Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-15

rHE srwrSo scRooIk
A new departure viii this year mark the end
OF the public school year. The schools will
close on wednesday Of next week. ana there
VIII be the usual exercises held. On the pre-
cedtng day no recitations viii be required from
the children. They Will he asked 10 invite
their parents and friends 70 come 90 the VA
rious school rooms TO examine the work that
has been done during the year in certain
branches. There will be no formal program.
The public generally will be invited. and IL Is
believed that thousands will avail themselves
Of the opportunity. Everything that the chill
dren have done in the way of making maps,
product charts, drawing. penmanship. compo-
stion. and manual training will be arranged so
ton OF the work Of the pupils is not a spe-
claIly new thing, yet II has never before been
attempted on the scale that will mark the
closing Of the schools this year.
Az EXHIBITION IN EVERY SCHOOL ROOM.
In every school room OF the white schools
throughout the District there will be arranged
on Tuesday next display showing Just exactly
k Sna' each child has accomplished in the
branches named. The bad will be shown as
well as the good, and there will be place FOR
ne indifferent Where general exhibition for
the entire schools is given il il impossible. and
eaen year II Is becoming more impossible. 90
exhibit the work Of every scholar Natprallv
as space could not be found for all, the poorer
specimens were left out. BY having an exbi-
bitlon In every school room the parents and
friends can see exactly what each child is do
ing ana can compare il with what their neigh
bors children are doing.
PIES AND ESSAYS
The general introduction of mammal troipins
branches in the public school OF course
furnishes good many articles which were no,
to be seen in a school exhibition a few wears
ago. IL has only been recently that the public
school boys were taught the use of the tools i'm
carpenter work. or that the girls were initiated
INTO the mysteries OF cooking and serving Now
pie has place in the exhibition room next 10
a composition by the maker of the pie on
herolsm or the character of Napoleon 4 neatly
made dress or an equally neatly patched gar
ment is shown as an exhibition Of the skill and
progress q pupil whose copy book lies omen
on the same table. A parent may find ont
whether his boy can saw a board straight and
at the same time learn how he is getting along
In his struggle with pot hooks and hangers
Literature joins hands with the manual arts
and the modern school exhibition is the product
OF the united efforts of the head and the hands
ABLE TO IDENTIFY THEM.
The best Of it all is that parents are said 20
read the essays OF their daughters aud eat their
pies and cakes without experiencing any
unpleasant results. and that the garments made
by their hands are recognized by the experi-
enced eye OF the mother and named without
hesitation. Ii is true that there are VARYING
degrees of excellence. and that some cake is
lighter than others and some seams more neatly
done than others. Perhaps a boys father NAV
conclude that the specimen of his work NAV DO
box or perhaps II might be intended for a
table. but then he has no hesitation in pro-
nouncing his handwriting excellent or his COM
position as evlncing great ability. Whatever
may be the conclusions reached in regard toindi-
vtduaf work the exhibition will show that an
effort ID being made TO cultivate all the facul-
ties.
sNGULARLy DECORATED MAS
BY no means the least interesting feature Of
these school exhibitions will be the product
maps. These are large maps. showing some
state in the United States and hanging all
over them are articles illustrating the natural
and manufactured products of that state.
Rather odd-looking maps is the conclusion
reached when you first look at them. and il is
not easy at once TO see what IL all means Here
Is map decorated with a spoon. a comb a
doll and there may be also specimens Of iron
ore or of silver ore of cotton. The children
will tell you that all those things are produced
or manufactured in the state. the map OF Wi.ich
is thus decorated. The little ones, however,
not only know that iron is mined IN Penn
sylvania and cotton Is raised IN Alabama. hut
they can trace the progress of the ore in all its
various stages until the manufactured arti-
Gle is attained. They can show YOU a piece Of
cotton and tell you of the various changes
which are necessary before the cotton cloth is
produced. To get all this information the
children have made little expeditions Their
fayorite resort is the Agricultural department;
but they visit all the government departments,
and, no doubt. would call on the President If
the necessity arose. They lay their parents
| and their friends under tribute.
PLEASED TO HELP THE PUPILS.
Superintendent Powell SAYS that the children
meet with the most ready and kindly assist
ance People are pleased 10 find children in
terested in such things, and the average grown
up person sees the practical value OF such in
quiries. The whole city is called upon 10 assist
in getting up these product maps, and il is be-
lieved that they are valuable helps III teaching
the children to think for themselves.
1t seems rather peculiar, and no doubt will
so strike good many visitors to the schools
next Tuesday to find the smells of the kitchen
mingled with the odors that come from the
students lamp, but the pies and cakes and
other good things piled up in tempting array
can be relied on to establish their right TO a
place in the public school curriculum, and after
a while il will seem perfectly LAtural in speak
ing of the attachments OF our public school
scholars TO say that she was the best cook in
her class, or that he was the most proficient
carpenter or metal-worker in his class. Future
husbands and employees viii not then care
whether they knew all the rules Of grammar or
of rhetoric, or whether they could tell when
the datlye should De USED and when the abla-
tive.
TIE COOKING SCHOOLS
All the girls in the seventh and eighth grades
go TO cooking school There are seven or eight
of these schools in the District connected with
the white schools, and the smoke and fire Of
the sacrifices Of raw material in experiments
goes up daily and mingles with that which
comes from the homes of the vast majority Of
newly-married people.
Before the cooking period in the life OF a
school girl arrives and while she is in the
fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, she is taught to
sew to mend garments, TO make button holes;
and when a school trustee or some other mar
ried man gets a chance to talk 10 the children
he invariably impresses on their minds the i'm
portance of learning how to sew on buttons
and to remember that In the case of mems
clothes q weekly examination should be made
in order that buttons may be replaced with
promptness. To the average married man the
thought that the young girls are being edu-
Gated in this way is apt to make him think that
he ought TO have grown up some years later.
CARPENTRY AND MErAL-woRK.
As for the boys, when they are not playing
base ball or chasing cats. or studying, they are
instructed in the ways of making boxes, tables,
inlaid work, joinery, turning, molding and metal
working at the manual training school con-
nected with the High school, and situated at
ga D street. All these various industries in
A,ll h. ohan.l NIL H.. Cos sla