The San Francisco call. [volume], February 13, 1898, Page 20, Image 20

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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20
EDUCATING CHILDREN
BY PICTURES
Unique System That Is Being Developed
by an Oakland Man Who Is Trying
to Revolutionize the Schoolroom.
MANT suggestions have from \
time to time been made as to
the improvement of our pub-
He school system, but none
has struck quite so unique a j
vein as has G. L. Faust of j
Oakland. Mr. Faust has given the !
subject of child education much
thought— in fact, so much so that he
has evolved a new system which he
hopes some day to see supersede even
the most advanced systems now in
practice. He has styled the public
school room of to-day as "slaughter
pen of time and mind." This little
thing has worried him so much that
he is now writing a book which will
tell about his new theory in practi
cal use and will be an eye-opener to
teachers and a mind-opener to pupils.
Mr. Faust apparently is a man
about 55 years of age, of gentlemanly
bearing, and neither in dress, manner
nor conversation does he bear the Im
print of a "crank"; neither would one
suspect at a casual glance that this
man, G. L. Faust, is a man ambitious
to revolutionize the world in thought,
action and mind development, but,, this
is just what his theory is intended to
do.
He has the most advanced method
or system of object teaching yet
thought of; in fact, object teaching as
now practiced is but a mere kinder
garten affair as compared with the
Faust system. In order to follow the
system evolved by Mr. Faust there is
required the most unique school
rbom ever designed. He even goes
further, and to the schoolroom adds
parks, recreation grounds and numer
ous similar adjuncts.
According to Mr. Faust's idea, as set
forth in the manuscript of his book,
each 100 children should have a rec
reation park of about five acres, set
out with all kinds of plants, trees and
shrubs and flora in general and pe
culiar to the particular climate. Here
the children pass their time when not
in the recitation-room. The latter
opens from the park and each room is
designed to accommodate twenty pu
pils.
Along the sides of the room are ar
ranged little cells or compartments,
each of which is occupied by a child.
The cell is constructed so as to shut
out everything from the observer save
it view in front, and that glass front is
a magnifying lens. To be sure, there
is the aperture above, but all else is
inclosed. This inclosed space he has
provided with what he claims to be an
excellent system of Ventilation. Over
the opening at the top of the cell and
at an angle above them are mirrors,
in which is reflected the facial ex
rion and every movement of the
QUEER PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT A MINISTERS' PICNIC
"Speculation is both lawful and profitable," paid the pho
tographer at Pacific Grove, Monterey County. Cal.. as 1 R -
'.•ing- the beautiful results of his skill in delineating the
and forest grandeur near by. "See! This is the most
n markable scene in my collection, and the more I study It the
more I ask the question, What is it?"
The picture which he handed me represented a group of
eighteen people and a dog, posed against a background of tall.
. r pines. Each member of it was standing but six. four of
whom were children seated upon the grass and upon whom the
light seemed focused.
To the left of the picture, seated securely in a half reclining
position among the highest branches of the loftiest trees, was
the shadowy yet distinctly outlined form of a little girl, clad in
white, with folded hands, hair flowing from beneath a turbaned
cap and placidly watching the scene beneath her.
The lower limbs of the child were concealed in a haze which
extended several yards around her, and the group was uncon
scious of her presence.
Truly, it was at the first glance a remarkable picture, calcu
lated to awaken the wildest conjecture concerning things
deemed occult to those who see nothing but what is revealed
through their senses. Being of an investigating turn, I asked:
"Under what conditions was this obtained?"
"The simplest imaginable," he answered. "The date was
May 1: the time, high noon, and the occasion a May-day pi>-
nicof the Sunday school here in the Grove. The trade wind
was blowing at a moderate pace over the sandhills, which
were south of us about 150 yards. The sand ridge i.s about
seventy feet high and almost as white as snow. A few scat
tering shrubs adorn its surface. The ocean was 700 yards
southwest of us."
"And who composed the party?" I asked. "Some one may
have been victimizing you."
