From all the Jails the Boys and Girls 1
Ecstatically leap－
Beloved only Afternoon
That Prison doesn't keep
They storm the Earth and stun the Air, 5
A Mob of solid Bliss－
Alas－that Frowns should lie in wait
For such a Foe as this－
Ecstatically leap－
Beloved only Afternoon
That Prison doesn't keep
They storm the Earth and stun the Air, 5
A Mob of solid Bliss－
Alas－that Frowns should lie in wait
For such a Foe as this－
(F.1553/J.1532)
[1] Jails the Boys and Girls:: kindergarten, prison for children.
[3, 4] Afternoon, doesn't keep:: children are free in the afternoon in kindergarten.
[5-8] storm, Mob, Bliss, Foe:: a description of children around five.
[7] Frowns:: those who disapprove; dusk, solemn people.
[7] lie in wait:: to do nothing.
[8] Foe:: an antagonist.
It was in 1859 that Miss Peabody began her first kindergarten school in Boston. ─ The Obituary Record. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, The New York Times (1894)
The hours of a Kindergarten are graduated to suit the capacity of the small children who attend, never exceeding three and a half hours. In this school the time is nominally from ten in the morning to half past one in the afternoon, ─ The American Educational Monthly (1864)
The life of a child in a Kindergarten is certainly very pleasant. Of the thirty-six little pupils now belonging to Miss Peabody's school, thirty were present on the day of my visit. The youngest was three and a half years old, and the oldest seven. The average age was probably five years. ─ The Massachusetts Teacher (1863)