Two Children of the Foothills Elizabeth Harrison

National Louis University Digital Commons@NLU Elizabeth Harrison’s Writings Archives and Special Collections 1911 Two Children of the Foothills Elizabeth Harrison Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/harrison-writings Part of the Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons Recommended Citation Harrison, Elizabeth, "Two Children of the Foothills" (1911). Elizabeth Harrison’s Writings. 7. https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/harrison-writings/7 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Archives and Special Collections at Digital Commons@NLU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Elizabeth Harrison’s Writings by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@NLU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Two Children iiiiii titJ! i|;#islf I iiWi miA lllil lliiiil: Siilil « m RAREBK 372. 2 H31Bt5 c.4 Harrison, Elizabeth. Two children of the foothills ,TEDUE BORROWER'S NAME I RAREBK 37S.2 H31Bt5 c.4 Harrison, Elizabeth. Two children of the foothills National-IxMiis (Jniwreiiy UNIVERSITY LIBRARY EVANSTON CAMPUS 2840 Sheridan Road Evanston, Illinois 60201 ILDS-NSLS ^*%% ^^^•» RAREBK 37E.E H31Bt5 c.4 Harrison, Elizabeth. Two children of the foothills BORROWER'S NAME -c.4 fO . l REFERENCE rrC )T TO BE TAKEN ' ROM LIBRARY ARY JS THE UBRARY STORE #4a^02 PRINTED IN USA. ^t^ TWO CHILDREN FOOTHILLSOF THE MOTHER PLAYi E£ll NOBLE DOING ' Two Children of the Foothills BY ELIZABETH HARRISON Author of "A Study in Child-Nature," "Misunderstood Children," "Some Silent Teachers," "In Storyland," Etc. "Such A creature! whose? Not that of the slave Who floated the block ashore on life's barren atrand And left it there! The artist's rather, his Who saw in the rude block the Codlike form ' To which he shaped it. ^Nathan, the Wise. PUBLISHED BY flh^ ^ C""* CENTRAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, ;^ >' ^ 111. 80 Wabash Ave. , Chicago, "^ ^^ p^^" #/v 372.2 Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year ISOO, by ELIZABETH HARRISON, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Fifth Edition, 1911. -BECKTOLD- PBINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO. ST. LOUIS. MO. s PREFACE. If this record of a happy year spent with two children will help to make some other woman study more earnestly FroeheVs great hook I shall he satis- fied. To any in whose heart it may awaken this impulse I would recommend Mr. Denton J. Snider' " Commentary on FroeheVs Mother-Play-Songs,'* and Miss Susan E. Blow's *^ Letters to a Mother," from hoth of which hooks I have heen permitted to quote freely. I wish also to acknowledge my ohli- gations to D. Appleton & Company for their cour- tesy in allowing me to avail myself of the illustra- tions from their ''^Mottoes and Commentaries of FroeheVs Mother-Play-Book," which are the reduced facsimile of the larger pictures we used with these children. E. H. WITH GRATEFUL LOVE THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO WHOSE HOME FOR SO MANY YEARS I HAVE FELT TO BE MINE OWN. Books by the Same Author. A Study of Child Nature. Printed on laid paper, neatly bound in cloth, with gilt top. Price, $1.00, net. The Vision of Dante. Illustrated by Walter Crane. A story for children. Printed on Windsor hand-made paper, beautifully bound. Price, $2.50, net. Christmas-Tide. Neatly bound in stiflf paper. Price, .50. In Story-Land. Printed on laid paper, neatly bound with illustrated cover in cloth. Price, $1.25. CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter I. Introduction 9 The influence of ideals. " Chapter II. " The Pigeon House . 21 The joy of participation. " Chapter III. " The Coo-Coo Song . 39 The awakening of the inner voice. Chapter IV. " The Play with the Limbs " .... 57 Learning the use of power. " Chapter V. " The Weather Vane . 71 From sight to insight. " Chapter VI. " The Carpenter . 83 The silent message of architecture. " Chapter VII. " The Bridge . 109 Conquest of Time and Space. (vii) viii CONTENTS. Chapter VIII. " The Light Bird " .135 Riches that can be shared. Chapter IX. " The Little Window " 143 Slow growth of insight. Chapter X. " The Wolf and the Wild " Boar . 172 Face to face with evil. Chapter XL " The Five Knights" . 182 Heroes and Hero-worshipers. " " Chapter XIL The Church Bells . 208 An inner and an outer church. Chapter XIIL "Christmas Time". 