In beautiful, sunny France, several hundred years ago, there lived a wonderful girl, named Joan of Arc, who so loved her home and country that she did great deeds for it. All her countrymen were very unhappy, for their fatherland was not at peace. The king and his family did not love one another and made troubles for their people and for each other. A nation always loves and honors its king, and when several try by quarreling to make themselves the rulers, the good people all over the land do not know what to do, and whom they should serve, so the whole nation is

sorrowful.

This lovely fatherland of Joan of Arc had become all divided because they had more than one leader; and worst of all, a strange king, Henry of England, knowing that they were not strong, because they did not hold together, made up his mind to go into France and take things into his own hands. He brought his great army with him, and they pitched their tents on the beautiful pastures, and they marched over the hills and through the streams and called it all their own. King Henry said that the good which came from these farms and all the work of this people was for him,

and besides, he knew that they were quarreling and he thought he might as well take it. It had belonged to his forefathers and his family just a few hundred years before, so he felt he had a right to claim it again.

one.

And the poor people of France could not protect themselves because their own princes were quarreling and would not join together and hold their kingdom as And every one in the land was very unhappy over it. The farmers did not plant-for what was the use when the great armies would only come and trample everything underfoot, and then there was no bread for the children to eat.

Oh, those were sorry days in France, but it was very long ago.

The whole nation waited for peace and plenty to come again, but first the English must be made to go back home, the quarrel of the princes must be righted and the true king must be put upon the throne. And who was there strong enough, with courage enough and wisdom enough and good enough to do these three great things?

It must be some one who loved their country very much indeed.

Strange to say, the only one who

came and helped the beautiful fatherland was this young girl, Joan of Arc, or the "Maid of Orleans," as the world calls her. And how she did it, no one has ever been able to understand, and when she did it, everybody, far and wide, wondered at her bravery. And everyone is wondering yet.

She was born in the little home of her father, who was a shepherd and a poor man. As a child she went with the other children into the fields to keep the sheep. She loved games and was very fleet of foot, strong, merry and full of life. She loved to carry the little lambs about, and while she was with them in the meadows, she often heard voices calling her. She would sit and look up into the blue of the sky and listen to the fluttering leaves and the stories that the wind told through the branches. And when the bells suddenly broke out from the steeples in the distance, she would stand and hold her breath for the music was so beautiful to her.

It is said that she tamed wild birds to come at her call, to eat crumbs from her hands and be her friends.

She listened often to her father speak of the country's troubles and it made her sorrow, even as a child. But her mother's faith that it would all come right again filled her with hope. An old, old story in the village foretold that a girl should be the saviour of France, and Joan had heard it many times and wondered who it should be.

One summer noon, as she was sitting in the garden, a great light suddenly broke upon her and she heard a voice speaking out of it, "Joan, Joan, be a good child, for the King of Heaven has chosen you to save France.

She was then thirteen years of age and she never forgot it. She kept her

secret and prayed over it many times, and asked God to tell her when and how she should do it, and to send her at once, for she was ready.

And as the troubles in France grew worse, her heart longed to go and do duty for her country, and finally she determined to do so, no matter how hard it was.

She found her way to the governor and told him what she was thinking, and oh! how he laughed at her! He sent her away without believing in her and it was long before anyone would listen, for they called her words the dreams of a child and foolishness. But she did not give up.

During the siege of the city of Orleans every one who passed through the village where she lived, told bad news and shook their head. It made Joan very unhappy and the voices still urged her on, and she told every one that she had been chosen of God to do this thing, and thus she waited for the time to come for her to go and save France. Her kinfolks became very much excited over it, but finally consented to let her go to the young king.

Before she started she said good-bye to all the trees and lambs and meadows and her home and her loved ones, for they had all been very dear to her.

As she traveled the long distance to the king the people all along the way heard of her and watched her; even the English soldiers began to fear because they believed she was sent of God; and the good king made ready and received her, and trusted her and gave her an army for he believed she was sent of God. And he gave her a helmet and armor to wear, and she looked like a beautiful young soldier, for you see she was strong and tall. All the army obeyed

her and followed her, and she always remembered to pray for strength and to be guided in all her deeds. When she knew what was right for her to do, nothing and no one could change her.

And so she won a victory over the enemies of her fatherland-helped all people of the nation to love and fight for their true king—and she herself put his

crown on his head once more and made him king indeed.

And some day we will learn more of this brave young Joan of Arc, for many books have been written of her, and many songs are sung of her deeds and courage.

Thus the poor shepherd's daughter saved her fatherland because she loved it and obeyed God. A. H.

Froebel said, "If you want to understand clearly the working of nature you must observe the common wild plants, many of which are designated as weeds : it is seen more clearly in these than in the complexity of cultivated plants."

This thought was given in illustration of his theory that the race and the stamp of the race in each indvidual should be studied.

Many of the children who come to our Kindergarten are not little wild plants. They present as much difficulty in our study of the workings of nature and the stamp of the race as Froebel's cultivated plants. But when our classes consist of three kinds-wild, cultivated, and hothouse plants-our perplexities widen.

A Kindergarten morning talk, to meet all needs alike, must have in it a marked individuality, suited to this particular class at this particular hour. Relation to all that has gone before and relation to all the talks that are to come must be studied.

A morning talk, no matter how beautiful, can not be forced upon a class, disregarding a unity of relation to former lessons or the individuality of each child present.

One Kindergartner can not borrow a morning talk from another and successfully present it, unless she has in some way made this lesson her own and adapted it to the special needs of her class.

From among the many beautiful

things offered us in this KindergarTEN MAGAZINE Miss B. and I decided to choose a typical lesson that was to continue for months, and use it in our Kindergarten morning talks. As we could not in any way improve on anything so beautiful (we thought it ideal) we decided to take it word for word from the magazine and use it as long as it lasted. lasted. Anything so systematically developed as these typical lessons could not fail utterly even if misused. But our talks were not successful for several reasons. Instead of adapting the lesson to our own needs we had borrowed it. We were not "growing from within outward," but we had wrapped ourselves about with thoughts that were not our

own.

In following out these thoughts in our Gift work there was the same lack of enthusiasm in us that we see in our children, when their work is done for them while they sit with folded hands. Our