New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-09-18

| tration Of this. He used to paint pictures from
his own visions and he often declared that the
figures thus formed seemed just as real to him
as the most solid flesh and blood. Dickens and
Thackeray and Balzac and many other great
authors actually saw the people they put In their
booly and the places they described But eye
memory can be cultivated in all children so
that when they grow up it will be possible for
them to take to themselves and hold forever
whatever scenes Of beauty and interest are pre-
sentcd TO them.
In designing, it must be perceived Of once that
this ability to preserve and make representations
Of objects before is Of the highest advantage
and that It gives those who possess 1t long start
on their less well-cquipped rivals The designer
who has both the intellectual and the eye mem
ory developed is independent Of many things II
only he has fair opportunities Of observation. A
European tour of the great galleries and museums,
the cathedrals churches. monuments and arch-
tecuiral remains. the sculpture and decorative
art works of past ages, means far more for him
than it can possibly do for the unframed student
Returning home he will carry with HIM relics
of everything he has seen, and at Will he can
withdraw them from their brain-cells and use
them for instruction. comparison and suggestion
The development Of the observing faculty goes
hand Finland with that Of eye memory. moreover
Few people realize how rare careful observation
is at present: how commonly we all neglect daily
opportunities and even refuse to take the trouble
to observe what Passes under our eyes, and that
daily and hourly.
This modern indifference and intellectual apathy,
so to speak, is often curiously shown in the ig-
norance of people about the places where they
live Richard Grant White. in one of his books
{" England Without and Within"). gives preg-
nant example of this. In passing through Gray's
Inn, he noticed very old and curious archway
with as old and odd door in it. He asked two
of his acquaintance. both of whom had chambers
within stones throw Of the spot. what the arch
way belonged to and its history; and neither Of
the men could tell him anything about it 1t is
q common experience to find Doors ignorant OF the
existence of great men living close to them. but
their indifference springs from stupidity In the
case cited, both the ignoramuses were educated
and intelligent. and there IS nothing singular in
their failure to acqunint themselves with what
stared them in the face every day OF their lives,
for probably most of our readers can match the
experience In fact observation is almost an
atrophied faculty. and when a writer practiscs
it for the purposes Of his art. we regard the
matter as in some sense wonderful In addluon
10 cultivatng observation and memory, Mr.. Leland
advocates training in Quiclness of perception, in
Guiding development of the eye and mind, and he
laws great emphasis on what is really necessary
preliminary to the acquisition of all the other
faculties, namely. a proper and systematic use
of the will. Beginning with an assumption which
may surprise many-that every ore is capable OF
artistic work and strong memory and observation
he insists upon the devotion Of patient effort
to the creation of interest in work.
The principle that TO educate children rightly
Al ~ ha noann
has already been recognized and applied in the
kindergarten system but Froebels methods arc
not less true and not less applicable to the ad-
vanced stages of teaching, and this has yet 70
be perceived and acted upon. The old pcrverse,
wasteful and futile modes of conveying instruc-
tion still neutralize the bcstmeant efforts in the
higher schools and colleges and the old COM
plant that college courses result in little practl-
cal intellectual development has the same force as
formerly. Clearly the failure to interest students
in their studies the failure to make them compre-
bend the bearing and scope of disciplinary excr-
cses in themselves tedious the failure TO train the
will so that it may dominate and guide the open
ing intelligence; have much to do with this waste
OF time and labor and capital 1t would per-
haps be of little use to improve the methods Of
teaching in the higher schools unless the whole
educational system were brought under the in
fuencc of radical reform But it is not difficult
to perceive that the introduction of the principles
and methods advocated by NJ. Leland in sys-
tcmatic way would rcvolutionize the whole
scheme and endow it with new and vigorous life.
In his present volume the author has addressed
himself mainly to demonstrating the practical
value of art industry and the ease with which it
can be taught There is, he is satisfied, no dan
ger of OVERRIDING it; of training industrial work
org in oh unh orc hat their
productions will drug the market.
On the contrary, he declares that the market
grows with the growth of the minor arts, and
that notwithstanding the number of artisans and
artists turned out by the many art schools Of
this country and Europe to-day, the demand con-
tinucs to be far in advance of the supply One OBJ
vious explanation of this is the elevation OF the
public taste The people are learning moro and NOR
rapidly that true art-work can only be done by
hand; that factory work is necessarily dead and
uninspred; that to attain excellence OF any kind
in this direction the design and the execution
must bear the stamp of individuality which no
machinery can ever initiate in n word, that there
can be art without soul This is tho secret of the
charm of medieval and antique art, and in the
obsolete popular appreciation of this principle Is
to be found the fundamental cause of the splen-
didly original and profoundly artistic work done
by so noble an array of masters in the past Right
ly viewed therefore Mr.. Leland's methods and |
theories constitute the strongest conceivable pro-
test against that instruction which, working too |
often IN the disguise of the democratic spirit, |
tends to despiritualize all modern work, to de- |
grade modern educational processes to paralyze |
and level modern art, and to exclude from the |
agencies of the age that principle Of I
individuahsm upon the preservation and cult
wilton of which all progress toward really high
deal depends We not ready to see industrial
caehing introduced in the public schools but
here is no doubt that the present system would
De the better for the application of some of the
principles which Mr. Leland discusses
1rnLE