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FINE
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

SARGENT

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

WALTER SARGENT

PROFESSOR OF AESTHETIC AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION
THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

GINN AND COMPANY

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON

212.6

gtbenaenm

GINN AM) COMPANY • PRO-
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A.

PREFACE

During the past few years the amount of new subject
matter relating to the fine and industrial arts in elementary
schools has rapidly increased. The organization of this
material into a form involving definite progression and
reasonable standards of attainment at various stages has
not wholly kept pace with its introduction.

The considerations here presented regarding a scheme for
such organization have taken shape in the course of numerous
conferences with those interested in the subject, and as a result
of investigations which were suggested by these discussions.

I wish to make acknowledgment of my immediate indebt-
edness in this endeavor to Professor Charles Hubbard Judd
of The University of Chicago, who urged the importance
of some attempt to present a survey of the subject.

I am under obligation also to Professor Frank M. Leavitt
of The University of Chicago, Mr. James Hall, formerly of
the Ethical Culture School of New York City, Mr. Charles
F. Whitney of the Normal School of Salem, Massachusetts,
Mr. Fred H. Daniels of Newton, Massachusetts, and Mr. John
C. Brodhead of Boston, for valuable suggestions ; and to
Miss Helen E. Cleaves, Miss Lucy D. Taylor, and Miss
Amy Rachel Whittier for their help in carrying on obser-
vations for two years in the public schools of Boston.

I also take this occasion to recognize a debt of long
standing to Mr. Henry Turner Bailey, editor of the School
Arts Book, who first directed my attention to the educa-
tional importance of the arts.

W. S.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

iii

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES OK THE FINE

AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS 1

II. A SURVEY OF THE PROGRESSION OF WORK THROUGH

THE GRADES 17

III. GRADE I 32

IV. GRADES II AND III 47

V. GRADES IV AND V 62

VI. GRADE VI 79

VII. GRADES VII AND VIII 98

INDEX. . 131

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER I

EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES OF THE
FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Since 1870 drawing, constructive work, and design as
common-school studies have been subjects of general discus-
sion. The Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876
exerted a strong influence in favor of public education in
the industrial and fine arts. The educational exhibitions
were a revelation to the American people of the possibil-
ities along these lines, and of their own shortcomings.
Since then drawing, constructive work, and design have
received steadily increasing recognition in elementary edu-
cation so far as provision for instruction and equipment
has been concerned.

Until recently, however, these subjects have been left
largely in the hands of specialists. Boards of education,
superintendents, and principals have often hesitated to
make suggestions because they felt that they had not re-
ceived the sort of training which would fit them to judge
methods and results in these subjects. This feeling has
been reenforced by the influence of the tradition that even

2 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

ordinary ability in the arts comes more as the result of
intuitive appreciation than of well-directed effort.

The present wide acceptance of the manual arts as an
important part of general education is rapidly removing
them from the class of special subjects, and both educators
and the general public are now taking an active interest in
them. The educator recognizes that the manual arts con-
stitute a unique type of analysis of the objective world.
Each science deals with material from a particular stand-
point, and each different kind of analysis adds greater sig-
nificance and wider range to experience. The contribution
which the manual arts make toward a more comprehensive
basis for mental activity is to a great degree inaccessible
by other methods of approach. He finds in the manual arts
a line of activity the results of which are concrete and fur-
nish a visible record of good or poor work, which the child
interprets into rational terms of cause and effect more easily
than is possible in the case of subjects which deal mainly
with language. He sees in them an opportunity for obtain-
ing experience with concrete material and with some of the
processes by which it is shaped to human needs. He uses
the arts as a method of developing and mastering certain
ideas by working them out in visible products, so that
materials become a means of expressing and of stimulating
thought. He finds also that these arts sometimes furnish
a point of contact with the interests of many children who
apparently are not reached by more formal studies, and that
these interests when once awakened are likely to extend to
other lines of school work.

The general public more frequently expresses its convic-
tions in terms of the advantages resulting in later life from
the training in manual arts which was received in school,

EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES 3

or the disadvantages experienced from the lack of such
training. The attainments commonly described as most
useful and desirable by these people who view the subject
from the standpoint of industrial and professional occupa-
tions may be generalized as follows :

Ability to sketch with pencil or brush so as to show how
an object appears or how it is constructed, or to illustrate
one's ideas or record one's observations.

Skill in the use of common tools and materials, and
ability to plan and work out problems involving ordinary
constructive processes — such knowledge and ability as
every householder needs.

An appreciation of what is in good taste aesthetically,
especially as regards the things which constitute one's
immediate environment, and sufficient knowledge of such
matters to justify one's taste.

Some acquaintance with excellent examples of art in
architecture, painting, sculpture, and the crafts, and a dis-
criminating capacity for enjoyment of beauty of form and
color in nature and art.

These advantages thus stated by people outside the
schools, in terms of definite attainment which results in in-
creased efficiency and enjoyment, do not conflict with the
idea of the educator. If accepted, these standards constitute
a basis for estimating the success of manual arts in school
courses. When children leave the high school their abilities in
this field may be measured about as definitely as in any other.

The purpose of this book is to present some considera-
tions on the following questions, which arise from the
present situation :

What are the distinctive functions of the various sub-
jects taught under the head of manual arts in elementary

4 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

education ? How shall instruction be organized so that
progress in attainment shall be evident from year to year ?
What are reasonable standards of attainment at any given
stage ?

The general statements that learning to draw is learning
to see, that drawing is a valuable language, that constructive
work produces accuracy and efficiency in dealing with raw
materials, that design develops taste and awakens appre-
ciation of beauty, are not now considered as final or as
sufficiently definite to justify the community in leaving the
matter wholly with the specialist. Further questions arise,
such as : How does the seeing which results from drawing
differ from that which exists where drawing is not taught ?
Are children who complete the elementary-school courses
able to use this language of drawing freely as a common,
convenient means of expression ? Does constructive work
as taught produce accuracy, efficiency, the pleasure of in-
telligent mastery of material, and an appreciation of things
in terms of the skill and effort required to produce them ?
Does it arouse industrial interests and a desire to be of
service in the world ? What definite signs of better taste
are evident in children who complete an elementary-school
course which includes design, when compared with children
who have had no training in that line ? Are there objects
of fine art which awaken more enjoyment, and phases of
beauty in nature which give more pleasure on account of
the instruction which has been given ? What steps have
led to this appreciation ? There is need of detailed testing
of methods and examination of results in terms of such
questions as these.

In elementary schools only rudiments of the arts can be
taught, such as the beginnings of free-hand drawing ; simple

EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES 5

forms of constructive work and problems in design, espe-
cially as related to common things ; and an awakening of
some response to beauty in nature and art. Work in these
lines, however, has proved to be of genuine value, even when
instruction ends in the elementary schools. It deals with fac-
tors which have a close, permanent relationship to the life
and work of people at large, and presents a type of training
which the child has a right to expect from the community.

The various phases of manual expression are not marked
off by sharply defined limits. It is impossible to construct
an object well without exercising some judgment in design,
or to design an object satisfactorily without some knowledge
of construction and some ability in representation. The
school activities continually call for simultaneous work along
all three of these lines. They differ sufficiently, however,
to allow of separate discussion. The following paragraphs
consider more in detail the values attributed by both edu-
cators and the general public to these three lines of study
in the public school.

Representation. Drawing is a language, a mode of repro-
ducing ideas, and as such is a means of forming and devel-
oping these ideas. A child who draws does not set forth
ideas already perfectly formed, but perfects them in part by
the very act of setting them forth. Drawing thus becomes
a tool with which to think.

Little children draw almost wholly from imagination,
and find in drawing a means of exercising their mental
imagery by putting it into some sort of visible form. This
process1 appears to stimulate mental activity, and at first
produces a degree of satisfaction, however crude the results
may be, because the child recognizes his ideas in the draw-
ings, although the marks may be unintelligible to others.

6 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Later comes a desire that drawing shall be more than a
motor outlet for imagination, and that the result shall repre-
sent the idea well enough not only to recall the thought to
the one who made it, but also to express that thought intel-
ligibly to others. Thus begins an appreciation of the impor-
tance of art as a means of social communication. This leads
to a more careful contemplation of objects for the sake of
obtaining data for more satisfactory representation, and a
corresponding increase in knowledge of form and in trust-
worthiness of the testimony of the senses is developed.

Children trained to express themselves by drawing learn
to analyze and to interpret their visual impressions. Draw-
ing from objects requires a selection of the characteristic
features. After the early period of satisfaction with crude
symbols has passed, and children reach the stage when they
desire to represent appearances truthfully, they must learn
to recognize, among the bewildering complexity of details
which nature presents, those which are significant — which,
if reproduced, will represent the object. Hand, eyes, and
mind are busy trying to interpret what is seen into terms
of lines or shapes. Drawing thus develops a specific kind of
analysis which is impossible when the terms employed are
the more general and less objective verbal descriptions.

Drawing partakes more of the nature of a convention
than is generally supposed. An oriental or an occidental
draws each in the way he regards as best, yet the results
differ remarkably. Each is expressing himself in his own
graphic dialect. For example, western art makes general use
of effects of illumination, shade, and shadow as prominent
pictorial features, while in oriental pictures such effects
are largely ignored. The objects depicted seldom cast
shades or shadows, and variations of light and dark are

EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES 7

usually due to actual differences in local color. In these
pictures, however, elements appear, the beauty and effec-
tiveness of which many western artists never appreciated
till they studied oriental art. The appreciation of another
people's method of drawing is akin to an appreciation of
another language, in the revelations it gives of different
ways of seeing and thinking.

Drawing, as it exists at present, is the result of an
evolution. Its vocabulary has been added to by each gen-
eration, and embodies the accumulated results of human
observations. One imagines that he is expressing himself
in terms suggested directly by the object, but this is only
partly true. Drawing an object means translating one's
perceptions into terms which have been evolved by the race,
and which demand careful selection. It means organizing
one's sensations so as to determine what produces the
impression, and the modes in which that impression can be
interpreted. To draw an object requires a mental activity
comparable to that which occurs when a thought is trans-
lated from one language into another.

In addition to these general educational values, elemen-
tary representation is of direct industrial, scientific, and
aesthetic importance.

To the man engaged in constructive work, drawing of-
fers a means of endless experimentation. Workers in metal
or wood, when discussing a mechanical or constructive
problem, often can present its different possibilities and
define the results almost as well by the use of the pencil
as by manipulating the actual material. Constructive
sketching is also a great stimulus to invention. The more
finished working drawings afford a means of recording all
necessary data regarding form and construction.

8 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

A manufacturer with unusually wide experience thus
refers to the value of ability to sketch and draw :

I wish to emphasize the importance of industrial drawing for
the mass of trade workers in those lines of manufacturing where
the artistic or aesthetic sense is not supposed to hold a prominent
place. For example, in the line of machine building the art of
drawing has a very important relation to our industrial future.
To this particular class of mechanics drawing has a broad field of
usefulness : first, because it is a valuable means of expression, since
the mechanic who is able to express himself by a rapidly made draw-
ing is inspired thereby to more and better thought ; second, because
it opens up for him especially a broad field for experimentation
and choice.

When by a sketch the manufacturer or mechanic can place before
himself and others many ways of doing a thing, he at once makes
comparisons, and immediately chooses what he deems the best, the
fittest, or the most beautiful. He hits the mark after such a com-
parison, because with his sketches he has tried many schemes and
compared them.

Experimentation, comparison, and choice mark the way of ad-
vancement. But life is too short to try many experiments, unless
the methods of trying them are very simple. To build things of
wood and stone and metal in order to test them and to prove
which one is best and fittest requires too much waste of time and
material. But the realm of experimentation that is possible with a
pencil is wonderful and fascinating; it is almost as unlimited as
thought itself.

I have asked myself from whence comes this fascination as we
find it in the shops; and I think it is because through the art of
drawing, by delineating and by designing, the mechanic himself
becomes the creator of things. He not only learns to see clearly
things emanating from others, but, behold, he finds he can express
his own ideas to himself and to others, and above all he recognizes
that they are his own evolution.

For mechanics of all grades and ranks the habit of sketching and
drawing becomes a great developing force. For a mechanic drawing
becomes the avenue out of himself into the universe. He is not only
learning about other people and other things, as we do in the study

EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES 9

of history and geography, but he is revealing himself to himself and
to others; and the things revealed are new — new to him and new
to the world. This to him is the inspiring quality of his work.1

In scientific studies, drawing focuses attention upon,
and quickens observation of, facts of forms and structure,
rendering the senses more accurate in their testimony
and furnishing a means of making definite records.

Representation is also the language of the fine arts of
painting and sculpture. The regular work in drawing in
elementary schools, involving, as it does, continued use of
lines, light and dark, and of color, is giving children constant
practice in expressing their ideas and observations by means
of the same vocabulary which the artist himself employs.
These attempts to use, even though crudely, the terms by
which art is expressed are necessary to that kind of artistic
appreciation which yields the fullest pleasure. The relation
of drawing to art resembles that of language to literature.

Instructors in drawing should regard the elementary
phases of the subject as a science and not as something
acquired by intuition. They must choose between a course
planned for the few in every school who have what is com-
monly called " talent," and a course planned for the major-
ity of the children and within easy reach of those of no
special ability. While any public-school system should take
account of special talent and encourage and conserve it,
yet in the elementary grades such work should be planned
as will justify itself on general grounds and be valuable
for all, whatever their future occupations are to be. The
work outlined should be ' such as can be taught in large

1 From an address by Mr. Milton P. Higgins, president of the Norton
Emery Wheel Co., Worcester, Massachusetts, printed in the sixty-eighth
Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, 1004.

10 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

part by the regular grade teacher and be well done by as
large a proportion of the children as can accomplish the
work given in other subjects.

In order to carry out such a plan it is necessary to teach
drawing in the most direct and simple way possible, testing
methods by the resulting increase in ability to draw on the
part of the majority of the children. A lack of such im-
provement in the many should be interpreted as a fault of
the method rather than of the children. Results have already
shown that the majority of children can learn to draw suf-
ficiently well for purposes of ordinary practical expression
with pencil or brush, and can be led to appreciate what is
in good taste, as readily and generally as they can progress
in other studies of the school curriculum. Special talent is
a factor to be reckoned with in elementary drawing on the
same basis as in elementary language or mathematics.

Construction. Constructive work provides an objective,
permanent type of expression which appears to command
the keen interest of all children. It brings experience in
shaping raw material till that material embodies the worker's
ideas in concrete form. The worker is thus brought into
experimental contact with the great range of constructive
activities which constitute a world never fully opened up
by words. His own experience is illuminated by a sort of
appreciation otherwise inaccessible. All this results in
building up a type of thinking and planning which should
accompany other forms of education and make its contribu-
tion before habits of thinking and planning have become
fixed along more abstract lines.

Constructive work gives practical familiarity with com-
mon tools, processes, and materials, and develops a compre-
hension of problems of ordinary construction which every

EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES 11

one should possess. It brings the invigoration of dealing
with the unvarying, impartial laws of matter, and of being
compelled to face the obvious fitness or unfitness of visible
results. It awakens pleasure in shaping material to a pre-
determined form by patience, foresight, and skill. It brings
a healthy realization of the gap which exists between an
idea and its finished embodiment in concrete form, and of
the persistence necessary when one deals with the slowly
yielding conditions of stubborn material. This realization
develops a seriousness in undertaking problems, because of
the knowledge gained by experience as to the amount of
time and effort involved in carrying them to completion,
but it is accompanied by the pleasure of a consciousness
of skill and of increasing mastery over raw material.

School authorities sometimes discuss the question as to
whether any time in the burdened school program can be
spared for occupations involving muscular activhy, and
presume to settle the matter by official action. The nature
of children has already settled that question in the affirma-
tive. Motor activity will be an important part of any school
program. Probably the only jurisdiction which the author-
ities actually exercise in the matter is in deciding whether
these activities shall hinder or help school work ; whether
they shall appear as mischief-making or as manual arts.

Constructive work is not only an essential element in
general education, valuable alike to the scholar and the
artisan ; it is also a factor in awakening vocational interests
and promoting vocational efficiency. The fact that a large
proportion of the school population, variously estimated
from one half to two thirds, drops out during or at the
end of the elementary-school course to go to work, should
be considered in its full significance by educators. These

12 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

children never enter a high school. They are too young to
go into skilled industries. A few rise through any circum-
stances, but the majority drift from one to another unskilled
occupation, taking whatever pays best. They spend two
important years in employments which present no industrial
interest and offer no vocational outlook. Such work is
usually monotonous drudgery, which develops an unfortu-
nate attitude of mind toward work and compels the child
to seek all his pleasure outside of his occupation.

It has been shown that certain kinds of industrial educa-
tion can come into elementary schools without interfering
with the quality of the academic work, and that such edu-
cation serves to keep children in school and to awaken
occupational interests which serve as a reenforcement of
general educational interests.

Certain dangers attending the introduction of industrial
education into elementary schools readily suggest them-
selves, but they can scarcely exceed the dangers arising
from a lack of any suitable provision for properly satisfying
the desire which manifests itself at about the sixth year of
school, namely to come into touch with the activities of the
world and to join with others in making a contribution to
the general welfare. Schools should be equipped to offer
such training as will promote the ultimate interests of the
children, and, on the other hand, to combat effectively any
attempt to exploit the children commercially by fitting
them in school to perform particular, unskilled processes
to be immediately utilized in local industries.

