training him to be an active member of his community. The neighborhood becomes real to him as he takes his own small but loyal part in serving it. He can take care of public property to the extent of seeing that papers are picked up, fences and buildings left undefaced, garden seeds planted. He can learn respect for firemen and police; the simpler conditions of public health; the need of obedience to law because we are members one of another. He can practice doing good turns to the neighboring community, the group just over the border of his narrow sympathy. He can learn to recognize the rights and feelings of the Chinese laundryman, the Italian fruit-dealer, the Jewish tailor. Above all, he can begin to see what it means to work together for ends far greater than any one, however strong and wise, could accomplish alone. SEPTEMBER: WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? For the Teacher: Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, As if we had them not. SHAKESPEARE, Measure for Measure, 1, i. Suggestions for morning talks The question, "Who is my neighbor?" was asked by a lawyer nineteen hundred years ago. The story of the Good Samaritan helped the lawyer to find his own answer. Read Luke x, 29-37. Our neighbor is every one to whom we can show kindness. In every neighborhood the public school is a central building. Day by day the children pass to and fro, rarely noticing with any clearness of vision what they see and still more rarely thinking of the neighborhood as a whole. Yet the neighborhood is the child's city limits, and to teach a keen and human interest and helpfulness in the neighborhood is to open for him the beginnings of citizenship. Citizenship often comes first to a child as a hard shell resisting his wishes. Happy is the teacher who can show him the kernel inside. The policeman, the old woman at the applestand, the truant officer, are often thought of as natural foes. Break that hard shell of prejudice; show the children the real life of the neighborhood. Questions for the class If you walk down a street of shops, what signs do you see over the door? Provisions, groceries, furniture, drug-store, shoemaker, painter, carpenter, lunchroom, dressmaker, tailor, toy-shop, books and stationery, moving-picture show, police station. Could we do without any of these stores? What things does everybody need? Notice as you go home to-day what shops you see on the way. Make a list and bring it to school. How do these neighbors of ours help us? How can you help them? By courtesy whenever you meet any one; by honesty whenever you buy even a penny's worth; by willing deeds of kindness, holding the baby for a neighbor while she runs out, getting a pitcher of water for her; by shutting the door softly if any one in the house is ill; by listening hard to every word when you are asked to do something; by flying gayly on errands of kindness. Read: "Ruth and Naomi." —Ruth I. Little one, come to my knee! Hush, my darling, and listen, Then pay for the story with kisses: Father was lost in the pitch-black night, In just such a storm as this is! High up on the lonely mountains, Where the wild men watched and waited; Wolves in the forest, and bears in the bush, And I on my path belated. The rain and the night together Came down, and the wind came after, Bending the props of the pine-tree roof And snapping many a rafter. I crept along in the darkness, Stunned, and bruised, and blindedCrept to a fir with thick-set boughs, And a sheltering rock behind it. There, from the blowing and raining, Little one, be not frightened; 1 From Poetical Works. Houghton Mifflin Co. Side by side, through the long, long night, His wet fur pressed against me; And when the falling forest No longer crashed in warning, Darling, kiss me in payment! Hark, how the wind is roaring; When the stormy rain is pouring! OCTOBER: WAYS OF SERVICE For the Teacher: Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan, SHAKESPEARE, Troilus and Cressida, 1, iii. Suggestions for morning talks At the beginning of the year we talked about Who is my neighbor? The story of the Good Samaritan shows that my neighbor is every one I meet and whom I can help. How can we help? Are gifts the only way? Are they the best way to help? Read the story of the "Little Lame Boy." How did he help? Do you 1 Ethics for Children, Ella Lyman Cabot. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1 know the rule of the Boy Scouts to do something kind for somebody every day? What chances to help are there as soon as you get up? Quickness and care in dressing; help in setting the table; politeness in passing the food to others first; neatness in making up your bed; readiness to run errands. What can you do to help in going to school? Be on time; speak pleasantly to any neighbor you meet; look about at the street crossing and help another child across carefully. Are there any lonely or sick people in your neighborhood? What can you do for them? What animals help us? How can we help them? Tell the story of "Androcles and the Lion," from Fifty Famous Stories Retold, James Baldwin (American Book Co.); "The First Day on the Alm," from Heidi, by Johanna Spyri (Everyman's Library. E. P. Dutton & Co.). I LOVE YOU, MOTHER JOY ALLISON "I love you, mother," said little John; Then, forgetting his work, his cap went on, "I love you, mother," said little Nell, "I love you better than tongue can tell." "I love you, mother," said little Fan, "To-day I'll help you all I can;" And rocked the babe till it fell asleep. |