"Art developed in the same way. The Egyptian temples show us
only straight-lined figures, which consequently show
mathematical relations. Only in later times appeared the
lines of beauty, that is, the arched or circular lines. I
carry the child on in the same way."
FRIEDRICH FROEBEL.
"The curve bears with it in its unity and variety, its rich
symbolism to everything which lives and moves, the most
intimate relation to that which the child sees, feels, and
loves." EMMA MARWEDEL.
"It might be said that to produce useful objects is the
result of the struggle for life; but the tendency to create
that which is simply artistic results from no such urgent
need, yet it is found wherever the former exists."
CHARLES G. LELAND.
"Thou canst not wave thy staff in air,
Or dip thy paddle in the lake,
But it carves the bow of beauty there,
And the ripples in rhymes the oar forsake."
EMERSON.
1. The rings of the ninth gift are made of silvered wire, either
soldered or unsoldered, and are whole circles three inches, two
inches, and one inch in diameter, with their respective halves and
quarters.
2. As the first six gifts emphasized solids and divided solids, the
seventh, the plane, and the eighth, the straight line, so the ninth,
the ring, embodies the curve, and illustrates the circumference of the
sphere and the edge of the cylinder.
3. All the objects hitherto used have, with the exception of the ball
and cylinder, dealt with straight lines and the figures formed by
those lines. We now begin a series of exercises with the curve, and
the variety of symmetrical figures that can be constructed is
immensely increased.
4. Much new knowledge can be conveyed by means of this fresh material,
a complete set of new figures may be produced, and the imitation of
objects passes from that of things constructed by man, which are
mostly rectilinear, to those of nature in which curved lines in every
possible variety prevail.