From an educational standpoint the value of a vocational
interest is not primarily economic, but relates to the fact
that when such an interest is awakened it is likely soon
to become dominant and form a center around which other

EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES

interests cluster. A dominating interest tends to collect
and organize varying and many-sided interests. The dif-
ferent studies of the school curriculum offer a large body

GltADKS

HIGH SCHOOL,

PER CENT RETAINED

100
90
80
70
CO
50
40
30
20
10

L'ast
1 2 3 4 5 G 7 Gram- I H HI IV
mar

\
\

k \

•«/^S

Last
1 2 3 4 5 6 T Gram- I II III IV
mar

FIG. 1. Diagram showing grades at which children leave school. Results

presented by Dr. Thorndike are indicated by dotted line ; those by

Dr. Ayers, by solid line

From Dr. Leonard P. Ayers's " Laggards in Our Schools," p. 71

of information and many divergent interests. These are
important to education but are not its end. The ultimate
purpose of education is the development of an individual
whose mental interests, although varied, are well organized.
The chief factor in mental organization is a strong, central

14 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

selective interest which brings scattered things into place.
The occupational interest appears to be the natural center
toward which others readily converge.

Design. The study of design in elementary schools fur-
nishes a means of exercising and thus developing good
taste in connection with the things which make up the
environment of everyday life, and of awakening apprecia-
tion of beauty in nature and in art. Good taste implies
more than information regarding what is good. It means
that the right sort of things awaken pleasure, and that a
desire is aroused which demands excellence for its satisfac-
tion. The power to discern between the merely pretty, with
attractiveness which is superficial and transitory, and that
which is permanently and universally beautiful, gives capac-
ity for an enjoyment the possibilities of which are unlimited.

Adequate appreciation of beauty seldom comes without
definite training. It depends largely upon established habits
of seeing. As one finds the objective world assuming a cer-
tain order pleasing to his intellect after he knows the scien-
tific categories and can rearrange facts in terms of them, so
he finds that after he knows the best types of artistic inter-
pretation, which have selected from the mass those elements
which are aesthetically pleasing and have portrayed them,
he tends to recast his own perceptions in those terms.

The study of design in public schools should contribute
directly to an appreciation of the beauty of the landscape
and of plant and animal forms, and also of the artistic pos-
sibilities of the community in its natural and architectural
features and in its local industries.

Unless the problems of design relate to familiar sur-
roundings, pupils are likely to consider the term "artistic"
as one which applies only to unusual things; whereas it

EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL VALUES 15

does not describe the class to which an object belongs, but
means that the object, because of its adequacy, and the
refinement of its essential parts and proportions, and the
grace and fitness of its decoration, if it possesses any, is
unusually excellent of its kind. A kitchen chair or utensil
may be artistic and thus in its sphere prove a source of con-
tinual pleasure as truly as may a vase or a picture. The
general appearance of written school work, arrangement of
plants and flowers, framing and hanging of pictures, choice
of wall papers, rugs, furniture, etc., are among the oppor-
tunities of exercising that appreciation of order and fitness
which is an important part of artistic taste.

By collections of photographs or other representations,
children may become acquainted with the best designs for
bridges, water fronts, public buildings and private houses of
all classes, park furnishings, sculpture, fountains, and other
things which may contribute to beauty in modern com-
munities, and thus become interested in the ways in which
towns and cities are solving the problems of civic beauty.

Schools should give pupils some acquaintance with good
examples of drawing, painting, and sculpture. Even where
collections of originals are not available, abundant material
is at hand in the shape of photographs, illustrations, and
the best of modern color prints.

Pictures which appear in schools may be divided into two
general classes : those which are of use mainly as sources
of information — historical, geographical, scientific, etc. ;
and those which are for the purpose of awakening aesthetic
enjoyment. The former should usually be regarded as a
portfolio collection, to be brought out and used when occa-
sion demands and then put away. The latter justify a more
permanent place upon the walls.

16 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

The main question is not how many pictures can be
brought within the child's range of vision, but on how many
can his imagination be awakened to lay hold. In the days
when pictures were fewer, a child would often pore for a
long time over some poor print till his imagination wan-
dered far into its perspective and lived with its characters.
Such a print sometimes grew to be so full of suggestion
that in later years the grown man hesitated to throw it away
even after he had come to see its artistic worthlessness.
Even the wayward cracks in the walls of old bare school-
rooms became interesting to the imaginations of children
who pictured scenes among them, as one sees constella-
tions in the stars. When imagination can be set at play
under the stimulus and direction of a good picture, feelings
may be awakened that later will develop into aesthetic
enjoyment.

Many small pictures distract the attention of the pupils.
A few excellent pictures in a classroom, appropriately chosen
and carefully hung, usually have a finer influence and give
more enduring memories than a large number scattered
about the walls.

CHAPTER II

A SURVEY OF THE PROGRESSION OF WORK THROUGH
THE GRADES

The following survey of the progression of work in the
arts through the elementary grades forms the basis for the
suggestions offered in more detailed form in the following
chapters regarding work particularly appropriate for various
stages of maturity. The material was obtained in part by
presenting similar topics to pupils of different ages in many
schools, to discover where the subjects were assimilated most
readily and processes mastered with greatest ease.

Teachers of the manual arts will recognize the fact that
types of interest and ability here recommended to special
consideration in certain grades usually manifest themselves
to a greater or less degree throughout all grades. For
instance, children in Grades I and II are often interested
in representing proportions and shapes truthfully, and in
handling such advanced implements as woodworking tools,
while in these pages emphasis upon those phases of drawing
and construction is deferred until a more mature age. This
survey of work is not meant to imply that capabilities do
not appear earlier than here recognized, or cannot be inci-
dentally encouraged to a considerable extent with advan-
tage. It seeks merely to suggest the periods when results
seem to indicate that particular phases can be most readily
assimilated and certain processes be mastered with greatest
economy of time and effort and become a trustworthy basis

18 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

for later work. Children often spend much time in primary
grades over what could be grasped with far less effort a
few years later; and continue in grammar grades to be
handicapped by lack of knowledge and skill which might
have been gained easily in lower grades by special empha-
sis and drill at the right time.

Representation. General use of drawing as a common
means of expression and description is of first importance
throughout all the grades. The results of this practical use
of drawing should be studied at each stage, and the evident
deficiencies in knowledge and skill should be remedied by
intensive study. Under the present arrangement of the
school program the best opportunity for offering this in-
tensive study appears to occur during the time devoted to
special lessons in drawing.

There are, then, two phases of the work: namely, the
general practical use of drawing, and the continuous contri-
bution of knowledge and skill gained by concentrating for
a time upon intensive study of particular aspects of the
subject. In order to plan this intensive study most econom-
ically it becomes necessary to find out what phases should
receive emphasis in different grades, and for what defi-
ciencies in skill immediate instruction is the best remedy,
and what may be left to disappear naturally as maturity
increases.

The first stages in representation appear to be dominated
by an interest in narrative, with a readiness to use drawing
rather than writing as a means of expressing ideas. Small
children abstract from the object or situation only those
characteristic features which will serve them as symbols.
These symbols appear to be satisfactory to the children if
they support the thought of the story.

PROGRESSION THROUGH THE GRADES 19

At first children willingly use drawing for general ex-
pression of ideas. Later, when their acquaintance with
written language becomes better developed, drawing is
used more specifically for such descriptions and illustrations
as cannot be so well expressed by language. These specific
uses require differentiation in style. Thus the drawing may
be for diagrams, for detailed record of facts of structure, for
illustration of general characteristics, for pictorial effects,
etc., as the purpose in hand may demand.

In Grades I, II, and III there appears to be little justifi-
cation for making much differentiation between the general
and the special work. Technical deficiencies and lack of
knowledge are evident, but a purpose other than the correc-
tion of these is more important during these years, namely,
to develop a readiness to illustrate ideas, however crudely,
and a habit of using drawing commonly as a language. At
this time objects placed before the children serve as a
means of suggesting ideas, rather than as forms which are
to be correctly delineated.

Toward the end of this period some emphasis may profit-
ably be laid upon a more detailed study, by frequent draw-
ing, modeling, observation of pictures, etc., of a few objects
selected with a view to increasing the graphic vocabulary of
the children, so that there may be some well-understood
material for use in illustrative sketching.

Children in Grade III appreciate and may easily be taught
to use the simple geometric relations of vertical, horizontal,
and parallel, when these are involved in drawings ; for ex-
ample, in picturing houses as standing vertically, etc.

In Grades III, IV, and V children show a definite desire
to know how to represent objects more truthfully and to
picture different effects ; as, for example, of things lying flat

20 FIXE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

or placed one beyond another. They ask to be shown how
to produce these effects, and readily learn from seeing some
one else represent them, and from pictures. They gradually
become able to interpret effects from their own observations.
During the fourth and fifth years it appears to be of especial
importance that children be trained to judge general propor-
tions by visual impressions, as to whether the drawing is
too long or too short, too wide or too narrow, in order that
they may represent the general proportions truthfully by
the judgment of the eye as to the effect of the whole, and
not by devices for measuring. In addition to objects, such
arbitrary forms as maps and diagrams offer excellent mate-
rial for some formal drill in relative proportions.

In Grades VI, VII, and VIII the following are promi-
nent among the lines of definite study which profitably
supplement a general practical use of drawing:

1. Representation of objects by means of rapid sketches,
made as simply as possible, and yet showing the general
characteristics, proportions, and position.

2. Careful drawings to represent details of form and
structure with some degree of accuracy and to convey
correct information.

3. Representation of solid objects so that they appear to
exist in three dimensions and in given positions. This latter
appears to be accomplished most surely and rapidly not
by a study of formal perspective but by supplementing the
drawing from actual objects, with much experimentation
in building up solid shapes pictorially, changing their form
and working out various problems of structure and posi-
tion till objects based on the ordinary types of solidity -
rectangular, cylindrical, spherical, etc. — can be sketched
in any position, added to, or cut into any desired form, from

PROGRESSION THROUGH THE GRADES 21

imagination. These are problems which can be mastered
only by persistent and systematic application. Without
such mastery no great practical ability in drawing can be
developed.

4. Sufficient acquaintance with water colors to use them
with some freedom, to lay flat washes, and to match the
colors of nature.

Construction. In constructive work the first activities
appear to arise from a desire to play with constructive
material. Small children seem to have no clearly defined
ends in view, but work chiefly for the sake of having a
concrete accompaniment for their thought, and for the
pleasure of being the cause of changes and modifications
in materials. From this stage, progress in constructive work
should be along the line of developing the child's ability to
work with increasing manual skill, toward definite ends,
and to define those ends and the processes necessary for
reaching them, by plans which forecast results more and
more completely.

At first he can gain some familiarity with simple means
of predetermining results accurately, for example, by meas-
urements and patterns. Later can be developed increasing
ability to perform preliminary thinking by means of plans,
and to realize these plans through mastery of implements,
processes, and materials. Ultimately the growing ability to
deal with materials should be so directed as to awaken a
desire to produce results which contribute to social welfare.

In Grades I and II the most valuable constructive work
appears to consist in the free use of material so easily ma-
nipulated that it gives immediate results without demand-
ing elaborate tools or technical skill. Sand, clay, building
blocks, etc., fulfill the important function of furnishing

22 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

mediums through which a child's constructive imagination,
which at this age is satisfied with results which serve to
suggest the original ideas, can express itself in concrete
form. At the same time children gain some realization of
the inert qualities of matter and of the necessity of effort
to shape it into desired form, and their thinking is modi-
fied thereby. However, such mediums as are here suggested
are so easily handled that they do not compel the imagina-
tion to wait upon the slow processes by which more stubborn
material is shaped, nor to have its own creative vitality
interfered with by elaborate perfection of detail.

The question is sometimes raised as to whether the
interest of the children will be increased and the things
which they construct will be given broader significance
and become a means of wider interpretation of the activi-
ties of life, if they are given all materials and processes
relating to the idea which they are working out ; for
example, if children in the lowest grades cook the food
they serve, and use woodworking tools to make the furni-
ture of the doll house, etc. One who watches the results
of such experiments is impressed by the eager interest of
the children. The question arises, however, as to whether
children associate these diverse processes as an adult does.
For instance, if a child in Grade I, in modeling a river on
the sand table, finds need of a bridge, he may be given
strips of wood, hammer, and nails with which to construct
a bridge, or he may simply lay a strip of wood across,
adding building blocks if he wishes a more ornate struc-
ture. Observation of small children under these circum-
stances leads to the inference that the use of saw and
hammer and nails distracts the constructive imagination
which was directing the molding of the river. Again, if

PROGRESSION THROUGH THE GRADES 23

cooking is introduced to give more meaning to the play of
housekeeping, it is a question whether at this age an occu-
pation which must be closely supervised by adults does
not dissociate rather than aid in organizing the mental
processes. To the adult mind these activities are in closely
related sequence. To the child it is probable that they are
kaleidoscopic and distracting. The material becomes too
definitive in its character and forces him to think along
prescribed lines in a field where he cannot be allowed free
scope to experiment by himself outside of school hours in
a way that is at all helpful socially. The child who makes
believe can serve any food he chooses. The imagination
receives hints and intimations and follows their lead.

If the appropriate time educationally for introducing
given activities may be judged by their social helpfulness,
they are appropriate when the use of the knowledge gained
would be at all helpful in a household where each mem-
ber was given a share in the home activities at as early a
date as he could contribute helpfully, or when it can be
used in play which does not require close supervision. This
relation to the social scheme appears to offer a reasonable
criterion for determining the place of most manual activities
in schools.

In later years, when the mind demands for its satisfac-
tion that the product of its activity attain some degree of
perfection and serve an objective purpose, struggle with
the difficulties of tools and processes necessary to shape
wood and metal into predetermined form becomes a factor
in developing intelligent consideration of conditions and
encouraging persistent effort with confidence in the out-
come. On the other hand, at that early age when the mind
is busied chiefly with its own activities and investigations,

24 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

and when it can regard materials as invested with qualities
largely of its own creation, so that they serve perfectly well
to support and stimulate the current of thought even when
they embody none of its terms, as when chairs serve as a
train of cars, elaborate processes and paraphernalia appear
to interrupt what continuity such thinking might develop
and rob it of much of its vitality. Too early access to
abundant paraphernalia limits the scope of imagination and
lessens ability to receive satisfactory pleasure from moder-
ate stimulation. To a degree, limitation of material appears
to increase the activity of the imagination.

In Grades III, IV, and V children show a desire to be
able so to handle material that it shall not only furnish a
concrete accompaniment to the activities of their thought,
but shall be itself shaped to express that thought with in-
creasing completeness. This appears to be the appropriate
time for beginning a definite study of technical processes
and of the use of simple instruments of precision, such as
the rule and later the compass, to shape material accord-
ing to a predetermined form. This stage is significant in
that it marks the first steps toward relinquishment of the
primitive method of arriving at results by mere experimen-
tal handling of material, and the beginning of mastery of
matter by mathematics and in terms of patterns and plans
which constitute a language of construction.

Grades VI, VII, and VIII appear to be the most appro-
priate period for undertaking projects involving more
complicated processes with tools and materials, which re-
quire some maturity of judgment and satisfy the desire
which generally appears at this age to undertake some-
thing evidently related to the industrial activities of the
home and the community. Among the projects suitable to

PROGRESSION THROUGH THE GRADES 25

this age are those necessitating construction in wood and
the handling of materials used in domestic science and
domestic art. All these demand careful planning and the
exercise of skill and good taste acquired under careful
instruction.

These materials, because of their nature, make it neces-
sary that a large part of the preliminary planning and
experimentation be done in terms of sketches and patterns
and other forms of description. One of the important atti-
tudes toward work which these undertakings should
develop in the minds of the children is that it is possible
and wholly desirable that processes and results shall be
pretty definitely considered and determined in graphic or
verbal terms before any direct attack is made upon difficult
or valuable material.

Design. The progression along the line of aesthetic ap-
preciation to be gamed from the study of design appears
to have the following general tendency : namely, from
juvenile pleasure in obvious repetitions of commonplace
relations of measures, to a response to the beauty of con-
sistent but subtle interrelations of fine proportions and of
beautiful outlines ; and from the temporary stimulation of
the senses by gaudy enrichment and by mere collections
of material regardless of any worthy principles of selection,
to a response to the appeal of things which are excellent
and which give lasting satisfaction.

Two aspects of design become evident in any detailed
study of the subject — the element of utility and that of
formal beauty.

When one attempts to design a wall paper or book cover
or utensil, there are conditions to be observed peculiar to
each subject. The wall paper should have the qualities of

26 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

a background, and its pattern should be adapted to a flat,
vertical surface ; the book cover should display its title
clearly, and its color and ornamentation should be in har-
mony with its content ; the utensil must possess the prac-
tical elements which make it serve its purpose. Broadly
speaking, anything which is to serve a purpose is not good
in design unless it is well fitted in every possible way to
serve that purpose, and any ornament which obscures or
hinders that purpose is in bad taste, however perfect it may
be technically. The values of fitness to purpose and of
structural integrity are obvious from the point of view of
utility, but they must also receive consideration from the
aesthetic standpoint. The satisfaction which arises from
contemplating a well-constructed object which perfectly
fulfills its purpose is largely an aesthetic one.

The value of utilitarian considerations is readily per-
ceived. On the other hand, the student of design is soon
made aware that in dealing with constructed objects,
human demands other than those of utility become imme-
diately evident. He finds inherent in human nature certain
elemental principles of choice in matters of form and color
which appear to be based on consistencies of proportional
relations in areas, curvatures, or tones. These demands
seem to appear as early in human history and to be as
insistent as those of utility.

