Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-12-31
TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.
CLOSE OF THE SESSION-AD0P.
TION OF RESOLUTIONS.
Interesting Paper Upon How to
Make the School-Room Attrac-
tive-Other Matters.

the Primary School ?" The essay will bt
published in this paper some time during
the present week.
Miss Fidelia Jewett, of the Girls High
School, San Francisco, read an able paper
upon Making Our School-rooms Beautiful
and Attractive" She said There never
was time when so much was written Oh
the Is House Beautiful as in the last few
years, but we have heard very little abou
the School Beautiful" When we con.
slider the importance of environments
in determining character. and how
much a child's life is spent in
the school-room, it cannot be that
the subject of the "School Beautiful" is
unimportsnt. Because our surroundings
form so large an element in unconscious
tuition, it will make a great difference to
the pupil whether the days are spent in q
cheerful and attractive room or in an ugly
and bare one. That our school-rooms are
essentially bare and ugly, is proved by their
forlornness when one remains in them
after the bright young faces have left fo1
the day, or when from the sunny street one
enters deserted school-house.
The culture of asthetic feeling is toe
generally neglected among us, and yet
there is yearning in all natures towards
beauty in form and color as well as in
sound. As day by day we increase our
ability TO appreciate beauty, the more beau
tiiul will beautiful life and beautiful
thoughts be 10 US. We must infer, then,
that the cultivation of taste is a moral duty
"a duty that will lead US and our pupils.
step by step, to higher planes of thought
and enjoyment. To make a school-room
attractive, it is not necessary that we have
costly woods, marble, bronze or gliding
but we must have a sense of fitness and
artistic taste, and not hesitate at little
trouble.
Cleanliness is the first thing. Long be-
fore we formulated principles of esthetics
we were taught that cleanliness is next TO
godliness." Especially in the higher
classes for girls, should we never weary OF
reminding them that a lady is always
dainty and refined in her surroundings.
She recommended that the walls of the
school-room be of some light tint which
will make it look more home-like, and will
often form great relief to the eye. The
dishgured desks too often show that we
have not taught respect for public property
nor proper care for things not our own.
As many reference books and desirable
books as can be obtained should be placed
within the reach of the pupils. The more
We can interest the pupil in making the
school-room attractive, the more we are do
ing to develop feeling of loyalty and
pride in the school, and to create desire
for refined and tasteful surroundings.
Children will love 6 school-room which
they have Helped to make beautiful, and
after they have left school will always be
more interested in its prosperity and USE
fulness.
All work left or put on the blackboard
should be neatly and well done, and such
work is really al ornament to the room.
With some trouble and little expense
notices can be cut from tinted paper in
artistic text, and when placed over the
doors and suitable places on the walls, will
be effective, and will teach great truths
that will never be forgotten. for what is
obvious TO the eye becomes clear to the
mind" Boxes of plants and baskets of
blooming flowers and trailing vines will
beautify school-room. Two pupils should
be appointed each weak to keep vases filled
with fresh cut flowers and vines, and in
this way many pupil will learn the art OF
arranging flowers. In the country the re-
sources in the way of moss-coYered wood,
cones, reeds, pampas plumes, grasses and
the like are very great, and will fully repay
all trouble in obtaining and placing them.
Color should be used whenever possible.
"Of all gifts to the sight of man, color is
the hottest, the most divine" Nothing adds
more to the attractiveness of the school-ro
than copies of noble pictures, statues and
views of classic scenes. The educating in
tiuence of these cannot be estimated. OF
its silent, uplifting influence, those who
have lived in the presence of good copy
of Rapbael's Sistine Madonna can testify.
1t is better to have 10 pictures upon our
IN EaU fhnz6 xx-hi oh ~
truly artistic, for they should be such as
will educate the pupil to care only for the
best. The ordinary chromos and litho-
graphs are entirely out of the question.
Stolen goods are generally cheap and poor,
and artotypes are usually thefts. They
give US very imperfect idea of the grand
| original, and hence are to be avoided
Better than artotypes-hetter than almost
| anything else-are the photographs taken
| from the original works Of art.
If the pupils of each class as
it graduates from the high OIL
grammar schools would contribute
from ten to twenty-five cents each, one
| photograph neatly framed or some work oil
art might easily be added each year, and il
will not only be a pleasure for the cradu.
ates to think that they have left class
memento in the school, but it will be a
strong link in the chain that will bind
them to their Alma Mater. In an Eastern
Normal School this plan was adopted over
q score of years ago, and to- day ii is rich in
pictures, busts and other valuable gifts Of
the graduating classes.
Besides reproductions of works of art,
there ought to be good portraits of oul
poets ana otEer eminent men, whose noble
| faces and noble works may silently lead
the pupils soul to finer issues of thought
and aspiration"
An effort on the part of the teacher tc
encourage neatness and good taste in dress
| is certainly duty. The most important
means to this end is the appearance of the
teachers themselves. When we realize how
we are daily observed from the crowns o.
our heads to the soles of our boots by the
| little people before us; when we realize
| that we are daily object lessons to our pu
pills, we can feel the great importance o.
perfect neatness and good taste in dress
| Beyond the decorations of our school
walls beyond the flowers in the windows
! beyond the attractive dress of the teachers
and pupils, the influence of beautiful man
ners is the greatest factor in making the
school room attractive. Emerson saws
- A beautiful form is better than beautiful
| face beautiful behavior is better than
beautiful form; it gives higher pleasur,
! lEdH StdluSc VI plOiuAcoi IL 10 Tie uueSl "
| the fine arts"
BY frequent lessons on manners and Ell
quette by never missing an opportunity
to insist on the pupils being truly courteous
to every one, and above all, by the daily
example of the teacher herself, beautiful
behavior is cultivated.
| The following were named as a commit
tee to incorporate the California Educa
tional Association James Denman, J. B
McChesney, Ira G. Hoitt, Ira More, james
T. Hamilton, James Kleebefger, A S. Cook
F. NJ. Campbell, ]. W. Anderson.
RESOLUTIONS PASSED.
The following resolutions were adopted
Res0lyed, That the thanks of the Association
are due Governor Waterman, secretary of State
Hendricks, the Board of Eduation of SacIa
mento, Mayor Gregory, Hon. Elwood Bruner
the people of Sacramento, and the local Execu
tive Committee, for their cordial reception anC
| very complete arrangements for the entertain
ment of the Association.
Resolved That the thanks of the Association
are due the local press for their very impartia
and extended reports of our sessions.
| Resolusd, That our thanks are due the variou:
railroad and steamboat lines for reduced rate
to the members of the Association
| Rssolred, That the thanks of the Association
are due superintendent Ira G. Hoitt and Deputy
Superintendent Julia b Hoitt for eourtesies ex