If beauty were perceived by the eye alone, the normal eyes of one would perceive it as well as those of others.

There can be no true art, no real art education, that does not take fully into account more than the training to skill of hand, particularly imitative skill,— strong, powerful, masterly, as this should be. To a far greater extent art is dependent upon training of mind and soul. We may possess a fluent tongue, an easy, graceful pen, or facile brush; but unless we have some thought to express, some ideas to convey, what we produce will be only temporary.

Thought will live; expression never, except as the embodiment of thought. "Art should be taught a child," says Marion, a French writer, "because it has an incomparable educative power. The beautiful is essentially order and harmony. From the imagination and the mind order passes into the heart, and soon manifests itself outwardly in elegance and grace. A just proportion is observed, and finally it reappears in acts. Good taste easily takes the form of self-respect. It is not a commonplace to say that art softens public and private manners. There are faults and moral tendencies the idea of which a mind accustomed to live in companionship with the beautiful can neither conceive nor abide. Evil is an ugly thing, and the delicacy of a soul sensitive to beauty is offended at and spurns it."

Drawing, modeling, painting, all the art modes of expression, are invaluable adjuncts in all general school work. The regular teacher cannot be all she should be who has not these modes of expression at command to illustrate thought. Neither can her pupils, without these modes of expression, give out to her what they have seen, know, think, or feel, allowing her to look into their minds, as written or spoken language will not. Words are but signs and often poor vehicles of thought.

The use of the art modes of expression by pupils in science, and in all other studies capable of graphic expression, is of everlasting service to them, as it forces closer, more critical observation and knowledge, and so enchains the interest and attention as to crystallize thought and make the knowledge the pupil's own. When he has reproduced anything by drawing, modeling, or painting, he has got a mental image of it that it is difficult to acquire so completely in any other manner or that he will retain so long by any other means.

This is not art, however. The pupil must put something of himself into his work, some of his own thought and feeling, before it can be art.

Says Ruskin: "All real art is the disimprisoned soul of fact."

Colonel Parker, in his "Talks on Pedagogics," would have drawing, modeling, and painting acquired simply as means of expression, through use in expressing thought about the other school studies. He would make it, if I understand his position correctly, simply a handmaid in pursuing the other regular school work, as natural science, history, etc., claiming that sufficient skill will be acquired by this frequent daily use as a means of expression.

I would not underrate the value these art modes of expression have in that direction, and I think they should be utilized by regular teachers more than they are. In addition to this, however, if we are to meet the exigencies of modern life, and educate the pupil broadly and roundly, developing all his faculties, a certain portion of school time must be set apart, in the weekly if not daily program, for pure art study.

Only through the study of artistic, beautiful things, and by special study of works of art and the products of art industry and well-directed lines of creative work, can certain standards and ideals be obtained.

Says Partridge: "We must bring into children's lives every poetic influence, to quicken their minds and develop the aesthetic nature. We speak much of the

beauty of holiness, but not enough of the holiness of beauty. Fill the children with sweet music and the high thoughts of the poets and the best art, and they will build up a fabric which, in after life, will withstand the attacks of care, sin, poverty, and grief, for they will have discovered something in life which the world can neither give nor take away."

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION-METHODS OF TEACHING.

BY MRS. MATILDA E. RILEY, ST. LOUIS, MO.

Those who teach in art schools or in private schools and have had no experience in art work in public schools can have no conception of the conditions and difficulties that confront both teacher and pupils in the public schools. The methods presented here are derived from experience in public school work.

No teacher can successfully present or thoroughly teach any subject unless he knows the definite object he has in view and has a well-defined plan by which to accomplish it. Drawing, like older and better-known studies in school-life, calls for a knowledge on the teacher's part of both the educational and practical value of the subject in hand.

Since the method of giving every exercise must conform to and cannot go beyond the mental development of the child, it behooves every teacher to thoroughly inform himself as to the mental condition of the class before him, and to adapt his method and his material to that particular capacity waiting to receive it. It is necessary to the successful method, then, to know to what faculties to appeal and how to appeal.

Probably this is easier in construction than in the other departments of drawing, for the means of the expression of facts in construction have become formal and conventional, and the principles which control the results belong to the exact sciences. Decoration calls for a deep appreciation of beauty, a thing of gradual growth and slow cultivation. It must grow as the child grows; it cannot be forced. There seems to be no question as to the proper methods of teaching construction and decoration, while the greatest diversity of opinion prevails as regards representation.

Although it is said that no work of art is machine made, nor can the art faculties be cultivated by drawing machine-made objects of the geometrical order, in representation the type solids can be used to advantage; for just as there are fundamental rules in arithmetic, so the type solids are the foundation of form.

While art is the expression of individual feeling, and all pupils should be encouraged to give this expression, there are certain underlying principles that must be understood and can best be learned through these types before the pupils can give this individual artistic expression. Pupils should not be confined to the geometric forms any more than they should be confined to the abstract tables in arithmetic, because they not only would tire of them and their work become mechanical, but the aim of true art influence would be defeated and the educational value lost.

These types are easily procured, are inexpensive, keep the work within bounds. and make a definite educational plan possible. They are permanent forms, which

present an infinite variety of problems to be solved, without altering with time or changing with decay.

The type solids lead to natural and other forms involving similar principles, but demanding a special rendering of texture which should have all the study that can possibly be given to them.

