Field lessons in the geography and history of the Boston Basin : a handbook for teachers

Contents

Page

Introduction v

Chapter

Introduction

THE following Outline of Field Lessons is the result of a dozen years of study of the problem of teaching Geography in the grammar grades. The large number of earnest, progressive teachers who have done, and are still doing pioneer work along this line proves the need of some systematic plan in giving field lessons in the different grades. Otherwise the pupil may be taken to the same place by successive teachers, and altogether miss some of the most valuable trips. By following some such outline as is here given every pupil will have an opportunity to visit many different localities, and acquaint himself at first hand with his home city and all its advantages.

There are few sections of the country that offer such a variety of attractive subjects for field lessons as Metropolitan Boston. This region is, as Ex-President Eliot has so truly said, one of the most interesting historical regions in the United States, and one of the most beautiful to be found here or in Europe. Nature has been lavish with her charms; she has given us sea and shore, rocky headlands and broad, smooth beaches, tidal marshes with their sinuous streams, hill and valley, rugged woodlands and sparkling ponds and rivers, vi

INTRODUCTION

— in short, almost every variety of natural scenery that can be imagined. A wise state and city government has conserved the best of these features, taking for the free use of all her people broad areas of forest and shore and stream, and uniting them into the finest system of parks on this continent, if not in the world. These parks will keep in everlasting remembrance the names of such landscape architects as Eliot and Olmsted.

The historical features that make this region a Mecca for thousands of visitors every summer are too well known to need mention. The very mention of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, of the Old North and the Old South churches, of Faneuil Hall and Dorchester Heights, are enough to awaken a thrill in the heart of every boy and girl the country over. To be within reach of these historic shrines is a privilege we do not all appreciate. To allow the children under our charge to leave school without having visited these places is to neglect one of the greatest opportunities offered us.

Metropolitan Boston is rich in natural scenery and historical associations, and it offers also a field of study to the amateur geologist and the student of physical geography scarcely surpassed by any region of similar size on the globe. A large variety of rocks, crystalline, igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary, are found close at hand ; the most recent geological formations are brought into sharp contrast with very ancient rocks, as at Revere

INTRODUCTION vii

(post-pliocene) and Nahant (eozoic). Every variety of shore form is offered for study; while rivers, streams, brooks, lakes, swamps, tidal streams and marshes abound. Every kind of tree and shrub that will grow in a temperate climate may be seen, and in many places are labelled for study. The student of botany is offered an almost unrivalled opportunity for the study of native flora; and hundreds of kinds of wild birds, animals and insects are to be found in the parks and woods.

No less extensive is the field for the study of commercial and industrial geography. Boston, the second port in the United States, has direct trade relations with the West Indies, Central and South America, Europe, Asia and the Philippines. Ships from all these regions may be seen unloading at her wharves, and the cargoes and crews offer splendid object lessons when the class is studying these regions.

Classes may profitably study at first hand such leading industries as the leather, wool and cotton trades, the fishing industry, sugar-refining, meatpacking, the wholesale and retail lumber trade, printing and book-binding, and a great variety of other industries and manufactures.

With the wealth of material offered, the task has been to select those field lessons which are the most valuable, or which are typical. Necessarily, in a book of this size, only a small part of the field can be covered. No attempt has been made to touch upon the broad subject of Nature Study.

viii

INTRODUCTION

Only a few suggestions have been attempted in the line of industrial and commercial geography.

Should mistakes be found in the following pages, the indulgence of the reader is asked. The author has tried to verify statements and figures wherever it has been possible, and to give the latest facts obtainable.

Acknowledgments are due Professor W. 0. Crosby, from whose admirable Geology of Eastern Massachusetts and Outlines of Lectures before the Teachers' School of Science most of the facts relating to the geology of the region have been taken, often verbatim; to the excellent guide-books of Boston and vicinity by Mr. Edwin M. Bacon, where many interesting historical facts not otherwise obtainable have been found; and finally to Superintendents Stratton D. Brooks of Boston and Frank E. Parlin of Cambridge, and the late Assistant Superintendent Robert E. Burke of Boston, for inspiration and valuable suggestions.

E. L. G.

Dorchester, Sept. 1, 1910.

OUTLINE OF FIELD LESSONS

FIELD TRIPS. GRADE IV.

