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TOY-MAKING IN SCHOOL AND HOME
[Illustration: PLATE I A SCENE IN TOYLAND _Fr._]
TOY-MAKING IN SCHOOL AND HOME
by
R. K. & M. I. R. POLKINGHORNE
The County Secondary School Streatham
London
George G. Harrap & Company
2 & 3 Portsmouth Street Kingsway W.C.
1916
The Riverside Press Limited, Edinburgh
Great Britain
Prefatory Note
The authors wish to express their thanks to Mr J. E. Mansion for
many valuable criticisms and suggestions, and to Miss Bassett, whose
encouragement and support alone made the work possible.
Contents
PAGE
INTRODUCTION. _By_ Miss R. BASSETT, B.A.,
_Headmistress of the County Secondary School, Streatham_ 9
PART I
TOYS FOR LITTLE ONES: PAPER AND
CARDBOARD
CHAPTER
I. TOY-MAKING AND ITS EDUCATIONAL POSSIBILITIES 21
II. GENERAL PRINCIPLES; MATERIALS 26
III. PAPER WORK FOR INFANTS 31
IV. MORE PAPER TOYS 43
V. MATCH-BOX TOYS 53
VI. MORE COMPLICATED MATCH-BOX AND CORK TOYS 64
VII. CORK ANIMALS HARNESSED TO SLEDGES, ETC. 72
VIII. MORE CORK TOYS 80
IX. CARDBOARD AND PAPER SHIPS 86
X. CARDBOARD AND PAPER TOYS 91
XI. SIMPLE WOODWORK 98
XII. MATERIALS 102
XIII. SOME DIFFICULTIES IN TOY-MAKING 105
XIV. MERRY-GO-ROUND, SWINGING BOATS, AND GREAT WHEEL 109
XV. FLYING AIRSHIPS, GONDOLAS, AND BIRDS 113
XVI. FIRE-ENGINE, MOTOR-LORRY, AND STEAM-ROLLER 119
XVII. GIPSY CARAVAN AND BATHING MACHINE 123
XVIII. A TRAIN AND RAILWAY STATION 125
XIX. RED CROSS MOTOR AND TAXI-CAB 131
XX. SWINGING AND JOINTED ANIMALS 136
PART II
TOYS OF CARDBOARD AND WOOD:
MECHANICAL TOYS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. ADDITIONAL TOOLS 145
II. CAPSTAN, DREADNOUGHT, LINER 148
III. MOTOR-CAR, SWINGING CRADLE, DECK-CHAIR 152
IV. A TRAM-CAR 155
V. A CRANE 159
VI. WINDMILL, WATER-WHEEL, WELL 161
VII. DRAWBRIDGE AND SIEGE TOWER 168
VIII. WAR ENGINES PAST AND PRESENT 171
IX. A FIRE-ESCAPE 181
X. CASTLE, TOURNAMENT, AND FAIR 184
XI. AN OLD CHARIOT AND SOME QUAINT DOLLS' FURNITURE 190
XII. RAILWAY SIGNAL AND SIGNAL-BOX 195
XIII. LIGHTHOUSE, TRANSPORTER BRIDGE 199
XIV. YACHTS AND BOATS: THE USE OF THE CHISEL 203
XV. THE FRET-SAW 209
XVI. LITTLE GYMNAST, DANCING CLOWN, ROCKING ANIMALS 212
XVII. MOVING FIGURES 218
XVIII. SOME OLD-FASHIONED TOYS 221
XIX. LITTLE SWORDSMEN 225
XX. SOME MORE FRET-SAW TOYS 229
XXI. TOYS WORKED BY SAND 235
XXII. TOYS WORKED BY WHEELS, ETC. 243
XXIII. KITES, GLIDERS, AND AEROPLANES 249
XXIV. MORE OLD-FASHIONED TOYS 260
XXV. LIFT, PONT ROULANT, TOWER BRIDGE 267
XXVI. SOLDERING. SCREW STEAMER. TOYS WORKED BY
WIND AND BY CONVECTION CURRENTS 278
XXVII. BUILDINGS AT HOME AND ABROAD 286
XXVIII. A THEATRE 295
Introduction
By R. Bassett, B.A.