The wall paper may be perfectly suited in color and
pattern to its position as a vertical background, but the
interrelation of those colors and the final distribution of
pattern are matters of aesthetic preference rather than of
utilitarian necessity. The title may be equally plain in
any one of a number of positions on the cover, but equally
pleasing in only a few. It is usually possible to modify

PROGRESSION THROUGH THE GRADES 27

the proportions and outlines of the utensil or of any other
constructed object so that a slight variation of the rela-
tions, or a modification of structural elements, makes of
its design a harmonious and satisfying whole instead of a
commonplace collection of parts.

These illustrations suggest two lines of procedure in a
course in design. The first is largely one of training the
pupil to reason out the most adequate fulfillment of con-
ditions ; the second is to develop his elemental aesthetic
preferences, refining them by exercise and by the influence
of excellent examples till they become definite and discrim-
inating in their choices, and intelligent regarding the possible
sources of satisfaction. These two lines are evident in all
stages of progress, with the minimum of emphasis at the
beginning upon that requiring judgment of conditions.

Throughout the grades the instructor should see that
there is continual exercise of taste in matters of school and
home work and general surroundings. The special time
devoted to design should aim at a development which will
tend ultimately to correct whatever bad taste is noticeable
in actual choices which the children make. The problem
is necessarily slow of accomplishment, for it consists in
producing changes of mental attitudes, not in obedience to
statements of opinion by the teacher, but as a result of
the development of right choices on grounds of genuine
preference. ^Esthetic appreciation is a slowly acquired
type of mental behavior. The outcome, however, is not
a matter of theory, for actual experience has shown that
where the instructor understands the conditions, the begin-
nings of good taste in matters of design and of apprecia-
tion of beautiful things may be very definitely developed in
elementary schools.

28 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

In Grades I, II, and III children have a feeling for
rhythmic arrangement in repeating single forms indefinitely,
as in borders and surface patterns, and show considerable
ingenuity in making new combinations of given elements.
During the latter part of this period, and especially in
Grades IV and V, some appreciation of more complicated
relations of spaces than those involved in mere repetition
is evident ; for example, the pleasing arrangement of ele-
ments within a given area, such as the placing of a title,
decoration, and monogram in consistent relations on the
same page, or in the choosing of border spaces. This last
problem involves such designs as stripes in weaving, mar-
gins in written or printed pages, widths of frames or mats
for pictures, etc. It offers opportunity for endless invention
in relating single and multiple stripes of varying widths
and spacings, and in introducing modifications, accents, and
interlacings at corners and elsewhere. It presents principles
which may be developed and applied indefinitely.

Children in these grades also appreciate the various
effects of bilateral symmetry, which owe their interest to
the duplication of given elements in reverse form.

In Grades VI, VII, and VIII the scope for general
exercise of taste is much greater than in the grades which
precede, and includes, in addition to general school work,
constructive problems, the fields of the domestic arts and
social and industrial community interests. Because of the
increased maturity of the children and the previous prac-
tice, a far more definite appeal can appropriately be made
to individual judgment in matters of design which demand
consideration of purpose and specific conditions, and also
in those which involve the more formal problems of fine
spacing and beautiful outline.

PROGRESSION THROUGH THE GRADES 29

Appreciation seems to be better developed and originality
enabled the sooner to exercise itself if children are ac-
quainted with good types from the first. These types are
the result of long experimentation by skilled designers.
In actual practice the greatest stimulus to originality
appears to be present not when a mind is left to work
alone but when it is brought into contact with the best
which other minds have produced.

With the advancing maturity of pupils increasing atten-
tion should be paid to choosing the best things from
available sources, which usually present both good and bad
examples. Even though one may have designed a good vase
or wall paper, certain different kinds of mental behavior
are called forth when instead of beginning with raw ma-
terials he must choose from a multitude of finished prod-
ucts. In the first case there is a slow working toward
the realization of an idea with materials which are under
one's control. In the second there is more or less rapid
choice among different ideas as expressed by others, and
definite comparison of these with one's own ideals. Original
designing is an excellent experience and should certainly
form part of the training of every pupil, but it is only one
of the factors which go to form good taste. Thoughtful
selection from available material and familiarity with ex-
cellent examples are also effective influences. In actual
life, for every designer there are a thousand people who
will only select designs.

Color. The study of color is associated with both repre-
sentation and design, and the progress in color work
through the grades is closely related to the progress in
these two lines of work. A child's first use of color appears
to be somewhat arbitrary. He is interested in making

30 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

patches of different tones for the purpose of making shapes
more distinct, and for the sake of the resulting color sen-
sations. The ultimate aims held in view by the instructor
are generally the ability to use color truthfully when em-
ployed in scientific and other informational drawing, to use
it with good taste in matters relating to the arts, and to
appreciate good color effects in nature and in art. Color
appreciation develops rapidly under wise direction in choos-
ing and combining tones and in actual manipulation of pig-
ments. Progress is usually from general consciousness of
color sensations, pleasurable or otherwise, to keen dis-
crimination of fine color qualities, as, for example, when
certain tones of a color give greater satisfaction than other
tones of the same color, which would not have appealed
as essentially different if no special study had been given
them ; to pleasure in harmoniously related tones and ability
to harmonize given colors ; and also to the enjoyment of
beautiful color effects in nature and art, not simply in the
first impressions of strong coloring, as in brilliant sunsets or
autumn hues, but in those qualities which constitute beauty
of color, whether the tones are intense or subdued.

In Grades I, II, and III the children readily gain ac-
quaintance with the more prominent color tones, as red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. They are interested
in collecting samples or in separating into color groups
samples already gathered, they learn to compare samples
so as to match colors as nearly as possible, and later can
sort out material with considerable discrimination ; for
example, in placing two given colors, as yellow and green
or green and blue, at a little distance apart and arranging
samples so as to form a graded series of intermediate tones
between the two, or in making series of lighter and darker

PROGRESSION THROUGH THE GRADES 31

tones of single colors by means of samples. A limited use
of color in drawing is also of value.

In Grades IV, V, and VI one of the most valuable
factors in developing knowledge and appreciation of color
is the use of water colors in representation, with special
practice in carefully matching different colors of objects.
Experimentation with pigments, in producing tones of
colors that shall differ from given colors in being more or
less intense or in being lighter and darker, or in forming
a series between one color and another, as was suggested
with samples, also develops discrimination.

In Grades VII and VIII the use of color in description
and truthful representation is increasingly valuable. The
children are readily interested in learning something of suit-
able and harmonious relations of colors as used in industries
and in home surroundings. They should be helped in
making collections of good examples of color in textiles,
color prints such as occur in magazines, miscellaneous color
designs, etc. They should be interested in the color effects
in nature, in landscape and in plant and animal forms, and
should be given some practice in making good color com-
binations for use. At this age elaborate verbal discussions
of color theories seem to be of little value to the children.

CHAPTER III
GRADE I

The most valuable outcome of the work of the first year
in school appears to be the formation of a habit of draw-
ing things uppermost in the interests of the children, and
of shaping easily handled material till manual expression
becomes a matter of course.

This is accomplished most satisfactorily when there is
little criticism of results and when technical instruction
is only incidental. The greatest progress appears to come
when the instructor works at times with and for the chil-
dren, in order that they may see better ways of obtaining
results.

The function of manual work at this time is to furnish
the children with a means of expressing their constructive
and imitative tendencies in concrete form. When children
shape clay or mold sand or draw, they find their ideas are
assuming visible shape. This discovery stimulates still
further the mental imagery and the desire to express it.
Little technical skill is acquired, but a coordination is
developed between ideas and muscular reactions and the
children become aware of certain inherent qualities and
laws of inert material.

The following paragraphs present more detailed consid-
erations regarding those phases of representation, construc-
tion, and design which seem to be of greatest value during
the first year in school.

GRADE I 33

Representation. This should consist in general pictorial
expression of things of interest to the children, with much
encouragement and little criticism from the teacher. Their
other lessons, their toys and games, incidents of their expe-
rience, — in fact, all those things which are most vividly in
mind and which form the topics of their conversation, — are
appropriate subjects for drawing. Their pictorial expression
is so symbolic and arbitrary in its shorthand conventions
that it lends itself to free, rapid expression as later and
more elaborated drawing cannot.

The first interest children show in using a pencil seems
to be awakened by the pleasure of making marks with it,
regardless of any significance in the marks themselves.
They will cover one sheet of paper after another with
meaningless scrawls and be delighted apparently by the
fact that movements of the pencil over the paper leave
visible marks in their path. This period has been termed
the " scribble stage."

By degrees the marks take on significance. Interest in
representing things is added to the interest in mere scrib-
bling. When children enter school they are usually just
emerging from the scribbling stage and are beginning the
use of forms, somewhat as hieroglyphics in a sort of picture
writing. Fig. 2 shows early interpretations of the human
figure, a house, a tree, and an animal.

At this time children show little interest in representing
accurately a particular object placed before them. Passy
thus describes the attitude of a primary child toward a
model given him to draw:

He does not hesitate, but seizes his pencil and draws rapidly in an
automatic manner. It is impossible to make him look at this model
with any attention. If any one commands him to look at it, he

34 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

hurriedly casts upon it a distracted and disdainful glance and con-
tinues without concerning himself with that which he sees. The
moment he has finished he shows it to you with a triumphant air.1

HIS DOG,

FIG. 2. Early drawings by children

During this period when the children are interested in
representing by crude pictographs the ideas which things
suggest, rather than the correct appearance of the things
themselves, almost any result satisfies them. The drawing,

1 Quoted by Frederick Burk in " The Genetic vs. the Logical Order in
Drawing," Pedagogical Seminary (1902), p. 296.

GRADE I

although it may be meaningless to others, is for the child
who made it a sufficient suggestion of the idea that inspired
it. He has a reason for every mark.

These symbols once used are likely to be repeated un-
modified by reference to the object. For example, Fig. 3
shows symbols which different children drew to represent

FIG. 3. Symbols used by different children to represent the human figure

the human figure. In each the particular sort of line chosen
by each child to represent arms and legs is repeated in
all the figures by that child. The same recurrence of the
symbol first used is to be seen in drawings of most other
objects, as trees, houses, etc. These symbols are often
strikingly similar to those used by ancient and primitive
peoples whose drawings are highly conventionalized.

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Young children draw what they know about the objects,
rather than what their eyes see at any given moment. For
example, they will show both ends of a house in the same
drawing, and will sketch not only the exterior, but, if
allowed time, will add the furniture and people inside, as
if the walls were transparent (Fig. 4). The attitude of mind
which leads the children to do this is not a fault to be over-
come by instruction, but a stage to be lived through and

FIG. 4. Children's attempts to show what they know rather than what
they can see at the time the drawing is made

one which contributes directly to further development. The
fact that children often make little progress at first toward
what adults consider to be good drawing, and that they
frequently revert to scribbling, should not be a cause for
discouragement on the part of the teacher in these grades.
After children have obtained a little familiarity with the
pencil their drawings frequently become surprisingly ex-
pressive of character, as, for example, the group of sketches
shown in Fig. 5.

GRADE I

Incidentally, with this general use of illustrative drawing
a definite beginning may be made in developing ability to
draw more truthfully by devoting a number of lessons to
the same subject, with new suggestions regarding it at each
lesson. For example, in Fig. 6 the child who has made
crude representations of houses, as in A, tries in another
lesson to draw a house and fence which shall stand upright,

FIG. 5. Illustrative sketches by children

with the result shown in B; and later draws C and />,
which, while far from perfect, indicate a distinct advance
in ability to represent structure. Fig. 7 shows sketches
involving a snow shovel.

The results of careful and repeated study of a few
topics will be discussed in fuller detail in Chapter II,
p. 49. In general, however, it may be said that ability to
record observations correctly can be developed when the
children are older, with much less expenditure of time and

FIG. 6. Sketches showing children's progress in drawing houses

FIG. 7. Sketches involving a study of the shape of a snow shovel

GRADE I 39

effort ; but facility of graphic expression comes most readily
during these early years and is difficult to obtain later.
During the first year or two of school life, the technical
acquisition in drawing which is of greatest advantage to the
next stage of the work is this facility which a child gains
by drawing in his own way, with the aid of encouragement
and good example. He needs continual use of this primitive
picture language in describing things associated with home,
out-of-door, and school life. Thus the children become ac-
customed to express their ideas by drawing before the age
of self-consciousness and hesitation is reached.

Perhaps the best service a teacher of drawing can render
in Grade I is to draw a great deal for the children on the
board or elsewhere, not for the sake of setting them a copy,
but of furnishing to them the unequaled stimulus of seeing
some one do easily and well what they are attempting.
Elaborate systems and courses can accomplish little without
the encouragement and suggestions of example. Instruction
in the language of drawing, as in the German or French
language, should make use of the conversational method.
At this age the tendency to imitate is an important factor
in development in all lines, including the arts. In fact, the
matter of drawing in early grades might almost be summed
up as follows : Children who are with an instructor who
draws well and uses his drawing as a common means of
expression will learn to draw. Any other circumstances
are less promising.

Construction. The value of constructive work in this
grade consists mainly in the fact that it furnishes another
medium for expressing ideas in visible form. As in drawing,
the material serves to support and reflect the train of ideas,
and this mental activity is in great danger of being checked

40 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

if any emphasis is placed at first upon technical accuracy
in processes. The problems therefore should not entail
complicated planning nor prolonged processes, and the
material should not be too definitive, but be adapted to
general expression and invite the children to endless ampli-
fication of their ideas. The construction in this grade might
be termed free representation in three dimensions.

The sand table offers a wide range of possibilities for
such work. The sand is readily shaped to represent various
configurations of land, and on these, with supplementary
material, different localities may be represented and scenes
enacted.

Modeling in clay or other plastic material is a means
of expression which awakens strong and long-sustained in-
terest. In using sand or clay both hands are required to
shape the responsive material into the desired form, and
every touch makes an evident modification. Modeling has
not been so universally adopted as its value would seem
to justify, largely on account of the difficulty in caring for
the materials. It is, however, one of the important modes
of manual expression in primary grades.

Cutting given pictures and other shapes from paper
gives valuable training in gaining control over a tool as a
means of shaping material to a predetermined form, and
is an important form of manual work in primary grades.
Practice in paper cutting of given forms results in marked
progress in ability to control the hand so as to follow an
outline. In addition to the technical control, children gain
new suggestions of form from the pictures they cut out,
and these are likely to appear in later drawings. Free-hand
paper cutting is also of great use as a means of interpreting
objects in terms of silhouette (Fig. 8).

GRADE I 41

Accuracy in measurement should not be expected from
small children, but first steps in handling a rule may be
taken by using it as a means of drawing straight lines

FIG. 8. Free-hand paper cutting

between given points. Toward the end of the year some
simple measurements which do not involve fractions of
inches may be undertaken with profit.

Building with blocks is a type of constructive work
which is of importance for small children. By matching

42 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

the blocks together and selecting those which fit they learn
to estimate form with some degree of precision. By placing
one block upon another so that the structure stands firmly
they gain a sense of horizontal and vertical relations.

Objects so shaped as to offer hints to the imagination
without embodying more than a suggestion often invite
mental activity when more definitely elaborated forms fail.
For example, children who have learned the names of chess-
men will often carry on lengthy plays full of incident and
dialogue, using the pieces as actors. The children appear to
clothe the king and queen with more personality than would
be the case if the pieces were realistic in appearance ; and
the knights seem to awaken greater interest than a complete
representation of a horse. Experimentation with suggestive
toys and figures promises to yield some answer to the ques-
tion as to whether within reasonable limits, the sustained
vigor of constructive imagination is not in inverse ratio to
the specific elaboration of the material furnished.

Design and color. Small children appear to have little
judgment regarding fitness of designs for any given pur-
pose. They are not mature enough to undertake, unaided,
problems which require tasteful distribution of different
elements within a given area. In designs involving such
arrangements, as, for example, Thanksgiving souvenirs,
Christmas cards, valentines, etc., progress in genuine appre-
ciation seems most certain when the teacher works out
with the children designs which are simple and yet excel-
lent, and thus accustoms them to examples of good
arrangement which will influence their choices when later
they plan their own scheme of spacing.

To recommend, as the writer unhesitatingly does, that
these first arrangements should be made under the more or

GRADE I 43

less immediate influence of excellent examples, is to pre-
cipitate at once the general discussion of the place of
originality in design. In recognition of the importance of
this question, but without entering upon any full discussion,
it may be suggested that good design is not the chance
output of an uninformed mind. A young child may produce
something original in the sense that it is a fortuitous ar-
rangement of shapes that never existed before. Such a result,
however, is not necessarily a design because it is original ;
nor is there any value merely in the fact that it did not
exist before, if it is not good enough to be in itself a
reason why it should exist at all, or if the experience
involved leads to no better production in the future. It is
probable that children who at this age, with no example or
suggestion, have made an original arrangement, generally
like it because it is their own production. Unless there is
opportunity to compare it with something better, a common-
place arrangement becomes fixed in mind and its influence
persists and is evident in subsequent efforts.

On the other hand, children at this age readily develop
^considerable proficiency in producing the simpler forms of
decorative arrangement, which consist in the repetition of
a single shape to form a border or surface pattern. Such
patterns occur automatically in certain forms of weaving,
and children often show much ingenuity in working out
the possible variations.

A sense of rhythmic arrangement can be directly devel-
oped by repeating a simple unit, with pencil or brush,
free-hand, so as to form a border or a surface pattern. The
feeling of rhythm appears to be increased when this repeti-
tion is done in part to a time count, which at first is led
by the teacher. This count may be vocal or indicated

44 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

upon the piano. This practice in repeating a series of
forms to a corresponding movement of time gives a sense
of rhythm which is not developed by 'drawing borders in
which the spacing of the units is indicated either by dicta-
ted points or with the aid of measurements before the
units are drawn (Fig. 9).

