USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve of Ohio and some of its pioneers, places and women's clubs, Vol. II > Part 12
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Indeed, so far-reaching is the subject that it might with a fair showing of truth be called the keynote to the solving of the many vexing questions which disturb the body politic of this and other civilized nations at the close of the nineteenth cen- tury. The moral, the social, the economic and I might almost say the religious life of the world hinges much more closely on the true balance of brain and brawn than the educational ma- chinery of the world has been apt to accord.
The desirability of a manual system of education or an adoption of a manual element into our entire school course is
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rapidly becoming a popular idea. The Kindergarten is em- braced in some cities as a part of the common school course. The manual training school-tool education-is rapidly gaining converts to its valuable developing power, and schools are mul- tiplying.
Time is sure to bring more and more of these advantages within the reach of the more advanced students of our common school grades.
What seems now to be the more difficult task is to form- ulate a practical system of manual training exercises for the grades between the kindergarten and manual training schools proper, as we now have them established. How to so metamor- phose our school curriculum that hand and eye and muscle training (the ability to do) may be developed in conjunction with the brain training of the proverbial school life, beginning with the D Primary, or how to introduce the manual training element into our course of study, is the great question to be considered.
Education should mean the training of the person for what that person will be capable of performing. Training a child to think and reason presupposes a child to be a thinking being. Now, why in our educational processes do we so almost uni- versally ignore the physical part of our being. Formerly and in our more savage state, very little training was given to the brain of the person except as manual skill must of necessity develop the thinking power necessary to guide it. This was the age of brawn, when might made right. But the world has passed on to the opposite swing of the pendulum and now for some time we have recognized only the might of brain, the disadvantage of which is that the mental may be developed without, or to the disadvantage of the physical.
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Shall we not at this wonderful age of applied science, have a wedding of brain and brawn which shall have for its off- spring a well rounded individual-a perfected whole.
Now, to this purpose, I would see manual training embodied in all educational schemes, not merely senseless or to say the least meaningless, ineffectual gymnastic exercises,-not over- strained athletics, even though it develop the skill and deftness necessary to belong to a good base ball team, or the brutal strength necessary to resist other brute force sufficient to play a successful football game-but a wise teaching of hand and eye under the guidance of the head, which shall make life to its possessor more satisfactory, himself more fitted to fill any and every niche into which he may find himself jostled, as the necessities of life shape his surroundings and where only a well rounded man is sure of adjusting himself.
That it has been a mistake to dedicate our halls of learning to the god of brain, leaving the quite, if not more, useful brawn to shift for itself, the thinking minds of the educational world are conceding.
When manual labor was dignified by being elevated to the professor's chair, all unwittingly, tyranny was struck such a blow as never before sounded through the ages. "The plowshare into pruning hooks." The tool university, lifted the oppression of the power of brain from off the brow of every toiler. Might does not make right whether the might be of brain or brawn.
The man who gets his education in the shop and becomes a skilled laborer is and should be recognized as one of the world's nobility, even though his dress suit is the leathern apron. He is one of the generals in the battle of life although his uni- form be a working man's garb and his war paint the grime and stain of the machine shop.
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Now what would be gained by such an innovation on the usual school curriculum. In the first place it would dignify handicraft, in that it would receive the recognition of a place in educational halls. Second, a more systematic, well rounded thought would prevail in the minds of teachers and pupil, as the physical and mental would be put on a more evenly balanced plane,-both to be useful, and to the development of, which should be given equal attention. Third, the opportunity for those who can execute better than they can think, to hold their own in the general average. Fourth, a development of practical helpfulness in each child which would lift very materially the burdens of life from our overburdened shoulders. The great "heave ho" of this innumerable band of school children would shift the pressure that is galling in the extreme. Fifth, life would be so much richer and fuller to those whose hand and eye had been trained to see and analyze all the objects with which they come in contact. Sixth, the "know how" would attract the otherwise idle hands to useful occupation, cheating mischief out of much power. Seventh, it would hold our boys who drop out of school, longer, and many more of them-a reason alone sufficient to warrant any outlay which might otherwise be con- sidered extravagant or apparently impossible. Eighth, the class of workers, that educated, school-trained mechanics would insure us, will help to solve the labor question as no other scheme put forward by the students of the social problem can accomplish. The dignity of labor, will at last be established.
