The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1910-06-02
Allston School Boys and Girls

Make all the Furniture and Fittings of
Regular Five-Room Suite. Head Master
William {. Crawford, Originator of the
Idea of Practical Household Instruction.
The Boston daily newspapers have
given much space to illustrated articles
on an original plan for practical educa-
ton originated and successfully carried
out by William c.. Crawford, formerly of
Belfast, and we'll known as a progressive
and able educator. The following article
tells of this interesting work:
A school home, practical, economical,
instructive, model suite of five rooms,
used during part of school hours by the
pupils of the Washington Allston gram
mar school, in Allston, in which all the
duties connected with the average Ameri-
can home of today are performed by
these pupils during school hours, has
been established under the direction OF
Head Master William c. Crawford on
the first floor of the auxiliary wooden
building, known as the Club House,
connected with the original brick school.
Mr.. Crawford, the originator of this
most modern method Of instruction In
the lower grade schools Of Boston, if not
in the entire country, has embodied in 1t
the best features Of practical school life
as investigated by him in Europe as well
as the basic plans which he has been
formulating for several years, only
awaiting an opportunity to put them
into practice.
The rooms include living room, dining
room, kitchen, bedroom and laundry, for
which all the furniture and needlework
were made for the most part by the boys
and girls of the graduating division. The
two classes below did some OF this work,
however, and also the whole of the cult
walton in connection with an up-to-date
home garden made up of about SO beds
of various kinds of vegetables, pear trees
and cold frames.
The girls sewed all the burlap which
the boys tackled to the walls of the living
room. The boys pounded putty into the
old floors, where holes had been made by
desks, rubbed them with sand and stain
ed and vanished all the woodwork. They
made large library table, bay window
seat and straight window seat, several
long bracket shelves, a roomy mission
style rocker and stationary chair, both
cushioned, a piano bench. waste-paper
basket, several tabourets, and a tall,
old-fashioned hall-clock frame. The clock
frame awaits the works. A half dozen
dining chairs, upholstered, round dining
table, a corner china closet, which con-
tains full dinner set, buffet, three
piece screen OF burlap and oak, the kltch-
en- tables, and various pieces OF kitchen
furniture were also constructed by the
boys. They made two beds, a bureau,
stand, a writing table and a clothes-tree
as WELL
The girls made pillows, curtains, which
are to be stenciled later, table cloths and
napkins with monograms, sheets, pillow
cases, bedspreads, kitchen dish cloths,
glass w1pers and many of the little things
that come in the sewing line, an entire
brass desk set, brass and silver candle
sticks and shades, and their caps and
aprons. The girls are under the cooking
teacher, who details certain ones to do
the sweeping, busting, washing, cooking,
ironing and cleaning. In the kitchen
there is gas and coal stove, set tubs
for four, wringers, scrubbing boards,
copper boiler, baskets, soap made by the
girls, and shelves and closets containing
the necessary tools and materials for the
management of simple, well-eqipped
home.
The cooking arrangements allow sin
girls at time to prepare the cake, bis
cults or whatever it may be, while others
are tending to the baking, the ironing or
are in the middle of their allotted floor
space so as to facilitate the instruction.
The garden is expected to yield bumper
crop for preserving. the girls having al
ready been indicted into the mysteries
of putting up pears.
The simple, rich, solid character OF the
furniture and the delicate, artistic, yet
substantial appearance of the girls eff
forts, as well as the delicious cooking,
denote the care and interest of the pupils
in their highly beneficial and practical
work. The project could not have been
accomplished, however, if it had not been
for the cooperation of the teachers and
scholars alike.
Mr.. Crawford said in part of this in
teresting work: ''The boys will be train
ed in the arts and crafts that pertain to
home making and will be made to see
that thus they can construct a home for
themselves instead of being left hopeless
with the thought that without money
they cannot have home. The possibili
ties are almost legion for the young man,
who has grown up and has little spare
time, to be Independent. This work
teaches the dignity and true value of
labor, that the difference between good
and poor living is not difference of
money but of intelligence. The girls are
shown how and how not to decorate, to
make simple but effective and COM
Portable home. Everything is of solid
construction; there is no shoddy. The
real climax of the project comes in the
compositions which are written on the
lessons learned. The pupils rise above