vi n TECHNICAL EDUCATION 195 



larger industries, but inquired as to the apprentice- 

 ship schools established in Germany and Austria for 

 the encouragement of cottage industries and petty 

 manufactures, such as clock-making, straw-plaiting, 

 lace-making, wood-carving, &c. For all these crafts 

 we found elementary technical schools provided. The 

 local authorities find the buildings, the State pays for 

 teachers and supplies models, examples, and tools. 

 We contrasted the taste and ingenuity of the wood- 

 carving done in the districts where these schools were 

 established with the kck of the same quality notice- 

 able in Irish wood-carving where the artistic power of 

 the peasant had not been called forth by instruction. 

 In the case of Irish lace and embroidery, which is 

 now carried on to so large an extent by the Irish 

 peasantry, the taste in these matters has been fostered 

 and developed through the action mainly of private 

 individuals. 



The condition of the Irish cottage industries of that 

 date may be compared with those in Germany in the 

 following picture of Thuringia : 



If the neighbourhood through which we passed is fairly 

 representative of the forest country of Thuringia, it is 

 impossible to overrate the importance, in a material point of 

 view, of these home industries. The cottages were pretty and 

 well kept ; most of the windows contained flowers beautifully 

 grown in pots, and many of the houses had gardens attached 

 to them. The people were well-dressed, and had the air of 

 being well-fed and contented. They are evidently a most 

 industrious race, and their success may depend as much upon 

 their natural disposition and temperament as on the fact that 

 they have been trained for generations in these various occupa- 

 tions. Still, whatever may be cause of their success in home 

 industries, we think it is impossible to doubt that the 

 influence for good of such work is of vast importance. We 

 found populous and thriving villages, filled with busy workers, 

 in districts remote from railways and where carriage and 

 transport must be matter of extreme difficulty, and in parts 



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