GERMAN  Y.

77

will  awaken  a  feeling  for  form;  and  to  reach  tliis  end  it  will
also  be  necessary  to  introduce  a  better  taste  into  the  toj’s  manufactured
  for  commerce,  so  as  to  educate  the  eye  to  a  feeling  for
the  beautifnl.  In  the  Saxonian  Ore-Mountains,  this  industry  has
been  traditional  among  the  people  for  hundreds  of  years,  and  its
produce  is  scattered  all  over  the  world.  The  Commission  alluded
to  is  endeavoring  gradually  to  improve  it,  —  a  beautiful  idea,
which  deserves  full  recognition.
It  has  been  before  remarked,  that  the  absence  of  the  work  of
the  pupils  of  the  Saxonian  Improvement  Schools  was  greatly  to  be
regretted.  The  careful  attention  paid  to  drawing  in  the  Industrial
Schools  of  Saxony  was  made  apparent  by  the  report  of  the  Royal
Saxonian  Educational  Administration  (pp.  27-33),  previously
cited,  in  which  the  Organization  of  the  various  institutions,  their
division  into  categories,  &c.,  was  explained  in  detail.
Hessia.  —  The  Grand  Duchy  of  Hessia  exhibited  almost  riothing
  but  specimens  bj-  the  pupils  of  the  Artisans’  and  Improvement
Schools.  These  institutions,  the  first  of  which  were  opened  in
Darmstadt,  Mayence,  and  Giessen  in  1838,  have  increased  considerably
  since  then,  so  that  now  each  little  town  in  the  country  possesses
  one  of  them.  The  attendance  is  voluntary  everywhere;
and,  until  quite  lately,  the  instruction,  to  which  apprentices  and
journeymen  are  admitted,  was  gratuitous;  at  present,  the  pupils
are  charged  a  moderate  tuition-fee  (six  to  thirty  kreutzers  per
month),  but  the  notoriously  poor  are  exempted  from  its  payment,
and  in  some  of  the  schools  are  even  provided  with  the  necessary
writing  and  drawing  materials  free  öf  Charge.
The  main  stress  in  instruction  is  laid  upon  technical  drawing,
to  which  are  added  the  other  branches,  such  as  geometry,  arithmetic,
  style,  &c.,  with  refefence  to  practical  wants.  In  view  of
the  shortness  of  time,  the  schools  confine  themselves  to  that  which
is  the  most  necessary  and  useful  for  the  working-man,  w r hile  the
branches  of  edncation  of  lesser  importanee  are  passed  over.  No
premiums  are  given  to  the  pupils;  but  every  year  their  work  is
submitted  to  a  special  Commission,  by  whom  it  is  examined,  and
reported  upon.  The  general  part  of  this  report  is  published,
while  the  part  devoted  to  special  criticism  is  communicated  confidentially
  to  the  school-committees  and  teachers.