HEADMISTRESS, COUNTY SECONDARY SCHOOL, STREATHAM
I. EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
Women are often limited in their amusements and in their hobbies for
lack of power or of knowledge to use the requisite implements. We may
wield the needle, the brush, kitchen utensils, even the spade and the
trowel, but what knowledge have we of the chisel, the plane, the saw, or
even the friendly gimlet and the screw-driver?
The scissors answer many purposes until the points are broken, but how
helpless we are with a screw or a saw, how futile are our attempts to
adjust a loose door-handle, or to set the knives of a mowing machine! It
is humiliating to call for help in such simple jobs, and tantalising not
to be able to enjoy the carpenter's bench as our men-folk do in their
hours of leisure.
A really active hobby, one entailing exercise of many muscles, otherwise
resting, does help to keep a well-balanced mind and a healthy body. It
saves one from fretfulness, from too great introspection; it keeps one
cheerful and changes one's attitude of mind when change is needed.
It is possible that the management of big things falls into men's hands
because from babyhood they have dealt with larger things than women, and
through handling manageable things from an early age have developed the
constructive faculty more thoroughly. The little girl deals with 'wee'
things: stitches are small, dolls are small; there is a fatal tendency
sometimes to 'niggle,' to 'finick'--not that men-folk are immune from
this--to love uniformity and tidiness for their own sakes, to seek
regularity rather than utility. The little girl, however, must, unless
she is too thoroughly supervised, exercise some ingenuity in planning a
doll's dress out of a cutting from the rag-bag; but her amusements and
hobbies tend to pin her down to small things, and she does not rise far
enough from her immediate surroundings. The dress of her little doll
will follow the prevailing fashion. Originality in dress is eccentricity.
The girl takes pains to carry out her work (neatness is often the sole
aim put before her), the boy finds methods. The girl hovers round the
well-known place, the boy makes a bee-line to fresh fields. See how this
affects reading: the girl still hankers after _What Katy Did, What Katy
Did Next_, while the boy of her age is reading Jules Verne or Ballantyne
or Henty, or if there is open access to shelves in the Free Library near
him, you see him finding books on Airships, Submarines, Carpentry, or
Engineering.
We started our voluntary classes with these ideas in mind, and at first
allowed girls to choose an indoor occupation in the two winter terms
instead of outdoor games. Many girls preferred games, but others chose
Art or First Aid or Cookery or Handwork or Needlework. They had to work
at least a term at the chosen occupation. We felt that the girls gained
great benefit from the hobbies, not only in the additional happiness of
working at what they enjoyed, but in an increase of freshness of mind
for other work. This year we have gone still farther and have given each
girl one period of voluntary work in addition to a whole afternoon for
games or gardening; moreover, the four lowest forms have each one period
of class work in toy-making; yet even now the children say that the time
is too short. It is really amusing to see a change of classes in the
woodwork-room; the first class dare not and cannot stay a minute after
the bell has rung, for the second class is in and already at work.
I have tried to find out what is the great attraction to the child in
the handwork lessons; the children's appreciation of the subject will be
found in Section II. Probably the strongest attractions are: firstly,
they see the building up of a piece of work and the result pleases
them (at all events, until they do something better); secondly, they
are actively employed, learning by doing, not learning by listening;
and, lastly, they love the cheerful noise of the hammer and the saw and
friendly conversation.
It is hard to estimate the value of handwork in education, for one
cannot separate the influence of one subject in the curriculum, but
one is tempted to say that it has a beneficial effect upon the child's
attitude toward work in general; she looks into the why and wherefore of
an object in order to see how it is made; unconsciously she adopts the
same attitude toward things abstract. She learns to appreciate accuracy
and to detect error, but how far she applies this to subjects other than
handwork it is hard to say. It is possible, also, that handwork helps to
develop the sense of justice.