Exercises with these simple borders are the first steps
toward more complicated problems in upper grades, such
as surface designs, bilateral forms, and balanced designs of
abstract shapes, or conventionalized flower forms produced
with a few pencil or brush strokes. In this practice, as in
penmanship, beautiful form and style are gained, not by
pausing over one unit to perfect it, but by repeating the
shape till the hand has mastered it and can use it with
facility.

During the first year in school children should become
familiar with the colors most easily recognized, such as red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. This may be done
by placing before the children a fairly large sample of one
after another of these colors and having them collect objects
of a similar color. In bits of cloth and paper, and in flowers
and leaves, the color under consideration will be discovered
and its sensation perceived more clearly than by chance
observation. The use of colored crayons for drawing is also
an important means of training recognition and discrimina-
tion of color.

A reasonable standard of accomplishment has been
reached if, at the end of the first year in school, the children
have developed a habit of expressing their ideas with pencil
so that drawing seems to them a matter of course ; if they
have gained ability to handle simple material such as paper,
clay, sand, and blocks, so that such materials assume desired

* &

FIG. 9. Borders drawn free-hand

46 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

shapes ; and if they have gained some ideas of good spacing
and arrangement under guidance of the teacher, and have
begun to enjoy the rhythmic spacing of forms and to discover
the general distinctions of color.

That their graphic expressions during this first year are
crude and their constructions inaccurate when judged by
adult ideas, and that their standards of good design are
gained from their instructors, are not causes for apprehension.
Detailed instruction as to methods of holding pencils, or the
quality of line to be obtained, or attempts to teach such
items of the technical grammar of drawing as foreshorten-
ing or convergence almost invariably do much harm and no
good at this age.

The primary instructor who draws with and for the chil-
dren, and who constructs objects with them, is furnishing the
most potent stimulus and inspiration for progress toward in-
dividual ability. Compared with the effect of this, methods
and courses without such example are of secondary value.

CHAPTER IV
GRADES II AND III

Children who attend schools where instructors encourage
drawing and constructive work as an everyday means of
expression usually gain remarkable facility during the first
year in setting forth their ideas by these means. Through
their own invention and the suggestions of the teacher and
of their fellow pupils they gain command of a wide variety
of graphic symbols and simple constructive processes.
Expression by means of illustration and construction, al-
though crude and archaic, becomes a matter of course and
is carried on with apparent pleasure and satisfaction.

A change in attitude toward the results is apparent,
however, as the children grow older. They soon cease to be
wholly satisfied with manual expression as a mere activity
without regard to the quality of the product. When during
the first year in school the child's impulse to produce some-
thing had found an outlet in lines or shapes, the crudity of
the result seldom interfered with his exultation as he dis-
played his production, or caused him to pause for improve-
ments or corrections before he proceeded to his next attempt.
In Grades II and III the product as a product seems to make
an impression on the children and gain importance in their
estimation. They show indications of caring for the truth
of the representation and the quality of the construction,
and wish greater knowledge and more adequate means for
carrying out their ideas. This newly awakened desire is

48 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

illustrated by such an instance as the announcement of a
child attempting to represent a ship at sea, that he was
going to find some pictures of ships in order that he might
know more definitely how the prow of a ship was shaped
so he could draw his as it should be. Children who were
making nature drawings inquired how to make the bulbs
" look round," how to make some leaves look as if they
were behind others, how to paint a white narcissus on
white paper, etc.

This realization of the need of data in order to represent
adequately, and of knowledge as to how to put material
together if the product is to be satisfactory, offers oppor-
tunity to give instruction which the children can put to
immediate use, and which at the same time enriches their
ideas and extends their knowledge of shapes, materials,
and processes.

Based largely on this fact, work of the following general
character along the lines of representation, construction, and
design is recommended as appropriate for children during
the second and third years in school.

Representation. General use of drawing and modeling
as means of expression and description should continue
through these grades. The freedom and facility gained
during the first year enable the children to represent the
salient features of scenes and incidents with considerable
effect (Fig. 10).

The growing interest of the children in the quality of
results makes worth while a more careful and detailed study
of objects than was advisable during the first year ; and the
chief additional contribution in the way of special teclinical
instruction which these grades can make, appears to be a
somewhat intensive study of a few typical things conducted

GRADES II AND III

by devoting a series of lessons to each, for the purpose of
enabling the children to draw these particular things well.
Such study frees the drawing from some of its crudity and
directs the beginnings of the kind of observation which
should result later in correct impressions and the ability to
record them with some degree of accuracy. Children of this
age progress rapidly when they work for several consecutive

FIG. 10. Illustrative sketches

lessons upon the same topic, expressing it each time in a
different way.

For example, if the subject under consideration is a
house, after the children have done their best in repre-
senting it, attention may be called to particular and sig-
nificant points ; for instance, the desirability that the sides
of a house stand vertically. They should examine the
houses they are drawing to see if any of them lean. They
readily become interested in this geometric relation, and
for a time will work earnestly over houses on paper and

50 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

blackboard, in the endeavor to make the sides, doors, win-
dows, and chimneys exactly vertical. They are then eager
to draw villages in which every house stands upright and
where fences, poles, etc., are in proper position.

Later they may add to their fund of definite knowledge
by a study of houses and pictures of houses, to see how
gables are shaped, how doors and windows are placed, how
chimneys join roofs, etc. They may cut pictures of houses
from paper or trace them, and by actual muscular move-
ments over the shapes gain a clearer perception of them.
They may make patterns for the construction of houses in
paper or cardboard and build houses in the sandbox, which
shall embody the ideas thus far gained.

If the material out of which the house is constructed is
of particular interest, as in the case of a log house, the
problem of learning how to represent this becomes a topic
for study. Fig. 11 shows studies of houses by children in
these grades. The result of practice in vertical and hori-
zontal relations is observable in the sketch of the fire,
where, notwithstanding the interest in depicting exciting
details, the geometric relations of the structural lines have
been fairly well represented.

Again, if the subject for illustration is a bird, the first
drawing may be followed by a study of the shape of the
bird's head, the way his feet are placed upon the ground,
the angle at which he stands. The bird may be drawn on
paper, modeled in clay, cut from paper, painted or drawn
in color. Pictures may be collected illustrating the bird in
various positions and activities, and some of these may be
traced and cut out. After a child has gained what he can
from observation, and his progress in representing a given
object seems to have reached its limit for the time, his powers

GRADES II AND III

of expression receive a fresh impulse if he can see some
one draw skillfully the things he is trying to represent. To
furnish such an impulse by drawing with facility before the
children is one of the most valuable contributions a special
teacher of drawing can make during these two years.

After a few lessons the children master the general shape
and characteristics of the bird so that they can illustrate

/. ,

/ •'. - i

* /<•

• *

FIG. 11. Drawings of houses

any story which admits of interpretation in terms of that
bird and its activities, and the drawings are informed with
all the details and data gained in the several steps.

The interest of the children increases with successive
lessons if each presents some new phase. There is a familiar
background to which to refer new elements. At first the
children are likely to make their drawings much alike.
After absorbing items of detail from pictures and objects,
their productions show great variety and a marked advance

52 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

in definiteness of shape, correctness of general proportions,
and expressiveness of character.

The important advantage of the cumulative effect of a
number of carefully planned consecutive lessons on the
same topic is often overlooked, and as a result drawing
frequently fails to show definite progress, and either ceases
to interest or becomes so much a matter of superficial
facility that children miss the stimulation that comes with
a measurably thorough mastery of a subject. Advancement
in ability to draw seems to become evident, not at first in
gradual increase of power to draw anything that may be
presented, but in learning how to draw one thing after
another and thus accumulating a graphic vocabulary. The
facts that children have to be taught how to draw each
new object, and that the true scope for originality at this
age is not so much in attempting to learn by unaided efforts
how to draw an object as in using it expressively after it
is learned, should be taken into account in planning work
for primary children.

The interest that is evident when a group of children
work together on a single topic, developing the description
as they proceed, is a factor that may be utilized. For
example, when the beginning of an illustration of some
topic in which the children are interested is made on the
board, all are generally enthusiastic in contributing a share
to the result. Topics suggested by the school work or out-
side interests, such, for example, as a farm, a city street, a
wharf, a market, a harvest field, etc., are excellent. The
children show great resourcefulness in composing the
scene and offering additional material, and after the first
rapid sketching is done they are ready to collect data for
correction and improvement of the results. Fig. 12 shows

GRADES II AND III 53

an arrangement of paper cuttings by a class which was
making a study of frogs.

The results of the special instruction should continually
be absorbed into the general descriptive drawing and be-
come apparent there. Otherwise little improvement will be
evident in the general drawing, and not much that is of
permanent value will come from the technical instruction.

FIG. 12. Paper cuttings made by a primary class after studying frogs

Constructive work. Part of the constructive work may
with advantage parallel the work in drawing, so that the
same things which are being represented in two dimensions
may also be constructed in three. That such a relation
enriches the value of both means of expression is shown by
the increased understanding of form reflected by the draw-
ings, when the same objects are being constructed, and by
the amount of data and suggestion which is secured first

54 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

by drawing and then embodied in the construction. Such
problems as houses, furniture, and the various articles
related to studies, games, and occupations, are continually
presenting themselves and offer an abundant list of topics.
In most primary manual problems drawing and construc-
tion are both involved in the final result.

In addition to free, illustrative construction, these grades
should also present the first steps in well-planned work
which requires careful measurements and exact delinea-
tion of patterns. This means the beginning of working
drawings. During the first year most of the paper cut-
ting that necessitated following a predetermined shape was
based upon outlines furnished to the children, such as pic-
tures and patterns. In addition to this the children should
now begin to make their own patterns, and should come to
appreciate the value of the rule as an instrument for deter-
mining measurements and straight lines with precision. It
is not difficult to awaken and maintain interest in the
accurate use of the rule, if the problems presented involve
at first only a few lines and measurements of even inches
and later half and quarter inches. The rule used by the
children for constructive work during these years should
not contain smaller divisions than quarter inches. The
children should be shown how to manipulate it, and should
be interested in maintaining a relatively high standard
of accuracy whenever the work departs from free-hand
expression and requires an instrument of accuracy. The
rules provided for children are often confusing because of
the method used in many cases for indicating dimensions.
The figures are frequently placed beside instead of over
the line. So many mistakes in measurements made by
young children are directly traceable to this cause that it

GRADES II AND III

seems worth while to select a rule which, as in Fig. 13,
eliminates this confusion.

Bookmarks, tags, weather signals, flags, pinwheels, val-
entines, covers, envelopes and folders for school work, illus-
trative diagrams such as plans for school gardens and other
projects of this sort will give opportunity for planning
objects by simple patterns in the flat.

It is important that during these two years a few funda-
mental geometric relations should be thoroughly appre-
hended by repeated use. The relations of vertical, horizontal,

FIG. 13. Foot rules properly marked for primary children

and parallel occur in such drawing and construction as are
called for by the house already suggested.

In addition to the subjects involving these relations some
drill work repeated at frequent intervals is necessary to in-
sure the complete mastery of such relations, and ease and
confidence in using them. In the third grade this drill may be
undertaken with good results. For example, when lines are
drawn on the board at various angles children are interested
in trying to draw other lines parallel to the given ones and
testing their equidistance. They also like to accompany
their free-hand drawing and construction with occasional
drawings of vertical lines on the board, holding the chalk at
arm's length and producing the line slowly and steadily to a

56 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

length of two or three feet and then testing it with a plumb
line. Horizontal lines and lines to represent given slants
should also receive attention. It is of great importance that
these geometric relations should be thoroughly mastered so
that they may be used with facility. The mind has then
a developed appreciation of fundamental relations, and a
standard for estimating and comparing variations from these.

FIG. 14. Designs for bookmarks and valentine

Design. The general lines of work suggested for Grade I
continue through Grades II and III with higher stand-
ards of accomplishment. The problems involve planning
simple forms to be constructed and decorating them with
suitable ornamentation — such objects as holiday greetings
and souvenirs, bookmarks, valentines, covers for school
papers, etc. Fig. 14 shows bookmarks and a valentine.
The decorations may consist of units and borders, which
the children readily invent by placing pegs and lentils,

GRADES II AND III

* r. v

-•* *-» • r*

'•»• •»« •».

• .

•
•r •!•

FIG. 15. Surface patterns made of different arrangements of spots

afterwards selecting and drawing the best of these arrange-
ments (Fig. 15). The invention of the children at this age
can very easily be directed along the lines of good types of

58 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

design by the example of the teacher. Leadership which,
by example, directs inventive activities along right lines
at first, obviates the necessity of much of that correction
and verbal instruction which are sometimes necessary when
poor arrangements have become fixed in the mind.

The children should continue the rhythmic drawing of
borders by repeating units to a time count corresponding
somewhat to that of music. After the experience of the
first year they are usually able to use more difficult units,
to draw them with excellent spacing, and to apply them
in making decorative borders and simple surface patterns
upon the forms they have constructed, employing no other
measurements than those rapidly estimated by the eye as
the drawing proceeds. Fig. 16 shows the bowls of the
Three Bears, a parrot which had been a subject for form
study, and a flower, used as units.

During the second year the children learn readily to
discriminate hues of color more exactly than in the first
year, and to bring in samples or to pick out objects, the
colors of which are like the samples shown by the teacher.
In the third year they may with advantage learn to dis-
tinguish several steps in the different values of a given
color. The word " value " is used here to denote the rela-
tion of a color to light and dark. In this significance of the
term the value of a color changes as the color grows lighter
or darker. For example, if white is mixed with green the
resulting lighter green is higher in value. If black instead
of white is mixed with it, the resulting darker color is
lower in value than the original green. Children may col-
lect or be furnished with an abundance of color samples,
and after selecting those of one color hue, — for example,
blue, — arrange these so as to form a series of different

GRADES II AND III

values, ranging from light blues which are almost white to
those which approach black. In a similar manner they may
arrange value scales of other colors. Any great degree of
accuracy in these arrangements should not be demanded,
nor should the number of steps between the lightest
and darkest be so many that the children cannot readily

d 6 n

\j* \j[ \J

FIG. 16. Borders of units suggested by topics in different school studies

perceive the change from one step to another. Five steps
between lightest and darkest are sufficient to illustrate well
the effects of various values, while seven are as many as
can be appreciated by most children in these grades.

Many of the designs made by children call for color
combinations and give opportunity to use the effects of
different steps of value in pleasing combinations.

60 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Young children can use water color to excellent advan-
tage for the occasional experience of color effects, but they
are too young for any very intelligent handling of a medium
so capricious. During the first three years about all the
color expression that is valuable can be secured by collec-
tions of samples and by the use of colored crayons. The
disadvantages of postponing the regular use of water color
till the fourth year are probably more than compensated
for by the fresh stimulation from the introduction of a
new medium at that time, and by the fact that the results
obtained by primary children in water color, which are
admired by adults, are almost always chance effects caused
by the fluid character of the medium and were unforeseen
by the child. Experimentation with accidental color effects
has a definite value, but this value is perhaps greater when
the experimenter is somewhat more mature and less likely
to gain the idea that careless ventures which may turn out
to be pleasing are more worth while and likely to receive
greater recognition than purposeful effort.

A reasonable standard of accomplishment has been
reached if, at the end of the third year in school, the chil-
dren, in addition to increased facility in drawing, have also
added to their resources of expression a somewhat definite
knowledge of a few typical objects, gained by successive
lessons on the same topic, and have fixed in mind certain
fundamental geometric relations, such as vertical, perpen-
dicular, horizontal, and parallel, not as definitions but as
means of comprehending and expressing form ; if they have
developed their ability to embody ideas in materials, not
only as a result of increased skill of hand but also because
of the added power given by some command over such an
aid to accuracy, foresight, and economy as a foot rule ; if

GRADES II AND III 61

they have better ideas of good spacing and proportions, and
an increased pleasure in ability to distribute forms over a
surface in consistently related measures, and to discrimi-
nate qualities of color.

The stimulation of leadership and example of the teacher
continues to be a factor of the first importance in securing
these results.

CHAPTER V
GRADES IV AXD V

When children reach the fourth year in school the period
of satisfaction in the mere spontaneous play with drawing
and with constructive materials regardless of the quality
of the product is usually over. Ability in spoken and
written language has grown, and expression by drawing
and construction is resorted to less frequently except in
cases where language is not adequate. Children who at
an earlier period have been delighted in shaping lines and
forms which were a running accompaniment of their trains
of ideas now see things more objectively and are con-
scious of the technical shortcomings of their work to a
degree that robs it of its spontaneity.

The visitor to exhibitions of public-school work in man-
ual arts is usually impressed by the vigor and expres-
siveness of the productions of small children, and often
looks in vain in the work of upper grades for any adequate
fulfillment of the early promise. Indeed it is doubtful if
drawing and construction as means of general narrative
expression will ever again be of as great value as in pri-
mary grades. The function of manual arts becomes increas-
ingly specific as the school age advances and language
assumes its proper place as the most appropriate medium
of general expression.

Manual arts in these grades should awaken a pleasure
in the sort of work which requires sustained effort directed

GRADES IV AND V 63

toward a definite end. A well-organized course presents
problems to the children which are as specific as those in
mathematics. The solution of each of these problems means
a step toward some mastery of materials or methods, and
this mastery should be insured by work involving repeated
concentration upon the same problem in various forms till
the fundamental processes become matters of habit.

