Polly Olivers Problem | Page 3

west of the Rocky
Mountains. She was soon joined in this work by her sister; and the
enthusiasm and good judgment shown by the two inspired others, and
made the famous "Silver Street Kindergarten" not only a great object
lesson on the Pacific Coast, but an inspiration to similar efforts in Japan,
Australia, New Zealand, British Columbia, and the Hawaiian Islands.
This school was, and is at the present time, located in a densely
inhabited and poverty-ridden quarter of the city. It was largely among
the very poor that Mrs. Wiggin's full time and wealth of energy were
devoted, for kindergartening was never a fad with her as some may

have imagined; always philanthropic in her tendencies, she was, and is,
genuinely and enthusiastically in earnest in this work. It is interesting to
know that on the wall of one apartment at the Silver Street
Kindergarten hangs a life-like portrait of its founder, underneath which
you may read these words:--
KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN.
In this room was born the first free Kindergarten west of the Rocky
Mountains. Let me have the happiness of looking down upon many
successive groups of children sitting in these same seats.
We are told that the children love that room the best; it is pictured as a
bright, cheery spot, where the children used to gather with "Miss Kate"
in the bygone days. By the window there is a bird-cage; the tiny
occupant bearing the historical name of "Patsy." Connected with this
kindergarten is a training-school, organized by Mrs. Wiggin in 1880,
and conducted by Miss Nora Smith for several years afterward. The
two sisters in collaboration have added much valuable matter to
kindergarten literature, notably the three volumes entitled The Republic
of Childhood, Children's Sights, and The Story Hour.
On her marriage, Mrs. Wiggin gave up teaching, but continued to give
two talks a week to the Training Class. She was also a constant visitor
in the many kindergartens which had sprung up under the impulse of
herself and her associates. She played with the children, sang to them,
told them stories, and thus was all the while not only gathering material
unconsciously, but practicing the art which she was to make her calling.
The dozen years thus spent were her years of training, and, during this
time she wrote and printed The Story of Patsy, merely to raise money
for the kindergarten work. Three thousand copies were sold without the
aid of a publisher, and the success was repeated when, not long after,
The Birds' Christmas Carol appeared.
In 1888 Mrs. Wiggin removed to New York, and her friends urged her
to come before the public with a regular issue of the last-named story.
Houghton, Mifflin and Company at once brought out an edition, and
the popularity which the book enjoyed in its first limited circle was

now repeated on a very large scale. The reissue of The Story of Patsy
followed at the hands of the same publishers, and they have continued
to bring out the successive volumes of her writing.
It is not necessary to give a formal list of these books. Perhaps The
Birds' Christmas Carol, which is so full of that sweet, tender pathos
and wholesome humor which on one page moves us to tears, and the
next sets us shaking with laughter, has been more widely enjoyed and
read than her other stories, at least in America. It has been translated
into Japanese, French, German, and Swedish, and has been put in raised
type for the use of the blind. Patsy is a composite sketch taken from
kindergarten life. For Timothy's Quest, one of the brightest and most
cleverly written of character sketches, the author feels an especially
tender sentiment. The story of how the book took form is old, but will
bear repeating; it originated from the casual remark of a little child who
said, regarding a certain house, "I think they need some babies there."
Mrs. Wiggin at once jotted down in her note-book "needing babies,"
and from this nucleus the charming story of "Timothy" was woven into
its present form. It is said that Rudyard Kipling considers Polly Oliver
one of the most delightful of all girl-heroines; and Mrs. Wiggin really
hopes some day to see the "Hospital Story Hour" carried out in real life.
She owns a most interesting collection of her books in several
languages. The illustrations of these are very unique, as most of them
are made to correspond with the life of the country in which they are
published. Timothy's Quest is a favorite in Denmark with its Danish
text and illustrations. It has also found its way into Swedish, and has
appeared in the Tauchnitz edition, as has also A Cathedral Courtship.
Her latest book, The Village Watch Tower, is composed of