THE HAND-WORK OF SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 815 



colored boy too old for his class, who was supposed to be simple- 

 minded. A boy who was sure he could not make anything brought a 

 wire hanging-basket filled with wood-moss and ferns and a blossoming 

 anemone. 



The girls' work of this grade begins to show the effect of training 

 at home, and is more conventional than that of the boys. The speci- 

 mens included white undergarments, neatly made and trimmed ; aprons 

 of various styles ; knitted dolls' hoods, lace and crochet work ; baby's 

 clothes, crazy-work mats, dressed dolls, bean-bags, pen-wipers, and 

 pin-cushions. 



Of the third school year, the children being seven and eight years 

 old, the girls' work did not differ materially from that last described. 

 In the boys' department, wheelbarrows appeared to be a specialty, but 

 we found also saw-bucks, bedsteads, boot-jacks, a gunboat, a cross of 

 wood mounted for wax-work, a fort, and mounted drawings ; many 

 houses, made of common pasteboard, with doors, bay-windows, dor- 

 mer-windows, and porticoes ; a boat, noticeable for its neat oars, and 

 its row-locks made of black dress-eyes. 



In the products of the next two years, by children from eight to 

 ten years old, while the boys' work was still mainly confined to toys, 

 that of the girls appeared to be growing more practical. Pride in 

 execution was shown in both. 



JBoys' icork : A velocipede, small but complete, with hubs, spokes, 

 felloes, and tires represented by lines of black ; a substantial and 

 neatly finished wagon ; clothes-horses, step-ladders, saw-bucks, easels, 

 ocean- steamers, and catamarans, seemed to be favorites ; several forts 

 were exhibited ; a curious vase was ingeniously made from a tomato- 

 can, with a large black spool serving as pedestal, the whole decorated 

 with gilt paper and bright-colored pictures. 



Girls' icork: Sofa-cushions, pillow-shams, aprons ; a white 3Iother 

 Hubbard dress ; machine-work, tucking, lace, darned socks, splashers, 

 a quilt, crazy-work, albums of stamps, and pictures. 



In the sixth and seventh years, representing children from ten to 

 fourteen years old, all the work was elaborate and well done, but was 

 participated in by a smaller proportion of the pupils. The work of 

 the boys was less prominent than that of the girls, but was more prac- 

 tical than in previous years. 



The boys' work comprised chiefly cabinet-work (book-cases, easels, 

 checker-boards, a table), a door-mat of coffee-sacking tufted with rope- 

 ends. 



The girls'* icork included excellent plain sewing, exemplified in 

 children's dresses, fine aprons, and underwear ; fancy-work (painted 

 cards, embroidered banner-screens, lace, a crib-quilt, an embroidered 

 table-scarf) ; bread, cakes, pickles, etc. There were many hundreds 

 of other articles in the exhibition, a large majority of them creditable 

 productions, and all representing earnest effort. 