"Impossible," he quickly answered, "for a more orthodox,
straight-to-the-mark set of people doe 3 not exist than made
up that party of Methodist ministers, their wives and chil
dren, all of whom are residents of the Grove."
child. It Ifl by watching the expres
sion on the faces as reflected in the
mirrors that the teacher, who occupies
a high stool in the center of the room,
notes whether the occupant of the
"Had anything unusual preceded your work?"
"Nothing:, except the remark to me of one of the children
wh"m I was putting in position that she wished E<lie was
there, alluding to a little girl friend who had recently died.
"The picture was instantaneous and I made but one im
pression. The plate used was *C. Dry Plato No. 28,' size five
by eight inches, and the development was made three hours
aftr the exposure."
"What was your imprsslnn when first you saw it?'* I asked.
"I was astonished, of course, as was every member of the
group.. Fraud, as you see. was out of the question. One of
the reverend doctors said, 'It' is an optical illusion.' I said, 'I
have a spirit picture,' because 1 saw nothing improbable in
the circumstance. However. I rarely exhibit it to purchasers."
"We were standing in the rear of his tent as he spoke, and
I took a rapid survey of Mr. Adams' surroundings. He was a
traveling photographer. I'pon a shelf near me was his small
library, consisting of a Bible and works written by such mas
ters of high thinking as Drummond. Krumacher and Swederi
borg. A phrenologist would have pronounced his head well
developed and harmonious. Veneration, causality, truthful
ness and a sense of moral responsibility seemed his in an un
usual degree.
Of course I purchased the mysterious picture.
"While revisiting the drove recently I encountered one of
the elderly men who had been in the group on that day of
May, and referring to the shadow of the child in the treetop,
said:
"Of course you have a theory of how the child's form got
there!"
He is a scientific man and rarely errs in his statements;
never, willingly. He replied:
"Oh, of course it was a kind of composite picture, that is
evident; a sort of mirage— a— a freak of nature easily ac
counted for by— by natural laws in optics. Well, on the whole,
I cannot explain it. but— hut 'tis there, you know."
Of course I know, and knowing. I still wonder what was it?
NELLIE BLESSING EYSTER.
Figure of the Little Girl as It Appeared in the Picture.
From a. PhntneraQh.
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARy 13, 1898.
cell is imbibing knowledge properly.
The teacher on the platform in the
center of the recitation-room has com
plete control of the cells by a system
of levers, push buttons and springs.'
At the will of the teacher the chil
dren may be released from their cells
singly, in squads or in a class.
This new system of education pro
vides for the development of the body
as well as of the mind, and for that
reason he has given particular atten
tion to the interior construction of the
cells. He has provided a separate, ad
justable seat and foot rest, so as to give
any desired angle or distance between
the two, and either may be raised and
lowered at will. The back of the seat
is of a peculiar construction, and is
adjustable not only to the height of the
child but to the curvature of its spine.
It is to put in practical use this ad
vanced theory of object teaching that
Mr. Faust has designed such an oddity
of a schoolroom. The glass fronts to
the recitation cells are none other than
magnifying lenses. The teacher at will
Can throw on these lenses stereopticon
Along the Sides of the Room Are Arranged Little Cells or Compartments, Each of Which Is Occupied by a Child.
views of such subjects as may be
chosen.
The originator would begin his edu
cation of children at the age of five
years or, as he puts it, "as soon as they j
can leave their mother's care."
Whon the child enters the school it i
•naturally goes to the primary class, |
where each child wears a number, and
in the primary class the numbers range
from one to five. It is by these nurn- \
; bers that the teacher is to distinguish
; the time of their recitation, and as to :
i what series of pictures shall be thrown
on the lenses.
All beginners start at number one, j
which number means that but one ob- i
j ject is to be thrown on the lens at a j
! time, and each object is so selected as j
: to be designated by a monosyllable, as
'■■ rat, cat, dog, man, etc. The word al- |
< ways accompanies the picture, and the !
child learns the name, or rather learns ;
; to identify the word with the object j
i until the two either together or sepa- I
' rately in this child's mind stand for
the same thing.