Certainly the girl who has had a course in handwork does take a more
intelligent interest in things around her, and does find out a way of
'setting about' a piece of work by herself. She has something pleasant
and profitable to think about; she becomes more businesslike; in the
lesson itself she resents interruption (this was the case when the
photographer came for illustrations for this book); more strangely
still, she plays no tricks with glue-pot or tools, although she has
innumerable opportunities for mischief. The joy over the finished
article is greater than the spirit of mischief. She realises how short
the time is when there is work to be done, and looks out for devices for
saving time, putting tools in handy places, saving pieces of wood of
useful sizes to avoid sawing, and so on.
There is a spirit of earnest endeavour abroad in the handwork class
which prevents a girl from throwing aside in a pet something she has
done badly; she does not give up in disgust; she finds out the cause of
the failure and tries again and again until she gets better results. It
is no unusual thing to find a girl return to a job that, five or six
weeks before, she had thought finished, and do it again, because her
progress with other articles has made her dissatisfied with her previous
standard. This comes, not from suggestion from outside, but from the
development of the child's own judgement. These are the things which
show what is the real value of this training.
II. INTERNAL EVIDENCE
In order to find from internal evidence the educational value of
toy-making, the following questions were put to the two lowest classes
(ages ten to eleven). The girls were told to write frankly what they
really thought, not what they thought might satisfy the mistress.
To the question, "If you like handwork, say why; if not, say why
you do not," out of forty-five papers one answer only was against
handwork--"Because I do not like sawing." The answers in favour were of
this type:
"Because we can make what we like."
"Because I like sawing and hammering."
"Because it is nice to see the things when they are finished."
"Because you can make interesting things."
"Because it is interesting making things out of wood like
boys."
"Because I make useful things."
The favourite tools were the hammer and saw. There was considerable
difference of opinion on the question, "Has it done you any good?" A
fair number think it has made them careful or patient or more useful;
others seem to think that the exercise in sawing has some good effect
on the arms; one says her "fingers are better for music." Others see in
handwork a pleasant occupation for future grown-up days; another thinks
it has made her "not so flabby and fat."
If they admit that it has cured them of any faults (and they are
not very ready to do this), the chief are laziness, clumsiness, and
carelessness. To the last question, "Will it be of any use to you when
you are grown up?" the majority look forward to the joy of mending their
little girls' toys. (Not one mentions a little boy; is he expected
to mend his own?) Others will make things instead of buying them
ready-made. Some look forward to mending broken chairs or door-handles.
One says: "It will teach me to earn my fortune," and finally one writes
philosophically: "Ordepents." (No! handwork does not cure bad spelling.)
The girls of the next highest forms (ages eleven to twelve) were given
the _questionnaire_ as suggestions and were asked to write an essay on
handwork. From them we get the 'home' point of view, the views of the
mother, father, sceptical brothers, and of the younger children, who
appear to clamour for the toys.
[Illustration: PLATE II A TOY-MAKING CLASS AT STREATHAM]
"Handwork is my favourite lesson next to Botany. It is a
delightful pastime for myself and a great amusement for my little
brother when it is finished. 'Have you finished the swing yet?' is
the usual question which greets me every Thursday evening. When I
am able to do handwork extra nicely I shall do a very nice piece
of work and keep it as long as I can, and when I get old it will
remind me of youth."
"My brother tries to make some of the things I bring home. My
sister likes the swing and uses it for her dolls."
"It is a source of enjoyment to most children, but until I
entered this school I had never heard of girls being taught it. I
enjoy this so much that I hope to buy some tools and wood and do
some work at home. My three brothers tease me terribly and call me
the 'left-handed carpenter,' because I always work with my left
hand. I am not satisfied with the handwork I have done at present,
but hope greatly to improve. I enjoy making useful things because
they make very useful presents at all times. I should like to teach
handwork to others, as I think it so interesting. I have discovered
that handwork needs patience and neatness in every way."
"I have learnt that everything must be done properly, because
I made a motor-car and gave it to my little sister, but she
happened to drop it and it came unstuck. My little brother thinks
it's silly for girls to learn handwork, and everything I bring
home he says, 'I should not have done it like that,' and goes on
to explain how he would have done it, although he has never learnt
himself. I don't like the part much where you have to prepare
everything to put together. I like putting it together and then you
can see something for your work."
Some show the ethical value of the training; the need of patience seems
to appeal most forcibly to children who are making their first attempts
at handwork.
