Philadelphia we made up 
 standards, or forms, and this showed the average 
 things that boys of each age ought to be able to 
 do. A boy of ten years ought to be so tall prob- 
 ably. Some would be so tall (indicating), and 
 some so tall. The tallest boy would be 100% in 
 height for his age, and the shortest zero. And 
 we have tested all the children measured in that 
 way, and found what they could do. 
 
 Suppose we have the record of Johnny Jones, 
 who doesn't happen to be here today. He is just 
 ten years old and we want to see what his picture 
 is, and how he compares with other girls and 
 boys. I look up on my numbers and find that the 
 tallest boy for that age measured was just that 
 high, we call this 100% (indicating) and this 
 (indicating) zero. Johnny Jones is not so tall 
 as the tallest, and not so small as the smallest, 
 and we put him in there 
 
 Johnny Jones 
 
 Then we compared his height when sitting ; then 
 his weight, to see where he comes, and find that 
 he goes way up there (indicating on the diagram), 
 and that means that he is a fat boy. If he were
 
 306 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 down there (indicating) he would be a tall, thin 
 boy. 
 
 Then we took his grip. Now, he was a smart 
 and energetic boy, even if he was fat, always 
 doing things, and so when it comes to his grip 
 we find it goes way up (diagram), and his left 
 grip was not quite so good, because he was a right- 
 handed boy. And his lung capacity was pretty 
 good. Next, we take and draw lines like this and 
 
 connect these little dots and get his picture. That 
 (indicating) is the weight and height, and we av- 
 erage these and that average will go in about 
 there (diagram) ; and we average these three and 
 they come in about there, then we take and draw 
 a dotted line through those two things and that 
 means something very important. These three 
 things in here (a) mean the kind of body that 
 Johnny Jones has. His body is that good it is 
 good from there (o) up to there (70), in other
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 307 
 
 words, it is as good, as well developed as the 
 bodies of 70% of boys as old as he. 
 
 These three things over here (b) mean the way 
 he has learned to use his body. If I had a body 
 and didn't learn to use it, I would not have any 
 record at all here. That means that I have 
 learned to make my mind work and tell my body 
 to do things. My mind tells me to grip a thing 
 and squeeze it, and I do it. That is the mind 
 control of the thing. You might have lots of 
 muscle, lots of flesh that could be muscle if 
 trained; and unless trained by a good mind it 
 would not record anything there. So this means 
 the mind's control of the body. 
 
 Now, when a person's control of the body is 
 higher here (b) than the body development is 
 there (6), that means that he is doing in mental 
 control all that could be expected of him for the 
 body he has. When we have really normal people, 
 or people who are healthy in body and mind, the 
 mind control marks almost always run up a little 
 bit, sometimes a great deal; the more it runs up 
 the more that means that you have learned to 
 make connection between the things your mind 
 wants you to do and the capacity of your body 
 to do those things, and the more your body sub- 
 serves the purpose of your mind. 
 
 Now suppose we take Edward Smith, in the 
 same school. He also is about ten years old. We 
 find that he is a little short boy. His sitting 
 height puts him about there (30%) and his 
 weight about there (31), which is all right, he is 
 not very fat. But he has always been a lazy boy, 
 never doing anything he could get out of. If he
 
 308 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 has a younger sister or a younger brother, he 
 tells them to bring in the wood ; he never does it. 
 The teacher asks for volunteers for a piece of 
 work, Edward never does it. He never wants 
 to play ball if there is anything easier to play, 
 and all around he has never taught his body to 
 do the things his mind asks it to do. His grip 
 would come there (20), his blowing would put him 
 way below nothing. And so, when you connect 
 these in that way, you get an entirely different 
 picture from what you do when you draw Johnny 
 Jones. And when I draw the dotted line to con- 
 nect them you get something like this : 
 
 ioo s o o 
 
 90 
 80 
 70 
 69 
 
 60 
 40 
 30 
 20 
 10 
 
 
 Now you might also get this under other con- 
 ditions. Suppose it is someone who is growing 
 fast, or someone who is sick or handicapped in
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 309 
 
 some way, not strong, someone who cannot take 
 a great deal of exercise, you are going to get 
 that same kind of a curve. And when you get that 
 kind of a curve you must study that person to 
 see why he is lazy or handicapped. But almost 
 any person, even people who have been sick, can 
 make their curve come up this way if they make 
 themselves do things with their hands, and walk 
 and run and play and do things out of doors. 
 
 Now I am going to show you a teacher's curve, 
 but before I do that I want to tell you a story 
 about a man something like this teacher in one 
 way, but very different from him altogether. He 
 lived about five hundred miles from here. He was 
 about as big as this teacher, and we know that he 
 was very strong. But he had been born with a 
 sick mind, a mind that could not do anything. He 
 never even learned to talk very much, even to ask 
 for things he wanted when he was hungry. When 
 he grew up he had to be taken care of in a hospital 
 for people whose minds are sick, and who have 
 great, big, strong bodies, but who have not any 
 mind and so cannot learn to use their bodies. One 
 day a dentist came and wanted to look at this 
 man's teeth. He did not have mind enough to 
 know whether he had a toothache or not, and it 
 took six other men to get him into the dentist's 
 chair, because he was afraid. When we got him 
 into the laboratory and he saw a thing like this 
 (spirometer) he could not do as much as Doris 
 or Elwin or anybody else here. His mind was 
 sick and he could not direct his body. He had a 
 curve that looked like this :
 
 310 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 He could not do anything, and when we drew 
 the dotted line it went like that. He could not 
 learn even to wheel a wheelbarrow. 
 
 Now here is the teacher's chart, he does not 
 mind my using him for comparison. Here is his 
 curve : the curve of a man who is as tall as most 
 men there's his sitting height compared with 
 most men (some men are taller when they sit 
 down) a little stouter than most men of his 
 height. His right-hand grip is way up there, al- 
 most as high as anyone's could be, and his left- 
 hand grip is almost as good ; and his lung capacity 
 is way up there, and even though he is a big man, 
 when we draw the curve we get the sort of thing 
 that shows a mind using its body very well, or it 
 shows a man who is using his hands under the
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 311 
 
 direction of his mind, quite different from this 
 other. 
 
 v 
 
 too 
 
 90 
 80 
 70 
 60 
 60 
 40 
 30 
 20 
 10 
 
 
 Now, you all have minds enough to use your 
 bodies, or all the mind you need to make good 
 records here. But some have made very queer 
 curves, and some are as splendid as any I have 
 ever seen. Now I am going to let each of you 
 have the curve you made, and Miss W. or I will 
 explain anything you want to know. If you want 
 to show it to the other boys and girls, you may, 
 but you don't have to. Don't talk too loud, and 
 hand the curve back to us when you leave the 
 room. 
 
