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 Contents vii

Games  177
A Final Thought  179
References  180

6 Beyond the Ordinary: Teaching and Learning with

Representational Instructional Resources   181
Educational Technology in the Classroom   184
Computers 185 ● Digital Peripherals 194 ● Learning
Centers 196 ● Review/Reinforcement Centers 196 ● Enrichment
Centers 198 ● Exploratory Centers 199 ● Learning Center
Organization 200
Pictures and Study Prints   202
Simulations  203
A Final Thought   206
References  207

7 Beyond the Ordinary: Teaching and Learning with Informational

and Persuasive Text   208
What Is Informational Text?   212
Social Studies Textbooks   213
Informational Books  214
Text Structures 214 ● Informational Books as Models for Informational
Writing 216
Biographies  221
Writing Biographies 224
Newspapers  225
A Classroom Newspaper 226 ● Reading and Writing Period (Historical)
Newspapers 229
Strategies for Reading Informational Text   231
Directed Reading 231 ● Close Reading 237
What Is Persuasive Text?   241
Fact and Opinion 241
A Final Thought   246
References  246

8 Beyond the Ordinary: Teaching and Learning with

Narrative Text  247
Personal Narratives  250
Letters 251 ● Journals and Diaries 252 ● Interviews 253 ● Personal
Stories 254 ● Writing-to-Learn Tasks 261
Historical Fiction  264
Storypath 265
Folktales  269
Fantasy 271
Poetry  274

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 viii Contents

A Final Thought   278

References  279

SECTION FOUR Lenses on Learning: Six Social Sciences   281

9 Young Historians: Learning to Unlock the Past   282

History in Focus   285
What Is History? 285 ● Why Is History Important? 286 ● What Should
Students Know or Be Able to Do? 287
Chronological Thinking  287
Chronology as a Natural Part of Life 288 ● Chronology and Children’s
Books 289 ● Chronology and Timelines 290
Historical Comprehension  292
Historical Narratives 292
Historical Analysis and Interpretation   293
Historical Research Capabilities   294
Historical Issues Analysis and Decision Making   296
An Integration of Knowledge and Ideas   298
A Final Thought   301
References  301

10 Geography: Exploring the People–Place Connection   302

Geography in Focus   304
Why Is Geography Important? 304 ● What Should Students Know or
Be Able to Do? 305
Essential Element 1: The World in Spatial Terms   308
What Is a Map? 308 ● The Building Blocks for Map
Reading 310 ● Teaching Map Skills through Explicit Guidance and
Modeling 311 ● Map Skills for the Upper Grades 315 ● Maps for the
Classroom 324
Essential Element 2: Places and Regions   328
Essential Element 3: Physical Systems   330
Essential Element 4: Human Systems   331
Essential Element 5: Environment and Society   332
Essential Element 6: The Uses of Geography   333
Asking Geographic Questions 333 ● Acquiring Geographic
Information 334 ● Organizing Geographic Information 334 ● Analyzing
Geographic Information 335 ● Answering Geographic Questions 336
A Final Thought   336
References  337

11 Civics: Young Citizens in Action   338

Civics in Focus   340
Why Is Civics Important? 341 ● What Should Students Know or Be Able to Do? 341

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 Contents ix

What Is Government and What Should It Do?   342

Building a Democratic Classroom Community 342
What Are the Basic Values and Principles of American Democracy?   349
Character Education 349
How Does the Government Established by the Constitution Embody the
Purposes, Values, and Principles of American Democracy?   356
What Is the Relationship of the United States to Other Nations and to World
Affairs?  361
What Are the Roles of the Citizen in American Democracy?   362
Citizenship Rights 362 ● Citizenship Responsibilities 364
A Final Thought   368
References  368

12 Economics: Thinking and Choosing Responsibly   369

Economics Literacy  371
What Should Students Know or Be Able to Do? 372
Six Core Economics Principles   374
Principle 1: People Choose 375 ● Principle 2: People’s Choices Involve
Costs 376 ● Principle 3: People Respond to Incentives in Predictable
Ways 377 ● Principle 4: People Create Economic Systems That Influence
Individual Choices and Incentives 378 ● Principle 5: People Gain When They
Trade Voluntarily 381 ● Principle 6: People’s Choices Have Consequences That
Lie in the Future 382
A Final Thought   385
References  385

13 Sociology and Anthropology: Social Structures and

Culture  386
What Is Anthropology?   389
Teaching Anthropology in the Elementary School   390
The Concrete Level of Cultures 390 ● The Behavioral Level of
Cultures 392 ● The Symbolic Level of Cultures 396
Multicultural Education  399
Cultural Diversity 399 ● Ethnicity 400 ● Culturally Responsive
Teaching 401
What Is Sociology?   408
Teaching Sociology in the Elementary School   409
Healthy Self-Esteem as a Prerequisite for Social Responsibility 410 ● Children
with Special Needs 412
A Final Thought   414
References  415
Author Index  416
Subject Index  418

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 Preface

As I worked on this eleventh edition of Dynamic Social Studies, I continuously asked myself,
“Why are you still doing this?” My question had nothing to do with a lack of enthusiasm for
the project; actually, I love writing. Although I will not write the next great novel, I truly enjoy
immersing myself in a textbook world. Textbook authors don’t simply select a topic to write
about and begin punching away at the keyboard, but they must discover ways to capture and
sustain a reader’s interest in topics that aren’t always self-motivating. So, the reason I asked,
“Why are you still doing this?” is because I wanted to find ways to grab your attention, arouse
your curiosity, and engage you in the content. My answer to the question is also based on a con-
viction that social studies is crucial for the development of informed, rational, and culturally
responsive citizens. I needed to best communicate to you the essential role that social studies
plays in bringing pride, responsibility, and meaning to your students’ lives as citizens of our
nation in the 21st century.
This is not a text steeped in research and theory, although research and theory are an
important part of it. Nor is it a “cookbook” text full of delicious classroom recipes, although
it does contain a wealth of teaching examples and suggested strategies. It does build bridges
between theory and practice with the hope that future teachers understand that no single
method of instruction, by itself, can help us achieve all the important goals of social studies
instruction. The text is designed to help you find ways to inspire children to want to learn the
things they need to know in order to understand and participate in the world around them.
To accomplish these goals you must be bold; you cannot be afraid to make mistakes. You must
constantly struggle to find the method that works best for your students by seeking out answers
to the most important question of all: “Why am I doing this?”

How Is the Text Organized?

The chapters in this edition are arranged into four sections. Section One provides an overview
of the purposes, problems, and possibilities of social studies in the elementary school curric-
ulum as well as guidance and direction in planning lessons and units—choosing objectives,
assessment procedures, and learning activities. Section Two addresses a key feature of effective
teaching—the selection of instructional resources that meet the needs and interests of students
as well as satisfy social studies content standards. Section Three describes teaching practices
that are supported by constructivist learning theory. The constructivist view of learning can be
translated into a number of active teaching practices, running the gamut from teacher-guided
instruction to inquiry and problem solving. Section Four focuses on the six core disciplines
and their respective content, tools, and investigative processes, from which students will draw
as they attempt to uncover and discover significant curricular content about human beings
and the ways in which they function: history, geography, civics, economics, anthropology, and
sociology.

xi

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 xii Preface

New to This Edition

This eleventh edition maintains the focus of previous editions, but it has been thoroughly
revised and updated.
●● In response to the prevailing standards scene and other trends in the field, four new chap-
ters are now included in Section Three:
CHAPTER 5 Beyond the Ordinary: Teaching and Learning with Concrete Instructional
Resources
CHAPTER 6 Beyond the Ordinary: Teaching and Learning with Representational Instruc-
tional Resources
CHAPTER 7 Beyond the Ordinary: Teaching and Learning with Informational and Per-
suasive Text
CHAPTER 8 Beyond the Ordinary: Teaching and Learning with Narrative Text

●● Several new classroom scenarios have been introduced at chapter openings. The scenarios,
each having taken place in actual elementary school classrooms, work as advance orga-
nizers that place the content into a meaningful context. In addition, a number of fresh
scenarios have been inserted throughout the chapters to help you understand and visual-
ize how teachers have actually used suggested teaching strategies in their classrooms.
●● Numerous new photographs, illustrations, and figures help to illuminate and reinforce
the information presented.
●● Several important topics have been added, expanded, and updated: diversity and differen-
tiated instruction as an underlying premise of instruction; the College, Career, and Civic
Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards; the Common Core State Standards;
creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources; inquiry
strategies based on the C3 Inquiry Arc; a useful framework that strengthens the teaching
of the core social studies disciplines; acquiring knowledge through reading complex con-
tent area fiction and nonfiction text; guided reading and close reading strategies, as well
as suggestions for integrating good children’s literature into the social studies program;
and expanded discussion of the literacy strategies and skills that help students acquire
information and communicate their learning.
●● Distributed at strategic points throughout each chapter are open-ended, Reflection on
Learning questions that have no clear-cut answers, but require reflection through which
you extract personal meaning. Sometimes, reflection will be as simple as thinking about
what you’ve learned and associating it to past experiences. At other times, reflection may
become a part of class discussion. Either way, the purpose of reflection is to help personal-
ize the learning experience.
●● The eleventh edition is powered by Pearson’s new eText technology, which creates a pow-
erful and personal online learning experience. The e-book version is interactive, contain-
ing study and review questions, appropriate videos, and questions requiring personal
reflection. These features enhance the overall technology movement that is the future of
our schools and our society.
●● Finally, references have been updated throughout the text. The latest ideas from the social
studies profession have been included, and appropriate citations have been made.

