Out of such experimental study Dr. Montessori has evolved an environment adapted to the special needs of young children, and a wide range of "didactic material," so called because its use is so evident, the control it offers so strong, that it tends to replace the teacher at the earliest stage of education and to make it possible for the child to accomplish his first work independently of a mature mind. Out of such experiments she confidently expects others to bring fresh facts, and to build up the content of scientific pedagogy through a method of research, limited by no personality, allied solely to human beings who develop in liberty.

That pedagogical work of such a character was destined to meet with great interest in the United States is clear to anyone familiar with educational progress in this country. The biological concept of liberty, as the right of the individual to develop freely, had for many years been manifesting itself in various departments of social reform. In the public school system this tendency found expression in dental clinics, in special classes for exceptional children, and medical inspection of schools, all intended to lessen or remove infirmities of mind or body, which prevent the free development of the individual.

The history of the Montessori movement in America begins, properly speaking, with the publication, in McClure's Magazine, May, 1911, of an article by Josephine Tozier, entitled, "An Educational Wonder-Worker, the Methods of Maria Montessori." My own attention had been called to the work two years earlier by an account of the Case dei Bambini in Rome and Milan, contained in a letter from a friend living abroad. This account filled me with an intense desire to learn more of the methods employed, and as at that time there was no literature on the subject in the United States, I could only gratify this desire by going to Italy. In Rome I met the Dottoressa and with her visited the San Lorenzo model tenement schools, then still under her direction. Profoundly impressed from this personal observation, I determined to study the work as thoroughly as possible, and as the language was a serious barrier between me and the Dottoressa, from whom alone this new experiment could be learned, I returned to America to prepare myself to become her pupil. With this purpose in view, I brought with me a copy of the book Il Metodo della Pedagogia Scientifica, applicato all' Educazione infantile nelle Case dei Bambini and a complete set of the Materiale Didattico, at that time made almost entirely by hand in the Casa di Lavoro of Milan, an institution for the unemployed directed by the great socialistic reformer Alessandrina Ravizza.

At the time there were many other individuals in the United States interested in making a study of Dr. Montessori's book or planning to visit the schools in Italy, and in the pedagogical departments of the

various colleges and universities much of the same sort of isolated study was taking place.

In the summer of 1910 I resigned my position in Chicago and went to Rome in order to follow the course then given by Dr. Montessori to Italian teachers. At one of these lectures during the winter I met Miss Josephine Tozier, an American writer living abroad, and learned of the article which had been accepted by McClure's Magazine, and which she hoped would call forth great interest in America.

In the spring of 1911 Prof. Henry W. Holmes, of Harvard University, wrote to the Dottoressa, commenting upon his interest in her book and expressing a desire to see it translated into English and thus rendered accessible to the pedagogical world in England and America. American educators began also to visit the schools in Rome, an evidence of growing interest in the United States. It was not, however, until after the publication of the article in McClure's that Dr. Montessori was able to realize that the interest already shown by individuals was indicative of general readiness in this country for the ideas upon which her work was based.

The history of the Montessori movement in the United States has been so widely affected by the circumstance that it was first presented to the public through the medium of a popular magazine that it seems necessary to make some comment upon this fact. A popular article can give only a superficial presentation of any scientific achievement and is almost certain to overemphasize nonessentials, or even weaknesses, and thus for serious students and fellow scientists such a presentation often amounts to a condemnation of the achievement itself. For this reason the peculiar publicity given to the movement, with the consequent rapid manufacture and sale of its material, has been unfortunate in that it has obscured its essential principles. On the contrary, it must be considered that mothers and fathers everywhere, the teachers of all the children, are the educators whose experiments, whose pedagogical activities are going on constantly; theirs is the action which takes direct and persistent effect upon the children of the country; they are, therefore, the persons most in need of inspiration and of information. After more than four years of daily contact with this twofold situation, I am convinced that while scientific recognition and investigation of Dr. Montessori's work have been retarded by the unusual form of its presentation to the world at large, the actual progress of that world toward a recognition of the need of serious study and observation of man in the period of development has been given tremendous impetus.

The immediate response with which the magazine article met was amazing. Letters began to pour into the McClure office from every part of the country. It has so happened that from the beginning the greater number of these letters have passed through my hands,

and it seems to me pertinent to note that the point most stressed by a majority of the writers has been the opportunity offered for individual freedom in following the law of development.

In October, 1911, at the suggestion of Mr. F. A. Vanderlip, who had become interested in the work, I opened an experimental class in this country at the home of Mrs. Edward Harden at Tarrytown, N. Y. While this experiment with a group of children ranging in age from 24 years to 9 years may be said to have brought favorable results, it has always seemed to me that a detailed account of it would be distinctly valuable as showing clearly the typical errors into which the Montessori directress will almost invariably fall, as well as the practical disadvantages of the system of experimentation when applied to already existing standards and conditions. This first experience has gone far toward bringing me to the conclusions expressed at the close of this review.

