Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesga41907newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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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-
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Learning the Rudiments of Electricity

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