When I was within a year of graduation, an application came from a Friends' school in Philadelphia for a colored woman who could teach Greek, Latin, and higher mathematics. The answer returned was: “We have the woman, but you must wait a year for her.”

Then began a correspondence with Alfred Cope, a saintly character, who, having found out what my work in college was, teaching my classes in college, besides sixteen private music scholars, and keeping up my work in the senior class, immediately sent me a check for eighty dollars, which wonderfully lightened my burden as a poor student.

I shall never forget my obligation to Bishop Daniel A. Payne, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who gave me a scholarship of nine dollars a year upon entering Oberlin.

My obligation to the dear people of Oberlin can never be measured in words. When President Finney met a new student, his first words were: “Are you a Christian? and if not, why not?” He would follow you up with an intelligent persistence that could not be resisted, until the question was settled.

When I first went to Oberlin I boarded in what was known as the Ladies' Hall, and altho the food was good, yet, I think, that for lack of variety I began to run down in health. About this time I was invited to spend a few weeks in the family of Professor H. E. Peck, which ended in my staying a few years, until the independence of the Republic of Hayti was recognized, under President Lincoln, and Professor Peck was sent as the first U. S. Minister to that interesting country; then the family was broken up, and I was invited by Professor and Mrs. Charles H. Churchill to spend the remainder of my time, about six months, in their family. The influence upon my life in these two Christian homes, where I was regarded as an honored member of the family circle, was a potent factor in forming the character which was to stand the test of the new and strange conditions of my life in Philadelphia. I had been so long in Oberlin that I had forgotten about my color, but I was sharply reminded of it when, in a storm of rain, a Philadelphia street car conductor forbid my entering a car that did not have on it “for colored people,” so I had to wait in the storm until one came in which colored people could ride. This was my first unpleasant experience in Philadelphia. Visiting Oberlin not long after my work began in Philadelphia, President Finney asked me how I was growing in grace; I told him that I was growing as fast as the American people would let me. When told of some of the conditions which were meeting me, he seemed to think it unspeakable.

At one time, at Mrs. Peck's, when we girls were sitting on the floor getting out our Greek, Miss Sutherland, from Maine, suddenly stopped, and, looking at me, said: “Fanny Jackson, were you ever a slave?” I said yes; and she burst into tears. Not another word was spoken by us. But those tears seemed to wipe out a little of what was wrong.

MY DEEP interest centers in elementary education for several reasons; first, because it is at this period of the child's life that habits are formed and tastes cultivated which may guide him in the pursuit of knowledge and happiness in after life, and which by the alchemy of experience are to change the elements of what he has learned into wisdom for his highest happiness. All higher learning is but a combination of a few simple elements, and when these are well taught, it clears away the difficulty of future acquisitions, and nature can spread her beauty before eyes that can see and teach the marvelous precision of her laws, to ears that can hear. I call this opening the doors upward and outward, whereas a different way of instruction is like going out of a room backward.

Again, we want to lift education out of the slough of the passive voice. Little Mary goes to school to be educated, and her brother John goes to the high school for the same purpose. It is too often the case that the passive voice has the right of way, whereas in the very beginning we should call into active service all the faculties of mind and body. Unfortunately book learning is so respectable, and there is so much of it all about us, that it is apt to crowd out the prosy process of thinking, comparing, reasoning, to which our wisest efforts should be directed.

Now, when we consider how much is lost by those who lose the benefit of the elementary development, and are therefore unable to pursue the higher branches with any degree of success or comfort to themselves or others, it is evident that this subject is worthy of a wise investigation and we must ask ourselves, how far are we responsible for this condition of affairs? I fear that the reason that so many are unable to keep up when they begin the higher studies is because they never mastered the elementary principles.

If a pupil is absent review day, or demonstration day, he is sure to feel the loss keenly in further pursuit of his studies. Growth in learning and acquisition proceeds slowly and by steps, and we must follow nature's direction.

To be at our business punctually and promptly every day is positively necessary for success, and no trifling excuse ought to be sufficient to keep us from our duty. You know what Uncle Dread said: “Scuses, scuses, the world is built on scuses.” A habit of always being on hand in time will save the child from much loss in its after life.