! These pictures will follow each other 1
in rapid succession. In the primary
stages of the teaching he suggests that
;i !>' . ut three pictures should be shown,
the idea being to train the child to
make mental observation quickly and
to retain in the memory what has been
seen. He says: "The child necessar
ily acquires the habit of attention, and
this Is the beginning of acquiring a
memory. The child knows what he
sees, and, mark this point, he learns
to tell what he knows. You know, it
has been said of men, "having eyes they
see not, and having ears they hear
not,' and there Should have been
added, "and the poor dumb creatures
cannot tell what little they know.' To
one who observes, h >w debasing It all
is. call it the prostitution of God
giv< ;i faculties."
"Now, with the number one," con
tinues Mr. Faust, "I would continue
the single object with the word and
object pictures following in rapid suc
cession until the pupil's memory had
so developed that he could follow at
least ten pictures shown in this way at
one drill. The pictures are changed at
each recital so as to have new objects
of interest. The special aim at this
time is rapidity in the succession of
the pictures so that the mind to its
capacity worked rapidly, and this is
th" cue point that is very desirable to
have fixed as a habit." Mr. Faust claims
that a mind well trained in this way
will cover more ground in a few mo
ments of time than will one of the
slow-going children of to-day in as
many hours. He also makes the as
sertion that the mind can be so devel
oped to rapid thought that It becomes
automatic in effect.
The children who have been tagged
No. 2 are those who have gone through
the training In which the pictures
thrown upon the lens consist of only
one object and one name and have
reached such a stage of development
that the pictures designed for them
comprise two words and two objects,
but in this instance both the objects
shown are animals.
The No. 3 grade pictures have three
objects, two <>f which are animals and
the third a bird, and accompanying
these objects are the three descriptive
words— all monosyllables.
No. 4 follows in the same way, only
there are two animals and two birds,
and there are four words, and the dis
syllables begin to appear, but they are
such as the teacher would class as
"easy."
Then the No. 5 follows under the
same treatment, only there are three
birds and two animals in the picture
and there are ot course five words,
mostly monosyllables, but the dissyl
lables are more frequent and a trifle
more difficult than in No. 4.
When the child has gone through the
five numbers he Is then through with
Department No. 1 and Is ready for De
partment No. 2, which is a duplicate
of No. 1 and has Its five acres of park
and also an annex, which is a spacious
apartment in which in tiers and rows
under glass capes are ranged the flora
to be found in the park. There is also
an aquarium well filled and flowers
and animals in groups, all the work of
a skilled taxidermist. In the center of
the annex there will be a great variety
of seats, rests and inclines and provis
ion for instructive games.
In Department No. 2 the children
will be numbered from one to five.
They would occupy the same peculiar
cells, with the adjustable chair, foot
rest and shoulder-clamp.
The No. 1 children would be shown
pictures with six objects, of which
there are four birds and two animals,
one bird and one animal named in dis
syllables and the others in monosyl
lables. The next grade would be five
birds and one animal, and the next
four birds and one animal, and the
next three animals and three birds,
and in the fifth but two objects and
some words.
It is in this department that Mr.
Faust would have the children begin
to form sentences. It will be seen
from his arrangement of pictures that
the word "and" is the first connecting
word brought to their attention.
In further explaining his theory Mr.
Faust says: "I would not give exact
ly tiio same succession of pictures to
each child and here comes one of the
advantages of having the children iso
lated in cells rather than in a class, as
the teacher can then arrange a series
of views to accord with the progress
and the ability of each child. It would
be the business of the teacher to school
himself carefully to know what is best
in the way of succession for each
child, but always aiming far rapidity of
thought.
"I think the old teachers under o".r
present system will concur with mo In
saying that a child learns far more
readily by oral instruction than he Joes
by ciolving for it in books, and again
in imparting information in this >ral
way a vast deal in the way of effect
depends on the manner and method in
which it is done. Oral teaching is
something erf a science.
"The birds, animals and plants in the
anner.es to the various departments I
v.t.uld have selected and arranged with
special connection with the pictures
and subjects that will be displayed on
the lenses in recitation rooms of the
department with which the annex is
connected. As by my system the teach
er would be with the pupil while at
recreatic-n in the park or annex the
lesson would in reality continue there,
in fact, the recreation in the annex or
park under the instruction of the teach
ers would be a part of the lesson, for
It would be continued there orally."