 Week after next we are going to make new 
 records of these things and see now the dotted 
 lines compare. But it is not just using these 
 instruments that makes your curve better, it is 
 the practice you get in using your bodies intelli- 
 gently through the day making jour bodies do 
 the things you want them to do. You cannot make 
 nearly as good a record on either of these ma-
 
 312 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 chines if you begin slowly and only really decide 
 to grip or blow after you have used most of your 
 energy in an aimless, disinterested way, as if you 
 went at it energetically and did it with a vim. 
 But you cannot learn to do this thing well unless 
 you go at other things in a proper frame of mind, 
 without wasting half a day deciding what you are 
 going to do. And you cannot bluff in these things. 
 You might on the playground, but when you get 
 up here in the laboratory, this tells just what you 
 are. 
 
 (Dr. M. pass s around a teacher's chart for the 
 children to see, and then the children's charts.) 
 
 DOROTHY N. What does this mean? 
 
 DB. M. It means that you must learn to do 
 more things. Your lung capacity is good, but you 
 must learn to do some things at home with your 
 hands. 
 
 MABION. What does this show! 
 
 DR. M. That means that you cannot play very 
 well. You are a little fat, and doing games and 
 dances and such things is going to make you 
 better. (To Elinor.) You are kind of fat, and 
 you don't walk a great deal nor do things well. 
 If you learn to keep up with your teacher on your 
 Nature Walks without getting out of breath, that 
 curve will probably come up. Learn to do all 
 kinds of things at home. You are very big for 
 a girl of your age and it is much harder for you 
 to get this red line to point up. (To Dorothy E.) 
 You are eleven. This line would be about this 
 high for the average. You are small for eleven 
 years. Your mother and father are probably 
 small. (Yes.) That puts you down below the
 
 average, and you don't weigh as much as you 
 ought to for a girl as tall as you are. That means 
 that you are growing fast. Now, because of that, 
 you have not got the weight to give you the ca- 
 pacity for much grip. You really still belong with 
 the ten-year old children in height and weight. 
 And you need exactly what you are getting here 
 this summer out-of-door play and dances, not 
 too many books and not too much of indoor things. 
 
 KICHABD N. According to this, I am not half 
 as high as I ought to be. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, you are all right for your age. 
 You are exactly average for a boy thirteen years 
 of age. (To Edward.} You are taller than any 
 boy of your age; so that makes it hard for your 
 grip to go up high enough to balance it, but your 
 curve is very good. 
 
 HARRIET. Is this anywhere near normal? 
 
 DR. M. It is absolutely what it ought to be, 
 and a little more there 's nothing to worry about. 
 
 We might add that re-measurement at the end 
 of the term showed improvement in the upward 
 trend of the red psycho-motor control line in prac- 
 tically every case. In several the change was re- 
 markable, accompanying other marked changes in 
 the children. 
 
 One other piece of work grew out of this at- 
 tempt at mental hygiene. The group of the 
 youngest children in the school, seven in all, 
 showed itself, through the study of the individuals 
 in the laboratory, to be a very exceptional group 
 of children each needing some special kind of help 
 to round out his development. In all of them the
 
 314 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 mental level itself was above the level of motor 
 control and coordination. They were poor in the 
 little simple things all children usually learn for 
 themselves, they all lacked any idea of group 
 solidarity. Because of this we decided to take 
 them for a half-hour each day and form with 
 them a " training " class, the curriculum of which 
 would be based in a general way on the lines of 
 weakness indicated by our psychological exami- 
 nation of each child. It must not be thought that 
 these deficiences meant actual mental defect, they 
 were, instead, the attributes in which children 
 were relatively poor, although the general mental 
 level of most of the children was average or above 
 average. Summarizing the findings on the whole 
 group showed them poor in motor control, very 
 poor in coordination of two limbs or the simulta- 
 neous use of two senses, very poor in knowledge 
 of their own bodies and of their immediate sur- 
 roundings, uncertain yet oversure of what they 
 heard and saw and felt, shy and unwilling to talk 
 freely, each an independent unit, little conscious 
 of his social group. 
 
 We attacked these things through a combined 
 usage of Seguin, Montessori, Froebel, and com- 
 mon sense. Little hands that cannot do things 
 will work better if under the control of a mind 
 interested in a game or in making something. 
 Drawing, tracing, coloring, folding, cutting, past- 
 ing, sewing, subserve this aim as well as building 
 with blocks, doing puzzles, making houses. Learn- 
 ing to know one's body is essential to the use of 
 it, voluntarily we talked even to the point of 
 studying the joints -and of finding different kinds
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 315 
 
 of joints. This was used in a simple adaptation 
 of Swedish Calisthenics which warmed little toes 
 and fingers on cold mornings, and made wonder- 
 ful games with them and yet encouraged immedi- 
 ate and similar responses to commands from the 
 group as a whole. The children have been allowed 
 at least one morning each week for free play on 
 whatever they chose. These mornings were the 
 best kind of an indication of the real interests of 
 the children. Some played persistently with one 
 thing, others tried all sorts of things, one after 
 another as quickly as possible. For the first four 
 weeks each child would play alone, although they 
 would lend and exchange toys or games quite 
 readily. The fifth week of our work showed a 
 marked change. When told they might do what 
 they wished, the group resolved itself into three 
 who played as a group building with blocks, while 
 the other four gathered around the writer and 
 asked to "make those things that go round on a 
 stick" (pinwheels). The work done by and with 
 the little class may be made more clear by the fol- 
 lowing daily records: 
 
 Report of Training Class 
 
 AIM: The immediate aim of today's work 
 was twofold. 1. To accustom the children to work 
 in the laboratory. 2. To begin work in knowledge 
 of their bodies, in motor control, in group action, 
 color, number, form and language. 
 