1. To Roop op Schoolhoube or Near-by Hill.

a. Typical land forms; hill, valley, plain, slope, etc.

b. Typical water forms; ocean, bay, strait, stream, river.

c. Land and water forms; island, peninsula, isthmus, bluff, pond, beach.

d. Direction; cardinal points of the compass; where sun rises and sets.

(Note: best taken as four very elementary field lessons.)

2. Waverley.

Study of a brook and its basin.

Ponds, waterfall, erosion of valley, flood-plain, terraces. Elementary glacial forms; boulders, till, sand-plain, esker.

3. Dome op State House.

Broad, comprehensive view of Boston and environs. Boston harbor ; islands, Charles and Mystic Rivers, suburbs.

4. Peabodt Museum, Cambridge.

Eskimos: manners, customs, homes, dress, implements.

5. Local History Trip.

A study of the Colonial or Revolutionary relics and monuments in the neighborhood of the school.

FIELD TRIPS. GRADE V.

1. Arlington Heights.

Study of soils: rock waste, weathering, coarse and fine soil.

Boston Basin and upland: peneplain; effects of weathering.

Nature study: trees, shrubs, flowers, birds, rocks and minerals, etc.

2. T Wharf: Study op a Great Industry. Fishing; boats, method of handling the fish, kinds of

fish, markets.

X

(A study of the leather, cotton or woollen industry may be substituted.)

3. National Dock, East Boston.

South American ship unloading. Commerce with Argentine.

(Or trip to B. & A. Docks, East Boston, to study trade with South America.)

4. Cambridge: Geological Museum at Harvard. Study of Davis Models, showing type forms of land

areas.

Examine Curtis's Model of Metropolitan Boston. Agassiz Museum: Animals of the different continents.

5. Historical Trip: Beacon Hill and Vicinity. State House and Grounds; Louisburg Square; Common; Public Gardens.

(See Historical outline, School Doc, No. 14, 1909, p. 60.)

FIELD TRIPS. GRADE VI.

1. Peabody Museum, Cambridge.

Indians of North and South America.

Types, dress, implements, mode of life, homes, etc.

2. Atlantic Avenue: Long Wharf.

Central American trade; United Frujt Company steamer.

Study import trade in fruits; exports.

3. Winthrop: Shore Features.

Work of waves and tides; resulting shore forms. Beaches; barrier, pocket, re-entrant, connecting. Tidal marsh, formation and history; tidal streams. Other features connected with shore forms.

4. East Boston: European Trade.

Visit Cunard steamer unloading.

Study exports and imports; passenger traffic with England.

(Or Hoosac Tunnel Docks, Charlestown, White Star Line, to study trade with Mediterranean ports, immigration.)

5. Historical Trip: Faneuil Hall to Park Street. (Trip II, Course of study in History, p. 60.)

Faneuil Hall, Adams Square, Old State House, Devonxi shire Street, Milk Street, School Street, Tremont Street, King's Chapel and cemeteries.

FIELD TRIPS. GRADE VII.

1. Roof op Schoolhouse or Near-by Hill. Practical use of compass in determining direction. Sketch map of region in sight; elevation by lines. Determination of noon shadow throughout the year.

Systematic observation of change in length of day. Seasons.

2. Charlestown: Mystic Wharf; Commerce with Asia.

Visit to a steamer from India or China. Study of exports and imports; lists to be made by pupils. Coolies and Mohammedans; Chinese, Filipinos and Japanese.

3. West Medford: The Lawrence Woods.

Broad view of the Boston Basin and surrounding uplands.

Topography of Boston: Plains of the Mystic and

Charles rivers.

Nature study: rocks, soils, trees, flowers, birds, care of

park, etc.

4. Historical Trip: North Square to Site of Griffin's Wharf.

Paul Revere's House; Garden Court- Street, Christ Church; Hull Street, Copp's Hill, Constitution Wharf, Site of Griffin's Wharf.

5. Lexington: About the Nineteenth of April. Study of Routes of Revere and the British soldiers. Lexington as a typical New England colonial town.

FIELD TRIPS. GRADE VIII. 1. Charlestown Navy Yard.

History of our Navy.

Development of the modern Battleship.

"Old Ironsides"; War with Tripoli; War of 1812. Type of wooden "74" Frigate.

W abash. Civil War.

Best type of the wooden ship of her period.

