February, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



A Class in Basket Weaving 



The last or eighth year in the course takes up the shop 

 work, advanced exercises in chiseling and joinery, use of hand 

 screws, cause of checking and warping; qualities of hard 

 woods — oak, ash, etc.; nature and application of mortise and 

 dovetail joint; characteristics of common woods; Venetian 

 iron work, etc. 



In the manual training high school, the first year's purely 

 manual course consists of freehand drawing and joinery; 

 English, including grammar, rhetoric, and composition. Ger- 

 man, or French, or Latin and algebra are taught in connec- 

 tion with the manual work. 



The second high school year includes plane geometry, free- 

 hand and mechanical drawing, wood turning, pattern making, 

 molding and sheet metal work. In the third year are mechan- 

 ical drawing and forging, while in the fourth year mechanical 

 drawing is continued, and machine shop practice undertaken. 



By the time a pupil is ready for a course in the manual 

 training high school, his hands have become fairly skilled and 

 fit to be trusted with the more serious work. As a matter of 

 course he takes up mechanical drawing, but shop work is to 

 an extent elective, so far as the particular variety in which 

 the pupil shows the most interest is concerned. 



By the time the pupil reaches the high school he has found 

 himself to some extent, and 

 is permitted by the instructor 

 to give the major part of his 

 time to the line of work that 

 most appeals to him. This 

 he follows out in connection 

 with other tasks to as great 

 an extent as the course per- 

 mits. At the end he knows 

 enough about the subject he 

 has studied to decide intelli- 

 gently if his life work lies in 

 the direction pointed out by 

 any of the manual arts. Even 

 if he enters a profession, his 

 manual training is a marked 

 help to him. Every good sur- 

 geon is also a good mechanic. 



The greater successes thus 

 far attained by manual train- 

 ing pupils have been among 

 those who attend the night or 

 evening public schools. The 

 course in these schools is in- 

 tended for persons with 

 whom the necessity of self- 



support makes daily labor 

 imperative. The only re- 

 quirement for admission to 

 the New York city schoo's 

 of this nature is the ability to 

 read and write English. As 

 a rule these pupils have an 

 idea of what they wish to 

 learn. Usually it is in connec- 

 tion with the trades or pro- 

 fessions which engage their 

 daily attention, but often the 

 menial laborer finds here an 

 opportunity to mount the lad- 

 der leading to a higher rank 

 in life. The popularity of 

 this method of study is illus- 

 trated by the fact that a 

 Brooklyn night manual train- 

 ing school has a list of 1,200 

 would-be pupils who await 

 the opportunity for study which will become available as 

 pupils of the present retire. 



Few boys lack the desire to "make things." In the de- 

 velopment of this Instinct to a point of usefulness, carpentry, 

 perhaps, plays the most prominent part. It seems to arouse 

 ambition more than any other line of eftort, save that of elec- 

 tricity. With the development of the latter science has come 

 an increase of juvenile interest in the subject. 



At first the pupil in carpentry is taught the proper use of 

 the plane, and what may be called edge work; that is, how 

 to make the beveled edge, ornamental edge, and the over- 

 lapping and entering edges of joinery. It is here that the 

 natural aptitude of the pupil is tested. If, for instance, he 

 makes a small box in approved fashion, the chances are he 

 can do other kinds of carpentry and joinery well. When he 

 accomplishes such a result he is given more advanced bench 

 work, in order that the extent of his natural bent may be 

 demonstrated. Sometimes he excels in scroll work, or, again, 

 in the working of Venetian iron. 



Scroll work develops a steady hand and correct eye. The 

 beginner is given patterns to work from, at first, but as he 

 progresses he is urged to branch out more ond more into indi- 

 vidual design. In some cases the result is marvelous, espe- 



Learning the Rudiments of Electricity 