I think a very profitable way to help those who have been absent to make up for what they have lost, while at the same time they are getting the work better understood, is to have daily reviews of at least one half of the lesson; part oral and a part written. Such a course will be beneficial even to those who were not absent. It will be found very profitable always to have two or three divisions of the class. The divisions can be based upon ability to do the work rapidly or slowly. For where a person who is very quick gets beside a person who is very slow, he feels that he is wasting his time and becomes very impatient. And now is the time for the exercise of that Christian courtesy which will help us all the way through life.

Never let the word “dumb” be used in your class, or anything said disrespectful of parents or guardians who may have helped the child. If the teacher has the questions or the review well selected, they can be quickly given out and no one division has to wait for the other. When the teacher has given all the time possible to certain work, the divisions can be stopped, arranged in order and the pupils will profit by the criticisms of one another, the teacher making no corrections that can possibly be made by the class; thus inviting and stimulating the critical knowledge or judgment of all; whether in punctuation, spelling, subject matter, or the appearance of the work; the advanced lesson already having been heard by the teacher.

Blackboards are of great use in schools, and are a mercy to the eyes of the pupils that are thus released from the printed page; or if we can't have blackboards, then we can use brown paper, saved up from bundles containing articles, etc.

I AM always sorry to hear that such and such a person is going to school to be educated.

This is a great mistake. If the person is to get the benefit of what we call education, he must educate himself, under the direction of the teacher.

To go into the school and take one's seat is not a favorable sign for the work that is going to be done; the very first thing to do is to get our pupils into an orderly arrangement for working. The teacher probably has two or three divisions; one set will be employed at the blackboard, and one will recite to the teacher the lesson of the day. The work at the blackboard is review work. And just here is a very important step.

What shall the review consist of? I would say let one-half or three-fourths of the lesson be the review, and spend the rest of the time on the advanced lesson; that is, the lesson for the day. In order that no time may be lost in giving out the review, the teacher will have all the points selected for review written off, and some member of the class may pass these papers round to the division that has the review, and each one as he takes his paper goes to the board to do his work; or, if he has no board, then he must have the paper to write on, but let us hope that a very few will have to use paper, for the eye needs rest from the small writing with the pencil, and the eye of the teacher is also benefited by not having to scrutinize small letters, whereas the chalk on the blackboard sets off the words and is a great relief to the eye.

When the teacher has given as much time as he can with the work on the board, he stops the class that has been reciting to him and both divisions undertake the corrections of the board work; this must be done in a systematic manner.

Where shall we begin?

I should say to begin with what appears to be the poorest work on the board, in order that the most corrections may be made, and now the teacher must show great skill in keeping the attention of the class fixed upon one matter, for when they are enthusiastic, all will want to speak at once, or some will want to make remarks, or to jump from one point to another before the first is completely done.

Those who have been absent from time to time will find the reviews a great benefit to them, for when there is a distinct failure, we often hear the person say, I was absent when that lesson was given, for I don't remember it at all. How, then, could these children go on with the advanced lesson with any degree of understanding or profit?

Trial examinations upon simple principles that have been given for some time will oftentimes be of great profit to the class.

The teacher is not supposed to be talking or looking out of the window while the examination goes on, but is passing quietly from seat to seat looking at each person's work, so that when the time is up he is quite well informed as to how each person has succeeded in the work required of him, and what the principal errors are.

The vital errors are errors in the principles used. The misspelled words, grammatical errors, and anything else wrong comes in for its share of correction.

This correction by the teacher, coming immediately after the work is done, is very helpful to those being examined, and saves the teacher from carrying the work home and having to go over it all by himself, and besides, the pupils get far more benefit from this co-operative correction, as it may be called.

In order that the teacher may do his best work while his class is with him, it is necessary that he should have his work all arranged in his own mind before he meets the class. If the teacher is ingenious and he cannot be a good teacher without ingenuity, he can think out many helpful ways to occupy his pupils to the best advantage while he is with them. The lowest classes, as well as the highest, will reap great benefit from this skillful arrangement of their work by their teacher. I have before spoken of division of classes into two or three sections, but the teacher who makes the division must be very careful not to say of number one, this is the slowest division; or of another, this one can go more rapidly.

The teacher knows upon what principle to form his division, but if he begins to state his reasons to the class he will find it like throwing down the apple of discord: there will be no end to the exclamations of those who are in number two, who say that they could go on with number three, and those in number one will declare they can work just as fast as number two.