Department No. 3 will be "a class
of emotions," and the pictures selected
are from every-day life scenes, such
as arc quite familiar to the children,
and tho subject of each picture forms
a simple but complete sentence. As to
what the pictures might be can best
be judged by a few sample sentences
such as "the babe smiles." "the* dog
plays with the calf," and "the hen picks
up a seed."
Tho object will be to show such pic
tures as would have in each something
that would arouse a dormant thought
and a dormant feeling. The idea would
bo to draw the mind of the child into
a condition of self-stimulation or self
action.
It is not until the child has reached
the fourth department that Mr. Faust
would let him out of his box or cell,
but even here it is his theory to sep
arate the child from his fellows,
though he is fully exposed while at
class. As Department No. 3 was de
voted to the emotions. Department No.
4 deals with idealization. A feature of
this method of teaching idealization is
the showing of pictures of parts of ani
mals — for instance, the head of a cow
or the head of a horse. The pupil has
been familiar with pictures of the
whole animal, and now that only the
head is shown the child Is supposed to
"idealize" for the rest of the animal.
Mr. Faust thinks that the children
in this department, when they have
heen dismissed to the annex or park
from the recitation room, should each
carry with them a pencil and tablet.
These he would attach to their waist
hands, so they could be prepared at all
times to idealize.
Department No. 5 will contain the
annex and park with a special view of
giving the children a more extended
system of geological, botanical and
zoological course of instruction.
Mr. Wiggins— lt tells here how a cyclone, out in Kansas, swept away an entire town in one minute.
Mrs. Wleeins (gloomily)— An' it takes Mary Ann half an hour to sweep oft the front piazzer.— Truth.
WILL CELEBRATE
IRELAND'S CENTENARY
Interesting Short History of the Fierce
Struggle Which Irishmen Are to
Commemorate This Year.
DURING the current year, IS9B, 1
Irishmen all the world over will
celebrate the centenary of the
last great armed struggle for
their country's independence. From
America, from Australia, and from ev
ery corner of the globe where the chil
dren of Ireland dwell visitors will, this
year, return for a brief commemorative
visit to the scene of the 1798 insurrec
tion.
As a result. Interest in that fierce
struggle against English supremacy in
the green isle has acquired a renewed
interest.
For the benefit of Irish-Americans a
bird's-eye view of the incidents of the
insurrection has been prepared. The
"Calendar of "98," as it may be termed,
has been carefully revised by John E.
Redmond, M. P., Mr. Parnell's successor
in the leadership of the Irish National
ist party. The review is accurate and
impartial, and will be a useful and
handy guide for those preparing to
visit Ireland during the year.
The following is the calendar:
May 27 — Outbreak of the insurrection.
On the previous day (May 26) a brigade
of yeomanry and militia had burned
the church of Boulavogue, of which
Rev. John Murphy was pastor. This
act « precipitated the rising. Boniires
were lighted along the Wexford hills,
and the people, armed with pikes,
poured in from all sides. The first fight
occurred in the afternoon at Oulart
Hill, Fr. Murphy leading the rebels.
The British were severely routed and
almost annihilated, only five redcoats
escaping from the field.
May 28 — Fr. Murphy mustered a large
force and led it against Enniacorthy.
Battle of Knnisoorthy. in which the
British were again defeated and the
town captured.
May 30— Fight of Three Rock Moun
tain. British routed with heavy loss.
Town of Wexford surrendered to the
Irish. Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey of
Barry Castle elected commander-in
chief of the insurgents, with Fr. Mur
phy second in command.
June I—rapture1 — rapture of Newtownbarry,
under Captain K>ogh, and subsequent
recapture by a large force of British
regulars during the night. Heavy loss
on both sides. On the same day the in-
MARY ANN WAS NOT IN IT.
rp HE '98 Centennial and Mon
1 ument Association of this
city is now actively at work
raising its share of the Irish
monument fund, and is making
energetic efforts in order that
this State and the Pacific Coast
may be well represented in the
erection of the memorial to
Wolfe Tone and the United
Irishmen in Dublin. .
