Mind and Hand: Manual Training the Chief Factor in Education

by Charles H. Ham

The silence of Herodotus on the subject of the useful arts in Babylon does not indicate a want of appreciation of their value, but merely shows contempt of the Assyrian artisan, and this not because he was an artisan, but because he was a slave. The story of Solon and Crœsus, which antedates Herodotus, whether true or a myth, shows that iron and artisanship were appreciated by both Greeks and barbarians. When Crœsus had exhibited to the Greek sage his vast hoard of treasures, Solon said, “If another comes that hath better iron than you he will be master of all this gold.” Here is a recognition of the immense value of the arts of smelting and forging, coupled with a contemptuous silence regarding as well the smelter and the smith as the rank and file of the armies who should wield the swords and spears drawn by science from the recesses of the earth, and by art wrought and tempered at the forge. Through all the early ages the brand and scorn of slavery adhered to labor, while the arts, the products of labor, were often deified. Thus the Scythian, who from a grinning skull drank the warm blood of his captive, regarded with superstitious awe as a god the iron sword with which he cut off his captive’s head.

It was only with the revival of learning, after the intellectual and moral gloom of the Dark Ages, that labor began slowly to lift its bowed head and assert itself. But it does not yet stand erect. It still stoops as if in the presence of a master. Every now and then it winces and cringes as if the sound of the descending lash smote its ear. It remains for you, students in this school of the arts—all the arts that make mankind good and great—it remains for you to brush away from the tear-stained face of labor all the shadows accumulated there through all the dead ages of oppression and slavery. It remains for you to make labor bold by making it intelligent. It remains for you to dignify and ennoble labor by bestowing upon it the ripest scientific and artistic culture, and devoting to its service the best energies of body and mind.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE FORGING LABORATORY.

Twenty-four manly-looking Boys with Sledge-hammer in Hand — their Muscle and Brawn. — The Pride of Conscious Strength. — The Story of the Origin of an Empire. — The Greater Empire of Mechanics. — The Smelter and the Smith the Bulwark of the British Government. — Coal — its Modern Aspects; its Early History; Superstition regarding its Use. — Dud. Dudley utilizes “Pit-coal” for Smelting — the Story of his Struggles; his Imprisonment and Death. — The English People import their Pots and Kettles. — “The Blast is on and the Forge Fire sings.” — The Lesson, first on the Black-board, then in Red-hot Iron on the Anvil. — Striking out the Anvil Chorus — the Sparks fly whizzing through the Air. — The Mythological History of Iron. — The Smith in Feudal Times. — His Versatility. — History of Damascus Steel. — We should reverence the early Inventors. — The Useful Arts finer than the Fine Arts. — The Ancient Smelter and Smith, and the Students in the Manual Training School.

This is the Forging Laboratory. It is only a few steps from the laboratory for founding, where we lately saw twenty-four students taking off their leather aprons after a two hours’ lesson in moulding and casting. Here we find, also, twenty-four students, but not the twenty-four we saw in the laboratory for founding. This class is more advanced. The boys are a trifle taller; they show more muscle, more strength, and bear themselves with a still more confident air.

In the Forging Laboratory there are twenty-four forges with all essential accessories, as anvils, tubs, and sets of ordinary hand-tools.

THE FORGING LABORATORY.

The students, with coats off and sleeves rolled above their elbows, in pairs, as smith and helper, stand, sledge and tongs in hand, at twelve of the forges. They are manly-looking boys. Their feet are firmly planted, their bodies erect, their heads thrown a little back. Their arms show brawn; the muscles stand out in relief from the solid flesh. Their faces express the pride of conscious strength, and their eyes show animation.