The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-05-10
Professor Thompson Tells
What the Children
Have Learned.
RESULTS THAT CAN Be SEEN,
First Rate Work Which as BeenH
Done by Bright Boys
and Girls.

! DSCOHluH one OIL the utOSb DrOI1luGuL
features Of the educational system,
Professor Langdon S. THOMPSON, Super
visor of Drawing of the City's Public
Schools, has been in charge Of this de-
partment for nearly two years. He
talked with reporter of THE SUNDAY
MORNING News yesterday afternoon
upon the subject, and exhibited with
much pride the thousand and one speci-
mems Of the handiwork OF the pupils that
now grace the shelves recently occu pied
BY the old High School library.
This" said he. represents the work
going on In all the public schools of the
city. 1t encourages the pupils to have
/ their work placed on exhibition to meet
the public eve, and teachers in one school
| are kept posted on all new ideas develop
| ing in other schools"
AND CHILDREN LEARN THIS.
Then the Professor began 10 talk about
/ spheres, cubes, prisms, spheroids, equiia-
| teral triangies, tetrahedIons and oetahed-
rons until exclaimed in amazement:-
/ And do you mean to tell me that child
rem in the kindergarten course are taught
to familiarize themselves with these
| termsW
s'Why not, nv dear boy ~ said the be-
nlgn old gentleman. From the very be-
| ginning the human race has had to deal
| with material forms--with the BREADTH
thickness aud general shape of solids.
Man dug holes in the stiles of mountains.
| Then he made earthen vessels to hold
! liquids He made crockeryware. Then
| he attempted to decorate works of his
| art, first with zig gag lines in the soft
clay, made with sharp stick. When he
began to decorate surfaces he found it
necessary to draw.
1t was just the same with his dress.
To find out how the human race pro-
crossed in these things from the start is
10 ascertain the natural order of mental
| development. Thus we find the first step
is to make things. Second, TO decorate
things, which leads up TO decorative
drawings. Third, to represent things
I, We have seen the ideas of savages in the
| drawings of RENDERS IN decorative draw
ings. savage tomahawking another;
perhaps a ship that has been observed in
| the distance, not understood yet convey
| ing thought.
This is the drawing of appearances
| The fourth step leads us up to mechani-
! cal drawing. Now we leave off drawing
appearances and draw facts of form. The
first thing child should learn TO do is to
make solid things. Wood or stone is not
desirable as material because it is diff
cult to reduce it to various solid forms.
WORKING WITH CLAY.
Nov here we will take up clay, the
first substance the human race had to
deal with, p and the professor selected a
hardened sphere aud imulated the motion
child would naturally first make to pro-
duce shape, by rolling it around in the
palms of his hands.
1.-THE sphere is favorite form of ma
ture. The earth, the planets, the rain
| drops and many fruits are shaped like a
4 sphere. To make it is an intellectual ex-
ereise. The child has ascertained natures
| favorite shape.
Nov selecting a cube of clay we find
| the widest difference. Children are
| taught that the foundation of natural
| objects is a sphere. The foundation for
artificial forms is cube. They learn
| about straight edges and fiat surfaces
sphere will roll, cube will slide. 1t
hassix equal faces. The first ideas of
architecture here take hold
''If they roll the cube, leaving the
ends fattened they form the shape
| of a cylinder. giving fundamental
bowls to hold liquids. With ends not re-
naming fattened they have the shape for
| potatoes and other vegetables and fruits
| of an elongated form. These exercises
show application by forms and will
i demonstrate later on.
For the present / viii only call your
J attention TO this imitation of q potato, y
| said the Professor, picking up a very
clever one. the moulding and coloring OF
| which reflected credit upon pupil of
| Miss Mccain OF No. l6 School, s.But this
artistic branch of the manual training
| system cannot be handled fairly in brief
newspaper article. / will attempt to
/ show you in a few words the practical
| utility Of the system.
| USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
| Here is tetra bedron, " resumed the
Professor, picking up q little card board
n l.. HI.
/ st WAS made by Lille Curtis of No. II
| School 1t has six faces. TWAS cut from
piece of pasteboerd, marked off into
! equilateral triangles, the edges fastened
together with fancy stitches and the
| faces decorated so that 20 matter how
| bear the same de sign. 1t is an object les
son in the economy of material, as vel
\ as in the decorative line of art. A boy
| who learns this before completing his ed
ucation when entering the shop of tin
smith or any shop where shell material is
| to be cut in order to form the shape of
| any sort of vessel for holding solids or
! liquids knows how TO economize in ma
terial from the start to degree it has
| cost his employer perhaps years OF loss
and experience to attain.
Then here is an octohedron made by
Ella Ranf1eld of the same school. Here is
1 n frustum of pyramid made from card
/ board. See what Il beautiful little orna-
| mental vehicle it is. The upward edges
are folded outward above band of rib
| bon and fastened to the base with pretty
kalkamanier pictures. It is otherwise
ornamented. 1t is the work of eleven
! year-old Nellie Crummenauer of No. II
! School.
Here Is another pretty sDecimenot the
same design from the hands of ten-year-
! old May Van Camper of No. 10 School,
and another from thirteen-ye ar-old Mabel
| Sutherltn OF No. ii School; still another
! of the same design from tweiye-year-old
! Elizabeth Cook of No. II School, with ad :
| ditional ornamentation of lodges: and
| here is still another of the same design,
/ Illustrating the beauty Of bold solid
coloring in way of remuneration.
FINE WORK BY BRIGHT LITTLE ONES.
Here is some OF The work Of Miss
Jennie McKain's pupils of No. 16 school,
III formations of clay. Here is perfect
sweet potato in shape and color, moulded
by Frank Campbell, aged seven years.
| This necklace of various sized spheres is
/ the work of nine-year-old Jacob Deer,
| Here is real treasure of art, considering
it is the work of fiye-y and-a- hal f-oIai
child Can you imagine anything more
/ perfect than this potato husk and pretzels
Little Carrie Cassidy made them, Here
is an EsquimeauX tent by seven-year-old
! James O'Nelll, and here adish OF potatoes
| by Maggie Dougherty."
Ihe seven, eight and nine-year old
pupils OF Miss McKain in the primary
grades have also fine collection OF sDeci-
mems of paper folding. some OF which
make pretty photograph frames.
= A pretty design in way OF picture frames