The problem of supply. The dearth of appliances suitable for use in the primary and grammar grades, whereby manual training may be made practical in these grades, has so far been unsolved. A book by C. F. Cutler called "Primary Manual Training," being an explanation of her work in the Boston
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schools, is a very satisfactory text book for an enlarged kinder- garten. But the criticism we would make on this work is that it is too childish for the grades above the A primary. An ex- pansion of kindergarten upward, and the manual training school working downward, may be the solution of the manual training question in the grades between the kindergarten proper and the training schools of the High School and University.
Allow me to suggest, however, that this interim be filled by domestic training. For boys, too? Yes, for boys and girls, as the work we are doing for the children is to fit them best for life, why not train them to turn a hand to that which is nearest them all, and from which no circumstances by which they may surround themselves, shall relieve their responsibility.
Would not this department of manual training be the most easily supplied with materials, and the most likely to become self-supporting? It is scarcely within the province or scope of this paper to formulate definite plans of work, but merely to suggest needs, which may be supplied by those whose lives are spent in planning for the future usefulness of the Public School system.
As each home is a more or less well equipped laboratory for practical training in this branch of study, would not the mater- ial used in the actual school room be very much simplified and minimized.
Is it not time that the world awakened to the idea that no labor is either degrading, sexualized or sectionalized. It is a theory of ours that no more saving or moralizing plan can be inaugurated for boys than that domestic labor should be taught in the schools, and the force of our educational thought be brought to bear on all domestic work, to make it worthy the attention and doing of every boy and girl in the land. That
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girls should be trained in domestic labor will be refuted by none. Yet why the boy, who lives in a home and accepts all the com- forts of its right management, should be educated to ignore any claims that home has for a helping hand, is beyond my power of discerning. The power of thought to stamp this or that thing with appropriateness is nowhere more observant than in the prevailing idea that domestic labor is unworthy the attention of able-bodied boys. The waste of energy that would be conserved by a systematic teaching of boys and girls domestic handiwork is incalculable, and the obliterating the thought of unpopular drudgery, that now seems to stigmatize household duties would do this. The saying that Satan finds work for idle hands would be overthrown. I can think of no better method of handicapping his Satanic Majesty than to label each home a laboratory for character development, and have practical lessons assigned in each school, to be worked out in the home laboratory before the next recitation. The chemical department should have special attention devoted to it, that the chemistry of cooking should be understood.
The problem of how to interest and allure our boys from the street should be a subject of intense importance to all. In the city, where so few homes have enough out door chores to en- gage the time of the boys of the family, obviously, if they are occupied enough to leave not too much idle time on their hands, some indoor interest must be supplied. Now, a house may be taxed to its utmost-indeed cramped, with the necessary duties to keep the machinery of the household running, while strong, able-bodied boys belonging to it are pestering the neighborhood in their endeavor to work off superfluous physical energy. The good ball game is not to be ignored; it should be encouraged to the extent of supplying the out-door exercise sufficient for the
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healthy physical development, but the excesses of games should be rigorously discouraged, both in the haphazard game of the boy on the common, or the more skilled interest of High School, University and College life. The dissipation of games should be frowned down, and the surplus energy so rescued should be expended in the home and tool shop. This could easily be ac- complished by the school atmosphere recognizing the importance and value of domestic training for boys as well as girls. Oh, the idle hands underneath comparatively well trained heads! It was the experience of the writer to be compelled to order a plumber sent to repair some work. A mere boy, only seven- teen years old was sent to perform the work which, while being complicated, was skillfully and satisfactorily accomplished. A few moments conversation with the boy elicited the information that he had been earning full plumber's wages for three years. At the same time there sat by my parlor grate a college grad- uate with the credentials of a post graduate course, without a dollar, and with no practical ability by which he could earn enough to keep himself independent of charity.
