538 CHARLES CALLAHAN PERKINS. 



Another duty came to him. In 1871 he was elected a member of 

 the School Committee of Boston. He was soon placed at the head 

 of the committee on drawing, and there he found the opportunity to 

 carry into effect convictions he had long held. While he considered 

 it important to collect in museums material for the education of a na- 

 tion in art, he believed not less strongly that this education should 

 begin in the public schools ; that from the time a child can guide a 

 pencil, his instruction in drawing should take its start ; that such in- 

 struction should be carried forward throughout his course, steadily and 

 by an organized method. This method, founded upon the system 

 adopted in England, and known as the South Kensington system, he 

 was mainly instrumental in establishing in our public schools. He 

 believed in it firmly, especially in its value in Boston as the leading 

 town of a large manufacturing district, he defended it manfully, and 

 he cherished and supported it by every means in his power. It 

 stands to-day substantially as he helped to plan it, stamped with public 

 approval. 



While this was his most important achievement on the School Com- 

 mittee, he took at least his full share of its work in other ways. He 

 was often intrusted with the preparation of reports on important ques- 

 tions ; as chairman of the committee on music, he carefully watched 

 that department ; he gave his time ungrudgingly to the details of 

 school management in his district, winning the respect and affection 

 of the teachers, to whose appeals he always lent a sympathetic ear. 

 In 1884, by an unfortunate application of party politics to the choice 

 of the School Committee, he was not re-elected. This, which to most 

 men would have been a relief, was to him a serious disappointment. 

 It was not that he cared for the position, it was that he missed the 

 work. The loss of an opportunity to perform a laborious duty was to 

 Charles Perkins a misfortune. In his performance of it he exhibited 

 the same qualities which distinguished his historical studies, — thor- 

 oughness, perseverance, in short, a singular capacity for taking pains. 



The labors I have recounted by no means exhausted his activity. 

 He was ready to take part, and always a vigorous part, in every effort 

 for the advancement of the Fine Arts. He had been one of the pro- 

 jectors of the Boston Music Hall, and had adorned it by the gift of 

 Crawford's noble statue of Beethoven. He was an active member 

 of the Harvard Musical Association. He was for several years the 

 President of the Boston Art Club. But it was especially by his 

 lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, and before many col- 

 leges, schools, and societies, that he sought, not only to give informa- 