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 Preface xiii

eText Features
The eText version of the eleventh edition provides instant access on smartphones, tablets, and
laptops. The eText allows you to highlight text, take and share notes, search keywords, and print
pages. The eText brings you the following features:
●● Check Your Understanding: As you read the material, you can use embedded quizzes called
“Check Your Understanding” to enhance your grasp of the content. Feedback will be pro-
vided to ensure comprehension after you complete each multiple choice question.
●● Video Exploration: Interactive videos help create interactive lessons. You are invited to
answer video quizzes (called Video Explorations) as you watch the selected video clip. Feed-
back is provided after you answer each question.
●● Video Example: Additional videos provide examples of concepts discussed in the text.

Supplements

Instructor’s Manual
For each chapter, the Instructor’s Manual contains Key Questions, a Chapter Outline, and
eText information. It also includes a combination of Print Resources (books, journals, and cur-
rent event publications), Electronic Resources (websites), Video Resources, and Organizations.
There is also a list of the chapter’s vocabulary terms and their definitions.

Test Bank
The Test Bank contains multiple choice questions, essay, and true or false questions, as well as
the answer keys for each chapter.

PowerPoint
The PowerPoint slides first explain how the book will help you create a dynamic social studies
classroom through its features, such as NCSS standards integration, text sets, and classroom
activities. Each chapter is then outlined by topics and terms, which you can read to follow
along with the book.

Acknowledgments
This eleventh edition would not have been possible without the encouragement and support
of my family. Enormous appreciation is extended to my wife Libby, whose selfless help was
given freely and affectionately, and accepted with deep appreciation; my son Mike, head of
infrastructure at a major New York City corporation, who has spread his wings and worked hard
to make his dreams come true; and my son Jeff, a computer programmer in New York City who
boldly exercised courage and integrity to live his dream. They may not be aware of how much
they helped, but I thank them for being my strength.

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 xiv Preface

I am also indebted to my parents, Rose and Stanley Maxim. Their honorable work ethic
instilled in me the value of determination in tackling a job as overwhelming as writing a book.
Their love of parenthood was a valuable inspiration for me throughout my life and my career.
I am grateful for the opportunity to work with a highly talented, supportive, and friendly
team of editors at Pearson. First, I would like to thank Meredith Fossel, Executive Editor, Teacher
Education, for her vision, extraordinary insights, and personable leadership as she guided this
revision. I deeply appreciate Meredith’s confidence in me and her support of my work through-
out this project. I also consider myself lucky to have had an opportunity to work with Bryce
Bell as our Developmental Editor. Bryce was a superb “coach” who provided the best possible
conditions for our team to maximize its performance. Hoorah, Bryce! A note of appreciation is
also extended to Karen Mason and Tania Zamora, Rights and Permissions specialists, who man-
aged all matters related to the time-consuming process of reviewing photos, text quotes, and
other outside materials contained in the manuscript. And, Jesika Bethea, Product Marketing,
applied her sound judgment to create a strong marketing strategy for this edition. I think the
world of the cover of this edition, a wonderful choice provided by Miryam Chandler, Content
Producer. As I express my gratitude to those at Pearson, I must never forget the kindness and
patience of Maria Feliberty, Editorial Assistant. You are special, Maria! Finally, I want to send
out a big word of thanks to Jason Hammond, Project Manager at SPi Global, who respectfully
and affably employed his creativity and craftmanship to organize and monitor the production
responsibilities of this project. Doumo arigatou gozaimasu, Jason! Working with Jason at SPi
Global, copy editor Susan McIntyre of Essential Edits expertly took hold of my original copy,
organized it, cleaned it up, and prepared it for production. This entire team was not only com-
petent and professional, but friendly as well; I owe much to them.
I thank the following reviewers for their helpful suggestions and insights: Judy Britt,
­Winthrop University; Katherine Condon, Framingham State University; and Amy Saks Pavese,
St. Michael’s College.
Finally, seven people deserve special thanks for their support and encouragement
throughout this project: Dan “Yogdah” Darigan for helping me more fully understand and
appreciate the potential of integrating literacy and social studies, as well as for his refreshing
inspiration and professional support during our weekly faculty meetings; John “Pogo” Ogborn
for his appreciation of and interest in my professional achievements; Ellen and Bernard Tenen-
baum and Jane and George Barker for connecting our families through accepting our sons as
their daughters’ lifemates; and my unnamed junior high school social studies teacher who once
motivated me in a way she’ll never know with her derisive castigation, “You’re never going to
amount to anything, Maxim!”

A01_MAXI6716_11_SE_FM.indd 14 10/14/16 2:19 PM

 S E C T IO N O N E

Foundational Principles
Learn what it is like to be a social studies teacher in an elementary school. Begin your path to successful
teaching by acquiring a deep understanding of social studies as a school subject and learning how to
draw on its central concepts and structures to plan classroom instruction for elementary school ­children.
Discover the importance of integrating content and processes from various disciplines as you plan
assessment-based, engaging, and effective social studies lessons. Ask yourself, what do I know about
social studies and what do I need to learn in order to teach it well?

wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock

M01A_MAXI6716_11_SE_P01.indd 1 10/14/16 2:14 PM

 Chapter 1
Social Studies:
The Subject You Will Teach

Learning Outcomes
Have you ever stopped to think what makes some social studies teachers more successful than
others? There is no simple answer, of course, but one characteristic that separates successful
social studies teachers from the rest of the pack is that they are students of their profession. That
is, they know and understand the nature of the subject they are teaching—its fundamental
concepts, structure, and learning processes. Therefore, after completing this chapter, you will
be able to:
●● Appraise how your past elementary school recollections enhance and shape your future
as a social studies teacher.
●● Describe the nature of social studies as an elementary school subject.
●● Explain how past approaches to teaching social studies have evolved into contemporary
instructional practices.
●● Identify the general strategies that exemplify best practices in contemporary social
studies classrooms.
●● Explain how democratic ideals are infused into daily classroom life.

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 Classroom Snapshot
Dorothy Holzwarth’s fourth graders in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, were about to wind up a thematic unit on
their state when Naisha brought in a newspaper story about Maryland having recently adopted the monarch
butterfly as its state insect. “Does Pennsylvania have a state insect, too?” inquired several interested youngsters.
That was all it took to launch Mrs. Holzwarth’s class into one of the most enjoyable social studies learning
adventures it had ever tackled.
The students got the ball rolling by looking up information from various sources; they found a state
flower, a state song, a state tree, a state nickname, and various other official state symbols but no official
“state bug.” The children wanted to write to the president of the United States to see if they could have one,
but Mrs. Holzwarth explained that since this was a state matter, they should direct their query to their district
legislators in Harrisburg, the state capital.
Before they did so, however, the class decided to conduct a regular democratic election to determine
what insect would be the most fitting state symbol. Several insects were nominated, and each nominee
became the subject of careful study. The students explored the pros and cons of an assortment of bugs, such
as the praying mantis, dragonfly, ladybug, and grasshopper. After weighing the advantages and disadvan-
tages of each, a class vote settled the matter: the firefly was their selection. Why? One reason was that the
scientific name, Photuris pennsylvanica, closely resembled the name of their state. Students also liked the fact
that these insects dotted their backyards on summer evenings and they spent many a summer night running
around in pursuit of these elusive “lightning bugs.”
After the vote, the students wrote a letter to their state representatives, asking how they might make
their actions official. The lawmakers were extremely impressed with the children’s civic energy and arranged to
visit Mrs. Holzwarth’s classroom to answer the children’s questions and personally thank them for their interest
in state issues. The awestruck youngsters listened intently as the legislators discussed the process of introduc-
ing a law in the state legislature and advised the students how to proceed with their project. Their next step
would be to persuade other legislators to support their cause. Undaunted, these 26 children wrote more than
250 ­letters—203 to the House, 50 to the Senate, and 2 to the governor and his wife. The children also learned
that they needed popular support from voters in their area, so they canvassed their neighborhoods and shop-
ping malls until they obtained more than 2,100 signatures.
The students printed more than 600 bumper stickers proclaiming “Firefly for State Insect.” They also kept
up their letter writing campaign, asking legislators to vote YES when the bill came onto the floor. The children
were invited to Harrisburg for the House Government Committee hearings on their bill.
When they arrived in Harrisburg, they were met head-on by television crews and reporters. The hearing
was held according to established decorum, with the children testifying about fireflies for about 2 hours. The
committee reported its unanimous support of the bill to the House of Representatives, and eventually the bill
passed the House by a vote of 156 to 22. The Senate passed the bill by an overwhelming vote of 37 to 11.
When the governor finally signed the bill (Act 59), the children were again in Harrisburg to watch the institu-
tion of a new state law. Photuris pennsylvanica officially took its place alongside the whitetail deer, ruffed
grouse, and Great Dane as official state animals.
For Mrs. Holzwarth’s class, this was much more than an exercise in choosing a state insect. It was an
authentic, purposeful learning experience in which the children took direct political action and participated
in legislative processes. They learned about petitioning and writing letters to their representatives, and they
saw firsthand how government works. One child noted, “Now we have something to tell our grandchildren.”
Another, when asked if she would like to get another law passed, blurted, “Darn right! I’d like a law against
homework. Homework gives you pimples!”

