200 FIELDS, FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. 



spiiation which will induce him, later on, to put in what- 

 ever he does a sincere longing for truth, to like what is 

 beautiful both as to form and contents, to feel the neces- 

 sity of being a useful unit amidst other human units, and 

 thus to feel his heart at unison with the rest of humanity. 



As for avoiding the monotony of work which would 

 result from the pupil always making mere cylinders and 

 discs, and never making full machines or other useful 

 things, there are thousands of means for avoiding that 

 want of interest, and one of them, in use at Moscow, 

 is worthy of notice. It is not to give work for mere 

 exercise, but to utilise everything which the pupil makes, 

 from his very first steps. Do you remember how you 

 were delighted, in your childhood, if your work was 

 utilised, be it only as a part of something useful ? So they 

 do at Moscow. Each plank planed by the pupils is uti- 

 lised as a part of some machine in some of the other 

 workshops. When a pupil comes to the engineering 

 workshop, and he is set to make a quadrangular block of 

 iron with parallel and perpendicular surfaces, the block 

 has an interest in his eyes, because, when he has finished 

 it, verified its angles and surfaces, and corrected its de- 

 fects the block is not thrown under the bench it is 

 given to a more advanced pupil, who makes a handle to 

 it, paints the whole, and sends it to the shop of the school 

 as a paper-weight The systematical teaching thus re- 

 ceives the necessary attractiveness.* 



It is evident that celerity of work is a most impor- 

 tant factor in production. So it might be asked if, 

 under the above system, the necessary speed of work 

 could be obtained. But there are two kinds of celerity. 

 There is the celerity which I saw in a Nottingham lace- 



* The sale of the pupils' work is not insignificant, especially when 

 they reach the higher classes, and make steam-engines. Therefore the 

 Moscow school, when I knew it, was one of the cheapest in the world. 

 It gave boarding and education at a very low fee. But imagine such a 

 school connected with a farm school, which grows food and exchanges it 

 at its cost price. What will be the cost of education then ? 



