the seed-corn to a larger work in this direction, and that the establishment of this lovely Kindergarten, in the name of the bright and beautiful child who is its fair patroness, will be the sure forerunner of other Kindergartens for the destitute children of this city. The deep interest manifested in the work by Mr. Montgomery is a matter of fervent and grateful appreciation.

This is the nineteenth Free Kindergarten organized and carried on by the Golden Gate Association. And we are glad that a brief delay in our Annual Report, enables us to enroll it upon the historic records of our First Decade. As we before said, we believe this will be the germinant movement toward many other Kindergartens bearing the names of beloved daughters. Let us have at least ten, for the boys already have nine, and the boys should never be allowed to distance the girls in the good work of the world. All hail to the HAZEL MONTGOMERY FREE KINDERGARTEN-the first Kindergarten west of the Rocky Mountains that bears the name of a little girl.

THE ROLL OF HONOR.

MRS. W. C. TALBOT.

In the retrospect of a work, Memory always goes back with a peculiar tenderness and gratitude to those who, by their quick and ready sympathy and aid, assisted in laying foundations. The very first subscription of $5.00 per month, was from Mrs. W. C. Talbot, who strenuously objected to having her name appear upon the list, but was finally persuaded to do so, as a stimulus to others "to do likewise." As a result, over twenty other subscriptions of $5.00 per month were secured. During all the intervening years, the Golden Gate Kindergarten Association has never had a more faithful friend and advocate than Mrs. W. C. Talbot, whose entire family are numbered among our most earnest workers and generous sustainers. This noble woman deserves a leading place in the annals of our First Decade.

PROFESSOR JOHN SWETT.

Extended reference to this notable and noble educator, is made elsewhere in this Report, who may be called the father of the Kindergarten system in California-so constant has been his devotion to the work. Our First Annual Report gives the details of a special Meeting held in the Board of Supervisors' Chambers, New City Hall, early in 1880, for the purpose of laying the matter of engrafting the system into the Public Schools before the proper authorities. The report goes on to say: Stirring Addresses were made by Professor John Swett, Rev. Dr. Stebbins, Superintendent John W. Taylor, Judge Heydenfeldt, Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, and Miss Kate D. Smith, all of whom strongly urged the adoption of the system by the School Board. The meeting resulted in the appointment of a Committee to investigate the matter. Soon thereafter the Committee reported in favor of adopting our second Kindergarten as an Experi-, mental Class. This could be done without any infringement of the State law. Shortly after a second Experimental Class was adopted, at 512 Union street. These were carried on for six years, after which the Kindergarten methods were engrafted upon the Public School system.

THE SCHOOL BOARD.

Public sentiment had been steadily and firmly making its way toward the Kindergarten system of instruction. Why not, when such a notable educator as Dr. Wm. T. Harris declares, unconditionally, that the Kindergarten system is "The grandest system of Education ever devised by man?" It is a fact, that from the first year of our work until now, the School Boards of the City have shown signal kindness to the Kindergartens. It has been in their power on many occasions to prove their fellowship and good feeling, and they have never failed to do so. How vividly and gratefully we recall the devoted labors of ex-Superintendent John W. Taylor and Director Wadham in the early years of our work. They believed in the work and helped to lay its foundations.

About three years ago, the school Board, under the enthusiastic leadership of Mr. C. B. Stone, took a grand step forward, by employing a competent, skillful, and enthusiastic Kindergartner-Miss Annie Stovall-to instruct all the teachers of the Primary Grades in the theory and practice of the Kindergarten. Miss Stovall was the successful teacher of the Experimental Class at Union Street, and her genius and skill were manifest in the rapid and wise unfoldment of the children under her charge. She had, what might be termed, the knack of teaching; it was with her an inspiration. Originality in the a laptation of means to ends characterized all her methods. The Board of Education evinced wisdom and good judgment in its selection of a Kindergarten instructor. While other City Boards of Education have had the funds to incorporate the Kindergarten into their curriculum, it is cheering to know that the San Francisco Board has done, and is still doing, to the very utmost of its financial ability in engrafting the Kindergarten into its Primary Grades. The Kindergarten has had no better allies than the members of the Boards of Education.

