Omaha daily bee., 1898-08-09

they can give beauty, a matter ne imnorfant
to the growing child as fresh air. Remem-
berlng the vast sum invested in the public
schools can we not Insist that these schools
not only give us health Of body. but also
represent a finer public taste. a nobler pub
nc spirit and a higher general refinement?
! our people are to make living q fine art, II
the next generation is to rise above coarse.
rude ways to the love of beautiful things and
the power to create them. then the little
children must have beauty about them in
the schools when they are very young.
simple and noble architecture. good lines,
harmonious colors, cost no more than the
ugly, barren or pretentious buildings too
often the prison of the child. The subtle
and pervasive influence of soft color, fine
pictures and noble forms on the walls make
Tor a finer sense Of beauty in public and in
private life thereafter; gentle voices. cur
teous manners, generous spirits, new inter-
ests grow in the atmosphere made by cur
tains and growing plants at windows, pic
lures, flowers, books and collections in the
room. These things should be in every
schoolroom in the land, not in the favored
few. Schoolrooms should be the most in
t%eresting and charming spots in town. Hap
PLY they can now be made so with small
cost. Science has taught us how to bring
the great masters to our walls at little ex-
pense, and the glory that was Greece and
the grandeur that was Rome may tell their
story to any one who will look and listen.
The exhibit by the Boston Public library
and its publication of lists and prices OF
pictures suitable for school room decoration,
point the way, and show the ease with which
clubs of women can give beauty to the
schools.
Last Christmas vacation a crowded city
| SphO0l rnnr1 In n ton ppnnnt-hR, CartfAn
was taken by a little company of women,
disinfected and thoroughly cleaned. The
room was painted a soft red, and on the wall
in front of the children's desks two good
pictures were hung, large enough for all
the sixty pairs of eyes to see-alas, that
there should ever be more than thirty in
one room!-and over the teachers desk be-
tween the pictures was placed a cast of the
marvellous Greek horsemen from the Par
thenon frieze, The little children. from
8 to 10, came wonderingly back to their new
room-their Sunday ROOM" they said.
They could not work the first day for the
surprise and joy of it; so their teacher told
them to write her a letter. to tell her how
they liked it. Dear teacher" wrote the
first, II promise you never to stick pins into
Johnny any more" and another boy said,
Il won't play hooky again, never all the
year. A little girl wrote: I'll
ask my mother TO let me wear
my good dress tomorrow" What If they
did insist upon :enderly calling the superb
Greeks "Washington's Army Crossing the
Delaware?" What matter as long as young
eyes are trained to see, and young hearts to
love elevated beauty?
influence of Trees and Flowers.
The planting Of trees and flowers and
grass about the buildings, and the pride and
interest which grow in protecting them, will
train the children beyond untidy streets,
dirty alleys, hideous advertisements in pub
lie places, and atrocious buildings. If we
are to have a finer and more beautiful pub
lie life our future citizens must have the
early training of eye and hand, Ehich will
give a sure instinct for beauty, and an in
slant repulsion in the presence of all that
is bad. Hence women must not he content
simply to show the good and beautiful.
They must provide means Of teaching the
young to create it. Music, drawing. model
ing, carving are all practical subjects; they
are not Injuries. They enlarge powers and
make men and women more adaptable, more
observant, more creative. The power to
think, to see, to do-these all elementary
education should aim to give. These diff
cult powers the state must have in the ma
jority of it's citizens if civilization is to
keep progress with its means.
Women can provide training in domestic
science and household arts. This should
include rot only the p~ractics! and theoreti.
cal work of the cooking school and the sew,
ing class, but some knowledge of plumb
ins, heating, drainage. cleaning, household
buying and accounts. Accurate use of tools
iG as important to girls as to boys, ant
boys should learn something of cooking anc
sewing. In how many places are women
as individuals or in clubs, contributing
these opportunities until their fellow-citi-
zens and their elected representatives or
: the school boards discover the educationa
and economic value of such studies and in
= corporate them in the school system at pub
lie expense! Such experiments, wisely car
ried out at private cost and under privat'
direction, soon show that money spent OIL
> kindergartens, domestic Jcience, manua
training and vacation schools for city :hil
: dren, will save far more than their cost Il
; the community in truant and reform
|, schools, in prisons, almshouses and hospi
: tails. Such considerations as | have beef
= urging make daily war upon the grim quar-
d. tet that prey upon society-ignorance, pov
erty, sickness and sin.
If the women of any section. large o
: small, would render permanent service, AM
not mere amelioration. let them serve tn
children. and the children's higher inter
ests. 81 will give the girls beauty, an
trust that other men will give them breaJ
after l am gone the founder of Wellesle
? college said to a friend. who reproache
= him for buying pictures and rare volumes
= while his college was unendowed. And h
was wiser than he knew. Our childre
cannot live on bread alone. Presi
dent Eliot has said that the end @
9 all education is twofold-enjoyment an
service. Let us put a few great book
. and something of natures exquisite wor
!, into every school room; let us train the eye
to see and the hands to form beauty; lie
us make every child strong In body an
skilled in some useful art; let us educat
public opinion to spend money in givin
these substantial gifts to the children tha
:, later on we need not spend it tenfold |
caring for the wreckage made by unintelli
gent and perverse training.
=
Mail Train Jumps the Track.