M01B_MAXI6716_11_SE_C01.indd 3 10/17/16 2:48 PM

 Successful social studies teachers like Mrs. Holzwarth enjoy their work and value the lives they
touch. There are no secret recipes or mystical formulas to duplicate the Mrs. Holzwarths of our
profession; each is one of a kind. As much as possible, they try to make social studies an inspiring,
productive, and memorable experience for their students. They eagerly combine time-tested,
traditional “best practices” with novel, groundbreaking approaches in an effort to encourage
deep understandings, enhance curiosity, and provoke critical thinking. They value their role in
the lives of children and realize that teachers—not books, not technology, not lesson plans, not
buildings, and not even class size—are what really matter. They know and love our nation and
hold bright hopes for its future. Their sense of democratic values influences everything they do
in their social studies classrooms. Successful teachers know that young children are our future,
and the way they live and learn today becomes the way they will live and learn tomorrow. They
expertly handle with keen insight and skill all the subtle professional responsibilities that con-
tribute to a quality social studies program, and their instructional choices are based on a maze
of complicated decisions.
Few individuals are more meaningful in the lives of elementary school children than their
parents, close relatives, and teachers. For that reason, elementary school social studies teachers
should be among the finest people we know. But being a fine person does not in itself guarantee
success. Successful teachers must also possess a set of professional skills founded on sound theo-
retical and research-based principles. They welcome the challenge of creating superb social studies
classrooms and boldly demonstrate that they would rather be challenged than safe and bored.
They work hard to acquire a “can-do spirit” early in their careers, for succeeding in complex situa-
tions is as much about attitude and self-confidence as it is about knowledge and skill.
As you strive for success, think of yourself much as an artist preparing to create an oil
painting. Certainly, all artists must follow certain basics, acquire specialized painting skills, and
practice a lot. But a common element among the artists who stand out seems to be that they
have found a distinctive technique that transports their works beyond the ordinary. They are
the ones who explore and experiment until they come up with a matchless style that expresses
their inner feelings and touches the lives of others. Much like standout artists, successful social
studies teachers are the product of a unique vision; they have a special something that makes
students pause, look closer, and want to take part in the excitement of their classrooms. So
work hard, dream a lot, and muster the grit to establish a point of view. However, you cannot,
and should not, take risks unless your fundamentals are solid. Successful social studies teachers
never take risks blindly; their decisions are based on a strong professional foundation. Build
that foundation in social studies education and take your risks there, for it is the one area of the
elementary school curriculum that most openly invites the ideas and dreams of adventurous
and creative young teachers.

Reflection on Learning
You may simply scribble rough notes or jot down something more polished and complete. The point is
to simply start recording your ideas spontaneously and candidly.
I’ve seen some pre-service teachers work for hours on a lesson plan only to fail miserably,
and I’ve seen others glance over their material for 5 minutes before walking into a classroom
and carry out a creative, spontaneous, and highly productive lesson. It makes you think . . . in
the end, what makes a great teacher? What qualities would you expect a successful social studies
teacher to demonstrate? Which do you currently possess? Which do you lack? Which are you in
the process of developing?

M01B_MAXI6716_11_SE_C01.indd 4 10/17/16 2:48 PM

 Chapter 1 ● Social Studies: The Subject You Will Teach 5

Memories of Elementary School Social Studies

Our quest to understand how to teach social studies must reach into the past; analyzing threads
of the past gives us the insight to examine current conditions. Whether we minimize their
importance or cling to them throughout our professional lives, there is little doubt that our
past elementary school experiences have shaped us as people and will cause us to behave in
certain ways as teachers. All of us tend to attach ourselves to exemplary role models we hope to
take after or to classroom conditions we hope to replicate. And, undoubtedly, there have been
teachers we have vowed not to model ourselves after and scenarios we have promised to avoid.
So go back to your elementary school days and take a close look. What do you remember about
social studies from your elementary school days? Who was the best elementary school social
studies teacher you ever had? Now, try to picture the worst elementary school social studies
teacher you ever had. What memories do you have of those teachers? Can you single out any
of these noteworthy individuals as having contributed to the person you are today? Jot down a
list of three or four strong feelings or clear events (good and bad) that first pop into your mind
and share your list with your classmates.
I enjoy doing this activity on the first day of a semester with my students. I find it
­instructive both for them and for me. Although I hesitate to describe this category first, the
“dislike” category usually includes memories such as reading assigned pages from a textbook
and answering questions at the end of the section (while the teacher corrected weekly spelling
tests at his or her desk), listening to a teacher lecture about latitude and longitude (without
the benefit of a map or a globe), memorizing facts about the early explorers of North America
(where they came from, when they left their homeland, the date they arrived here, and where
they explored), and copying facts word for word from a teacher’s endless parade of ­PowerPoint
slides (with an oversupply of information on slide after slide of small text). After discuss-
ing the “disliked” experiences, I ask students to suggest word labels that best sum up those
types of educational experiences. “Boring,” “lifeless,” “dull,” “mind-numbing,” “a waste,”
and “­humdrum” are some of the expressions I remember. The power of an ineffective teacher
is something almost all of us have experienced on a personal level and, although they are a
­significant minority, it is a frustrating reality that there are ineffective teachers in some social
studies classrooms.
Unfortunately, when they have such negative recollections of their past encounters with
social studies, pre-service teachers tend to underestimate the hard work that goes into success-
ful classroom instruction: “Is that all there is to it? Why, anybody can teach social studies to
elementary school kids! Who can’t tell them to take out their textbooks, read a few pages, and
answer the questions at the end of the section? Why does anyone need to take a college meth-
ods course to learn to do something so simple?” When facing such satirical feedback from my
students, I find that the best way to cope is to admit its legitimacy. It’s true . . . anybody can tell
children to take out their textbooks to read a few pages. And, yes, anybody can ask them the
questions printed at the end of a reading selection. While these accusations are reasonable,
they are missing the whole point of teaching in today’s elementary school social studies class-
room. Social studies is not meant to be taught that way.
In contrast to the “dislike” category, the “like” category usually includes memories such
as “Writing our own classroom constitution and holding elections,” “Making web-based travel
brochures to interest students from other states to visit our state,” “Once we had firefighters,
who assisted in recovery efforts, to speak about their impressions and experiences at Ground
Zero,” “Role-playing a historical figure for a pageant of great people who lived during the Civil
War,” “Drawing hieroglyphics that represented our names,” “Cooking venison stew as we read
the book Sign of the Beaver,” “Hearing a Peace Corps volunteer talk about his experiences in
Sierra Leone,” and “Taking food and clothing to a homeless shelter.” Several students gave

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 6 Chapter 1 ● Social Studies: The Subject You Will Teach

detailed explanations of favorite social studies teachers. One particularly striking remembrance
was a story of Mrs. Dunbar:

I had a fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Dunbar, who made social studies one of my favorite subjects. We
always looked forward to social studies class because Mrs. Dunbar always had something special
for us to do. Once, we were studying prehistoric life. Although health and safety regulations would
probably not allow teachers to do this today, Mrs. Dunbar asked us to strip everything off and bring
in bones left over from our dinners at home. You could probably guess that the next day we had a
pile of all kinds of bones—fish, chicken, beef. . . . Our first job was to scrub them thoroughly with
soap and water. Then we boiled them in vinegar water, soaked them in a bleach and water solution
to make them white, dried them off, and put them in a large box called ‘The Boneyard.’ We were
organized into groups and Mrs. Dunbar encouraged us to select any of the bones we wanted and glue
or wire them together in the general shape of the dinosaurs we were studying. We gave our dinosaurs
their scientific names and displayed an information card next to the models. Mrs. Dunbar called us
paleontologists. I still remember the word because it was a real thrill to have such an impressive title
at the time. She was such a talented teacher. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Dunbar is the reason I wanted
to become a teacher.

As the student related this story, I could not help but think how we all need a story of special
teachers such as Mrs. Dunbar to remind us of the kinds of creative and inspirational behaviors
that make individuals stand out from the crowd.
When asked to suggest words that best summed up these favorable kinds of experi-
ences, students unfailingly come up with expressions such as “fun,” “exciting,” “interesting,”
“­worthwhile,” “rewarding,” “active,” and “creative.” I bring closure to the activity by asking the
students to think about these questions: “Which set of words would you want students to use
when they describe you and your social studies program?” and “What will you need to know or
be able to do for that to happen?”
The resulting discussion usually raises questions about the professional know-how
required to carry out social studies programs that are fun, exciting, interesting, lively, reward-
ing, and active and, at the same time, instructive. A small number of students worry that using
“fun-type” activities might create serious classroom management problems: “I’d like my social
studies class to be fun and exciting, but I’m worried that the children, and I, will lose control.”
“Won’t children think of the ‘fun’ activities as ‘playtime’ and just fool around in class, not
learning anything?” Their concerns suggest a perception that “fun-type” activities are frivo-
lous, lack challenge, or, at best, serve as convenient rewards for accomplishing the more serious
stuff of classroom life.
Most of my students, however, tend to feel that being strictly serious about content
can do just the opposite—result in a dull and boring social studies program. They fear that
­“serious-type” social studies programs can become trivial and tedious for both the teacher and
the children. “It’s a mistake to think of fun learning as wasted learning effort,” they counter.
“Fun does not mean easy; as teachers, we certainly need to encourage hard work. But self-
motivated discovery and play are the most natural ways children learn. Children like to solve
problems; they like to think. The problem is that educators often get in the way of this natural
process by teaching a meaningless curriculum in an industrial factory setting.”
As the class discussion draws to a close, my students typically ask these questions:
“How can I make social studies fun and still maintain control over what the children do and
­understand?” “How can I get across the important social studies content without being run-
of-the-mill or ordinary?” “How can I teach content without communicating to the children
that we think they’re unskilled or ignorant?” “Is it possible to blend both styles to achieve the
greatest results?” One of the most significant challenges future social studies teachers face is, on
the one hand, ensuring that children acquire the knowledge, skills, and values that help ­prepare
them for constructive participation in a democratic society, and on the other hand, organizing
and conducting lessons that offer a blend of pleasure, intrigue, variety, active involvement, and
excitement.

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 Chapter 1 ● Social Studies: The Subject You Will Teach 7

Students benefit from fun, active social studies lessons designed with their unique
needs and interests in mind.

