THE PHILOSOPHY OF MANUAL TRAINING. 335 



as the abstractions tliey replace. Groups also take the place of 

 single articles, so that the boy may select his work, and so have the 

 advantage of a deeper and more individual interest. In addition, the 

 principle of service is brought in. The articles are useful — some 

 little domestic convenience that may be given to the mother, some 

 well-made trifle that the father will use and value. The sentiment 

 which is thus woven into the work is far from idle. It is more than a 

 pretty nothing. Have you ever reflected that all the great and 

 beautiful things that have been made and done in the world — 

 the great pictures, symphonies, poems, stories, buildings, exploits 

 of all kinds that have needed the human spirit — have been made and 

 done, not as the result of technical skill, but as the result of a senti- 

 ment, the sentiment of hope and love? I regret the partial decay 

 of a visible religion in our midst, not because I believe that men 

 need creeds to make them good on earth or to point out the way to 

 heaven, but because it seems to me that an impressive worship, rich 

 in color, in music, and in tradition, does so much to keep alive the 

 sentiment of man, and give him the power of great and noble per- 

 formance. I can not but envy the old painter who brought to his 

 work the passion of a divine and human love, who painted the 

 Mother of God with that face which embodied his own heaven. It 

 may be that that passion for humanity which is appearing now as a 

 redeeming force in modern society may some time touch afresh 

 the national life with emotion, and open to us again a period of great 

 performance. 



The Herbartians are right, I think, in their scheme for the corre- 

 lation of studies, when they group all the work about some senti- 

 ment study and invest all with human interest. 



There is, further, an aesthetic objection to the abstract exercises 

 of the Russian manual training. They are not beautiful. The 

 finished projects of the American system — for so I shall in hope call 

 the educational manual training — may be made beautiful. This, 

 again, is a principle in both kindergarten and sloyd work, and one 

 that we can not leave out of the count. It is, I think, an educational 

 crime to have children deliberately make ugly things. Why should 

 they, when there is so much possible beauty in the world, and so 

 much real ugliness already? It is of large importance that children 

 in all their work should regard beauty as a sacred and necessary 

 quality. 



The finished projects have a further advantage in better allow- 

 ing a large proportion of free-hand work. Curved lines and warped 

 surfaces that can only be judged by sight and touch are not only 

 more beautiful but also more educative. A too great reliance upon 

 calipers makes us all mechanical. It is quite possible to have the 