In giving a lesson devoted to natural or other forms, the importance of good selections should be emphasized. Whatever is chosen, let it be the best of its kind. Even an apple may furnish food for thought upon the part of little children. They must not select the over-grown product, nor the shriveled, bitter fruit. for neither is the type for which we are searching; but the luscious, fully rounded, perfect apple, in which every child delights. What is true of the apple is true of every model used in school-life. All objects should be chosen with reference to their beauty and to the artistic elements they contain. The teachers should be urged not to leave the selection of the objects to chance, nor pick up at random, at the last moment, whatever comes to hand; but they should try to make a wise and judicious selection for every lesson.

If objects are to be studied in a certain position, it will be necessary for each pupil to have an object or group of objects; in which case the arrangement of both pupils and models becomes quite a problem, if two pupils are sitting at one desk.

To get individual work, where each pupil must have an object or a group, it is necessary to have several different objects or arrangements, so placed that no two pupils, sitting side by side, will have the same study. If there is no certain position of any of the models to be studied, only as many objects or groups are necessary as will give a pleasing arrangement for each pupil. The number of single objects or groups would depend greatly on the size.

The placing of models can be on vacant desks, on supports put across the aisles, or on the teacher's desk. Wherever they may be placed, it is necessary for them to rest on a horizontal plane. It not only creates an unpleasant feeling to have a vase, ink well, tumbler, or other object on an oblique plane, and makes violent perspective, but it cultivates an indifference to the seriousness of the purpose of the study and a habit of carelessness on the part of the child.

Some advise beginning pencil measurement with the third year, to get apparent height and width. The most benefit is derived in individual instruction in this grade by teaching the pupils to test their sight-drawing. This prepares the pupils for class instruction in pencil measurement and blocking in the next year or grade. It is sometimes a question as to which is better, blocking by pencil measurement or sketching first, then test by pencil measurement. Classes do well in both plans. If sketching is done first, then verified by pencil measurement, it is hard to determine to what extent the use of the eraser should be permitted with pupils in the grades. Although they often get far from desirable results if allowed free use of the erasers, this is better than to have positive limitations made as to their

use.

More accurate drawing may be obtained by the use of invisible edges, but it will be mechanical and the pupils will learn to depend on them.

Until recently drawing from life, pupils posing for each other, has been confined to the work of the high school; but it has been found that an occasional lesson of this kind through all the grades is highly beneficial.

Valuable time is often lost at each lesson in preliminary questions and suggestions by the teacher. To avoid this enough time should be given one group for the class to learn to determine the center of the group, the center of the paper,

greatest height, greatest width, and relative proportion. After this, in every case, the class should begin to draw as soon as the models are arranged.

The drawing of detached leaves in the lower grades often results in geometric views, with the stems pointing to the observer and a tendency to uniform work. By the introduction of potted plants into the schoolroom, pupils succeed in getting pictures showing very little detail, and often approaching the proper perspective.

Where it is possible all foliage should be remodeled before drawing; also, all natural forms, as it is easier to teach elimination in modeling than in drawing. In the higher grades, large single leaves, such as the calla, canna, palm, etc., are often as interesting and instructive as sprays.

The pupils should be encouraged to seek beautiful examples of strong, characteristic growth, giving attention to texture, relative distance, and light and shade; but this cannot be done by prefacing the drawing by a lesson in botany, for botany treats of the construction of the plant and not the picture, and makes the midrib, seen or unseen, as inevitable as the conventional table line.

It has been found advantageous for the special teacher in drawing to give personal instruction to pupils (accompanied by their teachers) in out-of-door study, such as towers, arches, roadways, and bits of scenery.

The work in the high school has not been mentioned, for if the work of the grades is properly done, there will be very little question as to the proper methods in the high school.

A course of study in drawing must be flexible in the very nature of the study, and great latitude should be given the teacher, if sufficiently competent; but when we consider that a very large majority of our best teachers in other studies have little or no knowledge of drawing, we are compelled to make our work prescriptive.

The time is approaching when our normal graduates will be as well qualified for teaching drawing as they are in any other subject. Then the main thought will be, not what to draw but to teach the pupil how to draw the right way.

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS EDUCATION.

SECRETARY'S MINUTES.

FIRST SESSION.-WEDNESDAY, JULY 10TH.

The department was called to order at 2:30 o'clock Wednesday afternoon by the President, J. M. Mehan.

Secretary W. E. McCord being absent, the President appointed J. W. Warr of Moline, Ill., as Secretary pro tem.

President Mehan then delivered the President's annual address.

On motion of Frank Goodman, the President's address was referred to a committee of three, to report on same at the Friday session.

The President appointed as that committee Mrs. Sara A. Spencer, Mr. Springer, and J. W. Warr.

The next paper, on "The Exchangeable Value of the Alliance of the Business Educators' Association with the National Educational Association," was read by Mrs. Sara A. Spencer of Washington, D. C.

At the conclusion of Mrs. Spencer's paper Mr. Z. Richards, the first President of the National Educational Association, made some interesting remarks, showing the value of business training in preparing young men and women to become good citizens.

Prof. Chandler H. Peirce of Evansville, Ind., discussed the service that business colleges had rendered the public schools, by showing them how to make their work more practical.

Prof. J. H. Woodruff of Indianapolis, Ind., described the business department of the public schools.

Professor Springer of Ann Arbor, Mich., contended that public school work could not be compared with the work of the business college, as the course in a public school could not be so comprehensive as that of a well-appointed business college.

Mrs. Spencer remarked that business colleges had not been hostile to business college work in public schools, but cheerfully co-operated with them in making their work as successful as possible.

J. W. Warr of Moline, Ill., was next on the program, with a paper on "Guaranteeing Positions, or Fraudulent Advertising."