Pressmaster/Shutterstock
As far back as 1933, John Dewey addressed this dilemma and offered some sage advice
that remains relevant today. In speaking to the serious–fun dilemma of social studies instruc-
tion, Dewey (1933) wrote that if either is used exclusively, we end up with a double-edge sword:
“Play degenerates into fooling [around] and work into drudgery” (p. 286). Instead of planning
instruction at either end of the play–work continuum, Dewey suggested a delicate balance
between seriousness and fun. That is, our social studies classrooms must be places where stu-
dents play with ideas, think deeply about content, make connections to their lives, and become
energized as active, eager learners. The key to successful teaching is creating a lively, playful,
experiential curriculum that informs students about things that matter. If your curriculum is
meaningful and fun for your students, it will be meaningful and fun for you, too.
The rest of this chapter will consider some of the defining attributes of social studies as
a school subject and how to help make social studies a meaningful and vibrant experience for
your students. They are not meant to be all inclusive, but the defining attributes have been
organized as four dimensions of content: (1) knowing about the nature of social studies as a
school subject; (2) understanding the origin, erosion, and rebirth of social studies as a school subject;
(3) developing instructional practices that promote and support learning; and (4) creating a democratic
classroom community that serves an array of diverse students.

Check Your Understanding 1.1 Click here to check your understanding of this
section of the chapter.

Attribute 1: Social Studies as a School Subject

As an elementary school teacher, you will be responsible for teaching a variety of subjects
including math, language arts, reading, science, and social studies (and sometimes art, music,
or physical education). And teaching those subjects well to a classroom full of 5- to 12-year-olds
demands hard work, dedication, skill, and loads of knowledge. That is why you will be tak-
ing a number of methods courses that focus on specific subject areas. Those courses will vary

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 8 Chapter 1 ● Social Studies: The Subject You Will Teach

in content and methodology, but social studies is part of your course lineup because it is the
only class that offers specialized techniques explicitly intended to help children become active,
responsible citizens in a diverse democratic society.
Being able to share with you a definition of social studies having general consensus is quite
significant for those of us who have been in the field for a while, as it took over 75 years of con-
troversy, disagreement, and debate before this deceptively uncomplicated task was completed
by the professional community. Many find it incomprehensible that the field labored from
1916 to 1993 to ultimately agree on the nature of this school subject! (You will read more about
this later in this chapter.) However, when you think about a subject responsible for achieving
a goal as extensive as “educating good citizens,” such a significant responsibility is bound to
raise disputes among experts holding strong opinions about sensitive educational issues. That
is why coming to an agreement on its definition can be arguably much more contentious than
defining school subjects such as math or reading. With that in mind, the confirmed National
Council for the Social Studies definition (NCSS, 1993) is a good place to start your investigation
into the nature of social studies as an elementary school subject:

Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic
­competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study
drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law,
philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from
the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. The primary purpose of social studies is to help
young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as
­citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. (p. 3)

Clearly, the definition highlights two main characteristics that distinguish social s­ tudies
from other subjects you will teach. That is, social studies (1) is integrative—by its nature,
social studies incorporates content and processes from many disciplines—and (2) is the main
school subject that assumes the major goals of preparing students with the knowledge, skills,
and ­attitudes required for civic competence. Although civic competence is not the exclusive
­responsibility of social studies, it is more fundamental to social studies than to any other s­ ubject
in the elementary school curriculum.

Integrative Social Studies

What is an integrated social studies curriculum? Basically, it is a way of connecting separate
school subjects with social studies to focus upon unifying concepts or skills. This unity can be
commonly brought about in either, or both, of two major ways: intradisciplinary integration
and interdisciplinary integration. Intradisciplinary integration happens when the knowledge and
skills of the disciplines that make up one school subject are fused together for instruction. For
example, reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visually representing have been
merged into the elementary school subject we call “language arts.” Disciplines such as biology,
chemistry, astronomy, zoology, meteorology, botany, and geology have been combined as the
elementary school subject known as “science.” Similarly, history, geography, civics, economics,
sociology, and anthropology have been joined into a subject we know well as “social studies.”
The process of interdisciplinary integration, on the other hand, combines the various school
subjects for the purpose of examining a central theme, issue, problem, topic, or experience. To
help your students better understand a complex issue such as global warming, for example, you
may plan learning experiences that include content, skills, and processes from science, tech-
nology, language arts, art, and social studies.

Social Studies as an Intradisciplinary School Subject

To help you understand the connections among the different sub-disciplines of social studies,
it is essential to look into two seemingly similar terms that people often confuse: social science
and social studies. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, they are quite different.

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 Chapter 1 ● Social Studies: The Subject You Will Teach 9

Let us first examine the term social science. The word social indicates that we are dealing with peo-
ple living together in organized groups, or societies. The word science is derived from the Latin
word Scientia; it means “knowledge.” So, if we combine the separate words social and ­science,
we can define a social science as any of several disciplines that examine how people i­ nteract and
develop as social beings. If you’re interested in learning about the exercise of authority in India,
for example, you would want to consider a social science that explains governing systems. If
you want to know where the finest coffee growing regions of the world are located, it would be
wise to look into a social science that describes places on Earth and how those places i­ nfluence
human activity. Social sciences cover a variety of disciplines; each has its own investigative
methodology and specialized field of knowledge.
Six major social sciences contribute to most elementary school social studies programs:
geography, history, political science, anthropology, sociology, and economics. Each discipline
is distinctive, but specialists from one discipline often find that their research overlaps with
work being done in another. Social studies is an umbrella label for the curricular area that brings
together the subarea social sciences into a single coordinated, systematic school subject area
called social studies (see Figure 1.1).

Geography “What is the Ring of Fire?” “Why does New York City have so much traffic?”
and “How does global warming affect ocean life?” are but three of the countless questions
­geographers ask about places on Earth and their relationship to the people who live there.
Geographers study people and places by investigating Earth’s physical dimensions (such as
mountains, deserts, rivers, and oceans) and its human dimensions (the impact of Earth’s physi-
cal features on people and vice versa).

History Historians systematically investigate, analyze, and interpret the past by asking ques-
tions such as “What happened?” “Why did it happen?” and “What can we learn from what has

F ig u r e 1 . 1 The Social Sciences

ECONOMICS
HISTORY Studies the production,
Studies distribution, and
the past consumption of
goods and services

GEOGRAPHY
Studies the ways SOCIOLOGY
Earth’s physical Studies society
characteristics and patterns of
affect people and social relationships
how people affect
Earth

CIVICS ANTHROPOLOGY
Studies citizenship Studies all facets
and government of society and
culture

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 10 Chapter 1 ● Social Studies: The Subject You Will Teach

happened?” Historians use various tools to help them answer their questions. Some of these
tools are called primary sources—something written or created by people who were present
during a historical event. Letters, diaries, speeches, interviews, or photographs are examples
of primary sources. Artifacts such as government documents, weapons, tools, or toys are also
considered primary sources. Historical evidence, such as books or paintings, produced after
a historical event by someone not actually present at the event, is called a secondary source. In
general, primary or secondary historical evidence can be separated into three groups: what has
been written, what has been said, and what has been physically preserved.

Civics Civics is the study of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, including the ways
governments and political systems operate—how people get power, what their duties are, and
how they carry out their duties. Civic education in our nation’s democratic society focuses on
understanding the ideals of democracy and a reasoned commitment to its values: “What are
the purposes and function of governments?” “How is power justified, created, exercised, and
challenged?” “What are the rights and duties of citizenship?”

Anthropology Anthropologists study people and their physical, social, and cultural devel-
opment. They examine the total pattern of human behavior and its products particular to
a s­pecial group (language, tools, beliefs, social forms, art, law, customs, traditions, religion,
­superstitions, morals, occupations, and so on). Anthropologists usually concentrate in one of four
­specialties—­archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, or biological–physical
­anthropology. Archaeology is the scientific study of earlier civilizations carried out by recovering
and e­ xamining m
­ aterial evidence of the past, such as skeletal remains, fossils, ruins, implements,
tools, ­monuments, and other items from past human cultures, to determine their history, customs,
and living habits. Cultural anthropology is the study of customs, cultures, and social lives in settings
that vary from nonindustrialized societies to modern urban centers. Linguistic anthropology exam-
ines the role of language in various cultures. Biological–physical anthropology studies the evolution
of the human body and analyzes how culture and biology influence one another. Because of this
immense scope of study, anthropology has often been described as a universal discipline. Anthro-
pologists ask basic questions such as “When, where, and how did humans evolve?” “How have
societies developed and changed from the ancient past to the present?” “How do people obtain
food, prepare it, and share it?” “How do people in various cultures dress or communicate?” “How
do its rituals and ceremonies define this group of human beings?”

Sociology Sociologists study society and social behavior by examining the groups and social
institutions people form, such as families, governments, religions, businesses, or schools. They
also study the behaviors and interactions of groups, analyzing the influence of group activities
on individual members. Sociologists investigate the values and norms of groups to discover
why group members behave as they do. They study how groups form, how they operate, and
how they change. Sociologists organize their study of groups around many questions such as
“What kinds of groups of people form in any given society?” “What are the expectations of
group members?” “What problems do group members face?” and “How do groups exert c­ ontrol
over their members?”

