CHAPTER VIII.
THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTIES.
"He who hath learned a single art, Can thrive, I ween, in any part." -- _German Proverb_.
"He would have taught you how you might employ Yourself; and many did to him repair, And, certes, not in vain; he had inventions rare." -- WORDSWORTH.
When I had, after many years of study and research in England and on the Continent, developed the theory that all practical, technical education of youth should be preceded by a light or easy training on an aesthetic 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, repousse 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 patterns, all developed a far greater intelligence in general thought and conversation than others.