Patient waiting for the earth to bloom develops a littlechild spiritually.

[i]

MONTESSORI CHILDREN

BY
CAROLYN SHERWIN BAILEY

ILLUSTRATED FROM SPECIALLY POSED PHOTOGRAPHS

NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1915

[ii]

Copyright, 1913, 1914,
BY
THE BUTTERICK CO.

Copyright, 1915,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

Published February, 1915

THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
RAHWAY, N. J.

[iii]

PREFACE

As a student of child psychology and alwaysmost deeply interested in the welfare problemsthat confront us in connection with the upbringingof little children, I went to Rome in 1913 tostudy, first-hand, the results of the Montessorisystem of education. A great deal had beenwritten and said in connection with the technicof the system. Little had been given the world inregard to individual children who were developingtheir personalities through the auto-education ofMontessori. I wished to observe Montessori children.

Through the gracious courtesy of Dr. Montessori,I was given the privilege of observing inthe new Trionfale School where the method couldbe watched from its inception, and in the FuaFamagosta and Franciscan Convent Schools. Iwas also given the privilege of hearing Dr. Montessorilecture, elucidating certain problems in hertheory of education not previously given publicity.

I found little ones of three, four, and five years,[iv]surrounded by the many observers of the first internationalMontessori training class, yet so marvelouslypoised and self-controlled that they wentthrough the days as if alone. I saw such proofsof the integrity of the system as the instances ofOtello, Bruno, and others.

The pages which follow constitute a series ofpictures of real child types showing Montessoriresults. As a record of results, I hope they maycontribute to the world’s greater faith in the discoveryof Montessori—the spirit of the child.

Carolyn Sherwin Bailey.

New York, 1915.

[v]

CONTENTS