Economics Economists study the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and
services by asking questions such as “What goods and services best meet market needs?” “How
should those goods and services be produced?” “Who is willing and able to get the goods and
services?” From youngsters who save their allowance for a special toy, to college students who
must scrape together enough money for tuition, to newlyweds who apply for a mortgage as they
buy their first home, all people face situations in which they attempt to satisfy unlimited wants
with limited resources. It is from this idea, the scarcity concept, that economics emerges. Because
of scarcity, humans have attempted to find ways to produce more in less time with less material,
thus developing specialization of labor. Specialization led to the idea of interdependence, a reli-
ance of people on one another that necessitates monetary, transportation, and communication

M01B_MAXI6716_11_SE_C01.indd 10 10/17/16 2:49 PM

Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
the last one of the most energetic members of the committee, and
in such important work his architectural knowledge was of course of
the greatest value. At a time when, owing to the action of a
multitude of causes, the historic buildings of the past are in constant
danger, not only from the ravages of time, weather, and neglect, but
also, and even to a greater extent, from the zeal of the "restorer,"
the importance of the work which Morris did with his society—the
work which that society carries on—can hardly be overestimated.

The pressure of commercial competition and the struggle for life in

our cities—the mere necessity for more room for traffic—the dead
weight of vested interest, the market value of a site, the claims of
convenience, fashion, ecclesiastical or otherwise, or sometimes sheer
utilitarianism, entirely oblivious of the social value of historic
associations of architectural beauty—all are apt to be arrayed at one
time or another, or even, perhaps, all combined, against the
preservation of an ancient building if it happens to stand in their
way.

The variety, too, of the cases in which the difference of the artistic
conditions which govern the art and craft of building in the past and
in the present is another element which often prevents the
defenders and destroyers from meeting on the same plane. It is the
old tragic conflict between old and new, but enormously
complicated, and with the forces of destruction and innovation
tremendously increased.

William Morris was a singularly sane and what is called a "level-

headed" man. He had the vehemence, on occasion, of a strong
nature and powerful physique. He cared greatly for his convictions.
Art and life were real to him, and his love of beauty was a passion.
His artistic and poetic vision was clear and intense—all the more so,
perhaps, for being exclusive on some points. The directness of his
nature, as of his speech, might have seemed singularly unmodern to
some who prefer to wrap their meaning with many envelopes. He
might occasionally have seemed brusque, and even rough; but so
does the north wind when it encounters obstacles. Men are judged
by the touchstones of personal sympathy or antipathy; but whether
attracted or repelled in such a presence, no one could come away
without an impression that he had met a man of strong character
and personal force, whether he realized any individual preconception
of the poet, the artist, and the craftsman, or not.

He was certainly all these, yet those who only knew him through his
works would have but a partial and incomplete idea of his many-
sided nature, his practicality, personal force, sense of humour,3 and
all those side-lights which personal acquaintance throws upon the
character of a man like William Morris.

1: At the same time, it must be remembered, his knowledge of

mediaeval life, the craft guilds, and the condition of the labourer in
England in the fifteenth century, helped him in his economic studies
and his Socialist propaganda.

2: Here Morris lived when in London and his press was set up close
by at Sussex House, opposite to which is the Doves Bindery of Mr.
Cobden-Sanderson. Much of Morris's time was spent at Kelmscott,
near Lechlade, Gloucestershire, a delightful old manor house close to
the Thames stream. This house was formerly held by D. G. Rossetti
conjointly with Morris. At Hammersmith the room outside the house,
after the carpet looms went to Merton, was used as the meeting
room of the Hammersmith Socialist Society.

3: It is noteworthy that one who excluded humour from his own

work, whether literary, or artistic, had a keen appreciation of it in the
work of others. Few who only knew Morris through his poems,
romances, and designs would imagine that among his most favourite
books were "Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain, and "Uncle Remus." I
have often heard him recall passages of the first-named book with
immense enjoyment of the fun. He was, besides, always an admirer
of Dickens.
THE ENGLISH REVIVAL IN DECORATIVE ART
 THE ENGLISH REVIVAL IN
DECORATIVE ART

T HE sense of beauty, like the enchanted princess in the wood,

seems liable, both in communities and individuals, to periods of
hypnotism. These periods of slumber or suspended animation, are
not, however, free from distorted dreams, having a certain tyrannical
compulsion which causes those under their influence blindly to
accept arbitrary ideas and cast-iron customs as if they were parts of
the irreversible order of nature—until the hour of the awakening
comes and the household gods of wood and stone, so ignorantly
worshipped, are cast from their pedestals.

Such a period of apathetic slumber and of awakening in the arts we

have been passing through in England during the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, and since, side by side with analogous
movements in the political and social world.

As regards domestic architecture, the streets of London will illustrate

the successive waves of taste or fashion which the past and present
century have seen, from the quasi-classical, represented in the
Peloponnesus of Regent's Park, to the eclectic Queen Anne-ism of
the aesthetic village at Turnham Green; or the more recent
developments which have followed newer ideas of town-planning,
the modern hotel such as the Savoy or the Piccadilly, or the New
Aero Club in Pall Mall, the modern store, such as Selfridge's.
Contrast such examples of what one might call our new Imperial
Renascence style with the types of simple cottage dwellings in the
Garden City at Letchworth, or in the Hampstead garden suburb, and
elsewhere; or these again with the larger country mansions some of
our best architects are raising in the land. These extremes, with all
the various modifications of the outward aspect of the English home
—degrees indicating the arc of architectural fashion, as it were—
imply a series of corresponding transformations of interiors with all
their modern complexities of furniture and decorations.

But the wheat of artistic thought and invention is a good deal

encumbered with chaff—the chaff of commerce and of fashion—and
it needs some pains to find the real vital germs. To trace the genesis
of our English revival we must go back to the days of the pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood, and although none of that famous group
were decorative designers in the strict sense—unless we except D.
G. Rossetti—yet by their resolute and enthusiastic return to the
direct symbolism, frank naturalism, and poetic or romantic sentiment
of mediaeval art, with the power of modern analysis superadded,
and the more profound intellectual study of both nature and art,
which the severity of their practice demanded, and last, but not
least, their intense love of detail, turned the attention to other
branches of design than painting. The very marked character of their
pictures, standing out with almost startling effect from among the
works of the older Academic School, demanded at least a special
architecture in the frames of their pictures, and this led to the
practice of painters designing their own frames, at least those who
were concerned for unity and decorative effect. Mr. Holman Hunt, for
instance, I believe always designed his own frames, as well as some
of the ornamental accessories of his pictures—such as the pot for
the basil in his "Isabella." D. G. Rossetti the poet-painter, and
perhaps the central and inspiring luminary of the remarkable group,
evidently cared greatly for decorative effect, and bestowed the
utmost pains upon tributary detail, designing the frames to his
pictures, the cover and lining for his own poems, and various title-
pages. Many of his pictures, too, are remarkable for their beauty and
richness of accessory details which give a distinct decorative charm
to his work, closely associated as they are with its motive and poetic
purpose.

The researches of Henry Shaw, and his fine works upon art of the
middle ages, first published in the "Forties" by Pickering, and printed
by the Chiswick Press, no doubt had their share in directing the
attention of artists to the beauty and intention bestowed upon every
accessory of daily life in mediaeval times.

Above all influences from the literary side, however, must be placed
the work of John Ruskin, an enormously vitalizing and still living
force, powerful to awaken thought, and by its kindling enthusiasm to
stir the dormant sense of beauty in the minds that come under the
spell of his eloquence, which always turns the eyes to some new or
unregarded or forgotten beauty in nature or in art. The secret of his
powers as a writer on art lies no doubt in the fact that he
approached the whole question from the fundamental architectural
side, and saw clearly the close connection of artistic development
with social life. The whole drift of his teaching is towards sincerity
and Gothic freedom in the arts, and is a strong protest against
Academic convention and classical coldness.

Among architects, men like Pugin and William Burges, enthusiasts in

the Gothic revival, gave a great deal of care and thought to
decorative detail and the design of furniture and accessories. The
latter, in the quaint house which he built for himself in Melbury Road,
showed a true Gothic spirit of inventiveness and whimsicality applied
to things of everyday use as well as the mural decorator's instinct for
symbolism. Since their day Mr. Norman Shaw may almost be said to
have carried all before him, and has quite created a type of later
Victorian architecture, and his advice is still sought in the design of
various buildings and street improvements of modern London. His
work, beautiful, well proportioned, and decorative as it often is,
however, has not the peculiar character and reserve of the work of
Mr. Philip Webb, and the latter is a decorative designer, especially of
animals, of remarkable originality and power. His work in
architecture and other designs is generally seen in association with
that of William Morris in decoration.

The impulse towards Greek and Roman forms in furniture and

decoration, which had held sway with designers since the French
Revolution, appeared to be dead. The elegant lines and limbs of
quasi-classical couches and chairs on which our grandfathers and
grandmothers reclined—the former in high coat-collars and the latter
in short waists—had grown gouty and clumsy, in the hands of
Victorian upholsterers. The carved scrolls and garlands had lost even
the attenuated grace they once possessed and a certain feeling for
naturalism creeping in made matters worse, and utterly deranged
the ornamental design of the period. An illustrated catalogue of the
exhibition of 1851 will sufficiently indicate the monstrosities in
furniture and decoration which were supposed to be artistic. The last
stage of decomposition had been reached, and a period of, perhaps,
unexampled hideousness in furniture, dress, and decoration set in
which lasted the life of the second empire, and fitly perished with it.
Relics of this period I believe are still to be discovered in the cold
shade of remote drawing-rooms, and "apartments to let," which take
the form of big looking-glasses, and machine-lace curtains, and
where the furniture is afflicted with curvature of the spine, and
dreary lumps of bronze and ormolu repose on marble slabs at every
opportunity, where monstrosities of every kind are encouraged under
glass shades, while every species of design-debauchery is indulged
in upon carpets, curtains, chintzes and wall-papers, and where the
antimacassar is made to cover a multitude of sins. When such ideas
of decoration prevailed, having their origin or prototypes, in the
vapid splendours of imperial saloons, and had to be reduced to the
scale of the ordinary citizen's house and pocket, the thing became
absurd as well as hideous. Besides, the cheap curly legs of the
uneasy chairs and couches came off, and the stuffed seats, with a
specious show of padded comfort, were delusions and snares. Long
ago the old English house-place with its big chimney-corner had
given way to the bourgeois arrangement of dining and drawing-room
—even down to the smallest slated hut with a Doric portico. The
parlour had become a kind of sanctuary veiled in machine-lace,
where the lightness of the curtains was compensated for by the
massiveness of their poles, and where Berlin wool-work and bead
mats flourished exceedingly.