New York (or some other model battleship). Development of the Monitor type. Cruiser, torpedo-boat, torpedo-boat destroyer, submarine, etc.

2. Foreign Commerce. Boston as a Shipping Port. Visit to the Cunard, White Star, Mystic and Leland

docks, and other features. (As many of these as can be seen in one lesson.) Study of exports and imports, methods of transportation,

docks, and other features.

3. Massachusetts State House.

Visit the Legislature while it is in session. Meet the Governor (if it can be arranged in advance). Study the method of passing a law. Inspect different state departments; study the workings of each.

Battle flags, mural decorations, Hooker and Shaw monuments.

4. Historical Trips in and about Boston.

To be done in group work by pupils. Some places to be visited and reported on:

1. Old South Church.

2. Old North Church and Paul Revere House.

3. Boston Common; Revolutionary landmarks

there and near by.

4. King's Chapel and two neighboring burying-

grounds.

5. Dorchester Heights.

6. Powder-House Park, Somerville.

7. Prospect Hill.

8. Medford; Revolutionary and Colonial Houses

and Landmarks.

9. Cambridge; Revolutionary and Colonial Houses

and Landmarks.

5. Commercial Geography.

Group trips to study commerce with South America, the Far East, etc.

6. Industrial Geography.

Class trip to some important Boston or local industry; e. g.:

1. Fishing; a visit to T Wharf.

BOSTON BASIN"

xiii

2. Sugar refining; visit to refinery in South Boston.

3. Leather industry; visit to shoe factory or

leather importing house.

4. Cotton industry; visit to cotton factory.

5. Lumbering; see wharves and mill in operation.

6. Book-making; Riverside Press, Cambridge, or

similar plant.

7. Gas plant ; take the nearest one.

8. Glass works; Somerville or some other glass

factory.

9. Iron foundry.

10. Electric generating plant.

Similar trips may be substituted for any of these.

LlTERABY JOURNTYS.

1. Cambridge: homes of Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes

(site), Higginson, and others.

2. Concord: homes of Emerson, Hawthorne, Louisa

Alcott, and othors.

3. Boston, .or other literary centres, treated in similar

manner.

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Chapter I

IN order to understand the physical features of Boston and vicinity, one must have a clear mental picture of the district surrounding Boston Harbor, taken as a whole. In order to get this broad but necessary view it will be best to review briefly the geological history of this section.

Eastern Massachusetts was once covered by very lofty mountains. In time these were worn down almost to sea level, their few remaining stumps being very hard, rocky hills, like the Blue Hills of Milton and the granite hills of Quincy. Through this almost flat country the rivers wound sluggishly to the sea, which was then further to the east than it is now. At that time the Mystic, Neponset, Saugus, and other small rivers which now empty into Boston Harbor were branches of the Charles. There was then no such indentation as that we now know as the harbor. What is now the ship channel was the mouth of the Charles.

Then came an uplift of the whole region. The rivers, which had ceased their cutting, were revived, and again began to wear away the land, eroding valleys in what had become a nearly level plateau that rose gradually towards the north and west.

In time the rivers, including the Charles and its branches, had again cut down to grade; z. e., had worn away the land so that it was once more nearly at sea level, and had widened their valleys to a great extent so that they had a second time become fairly old rivers when the ice age came.

To summarize : —

This region was once covered with very lofty mountains, higher than the Rocky Mountains are now.

Through vast periods of time these mountains were worn down almost to sea level, so that the region was a coastal plain.

Here and there were left hills of very hard rocks (like the Blue Hills), known as monadnocks, from a typical mountain of this type in New Hampshire.

Then the land rose gradually, with a general slope from the northwest towards the sea.

The rivers again began to cut away this upraised plain, and in time had widened their valleys until the region was one of many hills and valleys, an extensive peneplain, rising from sea level to a height of two thousand feet at the foot of the White Mountains.

Then the whole surface was covered with a great ice sheet.

Effects of Glaciation

This great blanket of ice, thick enough to cover entirely the highest hills of the upland, came down from Labrador. As it advanced it scraped off the soil, broke off the ledges, rounded the hills, and deposited great masses of " drift " (boulders, stones, clay, sand, etc., mixed together) in the hollow places. Much of the surface soil was pushed ahead of the ice sheet, so that what had once been a very fertile region became, after the retreat of the glacier, a rocky and comparatively barren region, poorly adapted to cultivation.