"To make toys and other wooden things teaches us to be
patient, for often just at a critical moment something will come
unstuck and we have to begin all over again. The top of the
roundabout which I am now making has come off three or four times,
and consequently it has taken me about twice as long to make as it
would if all had gone smoothly."
"Sometimes you have to wait for a piece of wood to stick. The
other Friday I was waiting for a piece to stick and after a while
I went on, thinking it had got stuck; unluckily it had not and
it came off. That very same piece of wood has come off every day
except to-day. This shows any one that one needs time and patience.
Also you have to wait a while because some one has run off with the
glue-pot, or else I find my file or gimlet disappeared."
"When I first began handwork I could not knock a nail in
straight or else I would hit my fingers. But I can now knock a nail
in straight and without knocking my fingers. I can saw much more
quickly than when I first began."
"It teaches us a great lesson of patience. For instance, it is
very trying to have to sit or stand for quite a long while holding
some little refractory piece of wood that will not stick however
much one tries: but it is no good getting cross, for the work will
not be finished if we do not stick the little piece of wood or
paper."
"Once mother told me I had not any idea for anything, but now
she says I am much better, this being one result of handwork."
"Handwork, I think, has cured me of one fault and that is
inaccuracy, for if the wood is not the proper length, it will not
fit on to the thing which is being made. I have never done this
kind of work before, but I think it does help us when we are grown
up; one way is that everything must be accurate; and it is also
very nice to make things."
"I find that handwork helps me greatly, as I am bad at my
drawing and needlework."
"I love using the saws and hammers. Mother is going to give me
a set of fretwork tools so that I can put fancy tops to my frames,
etc. If I had a little sister or brother I would make a motor or
train, but as I am the only one, I make things for ornaments. Next
I shall make a table with the two sides to let down, or one with a
separate leaf to put in. Handwork teaches you to be exact and to
hold things delicately. It is very awkward to hammer a nail into a
thin leg of a table or chair, because they wobble over."
"I think handwork is very interesting and it has taught me
patience. I am not allowed to read more than half an hour after I
have done my homework and practice because my eyes are weak, and
as I am what some people call a bookworm I used to miss reading a
great deal, but now I do handwork in my spare time. One day I hope
to complete my doll's house, its garage and furniture, but I have
not finished the house yet. I like making such things as chairs
and tables best of all. Handwork lessons were unknown to me until
I came to this school nearly two terms ago, and at first Mamma was
always telling me that she would not let me do any more at home,
until I thought of putting paper on the floor, which keeps the
shavings and sawdust from untidying the floor. I always do this
now, and when the paper is taken up I do not have so much trouble
as that of picking the pieces off the mat and then sweeping the
floor before I go to bed."
"Handwork also helps to make one accurate and careful; perhaps
your fingers 'were all thumbs,' as the saying goes, before you
started handwork, but you find that after say a month your fingers
would be able to touch a frail thing without breaking it."
Their desire to make and remake varies between 'pleasure toys' and
useful articles; one suspects sometimes a desire to appease the vexation
of the 'house-proud' mother when there is much disorder caused at home
with shavings and sawdust.
"I can not only make toys, but useful things such as dish
stands, brackets, photo frames, also easels to stand photographs
on."
"I like handwork. For voluntary work I do handwork, and it is
also our first lesson on Friday afternoon. I like it because it
helps us to make useful things. For voluntary work I am making a
medicine chest. It will be handy, because we always have a great
deal of medicine at home. Last term I made a knife-box, and it
was useful, because Mama's was getting old. My favourite tools
at handwork are the saw and hammer. Next term I want to make a
writing-case and a Red Cross motor."
"I enjoy going to handwork very much. The first thing to
think about, on getting down to the handwork-room, is setting to
work, and going about everything quietly. Everything in handwork,
to be done nicely, must be neat, clean, and carefully made and
put together. In handwork I have made an easel (which is a bit
difficult to fix, unless one has a proper hinge at the back) and
a picture-frame and a little doll's house, and I would like to
make another one, as I think it is so interesting planning out
each little corner for different things, and it helps one to think
of how they would plan out a home if they had one of their own,
as perhaps some of us will. I am now making a tram-car, which is
really very difficult. I have not nearly finished yet, as there is
such a great deal of work in it."
