Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-07-08
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.
INTERESTING ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT GIL
MAN BEFORE THE WORCESTER
INSTITUTION.
Special Correspondence of the Baltimore
SUM-

aOpKlnS University, WAS Icdu Uclolo 1Ao
Worcester Free Industrial Institute yester-
day. The subject was "Hand- Craft" and
Rede- Craft-a Plea for the First Named'
By rede-craft-the power to read, to rea-
son and to think-we are, says President
Gilman, enabled to find out what other
men have done, and are made heir to
thoughts that breathe and words that burn.
Rede-craft and hand-craft are not antago-
partners, consorts who can work together
as right hand and left hand, as science and
art, as theory and practice. Rede-cra
may call for books and hand craft for tools,
but it is by the help of both books and
tools that mankind moves on. Indeed, we
shall not err wide of the mark if we say
that book is a tool, for it is the instru-
ment which we make use CT in certain
cases when we wish to find out what other
men have thought and done. Perhaps you
will not be as ready to admit that a tool is
a book. But take for example the pillow.
Compare the form in use to-day on first
rate farm with that which is pictured on
ancient stones long hid in Egypt-ages old.
See how the idea of the pillow has grown,
and bear in mind that it's graceful curves,
its fitness for a special soil, or for a special
crop, It's ldpoi-odVAiS ohoPo, oelh0 Hoo "
chance, but by thought. Indeed, a pillow is
made up from the thoughts and tolls of
generations of plow-men. Look at a Col
Inns axe; it is also the record of mans
thought Lay it side by side with the
Ratchet of the Uncas or Miantonomoh, or
with any axe of the age of bronze, and
think how many minds have worked on
the head and on the helve, how much skill
has been spent in getting the metal, in
making it hard, in shaping the edge, in
fixing the weight, in forming the handle.
From simple tools turn to complex; to the
printing press, the sewing machine, the
locomotive, the telegraph, the ocean steam
er: all are full of ideas. All are the off
spring of hand-craft and rede-craft, of
skill and thought, ofpractice put on record,
of science and art"
Continuing, Mr.. Gilman makes an earn
est plea for hand craft or manual training,
especially of children, in their own homes.
sIn the household of the Kings Of Prus-
sia." he said, ''there is custom, if not a
law, that every boy shall learn trade. l
believe this is a fact, though I have no GER
tain proof of it, The Emperor Wilhelm
is said to be a glazier, the Crown Prince a
compositor, and on the Emperor's birth
day, not long ago, his Majesty received an
engraving by Prince Henry and a book
bound by Prince Waldemar, two younger
sons of the Crown Prince" This exam
pie, he thinks worthy of imitation in
every household. Greater importance
should also be given to hand-craft in the
schools. Hitherto, until quite lately, in
schools both low and high, rede- craft has
had the place of honor; hand-craft has had
no chance But a change is coming. In
the highest of all schools-universities for
example-work rooms, labor places labor
ratories,' are now thought to be as useful
as book-rooms, reading rooms, libraries %
After dwelling on the Importance of train
ing children in various useful employ
ments, NIr Gilman continues:
'sPlay, as we'll as work, may bring out
hand-craft. The gun, the bat, the rein, the
rod, the car, all manly sports are good
training for the hand. Walking insures
fresh air, but it does not train the body or
mind like games and sports which are play
ed out of doors. A man Of great fame as
an explorer and as a student of nature, Che
who discovered, in the West, bones of horses
with two, three and four toes, and who
found the remains of birds with teeth, once
told me that his success was largely due to
the sports of his youth. His boyish love of
fishing gave him his manly skill in explora-
ton
81 speak as if hand-cra: t was to be learn
ed by sport. So it may. 1t may also be
learned by labor. Day by day, for weeks,
have been watching from my study win
dow stately inn rise from the cellar just
across the road. A bricklayer has been
there employed whose touch is like the
stroke of an artist He handled each brick
as if it were porcelain, balanced it carefully
in his hand, measured with his eye just the
amount of mortar which he needed, and
dropped the block into its bed, without
staining it's edge, without varying from the
plumb line, by a stroke of hand-craft as
true as the sculptor's. Toll gave
him skill"
Speaking of the introduction of manual
training in the public schools, President
Gilman says: "Far and near the cry is
heard for different training from that now
given in the public schools. Many are try
ing to find it. Almost every large town has
its experiment, and many smaller places
have theirs. Nobody seems to know just
what is best. Even the words which ex-
press the want are vague. Bright and
thoughtful people differ as to what might,
can or should be DONE A society has been
formed in New York to bring together the
needed data. The Slater trustees, charged
with the care of large fund for the train
ing of freedmen, have said that manual
training must be given in all the schools
they aid. The town of Toledo, in Ohio,
opened, some time since, school Of prac-
tical training for boys which worked so well
that another has lately been opened for
girls St. Louis is doing famously. Phil
adelphia has several experiments in prog
ess. Baltimore has made start. In New
York there are many noteworthy move
ments, half dozen at least full of life and
hope. Boston was never behindband in
knowledge, and in the new education is
very alert, the efforts of a single lady de-
serving praise of high degree. These are
but signs of the times"
President Gilman urges scheme of du-
cation which comprises Kindergarten work
in nurseries and infant schools, drawing to
be taught in every school, instruction in
sewing for girls, instruction for boys in the
use of tools, and well-planned exercises %
strengthen the bodily organs In addition
these features young children may be
taught the minor decorative arts such as
carving, misunderstanding, etc.; boys in
town may be taught in evening schools to
practice the craft of carpentry, bricklaying
plastering, plumbing, gasftting, etc.; boys
who can carry their studies through the Ia
ter teens "may learn, while at the high
school or technical school or college, to
work iu wood and metals with precision, as
I have lately seen in the College of the City
of New York, at Cornell University, and
elsewhere colleges or high schools with
workshops and practice-classes. If they
can take the time to fit themselves to be
foremen and leaders in machine shops and
factories, they may be trained in theoretic-
al and practical mechanics, as the Worces-
ter Industrial Institute and in score of 9TH
er places, but the youth must have talent
as well as time to win the race in these hard
paths"
'Girls," says President Gilman, fare
most likely to excel in the lighter arts-to
design, (for furniture or fabrics), to en-
broider, to carve, to engrave, to etcb,
to model, to paint. Hele also success de-
ponds largely upon hat which was Unborn,
though girls of moderate talent in art, by
patience, may become skilled in many
kinds of art work"
He GOT THE PAss.-A good story is
told of certain prominent railway direc-
tor, who is equally renowned for his ability
tn take or mako q iOke railway en-