 METHOD: Class was taught to stand in a 
 straight line, spacing their position by the gray 
 blocks on the floor. Then asked to show their
 
 316 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 right side. Went through several motions with 
 right hand, turning to all parts of the room, nam- 
 ing the objects toward which their hands pointed. 
 Then asked to count eyes, ears, hands, etc. Chil- 
 dren next gave names of other parts of their 
 bodies and pointed towards them. They gave 
 spontaneously eyes, stomach, side, cheeks, neck. 
 Taught chin, forehead, chest. Then taught rais- 
 ing and dropping right foot to counting of 1, 2. 
 Changed the time relation of 1, 2 from fast to 
 slow and to an actual delay. We next took up 
 work on color and form with reproductions. Us- 
 ing colored pencils and white paper we all drew 
 free-hand circles. We then turned our pencils 
 into men and had them run round and round the 
 round path. We then drew straight paths across 
 the paper, freely and rapidly. They took various 
 forms and drew from the forms in outline, 
 squares, ovals, etc. Each child had a different 
 form. The outlined forms were then filled in 
 freely with color. Colored forms were then ex- 
 changed after each had written his name on his 
 own sheet and similar forms were picked out from 
 a great variety of forms placed in rows. They 
 were to pick the ones of the same shape, disre- 
 garding color and size. Each child was then given 
 a definite part in the task of putting away all 
 materials. 
 
 RESPONSE: The children cooperated far better 
 than I expected for their first day's work. They 
 all need to be encouraged in freedom of speech 
 but none refused to answer when questioned. 
 They work even more quickly in adapting to new 
 work than I imagined and will be able to accom.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 317 
 
 plish a satisfactory amount in the half-hour 
 period. The children were allowed to take home 
 their drawings. They are always more apt to stay 
 interested in work when they find they have 
 created something objectively and when they can 
 call that thing their ovrn. 
 
 Elwin was the leader, Doris needed the most 
 encouragement but she was thorough in the work 
 she did. The P - children were quite alike in 
 the work they did and both volunteered several 
 spontaneous comments. 
 
 Report of Training Class 
 
 AIM: Continuation of work on more elemen- 
 tary forms of motor coordination, knowledge of 
 body, use of language and work with colors, form 
 and sound. 
 
 METHOD : Drilled in line for raising and lower- 
 ing of right arm and foot. Began a little develop- 
 ment of use of left but referred to the word left 
 only once or twice. Next continued querying 
 about parts of the body, getting as many parts 
 named voluntarily as possible, then asking them 
 to point to other parts, and finally giving them 
 the names, elbow, waist and wrist. Next took up 
 coordination work through the use of paper and 
 pencil. Each child chose his own color to work 
 with. We first drew free-hand circles and fol- 
 lowed them again and again trying not to fill in 
 the center. The first drawn were all sponta- 
 neously made counter-clockwise. We then made 
 others that went in the opposite direction. Called 
 these circles " bird-nests" and filled them in with
 
 318 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 ''eggs" (small circles), all circles being drawn 
 with whole arm movement. We next made our 
 pencils "swing" the whole way across the paper 
 and finally made believe that our pencils were 
 automobiles running back and forth on a straight 
 road. We next took forms drawn from memory 
 and both Howard and Guy could draw a circle, 
 a square and a triangle. Then, taking the out- 
 lines for the Montessori insets, we traced more 
 complicated forms and filled them in with color 
 to suit ourselves, just being sure the movement 
 used was the right one. Howard and Guy enjoyed 
 this and Ruth was able to make a form alone after 
 she had been helped on one. It was too hard for 
 Pauline who watched the others and drew to suit 
 herself. Guy and Howard next matched solid 
 black forms of many shapes with outlines of the 
 same. They next sorted the two types of form 
 representation back into their proper boxes. We 
 then spent a few moments on the distinguishing 
 of sounds. Used the Montessori boxes with corn, 
 pebbles, gravel, sand and flaxseed and asked them 
 to find the loudest, the lightest two, etc. Taught 
 them how to compare these. Guy grasped the 
 procedure much more readily than Howard. Then 
 asked them to listen and distinguish taps on wood, 
 the floor and the radiator. Guy became quite 
 excited over this. We finished with a few minutes 
 on the verbal description of pictures. 
 
 RESPONSE : Due to the necessity for presenting 
 most of the class results in connection with the 
 description of the work evoking them, it is im- 
 possible coldly to present all results separately. 
 The children seemed to enjoy the work. They
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 319 
 
 talked much more freely than yesterday and 
 seemed almost eager in several situations. They 
 grasp what is wanted with only partial directions 
 and work rapidly. 
 
 Ruth and Pauline worked through the period 
 with the others, although Pauline had to go early 
 for her nap. She and Ruth follow the class work 
 until it becomes too difficult, then they continue 
 their own line of activities without any real super- 
 vision. Pauline joined the work on motor co- 
 ordination and physical drill of her own accord. 
 Ruth would not. 
 
 Report of Training Class 
 
 AIM : Training in motor coordination and also 
 in the finer use of stereognosis. 
 
 METHOD: At the end of the rest period gave 
 the children the story of the Parrot and the Cat. 
 We then placed the whole group in line, went 
 through some of the arm raising and arm alter- 
 nation movements. Then had them place their 
 hands on the shoulders of the person in front of 
 them and had them march. This was the first 
 time we had the whole group present. As a re- 
 sult, their work was far below that of any day 
 heretofore. They had great difficulty keeping in 
 step and Howard even lost some of the control he 
 had previously shown. We then walked up to the 
 large porch and tried marching there, using after 
 a bit the music of the victrola. This seemed to 
 help them a little, but even so was not fully sat- 
 isfactory but was good for a group with such 
 widely differing abilities. We then went down
 
 320 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 to the laboratory, going down through the house 
 so that the children might have the practice of 
 going quietly through the room, of going down 
 stairs and yet at the same time keep in line. 
 Jack had the most difficulty in this as he has to 
 place both feet on each step and always comes 
 down sideways. We next took up a little intro- 
 ductory work with stereognosis or recognition 
 through the sense of touch. The children took 
 turns putting their hands into a large bag, picking 
 up one object and then feeling it until they could 
 tell what it was. Then they removed the object 
 and showed it to the class to prove they were 
 right. At first they were rather poor in this. 
 Jack called a pencil a stick. Doris called a pen 
 another stick. They were all eager to try again 
 and again and were much better after their first 
 experience. We then took various solids and 
 asked them to tell the shape. This was much 
 harder and work on it was merely introduced 
 before the end of the period. 
 
 RESPONSE: The little class lacks homogeneity 
 and the whole period was practically an attempt 
 to establish some general consensus of response. 
 Jack is far more ready to fit into the group. 
 Edith is distracted by the number there. Perkins 
 pays no attention to anything. Elwin and Guy 
 are the most reliable workers. 
 
