Maria Montessori
A
MONTESSORI
MOTHER
BY
DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER
Author of “The Squirrel-Cage”
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1913
Copyright, 1912,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
Published October, 1912
THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
RAHWAY, N. J.
DEDICATED
BY PERMISSION
TO
MARIA MONTESSORI
PREFACE
On my return recently from a somewhat prolongedstay in Rome, I observed that my family and circleof friends were in a very different state of mind fromthat usually found by the home-coming traveler. Iwas not depressed by the usual conscientious effortto appear interested in what I had seen; not once didI encounter the wavering eye and flagging attentionwhich are such invariable accompaniments to anecdotesof European travel, nor the usual elated reboundinto topics of local interest after a tribute tothe miles I had traveled, in some such generalizingphrase of finality as, “Well, I suppose you enjoyedEurope as much as ever.”
If I had ever suffered from the enforced repressionwithin my own soul of my various European experiencesI was more than indemnified by the receptionwhich awaited this last return to my native land.For I found myself set upon and required to givean account of what I had seen, not only by myfamily and friends, but by callers, by acquaintancesin the streets, by friends of acquaintances, by lettersfrom people I knew, and many from those whosenames were unfamiliar.
The questions they all asked were of a strikingsimilarity, and I grew weary in repeating the same[vi]answers, answers which, from the nature of the subject,could be neither categorical nor brief. Howmany evenings have I talked from the appearance ofthe coffee-cups till a very late bedtime, in answer tothe demand, “Now, you’ve been to Rome; you’ve seenthe Montessori schools. You saw a great deal of Dr.Montessori herself and were in close personal relationswith her. Tell us all about it. Is it really sowonderful? Or is it just a fad? Is it true that thechildren are allowed do exactly as they please?I should think it would spoil them beyond endurance.Do they really learn to read and write so young?And isn’t it very bad for them to stimulate them sounnaturally? And....” this was a never-failingcry, “what is there in it for our children, situatedas we are?”
Staggered by the amount of explanation necessaryto give the shortest answers that would be intelligibleto these searching, but, on the whole, quite misdirectedquestions, I tried to put off my interrogatorswith the excellent magazine articles which have appearedon the subject, and with the