In summing up, I would suggest that our public school system should begin with the kindergarten, carrying the advance work in this line, as far as practical into the primary grades, making clay modeling prominent, training the eye to see things as they are, and to see all around them would warrant. Dovetail into this the domestic training, and by domestic I mean everything pertaining to the home, in doors and out, creating a sentiment which shall relieve the household occupations from the stigma of drudgery. Commence much earlier with geometrical and mechanical drawing, carrying it through the present manual training system, ending with the trade schools and schools of applied science.
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Is this beyond the province of our educational system? How? why? This manual training department should not be optional in any of the lower grades. All should be expected to stand the test of examination along with any other study. After reaching the High School a manual training course might be elective, which must be persisted in to secure the diploma of graduation. The standing should count in the final average as any other branch carried through the course.
The Cleveland manual training school, while giving great satisfaction to those who avail themselves of its inestimable advantages, is working under great disadvantages by not being incorporated more vitally with the regular school course. The average boy goes to school and does his study under the pressure of compulsion from some source. Each branch of study has a thrust back of it, or it would scarce get the necessary attention.
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LETTERS RECEIVED BY SOROSIS
From Distinguished Ladies in 1891 and 1892
Mrs. Potter Palmer, (2) President Ladies' Board of Columbian Exposition, Chicago.
Mrs. Charles Henrotin, (5) Vice President of Auxiliary Work of Columbian Exposition, 65 Bellevue Place, Chicago.
Miss Luella Varney, (2) Sculpturess, Rome, Italy.
Mrs. Mary B. Temple, (2) Cor. Sec. G.F.W.C., Knoxville, Tenn.
Miss Mary D. Steele, (4) State Cor. of G. F. W. C.
Miss Mary Evans, (2) Prin. Lake Erie Seminary, Painesville, O.
Miss Mary Keffer, (1) Teacher in Lake Erie Seminary.
Mrs. John S. Cary, (2) Cleveland, Ohio.
Mrs. D. S. Tilden, (1) Toronto, Canada.
Mrs. A. A. Johnston, (2) Oberlin, Ohio, Principal of Ladies' De- partment, Oberlin College.
Mrs. A. D. Davidson, (5) President of Women's National Sci- ence Club, Oberlin, Ohio.
Mrs. A. J. Stewart, (2) remote member of Sorosis, Manchester, England.
Mrs. C. W. Cornwell, (1) remote member of Sorosis, Stratford, Connecticut.
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ARTISTS OF CLEVELAND
F. W. Simmons was born in Fredonia, Pa., came to Cleve- land for his first art study, going later to New York, Munich and Paris to further his art work.
He early showed proficiency in portrait painting, which he followed with marked success in Cleveland.
He married in 1898 to Miss Cornelia Russell of Cleveland, who has been the greatest help to the struggling artist. For the past ten years they have resided most of the time in Paris with visits to Cleveland and St. Paul, where Mr. Simmons has had great success painting landscapes as well as portraits.
Luella Varney Serrao was born in Angola, New York, Her father was Joshua Davis Varney-a civil engineer who came to Cleveland in the early seventies, when she was very young.
He was a civil engineer here until he passed away in 1912. He was county surveyor here for two terms of eight years.
She began her studies at the old Wilson School, which stood near "Rocks Corners"-and was soon after moved onto Wood- land and became a blacksmith shop.
Then to Outhwaite and ended at Central High. In her vacations she began studying painting then in the School of Art, in the City Hall. She also was in the old "Art League," which worked evenings, also in the old City Hall.
She little by little worked into sculpture and went to Italy where she remained off and on about thirty years.
After a few years of successful work there she married a young Italian, Teodoro Serrao.
He was then writing for the papers-Art critic-and wrote an article about her work-thinking she was a man-only hav- ing seen her work. He was the son of the head of the police
LUELLA VARNEY, SCULPTOR, ROME
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in Rome at that time. But Serrao senior was soon made Prefect -which corresponds to our Governor.
