“Green gravel, Green gravel, the grass is so green,
The fairest young lady that ever was seen.
We’ll dress her in silk and bathe her in milk,
And write down her name with a gold pen and ink.”
And its only connection, or excuse, at the heading of these notes lies in the few last words in the very last line, for, metaphorically, I am writing with a “gold pen and ink,” in order that this small portion of “The Electrode” may be bright – if only in that way.
For what is a humble amateur to do when the Editor send a little note like this?
“Help to make this year’s Christmas number the best yet by submitting something bright and breezy for it.”
So I contribute the brightness in gold ink, and the “breeziness” I am endeavouring to keep unnoticed.
The request has so near a kinship to that of the kindly photographer when one sits nervously on the edge of the photographer’s artistic chair, and he cheerfully asks one to “Now, please, look pleasant.”
However, there are one or two items in the kindergarten realm which are little points of brightness in the small page of kindergarten history which contains the chapter headed Lutana, and dated October, 1927. One is that there are now 55 children on the register, and promise of more.
Item two. That the fair help at Moonah this year was successful to the tune of about 50 pound, which is a help at least towards our annual effort of 100 pound. Nothing has been done in the way of entertainments this year, such as euchre and dance parties, which were held last year, but there is still another six months left in which to try and raise 50 pound more.
The third item was a very nice musical evening held in the Glen tea-rooms in honour of the students who have passed their examinations, and are now qualified to act as directors, or teachers, of kindergarten. The diplomas were presented by Lady Jones, who is one of the foundation members of the Kindergarten Association. The programme was arranged by Mr. Jas. Marsh. A little play was given by Mr. E. E. Unwin and Miss M. Rowlands. They spoke of the uplift that a well-trained little child can give to a whole family, of the need to train up a child in the way he should go while he is yet small, of the need to make him a good little citizen, and to give him an opportunity for some social life, so that he never be like the little boy the the poem by Patricia Ardley, who said:-
I wish I had a bruvver;
It’s dreffly lonely where we live -
There’s nobody but muvver
To laugh, an’ talk an’ play wiv me.
It isn’t quite the same;
A fellow needs anuvver man
To play a mannish game.
Sometimes I march wiv cap an’ drum,
An’ tend I am a band,
An’ muvver claps her hand an’says,
‘O John, that’s really grand!’
She’s just the dearest muvver,
But it’s not the same;
A fellow needs anuvver man
To play a mannish game.”
For kindergarten provides quite a lot of men (in the making) to play a mannish game.
Another bright item is the very welcome donation of 10 pound from the Co-operative Council. The committee wish to that the Council very much for their generosity.
And there is just one more item, and this also is really a bright one (to the children certainly) – the Christmas tree. December 14th has been selected as a suitable day for Father Christmas to arrive, and the committee are looking for a suitable tree. If anyone can procure one, we should be glad – and does Mr. Bryant know what a very nice Father Christmas came to Lutana last year?
Once acted, twice proficient, Mr. Bryant. Parents are friends are invited on the afternoon of December 14th to meet Father Christmas (Wednesday at 3 p.m.), and will the ladies please bring a basket?
And now, as Mr. Pepys says, “to bed,” for
“When the shades of night are falling, and the sun goes down,
O! the Dustman comes a-creeping in from Shut-eye Town,
And he throws dust in the eyes of all the babies that he meets,
No matter where he finds them, in the house or in the streets.
Then the babies’ eyes grow heavy and the lids drop down,
When the Dustman comes a-creeping in from Shut-eye Town.
When mother lights the lamp and draws the curtains down,
O! the Dustman comes a-creeping in from Shut-eye Town;
And the babies think the Dustman is as mean as he can be,
For he shuts their eyes at nightfall, just when they want to see.
But their little limbs are weary, for all they fret and frown,
When the Dustman comes a-creeping in from Shut-eye Town.”
Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and happy new year from the Lutana Free Kindergarten.