follows-A drawing book on block 14 by 10 inches, blackboard 20 by 16 or larger, a box containing four to six moist colours, an enamelled tin cup for water fixed to the side of the desk, pencils of three or four degrees, three camel's hair brushes, fine, medium, and wash size, an 18-inch boxwood ruler, for very occasional use, a small case of coloured chalks, a sponge, and a soft duster. The initial cost of these would be about 12s., and many of the articles would last for several terms if taken care of.

Where the school is in the country boys can assist in collecting objects for drawing from outdoors, and they often by doing so give the teacher a hint as to what interests them most, even live things, if properly caged and controlled, might sometimes be allowed. The School Museum should be put under requia source of supply to the Art classes. This will create an interest in the Museum itself which is helpful in

sition as

many ways.

Teachers should avoid dulness and lack of interest in the objects they set the class to draw. Few boys care for geometrical solids, and show their good taste in ignoring them. I cannot conceive why they should be supposed to like them, neither does an intelligent boy feel enthusiasm in drawing a school-chair for the sixth time, or the inevitable vase twenty times, especially when out of the school window he sees lovely landscape forms living and moving in the open air. It is a sure sign of dulness or, let us say overwork, on the teacher's part, when the same tedious and heartily hated models are drawn and drawn ad

nauseam.

All school masters, whether Art teachers or others, can encourage boys to exercise their powers as draughtsmen by getting them to draw from memory and invention, or copy from books, forms and incidents relating to their particular list of subjects and bearing upon the lesson in hand.

These sketches and copies (done out of school) might receive. marks, for they impress the facts and ideas which the lesson contains upon the pupils' minds and show research and industry, and however childish these efforts may be as Art, the mere fact that the boy has enjoyed doing them should suffice, although they may not merit marks.

As a last word to my fellow-teachers I would say: Do not attempt too much, keep your teaching simple and clear: it cannot be too much so for children. Avoid unnecessary detail, and accentuate essentials, do not try to demonstrate anything which is not perfectly plain to your own mind, or confusion will ensue; see that your pupils follow the first facts of a demonstration before attempting elaboration. Do not depend too much upon bought copies, but make most for yourself, you will the sooner bring your pupils into touch with your own personality. Enter with your classes into the feeling of recreation which your subject, above all others, possesses. Don't feel nervous if your demonstration is not perfect, so long as it contains some truth and feeling. Most artistic temperaments suffer from great nervousness, but this very failing produces a sensitiveness in

their work which is one of its greatest charms. Never let your pupils feel that you are depressed about your work or theirs, and don't mind if a minority of them appear critical towards your demonstrations, it is good for them, showing their keenness, it is well for you, for it stimulates to better work. Don't mistake the enthusiasm of a precocious pupil for conceit, and don't snub him into silence and indifference, and above all remember that encouragement does more than fault finding.

There is good cause for art teachers in all schools to take heart, because it is evident that Art and its great educational value are becoming more widely recognised throughout the civilised world, and the day is not far distant when it will fall into line with all other school subjects, from the Public Elementary School upwards to the Universities, and in the near future the most conservative of academics will as soon think of denying its worth, as an integral part of mental development, as they would think of disallowing the use of the right hand.

In conclusion, I wish to call attention to what is now being done on the Continent, especially in Germany, France, and Switzerland, by State aid and other means towards developing the Art instinct inherent in every child, proving that our neighbours across the Channel are well ahead of us in this branch of education, regarding it as the hand-maid of all good school teaching.

And I close my essay by a last practical suggestion that teachers of Art in both Preparatory and great Public Schools should form themselves into an association to meet annually or half-yearly for discussion upon, and consideration of, the best practical methods for teaching Art under existing conditions and limitations both of time and opportunity. And I would add, from my own experience, that there is no subject better calculated to awaken the mind, to cultivate character, or to quicken the faculty for enjoyment in children than the altogether delightful and inspiring subject of Art.

