THE HAXD-WORK OF SCHOOL CHILD REX. 813 



to make and how to make it, but were lionor-bound to refrain fi'om 

 accepting any help in the work itself ; and it is believed by all in- 

 terested in the exhibition that the exceptions to strict honesty and 

 truthfulness in regard to the making of the articles were very rare. 



The exhibition was open during the day and evening, and the 

 patrons and friends of the schools came in hundreds to see it. Your 

 committee were among the visitors, and were so deeply impressed with 

 the importance of this exhibition in relation to the work of our Asso- 

 ciation that we determined to make a list of tJie different kinds of things 

 exhibited, and the ages of the children who made them, with a view 

 of forming from this list some estimate of what children can make 

 and like to make at different stages of growth and development. It 

 is one of the aims of this Association to form a graded system of 

 manual training, and such data as can be obtained from exhibitions of 

 this kind would be invaluable for that purpose. Superintendent Gor- 

 ton having promised us ample facilities for making the list at another 

 visit when the rooms would not be so crowded, we gave ourselves up 

 to listening to the comments of the visitors ; and their lively interest 

 and intelligent appreciation of the exhibit convinced us that it needs 

 only such exhibitions to create a public sentiment in favor of a move- 

 ment in this direction. Many parents, desiring to give help and sym- 

 pathy to their children in their school-work, find themselves at a dis- 

 advantage. It is seldom that even a well-educated and intelligent 

 parent is conversant with the last new methods of the schools, and his 

 suggestions and help, not being in accord with them, are looked upon 

 by the children as incorrect or old-fashioned. Thus many fathers and 

 mothers are made to feel at times that they are cut off from taking 

 part in their children's education. But here, in this exhibition, is some- 

 thing that bridges the gap between home and school, something the 

 parent knows all about — how that bread was mixed, that garment 

 fashioned, that ladder whittled out, that little wagon painted. Xot 

 only can they understand, but they themselves were the teachers. 

 This can become a great power for good to the community through 

 the avenues both of the school and the home. 



"We subjoin a list in which are noted down only those articles most 

 characteristic of the grade in which they were found, and in each grade 

 the age of the children is given. There were some remarkable and 

 elaborate toys and fancy-work showing skill, ability, even genius for 

 invention and great application and perseverance ; but these were the 

 efforts of children having special capacities or unusual opportunities. 

 It is, of course, a great gain to the community that those having par- 

 ticular aptitudes for industrial pursuits should be encouraged and cul- 

 tivated ; but this Association has, besides this practical aim, another 

 which is broader and more far-reaching, and that is, to find princi- 

 ples by which manual training may be adapted to large classes of 

 ordinary children. The wonderful things that remarkable children 



