=The Kindergarten in the United States.=--The development and influence of the kindergarten have been more marked in the United States than in any other country. First attempts at a kindergarten in America were made shortly after the middle of the nineteenth century by educated Germans, who had emigrated to America because of the unsettled conditions at home. A more fruitful attempt was that of Elizabeth P. Peabody at Boston in the early sixties. Notwithstanding the immediate success of this institution and the evident enjoyment of the children, Miss Peabody felt that she had not succeeded in getting the real spirit of Froebel, and in 1867 she went to study with his widow, who had been settled in Hamburg for several years. Upon her return the following year Miss Peabody corrected the errors in her work and established a periodical to explain and spread Froebelianism. The remainder of her life was spent in interesting parents, philanthropists, and school boards in the movement, and a service was done for the kindergarten in America almost equal to that of Baroness von Bülow in Europe. In 1868 through Miss Peabody the first training school for kindergartners in the United States was established at Boston. A similar institution was opened in New York by 1872 in charge of Maria Bölte, who had also studied with Frau Froebel. The same year saw the beginning of Susan E. Blow’s work in St. Louis, where her free training school for kindergartners was opened. Another missionary effort began in 1876 through Emma Marwedel, who was employed to organize voluntary kindergartens and training classes throughout the chief centers of California. The kindergarten movement grew rapidly. Between 1870 and 1890 in all the leading cities of the country subscriptions for kindergartens were raised by various philanthropic agencies, and by the close of the century there were about five hundred such voluntary associations. [Sidenote: Part of the public school system in all progressive cities.]