 Report of Training Class 
 
 AIM: Development of further group harmony 
 through simple following of verbal directions for 
 group activity, as an introductory period, fol- 
 lowed by free constructive play.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 321 
 
 METHOD : The group chose their own positions 
 and then carried out, with a real snap and eager- 
 ness entirely lacking in their earlier work, the 
 verbal commands given them to raise arms, lower 
 arms, bend trunk backward with deep breathing, 
 etc. They have now reached the point where they 
 work as a whole. Jack has learned to control his 
 hurried reactions until they match those of the 
 group. In like fashion, Edith and Guy have 
 learned to work more quickly. They march very 
 well together with the exception of Howard, who 
 just cannot keep in step with anyone. After this 
 drill work, they were told they could do anything 
 that they wished for the rest of the time. With- 
 out any suggestion they resolved themselves into 
 two groups. The one group took all of the blocks 
 and played together with them. The other group 
 of four demanded that they be allowed to "make 
 those things that go round on a stick." They 
 also knew that they might need help on the vari- 
 ous operations through which colored papers must 
 pass in becoming pinwheels and clustered closely 
 around the teacher. As they had made simple 
 pinwheels before, they were this time shown how 
 to prepare two papers and have a pinwheel which 
 is differently colored inside and out. The colors 
 chosen for use together in this fashion were most 
 aesthetic. None of the children needed any help 
 in choosing such combinations as lavender and 
 white, orange and a flowered orange-red, etc. 
 They worked very rapidly compared with their 
 earlier attempts at cutting and folding. All of 
 the pinwheels were made satisfactorily enough to 
 work in the stiff breeze that was blowing and were
 
 322 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 carried home whirling constantly in the automo- 
 biles. 
 
 RESPONSE: This is the first time that the chil- 
 dren have chosen to work together on any one 
 common occupation. Usually each child has taken 
 his rug and his chosen toy and gone off into a spot 
 where he could play alone. Today they showed 
 they were at least conscious enough of each other 
 to be influenced by the suggestion of what another 
 child wanted to do, and to wish to do the same 
 thing. 
 
 Stenographic Report 
 
 The following stenographic report will illus- 
 trate a little more fully the freedom that has been 
 developed in the class. 
 
 After an exhilarating frolic on the grass, en- 
 joyed to the utmost, the children are told to lie 
 quietly on their rugs in preparation for their 
 indoor lesson and go to sleep. Some start to 
 snore, but stop when they hear Dr. M. say that 
 people who breathe rightly don't make any noise 
 at all when they sleep. 
 
 DR. M. We must keep quiet because soon we 
 have got to work. 
 
 JACK. What work? 
 
 DR. M. Well, marching, marching together. 
 
 JACK. I know how to do that. 
 
 DR. M. (A few quiet moments having elapsed.) 
 Elwin and Howard have been so quiet I am going 
 to ask them to go in with their rugs and move the 
 tables into place. They have been really resting. 
 And Doris (who has also been very still) you 
 may go in and see that the chairs are out of the
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 323 
 
 way. Edith, will you please go and help? Now, 
 boys, the rest of you get up and bring your rugs. 
 
 GUY. Jacky says he has not rested enough. 
 
 DR. M. (Acquiescing.) All right, Jacky, you 
 may stay out and rest as long as you wish. 
 
 (Elwin and Guy are set to work piling up the 
 rugs neatly.) 
 
 DR. M. Do you know what we are going to do T 
 
 HOWARD. March. 
 
 (Jack comes in. Howard has been standing very 
 erect and ready for the exercise. The other chil- 
 dren are busy about the weighing machine, and 
 Dr. M. goes up to them.) 
 
 DR. M. Not so loud! Before the end of the 
 summer we will weigh you all again. Now every- 
 one find a square [of the tiled floor] to stand on. 
 (The children have now selected their squares, 
 Jack, Edith and Perkins being the last to get 
 fixed.) Feet together! Hands at the side! 
 Fingers together! Arms straight! Good! Every- 
 body's eyes turned this way, to see what they are 
 going to do. Edith is really looking today. Now, 
 arms sideways raise! Arms drop! Good! 
 Now, everybody together : Arms raise ! Arms 
 drop ! Just as high as the shoulders, arms raise ! 
 Hands turn ! Arms drop ! Arms sideways raise ! 
 Hands turn! Arms drop! That's right. Arms 
 over the head, raise! Arms to the shoulders, 
 drop! Hands turn! Arms sink! 
 
 Now hands on the hips, please. Good. Fingers 
 together. (To Perkins.) Point your hands down- 
 ward, down on your hips, where you can feel the 
 bone. 
 
 JACK. Pauline wants to do it.
 
 324 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. Yes, but she is too little to do all the 
 things. She can do some of the things. (To tine 
 Class.) Draw your feet together. Edith, get your 
 feet together. 
 
 JACK. My arms are getting tired. 
 
 DR. M. Eise on your toes, rise! Sink! Rise 
 on your toes! Sink! Hands drop! Hands for- 
 ward watch I Don't do anything, but think. 
 Forward, raise, over the head just as high. 
 Eeady ! Hands forward ! Over the head I Raise 
 that's it! 
 
 JACK. Now, what are we going to do? 
 
 DR. M. Sweep forward and touch the floor 
 without bending the knees. Beady, go! 
 
 ELWIBT. My knees bend. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, but you are getting it much better 
 than at first. Now do it again without me, so that 
 I can see how you do it. Hands over the head, 
 raise! Eeady! Everybody bend! That's it, 
 that's very good everyone. Now one thing 
 more: Slowly forward bend, and clasp your 
 ankles. Take hold of the ankles with your hands, 
 bend forward slowly and take hold of your 
 ankles with your hands without the knees bend- 
 ing. That 's good, Jack ! Good, that's fine! 
 
 Now we are going to do the windmill. Left 
 hand down ! Eight hand, raise ! Bodies straight 
 the mill has to be straight. Now ready, the 
 wind is coming. 
 
 ELWIN. (Listening to the out-of-doors.) I can 
 hear it. 
 
 DR. M. Yes! Let's make believe, then, that 
 that is making the sails go. Change, Change!
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 325 
 
 Change, Change! Change, Change! Change, 
 Change! Now the wind is stopping, the wind is 
 stopping. (The sails turn less and less briskly.) 
 
 GUY. It is coming up again. 
 
 DB. M. Slowly, slowly, that's it! Now let 
 them stop entirely. (The sails stop turning.) 
 Now in line for the march. Doris is the leader. 
 (But Jack gets in front, and starts without sig- 
 nal.) Well, if you are going to run away before 
 the rest of the people are ready to march, Jack, 
 we will have to pick out a more responsible leader. 
 (The line is formed again.) What foot first! 
 
