Given, then, this essential chord, let us complete our harmony. Plan the construction work so that it contains a maximum of thought content; give to the pupil his constructive problems unsolved; compel him to use his knowledge of arithmetic and drawing; interest him in the geography of his materials; let the exposition of his manual processes demand a better command of his mother tongue; in short, associate what he looks upon as mere "school things" with those, that are to him the "real things," and, presently, the whole school has for him a new meaning. It has been revealed to him that the trained mind lies behind, and is the real source of all the products of the skilled hand.

Much of the effectiveness of manual training in the elementary school is lost if it be not closely associated with the other subjects of the curriculum. This conclusion obtaining, it follows that the eminently successful teacher of the immediate future is he who most thoroughly comprehends the vital association of manual activity and mental training.

It is a universally accepted fact among educators that one of the most valuable results of the introduction of manual training is its unifying effect upon the curriculum, furnishing as it does a sort of nucleus around which all the other subjects may group themselves into an effective, natural unity. The child comes to the school a living unit. It is not logical to educate him in sections.

Happiness is another factor in social efficiency which demands the investigation of its relationship to the place of manual training in the elementary school. True happiness is one of the great ends, toward the achievement of which, the race has labored. It may truthfully be said that happiness is the one great end of human society. It follows then, that the school, if true to its sacred trust, must impart that kind of training to the young that will enable them to live happy lives, or as it is oftener expressed, "to get the most out of life." To completely analyze this ideal is not intended, but there are two factors in its composition that are pertinent to our line of thought. These twain are thrift and good judgment. Their negative equivalents are want and foolishness. These great prime factors of social efficiency compel the attention of the public school. Her graduates must be equipped to earn a livelihood, and statistics tell us that for ninety per cent of them, this must be done in the elementary school.

The time was when the "three R's" were all sufficient for this end, for the educative nails they drove during the winter's school, were effectively clinched by the imperative needs of the home life. That time

is past. Comparatively few children now have home tasks, the performance of which is essential to the common good. In the days when our grandparents were young, practically all the family needs were supplied by home production. Beneath the home rocf, the children learn i the rudiments of nearly every native industry. Now the product of the home is consumed outside; is exchanged so that those things consumed in the home are produced outside. The child, instead of learning something of many industries, knows scarcely anything of even one. These conditions at home produce a handicap on future happiness that the school must alleviate.

For this purpose came manual training into the curriculum, that the doors of opportunity might be opened. The old adage has it that "there are no two alike." Conditions conducive to the success of one individual cause the failure of another. If the school fits its boys and girls for happy useful lives, it must aid each to find the niche in the world of industry for which he was designed by nature. In keeping with this deduction the subject matter of manual training should be the elements of the world's industries,—and the more of them the better, for every additional industry into which we are initiated is another open door to opportunity.

"Good judgment," the second factor in human happiness to which the school must give attention, let us define as the ability to correctly evaluate the things of life. The flagrant lack of this ability is constantly in evidence in all strata of society. The little home, the haven of seclusion and rest, is mortgaged, that the possession of a gorgeous red automobile may render Smith, socially equal to his neighbor Jones. The curly headed lad in knee trousers sticks a vile roll of street pickings and paper between his teeth that he may be, forsooth, a man. The indecent and immoral theatre production packs the house with an appreciative audience while Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables," plays to empty seats and idiotic "sniggers" and "titters." The existence of these visible tokens of foolishness is nothing new under the sun. It was deplored by the prophet Isaiah who said, "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for which satisfieth not?" This crowning imbecility of the judgment produces a waste of time and money, and waste and want are partners in the business of unhappiness. In dealing with this hindrance to social efficiency the school should find substantial aid in the reactions arising in manual training. Obtaining, as he does by actual experience, correct concepts of the value and dignity

of human labor, the pupil learns to know and appreciate true workmanship. He grows to love the beautiful, the artistic and genuine, to shun the vile, abhor the sham and taboo the cheap.