Interest in new projects is easily awakened, but that
interest which is aroused by carrying a project through
to completion after the first enthusiasm has passed is of
much slower growth, but is more trustworthy, and when
systematically developed becomes a motive that can be
relied upon. The attitude of mind towards the arts which
is awakened in the children in these grades seems largely
to determine the development of ability during the remain-
der of the school course.

The following suggestions for work in representation,
construction, and design emphasize the points in technical
development which the abilities of children seem to indi-
cate as particularly appropriate to these grades, and which
• are factors necessary to freedom of expression.

Representation. One of the most important technical
contributions which Grades IV and V can make to a child's
skill in drawing appears to be ability to represent general
proportions correctly. This more than anything else helps
him to realize his wish at this age, to make things "look
right." Children readily discern whether a drawing is
" too tall" or "too short" as compared with the object, and
they develop ability to estimate relative lengths of parts
with some degree of precision.

One of the most common methods of obtaining correct
proportions is to hold the pencil at arm's length so that it

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

appears to cover lines of the object to be drawn. Thus
one is enabled to use it as a measure of relative dimen-
sions. Aside from the fact that it is practically impossible
to teach young children to use this method with any
trustworthy results, the assistance obtained by such meas-
urements, even when they are skillfully taken, is of
extremely doubtful value. Progress in ability to draw cor-
rectly depends largely upon the power to compare visual
images and discern their likenesses and differences. Pencil

FIG. 17. Relative proportions of width and height

measurements substitute a mathematical computation for
this visual perception.

For example, in Fig. 17 the pupil can measure and
ascertain that the width of the top of the tumbler is two
thirds of the apparent height, and with this information
can plan his drawing correctly. On the other hand, if he
will indicate the top and bottom of his tumbler by lines of
indeterminate length, and place two splints to represent
the sides, moving them until the included shape satisfies
his eye, he will discover that he can thus determine the
proportions with great accuracy. If one looks at a, which

GRADES IV AND V 65

is the shape to be represented, and then at b, he sees imme-
diately that b is too narrow, while the image of a fits that
of c, and the similarity of proportions satisfies the eye.
The source of this satisfaction is not due to any confirma-
tion from a mathematical estimation that the proportions
of width and height are related as 2 to 3, but to an imme-
diate perception of correspondence of images. Discrimi-
nation along this line develops rapidly with exercise. In
Grades IV and V much should be done toward training
the eye to swift and unerring perception of the agreement
or disagreement of the shape of the drawing with that of
the object. Unless this is done, drawing will be as halt-
ing and uncertain as are mathematical processes when the
worker is not sure of the multiplication table.

Pencil measurements might be recommended as a final
verification, except for the fact that they are seldom so
reliable, even when carefully taken, as the visual percep-
tion which has received an amount of training equal to that
required in lower elementary grades for the mere process
of learning to take pencil measurements.

Occasional representation of objects by splints gives
excellent practice in judging proportions. A movement of
the splints gives opportunity to experiment with appear-
ances without the necessity of erasing lines. Such repre-
sentation is often a helpful introduction to drawing the
object with pencil.

In the drawing of a toy boat (Fig. 18), a child can be
led to' take great interest in representing the hull in proper
proportions, and in moving the pencil along the drawing
till it reaches the exact position where the mast should be
placed and then in showing how tall it should be to look
like the model. He is thus led to think where his line

66 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

should go before he draws it, and the cultivation of this
habit of procedure contributes largely to correct drawing.
A large part of the poor drawing found in schools is directly

FIG. 18. Child's drawing of a toy boat in correct proportions

traceable to a reversal of this method, namely, to drawing
a line thoughtlessly and then looking to see if it is right.
Children at this age seldom develop a habit of blocking in
the whole shape at first, especially in a group of objects.

GRADES IV AND V 67

That appears to be a method of analysis and synthesis
demanding more intellectual maturity than they possess.
They add part to part and so build up the result.

Perception of proportions often may be stimulated by
having pupils exchange drawings and indicate to each
other, by sketches or otherwise, how they think improve-
ments may be made. The child who habitually makes his
drawings too broad and heavy may with profit exchange
drawings and suggestions with the child who goes to the
opposite extreme. The instructor too often monopolizes this
valuable experience of correcting the drawings of others.

Constructed objects such as toys or implements offer
excellent opportunity for practice in representing correct
proportions. Nature drawings with pencil or with water
color or brush and ink call for careful representation of
shapes and of character of growth. Mechanical slowness
may be avoided by alternating rapid sketches which express
as much as possible by a few lines and brush strokes, with
drawings carried to completion by being worked over till
they are as correct as the pupil can make them.

A second appropriate topic for these grades is the study
of a few simple problems of appearance of objects in dif-
ferent positions, for example, one object beyond another,
or the same object turned at different angles. The solution
should constitute a definite piece of work for the pupil, and
should be sought by observation, by experimental sketches,
and by the collection and study of pictures which represent
such effects.

A more or less intensive study of a few topics in each
grade is necessary to progress in free use of drawing.
Abundance of knowledge regarding an object or a pictorial
effect tends to produce a willingness to express what is

68 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

known. The use of sketchbooks devoted to particular
subjects in their various aspects and details is an important
method of gaining pictorial data. The knowledge accumu-
lated by intensive study of a topic persists for a long time.

Construction. The most important advance in construc-
tive work which Grades IV and V can make, appears to
be along the line of ability and willingness to undertake
more careful preparation in the way of plans and patterns
before shaping the material for final construction. In addi-
tion an increase of skill in handling new implements and
more refractory materials, and a greater satisfaction in good
workmanship, should be evident.

Problems will vary with the conditions of given locali-
ties. Some instructors prefer to use constructive work as
a center for other subjects. Others plan a course to de-
velop appreciation of industries and occupations, and still
others choose as a basis for problems the immediate needs
and interests of school and home. Whichever line is em-
phasized, much of what is valuable in the rest may be
included, and in any case opportunity will be offered for
experimentation with plans and designs and for increased
mastery of tools and materials.

Some of the most valuable projects for these grades are
those involving patterns to be cut, folded, and pasted.
Continued use of the rule, with the addition of compasses
and 45° triangles, and more complete control of scissors
give the necessary mechanical ability. The children should
be enabled to plan and make picture mounts, lesson covers,
envelopes for various specified purposes, etc. With vellum,
binding papers, tape, paste, sewing linen, and a punch
cardboard work may be extended to include simple forms
of bookbinding, such as portfolios, sketchbooks, pocket

GRADES IV AND V

memorandum pads, notebooks, needlecases, book covers,
clipping files, etc. (Fig. 19).

Weaving is an occupation of universal interest during
these grades. It develops some acquaintance with textiles
and calls for knowledge of design and color. The looms
for small articles may be of the simplest construction, such

FIG. 19. Objects involving simple bookbinding processes, made by children
in Grades IV and V. The table was made by a pupil in Grade VIII

as can be made by the pupils themselves. Clay work in
tiles and simple pottery shapes is another valuable medium
of expression of form.

The sort of working drawing required in making patterns
acquaints children with this means of predetermining the
shape material shall take, and is the best sort of preparation
for later working drawings which represent three dimensions.
Some of the patterns should involve drawing to scale.

70 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

The great value of a relatively thorough mastery of the
type of pattern and construction involved in a given problem
should be recognized. For example, to make one or two
envelopes is a somewhat formal proceeding and arouses only
a passing interest. To understand the constructive problems
involved, so one can plan workable patterns and properly
construct envelopes to serve various purposes, from those
suited to hold street-car tickets to portfolio envelopes for
school work, implies much practice. To do this a child
must gain ability to see the finished result in terms of pat-
terns, and to know readily whether the pattern will work
or not. Incidentally he will have taken to pieces a number
of envelopes of different types to see how they are made,
and often will have exercised his ingenuity in modifying
types to suit his purposes. Familiarity with processes will
have done away with distractive technical hindrances and
opened the way for a child's powers of invention to have
free play under the influence of the stimulating realization
that he has skill to put his inventions into concrete form.
This result seldom comes when ideas are partially assimi-
lated and processes are uncertainly performed.

Simple forms of woodwork which can be done mostly with
the knife are well adapted to these grades, and give some
familiarity with the material, which is useful as an intro-
duction to bench work in upper grades. For most of this
work, thin wood which can easily be prepared in the rough
and does not require bench tools, is sufficient.

Among the projects most frequently suggested by the
children are pencil sharpeners, pen and pencil boxes, paper
cutters, brush and water-cup holders, string and fishing-line
winders, windmills, weather vanes, water wheels, games,
models for bridges, derricks, etc., toy carts, sleds, boats of

GRADES IV AND V 71

various kinds, kites, flying machines, tops, pin-hole cameras,
toy houses and furnishings, bird houses, etc.

Design. As a contribution toward progress in the two
phases of design before described, — first, free practice in
decorative arrangements for the sake of appreciation of
such elements of formal beauty as pleasingly related spaces
and harmonious forms, and secondly, designs for specific
purposes involving utilitarian as well as aesthetic considera-
tions, — Grades IV and V can easily develop skill in the
following lines.

1. Modification of natural forms for purposes of design.
If a child selects a form which he has already learned to
represent and draws it rapidly and repeatedly from memory,
he will soon reduce it to a symbol by elimination of all but
a few selected lines. This symbol will tend to become fixed
by repetition and will gain a certain individuality of style
as handwriting does. When this form is learned so that it
can be drawn easily from memory it can be used as a unit
for repetition in borders and also over a surface, as, for
example, a wall paper for a doll's house, a book cover, end
papers for books, etc. Modification of forms for decorative
treatment may also be obtained by repeating them under
the limitations imposed by certain materials, for example,
by squared paper, the weaves of basketry and fabrics, cross-
stitch, etc. (Fig. 20).

2. Planning designs for specific purposes. The most
important question in design is not how much can be in-
cluded in the space but what is the best distribution of
appropriate material. This can be emphasized at first by
furnishing the elements and leaving to the children only
the problem of the disposition of these given elements, which
at this age is quite sufficient.

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

For example, if the object to be ornamented is a rug, a
folder, or a box cover, the elements of decoration may well
be limited at first to a plain band for a border. The pupils

FIG. 20. Bird forms adapted to cross-stitch and to basketry

can experiment by means of splints or other material which
will represent bands and can easily be moved to give the
effects of different widths of margins and of border lines.

GRADES IV AND V

They can thus determine the spacing which produces the
most pleasing effect.

Suppose the problem is to choose the spacing for two
strips across a rug which is to be woven. If the chil-
dren cut patterns of the rug and place two splints or
pencils or strips of paper across to represent the stripes,
and move these back and forth to see the effect of differ-
ent spacings, experiments have shown that they will gener-
ally select as the final choice an arrangement not greatly

FIG. 21. Border designs for rugs made by different arrangements of lines

different from the proportions shown in Fig. 21, which
are pleasing.

After children can space a simple border well, the com-
binations may be made more varied by a study of the best
effects of borders composed of two or three lines of varying
widths. Later the children should experiment with the
possibilities of modifications of the borders to form decora-
tive corners or accents (Fig. 22).

The simple decoration of constructed forms and the spac-
ing of printing on covers for school work, the planning of
margins, titles, etc., so that language, spelling, and arithme-
tic papers may present a good appearance, furnish appro-
priate problems. In all these cases the results depend for

THE NEEDLE BOOK

J 1

y — u

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B==XI

Ek A

••»••

THE K.EV RACK,

O O O O O

o o o o o

f N

O O O O O J

k Ji

r o o

o ol foo o o oj

O O O O O

1°

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O O J

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FIG. 22. Border designs with simple modifications for corners

Reproduced by permission of the School Arts Book

GRADES IV AND V

their effect upon well-related spaces. Fig. 23 shows a design
for a match scratcher, involving well-chosen proportions.

By limiting the elements which children are allowed to
use, attention is concentrated upon an attempt to make
the best possible ar-
rangement of what
is given. The abil-
ity, which is apparent
at about this age, to
appreciate good spac-
ing should be devel-
oped from year to
year till it becomes
unerringly discrimi-
nating. Thoughtful
experimentation with
a few elements is
an effective method
of developing this
ability.

Children are read-
ily interested in the
collecting of designs
similar to those which
they themselves are
making. These col-
lections are always
valuable in widening the acquaintance of the children with
the general use of design and in presenting suggestions for
new decorative combinations. Fig. 24 shows a collection of
corner modifications of borders, gathered from magazines,
advertisements, etc.

FIG. 23. Design for a match scratcher, in-
volving well-chosen proportions of margins

76 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

In the fourth year in school, children can use water
color intelligently for matching the hues of objects, for
learning what effects the different pigments produce when
mixed, and for representing simple color effects. They
should also learn how to make even flat washes of color
over given areas. In addition to matching colors, special

FIG. 24. Border and corner designs collected from magazines and
advertisements

training in discriminating color tones may be given by hav-
ing pupils make, in water color, samples showing several
definite steps in values of each color and in hues intermedi-
ate between two given colors. For example, by painting
a patch of pure blue, and then other patches of blue increas-
ingly diluted, and still others where more and more black
is mixed with blue, a number of tones will be obtained
showing the range of values of blue from pure blue to

GRADES IV AND V 77

white and also to black through successive gradations. By
placing on these patches a small circular or oblong pattern
about one and a half inches or two inches across, and trac-
ing around it and cutting out the shapes, a number of col-
ored samples uniform in size will be secured, from which
children can select a few, perhaps five, which make equal
intervals of value from the lightest to the darkest. These
mounted in a row form a scale of values of the given color.
Graded steps of hue between any two given colors, for
example, yellow and blue, may be made by painting first a
patch of pure yellow and then others, each with more blue
and less yellow, till pure blue is reached. By such practice
children become acquainted with the behavior of colors as
they ascend toward white or descend toward black or be-
come modified by other colors. They also develop a dis-
crimination of intervals of color and of light and dark
which is of great importance in problems of representation
and of design.

A reasonable standard of accomplishment has been reached
at the end of the fifth year in school, when to the increased
facility in graphic expression, which comes from continued
general practice and from intensive study of a few forms,
has been added definite training in quick perception of
proportions of shapes and slants of lines, so that the mind
is able to retain the image of the object and compare it with
that of the representation and to discern the correspondences
and differences ; when children bring to their constructive
expression such acquaintance with new tools as gives them
new mastery of material, and such knowledge of patterns
as enables them to think out processes and forecast results
more definitely and intelligently; and when they find in-
creased pleasure in well-related spaces, in the best solution

78 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

of simple problems in design, and in the greater familiarity
with color that comes from continued study, aided by the
addition of a new medium of expression in the form of
water color.

CHAPTER VI
GRADE VI

Children in Grade VI have generally readied a stage of
maturity where they are able to enjoy working with sus-
tained purpose for a result that requires a considerable
length of time for its realization and that demands thought-
ful and somewhat complicated planning. They take pride
in attaining a good standard of workmanship in what they
produce, and find satisfaction in its usefulness, even though
that usefulness is for the benefit of society at large and
not directly for themselves. An appreciation of the beauty
of well-related proportions is increasingly apparent. Chil-
dren at this age will occupy themselves industriously with
problems of design that demand, as a book cover does, the
experimental arranging of title, ornament, and other ele-
•ments until the space relations are most pleasing. In
representation the children desire a knowledge of how to
picture objects so that they will appear to be real and con-
vincing, or, in the case of diagrams or drawings relating to
the sciences, to make such records as will convey trust-
worthy information.

All these attitudes toward the manual arts are often
evident earlier than the sixth year in school, but at this
time they furnish sufficiently strong motives to lead the
children to sustained effort for the sake of solving a problem
in representation or of mastering tools and processes as a
means of freedom and sureness in execution.

80 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Perhaps the most significant attitude of mind character-
istic of children in Grade VI is the awakening of the desire
to be connected with the activities of the outside world
and to do something worth while. Life in the country
offers abundant occasions for such occupations. Each child
as he comes to suitable age can assume some responsibility,
the meeting of which contributes directly to the welfare
of the family. The garden, the woodpile, the poultry yard,
the kitchen, give concrete opportunities in which the rela-
tions to family welfare are immediate and evident.

In large towns and cities outlets for activities which make
the boy or girl a responsible contributing factor in the social
system are not so obvious. Products are bought ready-made.
Children come to regard things as the equivalents of money,
rather than of labor and skill. Moreover, the providing of
all school supplies by the town or city often presents, with
its evident advantages, the disadvantage of leading children
to feel that the municipality is an impersonal, inexhaustible
source of supply. In Grade VI appear also symptoms of
that deflection of children from schools into industries which
reaches its height at the end of Grade VIII (see Fig. 1,
p. 13). The fact confronts us that about two thirds of all
children leave school by the end of the eighth grade and go
to work. As has been already pointed out, the seriousness
of this situation is found in the fact that these children are
too young to enter vocations which call for skill or offer
opportunity for • development. Such occupations as those
of errand boys and cash girls are typical of what is open
to children in the cities. The majority appear to drift
about with no industrial interests or vocational outlook
and take whatever pays best. They spend important form-
ative years in employment which offers slight prospects of

GRADE VI 81

advancement. This experience tends to produce an unfor-
tunate attitude toward work as something which contains
within itself no interest nor scope for realizing ambitions.
A small proportion of the children will rise in spite of these
conditions, but not the majority, unless vocational interests
and right attitudes toward work are awakened before they
leave school.

