DEPARTMENT CONGRESS 
OF KINDERGARTEN INSTRUCTION. 
SECRETARY'S REPORT. 
FIRST SESSION—WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1893. 
Tre Congress of Kindergarten Instruction met in the Hall of Columbus in the Memo- 
rial Art Palace. The meeting was called to order by Mrs. Eudora L. Hailmann at 9.30 
A.M., Wednesday, July 26, who introduced Mrs. Ada M. Hughes, of Toronto. Ontario, 
as Chairman, who delivered the opening address. 
Miss Alice H. Putnam, of Chicago, read a paper on ‘ Shall Reading and Writing be 
aught in the Kindergarten ?” 
Miss Sarah A. Stewart, of Philadelphia, read a paper on ‘‘ Changes in Kindergarten 
Plays and Games.” 
A paper was read by Miss Constance Mackenzie, Supervisor of Public School Kinder- 
gartens, Philadelphia, on “The Song in the Kindergarten—Its Place, Value, and the 
Dramatic Element.” 
Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, of San Francisco, Cal., read a paper on ‘“ The Organic Union 
of Kindergarten and Primary School.” Mr. B. Pickman Mann, of Washington, D. C., 
presented a paper, opening a discussion on ¢“ Modifications in the Primary School.” 
This subject was further discussed by Miss Mary C. McCulloch, Supervisor of Public 
School Kindergartens of St. Louis, Mo. 
The subject, ¢“ How the Primary School may be Connected with the Kindergarten,” 
was discussed by Mr. W. N. Hailmann, of La Porte. His remarks in substance were as 
lollows : ‘I have experimented for ten years at La Porte, Ind., a small town, where 1 
have not met the untold obstacles of a larger city. The only possibility of securing an 
organic connection between the kindergarten and the primary is by infusing the same 
spirit into the latter which distinguishes the former. The aim and purpose of the school 
is always the child and the child's living growth. Conventionalities of life belong no 
more to the primary than to the kindergarten. Right feeling must first be aroused, out 
of which conventionalities may grow. New wine must not be put into old bottles. The 
machine can never be infused with life. Whatever of the primary school is dead remains 
dead. We cannot connect the living kindergarten with the mechanical school. The 
only organic connection is to give the child opportunity to express himself all along the 
ine of his development, and never to express the teacher. The primary, like the kin- 
lergarten, must be a process of freeing the child.” 
Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin, of New York City, was introduced by the Chairman, and 
varmly greeted. Having recently returned from London, she brought greetings from 
the following prominent workers of that city : Miss Lyschiske, Miss Emily Shirreff, Mr. 
Oscar Browning, M. Michalais, and Mr. Courthope Bowen. 
During this opening session of the kindergarten department the platform was occu- 
pied by the following distinguished educators: Mrs. Hughes, of Toronto; Miss 
McCulloch, of St. Louis ; Mrs. Newcomb, of Hamilton, Ontario; Mrs. Putman, of 
Chicago : Miss Mackenzie and Miss Stewart, of Philadelphia ; Mrs. Hailmann, of La