The Republican journal., 1916-03-23
LEARNING TO SEW,
Uninteresting Work of Learning Stitches
by Children Might be Made Easier by
Better Methods of Teaching.

by Children Might be Made Easier by
Better Methods of Teaching.
A woman rem arked that if she had leis-
ure she would organize a sewing class
among her young friends one person of
the group to read aloud while the rest
sewed. The girl with dark hair interrupt
ed to say she bespoke the office of read
er, since she hated to sew Yet that
girl is intelligent, orderly, efficient-just
the sort OF person to make a capable
cutter and neat, swift sewer.
The reason she gave for her dislike of
sewing was, that as a child learning to
sew she had been given uninteresting
squares OF muslin upon which to try her
inexperienced hand. Just hopelessly
monotonous square of muslin upon VIII lch
all the stitches were in turn practiced to
acquire the deXterity with a needle only
obtained by repetition.
The writer remembers, as among the
drearlest experiences of her childhood
hours spent whipping bits of folded
linen, two inches square. Hundreds of
them, it seemed to her, were made, all
as exactly alike as peas in a pod These
were afterward joined at the corners
and fringed at the end-the whole re-
sulting in as hideous an antimacassar as
was ever designed to protect an uphols
tered sofa from perfumed pomades.
In contrast she recalls the fascination
of working picture upon perforated
craftsmanship Old Oaken Bucket"
that developed, with every stitch, new
possibilities of joy. Strange to say, it
was her father who had the inspiration
al thought of setting her this joyous
task, the memory of which warns her
bosom yet. 1t was quite pretty pict-
ture to begin with: An old house sur
rounded by trees, and near by well,
with bucket and wellsweep. Above, in
old English script, with delightful curli-
cues here and there, the title of Samuel
Woodworta's familiar and beloved poem
Of water and well and moss-c covered
bucket. The ecstatic developing of that
picture thrills to this day.
First, the selection of the design.
Then, after intense thought, the deci-
sion that the color scheme should be
brown and green. Those colors offered
such infinite variety of tones. The let
tering, house, tree trunks, the we'll and its
| accessories, to be brown; the curlicues
upon the script, the moss covered bucket,
the house shutters and foliage, green.
| The excited conferences at night with
| the beloved father as to shading, as to
whether Spring or Autumn garden
ferences in tones of green. The peces-
sity of wild flights to the real garden be-
hind the house to ascertain if branches
| n hoi
trunks, and if so. just where the brown
melted into green and when and where
green became almost yellow, like the
heart of delicate young lettuce.
The anguish incident to running out of
silk floss and panic lest the sampler shop
might be unable to supply further ma
teriaI. Finally, the trumphal finishing
OF the picture and the high honor of hav-
ing it framed and hung upon the wall of
fathers own bedroom. No artist be-
holding, for the first time, the creative
work of brain and brush hung upon the
line at Paris salon could have drunk
deeper at the fount of JOY than the child
artist who had achieved this modest
wonder.
Therefore,, when work can be such
ecslatic delight to children, why render
it dreary hardship by making the con-
ditions of work monotonous and unin-
spring? Why not give the child learning
to sew artistic designs and tremendously
colored fabrics to expend time and effort
upon. Let something worth while be
made-a dress for doll, or baby sister
and let there be lace and loneliness and
opportunity for development of observa
ton and exercise of imagination and in
dividual taste. Let the child feel it i:
creating, rather than copying from
model. Above all, let it feel there il
purpose in the labor; even the child mine
rebels against effort without the compen
sation of practical results. Children have
instructive love of beauty, of color ant
"the long white seam" does not lur'
them-as we'll teach botany in class
room when there is blossomy garden a
the door.-Baltimore Sun.