Teodoro Serrao, after his marriage, became a very success- ful lawyer. He had about all the international law of Rome, and was frequently called in consultation to London and Paris. He was the Legal Adviser to the American and English Em- bassies, and he was sometimes called the Watchdog of English capital. Fortune smiled upon the young couple, and the good things of this world fell to their share. They had one boy, strong and beautiful, their delight and pride.
They were presented consecutively at the courts of Queens Margaret and Elena, and were included in all that was im- portant and interesting in the great world of the old Capitol. He was a very brilliant man and much sought after. They were in personal contact with all the higher life in the city that draws the great minds of all the world.
It was a fine period-and for many years their lives lay in pleasant places.
Then, in the very acme of his career, just as real greatness was within his reach, his sight was taken away-he became blind. For nearly four years the Via Crucis continued. They traveled from place to place, always hoping to find the lost sight, in new methods and places.
When he passed away she came back to Cleveland with her boy for a time. But his education had been begun on the other side and she considered it her duty to finish it there. So she went back and forth.
She had done little with her art all those happy and un- happy years, but now she took it up with enthusiasm.
So her art has been in two periods-before and after her married life.
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After her mother's death she persuaded her father, already in delicate health, to go back to Rome with her, but it was too late to fulfill the dream of her life to have him with her in her adopted home. He was too weak to enjoy it. Only two months after arriving there he passed away.
And now, both she and her boy-now a young man of twenty-are glad to be on this side of the broad Atlantic, with this dreadful war waging over there. Though Italy is wisely keeping her neutrality thus far.
Here is a list of some of Luella Varney's works.
Here in Cleveland are the busts of Judges Andrews, Stev- enson Burke, Tilden, Hamilton and Babcock-the last men- tioned in the Law Library.
Busts of Bishops Rappi, Gilmour and Horstmann.
Bust of Mark Twain in the Public Library.
Busts of Senator H. B. Payne and Mrs. Payne.
Bas relief of Andrew Rickoff.
Bust of Mrs. Eddy-the Christian Science leader.
Monument to Bishop Rappi, near the Cathedral.
Jacob Perkins Monument in Lake View Cemetery.
And several other smaller works.
Four busts in Denver, Col., one in Kansas City, Mo. Bust of Bishop Wiggar in Newark, N. J.
One of Mrs. Eddy in Boston.
One of Edith Van Buren (the beauty) in New York.
Four busts in England.
One bust in France.
Busts of Garibaldi and Moliere in Rome.
Two bas reliefs in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Several fancy groups and other works here and there.
And a monument to an archbishop in the cathedral of Odyssa, Russia.
LUELLA VARNEY SERRAO.
8
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LIFE OF CAROLINE L. O. RANSOM.
Caroline L. Ormes Ransom, who died in Washington, D. C., February 12, 1910, was a lineal descendant on her father's side of Sir Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, and Lord High Chan- cellor of England under Charles II. In this branch of the fam- ily the name of Anne Hyde, that of Edward's daughter, the Duchess of York, and mother of two queens of England, has continued every generation down to the present.
Her mother was Elizabeth Ormes, daughter of General Jonathan Ormes of Castleton, Vermont, a survivor of one of the infamous Jersey prison-ships in the Revolutionary War, and commander of the Vermont troops in the War of 1812. In 1840 her father settled at Harpersfield, Ashtabula County, Ohio, on the banks of the Grand River, when he built a large flouring mill, saw mills and a woolen factory, thus forming the business center of this Eastern portion of the Western Reserve, and where their beautiful home became the favorite resort for the best families of that part of the country. Here, later, Caroline was born. She graduated from the Grand River Institute with highest honors, when she was offered the professorship of Latin and Greek in her Alma Mater, which she held for two years.
From her mother she inherited a love for art and during her vacations she studied drawing and water-color painting, and on her return to the institution she established classes in those branches. About this time an itinerant portrait painter appeared at her father's home and was employed to paint her portrait and those of other members of the family, and Caro- line took her first lessons in portraiture from him. From this humble beginning by indefatigable work and study she made great progress and later going to New York was received into the homes of Horace Greeley and his sister, Mrs. John F.
