his earth we live
And weigh the various qualities of men,
The more we feel the high, stern-featured beauty
Of plain devotedness to duty;
Steadfast and still, nor paid with mortal praise,
But finding amplest recompense
For life's ungarlanded expense
In work done squarely and unwasted days."

--_James Russell Lowell._

[Sidenote: _Weaving the foundation for designing_]

[Sidenote: _Honest work begets sympathy with labor_]

[Sidenote: _Interdependence in life_]

The "Kraus-Boelte Guide" has some good suggestions with regard to the
value of paper mat weaving, in number training, and for following
certain formulae which will lead ultimately to invention. Mme.
Kraus-Boelte says: "Weaving leads to independent effort and offers the
greatest scope for future technical work, for it lays the foundation for
designing. Even though it may not fan into flame a latent spark of
genius, this means of occupation at least tends to show the value of
honest labor." The child not only recognizes the value in honest labor,
but his sympathy with all labor is aroused through his own efforts and
through the stories told of weavers in all lands. He realizes, also,
although in a limited way, the interdependence of the whole world. If
the sun did not shine, and the rain fall, there would be no grass. If
there were no grass, what would the sheep do? If the sheep did not give
any wool, what would the weaver do? If the weaver could not weave, what
would we do for clothes? Little children are always delighted to go back
to the beginning of things. Oh, the joy of looking back on one's school
days! As Friedrich Richter has truly said, "Recollection is the only
paradise from which no man can be driven."

[Sidenote: _Some difficulties_]

[Sidenote: _A bit of experience_]

[Sidenote: _One solution_]

[Sidenote: _Community feeling continued_]

One important thought in this whole subject is that the work should be
so arranged as not to add any additional burden to the already crowded
life of the teacher. It is a lamentable fact that we have overcrowded
rooms, and only one pair of hands to do all that has to be done. Perhaps
a bit of the author's own experience will be of some assistance. After
looking the subject squarely in the face and considering it on all
sides, the writer came to the conclusion that it would be an
impossibility to do all the work alone. So some helpers were called from
the pupils o