The educational system, with its high schools and its
growing number of technical schools, offers increasingly ex-
cellent opportunities for those who will remain. The appal-
lingly large proportion who do not remain makes pertinent
the question as to whether schools completely fulfill their
function by providing advanced opportunity for those who
will take it; or whether, in addition, elementary schools
ought not to give a training planned definitely to awaken
industrial interests and to promote industrial efficiency and
thus satisfy the desire to begin to do something worth while
and to have a part in the world's activities. The final form
which this training will take must be determined by wide
experimentation ; but the evident need that children should
•have a part in some work which develops a realization of
the interdependence of individuals in modern civilization
and of the responsibility of each, of the fact that what
the municipality furnishes is produced or supplied by its
individual inhabitants, and of the meaning of industrial
life, gives some hints of the lines along which experiments
should be tried.

One promising suggestion proposed to meet this problem
is that the time allotted to handwork in Grades VI, VII, and
VIII should be increased to at least five hours a week, the
extra time being taken from the special time given to draw-
ing and arithmetic, these activities being embodied in the

82 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

constructive work, and that a part of this time be devoted
to making material which the city or town uses in its school-
supply department. In this way a utilitarian standard of
technical excellence would be furnished and at the same
time financial complications would be avoided. Since the
city can buy these materials in the market at any time, the
projects may be changed frequently enough to escape a
too mechanical routine. Such work would frankly under-
take the production of articles in quantity, and by such
industrial methods as division of labor and organization
of a system by which poor work might be traced to its
producer.

While such work should never interfere with domestic
science and household art for girls, and may not soon super-
sede what is now known as manual training for boys, it may
at least share the time with the latter, and it possesses certain
important educational advantages. For example, supposing
the project to be the supplying of classes with portfolios or
sketchbooks ; if each boy in the class completes one, and
then the class is divided into groups and each group per-
forms a single operation, the great economy in time and
material and the consequent increase in producing power
are at once evident. These are important items in indus-
trial education. Moreover, the repetition of a process, if not
too long continued, instead of dulling the mind, awakens it
to invent devices for performing these processes more rap-
idly and accurately. All danger of automatic routine may
be avoided by the use of good judgment as to when the
process shall be changed.

The interest shown by such a class when the school-
supply team calls to take the product has proved that the
motive of personal ownership is not necessary at this age as

GRADE \rr 83

an inducement to do good work.1 These contributions made
by the pupils to the system which is giving so much to them
readily awaken a new appreciation of school material in gen-
eral and of all public property and its relation to individuals.
Work such as this may be an important factor in civic edu-
cation for all, while to the boy who goes early into indus-
trial employment it gives a realization that any process to
which he is assigned is part of a whole. This realization is
likely to awaken a demand on his part to know and master
the whole. It is not unreasonable to hope that such " work
teaching," which awakens interest in effective ways of doing
things, may bring discontent with unskilled occupations and
a desire for more thorough industrial and technical training.

It is not unlikely that future experiments will prove that
where a suitable amount of time in elementary schools is
devoted to gaining experience with industrial methods
applied to appropriate problems which contribute to the
good of the commonwealth, the results, in terms of appre-
ciation of the relation of material products to human skill
and effort, will not only be of practical value to a part of
the population but will be also an element of broad culture
for all, whatever their vocations may be.

In connection with the regular school program the follow-
ing suggestions for work in representation, construction,
and design emphasize the phases which the abilities of the
children seem to indicate as particularly appropriate to
Grade VI.

Representation. The use of drawing as a means of plain
description should continue in connection with other school

1 These considerations are based largely on the results of experiments
tried in Boston by Professor Frank M. Leavitt and described in detail by
him in the Manual Training Magazine for June, 1908.

84 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

subjects. On the merely teclmical side the work of Grades
IV and V should have developed a habit of keen observa-
tion and correct representation of relative proportions and
slants of lines in the objects drawn. That of Grade VI
should continue definitely along these lines by develop-
ing a habit of thinking out the directions and limits of
lines before they are drawn, by carrying the brush or
pencil over the paper experimentally in the path the line
is to take.

In this grade a greater differentiation in styles of draw-
ing is called for to meet different needs. Each subject will
readily suggest the methods of drawing which are most
appropriate. For example, maps and routes call for plain
explanatory drawing in which correct proportions are a
necessary framework with which no freedom can be taken.
Children readily appreciate this fact and are interested to
draw routes which a stranger might depend upon in finding
his way about town. The following quotation from a school
paper describes a method of interpreting relative proportions
in terms of a diagram (Fig. 25).

We hope you will he pleased with our plans of Historical Rox-
bury. We have had great fun making them. We walked to the places
and counted our steps and wrote down on a piece of paper how many
steps it was to each place. Then Miss — — helped us plan it out on
a scale of 270 steps to an inch. All the places are within ten minutes'
walk of the school.

Accurate representation of a different sort is called for
when drawing is used in connection with nature study.
In this case another element enters in, because plant forms
involve proportions and shapes which present not only
facts of structure but also elements of beauty in the shapes
which the structure assumes. Exquisite representations of

GRADE VI

HISTORICAL R3\BlflY

^f FRANK BENSON.

I 5) T£ 0 P OLD F 0 RT
:" GA"RRlS0N HOUSE" "7 5(rr or
.3 r E H/UE HCUSC S- VVARRTINJ -BlT?TH
H

£LIOT 50. CHURCH 10 MCMROE HOUSE.
OfRYlNf 6. ft G-£N.BW)L£1 HOUSf.

FIG. 25. A child's uriginal map

plant shapes appear when the plant is held in the sun-
light so as to throw its shadow on a piece of paper and
the child stands where he can see only the shadow. He
finds the structure of stems, the shapes of large masses,
the foreshortening of leaves and flowers, and the delicacy of

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

grasses and thistledown translated into terms of black and
white. Equally perfect records may be made by placing
plant forms upon blue-print paper and exposing them in
a printing frame to the sun. The plant prints its shape
upon the paper in a few minutes and the image may be

FIG. 26. Prints from plant forms

made permanent by washing in water (Fig. 26). These
interpretations are often a greater incentive to representa-
tion of beautiful details than the best verbal instruction.
Brush and ink give results that look like shadows, and the
child is stimulated by this evident similarity in effect to
try to equal the perfection of the actual shadow or print
of the plant he is studying (Fig. 27).

GRADE VI

With water color the children can learn to match the
colors of objects and discriminate between tones of color,
as, for example, the greens of the upper and the under
side of leaves.

Another subject appropriate to Grade VI is the study of
a few simple objects to show how each appears in several
positions ; for example, a leaf or flower held at various an-
gles (Fig. 28), or a toy or implement turned successively

FIG. 27. Brush drawings of plants

in a number of directions. A topic such as this presents a
definite problem for solution.

Children of this age usually make small drawings when
following their own inclinations, while much time is spent
by instructors in the attempt to lead them to draw large.
Before regarding as wholly a fault the natural tendency to
make somewhat contracted drawings, it is well to consider
the small size of a great proportion of the trial sketches by
men who drew with much expression, as did J. F. Millet,
John La Farge, and many of the early Italian masters. In
many cases the final pictures appear to have been enlarged
from the first small sketches.

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

FIG. 28. Drawings of leaves at different angles

The need of mathematical comparison of proportions is
greatly increased with the increased size of the drawing.
When the drawing is small the eye sees it as a whole and
makes comparisons readily. The eye seems to translate

GRADE VI 89

shapes most easily and directly when the size of the draw-
ing approaches that which would result if a transparent
plane were held between the eye and the object, at the
same distance from the eye as was the paper when the draw-
ing was made, and the object traced upon the plane. Under
these circumstances it is not necessary to change the scale
of the visual impression.

Much earnest mental 'effort as well as manual practice is
necessary if children learn to draw with any degree of cor-
rectness. Careless drawing is easy, but serves no valuable
utilitarian or aesthetic end, and, if allowed, begets a certain
contempt for the subject. Correct drawing is difficult of
attainment and the effort is more than play, but if the work
is well organized and undertaken in earnest, truthful de-
lineation grows to be a habit. This habit should be estab-
lished early. Children who learn to represent things as
they are, gain a knowledge of form which enables them to
justify their courage when they venture to alter the actual
to conform to their ideal. Attempts at poetic expression
in half-mastered terms are beset with difficulties.

Construction. A desire to produce things which have a
definite use, and a willingness to spend time mastering new
tools so that they may be utilized as an added means of
dealing with material, are characteristic of this grade. The
making of simple mechanical apparatus, such as is involved
in the manufacture of certain toys, and the production of
things that are of evident use in the school and home are
especially appropriate to this grade.

In planning courses in woodworking, Grade VI, in most
localities, seems to be the suitable place for introducing
children to bench work. This involves the use of tools
which demand strength and skill, and should come at a

90 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

time when the stimulus of new material and of the means
of handling it is especially effective.

Two ways of organizing woodwork have been evident
during the history of manual training. One prescribes a
series of forms involving constructive elements and proc-
esses so arranged that there is a graded progression in
difficulty and complexity. In some cases the problems are
isolated parts of construction, given for the purpose of de-
veloping technique without regard to any use to which the
result shall be put, as in the Russian system. In other
cases the results are objects which will be of use, but are
so chosen as to insure a logical progress in the order of
tools and processes involved.

The other method of organizing woodwork is based on the
theory that a constructive problem in its entirety involves
three steps. First, a choice is made of an object suggested
by a need for it, so definite in character that the conditions
furnish the worker with a means of reasoning out just
what the size, form, and construction of the object should
be in order best to fulfill the needs of the case. For ex-
ample, if the object is a bird house, its shape, the size of
the door, and other details will be determined definitely
by knowing the habits and size of the bird for which it
is to be built and the locality in which it is to be placed.
Secondly, after ideas of the object in its completed form
are clearly defined, the most fitting method of construc-
tion is reasoned out and patterns or working drawings
are made which show the number of parts needed and
their exact shape and size. In this way the greater part of
the constructive thinking is done beforehand in terms of
drawings and patterns, so that work in material may be
predetermined and not experimental. Thirdly, the tools

GRADE VI 91

needed and the knowledge of how to use them should be
provided as necessity arises.

Woodwork with bench tools is in itself so interesting,
and at the same time so suggestive of world activities, that
however it may be presented, there is seldom any lack of
enthusiasm on the part of the children. In fact, every
system of woodwork cites as testimony to its suitability
the great interest it arouses in the children.

Children trained by the first method are likely to develop
a definite consciousness of ability to deal with material and
a pride in excellent construction, but tend to be somewhat
lacking in power to plan and to design. Generally the ma-
jority of a given class produce good work. Those trained
by the second method have excellent opportunity to develop
judgment and ability to plan how conditions may be met,
but often the majority of a given class fail in the technical
skill required to put their ideas into creditable material form.
In actual experience elementary-school pupils can seldom
plan perfectly beforehand, and need some experimentation
with material, which often modifies the first plans. Usually
only a few produce good results.

In practice a combination of the two methods is gen-
erally followed. The children begin with given models by
means of which the class can be taught as a whole, and
attain a degree of mastery of certain tools. After a year
or two those who show sufficient skill to justify undertak-
ing individual projects are allowed to do so. Frequently
the teclmical ability developed, leads the children to under-
take projects of their own outside of school hours. By
means of class lessons a standard of workmanship is main-
tained, and the desire to produce an independent piece
of work acts as a strong stimulus. A class model, while

92 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

requiring the same processes of all pupils, need not result in
mechanical uniformity. Fig. 29 shows the variety of design
available in so common a stock model as the pen tray.

With the introduction of bench tools it is important to
realize that a somewhat complete mastery of one implement
and process after another is ultimately necessary to any

FIG. 29. A set of designs for pen trays

freedom of expression. In his consideration of the interest
of children in the practical outcome of their individual
projects, the instructor should not forget that other interest
which discovers itself to the person who finds his hand ad-
justing itself to a tool which is becoming increasingly obe-
dient. This new sensation often leads a boy to continue
planing a piece of wood till he has forgotten its use and
has gone past the line, in the pleasure of feeling the blade

GRADE VI 93

cut with perfect evenness. The contribution to enjoyment
and efficiency made by this satisfaction in complete mastery
of a process should not be underestimated.

In this grade girls should gain some systematic acquaint-
ance with one or both of the characteristic activities of
American households, cooking and sewing. The children
are old enough to understand and feel that they are genu-
inely helpful in some of the simpler forms of cooking, such
as the preparation of cereals and certain vegetables, etc. ;
and in the related household activities, such as the use of
the kitchen equipment, the proper setting and clearing of
the table, the washing of dishes, and the care of rooms. In
sewing they may be taught simple stitches, useful and or-
namental, the method of holding the cloth, and the use of
measurements, simple patterns, and sketches. Doll's clothes
and the simpler processes in garments will offer opportunity
to use this knowledge. The constructive work for both
boys and girls should bring them into sympathetic contact
with industries in the home and neighborhood.

Design. The two phases of design before described, namely,
that of free practice with decorative forms and that of plan-
ning objects to meet given conditions, should continue.
One of the important contributions which free practice
may make is the interpretation of forms into arrangements
of bilateral symmetry. This is one of the simplest types of
balance and one which children readily appreciate.

Children at this age easily develop considerable facility
in drawing simple units at the board with both hands at
the same time. After a little practice both hands move
apparently to one impulse, though the action of the left
hand is the reverse of that of the right. When a form
has been learned it can be drawn readily in this way, and

94 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

occasional practice of this sort gives the children a feeling
of bilateral balance more vivid than can be obtained when
the drawing of both sides is made with one hand. The
possibilities of mechanical duplication in reverse are many.
Some of them, if used with a realization of their limitations,
serve to stimulate experimentation and to suggest new
ideas. For example, the decorative effect of duplicating
forms in reverse, even those that are less often studied for
decorative possibilities, as handwriting, may be seen by
making the form with a soft pencil and then folding the
paper over the form and rubbing it. The image will be
transferred faintly and needs only the strengthening of the
lines to complete the balance. Folding paper over a blot
of ink and pressing it will often produce interesting bilat-
eral forms, the suggestions of which may be developed
and perfected. In general these fortuitous productions are
valuable only as occasional stimulations.

In the second field of design the most valuable opportu-
nities are generally found in connection with the projects
of constructive work and of the household arts. As in
Grade V, the best results in decoration are usually obtained
by limiting a problem to the most pleasing disposition of a
few elements. At this age an appeal may be made directly
to a feeling of {esthetic pleasure. The question, " Which
looks best?" generally calls forth thoughtful replies. Good
judgment in the matter of areas and relative proportions
appears to be developed most rapidly by much experimen-
tation in placing the elements of design to determine what
arrangement produces the greatest satisfaction. For exam-
ple, in planning the printing on a book cover, such steps as
the following make it certain that the child thinks out the
problem first in terms of spatial relations.

GRADE VI 95

Place the ruler or pencil across the sheet of paper which
is to be the cover and move it up and down to determine
where the title will look best (Fig. 30, A). Mark the posi-
tion chosen and place two pencils across this area. Move
them toward and away from the center till the inclosed
space seems the best length for the title (Fig. 30, 5).
Modify the space so that the letters will be of a suitable
height, and print the title to fill the rectangle exactly.1

A s

FIG. 30. Method of choosing the most pleasing position for a cover title

Where the design embodies two elements, as a title and
monogram, or adds a third, as a border, the experiments
may be carried on easily by means of splints and shapes
of paper.

The cause of pleasure in those dispositions of the ele-
ments which trained judgment calls good appears to lie in
the consistent relation of measures. Combinations which
are entirely satisfactory can be approximately calculated

1 For suggestions as to printing within a given space, see Fig. 40, p. 123.

96 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

mathematically. The method of calculation, although of
much interest to the scientist, appears to be of no value in
developing aesthetic appreciation in children. On the other
hand, the method which consists in the comparison and con-
templation of tentative arrangements usually results in a
ready response in terms of pleasure when a fine adjustment
of spaces is obtained. The aptitude of the majority of chil-
dren for immediate perception, of pleasing arrangements,
when the terms of the problem are wisely selected and
defined, is an encouragement to the teacher who seeks to
develop good taste in matters of design.

Continued use of water color should develop ability to
discriminate colors more accurately. The children should
learn to mix paints so as to match any given sample or
produce any desired color. In addition to matching colors,
a special study of color intensities will aid discrimination.
This may be carried on by having the children select some
color, for example, blue, and paint a spot of as intense a
blue as the paints will produce, and another spot of gray
which is the same value as the blue, that is, neither lighter
nor darker, but such a gray as would be obtained by pho-
tographing the blue with a plate that rendered the colors
in their true relative values. They may then paint other
spots, each time mixing an increasing amount of gray with
the blue, so that the spots approach gray without becom-
ing lighter or darker. From these spots three may be
selected, which, with the blue and gray, form a series of
five equally graded steps of intensity. In a similar manner
charts of different intensities of other spectrum colors may
be made. These charts will aid in discriminating the rela-
tive intensity of colors in nature which the children are
attempting to match.

GRADE VI 97

A reasonable standard of accomplishment has been
reached at the end of the sixth year, if drawing has grown
to be more correct and expressive because each line is
thoughtfully drawn and form is better understood ; if rep-
resentations of objects show more adequately the charac-
teristics, proportions, and positions of these objects ; and
if the children have become familiar with the use of the
more common industrial tools and have begun to make
things which appeal to them as worth while as a contribu-
tion to general or individual needs. In design an important
end has been achieved if they are able to plan simple con-
structive problems so that the results are not only adequate
to the purpose but pleasing in general proportions, if they
have gained an acquaintance with some of the decorative
possibilities of bilaterally symmetrical arrangements, and
also if ability to match colors and to discriminate between
different tones is increased.

CHAPTER VII
GRADES VII AND VIII

Instructors in manual arts during the earlier school years
should make certain that the children who reach Grades
VII and VIII have already mastered certain fundamental
processes and have overcome elementary technical difficul-
ties. The children will then have confidence and skill to
undertake projects appropriate to their widening interests,
and will possess a stimulating sense of ability to think out
the solutions and use materials and implements to work
out the results.

