OF THE

Golden Gate Kindergarten Association.

The past year has been one of the most successful in the annals of the Golden Gate Association. Three new Kindergartens have been added to the list, namely, the "J. Sheldon Lux Potter," the "Willard," and the "Lester Norris Memorial," making seventeen Kindergartens now under the charge of the Golden Gate Board. The total receipts for the year, as will be seen by the Treasurer's Report, are $19,128.90. The total annual enrollment is 1378, all of the little children ranging from two to six years of age. Quite a number are even a little younger-mere babies, who have been permitted to come with older brothers and sisters, where there are circumstances of great distress, neglect and poverty at home.

THE GREAT GOOD ACCOMPLISHED.

It is not possible for the citizens of San Francisco to realize the bearing of this Free Kindergarten work upon the future of this great city. After nine years of faithful work among the needy children, we are prepared to show substantial results that cannot be gainsaid nor denied. The record which these children make, when they go into the Public School, is a tribute not only to the value of this Kindergarten training in the developing of all the faculties, but to the unfolding of the moral nature as well.

There is a steady stream of influence that flows back into the families, which tells for good, no matter how wretched and degraded the households may be. The parents come to feel that their children are of some value, and they treat them with more consideration and kindness. The children feel that somebody loves them, and they unfold and blossom like plants in the sunshine.

RAPID GROWTH OF THE WORK.

The rapid growth of the work of the Golden Gate Kindergarten Association is best shown by a summarized statement of progress made from year to year. It should be remembered that the one regret of the earnest workers in this great field is, that so many little children are still left in the byways and alleys uncared for, and an easy prey to all those destructive influences that tend to bring them, at last, to swell the great army of paupers and of criminals, for which the honest tax-payer must be assessed, in order to sustain them in almshouses, prisons, jails and penitentiaries. One thing is certain, the State begins too late when it permits the children of the poor and degraded to enter the Public School at six years of age. It is locking the stable door after the horse is stolen. Philanthropy is doing its level best to lift this burden, and to save these children to an honorable, virtuous and valuable citizenship. Has this great State the power and willingness to aid us in carrying on so vital a work? We believe it has. We shall trust it for future help in this noble cause, which stoops to enfold and to save needy, dependent and helpless childhood.

The following statement shows what has been accomplished by the Golden Gate Kindergarten Association during the nine years of its work:

MRS. LELAND STANFORD'S MUNIFICENT AID TO THE WORK.

OVER FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.

It is conceded that the growth of the Kindergarten in California has been more rapid than in any State of the Union. More especially true is this of the City of San Francisco. The first Free Kindergarten was organized in September, 1878, by Professor Felix Adler, of New York City, who was then on a visit to this coast. Mr. Samuel W. Levy assisted Professor Adler in securing monthly subscriptions, of one dollar each, to the amount of $130, and thus was opened, at 64 Silver street, the first Free Kindergarten west of the Rocky Mountains. This is the Kindergarten so liberally sustained by Mrs. Charles B. Alexander, née Crocker.

The second Free Kindergarten was opened at 116 Jackson street about one year later, under the auspices of the Bible Class of Mrs. Cooper, and this is the work now represented by the Golden Gate Kindergarten Association. Since that time this work among needy little children has grown and spread until now there are between forty and fifty Free Kindergartens in San Francisco alone, including those in Orphanages and Day Homes. Branching out from San Francisco as a center, they have extended in every direction, from the extreme northern part of Washington Territory to Lower California and New Mexico, and they have planted themselves in Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and in almost every large city of California. The work in San Francisco has been phenomenal. No city in the Union has made such rapid strides in this work among the little children as San Francisco. This is owing very largely to the fact that persons of large wealth have been induced to study the work for themselves, and have become convinced of its permanent and essential value to the State. Foremost among those who have given largely to the support of these Kindergartens is Mrs. Leland Stanford, who has, from first to last, given over $40,000 to the support of these beneficent schools for the neglected children of San Francisco.

A CAREFUL STUDY OF THE SYSTEM.

The fact of the matter is, Senator and Mrs. Stanford have made the Kindergarten system of training and development a careful study, as a foundation for technical and industrial education, in connection with the broad and comprehensive plans contemplated by the Leland Stanford, Jr., University. They have studied it, not as a philanthropic system alone, but as an educational system. The necessity of unfolding the minds of little children through their senses, rather than dwarfing them through the meaningless repetition of mere words, is coming to be felt more and more by all thoughtful educators. It is the aim of the Kindergarten to make men and women who will be self-governing, and thus be a law unto themselves; men and women who will succeed by their own skill and industry.

SENATOR STANFORD STRUCK THE KEY-NOTE.

The following, which appeared in our last Annual Report, found its way into leading newspapers and Educational Journals all over the country. Hon. Ira G. Hoitt, State Superintendent of Public Schools, embodied a portion of it in his recent Annual Report. It deserves a place in public thought; and that it has found so wide a place, demonstrates the fact that the age is ready for the advanced truth in the New Education. This is the quotation referred to above:

"Governor Stanford struck the key-note when he said, that he believed the surest foundation on which any educational structure could rest, was the rock of thorough Kindergarten training, begun at the earliest possible age. At the age when moral and industrious habits are most easily formed, the taste improved, and the finer feelings which give fiber to the will are cultivated.”

And we say again, as we have said before, that on the bedrock of such training the true university may rest-a university such as the Stanford University is outlined to be-a university embracing the science of human life, in its varied industries, arts, science, literature, government, political economy, ethics, moral unfoldment, hygiene-and in short all that goes to make

up a perfected human life; a university where the school and the work-shop clasp hands, where body and mind are educated together, where the mechanic and the classical student will strike hands together, where the artist and the artisan will eat at one common board.

The world is beginning to recognize the fact that a general education, that has not in it some provision for a special education and training in some particular industry, is practically a failure. Technical and industrial education for the people is no theory. It is a question of civilization. It is a national question, and touches the very existence of the State. The Kindergarten lies at the foundation of this sort of education. All honor, then, to those who foster these blessed schools for the little children! All honor to her who has been foremost in the founding and maintenance of the Kindergartens of San Francisco and environs-Mrs. Leland Stanford.

THE PAST YEAR'S ENROLLMENT.

There have been over eight hundred children enrolled in the Stanford Kindergartens during the past year. This number, grown into noble manhood and womanhood, would make a thriving village. Who can estimate the power of such a work as this? Mrs. Stanford loves the little children. She delights to visit them, and distribute little tokens of love with her own hands. The portrait of Leland Stanford, Jr., occupies a prominent place in each Kindergarten, and the little ones are taught to cherish the memory of their beloved benefactor. Flowers, fresh and fragrant, always adorn the beautiful pictures. Mottoes, appropriate and suggestive, hang underneath the portrait: "Our Loved Benefactor." "It is not the will of our Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." "I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me." "His works do follow him." "Their angels do always behold the face of Our Father who is heaven." "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Leland Stanford, Jr., was never so really alive as to-day. Never so near, never so dear, never so active as now.