MANUAL TRAINING. 61 



In the senior year the mannal work shows entire singleness of 

 purpose. It is somewhat technical in character. The machine 

 shop devoted to it is equipped with machine lathes, drill, planer, 

 shaper, and vises. It has quite the appearance of being ready for 

 serious work. The early part of the year is given to a series of 

 formal exercises turning straight and tapering cylinders, cutting 

 right and left screw threads, shaping irregular parts of mechan- 

 isms, drilling, fitting, and going through the manifold operations 

 required in machine construction. In the latter part of the year 

 a series of mechanical projects is undertaken. These vary from 

 year to year, and are simple or elaborate according to the capacity 

 of the group of boys constructing them. They include such 

 mechanisms as steam engines, centrifugal pumps, force pumps, 

 overhead carriers, screw propellers, dynamos, and motors. The 

 finished projects have the advantage over simple exercises of re- 

 quiring a nice interchangeability, and giving splendid practice in 

 the assemblage of parts. At the end of the year the total amount 

 of work done is not very large. It looks, indeed, almost insignifi- 

 cant in comparison with the elaborate mechanism needed for its 

 production. It will bear examination, however, and it has in- 

 volved many operations and many principles. 



The output of work in the manual department represents two 

 classes formal exercises and finished projects. The first are al- 

 most as abstract as a problem in geometry. They are numbered, 

 labeled, and graded. They have the flavor of the schoolroom 

 about them. The second are more concrete. They represent in- 

 trinsic worth in addition to the lesson they have taught. They 

 have, however, no industrial value. They are never sold. They 

 remain the property of the school, lending their beauty to the 

 furnishing of the building, and also serving as an example and 

 incentive to succeeding classes. They have as high an educational 

 value as the more formal exercises, for they are carefully chosen 

 and embody principles which are quite as general. In the early 

 days that is to say, some eight years ago when manual training 

 was less secure in its educational position than now, I used to be 

 much afraid of anything which betokened a value apart from the 

 little workmen themselves. The production of finished articles 

 seemed to indicate t> e shop rather than the school. This was the 

 cause of my distrust. But now my feeling is different. I begin 

 to set a higher value upon these completed projects. I see that 

 it is possible to make an object of beauty, and even of utility, and 

 get quite as deep a lesson out of the operation as if the object 

 were ugly and useless. One may require the same careful work- 

 manship, the same strict regard for dimensions, and may bring 

 into play the same set of muscles in the one as in the other. In 

 addition, there is the advantage of a keener interest. More work 



