MANUAL TRAINING. 803 



useful. It was recognized as a part of virtue. It meant not only 

 an ability to accomplisli certain practical operations successfully, 

 but it also meant much more than this. It meant the cultivation 

 of character. It meant the growth of patience, of perseverance, 

 and of judgment. It meant the development of the sturdy vir- 

 tues of self-reliance and self-poise. Manual training came to 

 have an ethical value. I can not do better here than to quote 

 with cordial approval a passage from Mr. Edward Carpenter's 

 Essay on Desirable Mansions : 



" Man is made to work with his hands. This is a fact which 

 can not be got over. From this central fact he can not travel far. 

 I don't care whether it be an individual or a class, the life which 

 is far removed from this becomes corrupt, shriveled, and dis- 

 eased. You may explain it how you like, but it is so. Adminis- 

 trative work has to be done in a nation as well as productive 

 work ; but it must be done by men accustomed to manual labor, 

 who have the healthy decision and primitive, authentic judgment 

 which comes of that, else it can not be done well. In the new 

 form of society which is slowly advancing upon us, this will be 

 felt more than now. The higher the position of trust a man oc- 

 cupies, the more will it be thought important that at some period 

 of his life he should have been thoroughly inured to manual 

 work ; this not only on account of the physical and moral robust- 

 ness implied by it, but equally because it will be seen to be im- 

 possible for any one without this experience of what is the very 

 flesh and blood of the national life to promote the good health of 

 the nation, or to understand the conditions under which the peo- 

 ple live whom he has to serve." 



Manual training has thus shown two aspects. It presents 

 itself as a convenience, and as an agent of moral culture. To-day 

 it is entering a new phase, and is expanding into a kingdom. It 

 is doing so through the recognition of its psychological import. 



Consider the structure of the human body. It is an organism 

 made up of many complex tissues, of bones, muscles, and nerves. 

 The whole is nourished by blood, manufactured within its own 

 precincts. Special organs and ducts provide a system of sewerage 

 for the prompt disposal of waste. In health, the blood supply is 

 ample, its aeration complete, the renewal of tissue is prompt, the 

 removal of waste is without interruption. Each organ performs 

 its function. We have a healthy human animal a rare sight. 

 We value it for what it is and for what it can do. The indicated 

 strength must be turned to some account. The well-poised head 

 must display intelligence. A failure in these expectations, and 

 our seemingly perfect human mechanism is a sad disappointment. 

 It is the informing spirit and the disciplined will that make the 

 Apollo admirable. These do not spring like Venus from the 