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Cleveland, and by them introduced into the literary circles of the great metropolis. Miss Ransom continued the study of landscape painting under Asher B. Durand, then president of the National Academy of Design. Later on the advice and through the influence of Mr. Greeley and Mr. Dana she became a pupil in portraiture of Thomas Hicks, by whom her first study from life the "Woman in Fur," was highly commended, and which really decided her career. While with him she painted her portrait of Joshua R. Giddings, which was hung on "the line" in the Academy, next to a picture by her master, and which received high commendation by him and other critics.
This picture was afterward purchased by congress for the capitol. This picture was the first patronage by congress of a woman artist.
Among other famous men who sat to Miss Ransom were Dr. J. P. Kirtland, the naturalist; John Brough, the great War Governor of Ohio; Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of State under Lincoln; Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, and Benjamin F. Wade.
Miss Ransom had partially completed a portrait from life of General U. S. Grant, at the time of his death. She after- ward completed it from photographs, and it was pronounced by competent critics to be one of the best portraits of Grant extant.
In 1876 Miss Ransom went to Europe where she studied the old masters, and by reason of her skill she was voluntarily afforded opportunities for copying the Sistine Madonna and others of the world's most famous pictures, a privilege greatly coveted by all artists and rarely accorded except after months of waiting. The director said he was anxious to have such a copy as that American lady can make, seen in America.
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In 1880 the Hamilton family selected Miss Ransom to paint the portrait of Alexander Hamilton for the Treasury Depart- ment.
In 1881 the family of Gen. John A. Dix of New York also chose Miss Ransom to paint his portrait for this department.
James G. Blaine, when Secretary of the Treasury under President Garfield, purchased Miss Ransom's portrait of Thomas Jefferson for the State Department. In 1886 the Garfield Me- morial Association of Toledo selected Miss Ransom to paint the portrait of that eminent soldier and statesman. The portrait was highly successful.
Miss Ransom opened her studio in Cleveland in 1860, which she maintained many years. From there she went to Washing- ton, where she continued up to the time of her death.
As has frequently been the case with great artists, Miss Ransom was gifted in poetry and literature. Her studio was frequented by men and women of learning and culture, and invitations to her receptions were highly appreciated by those fortunate enough to be in the circle of her acquaintance.
IRENE G. RANSOM.
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SKETCH OF LIFE OF A. M. WILLARD.
Archibald M. Willard was born in Bedford, Ohio, August 26th, 1836, son of Rev. Samuel R. Willard. Lived as a boy in various towns near Cleveland, until the age of nineteen. He early showed a taste for drawing, but there being no facilities for developing his talent, and being obliged to make his own way in the world, he secured a position in a carriage factory in Wellington, Ohio. Here in addition to his regular work as carriage painter, he occasionally painted a picture. One of these paintings, of a humorous character, came under the notice of J. F. Ryder, photographer and publisher of Cleve- land. Arrangements were made for publishing same in chromo form, and were issued in 1874 under the name of "Pluck" No. 1 and 2. No. 1 represents the pursuit of a rabbit by a dog, which is hitched to a cart and driven by a boy. No. 2 shows the capture of the rabbit, the wreck of the wagon and the pluck of the boy, who still holds to the reins. These pictures had a very wide circulation. A citizen of a town near Cleveland pur- chased a pair in London. Thinking he had secured something choice he exhibited them to his friends at home, but was some- what chagrined when one of his friends pointed out the imprint (A. M. Willard, Cleveland, Ohio) on the margin.
In 1874 Willard was induced to open a studio in Cleveland, where between painting portraits and landscapes, he produced several serio-comic pictures for publication in chromo. To one of these Bret Harte gave the title "Deacon Jones' Experience." He also wrote a poem illustrative of the painting.
As the Centennial year approached Mr. Ryder suggested that they get up something for that historical occasion. The
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