sh to make
carries no slur upon the ideal which the best modern pedagogy is
striving for; it is, on the contrary, an appeal for the support and
furtherance of that ideal on the part of intelligent citizenship
generally, and of conscientious parenthood particularly. I believe
firmly in the kindergarten; I believe that the child, whether rich or
poor, who goes to kindergarten in his tender years has a better chance
in life, all else being equal, than the child who does not. I do not
know how long the free kindergarten system has obtained to any degree in
New York City, but I do know that I have as yet found only one working
girl who has had the benefit of any such training in childhood. She was
"Lame Lena" at Springer's box-factory; and in spite of her deformity,
which made it difficult for her to walk across the floor, she was the
quickest worker and made more money than any other girl in the shop.

Tersely put, and quoting her own speech, the secret of her success was
in "knowing how to kill two birds with one stone," and, again, "makin'
of your cocoanut save your muscle." These formulae were more or less
vague until further inquiry elicited the interesting fact that "lame
Lena," had had in childhood the privilege of a kindergarten training in
a class maintained by some church society when the free kindergarten
was not so general as it is now.

It is not unreasonable to suppose that had this lame girl's workmates
enjoyed the privilege of the same elementary training, they might have
shown an equal facility in the humble task of pasting and labeling and
tissuing paper boxes. "Lame Lena" knew how to work; she knew how to
husband every modicum of nervous energy in her frail, deformed body; and
thus she was able to make up--more than make up--for her physical
inferiority. "Lame Lena" brought to her sordid task a certain degree of
organizing faculty; she did the various processes rhythmically and
systematically, always with the idea in view of making one stroke of the
arm or the hand do, if possible, a double or a triple duty. The other
girls worked helter-skelter; running hither and thither; taking many
needless journeys back and forth across the floor; hurrying when they
were fresh to the task, dawdling when they were weary, but at all times
working without method and without organization of the task in hand, and
without that coordination of muscular and mental effort which the
kindergarten might have taught them, just as