At this time Mr. S. S. McClure, acting for Dr. Montessori, arranged for the manufacture and sale of the materials in America, the company taking the name of the "House of Childhood." The materials represent a series of stimuli carefully selected and modified by Dr. Montessori during her quiet years of observation and experimentation in the Case dei Bambini, which formed for her a laboratory of psychological research. To make such materials available to persons interested in the method, but not initiated into the attitude of the scientist who undertakes an experiment, and with open mind awaits a reaction, was in some sense a mistake, as it made the method responsible for many failures, travesties, and illogical compromises; and yet from this wide opportunity for testing both theory and practice a decided forward impulse has been given in home and school toward individual freedom in the use of environment and material. Instances where complete application of Montessori theory and practice have been made are comparatively few, but it is scarcely possible to find a school, public or private, into which a valuable spirit of investigation and change has not entered with the Montessori book or the Montessori materials. The same may be said for the use of Montessori materials in the home. Certainly one should hesitate to recommend to untrained mothers or nurses that they introduce the Montessori materials into an environment usually planned without any serious attention to the needs of young children. Nevertheless, the enormous correspondence of the last four years gives évidence in hundreds of thoughtful, intelligent letters from mothers on scattered ranches or farms, in small towns and in large cities, sufficiently strong to make the matter of the restricted use of the materials an open question.

In the spring of 1912 the English translation of the Pedagogia Scientifica, with an introduction by Prof. Henry W. Holmes, of

Harvard University, was issued under the title of "The Montessori Method," by the F. A. Stokes Co., New York. The book found a ready sale, and this English version enabled many people in the United States to go more deeply into the matter and to formulate more clearly their impressions of the method. These impressions appeared in every form, from newspaper paragraphs and editorials to carefully thought-out books, and represent one of the most fortunate and valuable phases of the movement. This generation has never before witnessed such an open, widespread discussion of questions bearing upon the education of young children. The point so strongly emphasized by Dr. Montessori that all places where man lives free, under the best living conditions, may become laboratories of experimental psychology, brought parents as well as educators into the field of discussion, another step toward that understanding between home and school which all progressive educators hope for. There has been much unfavorable comment, and a few have gone so far as to see in the methods a menace to educational progress. It is interesting to note that, as a rule, the disapproval is directed against the material which has evolved from Dr. Montessori's experiment, against the activities for which the children manifest a preference. In almost every case the adverse critics approve the basic principles laid down by Dr. Montessori, in many cases declaring these to be identical with those upon which their own work is based.

This universal expression of interest, so undeniably stimulating and helpful to educational progress in the United States, constituted in Italy an unexpected tidal wave which threatened to overwhelm Dr. Montessori and her Case dei Bambini. Visitors poured in from every quarter, often far outnumbering the children in a school, and demands for training became more insistent every day.

In an effort to organize this interest and to assist Dr. Montessori in adjusting herself to a situation she had not anticipated, the Montessori American Committee was formed in the spring of 1912. Through this committee Dr. Montessori arranged her first international course at Rome. More than 100 students from various countries enrolled for these lectures, and of this number nearly 70 were Americans.

In October, 1912, at the request of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell, I took charge of a class of 20 children in their home at Washington. The parents of the children enrolled in this school became convinced of the value of the method for educational purposes, and determined to put forth every effort to extend the same benefit to other children. To this end they formed, in May, 1913, a national association, with headquarters in Washington. Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell was chosen president.

As stated in the articles of incorporation, the Montessori Educational Association was formed

to promote and develop in America the educational movement based on the principles and theories of Dr. Montessori, and to assist in the establishment and maintenance of schools for children and schools of observation and practice conducted according to said principles.

This constructive movement was met with cordial interest by people from all parts of the country, and the association membership now approximates 700.

Two free demonstration schools have been established and are still maintained by the association. The first of these demonstration. schools, established in the Friendship House settlement in Washington, has proved an interesting example of how much beyond mere housing and feeding can be done for the children, under proper conditions, in day nurseries, orphanages, etc. The opinion of those who have closely followed the development of the children in the Friendship House school is that without radical change in diet, but with freedom to follow the law of normal development, mental, moral, and physical, they have made marked physical gains as they have also grown more gentle, joyous, and active. The directress of this school during its first year was Miss Elizabeth Fraser, one of the American students in Dr. Montessori's first international course. The second of the association's free demonstration schools was opened in September, 1914, by the New York chapter of the association. This school, which is in the New Open Stair Tenement at the foot of Seventyseventh Street, realizes in many ways Dr. Montessori's original conception of the "Childrens' House" as given in the “Inaugural Address" which forms a chapter of her book. "We have put the school within the house * * * leaving under the eyes of the parents the whole life of the teacher in the accomplishment of her high mission." Miss Fraser, who left the Washington school to take charge of this larger work, lives in the tenement, her place in Washington having been taken by Miss Jane Kenney, another of Dr. Montessori's students. In addition to the establishment of demonstration schools, the association has acted as a clearing house for Montessori information, putting persons in touch with Dr. Montessori, with schools and teachers, with helpful literature, besides answering hundreds of questions bearing upon the problem of teachers and parents. The work of this central bureau of information, as well as the publication of a bulletin, "Freedom for the Child," was organized by Miss Zoe Russell Bateman, another member of Dr. Montessori's first international course.

In November, 1913, Dr. Montessori, who had been constantly urged by her students and friends in America to come to this country,

1 For a full description of this type of school, sce The Montessori Method, ch. 3, pp. 60-66, Maria Montessori F. A. Stokes Co., 1912.