354 ^^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



These complaiDts are invariably unreasonable ; for how can one 

 choose at all, or wisely, when he knows so little 1 



I confidently believe that the development of the manual elements 

 in school will prevent those serious errors in the choice of a vocation 

 which too often wreck the fondest hopes. It is not assumed that every 

 boy who enters a manual-training school is to be a mechanic ; his 

 training leaves him free. No pupils were ever more unprejudiced, 

 better prepared to look below the surface, less the victims of a false 

 gentility. Some find that they have no taste for manual arts, and will 

 turn into other paths — law, medicine, or literature. Great facility in 

 the acquisition and use of language is often accompanied by a lack of 

 either mechanical interest or power. When such a bias is discovered 

 the lad should unquestionably be sent to his grammar and dictionary 

 rather than to the laboratory or draughting-room. On the other hand, 

 decided aptitude for handicraft is not unfrequently coupled with a 

 strong aversion to and unfitness for abstract and theoretical investi- 

 gations. There can be no doubt that, in such cases, more time should 

 be spent in the shop, and less in the lecture and recitation room. 

 Some who develop both natural skill and strong intellectual powers 

 will push on through the polytechnic school into the professional life, 

 as engineers and scientists. Others will find their greatest usefulness, 

 as well as highest happiness, in some branch of mechanical work, into 

 which they will readily step when they leave school. All will gain 

 intellectually by their experience in contact with things. The grand 

 result will be an increasing interest in manufacturing pursuits, more 

 intelligent mechanics, more successful manufacturers, better lawyers, 

 more skillful physicians, and more useful citizens. 



In the past comparatively few of the better educated have sought 

 the manual occupations. The one-sided training of the schools has 

 divided active men into two classes — those who have sought to live 

 by the work of their own hands, and those who have sought to live 

 by the work of other men's hands. 



Hitherto men who have aimed to cultivate their minds have neg- 

 lected their hands ; and those who have labored with their hands 

 have found no opportunity to specially cultivate their brains. The 

 crying demand to-day is for intellectual combined with manual train- 

 ing. It is this want that the manual-training school aims to supply. 



6. Material Success for the Individual and for the Com- 

 munity. — Material success ought not to be the chief object in life, 

 though it may be sought with honor, and worthily won ; in fact, suc- 

 cess would appear to be inevitable to one who possesses health and 

 good judgment, and who, having chosen his occupation wisely, fol- 

 lows it faithfully. This point might, then, be granted as a corollary 

 to those already given and without further argument ; but two points 

 deserve special mention : 



I have said that the only article our shops put upon the market is 



