The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-12-02

in drawing, a few minute only to each
lesson, to develop skill in the left hand
as we'll as the right, and to make the
most Of the natural balance of the or
gani IN. In almost every occupation or
pur,uit the ability to use both hands
with equal facility is found to be Of
gre at assistance. Indeed, one-handed-
ne IS has become almost a deformity.
Many adults have become ambidex-
trous through these exercises and tes-
tify to it's advantages. 1t also has a
distinct educational effect upon the
BRAIN
How much time is given weekly to
all this work in art and manual train
ing?"
only two hours a week for the pub
lie school pupils. Only ten minutes or
so of each period should be allowed for
free hand drill at the blackboard. The
exercises are such as have proven best
for imparting manual and eye skill.
The child creates the design in his
mind Che never made one exactly like
this before). and executes it on the
board in five or ten minutes. The right
hand draws the right-hand side of the
picture, while the left hand does the
left side. All this is done in a very few
minutes by clear, swinging touches,
no line being repeated, and the chalk
not even being raised from the board
until one side of the design is finished.
This implies q remarkable dexterity Of
the hand, and it's unconscious obedi-
ence to the mind, while the eye auto
matically guides the hand in executing
its work gracefully and artistically.
When you realize that few artists even
can do this you can better appreciate
the working together of hand eye and
mind that it involves"
Il don't quite understand your mean-
ing here. 1 thought drawing was done
touches"
S it is by feeble artists who do not
possess manual dexterity. But the
great masters had such obedience of
hand, such training of the eye, that
their minds were occupied solely with
~AN CAooSAtSo CASy f"lollSu " eApIGSS.
They didn't have to stop to think how
their hand should do the work, or how
the should guide the hand. That
was all. automatic,
You don't mean to say that ordinary
children can obtain this faculty."
Il can show you many children, of
all grades of society and environment,
who have acquired this power to make
either or both hands obey the mind,
and they do it artistically, because their
eye has been traine Alright. They
draw automatically just as you write,
and equally as a mode of expression"
In all the drawing l ever saw, at
least by children, they had to take the
utmost care with each line
"Precisely," Mr.. Tadd replied with a
smile. But the time required to learn
drawing in that feeble way is enough
to get this facility l advocate if only
the child is properly taught by art
methods, real manual training and ma
ture study. You must first realize how
much automatic power there is in the
human body. The tongue utters your
thought automatically: you don't have
to stop to see which way you shall wag
your tongue; it works automatically,
because hat function, learned in in
fancy long since became automatic. So
with walking and many movements.
So with writing or the expression of
thought in characters that compose
words and 'contonooc Won rpyQr fhjnk
how you shall connect the letters and
form them; your mind is wholly CENTER
ed on the thought you wish to express,
while the hand, unconsciously guided
by the eye, automatically indites YOU
thought. Just so the children draw on
blackboard, paper or clay, and eventu-
ally carve in tough oak"
Then they dom take carving until
after a course in drawing and model
ing?"
"On the contrary, they rotate all ex-
e~rcises. One lot of children will! take
blackboard drill for a few minutes,
then do ~free-hand drawing of original
designs or from objects of memory. At
the next lesson they will mode in clay
the forms they have drawn or carve
them in wood. This teaches them form
all around and develops a wonderfully
close connection between hand, eye and
brain. and a marvellous control over
the muscles that give dexterity to the
two hands.
MEMORY WORK EXEMPLIFIED.
perhaps I ought to emphasize here
the memory work." said Mr.. Tadd.
"The children learn to see things, to
grasp the essentialities and Their to
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