The weight of this enormous mass of ice caused the land to sink many feet, so that when the glacial era was over, what had been the old mouth of the Charles, with its adjoining valley, became an estuary into which its former branches now empty. This estuary is Boston Harbor. What had formerly been hills and ridges of the mainland near the mouth of the Charles were left as rocky islets. The Brewsters, Slate Island, etc., are examples.

Where these ridges and islets were small they served to check the advance of the ice sheet, thus gathering the waste of the land which was being pushed along the bottom of the glacier. It is important to understand this, for nearly all the hills and islands in Boston, in the suburbs, and in the harbor, were formed in this way.

The ice sheet was moving towards the southeast. On any contour map of Metropolitan Boston it will be noticed that practically all the hills are oval in shape, with a general northwest and southeast trend. Corey Hill in Brookline, the hill at Orient Heights, Winter Hill in Somerville, and the harbor islands are good examples. These were formed, as has already been said, by the forward movement of the ice sheet being retarded at the bottom by an elevation of the old hard, resistant bed-rock. Here the waste that had been scoured from the surface of the land and was being pushed seaward slowly accumulated under the ice in the form of regular oval hills shaped like an egg that has been sliced in two the longest way. When the ice melted it left these hills, long, rather narrow, with sky-line curved as perfectly as if trimmed by some huge knife.

Such hills are found in most glaciated areas. They were first named in Ireland. From the Gaelic word 'Mruim," the ridge of a hill, they were called drumlins. Webster defines a drumlin as "a hill of compact, unstratified, glacial drift or till, usually elongate or oval, with the larger axis parallel to the former glacial motion. "

In no part of the world can drumlins be studied to better advantage than about Boston. It is because they form such an important feature in the general topography here, and because almost every hill in what we shall call the " Boston Basin" is a drumlin, that the formation should be thoroughly understood, and the form itself be instantly recognized on sight.

Extent of the Boston Basin

To best understand what is included in the term Boston Basin, you should have before you the general map of the Metropolitan District of Boston. A copy of this map may be procured free by applying at the office of the Metropolitan Park Commission, 14 Beacon Street.

Beginning at Swampscott on the northeast, draw the rim of the basin as follows: through Lynn, being careful to keep south of the brown contour lines; across the Saugus River, through Maplewood, Maiden, Medford, West Medford, Arlington (just west of Spy Pond), Belmont, Waverley, Waltham (south of Cedar Hill), along the western bank of the Charles, south through Highlandville, Charles River Village, Dedham and Oakdale ; skirting the southern bank of the Neponset, through Milton, West Quincy and Braintree, and so to the margin of the map. Then draw a line from Swampscott south to Nantasket, and you have marked out the Basin.

It comprises, as you see, the flood-plains of the Saugus, Mystic, Charles, Neponset and Weymouth rivers and their branches. Nearly all the people of Metropolitan Boston live on the flood-plains of the three largest of these rivers, and on the scattered drumlins nearby.

In a sense the Basin is entirely "made land." It has all been formed by one of three agencies: 1. Soil brought down by the rivers; 2. Soil deposited by the glacier as drumlins, including that washed from them by the waves and tides; 3. Land reclaimed from the sea by man. Cambridge is a fair type of the first, Winthrop of the second, and much of Boston proper of the third. It will be remembered that the Boston of colonial times consisted only of the three drumlins, Beacon Hill, Copp's Hill and Fort Hill, with the barrier beach, called "the neck," along which Washington Street runs, and which connected these drumlins with the mainland at Roxbury. This may be clearly seen on any map of Boston made before 1800.

North, west and south of this line you have drawn, and which we will call "the rim of the basin," rise the old, worn-down hills of the peneplain, greatly dissected by numerous streams, and dotted with lakes of glacial origin. These hills rise gradually toward the north and west until they are merged into the true Appalachian highlands.