It is enough for the teacher to say that the classes can be managed and can do far more work when the teacher handles them in smaller numbers, so that one division can be writing while another is reciting, and all are kept busy as bees. The whole class should be working under the eye of the teacher. It ought not be necessary for the teacher to turn around to see if those who are at the board or those who are doing the work in their seats are in good order and not disturbing one another. A skillful arrangement on the part of the teacher can bring the whole under his own supervision. But the teacher should by no means take up a position as if watching the pupils. Put their conduct on high ground at the very beginning, and when they disappoint you by doing what the teacher would object to, we must let them know how disappointed we are by such a betrayal of trust, and they may start the next day to do better; and so, little by little, these young people will acquire the habit of doing what they know is right, whether the teacher sees them or not.

I have before spoken of talking in classes, because it disturbs the teacher and disturbs the class, but I have often heard them say, suppose I only whisper, would that disturb the class? As far as my experience goes, there can be no compromise with talking or whispering while the work is going on. The habit of self control is not easily acquired, but when the pupil has his tongue under control St. James says, “He is able also to bridle the whole body.” I believe that many a dreadful result has followed a too free use of the tongue, for it is well said, one word always brings on another and before we know it we are in the midst of a hot dispute over something. Not only the children, but the teacher may have too nimble a tongue, and may use it, not to explain what is difficult to the pupils, but to discuss why they are so stupid as to need any explanation.

Sometimes the teachers make uncomplimentary remarks about those who need to have the matter explained, saying, anybody could see that. I heard of a little boy once whose father had worked out some examples for him in arithmetic. The teacher should have known that the child did not do the work, and should have been careful about speaking of that work. “Why, that's a very old-fashioned way of doing that work; we don't do that way now,” and other things were said even more uncomplimentary of the person who did the work for the child. Here, again, is a case where the teacher needs to be corrected. It may as well be understood that all remarks which are disrespectful to the parents or guardian ought never to be indulged in by the teacher. Calling names, the words stupid, or dunce, or dumb, serves only to make the pupil angry or to discourage him. Here, again, the teacher ought to think of himself when he was taking his first lessons. Whenever a pupil has spoken disrespectfully to a teacher and the teacher can say with truth, do I not always speak kindly and politely to you? the case is won without any more argument. I have never known this to fail. I have often seen a tear steal down the face of a child, and then I neither asked for an apology nor forced one, but of the child's own volition it came at once.

How can we get the child trained to do what he dislikes to do and to obey our laws without corporal punishment? If the parent begins early enough, there is every hope of success, but, unfortunately, it is thought the child isn't old enough to understand what we wish him to do. For instance, a mother sees her little boy going around the room with a hammer, and of course looking for something to hit with it. She repeatedly tells him to bring the hammer to mamma, but he pays no attention to it. And, waiting a little while, she goes to him and takes the hammer away from him. He struggles with all his little might to keep it.

The mother should know it will not be very long before that little fellow will be strong enough, not only to keep the hammer, but to do with it as he will. Then was the time, when he paid no attention, for her to have taught that child to obey her and bring her the hammer of his own will. A little battle like that lost or won means victory or defeat for that child's future character.

To learn to give up his own will to that of his parents or teacher, as we must to the Great Teacher of all, will surely make us happy in this life and in the life to come. Happy is the child who has wise parents and guardians, and whose training is continued when he enters the school room. Whereas when a child has had little training in obedience at home it is not long before he gets into trouble in the school room, for there he finds himself surrounded by laws which he must obey if he makes the progress in his studies and in his character which he ought to make, which will give him an honored place in the school and out of it.

IT IS possible for the teacher to notice who those are in the class who do not care for learning what we have to give them; and the question to ask ourselves is, Why? Are the lessons too hard? or are they too long? Is the child well? Above all, does he seem to pass from one to another part of study with ease and comfort to himself, or is he troubled and uncertain? Does he often give excuses for staying away, and does he fail to get the meaning of what we are trying to teach him? When he fails in his lessons, does the teacher let the parent or guardian know, and how is this information supposed to be received at his home?

I have heard of a case where whenever the child failed in his lessons, word was sent to his father, who gave him no dinner and locked him up in the cellar. Would this punishment incline the child to love his studies or to get them any better? On the contrary, would he not hate them and be glad when he is through with them? We should remember that punishments that do not correct, harden. For this reason we should try to find out what the real trouble is, and then what will best make up for it.