Enter to such an interior a plain unvarnished rush-bottomed chair

from Buckinghamshire, sound in wind and limb—"C'est impossible!"
And yet the rush-bottomed chair and the printed cotton of frank
design and colour from an unpretending and somewhat inaccessible
house in Queen Square may be said to have routed the false ideals,
vulgar smartness and stuffiness in domestic furniture and decoration
—at least wherever refinement and feeling have been exercised at
all.

"Lost in the contemplation of palaces we have forgotten to look

about us for a chair," wrote Mr. Charles L. Eastlake in an article
which appeared in "The Cornhill Magazine" some time in the
"sixties," or early "seventies." The same writer (afterwards Keeper of
the National Gallery) brought out "Hints on Household Taste" shortly
afterwards, and he, too, was "on the side of the angels" of sense
and fitness in these things. The "chair" at any rate was now
discovered, if only a rush-bottomed one.

Nowadays it might perhaps be said that the chair gets more

contemplation and attention than the palace, as since then the
influence of our old English eighteenth-century furniture designers
has been restored, and Chippendale, Sheraton, and Hepplewhite are
again held in honour in our interiors, and to judge from the
innumerable specimens offered in their name by our furniture
dealers the industry of these famous designers must have been
prodigious!

The first practical steps towards actually producing things combining

use and beauty and thus enabling people so minded to deck their
homes after the older and simpler English manner was taken by
William Morris and his associates, who founded the house in Queen
Square afore-mentioned. Appealing at first only to a limited circle of
friends mostly engaged in the arts, the new ideas began to get
abroad, the new designs were eagerly seized upon. Morris and
Company had to extend their operations, and soon no home with
any claim to decorative charm was felt to be complete without its
vine and fig-tree so to speak—from Queen Square; and before long
a typical Morris room was given to the British Public to dine in at the
South Kensington (now the Victoria and Albert) Museum.

The great advantage and charm of the Morrisian method is that it

lends itself to either simplicity or to splendour. You might be almost
plain enough to please Thoreau, with a rush-bottomed chair, piece of
matting, and oaken trestle-table; or you might have gold and lustre
(the choice ware of William de Morgan) gleaming from the
sideboard, and jewelled light in your windows, and walls hung with
rich arras tapestry.

Of course, a host of imitators appeared, and manufacturers and

upholsterers were quick to adapt the more superficial characteristics,
watering down the character a good deal for the average taste—that
is, the timid taste of the person who has not made up his mind,
which may be described as the "wonder-what-so-and-so-will-think-
of-it" state—but its effects upon the older ideas of house decoration
were definite. Plain painting displaced graining and marbling, frankly
but freely conventionalized patterns routed the imitative and
nosegay kinds. Leaded and stained glass filled the places which were
wont to be filled with the blank despair of ground glass. The white
marble mantelpiece turned pale before rich hangings and deep-
toned wall-papers, and was dismantled and sent to the churchyard.

These were some of the most marked effects of the adoption of the
new, or a return to older and sounder ideas in domestic decoration.

The quiet influence of the superb collections at the Victoria and

Albert Museum, and the opportunities of study, open to all, of the
most beautiful specimens of mediaeval, renascence, and oriental
design and craftsmanship of all kinds must not be forgotten—an
influence which cannot be rated as of too much importance and
value, and which has been probably of more far-reaching influence
in its effect on designers and craftsman than the more direct efforts
of the Art Department to reach them through its school system. By
means of this, as is well known, it was sought to improve the taste
and culture of artisans by putting within their reach courses of study
and exercises in drawing and design, the results of which, it was
hoped, carried back into the practice of their various trades and
handicrafts, would make them better craftsmen because better
draughtsmen. Now, if we were to ask why on the whole the system
has not been so fruitful of result in this direction we should find
ourselves plunged at once into the deep waters of economic
conditions, of the relations of employer and employed, of hours, of
wages, of commercial competition, trade unions, and, in fact, should
bring the whole Labour question about our ears.

Of course the whole scheme of the schools of design was based

upon the idea of improvement downwards, and like many modern
improvements, or reforms, its contrivers sought to make the tree of
art flourish and put forth new leaves without attending to the
nourishment of the roots or touching the soil. But the drawing-board
and the workshop-bench are after all two very different things, and
it is by no means certain that proficiency at one would necessarily
produce a corresponding improvement at the other, except indeed, it
be on the principle that if a man acquires one language it will be
easier for him to learn others. But at this point another consideration
comes in. You get your student seated at his drawing-board, you set
him to represent at the point of his pencil or chalk certain objects,
casts, for instance, and encourage him to portray their appearance
with all relief of light and shade, dwelling solely on the necessity of
his attaining a certain degree of purely pictorial skill, which in itself is
really of no practical use to a designer of ornament intended to be
worked out in some other material such as a textile, wood, or metal.
In fact, the development of pictorial skill has a strong tendency to
lead the student to devote himself entirely to pictorial work, and
hitherto there have been plenty of other inducements, such as the
chance of larger monetary reward and social position. If he is not
ultimately drawn into the already overcrowded ranks of the picture
producers, he is too likely to carry back into his own particular craft
a certain love of pictorial treatment and effect which may really be
injurious to his sense of fitness in adapting design and material. This
indeed is what evidently has happened as the result of much so-
called art-education, and we are only now slowly awakening to the
conception that art is not necessarily the painting of pictures, but
that the most refined artistic feeling may be put into every work of
man's hand, and that each after its kind gives more delight and
becomes more and more beautiful in proportion as it follows the
laws of its own existence—when a design is in perfect harmony with
its material, and one does not feel one would want it reproduced in
any other way.

It is next to impossible to get this unity of design and material

unless the craftsman fashions the thing he designs, or unless the
designer thoroughly understands the conditions and allows them to
determine the character of his design, which he can hardly do unless
he is in close and constant touch with the craftsman. Now the
industrial conditions under which the great mass of things are
produced, which have gradually been developed in the interests of
trade rather than of art have tended to separate the designer and
craftsman more and more and to subdivide their functions. Our
enterprising manufacturers are quick enough to adopt or adapt an
idea, and some will pay liberally for it, but they do not always realize
that it does not follow because one good thing is produced in a
limited quantity that therefore it must be much better if a cheap
imitation of it can be produced by the thousand—but then we no
longer produce for use but for profit. Demand and supply—"thou
shalt have no other gods but these," says the trader in effect;
although the demand in these days may be as artificial as the
supply.
The Nemesis of trade pursues the invention of the artist, as the
steamers on the river on boat-race day pursue, almost as if they
would run down, the slender craft of the oarsmen straining every
nerve for victory. It is a suggestive spectacle. Someone's brain and
hand must set to work—must give the initiative before the steam-
engine can be set going. But how many brains and hands, nay lives,
has it devoured since our industrial epoch began?

Up to about 1880 artists working independently in decoration were

few and far between, mostly isolated units, and their work was often
absorbed by various manufacturing firms. About that time, in
response to a feeling for more fellowship and opportunity for
interchange of ideas on the various branches of their own craft, a
few workers in decorative design were gathered together under the
roof of the late Mr. Lewis F. Day on a certain January evening known
as hurricane Tuesday and a small society was formed for the
discussion of various problems in decorative design and kindred
topics; meeting in rotation at the houses or studios of the members.
The society had a happy if obscure life for several years, and was
ultimately absorbed into a larger society of designers, architects, and
craftsmen called "The Art Workers' Guild," which met once a month
with much the same objects—fellowship and interchange of ideas
and papers and demonstrations in various arts and crafts. In fact,
since artists more or less concerned with decoration had increased,
owing to the revived activity and demand arising for design of all
kinds the feeling grew stronger among men of very different
proclivities for some common ground of meeting. A desire among
artists of different crafts to know something of the technicalities of
other crafts made itself felt, and the result has been the rapid and
continual growth of the Guild which now includes, beside the
principal designers in decoration, painters, architects, sculptors,
wood-carvers, metal-workers, engravers, and representatives of
various other crafts.

A junior Art Workers' Guild has also been established in connection

with the older body, and there are besides two Societies of
Designers in London, while in the provinces there is the Northern Art
Workers' Guild at Manchester and various local Arts and Crafts
societies all over the country.

We have, of course, our Royal Academy, or as it ought to be called,

Royal Guild of Painters in Oil, always with us; but its use of the term
"Arts" applies only (and almost exclusively so) to painting, sculpture,
architecture, and engraving, and while absorbing gifted artists from
time to time, often after they have done their best work, it has
never, as a body, shown any wide or comprehensive conception of
art, although it has done a certain amount of educational work,
chiefly through its valuable exhibitions of old masters and its lectures
and teaching in the schools, which are free, and where famous
artists act as visitors. Its influence in the main it is to be feared has
been to encourage an enormous overproduction of pictures every
year, and to foster in the popular mind the impression that there was
no art in England before Sir Joshua Reynolds, and none of any
consequence since, outside the easel picture.

The magnificently arranged and deeply interesting "Town-planning

Exhibition," held last year in connection with the International
Congress on that subject, however, was a new departure and most
welcome as an example of what might be done by the Royal
Academy under the influence of wider conceptions of art.

