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you know each one of the little children has another Santa Claus who shows she is a good, loving, everyday Santa Claus. Fannie and Jesse have the same one, Lulie and Gussie have one, and Edna has one all to herself." "Why, it must be our mothers," says Edna. "Yes, she is the very one I am thinking about. Tell me how mamma is a Santa Claus. What does she do that shows she is an everyday Santa Claus?" "My mamma washes to make money for us," says Jack. "Yes, she works hard to make money for her little children. Does she do anything else for you and Alice beside getting money for you?" "She cooks breakfast for us, and mends our clothes." 'Does n't that show she is an everyday Santa Claus?" "My mamma cooks for us every day, and makes my dresses and John's coats," says Mamie. "My mamma was a good Santa Claus yesterday, she knit me a pair of gloves," says Bessie. Each one has something to tell that shows his mother is a Santa Claus. At the tables the work is an expression of the same thought; bread making with the Second Gift, cooking utensils of various kinds, washing clothes, etc. The mother's sewing is worked out by some. They make scissors with sticks and rings, a needle and thread with sticks and half rings, with a seed lentil for the knot. (Fig. 5.) Figure 6 is a spool cut from a two-inch square. With pencils the children

Fig.5.

The

movement of the mother's work. others then tell what kind of work it is. The motions in bread-making, cooking, and sewing are given in their successive steps.

The spirit of Santa Claus in every one who is either giving to another, or doing some kind and helpful thing. Wishing the children to get the thought that the spirit of loving kindness is the real Santa Claus, we show them pictures to help them to further abstract the idea from the literal Santa Claus. The first pictures are those of little children giving something to some one. They tell who are the Santa Clauses in these, and how they know they are Santa Clauses. terward they are shown pictures of children doing for others and they find the Santa Claus and show the child is one. The next step is to give them a story of a child's kindness to others, and have them find the Santa Claus in this.

Af

One morning the children come up to hear the Christmas secret, "I have something very nice to tell you this morning. Every little girl and every little boy here is going to be a Santa Claus to papa and mamma. You must not tell any one about it, not even mamEach one of you is going to make something pretty for your papa, and something pretty for your mamma. We are going to begin to work on them today, and we will work on them every day till they are finished. When Christ

ma.

mas comes, all of us are to help trim a beautiful Christmas-tree. Then we will ask our papas and mammas to come to the Kindergarten, and we will surprise them with the Christmas-tree and our pretty presents for them."

"Won't they think we are nice Santa Clauses, when they see all

the pretty things?" exclaimed Lulie. From this on till Christmas, at one period of time at the table, the children work on their Christmas presents. At the next, they make the ornaments for the tree. .PATTY S. HILL. MARY D. HILL.

Louisville, Ky.

Long, long ago,- so long that even the old gray hills have forgotten, --the beautiful stars in the sky used to sing together very early every morning, before any of the little people of the world were up. Their songs were made of light, and were so clear and strong that the whole heaven would shine when they sang. One morning, as the stars sang and listened to each other, they heard a beautiful music coming swiftly toward them. It was so much louder and sweeter than their own that they all stopped and listened, and wondered. came from far above them, from out the very deepest blue of the sky. It was a new star and it sang an entirely new song that no one had ever heard before.

It

"Hark, hark!" the stars cried. "Let us hear what it is saying!"

And the beautiful star sang it over and over again, and its song told of a lovely babe that had come on earth-a babe so beautiful that it was the joy of the whole world. Yes, so beautiful that when you looked at it, you saw real light streaming from its face.

Every little child in the world has light in its face, if we but know how to see it but this little one had so very much that its mother wondered as she looked down upon her lap and saw it there.

And there were shepherds there to look at the babe, and many other

people saw it and could not understand.

The one beautiful star knew-yes, it knew all about it, and what do you think it knew? Why, that this child was God's own child, and was so good and loving that the whole world when it heard of it would want to know how to be so, too.

This one beautiful star traveled on and on, telling all the way what it knew of the child, and its light fairly danced. through the sky, and hung over the place where the little one lay.

All the other stars in the heavens were puzzled. They heard the song of the wonderful star that had come such a long, long way, and saw its brightness.

The words of its song were, "A loving child, a loving child is on the earth."

And as they listened these stars all looked down to find the child, but they could not see so far. And the strangest part of it all was, they could not sing their old songs any longer, the sweet new one was so much more beautiful, and so they sang that: "A loving child, a loving child is on earth!"

It is said that although they did not find the beautiful babe of which the great star sang, they are still seeking and listening and waiting. Every quiet evening they look down upon each little child, right down into each little heart, and ask, “Is this the child that is really

loving?" They peep out of the sky just as the dear little babies are being tucked into bed, and down they peer, right into the windows.

That is why the stars come just at bed-time, for then they know where they can find the loving child. It is in its dear mother's lap, the light is shining in its face most of all, for it laughs up into the sweet eyes, and love seems all over everything. The stars know, for they have watched for many long years and some day they will surely be satisfied.

And when they do find a truly loving child, a child with a shining face, a trusting heart and gentle ways, they will shine out brightly and sing with joy over and over again, “a loving child, a loving child is on earth;" and again the heavens will light up and the wise men come and the manger be filled with shining, and the whole world will listen over again, and remember about the wonderful child that was born and is come again.

A. H.

Herder says: Everything in nature appears connected to man, because man does not perceive nature but through his own organs. Man is indeed the first

but he is not the only creature. He has dominion over the world but is not himself the universe. That is why the elements of nature are often opposed to him, forcing him to struggle against them. Fire will destroy his work; inundations will cover his acres; storms will wreck his vessels, and disease will decimate his numbers. All this is placed in his path that he should overcome it, and to do so he has the requisite weapons in him.

Froebel explains the above passage saying: The elements of nature and, like them, uncivilized man, are opposed to man, not by their essential nature but only on account of their crudeness, their unruly and unmanageable form. It is the business of man to refine and restrict, to rule and manage them, uncivilized man as well as the other rough parts of nature; for man in his unrefined condition, or if deformed by incorrect development, is naturally good and capable of

improvement. He will overcome the opposing forces of nature by overcoming his own self, that is, by studiously observing his own faculties and learning how to use them in an appropriate man

ner.

Claudius says: Man exercises a kind of dominion over outward nature and seems to be destined to do so above all other creatures. Small as he appears, he will try his strength on anything and nothing seems impossible to him.

Froebel adds: The end of this dominion is that man should learn to measure his faculties and by measuring should learn to know himself.

Leibnitz says: Man has strength enough in him to control his arbitrary will but we do not always understand how to use it. We can master ourselves, not as God masters the world, but rather like a wise ruler governing his state, or like a good father ruling his family.

Froebel adds: On this power of selfcontrol over our will depends our submission to the will of God.

A. H. HEINEMANN.