James Slough Zerbe

Carpentry for Boys James Slough Zerbe

Publisher Marketing: Carpentry is the oldest of the arts, and it has been said that the knowledge necessary to make a good carpenter fits one for almost any trade or occupation requiring the use of tools. The hatchet, the saw, and the plane are the three primal implements of the carpenter. The value is in knowing how to use them. The institution of Manual Training Schools everywhere is but a tardy recognition of the value of systematic training in the use of tools. There is no branch of industry which needs such diversification, in order to become efficient. The skill of the blacksmith is centered in his ability to forge, to weld, and to temper; that of the machinist depends upon the callipered dimensions of his product; the painter in his taste for harmony; the mason on his ability to cut the stone accurately; and the plasterer to produce a uniform surface. But the carpenter must, in order to be an expert, combine all these qualifications, in a greater or less degree, and his vocation may justly be called the King of Trades. Rightly, therefore, it should be cultivated in order to learn the essentials of manual training work. But there is another feature of the utmost importance and value, which is generally overlooked, and on which there is placed too little stress, even in many of the manual training schools. The training of the mind has been systematized so as to bring into operation the energies of all the brain cells. Manual training to be efficient should, at the same time, be directed into such channels as will most widely stimulate the muscular development of the child, while at the same time cultivating his mind.