little time is needed
to turn the acquired control into this peculiar activity, while, with
the untrained muscles of the little child, much more time is required
and much fretfulness engendered, born of the confined position and the
almost insuperable difficulty of the achievement.

Above the mere manual labor, however, there comes another work which
always has to be done for the child, and is therefore of no educational
value for her: I mean the "fitting" and "basting." They cannot be
intrusted to the child, for the simple reason that they involve not
merely manual dexterity, but also an exercise of the judgment, which in
the child has not yet become sufficiently developed. But when the girl
has lived fourteen years, we will say, and has been trained in other
ways into habits of neatness and order, she has also acquired judgment
enough for the purpose, and needs only a few words of direction. The
sewing of bands to gathers, the covering of cord, the cording of neck or
belt, the arrangement of two edges for felling, the putting on of
bindings, belong, so to speak, to the syntax of the art of sewing, and
come under this division, which must, perforce, be left till maturer
years than those of childhood. There is still a sphere above this, the
three corresponding exactly to apprenticeship, journeymanship and
mastership, in learning a trade. The third and last sphere is that of
"cutting," and this demands simply and only, judgment and caution. There
are a few general statements which must be given, as, for instance, "the
right way of the cloth," in which the parts of the garment should be
cut, etc.; but these being once learned--and a lesson of one hour would
be a large allowance for this purpose--the good cutter is the one who
has the most exact eye for measurement--trained already in school by
drawing, writing, etc.--the best power of calculation--trained by
arithmetic, algebra, etc.--and the best observation and
judgment--trained by every study she has pursued under a good teacher.

As to sewing, considered as a physical exercise, it may almost be
pronounced bad in its very nature; considered as a mental exercise, in
its higher spheres, it is excellent, because it calls for the activity
of thought; but after the cutting and fitting are done, it is
undoubtedly bad, leaving the mind free to wander wherever it will. The
constant, mechanical drawing through of the needle, like the listening
to a very dull address, seems to