studies comprehended in the ordinary school course are fundamental and important, and should be mastered by all. The mind is susceptible of training sooner than the hands. The child has learned a language before he is five years old, and at the age of ten he may become a good reader. At the age of twelve, if properly taught, he is quite expert in figures; he can describe much of the surface of the earth, and has considerable knowledge of other subjects. But little could be done during this period in teaching the child the skilful use of any of the tools required in shaping wood and iron. The attempt to teach the child a trade during the years belonging to the ordinary public school course must prove a failure. His mental training is greatly interfered with, and nothing is accomplished in technical instruction that could not be done with far better results after the public school course is completed. The child who expects to commence a course of technical training at the age of sixteen, needs all the mental culture in the fundamental branches of knowledge which the public school can give him before he reaches that age.

A child after leaving the public school is better able to choose the trade he proposes to follow than before. At school he may be taught the printer's trade, and after he leaves it he concludes to learn the art of manufacturing silk goods, which he desires to follow as his business of life. It would have been much better for that young man if the time given to setting type in school had been spent in acquiring a more thorough knowledge of arithmetic, geography, and grammar, for they all are more closely related to the business he has selected for himself than the art of printing. Let the public school, therefore, fulfil its mission; let all the children gathered therein receive the best mental training the most competent teachers can give them, and then let them have the advantages of such technical instruction as will best prepare them for some useful occupation in life.

DRAWING.

Although technical instruction requires special schools, there is one branch of study which underlies all the mechanic arts, and which can and should constitute a part of public school education-this is drawing. A knowledge of drawing is important for every one, including professional men as well as mechanics. Its practical uses cannot be enumerated. Little children are usually fond of the exercise, and nature seems thus to suggest early instruction in this branch. It should be continued as a daily study, if possible, throughout the child's entire public school course.

This subject receives much more attention in the schools of Europe than in those of this country. In all technical instruction it holds an important place, and those who intend to be artisans devote one-fourth of their time to this branch. No class of special schools in Europe is so numerous as those in which art as applied to industry is taught. In

Belgium, a country with a population somewhat greater than that of the State of New York, there are no less than 319 such schools. In France the number reaches nearly 1,000. In Paris there are several hundred. Nearly everything in the mechanic arts is made from a drawing. The building, the bridge, the machine, &c., must be drawn upon paper before their construction begins. Not only is a knowledge of drawing necessary for the draughtsman, but the workman must understand the art, otherwise he is unable to interpret the drawings which are placed in his hands.

The artist who produces an original design or ornament, one which pleases the eye, is a producer. He has given us something which before had no existence: That something has its value. A piece of carpet or a lace window curtain with rich designs interwoven will command ten times the price of others which, although just as serviceable, are without ornament.

Not only is the artist needed to furnish designs for expensive wares, but even in the manufacture of the cheapest goods there is a constant demand for new patterns and figures. The lady in humble circumstances who buys calico for her dress and pays five cents a yard selects that which in color and design best pleases her eye. The same discrimination is made in purchasing wall paper which costs ten cents a roll.

That which is recommended as an important branch of study in our public schools is what is known as industrial drawing or art applied to industry. It is quite different from the kind of drawing too frequently taught, which consists simply in picture making. A printed picture is placed before the child, and he is required to copy it. While it is possible that some benefit may result from this practice, it is extremely doubtful if the good accomplished is a fair return for the time expended.

SUPPORT OF TECHNICAL SCHOOLS.

Those who are benefited by the establishment of technical schools should contribute toward their support. The state is interested in the development of its industries and in making as many of its citizens producers of wealth as possible. Its true policy, therefore, is to encourage the formation of such schools, by liberal appropriations. Manufacturers derive benefit from the labor of skilled workmen, and they can well afford to contribute toward the support of the schools required to train them. Such schools need not be free; tuition fees may be charged, and thus the pupils, in return for the benefit they receive, may bear a portion of the expense.

CONCLUSION.

I am satisfied that we in this country have the best public school system in the world. We furnish better facilities to the whole people for acquiring a fundamental education than any other country. There is no excuse for any of our children growing up in ignorance of the com

mon or ordinary branches of knowledge. We have good colleges and professional schools also. Any one, after completing his public school course, can avail himself of the advantages of these higher institutions of learning, and thus prepare himself for any of the learned professions. The class unprovided for are those who should become tradesmen in some department of industry, and this class includes a large percentage of the boys attending our public schools. Their school course terminates probably at the age of fifteen. Between that age and manhood the trade must be learned, if at all. They are unable to find places as apprentices, and without trade schools to attend they are left helpless. The consequence is that they are led astray by the temptations to evil ways which naturally beset the idle during this most critical period of their existence, and thus they frequently become burdens on society.

In Europe the educational work had its beginning at the top in the founding of the higher institutions of learning, and the progress has been downward. The establishment of public schools in some of the countries is quite recent. In this country we began at the bottom by first establishing the lower schools for the public, and our progress must be upward. In this we derive an important advantage. I heard it frequently remarked while abroad that the chief difficulty they had to contend with in technical schools was the fact that the pupils too fre quently came without sufficient preparation in the fundamental branches of knowledge. In this country our public schools will render important and valuable service in preparing the young for industrial training.

With the establishment of technical schools we prepare this large and important class for useful and honorable employment, and we supply the trades with skilled workmen. Thus the circle of our educational institutions will be made complete, and the obligations of the state to the whole people will be fulfilled.