 CLASS. The left. 
 
 JACK. There is one reason I don't like to be 
 leader. Do you know why? 
 
 DB. M. No. Why! 
 
 JACK. They pull. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, they do, so all must try and go 
 just as quickly as possible today, and take the 
 same step with the others, because otherwise it 
 makes a dreadful pull. (Guy lets Pauline into the 
 line in front of him and is thanked for it.) Now 
 left foot, march! Left, right, left, right, etc. 
 (The children march around well, but get into a 
 pretty small circle.) Pretty good! Pauline comes 
 out now in front as the leader! All right, Jack, 
 suppose you let Pauline lead, and I will take her 
 hand, so as to get a longer line for the march. 
 All right, left, right, left, right (and the children 
 march again, making a better line). 
 
 JACK. They 're choking me. 
 
 PERKINS. May I make my windmill today? I 
 should like to make it today.
 
 326 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DR. M. Those who started the windmills the 
 other day will finish them, but not just yet. 
 
 (Doris, Elwin, Guy and Howard fix the tables 
 in place. Edith, Jack and Perkins are engaged 
 individually.) 
 
 DR. M. Around the table! Around the table 
 first of all, and see whether we can do this so care- 
 fully that we will know everything that comes 
 out. (On the table in front of Dr. M. is a deep 
 silk bag, closed so that the objects inside cannot 
 be seen. As the child puts in both hands to 
 draw out an object, he is to say what he thinks it 
 is, from the feeling, before he draws it from the 
 bag and actually sees it.) 
 
 Let's have the little girls feel first, Doris. 
 
 DORIS. (Feeling the objects in the bag, and se- 
 lecting one.) Paper. (She draws out a blotter.) 
 
 DR. M. (To the class.) I want you to feel in 
 the bag in a very systematic way, that is, in a 
 way that has a rule to it. Doris has done it. 
 Doris, come to this side of me, and the others 
 move around one space, and that brings another 
 person in front of the bag. 
 
 EDITH. (Feeling.) A Dish. (She pulls out a 
 low bowl.) 
 
 DR. M. Good, it is a dish. 
 
 ELWIN. (Feeling.) A dagger. (Pulls out a 
 big dagger.) 
 
 PERKINS. (Feels in the bag, it gets disarranged 
 and he says he can see in it and doesn't want to 
 bag is re-adjusted.) Oh, I feel something a 
 cup. 
 
 DR. M. Let's see if it was a cup. (Perkins 
 draws out a paper drinking cup.) GOOD! You
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 327 
 
 could have told what kind of cup it was, couldn't 
 you? 
 
 JACK. (Feels in the bag.) A block. 
 
 DR. M. Pull it out. (Jack draws out a small 
 block.) Good! 
 
 HOWARD. (Feeling in the bag.) A pencil. 
 (Draws out a pencil.) 
 1 DR. M. Good. 
 
 GUY. (Feels in the bag.) 
 
 DR. M. Now, that brings the children all 
 around, and here's Doris ready for another turn. 
 (To Guy.) Have you found something? 
 
 GUY. A fish. (He draws out an axe cut out of 
 paper.) 
 
 DR. M. Well, well! What a queer fish! It 
 isn't a fish, is it! 
 
 GUY. It felt something like a fish. 
 
 DR. M. I'll tell you why. You felt something 
 in there the other day that was a fish, and that 
 made you think this was one. But you should 
 have taken both hands to this. 
 
 DORIS. (Feels again.) Paper. (Draws out a 
 piece of paper.) 
 
 (At Dr. M.'s request, the children put the things 
 back into the bag, except the dish, which she re- 
 minds them might get broken there. Sheets of 
 white paper are distributed, used on one side, 
 clean on the other, and pencils.) 
 
 DR. M. Please turn the papers to the side that 
 is written on, and see if you can tell whose paper 
 you have. Please give it to the person it belongs 
 to. Whose do you have, Doris? Down here is the 
 name. (Dr. M. spells it out for Doris, J-a-c-k.) 
 Do you know who that is?
 
 328 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 DORIS. Jack. 
 
 (Elwin has Perkins' paper, and the name is 
 spelled out for him.) 
 
 DR. M. Now take the clean side. (Perkins is 
 told a second time, by Edith.) 
 
 PERKINS. I want to make a windmill. 
 
 DR. M. (To the children, passing the box of 
 pencils.) Pick out just one pencil don't take 
 too long choosing any pretty one. (Jack 
 sharpens his pencil on the sharpener, and Perkins 
 starts to do the same.) Perkins, if you do all the 
 things you want to do you won't have time to 
 make the windmill, which you very much want to 
 make. (Perkins is given a good pencil, although 
 he first tries to write with the point which he has 
 extracted from his other pencil.) 
 
 GUY. It is windy (as the door bangs, blown 
 by the wind). 
 
 JACK. It doesn't seem like a very strong wind. 
 
 HOWARD. On the water it feels like it is all 
 wind. 
 
 DR. M. We won't wait for Edith (who has 
 gone out). I would like to have everyone make 
 a circle for me. I want you to make it without 
 your arms resting on the table with your arms 
 up in the air, so that you can make a free big 
 movement. Make a circle go! 
 
 JACK. (Lifting his elbow high.) It would be 
 rather awkward to do it this way. 
 
 (Perkins makes a very good big circle.) 
 
 DR. M. (To Edith, who has quickly taken her 
 place and made her circle.) Good! You didn't 
 need to be told how to hold your arm. Now, those
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 329 
 
 who made the big circles please make a little one 
 inside. Those who made little circles, make a big 
 one outside. 
 
 HOWARD. Mine looks like a target. 
 
 DR. M. It does. Oh, I know what Guy's looks 
 like, only it ought to be brown. 
 
 JACK. A doughnut. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, and some look like what is under 
 the wagon. 
 
 CLASS. Wheels. 
 
 DR. M. Now begin on the inside edge and 
 draw straight lines right out to the outside (she 
 illustrates) so that we have straight lines going 
 from the little circle to the big circle. From the 
 edge of the little circle, Guy (who is drawing his 
 lines from the central point of the inner circle). 
 Good, Edith! That's fine, Jack! From this edge 
 (to Howard) not from the middle. That's fine, 
 Edith. 
 
 PERKINS. I have mine all done. 
 
 DR. M. Splendid, Perkins. Guy, did you see 
 how Perkins did his? That's very good, Doris. 
 Good, Elwin. 
 
 JACK. Guy went across the little circle. 
 
