MANUAL TRAINING AND DOMESTIC SCIENCE. 15 



observer their purpose seems to be to endow the student with 

 certain kinds of manual dexterity, to the true teacher they 

 culminate in the education of head and heart. When these 

 subjects are properly understood and taught they train the 

 learners to observe, reason and express, and to sympathize 

 with manual labor. 



Most of the larger graded schools will probably be equipped 

 in the near future with manual training and domestic science 

 departments. But the rural schools will fare little worse if 

 the teachers make full use of the opportunities offered by the 

 farm, playground, farm-home and village-home, and garden. 

 Where the teacher gives the pupils the guidance and sympathy 

 needed in the construction of play-houses, swings and bars, 

 the replacing of broken panes of glass and worn-out fence- 

 boards, in short, the maintaining of the playground, buildings 

 and enclosures in as neat and complete a state of repair as it 

 is possible for a resourceful teacher and pupils to keep them, 

 the children's delight in these activities is exceeded only by 

 the value to them of the education thereby gained. 



Farmers' children usually do, and they all should, participate 

 in the varied operations that make up the indoor and outdoor 

 life on the farm. The school may do much towards making 

 these participations more educative than they usually are. 

 The majority of parents can be got to see the bearing of such 

 lessons from the teacher's point of view, and this will always 

 secure their interest and co-operation. 



Seeding, harvesting and threshing take place on every farm. 

 These and other complex operations may be observed if not 

 participated in more actively. Each step has its method and 

 reasons, which, after observation in the field, may be studied, 

 discussed and expressed in the schoolroom. On one farm a 

 tile-drain is in course of making, on another a silo is in 

 construction, on a third a snake-fence is giving place to a 



