Manual Instruction 



manual instruction has been developed, the 

 literary side, far from having suffered, has 

 actually benefited. And this in schools in 

 which as much as three afternoons in the 

 week are given up to manual work. 



If the right steps are taken in the elemen- 

 tary schools, if the interest of the children is 

 aroused in nature and all that that means, 

 in gardening, in rural carpentry, in the 

 principles of co-operation (this is done most 

 effectively in several schools), then there is 

 little doubt that we shall see a much larger 

 proportion of the children electing a country 

 life. After leaving the elementary school, 

 the boys on the farm must not be neglected. 

 There must be practical farm classes through- 

 out the country for these youths. At present, 

 it is too often the older and already skilled 

 men who enter for these competitions, 

 whereas it is for the lads that they are of 

 greatest importance. The writer remem- 

 bers the case of a boy who was about to 

 leave the country when he entered for a 

 ploughing competition. The results were 

 a prize and the settling down of the lad to 

 farm work. But it is not only practical 



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