Maintaining the justness of this definition of the faculty of reason, we would not, however, overlook the fact, so important to the right management of education, that the more closely we watch the operations of intellect, the more searching the investigation, and the more minute our analysis, we shall be the better prepared to minister to the manifold wants of the mind, and to its healthful development. The subdivision of reason into "judgment" and "understanding," if taken as merely a temporary assumption of theory, with a view to fuller provision for mental action and discipline, can not be objected to; and, indeed, the common branches of useful knowledge and of seientific acquirement which constitute the material and media of intellectual education, address themselves distinctively to that classification of the mental faculties which is commonly adopted or recognized. Of these we shall have occasion to speak, when discussing the modes and processes of culture. Nor can any detriment to a just view of mind as subjected to invigorating discipline, arise from adopting, for the time, that more comprehensive classification of the forms of mental action, which is now proposed. We shall pass, therefore, in our subsequent remarks, without further discussion concerning the actual or assumed number of the reflective faculties, to the consideration of the main spring by which, in the provisions of Creative wisdom, furnished in the human constitution, they are kept in action, so as to insure definite and salutary results.

(To be continued.)

XIII. LETTERS TO A YOUNG TEACHER.

BY GIDEON F. THAYER,

Late Principal of Chauncy-Hall School, Boston.

PRINTING has been styled, "the preservative art of all arts;" and reading what is printed is the means of communicating to the universal mind of civilized man whatever the press records.

ever seen.

the

if he can

What a leveller-perhaps I should say, what an equalizer capacity of reading is! No matter how lowly born, how humbly bred, how obscure the position in life of an individual, read, he may, at will, put himself in the best society the world has He may sit down with the good and great men of antiquity. He may converse with Moses and the Hebrew prophets; with Jesus and his disciples; with Homer and Plato; with Shakspeare and Milton; with Fenelon and Newton; with Franklin and Washington; with all the writers in prose and poetry whose works have come down to us, and, through them, with the heroes whose deeds have become the admiration of men; with benefactors, whose acts of love and kindness to their race have proved them to be the sons of God. He may learn the lessons of wisdom that History teaches, the discoveries that Genius has achieved, the light that Science has shed on the world, and the inventions of Art by which the physical conveniences and comforts of man anticipate even his imaginary wants. He may learn how to live, how to avoid the errors of his predecessors, and to secure blessings, present and future,

to himself.

He may reside in a desert, far away from the habitations of men ; in solitude, where no human eye looks upon him with affection or inter

est,

where no human voice cheers him with its animating tones;

if he has books, and can read, he needs never be alone. He may choose his company and the subject of conversation, and thus become contented and happy, intelligent, and wise, and good. He thus elevates his rank in the world, and becomes independent in the best sense

of the term.

Reading, then, stands among the first, if not the very first, in

importance, of the departments of school education; and I propose to devote this letter to the subject of teaching it at school.*

Pursuant to the plan I have heretofore announced, I begin with the simplest details. The first step in teaching reading has usually been that of making the pupil familiar with the alphabet, and a large majority of teachers of the present time pursue this course. There is, however, a better mode, one that is far less irksome to the little learner, and which saves time, while it brings more of his mental powers into exercise. It is that of teaching by words, the names of things, with a representation of the object, engraved at each word; as, man, cow, boy, &c., attended by the appropriate figure. Every object familiar to the child's experience will at once be recognized; and its name, spelled in letters, will soon become to him identical with the thing itself. These may be multiplied to any desirable extent, and the form of the letters be by degrees introduced to the child's acquaintance.

When, by frequent repetition, he has learned these words thoroughly, he should be put to short and simple sentences, mainly composed of them, but without the drawings. His vocabulary will by this time have become somewhat extensive; his interest will have been awakened, and he will be prepared to take hold successfully of the ordinarily repulsive task of learning the names of the letters and their various powers. These may be acquired through the assistance of blocks or cards with the names and sounds printed on them, but will be learned with more facility and pleasure by copying them with chalk on the blackboard. Rude will be the work of the child at first; but let him be encouraged, and he will rapidly improve. The object is to make something that to his apprehension is an imitation of the letter in the book; other properties will follow in their natural order.

The method of spelling the words should be by the sounds of the letters which combine to form them, and not by their names. No difficulty will be found in giving the several sounds of the vowels, and, after a little practice, those of the consonants will be easily made; and the pupil will be agreeably surprised to discover of what simple elements the consonants are composed.

The last process in learning the alphabet is that of giving each letter its original name, and no inconvenience will be experienced from thus transposing the order of study. On the contrary, the preliminary steps taken will have furnished facilities for it.