 DR. M. Yes, because he didn't listen carefully 
 enough. Now, outside those circles I want you to 
 draw, without looking at anybody else, a small 
 square so that it is outside the circle. Good for 
 you, Perkins, could you make it a bit more even? 
 Good, Edith, that's fine. Now another thing, 
 without looking at anybody else, a triangle. 
 
 HOWARD. That's easy enough to make. 
 
 DR. M. (To Jack.) Very good, good! (To
 
 330 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 Edith, who is not sure about a triangle.) A tri- 
 angle has three sides, Edith. Jack, will you let 
 Edith see yours! Now the next thing I want you 
 to make is something you have never done before. 
 You know it, but you have not drawn it. I want 
 you to make a shape that looks like an egg. 
 
 JACK. Oh, that's easy. You said an egg, and 
 I made a snake's egg. 
 
 DR. M. (To Guy.) That's pretty good, but are 
 eggs the same width at both ends? Elwin's is 
 splendid. Now I want you to make another thing. 
 You have made it before. Can you remember it, 
 a diamond shape. 
 
 CLASS. Oh! 
 
 PERKINS. I don't remember what you mean. 
 (He looks at Guy's drawing and says, "Oh yes.") 
 
 (Elwin and Howard are commended for making 
 the diamond without using the middle line across. 
 Jack is encouraged to do it the same way. Doris 
 finds it hard, and Perkins also. Jack criticises 
 Edith f s drawing, and Dr. M. reminds him that 
 Edith lias to grow two years before she is as old 
 as he is now.) 
 
 DR. M. Now write your names on this side of 
 the paper. 
 
 JACK. Which side? (He is told again.) If you 
 will give me time enough I will write my whole 
 name. 
 
 DR. M. We will give you time. 
 
 (The class now prepares for the windmills.) 
 
 PERKINS. I would like to make mine. 
 
 HOWARD. Can I make one? 
 
 DR. M. Those who don't want to make wind- 
 mills can do whatever they want to.
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 331 
 
 (Perkins and Elwin bring out their papers for 
 the windmill. Jack has not yet finished with his 
 name. Guy and Howard have their papers ready 
 for the windmill. Elwin shows Perkins that he 
 must cut his corners up to the circle on the wrong 
 side of his papers.) 
 
 JACK. (Who now also has his papers for the 
 windmill.) Miss W. do you know what happened? 
 Someone folded this that didn't fold it even. 
 
 DR. M. Go ahead and make the windmills, and 
 when you need help, ask, and we will give it. 
 
 (Howard has folded his square nicely.) 
 
 (To Howard.) Do you know what to do next? 
 Yes, fold them the other way. 
 
 JACK. Now what do we do? (He has not 
 folded his papers very evenly on the square.) 
 
 (Everyone works busily. Miss W. helps Edith 
 on one of her two papers, and sets her to work 
 getting a second square from the other paper. 
 Elwin is all ready to pin the corners of his. Jack, 
 while waiting for help, is sharpening pencils in the 
 pencil sharpener.) 
 
 JACK. Dr. M., will you tear mine [to the right 
 size of square] ? 
 
 (Perkins also wants help.) 
 
 JACK. Now what shall I do? 
 
 DR. M. Fold them the other way. 
 
 PERKINS. What do we do now? 
 
 DR. M. Come over here to the window. (She 
 shows Perkins who has not made pinwheels before 
 just how to treat his squares.) We want both 
 colors to show, so we turn the colors with their 
 backs to each other, and then take them with both 
 corners together and stick a pin through, can
 
 332 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 you do that! Take both together. Get one 
 corner, and then both together, and when you 
 have them there, so, let's stick a pin through. 
 Don't tear it (as Perkins takes it into his hands), 
 you need both papers together, else it won't go 
 right. See, hold the pin down, push it through. 
 
 (Elwin, who has been getting along well with 
 his, is afraid it is going to pieces, but it has only 
 slipped off the pin, and Dr. M. fixes the corners 
 together again, and it is ready for fastening to the 
 rod.) 
 
 PERKINS. What shall I do now? (Dr. M. helps 
 him again to pin his corners together, taking them 
 lap by lap. Elwin and Perkins are now ready 
 for the rod, but want stars and Dr. M. explains 
 that the stars are to be put on first, and he cuts 
 them out.) 
 
 ELWIN. Look! Look at my windmill! (It is 
 flying around on the pin as Elwin holds it, blown 
 by the breeze from the window. Elwin then makes 
 a very strong breeze with his breath.) 
 
 PERKINS. Will you put my stick in, please t 
 
 DB. M. The stick cannot go in until the star is 
 ready. I have one star now. (She finishes Per- 
 kins' windmill, and bids him take it out into the 
 open air.) I think it will turn for you this morn- 
 ing. (Dr. M. finishes Elwin' s.) 
 
 GUY. (Bringing his papers to Dr. M.) I know 
 one thing that is the matter with mine. I haven 't 
 attended to business. 
 
 (Doris has been working on her mat. Jack crit- 
 icises Edith for keeping the scissors too long, he 
 thinks. Edith resents his criticism.)
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 333 
 
 (The class has to be dismissed as the autos are 
 waiting. Elwin, Guy, Howard and Perkins take 
 their finished windmills, Doris a finished mat. 
 The other children give up their partly made 
 windmills which are to be finished tomorrow.)
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 
 
 II 
 
 BY WALTER F. DEARBORN, EDWARD A. 
 LINCOLN, AND EDWIN A. SHAW 
 
 IN 1920 the psychological work of the school 
 was undertaken by the Psycho-Educational Clinic 
 of the Graduate School of Education of Harvard 
 University, under the direction of Dr. Walter F. 
 Dearborn. It was not considered necessary to 
 carry out investigations in quite so many lines 
 this summer, and so there was no provision made 
 for continuous work by a resident psychologist. 
 The psychological work was done by members of 
 the Clinic staff who visited the school from time 
 to time while it was in session. 
 
 The first project undertaken was for the pur- 
 pose of aiding the school in the organization of 
 its groups or classes. To do this in the speediest 
 possible manner it was decided to give group in- 
 telligence examinations to all the children. This 
 was done in July. The whole school was given 
 General Examinations 1, 2 and 3 of the Dearborn 
 Intelligence Examinations, Series I, and those 
 pupils in the two advanced groups, which were 
 composed of the older children, were tested also 
 with the Army Alpha Examination. This supple- 
 mentary examination was necessary because the 
 
 334
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 335 
 
 superior pupils in the groups of older children 
 could not be differentiated on the Series I exami- 
 nations which were devised for the testing of chil- 
 dren from five to ten years old. When the mental 
 ages and intelligence quotients had been found 
 they were considered together with the reports of 
 the teachers, and several pupils were changed to 
 other classes where it seemed likely that the work 
 was more suited to their several abilities. 
 