Examinations privately conducted without letting the person know what you are looking for may give the true source of the trouble. And we may discover why the work we have given is not done. For instance, at one time being accused of having promoted a scholar to a higher class who could not multiply, I replied, “I know he can multiply.” “Try him yourself,” said the teacher. And I did try him myself, and found that when the multiplier and the multiplicand were separated as in long division the child did not know at what end to begin to multiply. As soon as I let in light on this point he went ahead like everything. Sometimes I've said to myself as I've watched the way that a pupil worked, you say you cannot get this example; no, and you never would have gotten it if you had kept on that way. All learning proceeds by steps. And the absences of pupils may be illustrated by a ladder with a rung out here and there. So that instead of the person going up easily and smoothly, he is every now and then distracted by the difficulty of the step. Let the pupils make a ladder, and show these parts out. Every succeeding lesson is carefully planned by a preceding demonstration or piece of instruction, and when a pupil is absent on one of these days it is very difficult to make up for it. We ought to be very careful about apportioning any severe punishment, and it would be well to sleep over it before we decide.

If the teacher is just as angry as the pupil, which is sometimes the case, he is not apt to do the wisest and kindest thing to bring about a spirit of repentance and a wish to correct what has been wrong. Happy is the teacher who can wait to win his pupil, to what he believes to be right.

I can think of no agency in the formation of a beautiful character that is more powerful than the daily correction and training which we call discipline, and here the teacher is all powerful.

The child can read his books and get much information from them to help him in his education, but he cannot see when he should be corrected, nor how to do so. To be apt in diagnosing a case to find the difficulties that a child labors under, and as apt in the correcting discipline, are valuable qualifications for a teacher. These qualifications cannot be put down in a book to be learned as ordinary lessons. We can only give suggestions, and the teacher must work out his own plans, and acquire the knowledge by actual practice.

Many a child called dull, would advance rapidly under a patient, wise and skillful teacher, and the teacher should be as conscientious in the endeavor to improve himself as he is to improve the child.

LET us understand that the object of punishment is not to make up for wrongdoing, for that cannot be done; but, to prevent the repetition of the wrong. It should always be administered in a kind spirit, and should be so reasonable, that a child's sense of justice would agree with it. He should see that if he repeated the wrong act it would not be good for him nor for the teacher nor his parents nor the school.

Of course no cruel punishment should ever be allowed, and if whipping is to be done it is far better for the parent to do it, for his hand is restrained by love.

I once heard this story. Two little boys were out selling matches; one having sold out met a comrade who had not sold any. Said the one who had been successful to his comrade, “I will take your matches and give you my money. If I am not sold out when I get home I shall get a whipping like yourself. Your master would whip you, but my father would whip me, but he wouldn't whip so hard nor so long as your master.” A page of philosophy could not give us a better understanding of the case, than is given by the incident of these two little match boys.

Habits of obedience can be taught to a child when it is little so that little by little he learns to give up his own will to that of his parents or teacher, which alone can make us happy in this life and the life to come. When spoken to disrespectfully I would say to the child, “Do I not always speak to you kindly and politely?” I never had to make any other argument. I never asked for any apology, and I never failed to get it. Not perhaps at that time, but after it had been thought of. It seems to me that it would be very unwise to send a bad report to the parent concerning the child unless we know the disposition of the parent and his means of correcting. This is very important, for if the child is not corrected of his fault, he is apt to become worse instead of better.

Never be in a hurry about punishing a child. Think well over it first. Always investigate a case thoroughly before you punish a child.

Try never to whip the child yourself; always report the child to the parents when such correction is necessary.

Never deprive a child of all of his recess. He is not a block of wood; he needs fresh air and water and he will not be in a condition to recite unless he has time for that. Some teachers think they haven't punished enough unless they have taken all of his recess. This is a great mistake. To take a child's lunch from him is a great mistake. There is no use in attempting to teach a hungry child.

The ventilation of the school room may be responsible for what we call stupidity on the part of the child.

Let a stream of oxygen pass through the room and what a waking-up there will be! Sometimes if a child is naughty it will do him good to run out in the yard a minute.

Remember all the time you are dealing with a human being, whose needs are like your own.

A child knows well when a teacher is kind and considerate of him.

Never take away a child's occupation as a punishment.

The secret of good government is occupation of the right kind.

Keep your pupils pleasant by occupying them with your work and they will not be apt so to give you trouble. There are a number of devices called “Busy Work for the School Room.” These little occupations are suited to every grade, and the teacher should make a study of them and have them at his command. The teacher knows who the restive pupils are, and work for these should be prepared beforehand. A great deal of what we call mischief is animal activity on the part of the child, and we must use that activity to make the child do our work and not his.