Nevertheless, the work of such fine decorative artists as Albert

Moore, Alfred Gilbert, Harry Bates has been introduced to the public
through the Royal Academy, these two last-named being members;
and once upon a time even a picture by Sir E. Burne-Jones appeared
there.

Many gifted artists have strengthened the institution since these

passed away. The names of Watts and Leighton will always shed
lustre and distinction upon it, but of course the Academy necessarily
depends for its continued vitality upon new blood. The advantages
of membership are generally too strong a temptation to our rising
artists to encourage the formation of anything like an English
"secession," though according to our British ideas of the
wholesomeness of competition or, let us say emulation, a strong
body of independent artists might have a good effect all round.

I have often wondered that no attempt has been made by the Royal
Academy to give a lead in the arrangement and hanging of an
exhibition. With the fine rooms at their disposal it would be possible
to make their great annual show of pictures far more striking and
attractive by some kind of classification or sympathetic grouping.
The best system, of course, would be to group the works of each
artist together. This, however, would take up more wall space and
lead to more exclusions than at present; but, still the plan might be
tried of placing all the portraits together, and, say, the subject
pictures according to scale, and the landscapes, arranging them in
separate rooms. Sculpture and architecture, and water colours and
engravings are already given separate rooms, so that it would only
be extending a principle already adopted. The effect of the whole
exhibition would be much finer, I venture to think, and also less
fatiguing, and there would probably be less chance of pictures being
falsified or injured by juxtaposition with unsympathetic neighbours.
Surely some advance is possible on eighteenth-century ideas of
hanging, or the old days of Somerset House? I respectfully
commend the above suggestion to their consideration.

While mentioning names we must not forget (although I have

hitherto dwelt rather on the Gothic side of the English revival) such
distinguished designers as the late Alfred Stevens and his able
followers Godfrey Sykes and Moody. These artists drew their
inspiration largely from the work of the Italian Renascence, and it is
a testimony to their remarkable powers—especially of the first-
named—that they should have achieved such distinction on the lines
of so marked a style, and one which, as it appears to me, had
already reached its maturity in the country of its birth, unlike Gothic
design, which might almost be said to have been arrested in its
development by the advent of the Renascence.
Another influence upon modern decorative art cannot be left out of
account, and that is the Japanese influence. The extraordinary
decorative daring, and intimate naturalism; the frank or delicate
colouration, the freshness, as of newly gathered flowers of many of
their inventions and combinations: the wonderful vivacity and truth
of the designs of such a master as Hokusai, for instance—these and
the whole disclosure of the history of their art (which, however, was
entirely derived from and inspired by the still finer art of the
Chinese), from the early, highly wrought, religious and symbolic
designs, up to the vigorous freedom and naturalism of the later
time, together with their extraordinary precision of technique,
inevitably took the artistic world by storm. Its immediate effects,
much as we may be indebted to such a source, cannot be set down
altogether to the good so far as we can trace them in contemporary
European art; but perhaps on the whole there is no more definitely
marked streak of influence than this of the Japanese. In French art it
was at one time more palpable still. In fact it might almost be said to
have taken entire possession of French decorative art, or a large part
of it; or rather, it is Japanese translated into French with that ease
and chic for which our lively neighbours are remarkable.

Whistler, by the way, who must be numbered with the decorators,

showed unmistakably in his work the results of a close study of
Japanese art. His methods of composition, his arrangements of
tones of colour declare how he had absorbed it, and applied it to
different methods and subjects, in fact, his work shows most of the
qualities of much Japanese art, except precision of drawing,
although his earlier etchings have this quality.

In modern decoration, the most obvious and superficial qualities of

Japanese art have generally been seized upon, and its general effect
has been to loosen the restraining and architectonic sense of
balance and fitness, and a definite ordered plan of construction,
which are essential in the finest types of design. On the whole, the
effects of the discovery of Japanese art on the modern artistic mind,
may be likened to a sudden and unexpected access of fortune to an
impoverished man. It is certain to disorganize if not demoralize him.
The sudden contact with a fresh and vigorous art, alive with potent
tradition, yet intimate with the subtler forms and changes of nature,
and in the full possession and mastery of its own technique—the
sudden contact of such an art with the highly artificial and eclectic
art of a complex and effete civilization must be more or less of the
nature of a shock. Shocks are said to be good for sound
constitutions, but their effect on the unsound are as likely as not to
be fatal.

While fully acknowledging the brilliancy of Japanese art, however,

one feels how enormously they were indebted to the art of China,
and the greater dignity and impressiveness of the latter becomes
more and more apparent on comparison. Both in graphic
characterization of birds and animals and flowers and splendour of
ornament, the Chinese both preceded and excelled the Japanese.
There were recently some striking demonstrations of this at the
British Museum, when Mr. Laurence Binyon arranged a series of
most remarkable ancient Chinese paintings on silk side by side with
Japanese work.

The opening of the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, owing to the

enterprise of Sir Coutts Lindsay, was the means of bringing the
decorative school in English painting to the front, and did much
towards directing public attention in that direction.

What was known as "aestheticism" has, of course, been freely

satirized both by press and stage, which latter, however, was not
slow to avail itself of some of its results in the increased variety and
picturesqueness of its interior scenes, and the charm of delicate
harmonies of colour in draperies and costume. The movement was
seized upon by the commercial instinct, which always hastens to
make hay while the sun shines, and the aesthetic sun shone very
gaily for a time, in the society sense. It was somewhat amusing to
see the travesties of ideas which had been current in artistic circles
for long before, now proclaimed as the new gospel of aesthetic
salvation. But in spite of all the clamour, fashionable extravagance,
and ridicule, which obscured the real meaning of the movement, so
far as it was a sincere search after more beauty in daily life, its
influence is just as strong as ever, and is likely to increase with the
growth and spread of greater refinement, and the desire for more
harmonious social conditions.

Organizations continued to increase and multiply, having for their

object, in one way or another, the "encouragement" of the arts and
crafts of design, and whether for good or for evil, it cannot be
denied that their number and activity were, and are, remarkable
signs of the times—of an awakening interest in decorative art and a
general impulse towards ornamental expression. It is true in some
instances this impulse runs rather wild, and to some of its ruder
results we might even apply the words of the poet Cowper
describing the gambols of the kine at high noon:

Though wild their strange vagaries, and

uncouth
Their efforts, yet resolved with one consent,
To give act and utt'rance as they may
To ecstasy, too big to be suppress'd.

It would be difficult to enumerate all the different associations

having for their object the teaching, or the spread of a knowledge or
love of decorative art and handicraft, outside the big trade
organizations and decorating firms, but among those who
contributed from various sides to the main stream mention may be
made of "The Century Guild," identified chiefly with the publication
of its "Hobby Horse," with its careful attention to the printer's art
under the fine taste in type and book ornaments of Mr. Herbert P.
Horne. "The Home Arts and Industries Association," which has
started village classes in various handicrafts all over the kingdom,
has held annual exhibitions at the Albert Hall, The Royal School of
Art Needlework, now in noble premises in Imperial Institute Road,
The School of Art Woodcarving in Pelham Place; while design on the
strictly industrial and technical side is cared for by the City and
Guilds of London Institute under Sir Philip Magnus.

Since these and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society were
established, the London County Council came into being and
founded its schools of Art and Craft all over London with the
assistance of members of that Society; it has now become the
central authority in technical education, and extends a helping hand
(with a grant in aid) to some of the schools above named.

All these institutions, and many more, invoke the name of art, and
desire to unite good design and workmanship, and also to find a
market for it. (Some of our large decorating firms would claim to
have the same objects perhaps.) Their great difficulty is how to
produce good designing ability out of nothing, as it were. All the
crafts which they specially address themselves to teach and cultivate
are, after all, entirely dependent for their interest and value upon
vigour of design and vital expression, and this cannot suddenly be
forced into existence by artificial heat. It is a power of slow
development and is nourished from all sorts of sources, and is as
many sided as life itself, being in fact only another form of life. You
can lead a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink. You
can provide any number of words but you cannot make people think,
and the possession of rhyming dictionaries will never make a poet,
neither will the possession of tools and a method make artists. This
is, of course, obvious enough. At the same time it may fairly be
urged on the other side that no one can learn to swim without
entering the water, and it is only by repeated experiments and years
of patient labour that we arrive at good results.

Genius is always rare, but efficiency is what keeps the world going,
and it must be said that admirable work in various crafts has been
produced in the London County Council Technical Schools. Their
system of scholarships gives opportunities to young people of
promise to carry on their studies, and pupils and apprentices in
various trades are enabled to gain a more complete knowledge of
their craft and its various branches than is possible in any ordinary
workshop, as well as tasteful ideas in design generally.

In the summer of 1886 the smouldering discontent which always

exists among artists in regard to the Royal Academy, although very
often only the result of personal disappointment, threatened to burst
into something like a flame. A letter appeared in the leading dailies
proposing the establishment of a really National Exhibition of the
Arts, which should include not only painting, sculpture, and
architecture, but also the arts of design generally. This letter was
signed by George Clausen, W. Holman Hunt, and the present writer.
The stronghold of the movement at first was among the group of
painters, distinguished as the Anglo-French school, whose
headquarters were at Chelsea, and who were the founders of the
New English Art Club. The idea of such a comprehensive exhibition
was an exciting one, and large and enthusiastic meetings of artists
were held. It was however discovered before long that the mass of
the painters attracted by the movement intended no more than to
press a measure of reform on the Royal Academy—to induce them to
take, in fact, a leaf out of the book of the French Salon as regards
the mode of election of the hanging committees of each year.

