New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-11-17
EXCELLENCE IN INDUSTRIAL ART.

EVERYBODY knows that the French are people
of taste every one does not know what makes
them so. Strangers in Paris and not few Of the
residents, form all their notions on the matter from
whiting the shops on the Boulevards, from gaining
admission to the saloons Of wealth and fashion or
possibly from studying some Great Exhibition, In
all which places may be seen the results oil French
industrial art But there are not many who In
oure into the causes of this universal taste, and
this general love of beauty. There are not many
who enter the homes or study the habits or visit
the schools of workingmen. Without such investi-
cations the secret never can be solved.
The intelligent inquirer should leave the gay
promenades of the Champs Elysees and direct
his steps to the disagreeable streets OF the Eau
bourg st. Antoine In that district which has
given so much trouble in ever revolution, are
situated many of the large establishments which
supply the civilized world with those elegant
manufactures for which the French metropolis Is
famous The people who live in this neighborhood
are poor and plain, earning their bread by manual
labor. Their hands are hard and their looks are
rough, but there is civilty in their manners and
a nicely in their language even when talking with
one another which indicates to the most casual
observer true refinement within. In the shops
these common laborers are employed in fashioning
elegant furniture and in reproducing intricate pat
terms of rare beauty which they do with an ease
and skill that can seldom be equaled by the fore
men and masters of this country.
Follow the curriers' from the factory and see
Low their evenings are passed In the heart Of
that aboriDg district free evening classes will be
found maintained by the city of Paris, where hun
dreds of full-srown men, dressed in the character
istic blouse, are accustomed to assemble OF their
own accord both in Summer and Winter. These
scholars, with little Of book learning, sometimes
even unable to read, are shrewd and intelligent,
accustomed to think and quick to appreciate all
that is refined and delicate. Their hands, though
clumsy to the eye, are not less skillful with the
pencil than with the chise, and are as much ac-
customed to the drawing board as TO the working.
bench. Reading, writing and arithmetic are
taught TO all who need the instruction; moral and
religious teaching is given to the assembled
school; and besides, the best of lessons are open
to every one in singing and drawing One group
will be found copying with the enthusiasm of genius
the pictures Of Vernet and Dclaroche; another de-
signing ornamental furniture another practicing
mechanical drawing another planning decora'
tons for room all learning in the evening school
that very art which they require for the lsbors Of
the day They are learning, in short, to elevate
their work from mere mechanical drudgery to
high intellectual enjoyment
Not far from this school for adults is another for
boys, started by private charity, and called the
Apprentices Institution. The Viscount de Melun,
an active and benevolent man. interested in every
social reform, is the friend and patron of this
school. Its design is to give pleasant occupation
for the evenings to young men and boys between
twelve and twenty years Of age. The attendance,
though quite voluntary is large shat there is not
room for al who wish to be present, and vacancies
are waited for with curious and commendable i'm
patience While giving instruction in the ele-
ments of al book knowledge, the teachers aim to
prepare their pupils for advancement in the trades
in which they labor. As almost all the boys are
employed in furniture shops, upholsteries, manu-
factories of paper hangings, and like establish
rnents, where good taste and knowledge Of prac-
teal ait is continually needed, much time is spent
in teaching the principles of design especially in
their industrial applications. Boys who would
otherwise spend their earnings in streetschoos Of
vice, find not only entertainment but real profit to
their everyday occupations, from attendance on
these evening classes.
NeE.Yort and other Of our larger cities, are
provided, to some extent with similar schools-
It would be well for every manufacturing town
and village in the country 10 initiate this example.
Nom than this-it would be we'll for u who hAYu