In these grades children show an interest in concentrating
whatever knowledge they can gather and all the skill they
can command upon increasingly specific problems. This
leads to a close study of conditions and often to observation
of the ways employed by skilled workers, and it results in
careful selection from among many possible methods and
materials, of those most suitable to the particular end in
view. For example, in constructive or diagrammatic draw-
ing, children who have previously learned to sketch pat-
terns and draw to scale are now interested in seeing how
such drawings are used in actual industrial processes, and
what are the devices and conventions employed to illus-
trate particular details and characteristics. In representa-
tion children are interested in working out the best means
for portraying particular effects and in trying the results
of different sorts of technique. They will experiment with

GRADES VII AND VIH 99

a particular topic, for example, rectangular solidity, and
learn how to represent rectangular forms in any position
and to draw them from imagination so that they appear
well constructed. In woodwork, agriculture, sewing, cook-
ing, etc., these pupils show a similar readiness to under-
take individual projects which necessitate knowledge, skill,
and persistency, and they display enthusiasm in seeking
data regarding the work and in perfecting their skill in its
processes.

The technical elements of the work in these grades as
well as its prevocational aspect render instruction by special
teachers more necessary than in previous years.

The following suggestions relate to phases which seem
especially worth emphasizing.

Representation. The most valuable work in these grades
appears to be a continuation of the common use of draw-
ing as a means of explanation and description, and also
a somewhat thorough training in representing the geo-
metric solidity of rectangular and curvilinear objects of
three dimensions and the beauty of structure and shape
of natural forms.

The descriptive drawing will show the extent to which
drawing has become a practical means of expression. Skill
in this conversational use of drawing does not come from
slowly and carefully finished work. It is gained only by
practice in rapid sketching. On the other hand, rapid
descriptive drawing tends to become superficial unless
supplemented by some serious and painstaking representa-
tion. Memory and imaginative drawing should receive
consideration, as ability in this line is necessary to ready
expression of ideas. In the case of some children, imagina-
tive drawing readily takes the form of pictorial compositions,

100 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

while with others it consists in the representation of things
they propose to construct.

Children in these grades should have opportunity for
much use of these three modes of representation, especially
in connection with subjects which call definitely for one
or another of these means of interpretation. For example,
incidental blackboard descriptions or sketch notes in con-
nection with arithmetic, geography, or history are often of
little value unless they can be made quickly and with a
few strokes. Children frequently lack power to make such
sketches because it is sometimes mistakenly supposed that
practice in slowly finished work will give this ability. Facil-
ity with this sort of graphic expression should not be left
to chance, but should constitute a definite aim. Nature
study, physics, and constructive work, on the other hand,
demand a closer adherence to certain facts of form, a clear
understanding of details of structure, and accurate records
of observation which cannot be hastily sketched or ade-
quately shown by a few strokes of the pencil. The children
appreciate the needs of the case in hand and can be led
readily to adopt the style of drawing which suits the occa-
sion. Rapid sketching is learned only by sketching rapidly ;
ability in exact delineation comes only by making exact rep-
resentations ; and facility in expressing ideas is developed
only through drawing from memory and imagination. The
sort of undifferentiated drawing from objects, which so often
constitutes the larger part of the special work in drawing,
will not produce that facility in all three lines which is so
valuable an asset.

When interest in any topic is awakened, the appro-
priate method of drawing is brought into use naturally.
The children make rapid notes for general suggestions

GRADES VII AND VIII

101

and careful studies for data. The habit of using sketch-
books should be definitely established. Such books become
valued possessions, full of material which contributes to
the subject in hand. Usually the children can be led to
add to their own sketches a collection of pictures from
magazines, papers, and other sources, related to the subject.
Fig. 31 shows cover and pages from a boy's sketchbook.

STREET
SCENES

• m$

FIG. 31. Pages from a boy's sketchbook

The cumulative results of a series of efforts to under-
stand and represent a simple object or effect will be evident
after a succession of lessons where attention at each step
is concentrated upon a single definite aspect of the thing
under consideration. The problems of each lesson are thus
made clear for both instructor and pupil and furnish, what
is greatly needed in courses in drawing, a well-understood
goal of effort and standard of accomplishment.

102 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

For example, in nature drawing the following steps
illustrate successive phases which might be considered in
different lessons.

1. Free drawings with brush and ink to represent with
a few strokes the growth and general character. Here the
whole attention is focused upon salient characteristics
(Fig. 32, A).

2. Representation of a flower and a leaf turned at different
angles (Fig. 32, #).

3. Careful drawings of details of structure, such as the
exact shape of a petal, the construction and outline of a
flower or leaf, and the fine curvature of a stem. These
should be drawn with a pencil which is hard and sharp
enough to record facts. The purpose here is not a pictur-
esque result but an accurate record of such facts as would
be used for a science notebook or for material for design
(Fig. 32, C).

4. Matching in color the exact hue of petals, stem, upper
and under sides of leaves, etc.

5. Use of the forms as elements in design, as in a border
for embroidery or a unit for decoration of a cover for nature-
study papers, etc.

A similar opportunity for concentration upon a single topic
for a considerable period of time is found in landscape draw-
ing in connection with geography. Suppose the country un-
der consideration is Holland. A large drawing may be begun
upon the board and this may be modified or added to from
time to time as the children obtain additional data or more
definite knowledge of the subject matter. Meanwhile each
child may start a drawing of his own on a sheet of paper.
At first perhaps the results may be meager and include
only a few suggestions of the country, such as a horizontal

GRADES VII AND VIII 103

line to represent its level character and crude suggestions
of canals and windmills. Collections of pictures and the
hints gathered from descriptions will immediately furnish
new material. One group of pupils may be assigned to
gather pictures of canals and learn how to represent them
so they appear to stretch away into the distance. Another
group may collect data regarding the appearance of wind-
mills, and still others may study canal boats, houses, and
other items relating to Holland. Day by day the picture on

v /

FIG. 32. Different kinds of plant drawing

the board will evolve and old drawings be replaced by new
ones which are more adequate. The individual sketches
will give opportunity for original compositions. Children
will be encouraged to practice on particular effects till they
have mastered them.

Moods of nature furnish equally interesting subjects; for
example, autumn, twilight, storm, sunshine, etc. In the case
of poetical effects such as these, the children should sup-
plement their own attempts with collections of illustrations
of the topic in hand, made from all available sources, and

104 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

they should at the same time become acquainted with some
related literary descriptions. ^Esthetic appreciation is more
likely to be developed by interpreting familiar subjects than
by searching for the traditionally picturesque.

The representation of geometric solidity is of especial
importance to the student of constructive work, and is one
which appeals to children at an early age. One favorite juve-
nile method is to draw two rectangles which partly overlap
and connect the corners. The result appears like a trans-
parent solid (Fig. 33, A). Children soon discover what lines
to erase in such a figure so that one appears to be looking
down upon it or up at it (Fig. 33, ^). They readily learn
that three lines furnish a key to the structure and position
of the box and that the other lines follow respectively the
general directions of these (Fig. 33, (7). Their first attempts
at completing the box are frequently like Fig. 33, Z>, but
practice in treating this figure as a problem in construction,
by trimming down the top and sides till these are satisfactory
representations of rectangular faces, soon results in a con-
vincing picture of a rectangular solid. The children are then
ready to experiment with different slants of the first three
key lines to see the effect in changing the apparent position
of the solid ( Fig. 33, E and .F). Nothing seems so readily
to develop ability to represent rectangular solidity and to
draw from actual objects as progressive work in this con-
structive drawing from imagination. Any elaborate study
of the principles of formal perspective, such as the conver-
gence of retreating lines or the relation of the object to the
level of the eye, does not seem to be necessary or helpful
at this time.

The children learn later to discover in more complex
constructed objects the few lines which show the position

FIG. 33. Studies in the representation of rectangular solidity
105

106

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

and structure, and by means of these to determine the
directions of others, and thus find the solution of somewhat
complicated problems of representation. They proceed with
their drawing of objects as if they were actually construct-
ing them. For example, in drawing a chair, the same series
of structural lines suggested in the drawing of a box gives a
means of reducing to system the more numerous lines of the
chair, which if unrelated would prove confusing. In Fig. 34

FIG. 34. The relation of the lines of rectangular objects to three key lines

the lines marked 1, 2, and 3 furnish the key to the direction
of most of the others. If these are determined in the right
proportion and at the right angles, the general structure
may easily be completed. All slants extending upward to
the left are determined by 1, and all to the right by 2.

The closed book in Fig. 34 represents a distorted outline
frequently drawn by children, and within this outline the
correct appearance arrived at by drawing lines to correspond
with the key lines, 1, 2, and 3.

GRADES VII AND VIII 107

This does not mean that all the slants are parallel to 1
or 2. In fact the lines appear to converge as they extend
away from the observer, but when some facility in repre-
senting rectangular objects in different positions has been
gained and the eye grows accustomed to interpreting draw-
ings, it will be found that the attempt to make the shapes
look right results in an approximation to the proper con-
vergence. This method of approach to perspective differs
from that which begins with discussions of the relations of
the object to data external to itself, such as the level of the
eye and the vanishing points of retreating lines, in that it
aims to develop the trustworthiness of the testimony of the
eye concerning actual appearances before attempting to
make deductions regarding these appearances from a theory
based upon external and usually invisible data. The mak-
ing of such deductions is valuable as a means of checking
up results after the visual perceptions can be depended
upon, but it is doubtful if these conditions can be fully
attained before children arrive at the high-school age.

The same general principles hold regarding the repre-
sentation of curvilinear objects, such as a glass or a bowl.
The question most full of descriptive suggestion is not,
" How far below the level of the eye is this glass ? "
-but " How far can one see into it ? " The line answering
this question establishes the curve which determines all
related circles (Fig. 35, A and 5).

By means of sketches each child should construct such
forms on paper with the pencil, comparing and modifying
them until their appearance satisfies his eye. He should do
this till he forgets that he is working in two dimensions
and feels instead that he is shaping these forms in all three.
He should not think of his foreshortened circle as an ellipse,

FIG. 35, A
108

I J

FIG. 35, B
109

110 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

but as a circle which extends back into the picture, and
which he shapes until it is a satisfactory picture of a
circle lying flat. He should build up representations of
solids from imagination till his eye can detect any false
construction or any shape that does not carry the impres-
sion of curvilinear or of rectangular solidity. He should
play with these figures till he can place them in what-
ever position he chooses, and build on additions, or modify
by cutting into different shapes. He will thus develop
definite concepts of types of solidity. The fact is some-
times overlooked that one can seldom draw an object well,
the general type of which he has not mastered and made
his own so that he can draw it readily from imagination
(Fig. 36, A and #).

Interest in searching for pictorial expression for one's
ideas helps to develop artistic appreciation. When pupils
have become interested in trying to interpret into lines and
colors their impressions of a scene, for example, of autumn,
and have selected from among autumn pictures those which
are most in harmony with their own feelings, they are gain-
ing experience which will help them enter into the spirit
of a work of art which is an artist's interpretation of this
topic, with much more sympathy and responsiveness than
if they had made no effort to express it or to select good
interpretations of it. The search among many sources in
nature, literature, and art, for the embodiment of a partic-
ular idea or the expression of a mood should be an impor-
tant element in all picture study.

In each grade the pictures studied should be such as
embody objects and interests which touch somewhere the
experiences of the children. The first pleasure, which later
may develop into aesthetic appreciation, may be awakened

GRADES VII AND VIII 111

by well-drawn, vigorously colored pictures designed for
children, as well as by famous masterpieces.

The following description of an experiment in picture
study in upper grades is reprinted by courtesy of The
School Arts Book.1

The topic, " Picture Study," which occurs in most courses in draw-
ing, deserves all the prominence that is now given to it. The major-
ity of people want to be able to appreciate and enjoy works of art.
Intelligent enjoyment of art is seldom gained except through special
study definitely planned to accomplish that end. To determine what
lines that study should follow has been the purpose of much discus-
sion and experimentation.

One method, perhaps the method of least value in elementary
schools, is to analyze pictures in order to discover centers of interest,
balance of masses, leading lines, etc. This is helpful to adults as a
study of one phase of the painter's way of doing things, but unless
presented with clear understanding of its relative value it is likely
to fail to develop a sincere enjoyment of pictures.

Another method is to show pictures to the children and encourage
them to talk about what they see and enjoy. Incidentally, stories of
the artist, the times in which he lived, and the things he chose
to paint are presented to add historical interests and associations to
the pictures. This gives a pleasant acquaintance with works of art
and awakens oftentimes a sincere liking for them.

If one allowed his judgment to be based upon the written papers
which are sometimes asked for after lessons in picture study, he
might be led to doubt some aspects of this method ; but perhaps the
fault is not in the method, but in asking too soon that children make a
statement, in definite terms of language, regarding matters of feeling.

Instructors who wish to awaken in their pupils true enjoyment
of pictures, an enjoyment that is not a passing preference but an
abiding pleasure, might find helpful suggestions from considering
carefully the familiar statement that one gets from a picture only
what he brings to it. It follows that preparation for seeing a pic-
ture should be made before the picture is presented, in order that

1 "An Experiment in Picture Study," The School Arts Book, October,
1909.

FIG. 3d, A

112

CT7

O'Brien.

FIG. 36, B

113

114 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

the children may have some directly related experiences to bring to
it, and that the teacher's explanations may be unnecessary at the
time. It is probable that such enjoyment of art as we wish our pupils
to possess can come only when they have been previously interested
by observations of their own in the subject which the artist portrays,
so when they come to it they come to something which they them-
selves have tried to express, even though crudely, and which they
rejoice to see set forth skillfully.

The following experiment was tried with a large number of
children in Boston in the sixth, seventh, and eighth years of school, in
order to observe the results of giving the children experiences which
should prepare them to see the pictures which were to be studied.

Twilight was selected as a topic for special observation. The chil-
dren were encouraged to gather pictures of twilight from magazine
illustrations, photographs, and other sources. They were led to ob-
serve twilight effects out of doors. The results of these observations
were rendered definite by means of notes made with water color.
The colors of the sky, clouds, trees, and buildings on different even-
ings were recorded. The children noted whether the buildings seen
against the sunset sky appeared in their local color, or were flooded
with the golden glow, or contrasted with it by appearing to be com-
plementary in hue. Many children were enthusiastic in their de-
scriptions of twilight effects and made sketches, some of which were
crude in color while others were soft and delicate.

The next steps in the experiment were made possible by the cor-
dial cooperation of the Museum of Fine Arts, which reproduced in
half tone several of its pictures representing twilight, and made
these reproductions available for the schools at cost. About sixteen
hundred of these were bought by the teachers and distributed to the
pupils. Each child made two or three simple copies in pencil of the
Museum picture given him, reproducing the effect as well as possible
by this means. He then experimented by painting over these pencil
sketches with water color the different schemes of twilight color
which he had recorded. He thus gained intimate acquaintance with
an excellent black-and-white composition, and added to this the
color, an element which was the result of his own observation.

After this many of the children wished to visit the Museum in
order that they might see the original picture. Those who had op-
portunity to do so, when they saw for the first time the painting
with the composition of which they were already familiar, viewed it

GRADES VII AND VIII 115

with particular attention to see what colors had been used by the
artist and how his scheme compared witli their own. Usually an
art museum appears to a child somewhat like a panorama. The
previous study of a particular topic, however, served to isolate a few
pictures from the mass and make them objects of special attraction.
The children felt a fellowship of interest and effort between them-
selves and the artist.

Even those who did not visit the Museum gained much enjoyment
of twilight effects in nature and of descriptions of them in literature.

One principal wrote as follows:

" You will be as pleased as I was myself when I tell you that two
of my boys, evidently inspired by our collection of twilight pictures
and without any suggestion on my part, brought me two poems
bearing upon the theme we were studying in our drawing. One
brought in a clipping from a newspaper, which told of the ending of
the day with the fading of the sunset colors, the night, and the
dawning of another day, making application to the closing of a
human life in this world and its subsequent awakening in eternity.
The other, with the air of a discoverer, laid upon my desk Tenny-
son's ' Sweet and Low, Wind of the Western Sea.'

" I read these to the class with simply an acknowledgment of the
sources from which I had obtained them. I was not surprised when
boy No. 3 laid Gray's ' Elegy ' before me a day later. I plan to have
the class learn this while the strong side light of their picture study
is still shining upon it, and I see the possibility of other work with-
in the outline for reading, in correlation with drawing."

The possibility of developing other 'topics in a similar
manner is evident. To each great artist some phase of
the world has made a particular appeal and it becomes his
field for study and interpretation. The best way to develop
the fullest enjoyment and appreciation of his work appears
to lie in awakening interests similar to those which inspired
his art, and in encouraging efforts at expression, however
crude, of the same thing. Artistic pictorial material of fine
quality is now everywhere available. An instructor who
culls from the best of the monthly magazines can soon form
a collection of pictures excellent not only in composition

116 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

but in color. Public-spirited citizens are always ready
to contribute magazines a month old, and thus interpre-
tations of the different subjects of study can gradually
be collected.

Construction. In these grades the problems dealing with
concrete materials have a wide range of application, for
example, in agriculture, woodworking, household science,
household art, and various prevocational activities. These
are influenced strongly by local conditions. The work is
also largely in the hands of special teachers, and the oppor-
tunities for excellent training for such teachers are continu-
ally improving. The suggestions here given are therefore
general.

