New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-10-22
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ARTISAN SCHOOLS.
EDITOR REPUBLICAN,:


ARTISAN SCHOOLS.
EDITOR REPUBLICANS:
For some time there has appeared in you
columns articles in reference to industrial
or artisan schools, in which the idea is ad
vanced that there should be public schools
opened. in which should be taught remu
nerative industries and trades, in cOnnec
ton with literature; that there should bt
from three to four hours of books, accord
ing to the advancement of the pupil, anC
tue same allowance OF time for the indus
trial department.; the school teacher to in
etruct in the morning those pupils which
should be in the artisan department in the
afternoon, while the artisan pupils of the
morning would be in the schoolroom in the
afternoon.
to every lover Of progress and human
elevation, but the difficulty has been in
| giving it a practical solution. Not long
since, however. I saw it stated that q New
| Orleans gentleman desired to engage the
services OF the boys in the House of Refuge
stansly occurred to me that herein might
lie the solution Of the artisan school prob
lem. New Orleans is such q vast centre OF
wholesale trade that she could hope for q
good market for such quantity Of toys ss
might be manufactured, while toy making
has in it the germ of many essential trades.
To begin with dolls: in the girls depart
ment one class would cut the bodies Of the
dolls, a second would sew them-either
with fingers or sewing machine, the former
teaching finger sewing, and the latter the
use Of the Macljne-a third would tie ON
the arms and legs, fourth stuff them, a
fifth sew up the aperture, and a sixth glue
on the heads. Then there would be need Of
packer for transportation, and each set
could be paid by the dozen or hundred, or
by whatever plan seemed best for remu-
neration. In another room, perchance, it
might lie found feasible to have dolls dress
makers, and here we would have the ele
ments OF plain sewing, in the manufacture
Of the Undertaking, and the milliner and
the mantua maker, in its outside garments.
For the boys department we have wooden
toys, miniature furniture, such as dolls
bureaus, chairs and tables, the first lesson
being here taken in handling tools. uphol-
stering. painting, vanishing and shaping
wood, from which would spring all the es-
sential trades in the manufacture of wood.
The tin toys would be initiatOry to the tin
ner's trade. while the manufacture Of
brooms. feather busters, and thousand
other small employments, not too heavy for
or unat,ractive to children, would suggest
and be introduced according to
the necessities Of trade and the advance
ment of the pupils. The higher departments
could be pat into such work as is called for
daily bread, SO that the pupil would he able
TO continue III school until thoroughly
skilled in a necessary trade. and would be
able. while in the pupilase of trade, to still
remain in school.
These employments, if properly organized
and paid. it would seem to me, might prove
so efficient an aid to the poorest as to enable
them to attend school, prove remunerative
70 the employer, and enable the city, in
time. to require the attendance Of all chill
dren at school. 1t might be necessary tor
the city to appoint man to stand between
the employer and the children, to see that
labor was properly recompensed and
neither party wronged, keeping the &C
counts. The employer would need to look
after his own interests, as any other man
does after his apprentices, while the school
teacher would be employed, as now, by the
city.
Can not that toy merchant and the School
Board this fall make the initiatory expert |
mert of an artisan school, 1t will not cost
much to make an effort. Failure will be no |
disgrace. while success will crown the
achievers with the highest honor-the
honor Of elevating to comfort, from poverty |
and despair. the lowest scale of humanity.