produce specimens of great artistic beauty; they show how plastic is youthful humanity; but they take all the soul out of the reading, and leave instead an image of marble, as polished and as cold!

I have, while writing this page, fallen, for the first time, on some lines so well adapted to my purpose, that I will venture to transcribe them. They are credited to LLOYD, and are found in Epes Sargent's excellent First Class Standard Reader, - —a book admirably suited to the use of the highest class in our Grammar Schools, but not adapted to classes of a lower grade.*

"EXPRESSION IN READING.

'Tis not enough the voice be sound and clear,

'Tis modulation that must charm the ear.

When desperate heroines grieve with tedious moan,
And whine their sorrows in a see-saw tone,
The same soft sounds of unimpassioned woes
Can only make the yawning hearers doze.

2. That voice all modes of passion can express
Which marks the proper word with proper stress;
But none emphatic can the reader call

Who lays an equal emphasis on all.

3. Some o'er the tongue the labored measures roll,
Slow and deliberate as the parting toll,
Point every stop, mark every pause so strong,
Their words like stage-processions stalk along.
All affectation but creates disgust,

And even in speaking we may seem too just.

4. In vain for them the pleasing measure flows
Whose recitation runs it all to prose;
Repeating what the poet sets not down,
The verb disjoining from the friendly noun ; †
While pause, and break, and repetition, join
o make a discord in each tuneful line.

5. Some placid natures fill the allotted scene
With lifeless drone, insipid and serene ;
While others thunder every couplet o'er,

And almost crack your ears with rant and roar.

* This book is prepared with great labor, good taste, and sound judgment; and contains fifty-odd pages of "Introductory Remarks," that few teachers could read without profit. It has, also, a copious "Explanatory Index," of great value to pupils, if not to teachers.

† From this criticism I dissent. In a majority of instances, there must be a pause in reading, between the nominative case and the verb; and this in proportion to the length of the nominative or nominative phrase. By it expression is improved, taste gratified, and the sense more fully developed. No. 10. [VOL. IV. No. 1.]-15

6. More nature oft and finer strokes are shown
In the low whisper than tempestuous tone;
And Hamlet's hollow voice and fixed amaze
More powerful terror to the mind conveys [?]
Than he who, swollen with big, impetuous rage,
Bullies the bulky phantom off the stage.

7. He who, in earnest, studies o'er his part,
Will find true nature cling about his heart.
The modes of grief are not included all
In the white handkerchief and mournful drawl;
A single look more marks the internal wo
Than all the windings of the lengthened O !
Up to the face the quick sensation flies,
And darts its meaning from the speaking eyes;
Love, transport, madness, anger, scorn, despair,
And all the passions, all the soul, is there."

Yes, true it is, a proper modulation is the great charm in reading. Without it, whatever beauties the reader may introduce, there must be a fatal lack.

Correct pronunciation, too, is an important element in good reading; and although, without it, the sense may be expressed and the feelings moved, much of the pleasure of the hearer is lost. A coarse style of pronouncing degrades the reader, and gives one a low idea of his breeding and his taste. Fix, therefore, on some standard, and insist on its being the guide in your teaching. Walker's has been the most generally received, for the last fifty or sixty years, and still is, in the main, the most reliable. Smart's, to which many defer, is but a slight modification of Walker's; and Worcester's- an authority of the highest respectability is, perhaps, the best in present use in this country, as comprising nearly all the points of importance that are fashionable among the best speakers and peculiar to the other two eminent orthoëpists mentioned.

It will cost you infinite pains to fix this pronunciation as the habit of your pupils, because, in a large proportion of the families to which they belong, a coarse style is indulged in, which will do much to neutralize the example and most strenuous efforts of the teacher. But be not discouraged. Correct every mispronunciation perpetrated in school, whether in private conversation, in class recitation, in class reading, or in elocutionary exercises. In time, you will make your mark, which will tell with favor and advantage on your school.

Among the errors in pronunciation, current in our community, are those of giving the sound of a in far for that of a in lad; as in grasp, last, transport;-giving the long sound of a for the short sound, in alone, above, atone, and to the article a, as ā man, ā book, ā house; — giving

the sound of double-o for long u [ew], in attune, revolution, constitution; *—thrusting u into words where it does not belong, as elum, helum, whelum, for elm, helm, whelm; - giving er for o or ow, in potato, fellow, window; -aw for re, in more, deplore, restore; † er for aw, in law, raw, saw, or rather adding r or er to the word, as lawr, law-er; -i for e, in get, yet; - e for i, in sit, stint; u for i short, in ability, facility; omitting the d in and, and the r, when not initial, in almost every word; the e in belief, benevolent; the h in whig, when, what; the e in every, novel, counsel; the i in Latin, satin, certain; the g in present participles, reading, speaking, loving, &c.

u for e or a, in silent, reverence, repentance;

Some of these inelegancies are so nearly universal, that persons critics in language, too ‡ are to be found, who would abandon the cases as hopeless, making no effort to correct the faults. To such despair the faithful teacher never yields, but, in proportion to the dif ficulty, nerves himself for the struggle. The faulty sound of the letter u, adverted to above, can be corrected, in any school, if the instructor is a man of taste and energy, and resolves in earnest that it shall be done. The same may be said of the much-wronged r. There is no occasion for indulging children in calling storm, stawm ; nor of pronouncing burst, first, durst,

corn, cawn; morn, mawn;

as if spelled bust, fust, dust.

