just to make up his mind. As for the education of young children in the public schools, I have often questioned if the effort is not altogether vain. From my own experience in teaching children I derived the impression that the task demands of the trained artist almost superhuman powers. And of this I am sure I would rather receive into my classes in the art school a pupil who has never drawn a line than one who has learned to do the kind of thing I have seen at school exhibitions.

When leading artists thus express themselves, the need of cogent argument is apparent in bringing them to a true understanding of what is being aimed at, what done, in the schools. They stand aloof. Yet may we not fairly maintain that the time has come when every serious artist ought to consider himself called upon to help in the movement for popular art education, not to stand off, contemptuous of the efforts of others? Many whose names will readily occur to all of us have pressed forward to give of their time and thought to this work; but many more are ignorant, not only of its aims and accomplishments, but even of its existence. If they have heard anything of the art instruction in the public schools, they have heard simply that it is something far removed. from art. Many an artist, narrow in his range of interests, will wonder what it is all about, what the use is of teaching drawing to every mother's son. Is not this a profession that is always overcrowded with men who cannot earn their living? Why put ideas into children's heads?

Against so parochial a view we must needs set two strong demurrers. The aim in public-school work is not, as we so often say, to teach those merely who will become artists or artisans, but that much larger class that will thru life passively appreciate the active efforts of other men to produce noble art.

And this, too, must be contended that, where talent is discerned in a school child, and he is sent to the art school to become painter or sculptor or illustrator or designer, his accession is a gain to the artistic fraternity; and that every artist in the country ought to be thankful for the talent that has been uncovered. Each strong young man or woman who enters a profession contributes to the welfare of its members. He takes no bread from the mouth of any man. There is no permanent wage fund to be divided among artists. It is not true that there are too many artists. You and I know American cities as large as Athens in the days of Phidias that cannot boast a single strong artist. Plenty of room there is for many artists, but for artists who can help to create a demand for the thing they produce; who can demonstrate practically the economic value of their vocation.

The artists ought to learn the story, to all of us familiar, of the development of the movement, starting from its inception under English auspices, tracing the influences upon it of the kindergarten thought, then of the nature-study methods, and finally of the conception of art as an affair of transpositions from the world of flux and flow to the world of stable space relations. It should be known to them that the leaders of

this effort at general art education are abreast of the age and keeping in touch with the best that has been thought and drawn. Their influence is making for appreciation and comprehension on the part of the public of those large truths of form and pattern for which the artists contend, many a one with the conviction that he is a David pitted without allies against the most gigantic Philistinism the world has known. Nothing can more materially enhance the dignity and seriousness of the artist's calling than the work of education that is going on in the schools, and the artist is the especial beneficiary of all moneys expended upon the teaching of art. This the artist ought to see, and as he is getting most of all men in the community, so he may be expected to give most. Nowhere has the school work reached perfection. Everywhere is there room for expert advice. Let us hope that the present supercilious attitude of many clever artists toward education may be replaced by a thoro belief in its value and a spirit of willingness to co-operate in it without disdain.

Of

One more point in closing. The value that can be put into the work of art education is conditioned by the value to the community of the whole public-school system. As the esteem in which education is held is enhanced, so the opportunities of the art teacher are increased. this we may be sure if the ambitious plans of some of the educational leaders of today for a complete reorganization of society around the schoolhouse as a social center shall come eventually to achievement, art will be the gainer in manifold ways. With the schoolhouse as the social center of its neighborhood, flocked to by young people and adults for amusement and instruction, the way will lie open to arouse a broad appreciation of art. The walls of the school center will be made interesting with the best that is available. Not only reproductions of the great masterpieces shall we see there, but in many an instance the owner of an original work of art will prefer that it hang upon schoolhouse walls rather than in the seclusion of a private house or the semi-seclusion of a museum. Something of the spirit that animated the wealthy men of Greece may be predicted-a feeling that it is a disgrace to enjoy exclusively a work of art that was intended for humanity. This country, thru its boundless wealth, has already come into possession of some of the greatest treasures of the world, and more are to follow. If the schoolcommunity plan is realized, most of these will, thru force of public opinion, be directly available for the adornment of the common schools.

With educational conditions rendered favorable; no ill-fed, illgroomed children in the schools; no public apathy; no sleek indifference to the welfare of the schools; but rather a live interest, a civic pride, in the possibilities of education under such circumstances the work of art instruction will more abundantly justify itself by its results than it now can hope to do. Then it will be cherished as one of the fundamentals

of the whole round of instruction. Properly correlated, upon no merely ancillary basis, with the other work of the schools, and including all the handicrafts, it will be held in highest esteem by educators; and, being adequately correlated, on the other side, with the great industries outside the school, it will have the respect and constant solicitude of the leaders of the state.

In that day no one will be found to raise the cry of "fad."

RHYTHM AS AN ART PRINCIPLE

MISS HARRIETTE RICE, DIRECTOR OF DRAWING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PROVIDENCE, R. I.

In claiming for the domain of visual art a principle which has hitherto been reckoned to belong chiefly to music and poetry, it may be well to defend the claim with its definition as given in the Century Dictionary, or with as much of that definition as may be compassed within reasonable limits of time and space.

Rhythm is defined as "flow, and, by development from this sense, uniform movement, perceptible as such, and accordingly divisible into measures.”

Flow, uniform or measured movement, the movement that is perceptible to the ear in the regular repetition of sounds, is recognized by the eye in a regular repetition of shapes and forms, whether in simple spots, more complicated figures, or the stately architectural elements which we find in the beautiful temples of the Greeks.