Our map now presents three distinct geographical features : —

1. The harbor, with its rock islands, drumlins and beaches.

2. The " made land " of the basin, with its rivers, flood-plains, and drumlins.

3. The upland, or peneplain, with its valleys, monadnocks and glacial features.

All these can be seen at a glance if you will take your map and go to the Geological Museum at Harvard. Here, on the fourth floor, is the remarkable plaster model of the Metropolitan District of

Boston, prepared by Mr. G. C. Curtis in 1900 for the Paris Exposition. In a huge circular frame, thirty feet in circumference, is shown every feature, physical and political, of an area covering over five hundred square miles. Everything is mathematically exact, and some idea of the enormous amount of labor involved in its construction may be gained from the following figures, taken from a pamphlet issued by the state to describe the model : —

"There are 250 miles of railroad, with cuts, double and single tracks, bridges, embankments, carefully modelled to scale and graded ; 300 miles of stream, modelled and painted ; and 200,000 trees, each separate, and located from the best maps and original surveys, the pine trees being distinguished from the deciduous by both form and color. There are 26,000 blocks, correctly located according to the maps, and 2,750 miles of streets, making a network over all the model ; all the streets in Boston, as well as throughout the suburbs and adjacent country, having been similarly produced. Dwelling-houses to the number of 157,000 are located and built up from the mapped ground plans.

" The Blue Hills, with heavily timbered slopes and granite cliffs and the observatory on the summit, loom up on the southwest edge highest of all. The Charles River winds in and out across the model, and the population is seen to cluster within its wide valley in Boston, Gambridge, Somerville, Brookline, Watertown, Newton, Waltham, Dedham, Needham, etc. On the north the Middlesex Fells stands upon the plateau, studded with ponds and reservoirs, and covered with rocks, along whose sides is a good sprinkling of trees. Nahant's beautiful rocky shores and sandy beaches are plainly shown in natural colors; even the low, seaweedcovered rocks along the water's edge are accurately modelled. The tidal flats have been located from the latest charts and painted a half-tone between land and sea. Lynn Beach, the Lynn Woods (full of glens and ponds), the rocky shore of Swampscott and Egg Rock, come in on the northeast. The islands in the harbor — the Brewsters, the barren Graves, and the Shag Rocks — stand out light against the deep blue ocean. On the south lies Nantasket Beach, along which Atlantic and Point Allerton are prominent hills. Hingham harbor, with ist rocky islands, the Weymouth Back River (east) and the Weymouth Fore River, west of which is Hough's Neck peninsula, with broad Quincy Bay on its inner side, may be carefully studied, as they lie near the edge of the model. Egg Rock Light on the island one mile east of Nahant, Boston Light with its tall white tower or lighthouse on Little Brewster Island, the Narrows or Bug Light on the end of Great Brewster Spit, Deer Island Light (a red iron cylinder standing out of the water on the bar east of Deer Island), Long Island Light on the north end of Long Island, eighty-four feet above the sea, two lowrange lights on the north end of Spectacle Island, showing a safe channel to the inside harbor, — are the beacons. Buoys, painted correctly, red on the right, black on the left of the ship channel on entering, and spindles, iron rods supporting a ball, are placed in position, as are all other charted day marks. By t&ese a navigator can readily fine} his way,"

The model thus shows clearly the exact extent and the principal features of the Boston Basin. These features will be fully described in the succeeding chapters.

General Directions for Field Trips

No field trip should be taken with a class until the teacher has been over the ground herself and is ready to point out to her pupils just what she wishes them to see. If the whole class is to be taken it will be well for two teachers to plan the trip together, selecting a day when one of them is free (if the school has manual training and cooking). In some schools the sub-master accompanies the class on his free session.

A megaphone is a valuable aid in calling the attention of the class to objects of interest and importance. A compass and a camera are also valuable aids, the former being indispensable on most trips. A pair of field glasses will often be of help.

In a school having a well-arranged course of field lessons covering the grammar grades, say three or four trips a year for each grade, a pupil will have made fifteen or twenty such trips during his school course, and will have a good general idea of the topography, history and scenic beauties of the region.

Few cities in the world offer so many and so variec! attractions tQ the tourist or pupil a^ does.

the Metropolitan District of Boston. As one writer says: " Within a radius of twelve miles from the State House, easily accessible, are many of the most notable landmarks and monuments of the Colonial, Provincial and Revolutionary periods, and a territory spreading back from the shores of Boston Bay, while thickly settled, yet still of remarkably diversified landscape, enriched by lofty hills, broad sweeps of valleys, masses of woodland, picturesque rivers, ponds and brooks."