Children in school will do what they are constantly, perseveringly, and resolutely required to do; and if these faults still adhere to them, the teacher is responsible.

Allow me to say a word as to the mechanical arrangement of your reading classes. Method, in trifles even, serves a valuable purpose, and is essential to success with the young.

If your pupils are sufficiently interested in their lessons to require no particular rank in class to induce fidelity, place them in the alphabetical order of their names. Require them always to stand, when reading, in a position of ease and gracefulness, the shoulders set back, the chest protruded, the book in the left hand; every eye fixed on the lesson, and, as far as possible, allow nothing to be going on in the room that may divert the attention of any member of the class. Let the lesson be announced - page, subject, author, chapter, &c. — by some one designated by the teacher, sometimes at the head, sometimes

* This sound belongs chiefly to words in which the u follows r; as in truth, rule, ruth.

† An effectual corrective for this, in teaching, is, in such words, to require the pupil to transpose the letters re in pronouncing, shortening the sound of er a little. "HERMES," in the Boston Transcript of June 26, 1857.

at the foot, and sometimes elsewhere. And, instead of the word "Next," when another pupil is to read, call on some one by name, standing near or remote from the preceding reader, and thus, without any regular order, till the lesson is finished; sometimes returning, again and again, if you see cause, to the same individual. You will thus be sure of the attention of every one, and each will have the advantage of instruction, not in his own portion merely, but in that of every classmate.

If time should not suffice for a regular and effective drill of every member of the class, do what you can thoroughly; sham nothing. To teach a class in reading properly is not the job of a few minutes; it should occupy from half an hour to an hour, according to the number of members, that each one may carry away from the exercise some new thought, some item of knowledge, at every lesson. You, of course, cannot do all this, with each of your classes, every day, unless your school is under the charge of several teachers for the various departments; but following out this plan-when a lesson is given, it will be of some value to the learners.

Several years ago, the Board of Education of Massachusetts distributed a set of questions among the school districts of the Commonwealth, for answers from the teachers; and one of them was, "How many times a day do your classes read?" I thought then, and I think now, that, if those gentlemen expected a single teacher to give instruction in anything but reading, in a school of the average number of pupils and classes, it was preposterous to hint that more than one reading lesson a day could be given to each class, unless where the merest elements of school studies were taught. To make accomplished readers of a school of children is a rare achievement, and can only be done by much time and patient toil, and never where, from the unreasonable expectations of the directing powers, the teacher is tempted to slur over the lessons.

I have, in these remarks, very unsatisfactorily to myself, given some views of the importance of reading, and added some notions on the mode of teaching it. I find, on review, that it has been done in an imperfect and rambling manner; and were it not given in the form of a letter, in which department of composition large liberty is allowed, I should hardly venture to place it on the pages of the Journal, whose articles generally are so superior as literary performances. My aim, however, is not at fine writing, but rather to do something to aid inexperience in the business of developing, to the best results, the various powers of the young.

XIV. INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING.

[From the Connecticut Common School Journal, March, 1857.]

[WE take pleasure in giving to our readers the following communication from Miss Dwight, whose system of drawing has been received with much favor by some of our best teachers. We have long felt that the art of drawing was deserving of more attention in our schools, and we cordially welcome any efforts that may tend to secure more interest and better results.

Mr. Hart, a highly accomplished and successful teacher in Farmington, writes that he considers "Miss Dwight's system most worthy of the attention of those interested in education. It is a common-sense system. It is, in an eminent degree, a natural system, leading, as it does, directly to the study of natural objects, without the intervention of a mere copy of them." We commend the article below to the attention of our readers.-RES. ED., CONN. C. S. J.]

The important question, "how shall drawing be taught successfully in schools?" is now attracting the attention of educationists, which is a good sign of the times. By duly attending to it, they will find that, to teach drawing successfully, it must be taught systematically and scientifically, receiving the same care and attention as other studies pursued. When it is as well taught as others, the practice of the art will be found of great practical value, and not wanting in interest.

Let us suppose that a scholar wishes to learn geometry, after having attained the age of fifteen, and also to become an engineer. With this object in view, and without knowing the simple rules of arithmetic, he is placed under the care of a professed teacher, who first gives him an arithmetical class-book, with directions to copy the sums, and, from the key, to write down the answers. He then gives him the algebra, and follows with the problems of Euclid, all of which are to be copied in the same mechanical manner, without regard to the rules or principles of arithmetical calculation, or the laws of geometry. With such instruction, (for the same process is called instruction in regard to art,) will he be prepared for any practical application of the