dren
under school age (six years in California) and I must somehow keep in
close relation to the homes from which they come."

How should I get in intimate touch with this strange, puzzling, foreign
community, this big clump of poverty-stricken, intemperate, overworked,
lazy, extravagant, ill-assorted humanity leavened here and there by a
God-fearing, thrifty, respectable family? There were from time to time
children of widows who were living frugally and doing their best for
their families who proved to be the leaven in my rather sorry lump.

Buying and borrowing were my first two aids to fellowship. I bought my
luncheon at a different bakery every day and my glass of milk at a
different dairy. At each visit I talked, always casually, of the new
kindergarten, and gave its date of opening, but never "solicited"
pupils. I bought pencils, crayons, and mucilage of the local stationers;
brown paper and soap of the grocers; hammers and tacks of the hardware
man. I borrowed many things, returned them soon, and thus gave my
neighbors the satisfaction of being helpful. When I tried to borrow the
local carpenter's saw he answered that he would rather come and do the
job himself than lend his saw to a lady. The combination of a lady and
edged tools was something in his mind so humorous that I nervously
changed the subject. (If he is still alive I am sure _he_ is an
Anti-Suffragist!) I was glad to display my school room to an intelligent
workman, and a half hour's explanation of the kindergarten occupations
made the carpenter an enthusiastic convert. This gave me a new idea,
and to each craftsman, in the vicinity, I showed the particular branch
of kindergarten handiwork that might appeal to him, whether laying of
patterns, in separate sticks and tablets, weaving, drawing, rudimentary
efforts at designing, folding and cutting of paper, or clay modelling.

I had the great advantage of making all of my calls in shops, and thus I
had not the unpleasant duty of visiting people's houses uninvited, nor
the embarrassment of being treated as peddlers of patronage and good
advice are apt to be treated. Besides, in many cases, the shops and
homes (Heaven save the mark!) were under one roof, and children scuttled
in and out, behind and under the counters and over the thresholds into
the street. They were all agog with curiosity and so were the women. A
mother does not have to be highly cultured to perceive the advantage of
a place near by w