It is intended that this me
morial shall not be second to
any in Dublin. The site decided
upon is Stephen's Green, at the
top of Grafton street.
The 27th of August will be the
anniversary of the defeat of the
English at Castlehar. and it is
intended to celebrate on Sun
day, 2Sth of August, at Castle
bar, Ireland, the centenary of
that battle.
The executive committee of
the '9S centenary committee,
Dublin, also proposes to arrange
for celebrations commencing on
the 23d of May, on to Septem
ber. It also proposes to hold a
convention of branches on the
4th of March, the anniversary
of the birth of Robert Emmet.
surgents, under Rev. John Murphy,
were badly defeated at Ballycarrow.
These were the first serious checks re
ceived by the insurgents.
June 2 — Capture by the Irish forces
of Lord Klngsborough and several
British officers. Additional forces ar
rived from England, General Walpole
assuming command.
June 4 — Battle of Toberneering. The
Irish, armed chiefly with spikes, utterly
routed General Walpole and captured
his cannon. Pursuit of the British to
the town of Gorey. After an ineffect
ual attempt to capture the place by as
sault the insurgents laid siege to Wal
pole's fortifications.
June s—Battle5 — Battle of Ross. Three times
the Irish captured the town after great
loss. General Harvey showed incom
petence as a leader, and allowed drunk
enness and plundering. As a result,
the British returned with re-enforce
ments during the night and recaptured
the stronghold. The struggle for its
possession had lasted altogether thir
teen hours, and had been attendfi
with extraordinary bloodshed. General
Jones commanded the British.
June B—Formal8 — Formal deposition from the
insurgent leadership of Harvey, and
election of Rev. Philip Roche in his
stead. Harvey's weak command had,
however, done so much to demoralize
his men that Roche found almost in
surmountable difficulties in the way of
restoring order and discipline. Numer
ous skirmishes occurred, notably one at
Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, between
the rebels and a large force under Sir
Charles Asgil and the Earl of Ormonde.
The Irish defeated, and their leader,
Captain John Brennan, killed. The im
ported English miners in the Castle
comer collieries lent their aid against
the rebels.
June 9— Battle of Arklow, County
Wicklow. Several hours of severe fight
ing, resulting in a drawn battle, the
insurgents running short of ammuni
tion and retiring in good order. The
rebel leader, Rev. M. Murphy, killed by
a cannon ball. The Irish firmly in
trenched, repulsed a night attack with
heavy loss.
June 12— Defeat of the insurgents at
Barris, County Carlow. Skirmish of
Tinahely; the Irish victorious.
June 19— Second fight of Three Rocks
Mountain. The insurgent division of
Colonel Thomas Clooney, surrounded by
a far larger force of British regulars,
succeeded in cutting its way through
the redcoats; and when pursued, sud
denly faced about and routed the
enemy with considerable loss.
June 20 — Heavy defeat of the insur
gents after four and one-half hours of
severe fighting at Foulkes Mills. Ar
rival of second body of British rein
forcements from England and Wales.
June 22 — Battle of Vinegar Hill, Brit
ish fully armed and numbering 20,000
men, surrounded the Irish forces, which
consisted of only 2000 with firearms and
less than 10,000 with pikes and scythe
blades. CJeneral Lake commanded the
British: Rev. Philip Roche and Esmond
Kyan the Irish. The fight was long
and bloody, but such great superiority
in strength told in the end. The in
surgents were forced to abandon their
position and retreat. The defeat broke
the back of the rebellion. Commander
Roche and a number of others wera
slain.
June 23— A remnant of the insurgent
army crossed the river Barrow Into
Kilkenny County. Battle of Gores
bridge, in which the Irish under Rev.
John Murphy won a temporary victory.
The rising in the south closed with
the capture of Rev. John Murphy.
Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey and many
others of the insurgent chiefs. Most of
them, including the two mentioned,
were summarily executed.