There is too much repression and suppression in schools.

Let the child do something of himself and see what he will do. The teacher must prepare for his work before he goes into the school by getting together as much simple apparatus as possible, and finding means of illustration.

There are certain kinds of punishments that should never be resorted to, such as shutting a child up in the school house while you go to your dinner, or shutting him up in a dark closet and keeping him there longer than a half hour, or boxing his ears or hitting him over the head or calling him names.

Try kindness; try to find the wiser way for correcting the wrong.

Be careful of arousing a spirit of revenge in your pupils.

WHATEVER we do, the first thing is to have the child know about his Heavenly Father, and that we must all do what will please Him; and no one of us must think of doing the things that He hates. We cannot grow straight and beautiful if we disobey His laws: and so, we must preoccupy the ground very early, for evil is so crafty that even with all our vigilance it will get its work in somewhere. “Didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it tares?”

However brilliant a person may be intellectually, however skillful in the arts and sciences, he must be reliable; he must be trustworthy.

We must know that we can depend upon his word. Obedience, truthfulness, love of right, and sincerity, must be instilled and inculcated by precept and by example, but always in kindness.

Love wins when everything else will fail. You say that your child resists all your efforts to break him of his bad habits and make him become good. Have you tried kindness? Have you tried love?

THE teaching of good manners in the home, is of the highest importance. The little child is taught to say, if you please, and thank you, not only to mother and father, but to brothers and sisters; and I know of nothing that conduces more to the happiness of the home than the manner of speaking to each other by all the members of the family. Some people seem to think that good manners need only be exercised toward our superiors or toward strangers, but this is a great mistake. A gentleman can always be told by the way he speaks to those that he thinks are his inferiors in some respect. His equals be does not wish to offend, his superiors he does not dare to offend, and of those whom he considers his inferiors he would be all the more considerate.

It is a very unsafe thing to graduate our politeness to what we suppose to be the position of the person we are addressing. I have heard of a car conductor who was very impolite to an old gentleman on his train because he was rather shabbily dressed; and he made many inquiries as to how he came by his rate book, with other unnecessary questions, which did not concern him. A short time after, when he was released from his position, he was astonished to find that he had been talking to the president of the road. Good manners will often take people where neither money nor education will take them.

If we could follow many serious evils in life to their sources, we should find that many of them sprang from what we should regard as very insignificant matters. The girl who could not hold her tongue in school, but was always ready with a smart reply, may trace her broken household some day to that same fluency in speech. For it is indeed true that one word brings on another and the word that is brought on is generally not such as to help matters. We do well to remember that a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Words, words, how they can make or mar our lives! The temper must be curbed, must be held in if necessary with “bit and bridle” until it yields to control.

THERE are now so many new ways of teaching reading and spelling that teachers can have their choice and take whatever plan they find the most effective.

To learn to read, write and spell one word the first day, will be found to be very interesting to the children. The word “man” is a good word to begin with, because day after day by the addition of one more letter each day we can form a sentence. Words are more interesting than letters, and sentences are more interesting than words. So that as soon as possible the teacher wants to make a sentence. But it is not supposed that we should omit to teach the alphabet in order, for we know that this is necessary. But by no means allow this to be done mentally. Have the book or the chart with the letters large and distinctly made, and have the children's eyes follow the work as the teacher points to each letter and calls its name. There are many little devices that a teacher can use to get the children interested in the work. Among them may be picking out the printed letters that they have learned when they see them in a book or paper, and sometimes the teacher will have them in a little box and the children are asked to pick out such and such a letter and bring it to the teacher. The movements of the hand and arm in making letters should be frequently practiced by the pupils, and this is a wonderful help when they come to make the letters on the board or on the paper.