 Later in the summer practically every child in 
 the school was given the Stanford-Binet individual 
 examination. It was considered very much worth 
 while to do this, as with the results of these exami- 
 nations there became available data for two rather 
 important studies, one on the relation of mental 
 ages and intelligence quotients obtained on group 
 tests to those resulting from the use of individual 
 examinations, and the other concerning the con- 
 stancy or variation of intelligence quotients of the 
 same individuals upon repeated examinations. 
 
 The results of the comparison of the intelligence 
 quotients obtained on the Dearborn Group Exam- 
 ination with those obtained on the Stanford-Binet 
 individual test proved very satisfactory. There 
 were some discrepancies, but these were all found 
 among the older pupils for whom this form of the 
 Dearborn Examination was not devised, so they 
 did not have the opportunity to make scores com- 
 mensurate with their abilities. It was quite ap- 
 parent, however, that group test results could be 
 used as a basis of preliminary classification, thus 
 obviating the necessity of waiting for the longer 
 process of giving individual examinations to all 
 the pupils in the school.
 
 336 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 The question as to whether the intelligence 
 quotient of an individual remains constant 
 throughout his life is manifestly a very important 
 one for the educator. If it is possible by training 
 to make superior children out of those who are 
 inferior when they enter school our educational 
 system will be quite different from what we need 
 if the inferior, average and superior remain so 
 in spite of all that the teachers can do. This ques- 
 tion is the subject of some controversy at present, 
 and as the number of children to whom repeated 
 tests have been given is comparatively small these 
 records at the Peterborough School are very valu- 
 able. There were found in the group 21 children 
 who had been tested more than once, and 7 of 
 these had been tested three times. The differences 
 in the successive intelligence quotients were for 
 the most part so small as to be insignificant, and 
 even where larger differences were found they 
 did not materially change the classification of the 
 pupil. 
 
 At the close of the session a careful examination 
 was made of the recorded comments of the teach- 
 ers, and a report on each child embodying the chief 
 educational and psychological findings of the sum- 
 mer was sent to the parents. 
 
 The work in 1921 was conducted much as it had 
 been the previous summer. Early in the session a 
 group examination was given to all those children 
 who were at the school for the first time in order 
 that they might be correctly placed in the classes. 
 It was decided to repeat the individual examina- 
 tions on all pupils for the purpose of continuing 
 the study of the problem of intelligence quotient
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 337 
 
 constancy. Further, it seemed worth while to 
 attempt to get some measures of physiological as 
 well as of mental development, as the relation be- 
 tween mental and physiological or anatomical age 
 is one of the most interesting and significant in the 
 field of educational psychology at the present time. 
 A word or two about the general significance of 
 this problem may well be said in this report. 
 
 In the scientific foundation which we are trying 
 to lay for education, an element of the greatest 
 importance is exact knowledge of the facts and 
 laws of individual development. We cannot 
 classify children properly, select the gifted or the 
 deficient for special treatment, deal with individ- 
 uals of unusual traits, adjust our teaching or our 
 schools to the various levels of development, or 
 handle our human material with maximum effec- 
 tiveness at all, unless we can become more certain 
 in our judgments concerning individual cases. We 
 ought to be able to study any given child as an 
 individual in the light of comprehensive knowl- 
 edge of individual growth. At present we have 
 little such knowledge in reliable form, because the 
 standards by which we measure individuals are 
 based on averages from the measurement of 
 groups. We have standards of various sorts 
 (physical, intellectual, etc.) for children of any 
 given age ; but we do not know how they combine 
 in the normal or typical child, nor how the combi- 
 nation varies in special cases. We know too little 
 about the variations in rates and directions of 
 growth in individuals. Averages may remain con- 
 stant by virtue of the shifting of individuals. We 
 do not know whether to expect, in any given case,
 
 338 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 a steady, even growth, an acceleration in the devel- 
 opment of certain traits or phases of growth, a 
 retardation in other traits or phases, or a combi- 
 nation of these. We have as yet only an inade- 
 quate basis for educational diagnosis, and we lack 
 a safe basis for prognosis. The study of special 
 classes (the gifted, the defective, the retarded, 
 non-readers, e.g.) can go but little beyond its pres- 
 ent stage, and conclusions from tests cannot be 
 further confirmed, until we have a body of data 
 derived from repeated observations of the same in- 
 dividuals. The combination of data from differ- 
 ent groups will not suffice. It hides essential facts, 
 and there is no way to get at those facts except 
 by the well-supported, comprehensive, intelli- 
 gently directed measurement of a sufficient num- 
 ber of the same children over a sufficient period 
 of time. 
 
 An illustration or two may help to make this 
 clear. A girl 6 years and 10 months old was 
 recently brought to the Clinic by the superinten- 
 dent of schools in a neighboring town. Her pa- 
 rents had just entered her for the first time in 
 school, and had insisted that she be placed in the 
 fifth grade with children who were on the average 
 llMi years old. The superintendent found that 
 the child could do the work of that grade, but be- 
 cause of her youth and the fact that she had never 
 been to school before, he placed her temporarily 
 in the fourth grade. Just before her entrance to 
 school she had been given, individually, a group 
 examination upon which she scored a mental age 
 of 12 years, which gave her an intelligence quotient 
 of 175. On the Stanf ord-Binet she secured a men-
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 339 
 
 tal age of 11 years, making 161 her intelligence 
 quotient. 
 
 This child from the age of three had been sub- 
 jected to systematic and rigorous instruction, so 
 that in the next three years she had covered the 
 work of the first four grades of the public school 
 and had done some of the work of the fifth grade. 
 In a series of performance tests, for which her 
 previous training could have given her little prep- 
 aration, she did but little better than the children 
 of her own chronological age. It was also quite 
 noticeable that in the upper ages she got these 
 items which seem most susceptible of being an- 
 swered through what the child has learned, and 
 failed on those which appear to require mature 
 judgment and reasoning power. 
 
 Physically there is much to be desired in her 
 development. She is of slender build and anemic, 
 though there is evidence of certain physiological 
 development in advance of the average for her 
 age. Since her entrance into the public school she 
 has frequently been absent on account of illness. 
 
