The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-05

hand the engineer, nor on the otner hand to develop the operative or artisan. their purpose being rather dis tinctiy educative in general sense, though. too. the results believe are of highly practical value. Manual training" says an authority. .includes, drawing, design. carving, moiding' joinery. piano o-piaying.--anything Tn word, which brings dexterfty and fnr- nishes . way of transplanting thought into immediate action" Its purpose is the training of the eye and the hand of the pupil and his acquisition of. those elementary principles of physics and mechanics which underlie all deal ings with the forces of nature and with material objects.
 "one of the most significant facts of recent educational development, says the Worlds Work. "has been the rapid adoption in the public schools of manual training, simply as part or education. and not as . specific prepar- alton for. a trade" Ten years ago. there were thirty-seven such public schools. Today there are 2T0 cities and towns. in which pupils of the public schools receive manual training as a part of their regular course. Accord ing to the report of the Commissioned of Education, there are 125 separate schools distinctively devoted to manual training. with an attendance of 10000
 Advantages of Manual Training. Both the economic and educational advantages arising from ma nual train ing are obvious. though 1t were per haps inappropriate to enter here upon technical details.
 CD First of all, the introduction of shop work into the- public schools would find place for that large num- her of boys who have no great aptitude for books, for abstract metaphysical. learning that requires close analysis, or for those masses of facts and fig. ures that are. carried by the memory. l am sure that too much attention. has been given by our school training to the mere anatomy of learning. to men tai gymnastics and acrobatic feats that may mean nimbleness rather than strength of mind. Oftentimes the clever boy with mind stuffed with,aIf the fight historical from Marathon to Waterloo in order categorical. stands a mere paralytic in the presence of fact; powerless in the presence, of some- thing that has to be done. remember that at college swallowed. undigested. the huge bulk of Bloxham's Chemistry, yet never had test tube in my hand. and was utterly incompetent to per form simple experiment to determine the presence of iron in a mineral spring.
 On the other hand, have seen a boy that would pass as dull. in the ordinary studies of the school dis playing in the shop some of the finest qualities of mind, namely-a sharp, discrimtnating perception, that Is, the clear eye. for form, magnitude, propor- ton and grace; a steady will; that Is, the trained hand, that guided the keen edged tool of the breadth of hair: a EE- will to do. that turned q lot of unre- lated Fragments of wood and metal into thing of beauty and utility. Ger tainly these are high qualities worthy Of all training and of all praise.
 (&l Tt has been closely demon strRted that children who received both mental and manual training exceiied Tn mentaI work those who received only mental training" Today this ts an educational principle universally ac- ceptsd; though q decade ago it was laughed to scorn.
 (S) The introduction of shon uver,r promotes a wholesome sense of the Ntes nity of hand labor. and comniatsiy emancipates from that false pride and snooo,snness, unhappily at one time so prevalent In our section, that rers rda labor as badge of social inferiorit0 . and thing to be despised. clna of the most hopeful sights of the times IS to see hundred or more southern youths in shirt sleeves and blue. cvar- a!is skilfully manipulating some com DICK machine: and shaping up some fin ished product of their own skill ana ingenuity. These young men. are rnt too line for any form of labor. ana are qualified to take useful nIacas in the industrial world rather than swell the thFong of useless and unhan. py applicants in the overcrowded and underpaid positions in shops. stores and counting houses, where a generally poor living, may be obtained without soiiing ones hngers."
 Perhaps nowhere more than in the rural regions of the South Is needed this sense of neatness and tidiness. No where Is more needed this sense of thrift and attention to the little prac- tical details of farm life that make the difference between happiness and dis content, success and failure
 (4) And this brings us lastly and chiefly to the advantaRes to be de- rived by the community at large from the improvement of the industrial oual ity of its citizens through the me chanical education of our youth ana their acquisition and mastery of the clements which underIis all mechanic arts.
 This is not the time to enter upon A general discussion of industrial educa- tion. but the words of an eminent Eng fish author are well worth pondering:
 Lord Brougham once said he hoped the day would come when every man in England would read Bacon; William Corbett said he would be contented if time came when every man in Eng land would eat bacon. First and fore most man has to earn his living, and the light to help us to work and find food and clothes and lodging for our. selves" The three R's, if no indus trial training has gone along with them. are apt, as Miss Nightingale cb- serves. to produce a fourth R---of Ras- cality.
 Every boy born in the world should be put in the way of maintaining him self in honest independence. No educa- ton that does not make this its first aim is worth anything at all. The be- ing able to do something is of infinite. ly more value than the ability to an- swer the question.
 Of old, the Hebrews. whose pub lie and private economy was of di- vine inspiration. required every boy to know a trade. The Egyptian ap- premiership of the Israolites in brick making Is familiar history. Moses was a shepherd; Jacobs skill in cattle breeding was a triumph in animal in- dustry. and a confusion to his father in-law; King David was a shepherd; Paul. the mightiest single factor In expanding the religion of Christ. main tained a splendid independence by his trade as a tent maker; while the great Master and Teacher. the Light of the World, pondered for thirty years on the