The State Superintendent, Hon. Ira G. Hoitt, Superintendent Anderson, Deputy Superintendent Babcock, J. H. Culver, Hon. A. J. Moulder, Professor James Kennedy, Joseph O'Connor, A. L. Mann, S. A. White, J. K. Wilson, Dr. Deane, Raphael Weill, William Cameron, Mrs. M. W. Kincaid, Miss Fowler, the Inspectress of Schools, Mrs. Baumgardner, Miss Agnes Manning, Miss Jean Parker, Miss E. A. Cleveland, Miss Thompson, Miss Short, Miss Fairchild, Miss Rightmire, Miss Kate Kennedy, and many others have given freely of service and sympathy on many occasions. Mr. W. F. Goad, late President of the Board of Education, has extended many courtesies and given us much encouragement. To Secretary Beanston we are also indebted for numerous offices of kindness.

We opine that it will not be long until the Kindergarten will be an integral part of the Public School curriculum. So far as the additional expense is concerned, it could be clearly demonstrated that it would pay for itself by lessening the time required for the pupil to complete the course of study, through the proper development of the faculties, by teaching the pupil how to learn.

The Kindergartens must become the basic foundation of all true education. It should not be left to charity to rescue the little children of the poor, the vicious and the depraved. It is the State's concern to give these children a fair chance to become virtuous citizens. Professor Huxley is right when he says, that no system of public education is worthy the name, unless it creates a great educational ladder, with one end in the gutter and the other in the University. The School Board of San Francisco is doing what it can to realize this end.

The faithful Teachers of our Public Schools deserve well at the hands of our tax-payers. A commonwealth can afford to be economical to the verge of parsimony in any other department rather than in the administration of school affairs. It is fervently to be hoped that the day is not far distant when the Kindergartens will have a recognized place in the curriculum of all Public Schools.

The fact will never be forgotten, that Professor John Swett, and Mrs. M. W. Kincaid of the High School and Normal Class, were the strong helpers of the Free Kindergartens, and the clear-eyed, sagacious friends and advocates of the New Education, from the earliest dawn of the work in San Francisco.

THE CLERGY WHO HAVE WORKED FOR KINDERGARTENS.

While many of our City Pastors have shown themselves very friendly to the Free Kindergartens, there are two royal workers who deserve especial mention in the annals of our First Decade.

Rev. Dr. Stebbins, of the First Unitarian Church, was the first among our local clergy to warmly espouse the cause of needy childhood. He not only saw the great value of the work educationally, but with his fine discrimination and keen insight, coupled with his love for childhood, he saw the wonderful adaptability of the Kindergarten system to the needs and conditions of the neglected classes. Dr. Stebbins was officially connected with the first Kindergarten organization in this City, and he has been foremost in the support of the work from that

time to the present. He is one of those far-seeing souls, who knows that "it is in the next new life that God hides the next new thing the world needs for its use; and that every generation begins the history of the world anew." With Faith's unerring vision, he sees "a three-year-old child standing on a stool, preaching to a three-year-old audience, who will win the world to a sweeter and nobler gospel," than has ever yet been preached or lived, since the Great Preacher and Teacher took the little child as the object-lesson to teach of His coming Kingdom.

Rev. Dr. Barrows, of the First Congregational Church, was equally quick to see the bearing of this work on the community. He had been making a thorough study of the Kindergarten work connected with the Bible Class of his own Church. Like all men of keen discernment and quick intuition, he at once saw the far-reaching and wide-branching nature of the work. It was to him a divine suggestion, and forth from the suggestion leaped the determination. From his pulpit, shortly thereafter, he presented to his people a thrilling discourse on "The Ideal Sunday-school-The Mid-day Dream of the Church." He claimed that the most successful mission work of any church should have its foundation laid in the faithful, devoted, daily instruction and development of little children, as the best means of reaching recreant fathers and mothers, and thus securing both children and parents for specific religious culture. He saw in the Kindergarten the best method of unfolding the faculties of a little child, and argued that the true Kindergarten should be recognized as the pioneer and forerunner of efficient church work, a sort of John the Baptist, preparing the way, making the crooked straight and the rough places plain. It was the mission of true discipleship to heal all manner of disease— physical, mental, and moral-and this was the aim of this work among the little children. He believed that religion should take hold on every day life and duty. It should lay its loving. grasp on childhood. A religion that is hateful to a little child is a very poor sort of religion to start with. Religion must be like the sunlight-it must knock with gentle and warm entreaty at the door of the sleeping germ and bid it awake and grow.

With a pathetic and powerful appeal for the establishment of