The character of the work should be such as to satisfy
the rapidly awakening economic instinct, and to develop
a technique sufficiently excellent to command respect. It
should be noted, however, that skill of hand, although
necessary, is not the only important outcome of construc-
tive work in these grades.

A fault of former education was that it furnished little
opportunity for anything but specified lines of intellectual
activity. Constructive work in modern education may err
in failing to associate itself as definitely as it might with
intellectual activity. Each line of work should involve, in
connection with its immediate technical processes, its wider
social, sesthetic, and industrial relations. In addition the
instructor should never lose sight of the importance of
steadily increasing a student's ability to forecast processes
and results, as far as possible, in definite terms.

Oftentimes the constructive enthusiasm is so great, and
the realization of the value of preliminary planning so
slight, that a child needs the experience of discovering in a

GRADES VII AND VIII 117

practical way the waste of time and energy resulting from
a direct, thoughtless attack upon material. However, after
the first practical acquaintance with the tools and processes
of a problem has been gained, the handling or cutting of
material should be made to wait till the results have been
thought out and, as far as possible, foretold in terms of
verbal descriptions, sketches, plans, estimates, and meas-
urements. Mere technical excellence can carry one but a
short way in larger constructive problems.

During these grades a recognition of social relations
becomes evident, and the desire to contribute something
to the world's work usually grows keen. Nature study
appropriately takes the form of agriculture. Children are
interested in attempting to raise the best products and to
try for prizes for the best ear of corn, etc. They like to be
able to modify natural conditions for the sake of better
results, as by grafting trees or making hotbeds.

In woodworking, if the training in previous grades has
been thorough and progressive, pupils can undertake indi-
vidual projects of some importance, such as chairs, desks,
tables, cabinets, bookracks, etc., which can be put to
actual use in the school or at home, and they enjoy the
effort and exercise of skill required to carry them to com-
pletion. Under special conditions skill may be acquired
by means of individual projects from the first, but the
practical outcome of an attempt to do this with wood-
working classes of reasonable size is that the instructor is
unable to give the attention to each pupil which is neces-
sary to the formation of desirable habits of work. A small
proportion of the whole number produce excellent results,
but the majority make relatively little progress and do not
acquire freedom from technical difficulties soon enough to

118 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

enjoy the results of skill. Figs. 37 and 38 show samples of
woodwork by boys of Grade VIII in a public school.

Industrial work which contributes to some actual needs
of the school system is an important factor. There is
opportunity for many activities, such as making furniture,

FIG. 37. Woodwork by boys in Grade VIII

picture frames, window boxes, sketchbooks, card-catalogue
boxes, portfolios, apparatus, printing and binding, etc.

Household science and household art may be so presented
as to awaken a sense of the dignity of the housekeeping
problem and of the possibilities of accomplishment that
result from intelligent skill. The children should learn
to handle materials economically, according to plans held
clearly in mind. In household science suitable problems are

GRADES VII AND VIII

119

abundant. Among these are the care of rooms, the serving
of meals, the preparation of vegetables, meats, breads, and
puddings, the care of foods, simple problems in marketing
and in keeping accounts. In household arts, mending and
darning, basting and sewing, simple sewing by machine, the

FIG. 38. Woodwork by boys in Grade VIII

making of underwear and of simple dresses, and some ideas
relating to the care of fabrics and the hygiene of clothes
are within the scope of elementary-school work. Experience
in classification of textiles and knowledge of methods of
manufacture and of costs and uses should develop practi-
cal judgment of quality and of appropriate price.

Design. In Grades VII and VIII those phases of design
which call for judgment regarding the fitness of things,

120 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

the beauty of proportions and of outlines, and the suitability
of ornament and harmony of color are of increasing impor-
tance. The pupils are sufficiently mature to appreciate to
some extent fine forms and harmonious colors ; to realize
the difference between excellence of design which renders an
object beautiful and permanently satisfactory, and that sen-
sational or commonplace modification of form and addition
of unrelated ornament which contribute nothing toward the
graceful setting forth of the idea involved in the object.

Free decorative practice may be gained in large part in
connection with the experimental sketches for designs.
Children in these grades who are making a design for a
constructive shape which involves beauty of outline, or for
an interlacing of lines as in a monogram or in patterns of
embroidery, develop a feeling for fine curves by gradually
modifying the shapes till the lines flow pleasingly and
consistently.

Development of appreciation of beauty of form may come
in part from the careful detailed drawing of fine forms in
nature, but such appreciation may be greatly reenforced by
practice in making many free sketches of plant forms with
a brush. The plant should be interpreted into as few lines
as possible and this convention repeated till, like penman-
ship, it gains a swing and flow of line that is not labored.
The best of these results may be worked over and perfected
by the use of tracing paper.

The children should be impressed by example as well as
precept, with the idea that the possibilities for beauty lie
mostly in the planning and proportioning of essential parts
of objects, and not in added ornament. The finest beauty
of a boat is its shape and not its decoration ; of a chair, its
proportions and not its ornamental carving. No element

GRADES VII AND VIII 121

can contribute more to the beauty of the outside appear-
ance of a house than the fine proportioning and spacing of
doors and windows. Walter Crane states this principle
well when he says :

Nothing has degraded the form of common things so much as a
mistaken love of ornament. . . . Decoration or ornament we have
been too much accustomed to consider as an accidental and unre-
lated addition to an object, not as an essential expression and organic
part of it ; not as a beauty which may satisfy us in simple line, form,
or proportion combined with fitness to purpose, even without any
surface ornament at all.1

Children are readily interested in making designs where
the solution lies in the best possible disposition of neces-
sary constructive elements with little or no ornamentation,
and soon appear to enjoy such a problem, partly because
of the definiteness produced by its limitations. The lesson
covers in Fig. 39 illustrate the different results obtained
when the possibilities for good design in fine arrangement
of parts are realized and when they are not. Fig. 39, A,
is typical of what a child is likely to produce when, without
any foundation of previous training, he is left free to make
his design as he pleases. He has not responded to the ver-
tical and horizontal suggestions of the inclosing space, but
has violated these with his diagonal printing. He finds no
pleasure in experimenting with the architectural effects of
fine spacing and well-arranged margins. His primary inter-
est is the barbaric one of collection and display, with only
secondary regard for arrangement. There is no lasting
satisfaction and no clearly defined goal for this interest. It
is a matter of mere sensation. It demands ever brighter
colors and more profuse ornamentation.

1 Walter Crane, "The Bases of Design," p. 90.

122

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Such a design as Fig. 39, B, results from long experience
in placing words where they divide the space most pleas-
ingly, and in spacing letters in the words till satisfaction
is awakened more by the harmonious distribution of the
words on the page and the letters within the words, than
by profuse ornamentation.

In such a design as this, the exact areas which the print-
ing is to occupy are first chosen by such experimentation

COmiONWEALTH

GRACE LYNCH

Fiu. 3l>, A

FIG. 39, V

as is described on page 95, Fig. 30, and the letters made to
conform to these. Children show much interest in work-
ing out this problem. They like to experiment by print-
ing the same word in rectangles differing entirely as to
proportions, so that in each case the word shall exactly
fill the given form (Fig. 40). Such printing should be
done free-hand and the spaces determined not by measure-
ment but by tentative indications made at first by very
light lines and gradually defined as the letters become

GRADES VII AXD VIII

123

equably distributed. Fig. 41 shows a page of carefully
planned covers.

Design which consists in the best possible arrangement
of given elements, so that they fulfill their purpose ade-
quately and gracefully without recourse to sensational or
incongruous interests, gives permanent satisfaction in a
definite end attained and a single idea perfectly realized.

The constructive work and household science and art
afford some of the most important opportunities for design

1 HENRY
ENRY

FIG. 40. Words fitted to different spaces

because they furnish a reason for shapes and materials and
an incentive to experiment with them (Fig. 42).

Putting into book form the work upon other school topics
is a feature of design which is of increasing value each year.
It involves the cover design, the title-page, margins, ar-
rangement of text, illustrations, tailpieces, etc. It is not
necessary to artistic progress that the children make all
their illustrations. The search for and choice of pictures
which best embody the idea one wishes illustrated is an
excellent means of developing appreciation of art.

One of the most important purposes of design is to
develop good {esthetic judgment regarding the things

124

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

with which one coines into daily contact. Such judgment
can be cultivated by choosing the best from among many
examples, good and bad, as well as by making original

S1RWALTERSCC

FIG. 41. Covers for lesson papers

designs. For one who will design a vase or a wall paper,
many thousands will buy the article. It is therefore im-
portant to know how to choose well, and making designs

GRADES VII AND VIII

is not the only nor always the surest way of developing
discrimination in selection.

This choosing should be from collections similar to
those from which the pupil will be obliged to make his
choice when he comes to buy for himself, as well as from
examples which will always be beyond his reach. For

',. " '- • ..- '

:
i

«:

«j

,-.-k •• — — • — — ... .. .

FIG. 42. Designs for embroidered borders by girls in Grade VIII

instance, if one wishes to cultivate good taste regarding
vases, it is well worth while to study those in fine collec-
tions ; but such study will lose nothing of practical value
if it is supplemented by a choice, from among the material
available in a local store, of the vase best suited to show
the beauty of a particular style of bouquet, such as a
few sprays of tall, slender flowers or a round bunch of
short-stemmed blossoms.

126 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Practically all the objects of home furnishings are the
results of long evolution, and the different styles have
successively reached high levels of artistic excellence.
Furniture and lamps, for example, are interesting subjects
for study, historically and artistically, but added to knowl-
edge of and interest in the finest known examples should
be some exercise of judgment in choosing the best possible
from available sources, and this necessitates some concrete
acquaintance with these sources. The present generation
may thus be led to patronize the best at hand and to create
a demand for what is still better.

Children should also make or have access to collections
of pictures of well-designed dwellings of all classes, and
public buildings for towns similar in size and means to
their own locality, and be led to choose wisely among
these. They should be encouraged to report on the most
beautiful views in town. Where cameras are owned by
pupils a collection of local pictures should be made. A
study of one place under various aspects gives results full
of interest and artistic suggestion ; as, for example, a street
scene, or a landscape, at various hours of day and night,
and in different seasons. This encourages the sort of study
which the artist gives to his chosen subject.

Sometimes children may be led to think about the
aBSthetic possibilities of their home surroundings by describ-
ing favorite places indoors and out, under such topics as
My Favorite View, The Room I like best, What a Window
adds to a House, etc.

An example of sensible teaching of design is that of a
country teacher who found her one-room schoolhouse
poorly furnished, with no pictures, an unpleasant wall color,
and with papers in the windows instead of curtains. She

GRADES VII AND VIII 127

undertook to change one item after another. The children
discussed the best color for the wall. A tone was decided
upon and presented to the committee, who agreed to retint
the room. Curtains were then considered. Samples were
obtained and the best color and material decided upon.
The children not only were allowed to have a part in the
selection but were represented at the purchasing. Chairs,
pictures, and frames were later discussed and choices made
with the aid of catalogues and visits to stores. The making
of the changes occupied two or three years, and the money
was obtained in part from entertainments given by the
children. The artistic training was such that it developed
much practical acquaintance with ways of selecting furnish-
ings, and incidentally the children developed a sense of
ownership in the school. They sometimes inquired of the
teacher, after a visitor had gone, whether any remarks had
been made regarding the excellent appearance of the room.

Progress in aesthetic appreciation is not by way of a
general advance in discrimination as a result of theoreti-
cal statements, but by definite study of individual things
which are beautiful.

Continued use of water color should develop ability to
match colors more exactly, to discriminate and record some-
what subtle distinctions in color tones, and to harmonize
colors. One can usually secure excellent color harmonies
by choosing with some care among color prints, fabrics, etc.,
and from nature. The groups of colors occurring in flowers,
lichens, faded leaves, etc., furnish excellent material. By
matching these colors the children can secure beautiful
combinations for use in design.

Together with a growing acquaintance with good exam-
ples, simple experiments in harmonizing given colors may

128 FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

be tried, by introducing a common element into each of a
group of two or three colors to bring them into closer re-
lation. For example, two colors like red and blue, which
in full intensity are not usually pleasing, can be made
more agreeable in combination by mixing a little gray
with each. Mixing a little of each with the other or some
of a third color with each produces a similar result. The
red still counts as red and the blue as blue, unless too
much has been added in the mixing, but the common ele-
ment has made them less antagonistic. Children should
try such experiments with a number of colors and choose
for use in their designs the tones where the proportion of
mixture gives the best effect.

By the end of the eighth year children should have gained
ability to use drawing as a common means of expression,
and to make rapid descriptive sketches, careful, well-
constructed drawings, or truthful records of observations,
as occasion may require. They should be able to undertake
common constructive problems with knowledge of tools and
processes, and should have acquired some ability to convert
raw materials into a finished product according to a prede-
termined plan. They should have the beginnings of good
taste in choosing what is excellent among things relating
to the home and community, and should enjoy beauty of
form and harmony of color in nature and in art. They
should have enough acquaintance with what artists have
produced to lead them to find some favorites among objects
of fine art, as they have among books, so that they will
desire to possess reproductions of these, and they should
have developed a general sympathetic attitude toward art.
They should also have gained an interest in productive
labor sufficient to interpret things in terms of the effort

GRADES VII AND VIII 129

and skill required to produce them, and should have devel-
oped a healthful enjoyment in the exercise of their abilities
which will lead them to be dissatisfied with any occupation
which does not add to the well-being of the community.

Whether the aims and the methods considered in these
pages meet with general acceptance or not, the fact remains
that the formulation of some fairly definite standard of at-
tainment based on the relative value of the different activi-
ties involved and on the tested capacity of the children,
and some specific progression from grade to grade toward
this standard are necessary to the highest effectiveness of
work in manual arts in elementary schools.

INDEX

^Esthetic appreciation, 3, 14, 15

of proportions, 95, 96

progress in, 25, 104

relation to design, 26-29, 120-124
Agricultural education, 117

Blocks, 41, 42

Book covers, 122-124

Color, study of, 29, 30

progression of, through grades,

30, 31
Grade I, 44

Grades II and III, 58-60
Grades IV and V, 76, 77
Grade VI, 96

Grades VII and VIII, 127-128
Constructive work, awakened in-
terest in, 1-3

progression through grades, 21-25
Grade I, 39-41
Grades II and III, 53-55
Grades IV and V, 68, 69
Grade VI, 89-92
Grades VII and VIII, 116-119
relation to drawing, 7, 8
value of, 3, 10, 11, 32

Design, awakened interest in, 1, 3
educational value, 14, 15
progression through grades, 28,

Grade I, 42-44
Grades II and III, 56-59

Design, progression through grades
Grades IV and V, 71-75
Grade VI, 93-96
Grades VII and VIII, 119-127
two aspects of, 25-27, 71, 93, 94
Domestic art, 93, 118, 126
Domestic science, 93, 118, 119
Drawing, awakened interest in, 1-3
courses in, 9
geometric, 55, 56
of maps, 84
mechanical, 7, 8, 25, 41, 54, 55,

68-70, 98, 116, 117
nature of, 6, 7, 9
of objects, curvilinear, 107, 110
of objects, rectilinear, 104-107,

112,113
pictorial, 33-35, 39, 48-53, 102,

103, 110

of plants, 84-86, 102
progression through grades, 18-20
Grade I, 33-39
Grades II and III, 47-53
Grades IV and V, 63-67
Grade VI, 83-89
Grades VII and VIII, 99-110
values and aims of, jesthetic, 9
educational, 2, 3, 5, 6, 32
industrial, 7, 8
scientific, 9

Household art, 93, 118, 126
Industrial education, 12, 13, 80-83

131

132

FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Manual training, see Constructive

work

Measuring, 41
Mechanical drawing, value of, 7, 8

Grade I, 41

Grades II and III, 54, 55

Grades IV and V, 68-70

Grade VI, 90

Grades VII and VIII, 25, 98,
116, 117

Object drawing, 104-107, 110, 112,
113

Paper cutting, 40
Perspective, 8-10, 20, 104-106
Pictures, study of, 15, 16, 110, 111,

114, 115
Progression of subjects through

grades, 17, 18
color, 29
Grades I, II, and III, 30, 44,

46, 58-60

Grades IV and V, 31, 62, 63
Grade VI, 31, 79, 80
Grades VII and VIII, 31,

constructive work, 21
Grades I, II, and III, 21-24,

39-41, 53-55

Grades IV and V, 24, 68, 69
Grades VI, VII, and VIII, 24,

25, 89-92, 116-119
design, 25

Grades I, II, and III, 28, 42-44,

56-59

Grades IV and V, 28, 71-75
Grades VI, VII, and VIII, 28,
119-127

Progression of subjects through

grades, drawing, 18
Grades I, II, and III, 19, 33-39,

47-53
Grades IV and V, 19, 20, 63-

67
Grades VI, VII, and VIII, 24,

25, 83-89, 99-110
Proportions, appreciation of, 95,

96, 121, 122
representation of, 63-67

Rapid sketching, 8, 67, 99, 100
Representation, see Drawing

Size of drawings, 87-89
Sketchbooks, 68, 101
Special teachers, 39, 51, 99
Standards of attainment, 10

Grade I, 45, 46

Grades II and III, 60-61

Grades IV and V, 77, 78

Grade VI, 97

Grades VII and VIII, 128, 129

Values, of constructive work, 3, 10,

11, 32

of design, 14, 15
of drawing, 2, 3, 5-9, 23, 32
of industrial and vocational edu-
cation, 12, 13, 80-83
Vocational education, see Indus-
trial education

Water color, 21, 60, 76, 87, 96

Weaving, 69

Woodwork, Grades IV and V, 70

Grade VI, 90-92

Grades VII and VIII, 117-119

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