No thorough study of Chinese child life can be made until the wall ofChinese exclusiveness is broken down and the homes of the East arethrown open to the people of the West. Glimpses of that life however,are available, sufficient in number and character to give a fairly goodidea of what it must be. The playground is by no means always hidden,least of all when it is the street. The Chinese nurse brings herChinese rhymes, stories and games into the foreigner's home for theamusement of its little ones.
Chinese kindergarten methods and appliances have no superior in theiringenuity and their ability to interest, as well as instruct. In thematter of travelling shows and jugglers also, no country is bettersupplied, and these are chiefly for the entertainment of the littleones.
To the careful observer of these different phases it becomes apparentthat the Chinese child is well supplied with methods of exercise andamusement, also that he has much in common with the children of otherlands. A large collection of toys shows many duplicates of those commonin the West, and from the nursery rhymes of at least two out of theeighteen provinces it appears that the Chinese nursery is rich inMother Goose. As a companion to the "Chinese Mother Goose," this bookseeks to show that the same sunlight fills the homes of both East andWest. If it also leads their far-away mates to look upon the ChineseBoy and Girl as real little folk, human like themselves, and thus thinkmore kindly of them, its mission will have been accomplished.
It is a mistake to suppose that any one nation or people has exclusiveright to Mother Goose. She is an omnipresent old lady. She is Asiaticas well as European or American. Wherever there are mothers,grandmothers, and nurses there are Mother Gooses,—or; shall we say,Mother Geese—for I am at a loss as to how to pluralize this old dame.She is in India, whence I have rhymes from her, of which the followingis a sample:
Heh, my baby! Ho, my baby!
See the wild, ripe plum,
And if you'd like to eat a few,
I'll buy my baby some.
She is in Japan. She has taught the children there to put their fingerstogether as we do for "This is the church, this is the steeple," whenshe says:
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