 A "mental age'* as secured in the tests in com- 
 mon use is clearly the resultant of at least three 
 factors, native intelligence, physiological matu- 
 rity, and "environment," the latter including spe- 
 cific training or practice. The standing of this 
 girl above the average may be due in part to a 
 slightly superior intelligence, but chiefly to the hot- 
 housing process to which she has been subjected. 
 This specialized training, has, as in the case of all 
 practice, turned her growth energy into the de- 
 velopment of the nervous system and accelerated 
 its development at the expense of the general
 
 340 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 bodily development. Various results may follow 
 by the time adolescence is reached; (1) the child 
 may continue her unbalanced development with 
 a resulting freakish intellect or become a genius 
 within narrow limits; (2) the physiological 
 changes of adolescence may be completely unset- 
 tling with a nervous breakdown and the develop- 
 ment of psychopathic traits; (3) the demands of 
 general somatic development may become such 
 that the initial acceleration in development proves 
 purely temporary and the child will settle back 
 to the general level of mediocrity. 
 
 A different state of affairs is indicated in the 
 case of a boy who was first tested at the age of 
 five years and nine months. In four successive 
 annual examinations he has secured an intelligence 
 quotient closely approximating 100. His parents 
 are both persons of exceptional ability, who, be- 
 cause of the child 's general health and some sus- 
 picions of defective heart action, have let nature 
 take its course in the child's development. His 
 present status is believed to be due chiefly to his 
 native intelligence. Physical and physiological 
 measurements and indices indicate slow develop- 
 ment, and this condition may by the time of pu- 
 bertal acceleration lead to his passing well above 
 the general average for his age. 
 
 These cases show clearly the need for repeated 
 measurements to give us material as a basis for 
 prognosis of superior and normal children. The 
 problems of diagnosis and prognosis of the dull 
 and mentally defective are quite as important, and 
 can be solved in no other way. 
 
 Need of such measurements is not confined to
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 341 
 
 the problems of the individual. Henmon and Liv- 
 ingstone in a recent and important communica- 
 tion, "Comparative Variability at Different 
 Ages," make the following statements: "There is 
 a widespread belief which frequently finds expres- 
 sion in the literature of education, that individual 
 differences are greater during adolescence than at 
 any other time in life and that the development 
 from childhood to adolescence is not gradual but 
 saltatory." 
 
 "This theory has important applications, and its 
 influence is plainly visible in our present system 
 of school organization. The contention that youth 
 is the period of great fluctuation and that there- 
 fore throughout the high-school age there is a de- 
 cided increase in variability in all mental functions 
 implies that the secondary school should provide 
 a wider range of elections in the curriculum, 
 smaller classes and more individualization of in- 
 struction, and greater versatility in methods of 
 presentation of subject-matter in order to appeal 
 to the widely varied characteristics of the high- 
 school class. On the other hand (and this is the 
 more serious consideration), the implied greater 
 similarity between children in the grades offers 
 an excuse for larger classes, for poorer teachers, 
 and for forcing all pupils through the same proc- 
 ess and by the same methods until the approach 
 of adolescence.*' After a thorough-going review 
 of the available literature on the subject they con- 
 clude with this statement, with which our experi- 
 ence coincides: "What we need for a final answer 
 to the problem is repeated measurement of a great 
 number of unselected individuals over the entire
 
 342 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 period of childhood and adolescence. Such data 
 are, of course, nowhere to be found now." 
 
 Despite the large number of important inves- 
 tigations in this field, each has hitherto been con- 
 cerned, with minor exceptions, with but one aspect 
 or criterion of development. Dr. Baldwin, for ex- 
 ample, presents a bibliography of 911 titles in con- 
 nection with the publication of an important inves- 
 tigation on one phase of this problem. 
 
 The history of the development of measures of 
 mental growth clearly shows that while no single 
 mental test was sufficiently indicative of the facts, 
 an averaging of the results of several different 
 tests or cross-sections of mental differentiation 
 led to results of great practical importance. Wit- 
 ness the extraordinarily extensive use of group 
 and individual intelligence tests in schools at the 
 present time. 
 
 Similarly, while studies of physical growth, 
 using as indicators height and weight and bodily 
 differentiation, rate of ossification of the bones, 
 dentition, and pubescence, have each given results 
 of importance, no one measure has been adequate 
 in itself. No one has taken the step noted in the 
 case of the mental tests and applied all of these 
 measures to the same individuals and then struck 
 an average. 
 
 Further, we are dealing with an individual or- 
 ganism whose changing behavior (as noted by the 
 mental tests) is only one further indication of its 
 development. No one has yet combined and corre- 
 lated these average findings of the " physical" de- 
 velopment with average findings in regard to the
 
 PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY 343 
 
 mental development of the same individuals and 
 again struck an average. 
 
 The importance of repeated measurements on 
 the same individual in any one of these fields has 
 long been recognized. (Compare, for example, the 
 studies of Wissler, Baldwin and Porter with the 
 studies of height and weight based on measure- 
 ment of different individuals.) Previous studies 
 of each of these fields (mental, anatomical, physio- 
 logical age) are sufficient to supply working stand- 
 ards from which the individual may be computed 
 and averaged. 
 
 The mental ages and intelligence quotients of 
 inferior, normal or superior children are now 
 based on comparisons with the chronological age. 
 Everyone who is familiar with this field knows 
 that the intelligence quotient ought to be 
 
 Mental age , , Mental age 
 
 Physiological age Chronological age 
 
 but from lack of knowledge no one is able to make 
 more than a rough approximation. 
 
 Since many of the children in the Peterborough 
 School attend for a number of successive years, 
 it seemed that the situation offered an excellent 
 opportunity to start, in a small way, such an in- 
 vestigation. Accordingly, an X-Ray machine was 
 temporarily installed in the school and a trained 
 operator secured radiographs of the wrist bones 
 and the sella turcica of each pupil. A careful study 
 was made of each child 's dentition, and an attempt 
 was made to estimate the pubertal stage of devel- 
 opment.
 
 344 A SCHOOL IN ACTION 
 
 It is, of course, impossible to make any consider- 
 able report as to findings until a second series of 
 measurements has been taken on the same pupils. 
 However, the work of the summer gave additional 
 data on the question of intelligence quotient con- 
 stancy, as the records now contain repeated ex- 
 amination of 27 children, 7 of whom have been 
 examined in four successive years. The indica- 
 tions are that such constancy exists, though there 
 are some interesting changes. These latter may 
 be explained when there is more evidence concern- 
 ing their physiological development. The whole 
 experiment gives promise of interesting and sig- 
 nificant results if it can be carried forward in the 
 future.
 
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