The pupils are thus led along skillfully until they are ready to take the first lessons in their readers; then, how the work will jump! No drawling tones will be heard then, for their preparations will make them feel that they know the whole book. The articles a and the having been pronounced naturally as “a[a with breve]h,” “the[e with caron],” the child will read, “The[e with caron] boy has a[a with breve] dog.” And not, “The boy has a[a with macron] dog. Sometimes it is very hard to break up this unnatural way of reading. As the child's writing has kept pace with its reading, one child can copy a letter on the board while the teacher hears the others read. When the writing is finished, the whole class turns to the board to correct whatever has been written, and then they have a lively time. From lesson to lesson this plan is pursued until the child gets through with the Third Reader, and then what a mass of information the child has acquired, and what facility in reading, writing and spelling! But there can hardly be a better way to train a child to think and to reason than by the constant comparisons which he has had to make use of in learning the letters and all about them. Besides, when a person can read, the whole realm of knowledge lies open before him, and if necessary he can go on by himself; for many a learned person had to begin in this way. I will next speak of advanced reading. A clear-cut enunciation of the vowels, the consonants and certain combinations of consonants have been insisted upon during the elementary stages of the child's progress. Nor has he been allowed to drop his final t's or d's nor to say w for v. Fortunate is the child who has had a careful and well-prepared teacher in his early lessons in reading. Before the child begins to read he should know the definitions of the words he is using, and this matter too has had attention in the preceding reading lessons. It would be a great pity to allow the child to consider a lesson learned, simply because he could pronounce the words fluently, for the meaning is all-important. It is very helpful if the definitions of the words in the reading lessons are written at the top of the page as they are in some books; and the preparation for the day's lesson should be to have these words correctly pronounced, and their definitions written upon the board, and as words have more than one definition, it is good practice to see what other meanings the class can give. When the class begins to read, let the pupils read the lesson straight thru, going from one to the other without interruption. If any one has been looking off his book and is not ready, pass him by and go right on to the next one. Do not stop to correct mispronounced words, but wait until the lesson has been read thru once. In this way we shall get the sense of the lesson. It is objected that if we leave the corrections until the reading is finished, they will be forgotten; but stopping after each one reads, to say what you noticed was wrong, etc., keeps the pupils from getting a connected idea of the lesson, and hence, destroys the interest in it. When the lesson is read thru again the corrections are made. The spelling lesson should consist largely of words taken from the reading lesson, for these will be the most useful that the pupil can have, and when these words are recited, it should be by writing them in sentences. It may be objected that this takes too much time, as the time given to spelling is generally less than that given to other subjects. But are not reading and spelling the most important lessons that the child can have? Five words correctly defined and written in sentences are of more value than twenty words simply spelled correctly. In the very beginning the marks of punctuation should be used, and the marks of contraction and the possessive case should be observed closely, as, John's father was too busy to waste two minutes from his business. The architect planned the building and the carpenter planed some of the joists the next day.

“I do not complain of the boys' work,” said their father, “but I wished they had gone farther while they were about it.”

Men's and women's clothing is made from different kinds of cloth, It will be seen that the teacher takes advantage of simple grammatical rules to have the writing correctly done. I will hereafter give a number of sentences to illustrate what I mean. I should have said, that as soon as possible, the child should be taught to write a letter. The words mother, father, sister, brother and teacher should be spelled and written for him so that the little letter beginning Dear mother can begin to be made the subject of instruction.

The child's interest is awakened and he will try his best to learn other words that he will write to his mother. If this begins in the first reader, before the third is finished the child will be quite a little scribe. But we must proceed very slowly with this work. One or two words at a time are all that can be taken, and for this reason, very careful training is necessary on the part of the teacher. If the child gets thoroughly interested in his lessons, it will certainly stop the truancies. It is well worth while to let the child see how he is getting ahead. The English language is certainly not an easy one to learn, and much patience is required to learn to use it correctly; but a thoughtful teacher can by pointing out differences help the pupil to remember the many points necessary in correct reading and spelling

Dictation exercises should begin with the First Reader, and follow all thru the course in reading. It is very unfortunate that reading in schools should be stopped so soon. If a child can pronounce certain words correctly, and especially if he has gone thru the Fourth Reader, it is supposed that he doesn't need any more instruction in reading, but immediately passes into what are considered more difficult subject's.

