Woodworking shops in manual training schools far outnumber those for other manual activities, and as a result, courses in woodwork have come to be termed the stable courses in a handwork curriculum. However, experience in woodwork alone is not sufficient, and needs to be supplemented by other and more varied activities to give to the boy a proper foundation for choice of vocation.

A definite way to produce necessary variety as applied to woodwork, especially if woodwork is the only course offered, is thru the use of such mediums as cane, reed, rush, splints and allied materials in correlation with the wood. These materials add life to the problems and generally arouse interest and enthusiasm in the work at hand. The result is careful application to construction details, with resultant appreciation of constructive design.

It would prove a difficult task to make a fair estimate of the value such mediums have in manual training shops. Their use produces very definite reactions upon boys who could not be reached by woodwork alone, awakening them to a new interest in their work and making them more workmanlike and exacting in construction.

There exists some element in such mediums which cannot be defined, but which nevertheless stimulates the average or mediocre boy, as well as the exceptional one, to produce the best work of which he is capable. Experience with these materials utilized in correlation with wood will prove the truth of these statements and demonstrate that they are not only worth while, but necessary to any well-rounded course in wood.

The originals of the projects illustrated by the photographs were, with few exceptions, constructed by boys of average ability in the eighth grade. They indicate the character of work which may be expected of boys in that grade, and, in a measure, the first two years of high school.

Practically the entire emphasis is laid upon weaving as applied to some form of seat, either as a decorative feature or as a necessary part of the structure. These materials may be utilized in various ways on varied types and forms of furniture other than seats, a few of which are suggested. Experience with them will lead the worker to new and interesting fields of a distinctly educational nature.

Joliet, Illinois, November, 1916.

L. DAY PERRY.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledgments are hereby made to The Bruce Publishing Co., for permission to re-use the material in Chapters I and II which appeared in The Industrial Arts Magazine in a modified form; to The Periodical Publishing Co., for the photograph shown in the frontispiece; to M.F. Gleason, Joliet, for the sketches shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 8; to T.S. Moore, Joliet, for his cooperation in all the photographic work; and to the instructors in the Joliet Department of Manual Training who have assisted in working out a number of the problems.

L.D.P.