ound the
four sides of the enclosure was covered by a vine just bursting into
leaf. This had been trained, twig by twig, against the wall, by tiny
fingers under the guidance of the lady in charge. A rustic
summer-house contained a table, and seats of different heights. Here
were seeds and implements for immediate use. Every stray leaf and bit
of waste was brought by the children to a corner appropriated to it,
covered with earth, and left to become dressing for the beds; thus
teaching at once the chemistry of Nature and the value of neatness and
economy. To another corner the children were encouraged to bring all
the stones and shells they could find; and thus a rock-grotto was
growing.

From the gardens we went into the house. In the first room the
two-year-olds were on low seats before a long table, where each had
his six by ten inches of sand-plot, in which, with tiny wooden shovels
and rakes, they were laying out garden beds and sticking in green
leaves and cut pansies to make the wilderness blossom. Behind these
were seats and tables for those who were a little older and could do
real work. In a large tin dish-pan, two or three, under suitable
supervision, were washing flower-pots with sponges and tepid water;
others were filling the clean pots by taking spoonfuls of black loam
from another pan; others, having been shown pansy plants with roots,
and told that the plants took nourishment and drank water by means of
these root-mouths, were pressing them carefully into the earth-filled
pots and giving them water. In an anteroom two or three children were
helping to wash the leaves of ivies and other plants, having had the
office of the leaves simply explained. All was done with such care
that the clean faces and garments of the children were not soiled, nor
the floor and desks littered.

"We try to make one idea the centre of thought for the week,--not to
confuse the minds of the children by too much at once," said the
Directress. "This week it is pansies." In the garden children were
watering pansies in bloom, and pansies were cut and dug for use in the
house, where they were the materials for play and work. In one room
the children had cards in their hands, in which they had pricked the
outlines of pansies. Each had a needle threaded with a color selected
by itself, with which to work this outline. In another room they were
painting pansies. At Easter time the lesson was on eggs. We were shown
eggs colored by the