put his shoulder to the wheel, has taught the high school teachers himself, showed them that the pupils could do it, if the teachers would, and success is coming. His undaunted bravery is everything to be commended, and shame on the teacher who hangs back because she or he doesn't believe it or doesn't want to learn. What right have we, as teachers, to oppose progress in our schools, in any department, by such opposition?

A course has been marked out for evening school work more rigid and exacting than before, and, though every pupil now cannot be allowed to choose this, that or the other branch at his own option, an elementary course of two years thorough evening study is granted them, superior to any evening course ever before offered in this city. Who has been the life and leading spirit of all this work?.

Prof. Walter Smith, able in all the departments as every one admits. Day and night he has worked to develop this cause of industrial drawing, and our shop windows to-day show the wonderful change that has been wrought in our designs for manufactured goods during the past few years, while our little children stand to-day by their mothers, and speak intelligently of this or that, as the better design. Who has been the leader of all this? Prof. Walter Smith, director of drawing in our public schools. And this is what he has done; and, if he has not done it in precisely the way that many would have prescribed, it has been accomplished, nevertheless, and in spite of obstacles that would have appalled one less strong or less in earnest. Is it what he came for?

Third. Is he needed any longer?

One of the strongest reasons for the existence of our high schools, as given by prominent educators, is this: The influence they have to keep up the standard for excellence in the lower grades. Take it away and, the leader gone, the separate branches strike out for themselves, and a retrograde movement begins.

The teaching of drawing in our public schools has a broader meaning than merely drawing, it means the life or death of our manufacturing interests as a nation, and we want a leader and an expert on whom we can rely in time of need, and to keep up or advance the standard of excellence. We want a foreman in our workshop who, if he never lifts his hand to do the labor, has the brains to guide and direct.

We care not whether he be Englishman, Irishman, or German, we want the man; and the meanest cry that can be possibly raised is the cry against the nationality of the person or the coat the man may happen to wear. Americans formed from every nationality all over the wide globe should shame to raise such objections, more especially to an invited worker.

Massachusetts is one of the leading manufacturing States. Other States are looking keenly at her to see if her leading city, her Athens, will colly dismiss from her service the best expert and teacher of drawing in the country, at the bidding of disappointed teachers or politicians. Where is the man among us who could go to a foreign land, and try to engraft on its school system a subject so foreign to it, as drawing was to ours, under such difficulties as he has had to submit to, and not make some mistakes? And we should be proud of the man, who can say as honestly as he can, that he has never taken one penny to pay any recommendation for any drawing materials in the country, though approached many times for that purpose, only receiving a copyright royalty for drawing books dearly paid for by hard work.

Let Boston think twice before she loses this man. He is needed all the time quite as much as a director of music, but rather let this school committee make a glorious record for itself, and, by doing away with the annual elections, sustaining the salaries of its teachers, and electing and sustaining its director of drawing.

BOSTON, April 1, 1881.

A PRACTICAL TEACHER.

The departure of Professor Smith from the United States drew out a letter printed in the Boston Advertiser of July 14, 1883, which is interesting for what it tells of the man, Walter Smith, and also as evidence that one citizen of Massachusetts, at least, who appreciated that his untimely taking off was an absolute loss to the State, was sufficiently outspoken to say so.

With this letter, the references in the appendix, to the Normal Art School and its founder, end.

WALTER SMITH.

To the Editors of the Boston Daily Advertiser:

The return to England of such a man as Walter Smith, who, for more than ten years, has given the schools of Boston and of Massachusetts the benefits of his instruction in various branches of industrial art, ought not to pass unnoticed.

Without entering at all upon the question of the causes which led to his being superseded in his office and work, it is due to Mr. Smith, as well as to his community, for which he labored so conscientiously for more than ten years, that there should be some public recognition-even if only in the form of a fugitive letter to a newspaperof the value of his services in his chosen profession.

Mr. Smith came here from England, with his family, at the invitation of this city and State. He was invited after a careful inquiry as to his capabilities and character. He brought with him a thorough training, perfect integrity, skill in teaching, and a lofty and uncompromising idea of the true dignity and usefulness of industrial art. He gave us his best, and his best had been found worthy the commendation of so severe and austere a judge as Ruskin.

The impulse which he gave to popular art education was immense. Pupils came to him from all sections of the country-from Chicago and Saint Louis, as well as from Boston, and all carried away, besides their technical learning, the memory of a devoted and faithful teacher.

But Mr. Smith was more than that. He was a man of vast stores of information, which, in conversation, flowed almost unconsciously from him, like a full-fed fountain. He was also warmly interested in the success of all good systems of education and overflowing with desire for the welfare and freedom of the people, as well as their training in all useful and graceful arts.

No one can read his printed letter to the trustees of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art and not feel that the departure of such a man is a national loss.

A single sentence from this paper so fully expresses the man that I beg leave to quote it: "I warn you, therefore, that if you recognize the principle which is the very spinal column of my scheme, viz, that art is based on science and law, and that neither artists, teachers, nor designers can be produced except through a scientific education; you will take your stand on the ground which gave us a Michael Angelo, and you will be mercilessly criticised by every half-educated artist."

To these high aims he wholly gave himself, and he was intolerant of those who advocated anything less severe and exacting. Nature and truth were his teachers, and he endeavored to interpret them to his pupils.

The loss of such a man may be unnoticed for the moment; but it cannot be a good omen for the future that he should be allowed to leave us just at a time when his work was beginning to bear fruit.

Massachusetts has hitherto been in the habit of cherishing, rather than repelling, such men. Think of what the museum at Cambridge would be had Agassiz returned to Switzerland at the end of ten years of labor here.

Whatever the cause which has led to Mr. Smith's return, the useful work that he has done ought not to be overlooked, and all good wishes will flow out to him from multitudes who have been his pupils or enjoyed the delight of social intercourse with him.

SOUTH BOSTON, July 11, 1883.

H. S.

APPENDIX E.

PAPERS RELATING TO THE INDUSTRIAL ART TRAINING EXHIBITS IN THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION.

I. Introductory. Industrial Art Drawing at the Centennial Exposition.
II.-Preparation for the Centennial Exposition. Extracts from papers published in
New England Journal of Education of July 10, 1875.

(a.) Art Education at the Centennial, by Walter Smith.

(b.) Extract from paper by Baron von Schwarz-Senborn, minister from Austria-Hungary to the United States and director general, Vienna Exposition.

(c.) Extracts from suggestions to educators as to what to exhibit, prepared at request of the United States Commissioner of Education, by Committee of Superintendents.

III.-Popular Instruction in Elementary Drawing: A report based on the International Exhibition at Philadelphia.* By Charles B. Stetson.

IV.—Work of Cincinnati Carving School shown at the Centennial. American Architect, March 31, 1877.

V.-Report on the present condition of drawing, as taught in Public and Normal Schools, made to the Department of Art of the National Educational Association at Madison, Wisconsin, July, 1884, by the committee to whom the subject was referred the year previous.

VI.-Plan of the courses in drawing, as taught in the public schools of Belgium, as reported to the International Educational Conference in London, August, 1884.

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