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Show OF SUCH 37 become the most popular place on the compound. When the government examiners came to examine the schools, they confessed that their interest was mainly, not in curricula and teaching, but in that attractive spot. The costumes of some of the tinies are cunning enough. One little four year old boy has had this winter a tiger suit made tight fitting, with the most sturdy little cotton-stuffed tail growing out#of the bottom of his waistcoat, while on his head sat a hood capped with a large spreading fan like the spread of a pheasant's tail. By his side sat the pet of the kindergarten wearing her piggie hood, the bonniest and most dimpled of all well fed babies, and a model of good behavior until one day when because of bad eyes the teacher wore black glasses. At first they were looked at with sober wonder. The eyes which usually saw everything going on in the room were not to be seen today. It was a signal for a truant day; for without doubt, if you couldn't see the teacher's eyes, they couldn't see you ! And all sorts of tricks were indulged in, under the very nose of the teacher. Do you feel at home? For one little girl, saved from starvation in the flooded district by one of the missionaries, the kindergarten was the place where she was to learn to play for the first time in her life. She was ill fed and so dirty that her head was shaved, her body washed and her clothes burned. When she first entered the school, confusion, fear and hunger were running riot on her face, but the last prevailed and she ate with abandon and slept on every occasion, invariably through every Y. W. C. A. meeting as she sat on the floor curled up against one of the big girls. Within a few weeks, she was playing with the same devotion as she had slept and eaten. She was selected at Christmas as one of the seven little girls who with their dolls sang "Sleep Baby Sleep." No one would recognize her now as the little waif of a few months ago. Her cheeks are as rosy as the flowers on her Sunday garment, and she goes through the cloth shoes provided for her with amazing swiftness. Still admiring it! |