Our pupil in general has learned to work, has been properly disciplined, and has acquired the requisites of happiness. To pass through this highly educative process he has necessarily acquired a variety of habits. Now a habit, the student of psychology will tell us, is one of nature's tricks of economy, whereby she relegates to unconscious or subconscious reactions, any process, either mental or manual, with which the mind has become so familiar that the process no longer requires active thought. The number and quality of our habits then, materially modify our efficiency, for the relegation of fundamental processes to subconscious direction leaves the mind free to investigate and master that which is new and more complex. Because of this truth, the function of the school in the formation of correct habits, though often sadly neglected, cannot be too greatly emphasized. It therefore becomes us to note the relation of manual training to these potent factors of social efficiency. This line of thought is a natural summary of what has gone before.

It has been shown that manual training develops the habit of selfcontrol. One phase of this habit, not commonly included in the popular concept, is important in this connection. This is self-control as functioning in dexterity of the hand, or skill. Unless there be an exception to that great law, that action and reaction are equal and opposite in direction, nimbleness of the fingers reacts as nimbleness of the mind. The truth of this is evidenced by the constant coincidence of awkwardness and clumsiness with a low degree of mentality.

It has been further shown that, through manual experiences, the habit of attention may easily be developed. No less an educator than Bishop John H. Vincent has said that "The habit of voluntary, interested attention is the great secret in education." What an educational waste would be reduced by the prevalence of this habit. If it was never necessary to recall "Thomas" from the land of dreams; if his attention to his school work was a thing of habit, a thing spontaneous, how smoothly and easily would run the educative process.

Likewise we have seen manual training functioning in habits of industry, in habits of perseverance in the face of discouragement and difficulty. An industrious perseverance that gives the human soul the glorious satisfaction, that "Something accomplished, something done, has earned a night's repose."

The habit of activity, which in its fullest development becomes that personal initiative so essential in coping with the tremendous pressure of modern competition, is another direct reaction of the manual element in education.

The habit of honesty, of straightforward noble purpose is still another of its immediate results. Many subjects are so elusive in their nature as to enable the pupil to fool, not only his teacher but himself, as to the thoroughness with which the subjects have been mastered. Even the dread examination is no absolute criterion. Manual training is not so. f the box cover be "a fourth of an inch too small at one end" it is a frank, open failure, undeniable and chagrining. There is no question in the mind of the maker but that hffort and through application are the price of success. This conclusion becomes his "Apperceptive mass," and as such, influences his future conduct.

The habit of personal neatness which, with one's associates and one's English, constitute a young man's passport to success, may have its beginnings in manual training. Permit me to illustrate: A mother once said to me, "It is wonderful how Richard has changed since he began this work. He used to be so careless with his things. His hat and coat were always thrown down, no matter where. Now they must be hung up just so and everything in his room he keeps in such nice order. How do you explain it?"

I replied, "Where does he hang his hat and coat?" And the secret dawned upon her as she said:

"Upon that little coat and hat cleat that he made at the beginning of the term."

Work! Discipline! Happiness! Habit! These four great factors of human character have we carefully examined as they relate to social efficiency. The study of this relationship has defined and justified the place of manual experiences in the elementary educative process. In consistent keeping with the place of the human hand in the grand achievements of human history, must be the part of that great ally of the human mind in the training of youth for efficiency in human society, which, after all, is but the prelude to that larger life, potential with the possibilities of eternity.

MANUAL TRAINING. AN INDIAN BUILDING A BARN.

PLANS HAVE BEEN DRAWN AND ALL TIMBERS CUT TO THE SCALE OF 12 IN. 1 FT.

M

JOHN H. JINKS.

UCH thought is being given to industrial education and there

is a great deal of discussion as to what extent, if at all, the common school should contribute toward teaching industries. Many educators contend that the common school curriculum should include some instruction along industrial lines, inasmuch as the vast majority of the boys who graduate from them will eventually follow industrial pursuits, and in most cases will finish their schooling in the grammar grades. They also maintain that the State may be expected to prepare for life's work the ninety per cent of the boys graduating from the grammar school who will engage in the trades, as well as the ten per cent for the professions by providing high school and university courses. This differentiation is made on the ground that a candidate for the high school seldom, if ever, enters it with a view to following a trade.

On the other hand there are those who believe that the common school should be employed for academic purposes only, that the manual training should simply assist in the general mental development and have no connection whatever with industrial life. Hampton Institute takes the former view and stands firmly for industrial education.