35 



more or less around us, it is certain that consumption and other 

 maladies follow directly the track of foul air in our habitations. 



Dexterity is also to be cultivated if only to reduce the num- 

 ber of " thumby " people in the world, and as a means of general 

 cultivation. Hence there should be manual instruction and 

 practice in carpentry, metal work, clay modelling, etc. Hands 

 are in some cases more capable than heads, and a boy who is a 

 dunce at books may find hope and encouragement in the work- 

 shop that may cheer him to a victory over letters also. 



Drawing, as the report of the Philadelphia Manual School 

 says, is the first step in manual training. Freehand drawing — I 

 mean really done with free hand — not the measured and patched 

 work which sometimes passes under that description, is one of 

 the best trainings for hand and eye. 



In all subsequent operations such as work in wood, metal, or 

 other material, if the pupil works to drawings, these should be 

 made and designed by himself, and both the drawings and his 

 work should be as accurate as he knows how to make them. 

 No slippery work should pass, and so he should learn the 

 beauty and satisfaction of thorough honest painful striving after 

 perfection, leaving no stone unturned to gain it. Such work, 

 quoting again the Philadelphia School, " fosters a high appre- 

 ciation of the value and dignity of labour. Its moral influence 

 is immediate and wholesome." 



Destructiveness is a distressing fault in some young people. 

 When once the trouble of making things has been learned by 

 experience there is engendered a respect for the product of 

 human labour which tends to abate both wanton and careless 

 destructiveness. 



Judgment is one of the most important of our capabilities. 

 It may perhaps be denned as including observation, accuracy, 

 discrimination, and reasoning power. Thring says "observation 

 and accuracy define the whole range of a teacher's work." 

 Manual work must cultivate these. How much of both would, 

 for instance, be required in the attempt to turn a wooden sphere 

 in a lathe. In a lecture on mental education Faraday remarks 

 on the general deficiency of judgment, and attributes this to a 