Some of these attractions are thus enumerated by Edwin M. Bacon in his invaluable " Walks and Rides about Boston," a copy of which should be in the reference library of every school : —

"Between the bounds of this district (the Boston Metropolitan District) are Boston Bay and its seventy-five islands ; stretches of the finest beaches on the coast; the boundary rock-hills of the Basin; the great Blue Hills forest ; the Stony Brook woods in the midst of a populous quarter ; the lovely chain of public parkways and parks instituted by the City of Boston; the celebrated Waverley Oaks, the most ancient group of oak-trees in New England, and Beaver Brook, of which Lowell has sung; the rich preserve of the Middlesex Fells ; the wild Lynn Woods, one of the largest public domains belonging to any city in the United States; the basins of the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset rivers, and other localities famous beyond the limits of Boston. Of this territory nearly nine thousand acres are now reserved by law and maintained for free public use and enjoyment."

If the main benefit to be derived from a college course is the knowledge of where to get information and how to use it, then one of the aims of an elementary school course might well be to teach our pupils how to get acquainted with the riches of their own city, to know its history and its topography, and how to take advantage of the splendid transportation facilities for reaching the choicest places. It is a fact that thousands of our pupils grow to manhood and old age knowing nothing of the other parts of the city except the one in which their lot has been cast. But if given a course of well-planned field lessons under the skilful direction of a good teacher, their whole after life will be the richer.

The following outline of field lessons is the result of several years of study and experiment in one of the schools of the city. It is given as suggestive rather than final ; it will not fit the needs of every school; in many cases local trips, within walking distance of the schoolhouse, may well be substituted for some of those given. If it serves as a working basis for those ambitious and progressive teachers who realize the value of this line of teaching (the number is growing every year), and who are willing to do the extra amount of work required, the purpose of the writer will have been accomplished.

In addition to the field lessons an outline of Lantern Lessons, based on the new course of study for Boston, is appended. This also is tentative and suggestive. To carry on the lessons successfully does not require a very large number of slides.

The same slide, if selected carefully, will serve for use in many lessons : — for instance, a slide showing a group of Kaffirs outside their huts may be used in Grade IV to illustrate Homes; in Grade III, People, type forms of the brown race ; in Grade III, Vegetation dependent on climate. In the fifth grade it may be used to show Land Features. In Grade VI it may be used to compare the life forms or climate or products of Southern Africa with those of Europe and Asia. In Grade VII it belongs in the proper understanding of life and conditions of Africa. In the eighth grade it may be profitably used several times in illustrating great production regions, methods of transportation, vegetable fibres and the trade in them, forest products, commerce with Africa, and so on.

In the two upper grades, especially, any teacher may, at a trifling cost, add largely to the school stock of slides by making plain or colored slides illustrating productive areas, maps of different regions, diagrams showing the growth of different industries, comparative wealth of different nations, and a hundred other interesting and helpful subjects by the following method : —

Secure cheap dry plates of any size and cut them down to lantern-slide size (3£*4in.). Exposed plates, if they have not been developed, are as good as new ones, and may often be secured free from your photographer. Put them in a strong solution of hyposulphite of soda (seven cents a pound) for twenty minutes, and then wash under running water for twenty minutes. Dry them in a room free from dust, and you have a clear, transparent surface on which to trace any map or diagram, and one upon which you can lay a transparent water-color perfectly. The writer has found the "Peerless Japanese Transparent Water-Colors/ 1 sold at the department stores, to be the most satisfactory. A single book is sufficient to color hundreds of slides, and the colors are soft and beautiful on the screen.

When the map or diagram is finished and dry, cut out a mat, cover with a thin cover-glass, and bind with strong, thin binding-paper. The whole material will cost but a few cents, and you will, after a little practice, be able to make slides of which an expert need not be ashamed.

Chapter II

GRADE IV. LESSON 1 Roof of Schoolhouse

THE four following Roof Lessons for the Fourth Grade were worked out and successfully given for several years by Miss Eliza Graham of the Martin Training School when she was teaching at the Paul Jones School in East Boston. The four lessons were considered invaluable in the correct teaching of the elementary forms of land and water. The time given for each lesson was forty-five minutes. A group of fifteen pupils was taken to the roof, the rest of the class being employed on assigned work at their desks until it came their turn to go up stairs. Each group was given twelve minutes, the remaining nine minutes being used in changing groups.