"Girls' likings for tools differ, but a file is the nicest
tool, in my eyes; it makes the rough places quite smooth and
nice. In my experience of handwork I have made a boat with the
captain's bridge and riggings, funnels, masts, and railings around
the edge. I have also made a picture frame and doll's furniture
for a friend's sister. At home I have made a basement for a doll
gentleman's house for the servants to live in; I papered it and
made it look neat and tidy."
"It is rather nice to see all of the girls making things at
the tables as busy as bees and it is nice to see their faces when
they look at the thing which they have just finished."
"The lesson I enjoy most during the week is the one termed
handwork, really carpentering on a small scale. There are many
things you can make, and if you take great pains with them they
become really pretty little ornaments; in fact, I am thinking of
having some shelves specially for my toys."
"When thinking of what measurements to make your toy and
planning it out in figures I think that it helps you greatly in
arithmetic. The hardest tool to use, I find, is the saw; you have
to have a steady hand to use it. When I first took handwork lessons
I used to think it hard work, but now I think otherwise, and feel
rather grand when I show my parents the things I have made. The
most important use of handwork is that when you are older you can
knock a nail in or mend anything that needs mending in the wooden
line, instead of having to wait until father, brother, or husband
comes home tired for them to do it. As well as this there might
come a time when the making of toys would help to earn the daily
bread."
"I am making a tram-car now, and when I have finished it I
want to make a whole set of furniture for a doll's house. The
hardest part of it will be when I am putting legs on tables or
chairs. They have to be quite straight or the table will not stand
up."
"Sometimes we have just settled a post or a rail in the right
place with the help of some glue when somebody knocks the table and
over goes our piece of wood. Then we have 'to grin and bear it.'"
"Our teacher's name is Miss Polkinghorne, she being very
skilful and does much better work than us for we are only
miniatures yet awhile!"
"When I grow up handwork will be useful to me, for if anything
breaks I shall know how to mend it, and if I had children I could
make things to amuse them. Often I do handwork at home. I like
using the saw better than any other tool. I have made a good many
things, but I think the best was a little toy motor-car. Handwork
is my favourite lesson; when I grow up I shall never leave off
doing handwork. My little sister helps me sometimes. I think she
will like it. My mother has asked me to make a little thing to put
match-boxes in."
"I think that it helps to make you very careful. For when one
is hammering and the hammer slips you get hurt and that makes one
careful. The hardest thing to do in a writing-case is to saw the
piece of wood for the ink division. It is hard to get the exact
size, but it does not look nice if it does not fit exactly."
"I like handwork because it is different from any other lesson
in the week; there is not much writing to do, only to mark on the
wood certain lengths."
"I once spent a long time in doing a ship, but I could not
get on. I spent a very long time in trying to take the paper off a
tobacco box, but it was not going to come. I then went on with the
making, but it kept falling to pieces. I took it home, and took
necessary materials with it; paper for flags and nails. I was a
long time in doing it, as I took everything apart and scratched all
of the paper off; but it now looks very much better. Handwork is
rather a funny kind of occupation for girls, but it teaches us how
to do things."
"Handwork is one of the most interesting lessons that there
is. It helps one to have ideas, and also to be careful. The reason
why I like it is because I think that most people should have a
pastime and this is a very pleasant one, and I think most children
will agree to this point."
"I have to use many kinds of tools but the nicest is the
hammer, because when I use it I know I am near the end of a piece
of work. (It is not that I dislike handwork, but that I am going to
start something fresh.) I have already made two picture-frames, two
beds, a swing, a chair, a motor-car, an easel, and I am now making
another swing. I think I shall try to make a baby's cot after I
have finished my swing."
"I prefer to saw wood and stick pieces of wood together to
hammering nails in the wood, because the nails are sometimes
difficult to get in, for they very often go in crookedly. When we
get older and understand handwork more thoroughly we may be able
to make things for the home, such as knife-boxes and paper-racks;
the things we make now are mostly pleasure toys that we will amuse
our younger brothers and sisters with. In most cases it needs a
great deal of patience, for the things, however simple, have some
difficult part."
