DRAWING. To James L. Hughes, Esq., Inspector of Public Schools, Toronto: Besides giving instruction in drawing to the Fifth Book Classes, and meeting the teachers collectively when I have had opportunity to do so, I have inspected the different Public Schools in the city where drawing is taught, and examined the work of the pupils. ing, and have shown a disposition to avail themselves of every assistance I could give, either by instruction or by suggestion. Although in a large number of the classes, indeed in the majority, much less has been accomplished than I could have hoped for, I see no reason for discouragement. Drawing is a new subject to most of the teachers, and one in which they have had no previous training, but wherever the attempt has been made they are teaching it with success. The teachers evince much interest in Draw One great difficulty has been removed by the action of the Board in supplying pencils to the pupils; another has arisen from the temptation to ignore this branch of study in favor of others, success in which told directly upon the promotions; there may also be still some want of appreciation of the practical value of Drawing in education. But there is no insurmountable difficulty, and I hope that next year we shall see much better results. In the light of the experience of the past year, I beg respectfully to submit the following suggestions, the first of which relate to the general arrangement of the classes, while the latter ones are more especially addressed to the teachers: I would recommend that the teaching of Drawing should commence in the Junior Second Book Classes, and that the drawing books used in the several classes should be as follows: In all the classes except those of the 3rd Book, the Drawing lessons have been limited to fifteen minutes. For some kind of exercises, and for rapid sketching or time drawing, 15 minutes may be long enough, but the principal lessons require some explanation from the teacher, after which the pupils should have time to work out the subject while it is fresh in their minds, and while they are interested in it. For this purpose half an hour is little enough, and I would advise that every class should have at least one Drawing lesson in the week of half an hour. For instance, instead of four lessons of fifteen minutes each, there might be one of half an hour and two of fifteen minutes. I should be glad if the following suggestions as to the mode of instruction could be placed before the teachers in some convenient form for reference. The work contained and suggested in any one book of the Drawing course is sufficient to occupy the pupils for a year, and should be completed within the year, reckoning from midsummer to midsummer. When promotions are made, the pupils should take the book used in the class into which they go. All the Drawing should be free-hand, without the aid of rule, measurement, or appliance. One of the chief objects of the Drawing lessons is the training of the eye to quick and accurate perception of form, proportion, and relative space and distance. Experience shows that this faculty can be cultivated and developed to a surprising extent, but it must be continually exercised and entirely relied upon. In the Drawing books sufficient guide lines are given to aid the beginners, but in subsequent exercises in the practice-books all construction lines must be drawn free-hand by the pupils, and they should be continually led to judge for themselves what construction lines will help them to draw any given figure. It is intended that the examples given should be first drawn in the Drawing-books, as there directed. Some of the examples, especially in Book II, are directed to be repeated more than once. It is not generally desirable that this repetition should take place in the same lesson; variety of work interests the pupils and gives fresh power to their execution. It must never be forgotten that Drawing is only the expression of some mental perception or conception, derived, as it may happen, from a present object or example, from memory, or from the imagination. In any case the excellence of the Drawing will depend upon the clearness and vigour of the perception and conception. Drawing from memory is a most efficient factor in developing the faculty of clear perception, but the development must be gradual; as the power to perceive clearly and accurately is cultivated, so will the power to remember increase. Time Drawings also have great value in this connection. In order to grasp the whole aspect of an object at once, it must be perceived rapidly as well as clearly, and this faculty of rapid per |