This is the reason that more pupils do not acquire a taste for reading, because as soon as they get thru the task of pronouncing words and are just ready to enter upon the delightful task of reading by sight, they are supposed to have finished, and the work stops. Whereas, the pupil is just ready to get the thoughts of others in an easy and intelligent way, and he can learn the thoughts of the very best writers the world has ever seen. And before he knows it they become a part of himself, leading him onward and heavenward. Just as when a person has mastered the scales and exercises on the piano, he is not considered to have finished the course in music, but to be in a position to be introduced to the works of the great masters. After hearing a master of the instrument play “Home, Sweet Home” we make up our minds that we never heard it before, and we never did. This matter of reading is far more important than many of us think, because as I have said, it is to continue all our lives long. A first-class reader may be called an elocutionist, because he makes the thoughts of the writer live again in the minds of those who hear. In the very beginning, the child's eyes are trained to recognize the period and comma when he sees them, and to use them correctly when he is writing. The other marks of punctuation come in for their share of attention when he is able to understand them. But besides training the eye, we should remember that the ear should be trained. Read a short sentence to the class and see who can repeat it correctly; you will be astonished to see how few can reproduce the sentence just as it was given. It is no wonder that our Lord said, “Take heed how ye hear.”

A distinguished teacher of a high school used to try his entering classes, to see if they were prepared to take down correctly the lectures which they were to receive, and he was astonished to find how differently a simple sentence would be written by them. The teacher can try his class himself by asking them to write down any simple sentence which he may give them. Disputes, nay quarrels, oftentimes are produced because one person says I understood him to say so and so, and another one says I did not understand it that way. If each of these persons should write down what he thought was said, the difference in the way they had heard would soon be evident. Now, as lectures and sermons are given by hearing, how necessary it is that the ear should be trained to repeat correctly the sounds which fall upon it, and this is another reason why the sounds of the letters should be distinctly practiced by speakers and hearers, for there is a great difference in the way people pronounce their words, and some of them it is difficult to understand. We must be careful that the final d's and t's, st and st's should be carefully uttered: v and w are made by different positions of the lips and the vocal organs should be practiced to show how they are to be correctly uttered. As for r it is rarely pronounced correctly, and the same may be said of th following an s, or c as, passeth, ceaseth, rejoiceth. In further writing, I will put down the difficult consonant combinations. If a child has an impediment in his speech, the teacher must be very careful about forcing him to read by himself before he has got over the worst of his difficulties. By no means make him an object of fun to the class, nor allow any pupil to make fun of him with his peculiarities when the class is over.

If the class has five times to read during the week, I would take one of these times for recitations. After reciting, let the pieces be written on the board, and here the eye can correct whatever the ear gave wrong. Misspelled words, misplaced capitals, and whatever else needs correction comes under the teacher's eyes, and is written correctly.

Great care should be taken in making the selections for the children to learn. However short the piece may be, it should include some moral principle, or something of beauty in nature or art; but always something that the pupil can understand. Pieces for the different grades are now selected for the teacher, and this makes it easier to find wise selections. But I would be very careful about the funny pieces, for we should teach nothing but what inculcates some pretty thought.

Obedience to our Heavenly Father; love to parents, brothers and sisters; love to country, and kindness to dumb animals; and many other selections which will hereafter be given. Children learn poetry far more quickly than they do prose, and so we select what we teach them largely from poets.

There is a world of happy thoughts all about us, and if we make wise selections in teaching, they are quite sure to be remembered. And the grain of truth which they contain is as encouraging in bringing forth fruit, as is the grain of mustard seed. What we sow we reap, and there is no field more fertile than that of a child's mind. If we plant tomatoes, we get tomatoes; we certainly should not expect to find potatoes. And so, if we plant beautiful thoughts and beautiful words in the child's mind, we shall certainly get the same. But I do not forget the parable of the tares of the field, for whatever we do, there is always an active enemy who is doing his sowing at the same time, and for this reason we must humble ourselves and pray that the Lord of the Harvest may protect our child's mind from the sower of evil; for in spite of all you may do, you will find things in that child's mind which you never taught him, and which you cannot account for.

Teaching spelling by dictation exercises is the most profitable way to get the child to learn what might otherwise be dry and uninteresting.

Facility in writing to dictation will train the ear to receive sounds correctly and this is very important. How often do we hear people say, “but that is not what I thought was said,” and so we have a large class of persons of whom it may be said, “Having ears they hear not, neither do they understand.”

The distinct utterance of the vocal elements must be insisted upon, and those elements in their difficult combinations which I have already mentioned.

Sermons, lectures, and much of the instruction which we receive must depend upon the ear for its faithful reproduction. A professor giving a lecture at one time to a number of students of different grades of instruction saw a little boy industriously taking notes, and he asked one of the teachers to let him have the child's paper when he was through.

This was done, and he made the exclamation as he glanced over the notes, “This is wonderful.” Then followed the questions. In what class is this child and who is his teacher?