When the alphabet, with the several sounds of each letter, has been

* So important was this part of education deemed by the Romans, that, if they wished to express their contempt of an individual, they would say of him, "He can neither swim nor read!"

perfectly learned, and the pupil begins upon new reading matter, require him, whenever he comes to a word that he cannot pronounce without spelling it, to spell by the sound of the letter in the case, and not by the name. Teach him to depend upon himself, in all cases embracing previous instruction upon the same or similar points. To prompt him, in every instance when he hesitates, is to impede healthful progress, to keep the mind feeble, and induce him always to lean on another for assistance, at the same time indulging him in a habit of mental indolence, always to be deplored.

I do not mean that a pupil is never to be told a thing but once; this would be preposterous. On the contrary, repetition, repetition, REPETITION! is the law in teaching the elements of language, as the thrice-inculcated law of Cicero, in regard to oratory, was “ ACTION!” Still, I say, the pupil must help himself, as far as he has the ability.

66

A reproach to our schools, conveyed in the expression, "It was read in a school tone," ought not, after all that has been done for the training of teachers, to be deserved. I fear, however, that, with comparatively few exceptions, it is too well merited to justify any complaint against the charge. The fault begins in the primary school. The true idea of what reading is seems not to enter the minds of many teachers, and hence this bad habit. I understand reading to be nothing more nor less than talking with a book in hand. Hence it should be in practice simply an imitation of talking; and the very first words read, and all that follow, throughout the school life, should be given as if the sentiments were uttered in personal conversation. Instead of this, the scriptural injunction in our primary-school readingbooks, “No man may put off the law of God," is usually read, Noah ma-an- - ma-ah -o-offpoo-ut the-ah-law-er- -o-offGo-ud. Here, then, the remedy should be applied. The child should be told to repeat the sentence without the book, and be required to go over and over again with it, until he utters it correctly. The teacher, of course, will give the proper reading of it after the pupil has made a faithful effort without success. Proceeding in this way, and never allowing an erroneous reading to pass uncorrected, the "school tone" will never obtain a footing in the classes.

I am aware that this will cost labor, a great deal of it; but it is worth all the labor you may find it necessary to bestow upon it. Your patience will often be severely tried, but you must never yield. Sometimes you may not be able to conquer without devoting the whole time of a class to a single individual. Never mind! Persevere ! Try again at the next reading time. You will finally succeed, unless there exists in your pupil some organic defect. In such case, it would be

in the language of Job Pray, "workin' ag'in natur'," and perhaps your efforts would be unavailing. But even here, I would say, let the experiment be fairly and faithfully tried before giving up.

Akin to this is another difficulty you may have to encounter. The Irish make use of the rising inflection, in reading and speaking, in some cases, where we use the falling. With children of that nation you may find it a thing impossible to correct this habit. Inborn or inbred from the earliest period of vocal practice, it may not be possible to overcome the fault; still, I would not despair of it as a foregone conclusion, but would resolve on victory. This determination, once adopted, renders almost all things practicable.

Many writers on the subject have given rules for reading. They may be very well for adults, and especially for teachers; but I doubt whether, with some exceptions, they can be made very useful to inculcate on the pupil. Whatever the rules adopted in a school may be, the pupils will read as the teacher does, imitating all his peculiarities, whether correct or incorrect, whether beauties or deformities. He should, therefore, see to it that his own style the paramount rule to his pupils is the result of sound judgment and good taste.

To say that one must "keep the voice up at a comma, and let it fall at a period," and that we should "pause at a comma long enough to count one, and at a period while one might count four," is simply absurd, as invariable rules. This may be well enough in most cases, but the exceptions occur so frequently as to render the rule nugatory; and, besides, reading according to such rules would inevitably be most mechanical, stiff, inexpressive, and lifeless.

The grand, invariable rule in reading is, read to the sense. This involves explanation and instruction on the part of the teacher, which, with many, are wholly omitted. The lesson to be read should be gone over carefully by him at the time of its assignment; the obscure portions clarified, the classical, historical, political, geographical, and other allusions, explained; and the attention of the class directed to any words, difficult or uncommon, contained in the lesson. They should then be required to read it repeatedly and carefully, before the next class-time, seeking the meaning of every word they do not understand, and the proper pronunciation of those words about which they have any doubt. When they subsequently assemble for the class-reading, the teacher should examine them, to ascertain whether they retain all the facts connected with the lesson, which they are supposed to have acquired, and tell the story of the piece, in their own language, before they begin to read it from the book. They will then be prepared to do justice to the author and to themselves;