"I like making toys, so then if you make them nicely you can
take them home for your little sisters and brothers to play with.
Handwork gives you ideas about things. We can make very useful
things such as letter-racks and pipe-racks. I like making furniture
for dolls' houses--chairs, tables, and sofas. I like making swings.
Some of us make animals."
"I do not know very much about handwork, as I have scarcely
handled a tool before I came here this term, but I think I shall
always enjoy it very much."
"I am making a doll's house now, for my little sister (aged
five), and I think it is teaching me to make myself useful, because
nobody at home cares for it much, so I will soon be able to mend
chairs, make brackets, etc., etc."
"Since we have not been able to have proper firewood at
home lately, mother has had large wooden boxes to chop (a thing
I delight in doing), and now and again mother has given me a few
of them. I tried to make things out of them and soon found it too
rough: so father has given me some nice polished wood, and he says
that perhaps soon he will buy me a nice little fret-saw set of
tools as his are so large and clumsy."
"I think I like sawing best of all, but I think I like all the
rest very well; I get quite excited when Thursday and Friday come
round (for those are the days on which we have handwork)."
"Mother thinks it is a splendid thing for girls, and I quite
agree with her. And we both think that it will help me on with my
geometry (which I'm not very brilliant in, but am trying my best)."
These compositions were written in school and the extracts have not
been corrected, they are just as the children wrote them; we add no
commentary, but let them speak for themselves.
TOY-MAKING IN SCHOOL AND HOME
CHAPTER I
TOY-MAKING AND ITS EDUCATIONAL POSSIBILITIES
One's main object in teaching children how to make toys should be "to
teach them how to make toys." Through their efforts to make a beautiful
toy they may become more patient, more accurate, more observant, and
more nimble with their fingers, but these virtues will come more
naturally and readily if the teacher has but one object in view;
singleness of purpose is the secret of success.
Through classes in toy-making rightly conducted the children become more
resourceful, more quick at finding the right thing for the right place,
happier in some cases--that is to say, the so-called dull child, the
child that has no gift for mathematics, no memory for languages, can
often find in the handwork class the happiness of doing something well,
of producing a praiseworthy and pleasure-giving piece of work.
It is very necessary to find occupation for backward children, who
sometimes drift rather aimlessly through the school, occupation that
will develop initiative and involve effort, occupation that will bring
disappointments (so often one careless bit of work spoils an almost
finished toy), but will also bring the joy of successful achievement.
The ordinary lessons--English, French, etc.--may be said also to bring
their disappointments and joys, but not in the same tangible way as the
handwork lesson. The table that will not stand steadily because all its
legs have not been carefully cut the right length teaches to a certain
type of mind a more forcible lesson than the incorrect sum or French
exercise.
Again, it is very necessary that one lesson period a week should
be devoted to an occupation which is of the nature of a hobby; the
ordinary history and geography lessons do not often suggest voluntary
work for the children's leisure. Indeed, in many cases it is easier
to train children to become future clerks and teachers than to train
them how to use their leisure. Now handwork classes suggest leisure
occupations. The children who begin to make their own toys in the
lower forms for themselves, when older will want to make them for
other little children, when older, too, they will begin to ask how to
make useful articles--writing-cases, medicine-chests, knife-boxes,
soap-boxes--articles very frequently suggested by their parents and much
valued by them when made.
One need scarcely fear for the future of the child, however dull and
mechanical her daily work as a grown-up person may be, if she has
abundant interests in life--if she can use and love to use in leisure
moments hammer, saw, and file, or if she has some other healthy hobby.
Still, for those who like the pleasant noise and pleasant mess caused
by tools, it is hard to find a happier occupation than toy-making. A
toy-maker becomes at once a collector of useful odds and ends, and a
collector (that is, one who collects willingly the things he likes) is
always a happy person; the toy-maker becomes, too, the contriver, one
who can adapt materials to different purposes, and the giver--for the
finished article must be disposed of.
