Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-04-10
A NOTABLE EXHIBITION.

The children's industrial exhibition IN
New York is success. There is nothing
but the homely shown: that is to say, the
fanciful and the decorative have been ex-
claded, or at least do not appear in the
hall, and as result there are shown only
articles of utility made By children cloth
ing, bread, tools, furniture, models and
examples of inventive genius. All the
exhibitors are under Is years of age, and
there are great many of them. The ex-
hibition is teaching one, and full of sug-
gestion. 1t suggests the capacity of chill
dren to produce articles of the common
place with profit, and without injury to
their physical being. 1t suggests how
much better is the bread-tray for the
training of the girl than the embroidery
frame, and what a useful factor in boys
life hammer and saw in his hands are.
Learning gained in youth in the practical
of little things is of the very best service
| to the man when called to deal with great
things. The manual training schools OF
the country, that of Chicago being q
notable example, are proceeding in right
direction in the preparation of boys and
girls for self-helpful lives. One of the
chief errors of the day is the neglect Of
parents to equip their children with
the weaponry of skilled labor
This fatal neglect turns upon the world
legions of youths without definite pur-
poses in life, struggling at the gates o.
trade, and pulling their wits to make hap.
hazard livings. Machinery has narrowed
and trade unionism almost closed the ave
nues to trade learning, and unless parent:
themselves teach their children, or manual
training schools take them in hand, all the
chances are against boy knowing how tc
| handle a hammer or WELD saw, or to dc
any of those many things that every mar
| should be able to do for himself. The
father who teaches his boy how to use hi.
| hands in useful labor suited to his strength
| fits him the better for whatever vocation
the lad may enter, and does great deal tt
smooth his path in life. The mother who
makes it a rule of action that her daugh
tiers shall know all the arts of house
wifery, is but doing her duty. If she can
in addition, train the hands of the girl tt
some or several arts that are bread-win
ming, she arms the coming woman agains
the world, and tempers and determines hel
character for her highest good. The boy
or girl who in this practical age passes tC
maturity without having learned tn,
power of the skill of the hand, excite
pity. Even the endowment of wealtl
cannot wholly remove the helpless
ness that attaches to such ignorance
Youth worth development will not b,
idle. Occupation is an absolute necessity
for it. The restlessness of children is tn,
evidence of an unused force. He who
trains and directs it rightly, is a benefac
tor. 1t need not be training Of toll, al
everlasting of strength, grind, a burden
put IL may be keen pleasure, an occupa
ton that in every sense is play, and still
is educational. We believe with Edward
Everett Hale that the how to do com
mon things" is what is needed by ouI
children. How many boys in great cite:
or small one, know how to oil a wagon
milk COW, glue joints of wood, hew to 9
line, sharpen tool, make box, swing an
AK, drive nail, adjust a harness, sew or
button, repair kitchen furniture, sink q
screw, or hundredot other things that every
lad of l6 should be able to do? Rural
life hundred fold is more useful to grow.
ing youth, for the very reason that its ne.
cessities and its privileges teach it how tc
do common things, and the doing of which
fit men to grapple with great things.