W. EGERTON HINE.

F

7

THE SCHOOL WORKSHOP.

AN enquirer into English methods of Secondary Education might possibly expect, on turning to an article on the School Workshop, to find it treated as an integral part of the curriculum and duly correlated with other branches of study. It is therefore necessary to premise that in the curriculum imposed on the Preparatory Schools by the Head Masters of Public Schools, and in the Entrance and Scholarship examinations by which their work is tested, all training of hand and eye is absolutely ignored, and that any instruction that is given in Drawing or in the Manual Arts must be given either as a recreation or in time filched from the study of paying subjects.

The Workshop will therefore be treated here as a recreation, pure and simple, depending of course for its success, like all other recreations, on careful organisation. The chief aim must be to give thoroughly competent instruction and insist on serious work, and though a boy cannot in four or five years at a Preparatory School become a skilled carpenter, he may certainly learn enough to enable him to ride without further help a very delightful hobby, while he acquires a knowledge of construction which will be of practical value to him in after

years.

So organised, work in the shop has also a definite educational value, teaching perpetually the great lesson that patience and forethought with thoroughness and accuracy in every detail are necessary to the production of any good work. Careless or hasty execution, or miscalculation of measurements brings its own swift punishment, the material is wasted and the work has to be done again.

*

The art of construction appeals to the creative faculty, and has a strong attraction for many boys, so strong that it will not be found necessary to make attendance compulsory, and this no doubt contributes to the popularity of the workshop; but its attractiveness no less than its educational value depends absolutely on efficient organisation. The workshop which is handed over as a playroom to boys, in which they are left without supervision and direction, is foredoomed to failure.

ORGANISATION.

The success of a School Workshop depends less on the construction and equipment of the shop than on the prime essentials of a thoroughly competent instructor and sharp tools.

*The writer has found that in the two Winter Terms the average number of boys on the Workshop list is about 1% of the total number of the school.

If a school is fortunate enough to have on its staff of masters a thoroughly competent amateur, it will no doubt be an ideal arrangement to place the direction of the shop in his hands, but few amateurs have carried their workshop education far enough to qualify them to act as instructors, and it is usually found necessary to employ a professional. A joiner should be selected rather than a cabinet maker. The methods of the two differ considerably in details. Speaking generally, the former works on sounder principles, and is not so apt to bestow his ingenuity on the concealment of construction. But the competence of an instructor extends far beyond his methods of work. He must be a man who can make himself respected and his shop a place of real work, and who can inspire boys with some enthusiasm and lead then on by suggestion to suitable attempts. Above all he must be able to show his pupils how to do a piece of work without doing it for them. In this as in other branches of instruction too much help is fatal to the pupil's self-reliance and so to his progress. It is not easy to find this combination of qualities in an instructor, but some shortcomings may be compensated if a member of the staff of masters interests himself in the work. I have mentioned sharpness of tools as the second great desideratum, because no good work is possible without sharp tools and because nothing is so difficult to teach to a boy as the sharpening of a plane iron; and as only the elder boys can be expected to attain any measure of success in this direction, the work has to be done for the majority by the instructor, and therefore the setting of plane irons is the necessary preliminary to every lesson in the shop. Many workshops owe their lack of success to neglect of this important condition. The workshop should never be overcrowded. Experience shows that one instructor cannot attend properly to more than from fourteen to sixteen pupils, and in the writer's opinion the class should not exceed twelve. If all are beginners, the number must be much smaller. It is advisable to distribute the beginners among the classes, as little can be done in the way of collective instruction. At the same time it is most necessary that every boy should be put through a regular course, and the following standards are suggested.

Standard I-Straight sawing and true planing.

Work Test.-Cut out a piece of deal of given size, and plane up true and out of wind. Thickness this, using gauge, and square the

ends.

Standard II.-Dovetailing-Learn to mark out; cut one set, large size, marked by instructor.

Learn to set chisel and smoothing plane.

Work Test.-Mark and cut one set of dovetails, or make a dovetailed box.