The decorative designers, however, perceiving their vision of a really

representative exhibition of contemporary works in all the arts fading
away, and the whole force of the movement being wasted in the
forlorn hope of forcing reforms upon the Academy, left the agitators
in a body, and proceeded to take counsel together as to the best
means of furthering their aims, and the immediate result was the
founding of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society which, after many
difficulties opened its first exhibition at the New Gallery in the
autumn of 1888.

The members of the Society, who were also most of them members
of the Art Workers' Guild aforementioned, were well aware of the
difficulties they would have to face in the endeavour to realize their
aims, and carry out their principles. Their main object, however, was
to demonstrate by means of a representative public exhibition the
actual state of decorative art in all its kinds as far as possible. They
desired to assert the claims of the decorative designer and craftsman
to the position of artist, and give every one responsible in any way
for the artistic character of a work full individual credit, by giving his
name in the catalogue, whether the work was exhibited by a firm or
not.

In spite of all drawbacks the richness and artistic interest of the

Exhibition was generally acknowledged, and the novelty of the idea
attracted the public.

An exhibition of designs and cartoons for decoration had been held

by the directors of the Grosvenor Gallery in 1881, but it was limited
to that class of work, so that this Arts and Crafts Exhibition may be
said to have been really the first which attempted anything like a
representative and comprehensive display of not only designs for
work but the actual work itself, for its artistic and decorative quality
alone. It comprised designs and cartoons, modelled work,
woodcarving, furniture, tapestry and embroidery and printed
cottons, pottery, tiles, and glass-metal work, jewellery, printed
books, binding, calligraphy and illuminations, and undoubtedly
included some of the best contemporary work which had been
produced in England up to that time. The Exhibition was repeated at
the same place the following year, at the same time, and also the
year after. Since then, however, the exhibitions of the Society have
been held triennially, the latest in January 1910 being the ninth.

It is obvious that exhibitions of this kind involve many more

difficulties of organization and management than ordinary picture
shows. The very fact of having to deal with such a variety of work as
was submitted, and the conditions under which work in decoration is
generally done (making it difficult for the artist to retain possession
of his work for exhibition purposes) make the formation of such an
exhibition at all no easy matter. Then there were two open and
palpable dangers to be encountered. The danger of being swamped
by a great influx of amateur work, as it is generally understood, on
the one hand, and the danger of merely commercial work getting
the upper hand on the other. To keep

Along the narrow strip of herbage strown

That just divides the desert from the sown

was a delicate matter, and it was easy to wander off into the regions
on either hand. For in spite of the immense activity and industry, the
independent artists in design and handicraft were but few, and
although many inventive brains and skilled hands might be disguised
as "—— and Company," they had to be discovered; the bushel had
to be taken away and the light put upon the candlestick of publicity,
and this appeared to be a trial to some. It might be thought to be of
small importance, this matter of assigning artistic authorship or
credit for any part of the work, where it was due; and it may be
quite true that when men have reached the point when artistic
tradition and social condition both favour a fraternal co-operation in
production, they can afford to sink the individual claim to distinction
in the collective pride of saying, "This is our work." But we have not
reached that stage yet, and it seems only common fairness, if
individual and artistic responsibility is attached to a work, the credit
should go with these, and be assigned in the proper quarter. In
these days of commercial competition, and sculptor's "ghosts," it is
perhaps hardly surprising that the assertion of such a principle might
produce a little consternation, and also in cases of a great
multiplicity of cooks it might easily be understood to be
embarrassing to distribute properly the individual responsibility for
spoiling the broth, and therefore not wonderful that it should in
some instances have been shirked altogether.

As another indication of the way the wind was blowing, an

Association was formed this same year (1888) for the Advancement
of Art in Association with Industry—a somewhat large order. Almost
everything and everybody had had their congresses and why not
Art? So an Art Congress was arranged to take place at Liverpool in
December of that year. It was properly divided into sections for the
separate discussion of painting, architecture, sculpture, and
decorative or applied art, as the phrase goes. It may be mentioned
here that the Society of Arts had before this formed a special
committee to arrange for lectures and discussions on "The Applied
Arts," and had also offered prizes to art-workmen for excellence in
various departments of handicraft, and had held a small exhibition of
such works in their rooms in the Adelphi. Well, the Congress at
Liverpool duly met, and every one having a particular axe to grind
brought it to the common grindstone of public discussion. It was a
fairly representative parliament. The royal academician sat down
with the socialist; the scientific colour theorist fed with the practical
decorator; the industrial villager faced the manufacturer; the art
critic and the painter mingled their tears, and all were led to the
pasture by a gentle Fine Art professor. Some home truths were
spoken and there were many interesting papers and discussions, but
whether we were really nearer solving the problem how to bring
about the marriage of Art and Industry is doubtful, though the
Association had another campaign at Edinburgh the following year
and one since at Birmingham. Association and discussion among
people of common interests is of course good, but Art is a subject by
its very nature difficult to deal with in words, although perhaps more
is said about it in these days than almost any other subject—and
here am I still adding to the sum!

A hair perhaps divides the false and true.

We have no word-symbols for defining those delicate shades of

difference so important to the artist, and to be perpetually qualifying
is fatiguing. It is useful to consider art in its relation to life; to
consider how it is affected by economic conditions, to study its
history and influence, and the lives of its workers. One can even
proceed a certain distance with general principles, but finally we
must get down to the solid ground of practice to solve its real
problems.
All these movements may be but fluttering leaves in the wind, but at
least they serve to show its direction. The colours of spring
sometimes resemble those of autumn; but the former are
distinguished by a certain daintiness and delicacy: a soft bloom of
silver and russet comes over the woods before the cloud-like green
drapes them for the coming summer. When we see delicate and
harmonious dyes and patterns in the fabrics of the windows of
commerce, when we see dainty gowns in the street, expressing the
fair forms of their wearers with the grace of flowers; when we see a
certain sense of relation and harmony of tint in the most ordinary
arrangements of paint and paper in the interiors of our houses:
when our chairs and couches not unfrequently show lines of good
breeding; when we find books on the table which have been
considered by their printers and designers as works of art as well as
of literature, and thus give a double pleasure, since they satisfy
more than one of the senses—well, we begin to think that
something has happened to us; some new spirit has breathed upon
the land, that such refinements should be possible to the moderate
citizen, remembering that such things but a few years ago could not
be had for love or money. We might still be happy were it not for the
whirlwind of trade, and the whirligig of fashion which occasionally
seem to coquette with art, as a child plays with a toy, but soon turn
away to continue their mad chase after a supposititious "novelty."
Happily they leave some quiet corners unswept, as they have always
done, or we could never have known what the homes of our
ancestors were like. But how many still does England hold of those
delightful places full of the pathos of old time, where each dumb
thing of wood or iron, or copper, each fragment of faded tapestry
seems to have the speech of romance.

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet

breathing.

When the utilitarian would destroy such relics for the sake of
"modern improvements" we do not realize what priceless things we
lose. We can only realize it when we live for a time in country or city
without antiquity of any sort. Here in England there are still many
places where one might have the suggestion that we moderns were
like children playing with new toys in front of a rich tapestried
background full of great deeds and romances. In America the idea
could not occur, and the absence of such suggestion is no doubt
much felt by the more cultured and thoughtful, especially after
visiting Europe. It may partly account, too, for the more fantastic
character in the architecture of some of their recent country
dwellings, which are full of nooks and corners and odd gables and
stairways, as if their designer wished to make up by his invention for
the absence of old time sentiment.

Some of us appear to be trying to turn England into another America

—for ever scheming railways where they are not wanted, cutting
down trees, and clearing away old dwelling places, and insulting
even the green fields with advertisements. Anything that interferes
with extra percentages is as dust in the balance to such.

In the destruction of beauty of any kind, however, is involved the

destruction of the faculty of its perception and appreciation. The
artistic capacity and sense of beauty must be fed by the
contemplation of beauty or both will in time perish. We cannot really
satisfy one of the senses unless we satisfy them all. It is often said,
"you must sacrifice this or that to comfort and convenience;" but it is
quite possible to have every so-called comfort and convenience, and
yet to be anything but happy or comfortable—especially if the
comfort of the eye is forgotten. Unless the utilitarian succeeds in
eliminating the sense of beauty and art altogether, the natural man
will still revolt against the tyranny of mechanical and artificial
conditions. Such revolts make epochs, and when the human mind is
deeply stirred it is sure sooner or later to find expression in some
revival, or new form of art.

A great intellectual revolution has taken place in the last half

century: a great social and industrial revolution is preparing, or even
now progressing. Whether art will again be able to sum up and
express adequately in monumental form the new life and its
aspirations, as it expressed the heart of ancient life in Greece and
mediaeval Europe, must depend upon its power of appeal, and this
again must depend upon the sensitiveness to form and colour on the
part of the people. In England the domestic sentiment is so strong
that enthusiasm for large public works is rare, and opportunities for
sculptor or painter to express anything like the generic thought of
their time, or to touch the pride or hopes of the nation rarer still.4
The art that is capable of illustrating this spirit is what is called
decorative art: but the art which can cover large mural spaces with a
peoples' history and legend in noble and typical forms, the art which
can lift our souls with large thoughts, or enchant them with a sense
of mystery and romance, can also be a familiar friend at our
firesides, and touch each common thing of every day use with
beauty, weaving its golden threads into the joys and sorrows of
common life, and making happy both young and old.

4: It is true we have our frescoes of English history at the Houses of

Parliament, but they cannot be said, with the exception of the work
of Mr. G. F. Watts, to have been conceived in an epic spirit, but are
rather anecdotic or incidental. Though the new pictures for the House
of Lords by some of our ablest men of the younger school, such as
Mr. Payne and Mr. Cadogan Cowper, show much finer mural and
decorative feeling.
THE SOCIALIST IDEAL AS A NEW
INSPIRATION IN ART