225 " Peace on earth Good will to men." Appendix. Chapter I. INTBODUGTIOK. At the advice of a wise and experienced physician I went one year to the foothills that form the approach to the Sierra Madra Moun- tains of Southern California, in order that I might obtain much needed rest. My friend, Margaret Sayre, accompanied me. Being un- able to find, in that sparsely settled region, the accommodations which we desired, we rented the deserted cabin of an early pioneer and settled ourselves to housekeeping, little dreaming of the new and interesting experiences which such a unique life would bring to us. Our neighbors were most of them quiet mountain folk who had few interests outside of the details of their own ranch lives, and were, to my tired brain and overtaxed nerves, a constant delight and social entertainment in that they varied so greatly from the highly strung, overly intellectual life of the great city I had so recently left. We had also the constant daily companionship of two small, healthy, and unspoiled mountain children: (9) 10 INTRODUCTION. Georgie, a boy of four and a half, and his sister Lena, who was a year and a half older. As we were both Kindergartners we almost un- consciously began training the children; and the effects, particularly those brought about by Margaret's use of Froebel's " Mother-Play- Book," were so interesting to me that I kept a record of the same. The " Mother-Play-Book " was given to them just as any other picture book would have been given and usually when they selected a picture she told some story to help them understand it better. Almost always, some game grew out of the story. Having perfect freedom, they selected songs from various parts of the book to suit their own fancy, or were called forth by some of the experiences of our mountain life. The pictures on the front and back covers of the book, which, unfortun- ately, have been omitted from the recent edi- tions, were a never ending source of interest and pleasure to the children. They learned to recognize in the picture on the front of the book the ideal mother, loving and protecting her little children, their constant companion and sympathetic comrade in the home ; and in the picture on the back of the book, the wise, brave father who had time to do his part of ; INTBODUCTION. H the work in the world and still be a companion in his children's excursions. Margaret told them story after story concerning this ideal family, which they, without any confusion, ar- ranged for themselves as the " Dear Mamma," the "Good Papa," the "Big Brother and Sister " and the " Two Little Ones." Many stories arose concerning the mother's loving work in the home for the children ; such as the putting of the little ones to bed ; the taking of them up in the mornings; the washing and dressing of them ; the preparation of the food the gentle soothing of them when they were grieved or hurt; the firm, unwavering disci- pline of them when they were naughty. Oftentimes the older brother or sister, shown in the picture on the back of the book, were brought into the story. So real did she make her story characters seem that the children never tired of tales concerning the excursions and tramps which they took up the canons and over the hills with the strong, brave father. Their discoveries were a constant incentive to Georgie and Lena to try to make similar discoveries ; the fortitude with which the story- children endured hunger or thirst or occasional scratches from the briers, or cuts from sharp edges of stones, became ideals for them which ' ; 12 INTBODUGTION. they strove to imitate in their tramps with us. Margaret had a way all her own of giving a vivid, local coloring to her stories, until Georgie and Lena would oftentimes exclaim " with delight, " That is just like our canon! ' * ' I saw that same big rock ! These mountain children knew nothing whatever of ideal home life. Their grandmother was not the queenly woman represented by the first picture ; nor was their father the knightly hero portrayed upon the other cover of the ** Mother-Play-Book." In fact they were very far from these types of character. And yet this ideal family of our picture book became so real that we constantly found Lena and Georgie acting toward each other as the children in the pictures were supposed to act and many times I personally saw them extend- ing the courteous attention and quick, cheery obedience to their father and aged grandmother which the children of the pictures were represented to have given to their parents. Time and again after Margaret had told one of her child-hke but charming stories, I have seen the little four-and-a-half-year-old Georgie sit and study first one and then the other of the two pictures with a look of the most absorbed interest, almost reverence, in his face. INTBODUOTION. 1« Later on in our life together we had talks ' ' and stories about ' The Knights ' and they discovered for themselves that the armor on the father in this picture showed that he was a knight. They were easily led to observe the family life of the barn yards, and after a time they learned to watch for the glimpses we had of the family life of the rabbits, quails, and various other wild creatures who were also our neighbors.

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