This is the very essence of education, its informing spirit. The student no longer thinks merely of becoming an expert turner; he thinks of becoming a man! All the powers of his mind are roused to vigorous action; imagination illumes the path, and reason, following with firm but cautious step, drives straight to the mark. Rapid development results from the combination of practice with theory—rapid because orderly, or natural. The knowledge acquired is at once assimilated, and becomes a mental resource, subject to draft like a bank account. But unlike a bank account it increases in the ratio of the frequency with which drafts are made upon it, and the result is the student leaves school at seventeen years of age with the reasoning experience of an ordinarily educated man of forty.
The lesson has been announced by the instructor, its chief points stated and analyzed, its place in the scale (so to speak) of the art of turnery defined, its educational value to the mind, the hand, and the eye shown, and the points of difficulty involved so emphasized as to lead to painstaking care in the execution of crucial parts. The new tool required by the lesson is handled in presence of the waiting class by the instructor; the time of its invention stated; the name of its inventor given; the method of its manufacture described; and how to sharpen, take care of, and use it explained with such minuteness of detail as to insure the making of a permanent impression upon the minds of students.
COURSE IN THE WOOD-TURNING AND PATTERN LABORATORY.
The wood-turner’s case contains more than a hundred tools, perhaps a hundred and fifty, but not more than a score of them are fundamental; the others are subsidiary, and require very little if any explanation.
The lesson may be one in simple turning, as a table-leg, the round of a chair, or parts of a section of a miniature garden-fence; or it may be a set of pulleys, or patterns for various forms of pipe. The pieces of wood to be wrought or manipulated lie at the feet of the student, and the working drawing (drawn by the student himself) lies on the bench before him. The piece of wood to be turned first is adjusted, the student touches a lever over his head which sets the lathe in motion, takes the required tool in hand, and the work begins. Guided by the automatic slide-rest, the sharp point of the tool chips away the revolving wood until it assumes the form of the drawing lying under the eye of the operator. Thus the lesson proceeds to the end of the prescribed period—two hours. The master watches every step of its progress. If a student is puzzled he receives prompt assistance, so that no time may be lost. Indeed the relations between instructor and students are such, or ought to be such, that the question is asked before the puzzled mind falls into a rut of profitless speculation through revolving in a circle. But if the true sequential method of study is followed the student rarely fails, from the vantage ground of a step securely taken, to comprehend the nature of the next step in the regular order of succession. This is the Russian system, and it is the method of the wood-turnery as well as of every department of the Manual Training School. Hence a certain tool having been mastered, the next tool in the regular order of succession is more easily understood, because (1) each tool contains a hint of the nature of its successor, and (2) each addition to the student’s stock of knowledge confers an increased capability of comprehension.
When the lesson is concluded the whir of the machinery ceases, and a great silence falls upon the class as the students assemble about the instructor, each presenting his piece of work. This is the moment of friendly criticism. The instructor handles each specimen, comments upon the character of the workmanship, points out its defects, and calls for criticisms from the class. These are freely given. There is an animated discussion, involving explanations on the part of the instructor of the various causes of defects, and suggestions as to suitable methods of amendment. Then the pieces of work are marked according to the various degrees of excellence they exhibit, and the class is dismissed.
CHAPTER VII.
THE FOUNDING LABORATORY.
The Iron Age. — Iron the King of Metals. — Locke’s Apothegm. — The Moulder’s Art is Fundamental. — History of Founding. — Remains of Bronze Castings in Egypt, Greece, and Assyria. — Layard’s Discoveries. — The Greek Sculptors. — The Colossal Statue of Apollo at Rhodes. — The Great Bells of History. — Moulding and Casting a Pulley. — Description of the Process, Step by Step. — The Furnace Fire. — Pouring the Hot Metal into the Moulds. — A Pen Picture of the Laboratory. — Thus were the Hundred Gates of Babylon cast. — Neglect of the Useful Arts by Herodotus. — How Slavery has degraded Labor. — How Manual Training is to dignify it.