The mere acquisition of knowledge forms the least important part
of school work. A large number of facts in connexion with history,
geography, French, etc., have rightly to be learnt by heart and are
useful to the child in after life, but they do not bring with them
necessarily wisdom, nor does the learning of them play such an important
part in the child's development as the activity of the child in the
handwork class does. Some one has wisely said, "If education at school
means nothing more to the children than a respectable routine and a few
examinations successfully circumvented, then education is a failure; if
_besides that_, it has enlivened the years and counted for something
in the general joy of growing, then it has a real value--a value which
entitles it to a place among happy memories, perhaps even the highest
place of all." Many of us perhaps feel in looking back on our schooldays
how many good things we lost for the sake of learning some now forgotten
facts; how many good things we lost to be first in class; we confused
means with ends, we toiled over our history and learnt it to get full
marks in the coming test (we should have toiled over our toy for love of
making it and to produce as perfect a one as possible); in after life we
would gladly tread some of the by-paths of knowledge, have some hobby,
but our rigorous system of training left us no opportunity in young
days, and sapped the energy that alone would make it possible in after
years.
No scheme of work then for schooldays must be so rigorous that it leaves
no leisure for 'feast days.' Some days, some hours must come back to
memory, bringing not only their past happiness, but ideas for present
occupation. The happiest days of youth are generally the busiest, days
when one had something one really wanted to be busy about for its own
sake, not for the sake of marks or for the sake of outstripping one's
fellow-pupils, or for the sake of one's future. These busy, happy, idle
days are the feast days of youth, days one thinks of as the poet thought
when he wrote:
And none will know the gleam there used to be
About the feast days freshly kept by me,
But men will call the golden hour of bliss
'About this time,' or 'shortly after this.'
This book on toy-making is not written to advocate the so-called
'primrose path in education,' the 'turn-work-into-play theory,' though
undoubtedly the first chapters at least of this book will be attacked
by those who fear that education is yielding or is going to yield to a
popular clamour for ease.
For these people, too, Masefield has a message:
Best trust the happy moments. What they gave
Makes man less fearful of the certain grave,
And gives his work compassion and new eyes;
The days that make us happy make us wise.
Moreover, every teacher of handwork knows how little ease the busy
children in her classes get--in these classes they are never passive
listeners or passive learners by heart. They see the need of accuracy,
the labour necessary to produce it, they suffer for every mistake they
make, they realise some of the joy and pain of creating, and, best of
all perhaps, they realise the joy of work--active, muscular work as
distinguished from their ordinary scholarly work.
With regard to the question of work it has been ably said that "No
one has yet preached in an adequate way the gospel of work--real hard
work--as the most amusing of all occupations--not a noble duty."
It is somewhat unfortunate that directly one begins to like one's work
one is accused of playing.
To return to toy-making (which is work or play, according to whether
one dislikes or likes it)--whether toy-making be taken in the school or
not, the teachers will find it a useful hobby. Through it they can amuse
themselves and renew their youth; through it they will have an enduring
bond of union with their children.
Our knowledge of history and geography often fails to impress our
children; they probably think we are a little foolish to burden our
heads with so many facts that seem to have no bearing on to-day; but
when we can use our hands and make a toy they see us with other eyes, we
are really clever people worth cultivating.
If toy-making be taken as a form of handwork in school, one enlists
at once the interest of the parent--especially of the father--the
mother sometimes, not often, objects to the mess. This interest of the
parents is a great gain; the father delights in doing a bit of the
work--sticking on the difficult funnel, sawing the hard piece of wood;
child learns from parent, and parent from child, and in this way the
father may again remember half-forgotten ambitions, half-neglected
talents, and find in toy-making a profitable occupation, profitable
mainly in the fact that any occupation which recalls to the grown-up
person his youth, with its fresher outlook on life, must be wholesome.
Finally, if the handwork classes make the children more 'at home'
with themselves and with life, they will have done something; if they
help them toward self-realisation they will help them toward the joy
the writer speaks of who says, "Joy of life seems to me to arise from
a sense of being where one belongs, as I feel right here; of being
four-square with the life we have chosen. All the discontented people I
know are trying sedulously to be something they are not, to do something
they cannot do.... It is curious, is it not, with what skill we will
adapt our sandy land to potatoes and grow our beans with clay, and with
how little wisdom we farm the soil of our own natures?"