Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-05-31

EDTCdTION IN ORA WING.

The training of youth in the art Of
drawing is bound to take prominent
place in our common schools. The eNhi-
bition recently held in Massachusetts,
showing what can be and has been done
by pupils, and illustrating the advantages
of the art to the possessors and the public.
was great success in what it accom-
plished as an exhibition and in enlighten
ing and arousing the public The New
York Tribune gives report OF the exhi-
bition and editorially says
According to a partial report OF the
progress of the Massachusetts experiment,
which is printed on another page of the
Tribune, the educators Of that State have
lust begun the foundation of system OF
education in drawing which is to be
thorough, simple and genuine. The teach
ers are taught. The general Introduction
Of art into mechanics and manufactures,
and the profuse use of ornament i'll every
branch of industry, seem to compel the
establishment of American schools of de-
child in the land Many of the States of
Europe compel us to draw largely from
their designs, as we'll as their fabrics, by
the superiority of attainment in drawing
which has been reached by their artisans.
This is one OF those truths which have be-
come uncomfortably self-eyident. In New
York and several other large cities of the
Republic, drawing is taught in the public
schools in an imperfect and desultory man
ner /; and there are in these cities not a few
admirable schools Of design which are
easily accessible. But nothing like fun
damental education in drawing has any
where been adopted until Massachusetts
always in the van in these respects, began
the use of system which is designed tc
be as purely fundamental in its applica-
ton as any other branch of education.
1t is patent that in nearly every depart
ment of industry proficiency in drawing
is absolutely indispensable TO a complete
mastery of the art or trade. 1t is also
true that very few mechanics are capable
of drawing the commoncst forms required
in their daily work There seems to be no
good reason why carpenter who has been
educated 10 calculate the number of feet
of lumber required to wainscot an apart
ment should not also have skill, sufficient
to indicate on paper simple design for
that wainscoting. Nor does it seem to be
10 IN r,o nnI, IN, tJ,nt fbn
men who paint Wallpapers fashion plated
ware, or mold garden-urns, should be
compelled to depend almost altogether on
imported designs. Massachusetts has
made good beginning by requiring teach
ers and pupils to invent designs from SIM
pie materials, having first learned some
thing Of that firm freedom Of the hand which
makes the accomplished artist master of
his subject. The teachers being taught,
all the rest seems easy. The experiment,
SO Tar as it has gone, promises success
The very best results are found in the
works of the primary schools, where
Children have learned to draw as they
have learned their alphabet. This is Won
derful; more than that, it is inspiring as
an earnest of the great work which is as
sured of success. 1t is not surprising
that this admirable innovation commands
the hearty support and applause of the
manufacturers, mechanics, and mill own
ers of Massachusetts. They see in its I'LL
innate and certain establishment in State
education a new element of home power
and an addition to domestic resources
Other States will watch the experiment Git
we may still call it such) with interested
attention. and they will readily profit by
the success which seems inevitable =
ANOTHER GREAT FIRE IA BOSTON,
Our dispatches contain the particulars
OF another disastrous fire in Boston. Just
as the city is beginning to rise from the
ashes of the great coniiagration in No
vember last it is again scourged by fire.
The fortitude OF the suffering people un-
der the first affection was worthy of great
praise, and their efforts to rise above the
losses and difficulties occasioned by it
would soon have been crowned with sue
cess, but this repetition of disaster must
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