but, what kind of creature is this? where did it live and how? why has it a long neck? why are its eyes set so? why has it hoofs, or toes, or claws? why so long and thin a tail, or why so broad and strong? If the object be of man's making one asks, "What is this for? how was it made and who made it? why this shape? why was this lip, this foot, this handle set just so? After close examination the object is withdrawn and the drawing is made, built up rather than drawn, with a force and freshness and a sense of personal impression rarely to be found in any mere copy.

Not until the seeking out of structure, and the reasons for it, has become a habit can the problems of foreshortening be faced with much hope of success, and even so in practice it is found best to begin with round objects rather than square. The retiring surfaces of straight-sided objects are always rather difficult to master. One does not always realize that a geometric drawing of an object needs at least two views (plan and elevation) to explain the structure and to show the relative dimensions of all the parts to the whole, but one ordinary drawing must show all these as well as the point of view from which they were seen. The mastery of these problems of foreshortening marks a great step in mental development, a larger understanding of the true relation of things, and a firmer grip of structure.

The question of the best drawing-tools for children to use has had much thought given to it, for it is realized that at five years old, at fifteen, and at twenty-five, our physical powers are very different, and that we need a right judgment if we are to be wise guides. The use of the brush and of the pen or pencil ought not to begin until the wrists and hands are developed

sufficiently to control them. This is not yet fully understood, and the tools of maturity are often placed in the hands of infancy. Also many small children are given a brush without being shown how to use it, the result being disastrous alike to the painting and the painter. Of this come dirty colour, dirty paper and dirty fingers, and the children soon lose interest in the performance, but when shown how to use a brush and to lay colour cleanly and vigorously they gain greatly in self-respect and taste the joys of good craftsmanship. Pen and pencils involve such delicate movements of the hand that they should not be used until the hand is well advanced in its development.

Enough has been said to show how greatly the teaching of drawing in the Elementary School has changed, but, great as the change is, it is by no means universal throughout the country, and very much remains to be done. In many schools drawing is still looked upon as a subject to be taught because it has to be, not because of the necessity of training the mind through the eye. All drawing must be taught so as to suit the Inspector, whose ideas on the subject are often amazing. Far too many teachers are content to do what they are told without working out for themselves the reason why it should be done. Others, desiring "to keep up with the times," eagerly seize upon the latest catch-phrase, such as "correlation or "selfexpression," or think to find salvation in brush-work or in pastels. Such phrases and such forms of work have their meaning and their use, but in multitudes of cases they are mere "Mesopotamias." A notable case in point is that of "mass-drawing," an excellent thing when you know what it means, but a mere fetish if you do not. "Mass-drawing" in reality means

drawing an object, or a group of objects, as a whole instead of as a collection of small parts, and the mastery of it marks a real advance from the position of the infant-mind towards what ought to be the mental position. of the full-grown man. By some strange perversion "mass-drawing" has come to mean, in many schools, the representation of an object by starting from a spot in the middle and working a line round and round until the irregular spiral so formed attains something like the size required. This wild doctrine is being preached and practised by numbers of people who are oblivious of the fact that it is an artificial method (for no child naturally draws so), and that it is contrary to our experience of the way in which the sensation of sight is conveyed to the mind. Contrast, which gives a certain shock to the optic nerve, makes us look for the cause of it, and contrast occurs at the edge of an object or of a surface, so it is the edge which attracts our attention, and the shape of the edge or boundary leaves its impression upon the mind, and it is this shape which children naturally draw first when left to themselves; the filling-in is done afterwards.

Among the things waiting to be done, one of the most important is the cultivation of the sense of colour, which ought to be taken in hand seriously. It is a great help in the development of the power of comparison, and it stimulates the mind to take delight in all beautiful things. The colour-sense if undeveloped may remain dormant, or may even die of atrophy. This we dare not allow, for under the conditions of modern life we need a strong and healthy coloursense more than ever.

If the change in the teaching of drawing in our Elementary Schools has been great, the alteration in

Of

Secondary Schools has been no less remarkable. course in both types of school there are still many survivals (not of the fittest), but happily they are decreasing. To-day one looks upon the specimens formerly produced in boys' and girls' schools, both public and private, with somewhat the same feelings as are aroused by a collection of mediæval tortureinstruments. The flowers, horribly stippled until the faintest flutter of life had fled; the beasts, barely recognizable, bodies smothered in hair; the human heads, dried and polished, with glassy eyes set in an endless stare-have we not seen them all, framed and glazed, sharing the place of honour with the trophies of the chase and the tribal totem in the parental dwelling? From the depths of this ignorance we are happily delivered, but there are still victims, weary spirits sighing for freedom. While there are head masters who look upon drawing as an extra only to be tolerated by taking the time out of play hours, and while there are head mistresses who rule that it is a thing to be taught after dinner when the brain is inactive, we must still work for the deliverance of the oppressed.

In many Secondary Schools the natural development of the child is now the first consideration, and the drawing course is one of the most interesting parts of the whole scheme, but in this respect girls' schools take the lead. A great variety of interests has been utilized, so that there is less danger of methods becoming stereotyped and more chance for the teacher to use his or her own genius to the best advantage. Drawing is not confined to the use of pencil and brush, for it is now realized that to stitch a seam, to weave a basket, or to decorate a pot, is just as truly an exercise in drawing. In all these different ways correct placing, true

direction, and a sense of proportion are developed quite as much as by the representation of objects in line or in colour, and many a child responds eagerly to the call of craftsmanship while quite unmoved by pictorial art. Nor must modelling be forgotten, for it appeals strongly to that love of making things which is born in so many of our children, but which is so often crushed out because the youthful craftsmen make such messes. The building instinct is very strong in boys, and it is amazing to see the eagerness of a young class when asked to make a hut in clay, and it is worth while to compare the quality as well as the quantity of their output with the work they will do in the same time on paper when merely copying objects. As in drawing, so in modelling, teaching does not now aim at technique as the sole consideration; the use and meaning of the thing to be modelled must first be discussed until each pupil has a tolerably clear understanding of the reasons for every step he is going to take. If this be done the result will be seen in the real delight in sound structure shown by the young builders. Many boys also show ingenuity in devising methods of using clay so as to suggest the material, be it stone, wood, plaster, or thatch, most suitable for the building in hand.

Modelling has also the great advantage of actually dealing with three dimensions, and consequently of giving experience in the comparison and estimation of bulk and in the realization of solidity. As experience widens, the critical comparison of different objects becomes more marked, and when the modelled illustration of a scene from life, or from a story, is attempted, the fitting together of the various parts presents an absorbing problem and sets the youngsters to work,