the Continent, developed the theory that all practical, technical
education of youth should be preceded by a light or easy training on
an æsthetic basis, or the minor arts, I for four years, to test the
scheme, was engaged in teaching in the city of Philadelphia, every
week in separate classes, two hundred children, besides a number of
ladies. These were from the public schools of the city. The total
number of these public pupils was then 110,000.

My pupils were taught, firstly, simple outline decorative design with
drawing at the same time; after this, according to sex, easy
embroidery, wood carving, modeling in clay, leather-work,
carpentering, inlaying, repoussé modeling in clay, porcelain painting,
and other small arts. Nearly all of the pupils, who were from ten to
sixteen years of age, acquired two or three, if not all, of these
arts, and then very easily found employment in factories or fabrics,
etc.

Many people believed that this was all waste of money and time, and,
quite unknown to me, at their instigation an inquiry was made of all
the teachers in the public schools as to the standing of my art pupils
in their other classes, it being confidently anticipated that they
would be found to have fallen behind. And the result of the
investigation was that the two hundred were in advance of the one
hundred and ten thousand in every branch--geography, arithmetic,
history, and so on.

It was not remarkable, because boys and girls who had, at an average
age of twelve or thirteen, learned the principles of design and its
practical application to several kinds of handiwork, and knew the
differences and characteristics of Gothic, Arabesque, or Greek