The PRESIDENT began the discussion of Mr. Apgar's paper. He thought our educators should ask themselves whether our instruction has enough of the industrial element. Can we learn anything from foreign systems? Can we and should we give industrial training in our common schools? Will it be possible to introduce industrial training into our normal school courses, so that the teachers may learn how to instruct their pupils in this subject? Can we, in our graded schools, substitute some technical or industrial training for a part of the present course of study?

Mr. J. M. WILSON, of Washington, protested against Mr. Apgar's opinion as to the advisability of ingrafting industrial training on the common school system, where, more than elsewhere, habits of industry should be taught; he believed that the public school should train its pupils to be useful; he thought ten a proper age to begin this training. Mr. BARRINGER, of Newark, who read Mr. Apgar's paper, thought it somewhat misunderstood. Mr. Apgar believes that the time given to elementary studies is better spent thus than if devoted to

acquiring manual skill with tools. The industrial schools of Europe are not public schools, as we understand the term, but technical schools. They are not free schools; no one is admitted into them till an elementary school course has been completed. Our schools should not train artisans, but should so guide our pupils' minds as to make them logical, acute, and energetic, and thus fit them to go on into business, trades, or professions afterward. Let us avoid hasty changes; the workshops of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are an instance of a hasty and costly experiment which has disappointed our expectations. In response to inquiries as to whether there are in Europe schools for the industrial training of girls as well as of boys and at what age children enter these schools, Mr. Barringer said that Mr. Apgar's article mentioned thirteen to sixteen years as the usual age for entering technical schools. There are some schools for teaching girls weaving, lace making, &c., but they are not so common as schools for boys.

Prof. Z. RICHARDS, of Washington, thought there should be simultaneous and coördinate instruction of hand and body and brain; he believed that this training should begin very early in the child's life. Great care against overworking either the mental or the physical powers should be taken; he would alternate a half hour of mental labor with another of occupation suitable to the age and sex of the pupil.

KINDERGARTEN TRAINING.

Mrs. Louise Pollock, of Washington, D. C., then read a paper on "The free Kindergarten and Kindergarten training."

The subject of combining industrial education with the mental training given in our public schools is in perfect harmony with the Kindergarten philosophy, which aims to utilize three years of the child's life at a time when, as a general thing, he receives no systematic training whatever. The Kindergarten attempts to utilize these years in such a way that not only the child's entreaty for "something to do," or some one to play with, shall be satisfactorily responded to, but that at the same time he may also, unconsciously to himself, receive lessons with his toys which are calculated to make him familiar with the first elements of geometry, drawing, &c., together with the first important exercises in mechanical skill conducive to accuracy of execution.

While the general use of machinery relieves man of much drudgery in work, it makes greater demands for dexterity and skilful manipulation in art and mechanics; therefore the most important exercises in Fröbel's Kindergarten method of instruction are for the hands, as they are the most important tool of man. Without this early exercise, the elasticity of the hand is lost in a great measure; the muscles do not gain sufficient flexibility and strength to meet the demands of higher artistic work without an immense amount of exercise and drill at a later period of life, when time may be more advantageously employed in cultivating intellectual attainments. Then, again, nothing marks noble freedom

more than the free and graceful use of the hands and arms; a person with an untrained and neglected body uses the whole arm with awkward elbow, not knowing what to do with it; and the hands of the poor are usually stiff and clumsy, though they serve to earn their daily bread. A teacher of elocution once expressed to me her satisfaction that popular attention is being drawn to the early exercising of the hands and arms, for she had seen young men whom she was teaching try so hard to overcome the stiffness and awkwardness of these limbs that she felt the greatest pity for them owing to their lack of that ease and grace which ought to be the possession of every human being. The necessity for making use of early childhood in order to meet the demand for men and women who know and can do is making itself felt more and more. Fröbel's systematic plays and occupations not only aim at this physical training, but also at the development of mind and soul, thus preventing vacancy of mind-the worst enemy of morality and childish innocence. So well recognized is its elevating influence on the morals of the rising generation that the Austrian Government makes attendance in the Kindergarten obligatory. The great reason why Kindergärten have not thus far been more generally adopted in our public schools and charitable institutions is the expense of the materials, &c., at first (though we can prove that this is a great economy in the end), and the lack of well trained Christian Kindergarten teachers, as well as the ignorance as to the saving influence of Kindergärten and the great amount of crime and misery their general adoption would surely prevent. This want of information exists even among those whom providence has favored with large fortunes, with which they might, like the family of Professor Agassiz, establish charity Kindergärten.

As I wrote lately to Miss Peabody, the president of the American Fröbel Union, the children of the rich need the Kindergarten even more than those of the middle grades of society, not so much because they also need the mental and physical training given in the Kindergarten, but their children are thrown more into the society of nursery maids than those of the clerk, the minister, or the artisan. These latter children may thus learn at their own firesides the beautiful lesson of selfforgetfulness, cheerful obedience, and pleasure in labor. While to the children of the poor and lowest grades their elevation is in proportion to the depth from which they have been raised, to the offspring of the rich the Kindergarten is the very paradise of childhood pervaded by love, the atmosphere of heaven. But while we are waiting for the public mind to awaken and demand the free Kindergarten, would it not be well to make a beginning by giving to the young ladies in our normal schools (or at least to half of them) three or four lectures a week in the theoretical and practical application of the Kindergarten philosophy, which seeks, through systematized play and occupation, to educate the mental, physical, and moral or affectional nature of the young child with equal care, for are they not of equal importance?