THE EXPRESSIVE WORK OF THE SCHOOL. 249 



A drawing brings out the essentials and distinguishes 

 them from the non-essentials, and shows the essential 

 or important relations between parts. When we at- 

 tempt to draw a leaf, we see the necessity of selecting 

 for representation important features of the leaf, its 

 length, breadth, and the position of the widest part, 

 the position of the midrib, and the relation of other 

 veins to this. After we get the skeleton, the essentials 

 of the form, we can add as many details as seems wise. 

 In making a drawing, we realize much more readily 

 than in writing a description the advantage of first se- 

 lecting important features, and of proceeding in order. 



The value of drawing in connection with the study 

 of structure is considered in Chapter X. 



Drawing has been taught in our schools as a part of 

 art education, or as an adjunct to form study. It will 

 be much more helpful, both in school-work and as an 

 aid in practical life, if more emphasis is placed on 

 representation ; if drawing is used more as a language, 

 a means of expressing and clarifying and fixing the 

 ideas gained in other subjects. The power of accurate 

 representation and the power and habit of close obser- 

 vation gained by such work in drawing will, ultimately, 

 be the best preparation for artistic development. 



Mr. Henry T. Bailey, to whom reference has already 

 been made, has said, " Drawing, as a language, has a 

 permanent place in the school. Five hundred years 

 ago it was the universal conviction that reading and 

 writing were of no value to common people, and, 

 over ; that the masses could never acquire 



