The higher work benches are intended for those of the pupils who do their work in a standing position, and the lower for those who are sitting while working. For I do not believe in a method that compels the little children to stand upon their tiny legs all that time they spend in the Sloyd class. Some part of their work can be done just as well while they are sitting down, especially the piercing with the star - and the scroll-saws, the modelling with the Sloyd knife, and different kinds of filing. The pupils will themselves very quickly acquire the discrimination as to which position is the most suitable for the work as well as for themselves. And as the Sloyd teacher ought to possess a thorough knowledge of anatomy as well as of physiology, she will by a glance be able to judge whether the position of the child's body during the work is a good one, that is promoting the development of the muscular strength, or an injurious one, which of course is instantly to be corrected.

If this rule is kept up conscientiously, that the Sloyd teacher should be a pedagogically trained teacher, and not merely a skilful carpenter, then it is not necessary to do as some of the Sloyd systems require.

For an essential part of these is to cover the walls of the Sloyd room with large pictures showing the right and the wrong position of the body while using every different kind of tools. Besides the queer idea of reproducing in a picture one or two wrong positions, while the wrong position can be of various sorts, those pictures that represent the very right position will at length prove to become an obstacle to the teacher, because they prevent the introduction of improved tools, which might require a different position of the body from any one that is provided for in these authorized wall-pictures.

I happened once to be at a landing stage, when a trades union returned from a picnic. It struck me that every man in the party had his left shoulder higher than the right, and the older men more so than the younger ones. I at once presumed them to be carpenters, who had got their frame deformed by a life-long, one-sided work at the bench. Subsequent inquiries confirmed my supposition. The consequent warping of their brains was not visible, but it was surely there.

A friend of mine went to a Sloyd school in Sweden and stayed there for two years, diligently working, according to the method of that place.

When she came back her right hand had grown so much larger than her left one that for all her lifetime she will have to use gloves of a different number for each hand.

The Danish method provides alternate work for both hands.

A farmer possesses as a rule a more vivid intellect and a better health than a craftsman. That has hitherto been attributed to the influence of the better air he enjoys, but surely the more harmonious bodily motions rendered by field labor than by a trade count for a great deal.

In all the following exercises the children are to be trained to use not only the right hand but also the left one as much as possible, especially when sawing, planing, filing, and sandpapering. This for the sake of the harmonious development of both sides of the body. That special kind of work benches, which I have just given a description of, have been designed by me particularly for the purpose of promoting alternate work with both hands. If common work benches are used, they must be supplied with one row of holes along each side - such as the Danish are - lest the pupil be forced to work one-sidedly.