It is evident if the teacher corrects each dictation exercise individually the other pupils will lack the valuable practice which would follow looking over many papers themselves; therefore having exchanged papers each one is called upon for the correction of what he sees wrong on the paper which he has, and the correct form is written on the board. It is also very useful for pupils to learn to read the handwriting of different persons.

I have been asked if I approved teaching the rules of spelling; not all of them by any means, because the pupil can easily learn the rules by his own practice. But the rule for monosyllables and words accented on the last syllable should be thoroughly learned, because it is so frequently applied, as it refers to the formation of so many words in the English language.

About sixty per cent. of our words are old English or Anglo-Saxon.

Thirty per cent. are latin, five per cent. are Greek, and five per cent. words taken from many other languages. Nearly all the monosyllables in the language are old English and are very plain words, and most easily understood. The pronouns, the conjunctions, and nearly all the prepositions are old English, and words of one syllable as we know are old English. These form a sturdy stock like the people that first used them. The Bible, Shakespeare and Bunyan's “Pilgrim's Progress” abound in these words.

They are strong and easy to be understood, whereas the Latin words and the Greek are formed of many syllables, and express different shades of thought and of mental states and action. I suppose these are the “words of learned length and thundering sound, which amazed the gaping rustics gathered round,” and made the schoolmaster so famous.

Scientific words are written in the Greek language.

Always avoid using what are called big words when writing on any topic, for they often do nothing but “Darken counsel by words without knowledge.” Whereas the duty of the speaker or writer is to get before his hearers or his readers as clear an idea of his thoughts as he can.

IT IS not necessary to wait until children can learn rules of grammatical construction before we teach them how to speak correctly. For be it known that children do not speak according to rules, but according to what they hear.

It will be observed that those who associate with persons who use incorrect grammar will be very apt to fall into the same habit themselves, while those who associate with persons who speak correctly will be found to speak also correctly without any instruction; and in this way you can often tell the kind of associates that one is accustomed to have.

It is for this reason that it is much easier to learn to speak German in Germany, or to speak French in France, than in a country where all the sounds you hear are those of the English language. For this reason, too, teachers of German or French should speak to their pupils in those languages, and not be satisfied with simply reading it to them.

Those who are able to have a German and French nurse for their children will find that the child will speak German to the German nurse and French to the French nurse without difficulty; this ought to teach us something about how languages are acquired.

To speak a language correctly, and also to write it correctly, are of the first importance. Therefore, at the beginning we simply correct what is incorrect in the child's speech, and do not square it by the rules of grammar until he is able to understand it.

We know the grammatical rules which are most likely to be violated, such as singular verbs with plural subjects, and vice versa; as, “Mary and Jane has not finished their lessons yet”; or, “I has no more time to give to the subject.”

Another common error is the past tense of the verb for the past participle, as, “I seen him when he done it, and I haven't saw him since.”

A child should immediately be corrected when heard to say: “Is you going to the fair?” “I would have went had I been invited.”

Why should a child be allowed to say: It is me, it is him, it is her, and not be corrected? Or, I didn't do nothing on my work today; or, I written to my mother yesterday. Such errors are passed unnoticed in children, when that is the very time when corrections should be made and can be made most effectively.

The only way to teach them to write correctly is to have them write. A good rule would be to have them write a little essay once a week, and have it corrected, seeing that all the rules of grammatical construction are properly observed. See that you do not have a singular pronoun represented by a plural antecedent, as, “let every one attend to their own affairs.”

The classes of pronouns, being difficult to learn, should be given at an early stage of the child's progress.

There are four classes of pronouns—personal, relative, interrogative and adjective.

The adjective pronouns are themselves divided into four classes, and it will help the child to remember them by a little device like this, pidd, viz.: personal—my hat, her hand, his ball; indefinite—none, any, all, whole, some; demonstrative—this, that— with the plurals—these, those; distributives—each, every, either, neither.

Personal pronouns are those which show by their forms what person is meant; I, thou, you, he, she, and it. They are declined: nominative, I; possessive, my or mine; objective, me. Plural, nominative, we; possessive, our or ours; objective, us.

Second person—Nominative, thou; possessive, thy or thine; objective thee; plural, nominative, you; possessive, your or yours; objective, your.

Third person—Nominative, it; possessive, its; objective, it. Plural, nominative, they; possessive, their or theirs; objective, them.

Relative pronouns—Nominative, who; possessive, whose; objective, whom; there is no difference for the plural.