Just as the primitive music shows a greater development of rhythm than of melody, so primitive ornament shows a great sense of the rhythm which comes thru regular repetition, tho it often lacks refinement and beauty of line.

The very limitations of primitive handicrafts aided the development of simple but rhythmic ornament which we may trace out for ourselves in weaving, basket-making, bead-work, and some of the finer needlework like the Mexican drawn linen, or the cross-stitch embroidery that is done by the Russian peasants.

Children have a natural fondness for rhythm. The drum is a favorite musical instrument with them. They like the repetition of sounds in the simple nursery rhymes like "Old Mother Hubbard," and they love to repeat these in a "sing-song" fashion, because in that way the rhythm is more marked, and they often sing their spelling lessons, to satisfy their love of rhythm, tho it may lack rhyme and reason. In the motion songs of the kindergarten the rhythm is emphasized by movement. Many children show an instinctive sense of rhythm in their arrangement of the material which is given them for occupation work at their desks, and it is

almost always apparent in their creative work with brush or pencil. Flowers growing in a row like a border or frieze are favorite arrangements with them, and their illustrative drawings of circus day parades show a spirit and movement like that which we see in that grand procession of the Parthenon frieze.

When movement is divided into more varied measures, there is an added element of beauty like that which makes dancing a more beautiful and pleasing movement than walking. So the regular gradations and variations of the size and shape of figures used in a design give added pleasure to the eye in its forward movement. If we analyze one of these more varied elements, we shall see that each has a rhythm of its own in its progress from small to large or from large to small.

Nature as well as art abounds in such examples of rhythm. The gradual diminution in size of a vine or a branch of leaves is rhythmic. Our knowledge of perspective, which teaches us to look for apparent variation in size caused by varying distances, should teach us also to see a beautiful rhythm of size in a flight of birds across the sky, a fishing fleet in the bay, skaters on a pond, or even in a row of telegraph poles or railroad sleepers.

The uninterrupted rhythm or flow of curves is exemplified in the famous " Hogarth's line of beauty." Curves which are beautiful in themselves may be so arranged as to have no uniformity of movement. It is only when we place them so that one emphasizes another, or continues it, that we produce rhythm, and apparently inharmonious elements may be rhythmically arranged.

Our landscape gardeners are giving us rhythm in the winding roads of our parks, and even in the curves of a railroad track we may find it. The smoke and steam rolling up from thousands of factory chimneys show rhythmic lines melting into each other as softly and as beautifully as do the clouds which cap the mountain peaks, or the gently waving fields of wheat on the western prairies. We find it in the branching of leaves and the setting of flowers as well as in every line of the body of man, bird, or beast. The most precious examples of the beauty of line which have been handed down to us by the Greeks are shown in their sculpture and ornament. Our painters of today are striving for that rhythmic line which is the great beauty of the work of the old masters. The rhythm of line in design has been brought out more beautifully in l'art nouveau, so called, than in any other recent phase of decorative design.

Rhythm depends not alone upon line and form, but upon tone and color as well. Gradation in size gives rhythm, and so also does gradation of tones and values. Considering values at first, independent of color, merely as light and dark, white would be the lightest and black the darkest. Midway between these two would be a gray in which white and

black are equally balanced. There is a certain relationship between these three, but the advance from one to the other is so rapid as to be abrupt. If we introduce intermediate tones of gray, so that the progression is more gradual, the rhythm is more pleasing and the eye follows easily the flow or movement from light to dark and from dark to light. The gradation of tone which runs from the heart of a rose to its outer petals is a beautiful rhythm of values. The softening effect of the atmosphere upon distant objects in the landscape makes for us continual rhythms, and so does the play of light and shade on the shining surface of silk or satin. The artist must continually study value as the effect of light and atmosphere, and his work is most pleasing when the values are most rhythmic.

The complete spectrum shows a most beautiful rhythmic flow of color. Any two unrelated colors, such as red and blue, may be brought into harmony by completing the movement from one to the other so as to give a rhythm of color. We need some of the intermediate steps or hues, which in this case would be the varying tones of purple and violet that we get in passing from red to blue. If we wish, we may produce the rhythm by moving from either one of these colors, away from the other instead of toward it, so carrying our blue into green, and leaving the red to contrast with it, or carrying the red back to orange, leaving the blue for contrast. Balance of color both as to quality and value must be a great factor in any color harmony, but of this nothing can be adequately said within the limits of this paper.

In emphasizing the universality of rhythm as one great principle of art, there has been no thought of disregarding others equally important.

Art is not an accident. It has its basic principles, and tho a knowledge of these will not make one a painter of pictures any more than a knowledge of rhetoric will make him a writer of books, neither the painter nor the writer could do worthy work in violation of the laws of his art.

And, as one better enjoys fine literature for his knowledge of what constitutes good writing, so he will better appreciate and enjoy nature and art because of his understanding of what beauty is and how it may be consistently expressed.

There could be no adequate literary culture which laid its whole emphasis upon the original expression of ideas with no regard to the form of expression. There can be no adequate art instruction which is concerned wholly with free and spontaneous self-expression, regardless of the principles which underlie beauty and consistency and harmony in the form of expression.

We have passed beyond the stage of making our drawing a mere record of facts and experiences, and have reached the point of using it as a means of teaching art principles and their application to all the creative work that is done in the schoolroom. It is knowledge of art that we covet for the children of the people, and our school instruction must